January 23, 2024 • 36 mins
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Unlock the rhythm of success with Bob Bolt, a maestro in both the spheres of business and music, as he shares his harmonious approach to mastering new skills and knowledge. Striking a chord, Bob's narrative reveals the power behind understanding the intricate symbols and terminology that resonate across disciplines, from musical notation to mathematical equations. His simple story of helping a peer navigate the complexities of a math problem underscores how a solid grasp of foundational concepts can amplify one's ability to learn and grow, no matter the subject matter.
Dive deep into the business world, where comprehending the basics like food cost percentage and gross profit isn't just helpful—it's essential. Bob explains how he has adapted to the ever-changing technological landscape, from the early days of spreadsheet wonders like Microsoft Excel to contemporary digital advertising platforms like Facebook Ads Manager. Persistent education and a canny understanding of these tools are instrumental in fine-tuning operations and setting the stage for entrepreneurial triumph.
Finally, join us behind the counter of my submarine sandwich shop for a taste of how digital training resources are revolutionizing employee education. With an app that dishes out precise instructional videos, my team ensures every sandwich is a performance worthy of applause. Whether you're an entrepreneur or a creator at heart, this episode offers the sage wisdom of embracing technological advancements to stay in tune with the evolving demands of business and personal development.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ryan Kimball (00:00):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Competence Institute podcast.
This week I am very excited tohave a special guest with us, Mr
Bob Bolt.
He has been a business personfor a long time, very successful
in life and has used studytechnology extensively, as well
as The Way to Happiness.
(00:20):
So we're gonna talk about thattoday and see what he has to say
and tell us about that.
Hi, Bob! (Bob (00:24):
Ryan, how are you today?
) I'm doing great, thanks! Thankyou for being with us.
Bob Bolt (00:31):
Oh, this is fun.
Yes, I'm happy to talk aboutthe study technology.
Ryan Kimball (00:35):
Awesome, great.
So I'd like to start out withjust a little bit about your
background and yourself and whoyou are and how you relate to
the study technology.
Bob Bolt (00:45):
I've been in - you mentioned - I've been in
business for a long time, so Iown a restaurant in the local
Buffalo, New York area and I'veowned it - Are you ready?
I've owned it for 42 years.
(Ryan (00:59):
Wow, I didn't realize that.
) Yeah, since 1981.
It freaks me out a little too.
But when it comes to the studytechnology, I was introduced to
it before I bought my businessand I used it to help me learn
different things with musicbecause my background before
(01:24):
being a restaurant owner, Iactually worked in the
restaurant business, but Ididn't own one.
But I was a musician and Iplayed drums.
I played percussion in highschool and being able to have a
study technology just to learnmusic or any field of life was
important.
So it goes - it predates mybusiness experience knowing
(01:47):
about how to learn.
I had that background initially.
Ryan Kimball (01:53):
Neat! That's so cool.
I didn't know that about you atall, so very cool.
(Bob (01:57):
Yeah!) Just curious - you were into music and you said
you used the study technology abit for that.
What did you use it for, morespecifically?
Bob Bolt (02:08):
Specifically, if someone doesn't understand music
and doesn't - especiallyreading charted music, right?
Like, I could play the drum setand read a drum set part on a
piece of music.
Now, where study technologycomes in is, if you don't, boy,
we're getting into the nittygritty.
(02:29):
But if you don't understand allthose little symbols and things
that are on a staff of music,first of all, what the lines
mean, what these symbols on theend mean, there's symbols galore
in music and - just, if youdon't understand a word, you
don't understand a word.
It's easy.
There's a word.
(02:50):
I don't know what that means,but symbols are - people, it's
the same thing with symbols.
If you don't understand whatthe little clef thing is and you
don't understand what the noteis or the time signature, and
here I'm spitting out terms, butyou have to know that stuff or
you'll be lost.
You'll be lost.
(03:10):
I'll give you - can I give youan example from earlier in my
life?
(Ryan (03:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
)I was sitting in a class - it
was a math class - next to agirl and we were supposed to
work on our assignment.
And I'm sitting there and Ilook at her and she looks blank
and lost.
She's looking at the paper andhas no clue, right?
(03:37):
And I looked over and I said,do you want some help?
And she looked at me and noddedher head sheepishly, yeah, yep.
And so I said to the professoror teacher, I said can I slide
over and work with her?
And he goes, yes.
So I go over to her and I lookat a formula in front of her and
I see the various symbols inthe formula and one of them - if
(04:01):
you understand math and I hope,depending on who's listening to
this, they understand math.
If they don't, in a formula youcan have parentheses like you
do in an English sentence.
Right, and I said, so - I saidto her - I go, let's start with
basics, because to me that'swhere you have to start on any
subject.
Right.
) I go, these things are likeparentheses in common writing.
(04:24):
Do you know what those do?
And this girl is really cuteand she looks, she shook her
head and, nah - nope, I go.
Okay, so here's the thing youhave to - and so, basically, I
went over and cleared up withher what those symbols mean in a
math formula and then in theend she could do a simple
formula, because she knew thatyou had to figure out what was
(04:46):
in the parentheses first, and Idon't wanna confuse people who
are listening if you don't knowmath, but that's just a simple
example from my education daysof using study technology just
to help someone.
But what was I doing?
I was helping her clear upsomething she didn't understand.
She had a symbol, a thing, andit was like - and she couldn't
(05:10):
do anything because she wasstopped right at that point.
So that's a simple example.
And then music - I went overthat - and then there's other
things in music too.
It was like, when you studymusic - one other comment on
this is there's lots ofinstruments, right, and you can
read about an instrument or thisor that and you're like what is
that?
What is that instrument, right?
(05:31):
So sometimes it helps to get togo see it, physically see it,
or see a picture of it, orsomebody could at least explain
it to you.
Have you ever seen that thingwith a long thing that slides
out, in and out?
That's a trombone.
You know what I mean?
Oh, that's a trombone, wherethe thing slides.
(05:52):
Yeah, I've seen those! But apicture is better, or the actual
thing is even better.
And that's just another exampleof how you can help understand
something.
And then, that way, music,because music, oh my gosh,
there's so many - what's aclavichord?
What's a - what's the differencebetween a clavichord and a
harpsichord?
(06:12):
You know what I mean.
It's like a piano a little bit,but it's not really a piano, and
then you have to see it, listento it, so you can understand.
Ryan Kimball (06:21):
It makes sense - makes a lot of sense.
Cool, great examples.
Thank you.
(Bob (06:24):
Yep.
) Yeah, and also, obviously, wewanted to talk to you about your
journey as a business personand as a business leader.
I know you're a leader in thecommunity where you live and you
mentioned how long you've beenin business and successful at it
, so I wanted to ask you abouthow have you integrated
(06:46):
different learning and studytechniques that you know to
enhance these skills as a leaderand in your decision-making
processes as a business person?
Bob Bolt (06:55):
That's a heck of a question, Ryan, but for me, I
look at different things I doand as a business owner, you
have to understand basic things.
Right, I own a restaurant.
How do you figure out your foodcost?
What elements do I have to do,you know?
(07:16):
So you go to a webinar or aseminar or something.
Back when I started, there wereno webinars, there was no
internet, there was no cellphone.
So you went to a seminar or athing or someone taught you, and
sometimes it could be dauntingbecause they're using terms to
(07:37):
describe food cost percentagesand gross profit and all this
other stuff.
And I remember distinctly -because I bought my business in
1981, I was introduced to studytechnology around 1973, 74.
And I remember consciouslythinking, wait, what's the gross
(08:00):
profit thing?
What's that?
Well, you have all your salesand what's your gross profit?
So I had to clear that up andfor people who are confused, you
have your total sales, you do.
Your gross profit is what'sleft after you pay your key
expenses like food, paper costsand labor, right, and then
(08:22):
what's left that's gross profitto pay everything else your
insurance, your whatnot.
So right in the beginning, I waslooking at those terms and I
knew I had to understand them ifI was gonna figure out how to
run a restaurant successfullyand have it make money, because
(08:42):
- this is somewhat off topic,but it's important.
The margins of profit in arestaurant are slim.
They're not - you don't make20% on the things you sell.
You make - you hope, as anowner, you walk away with close
to 10%.
You hope, right, and thatpercentage can disappear fast.
(09:03):
So the value of anunderstanding the terms and how
to figure out a food cost, justas one example, are key, and so
I've used it - I'm actuallyrealizing as I'm talking to you
how much I've used it right fromthe beginning, and it's true.
Ryan Kimball (09:20):
Nice.
That makes sense.
So it sounds like there's anattention to the detail of
understanding things in order toget into the level of success
that you've accomplished overthe years.
Bob Bolt (09:33):
Right.
If you don't understand how tofigure out a food cost
percentage, or you don'tunderstand what gross profit is,
or you don't understand anyother terms like that, then you
can't figure it out because youdon't know what you're doing.
So, in order to know whatyou're doing, you have to
understand the terms used andthen how they're used.
(09:54):
Just like the math formula -you have to understand what
parentheses are.
What are the two little linesthat go horizontally?
Oh, that's an equal sign.
If you don't understand that,you have no clue.
Now that - most people go,everybody knows that.
No, not everybody knows that.
When I asked her if she knewwhat the little parentheses were
and she looked at me sheepishlyand shook her head no, I was
(10:15):
like, oh boy, we got to workwith this girl.
But - right?
- we have a ways to go, but Ithink with the restaurant
business or any business - ifyou want to be an architect, if
you want to be a dancer, youneed to know what the different
dance moves are.
The instructor says blah, blah,blah move.
(10:36):
You need to know what thatmeans and how high you lift your
leg or jump or whatever you dowhen you dance.
Because I don't know, right?
Ryan Kimball (10:45):
Okay, great.
Let me ask you this - I'm just,I'm curious about your journey
as a business person and whatnot.
Were there any, like, pivotalmoments where you were really
glad that you had thisunderstanding of how to study so
that you could work throughsomething in your business, get
to the next level, handlesomething?
Bob Bolt (11:04):
Yeah, there's a couple things that are pivotal - is,
like I mentioned, when I boughtmy business in 1981, there were
no personal computers, right?
We got computers - when did weget computers?
In the late 80s, early 90s,like late 80s, and we started,
yeah, and we started putting ourbook work on them and
(11:24):
spreadsheets.
And what's this spreadsheet?
Right?
How does this spreadsheet work?
Oh, microsoft Excel, what'sthat?
So I'll never forget.
When I got my first computers, Itook them out of the box.
They were an IBM - not from IBM, but an IBM type computer or a
(11:44):
desktop regular computer, not a- I think Apple was just in
schools at that point.
But I remember there was alittle booklet that came with it
and it was super simple.
So I sat down with my computerand I opened the little booklet
and it said this is your floppydrive.
When it had a little bird withan arm pointing to the thing and
(12:08):
I looked, I go, that's that.
Oh, that's the floppy drive,okay.
And then I kept going throughit and I taught myself.
So I don't talk too long inyour podcast here, I evolved and
taught myself how a computerworked and I taught myself how
to use, for instance, MicrosoftExcel and basic, simple things
(12:31):
and I went to a few seminars andlearned oh, if you right-click
your mouse, you can do this andthat - like, the guy was really
good.
If you learn one thing today,learn right click.
And I didn't know aboutright-clicking and what's that
other button on the mouse for,right?
That's an example.
And then I even took it up tocomplicated things where I was
(12:53):
doing projections and salesscenarios.
There's a thing called scenariomanager where you can have a
whole spreadsheet for yourrestaurant with different sales
and stuff and plug in - thissales level, what will this do?
That sales level, what willthat do?
If you change the food cost,what will that do?
And it ran the whole thing andI learned how to do that and
(13:15):
it's simple but it's not if youfirst look at it - it's like, oh
, my heavens! Can I give you onemore on that area?
Ryan Kimball, Host (13:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Bob Bolt (13:27):
The one other thing is - and this is more recent -
the world, advertising, media -lot of it is just on digital,
right?
We're on digital voices talkingto each other right now.
I'm in my home in the Buffaloarea.
You're in your home and inCentral New York or wherever you
are, and we're in our spots,right?
(13:50):
But along with that has comewhat everybody knows - Facebook.
Okay, you can advertise onFacebook.
They make it very simple incertain ways.
You can post a little thing foryour restaurant and you can
boost that post.
That's easy peasy and you canlearn how to do that pretty fast
(14:11):
.
But then there's somethingcalled Facebook Ads Manager.
Oh! So I said, I want to learnthat because I know how to
insert pictures and things anddo graphics, and my wife is a
graphic design artist, which isgreat.
So if you're in a business,marry a graphic design artist
and that will help youwonderfully, right?
(14:34):
But Facebook Ads Manager is afabulous example, because if you
don't know how to use it andyou go in and you have a
business page and you click ongetting into Facebook ads
manager, you will see stuff -it'll be like what is this?
It's just, I don't know whatI'm doing.
(14:55):
There's all these differentlevels and things you can do and
it's like a bit crazy.
And what I found and maybe youknow what I'm talking about is
if you hit something you don'tunderstand and you really don't
understand it sometimes you justwant to give up.
It's, I don't get it, or youfeel stupid.
(15:16):
You feel like you're stupid,right?
So you want to give up.
That happened to me.
I tried to get into FacebookAds Manager.
I went, oh no, and I walkedaway from it and it was like a
week or two later I came back,tried again, so I did what a lot
of people do.
I went to YouTube, right?
So I watched a YouTube videoand the guy goes through and
(15:41):
what does he do?
He tells you, this is this part, this what - this is what this
does.
First thing you have to do isregister your business page and
do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah- and that's over here.
You click this button here.
So, I would have one screenopen going and I would stop it
and go to my screen and go okay,where's that button?
Okay, I can find it.
Okay, ah, there it is, and Ispent probably six hours going
(16:06):
through a 45 minute video whichreally explained it.
Then I had someone in mybusiness who helped me with it
and I gradually learned it.
Now I can sit down and load andlaunch a Facebook Ads Manager
campaign and do it in about 10or 15 minutes, boom, boom.
But I was totally lost.
(16:28):
I - and if it wasn't forYouTube, that's a - that's
terrible.
But if you want to learn how todo something, honestly, you
want to learn how to dosomething?
You go to YouTube.
I couldn't get the shutters offmy house, Ryan.
How do I get shutters off myhouse - went to YouTube and then
(16:48):
they tell you! You can't figureit out.
Why can't you figure it out?
Because you don't know what'sgoing on.
You don't know how the shuttersare attached.
Oh, they're attached by thisthing that if you slip this tool
underneath and just pop it,it's gonna crack that little
do-hingy in there and you'llhave your shutter off.
That's study technology.
I learned what it was fastenedwith, what it was called and how
(17:12):
you break it apart.
Now I hope I'm not too offtrack there, but I think it
applies.
Ryan Kimball (17:19):
Yeah, totally, I agree, yeah, absolutely Very
practical.
Bob Bolt (17:23):
Yeah.
Ryan Kimball (17:24):
Okay, nice.
Thank you for that.
And I wanted to ask you -something that came to mind when
you were talking, was sometimesyou can Google something and
you can YouTube it, and YouTubeis one of my favorite go-tos as
well for figuring stuff out.
But there can be a phenomena ofinformation overload or there's
just too much in the video.
(17:46):
Have you found any ways tonavigate that, as you're
learning these skills in thebusiness world?
Bob Bolt (17:53):
To correlate it back to what I was talking about, the
Facebook Ads Manager video, youhave to take a bite at a time,
right?
The guy started out and Ididn't.
I think the key thing is, ifsomebody is a good teacher,
they're going to teach you athing.
They're going to start with abasic and build from there.
They won't overwhelm you withthe high level stuff first.
(18:13):
If they do that's somethingwith that teacher, he's got to
start at the lower level.
This guy started at the lowerlevel.
Now, I'm not sure if this iswhere you were going, but what
you made me think of is don't goby something - like, he starts
out with a business, becausethey think you have to do this
first.
Oh, that's just signing up forit.
I don't need to know that.
You go by it and then you'relost because you went by the
(18:36):
thing in the beginning on how tostart it up and have it there
at all, so you can even use it.
That's just stupid stuff Idon't need to know.
Oh, no, you need to know thebasic thing.
Like my computer, when I tookit out of the box in 1989 or 88
or whatever it was, and it hadthe little thing with a little
(18:59):
picture and little cartoon birdthing pointing to the disk drive
saying, this is your disk drive, I went, oh, that's a disk
drive.
Okay, what's a disk drive?
Oh, you put a disk in it.
Oh, the disk stores theinformation.
Oh, and you go on.
I don't know - did I answeryour question?
Ryan Kimball (19:17):
Yeah, absolutely that's great.
I just wanted your input on howyou navigate that.
It sounds like fundamentals.
Fundamentally, be willing tolearn the basics and really
learn them well, so you canlearn more complex things - what
I'm taking away.
Bob Bolt (19:30):
Yes, and don't - try not to go by things you don't
get.
Like, people know - peoplewho's reading something and,
they - eh,.
what's What's that?
Depends on how important it is.
It might not be - maybe Maybeit won't be, but you have to
evaluate - is it important ornot?
And if it's something about howto do Facebook Ads Manager and
you just went by it and it's thebasic on setting it up, you
(19:51):
better stop, rewind the littleYouTube thing, video thing, and
go back and then stop and go toyour thing and click where's
that button?
Oh, that's that button.
Oh, I see.
Okay, now my screen looks likehis.
Okay, Now, what did he say?
I rewind it again.
Sometimes I went over this -parts of this video - four, five
, six times because it was just- it was a lot.
(20:14):
45 minutes was a ton of data,but I had to break it down.
And maybe that's what you'regetting at too - you break it
down into chunks or pieces.
Understand that piece, then dothe next piece.
Understand that piece, then dothe next piece and then start
playing with it and using it andthen you can figure it - then
you figure it out from there.
Ryan Kimball (20:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that sometimes we hearpeople say what you just said
and you're someone who's doneand accomplished things and it
almost seems too simple that itcan't be just that you have to
understand things and thenunderstand new things, right?
It can't be that simple, but itreally is, and I think what
(20:58):
you're saying is a bit of atestament to that.
Bob Bolt (21:03):
And here's the funny thing I just thought of you can
teach an old dog new tricks.
You can.
I'm not a young dog, you knowwhat I mean.
You can teach an old dog newtricks if you have some study
technology.
Like some guys my age - and I'mnot 25 anymore - some guys my
(21:25):
age don't know how to use a cellphone at all.
You know what I mean?
They're lost.
And I'll say to them it's notthat hard, there's few basic
things.
Oh yeah, I don't want to learnthat.
It's too confusing.
Oh, why is it too confusing?
Actually, using a cell phoneand texting someone is simple,
(21:46):
right?
But youhave to understand your basics.
And if you don't understandthat - oh, you have a contact
list and you - when you put yourkids and your relatives and
your business associates in yourcontact list with their phone
numbers, so when you have yourlittle cell phone and the phone
rings, their name will pop up onthe thing and you'll know it's
(22:07):
them.
Oh! But if you don't know that,you're in trouble.
I think that's a good examplewith a cell phone, because some
people are resistant - and Ilove that! With study technology
- here we can mark this down.
This is a good one, Ryan.
With study technology, you canteach an old dog new tricks.
Ryan Kimball (22:28):
I like that.
Bob Bolt (22:29):
I do.
Ryan Kimball (22:29):
We'll start using that.
Yeah, with study technology,you can teach an old dog new
tricks.
(Bob (22:34):
Whoop-whoop!) That's great.
But it's true!) Yeah, I agree! Yeah, absolutely.
Good) Awesome, great, thank you.
That's very clarifying to meand I just wanted to bring up
the other points and make surethat we all got them fully.
We noted some things I wantedto make sure we covered today.
We got the first few here andyou might have covered this one
(22:54):
already, but let me just ask youabout it.
This is regarding, specifically, business growth.
So, is there any specific wayyou've adapted or customized
study techniques to fit theunique needs you had in your
business or with your team, youremployees and your business?
Bob Bolt (23:13):
OK, my thoughts go in a few directions there.
One direction it goes in is -when you're studying something
or learning something, you canread about it and there's words,
right?
- but you don't see the thing,right?
So, I don't know - like adancer has to learn a new move,
(23:35):
and she has a book or shegoogles it or whatever, and it
shows a little diagram of thatmove.
You lift your leg like this anddon't lift it higher than this,
and then you see it and go, oh!that's the way that move goes.
Ok, for me -I own a restaurant.
We have - our main product issubmarine sandwiches, okay?
(23:58):
So we have to train people howto make a sub.
Ok, usually the old school wayis you go to the front counter
or wherever you're making thesandwiches or the subs and you
work with somebody who knows howto do it and they show you how,
okay?
That's good, but you're onlygoing to be as good as that
person is, right?
What if one of your key peopleisn't there that day?
(24:19):
How much lettuce do we put on?
What's too light, what's toomuch?
What we started doing - andagain, digital world.
We have an app.
I'm connected with this companyand my employees have apps on
their phone and myself and oneof my key managers made subs and
(24:43):
I videoed it and then we showthem.
The cheese goes on like this,then you put the lettuce on.
Now the way you can do thelettuce is you get in your hands
and you do this certain way andyou put it on, you stretch it
out and this is how much youshould have.
If it looks like - this is whatit looks like, and somebody
sees it and goes, oh, wow, I wasputting too much before, or the
(25:06):
first day I worked I didn't seethis video.
But that's the thing where it'snice to have the thing that you
can look at - a video, apicture, the real thing, right?
And so - digital world again.
Ok, get you - boy,you know what - you really got
to work on your lettuce.
(25:26):
Tell you what.
Grab your phone - when you comeoff break, before you come back
up to work, grab your phone, goto the app and read - look at
file number blah, blah, blahabout how to put the lettuce,
tomatoes and onions on the sub,again.
Just take a look at it again.
Okay?
Oh, ok.
And they do it.
And then it's, Oh, I see.
Yeah, I'll work on it.
And it's simple.
(25:47):
And I really like that becauseit keys in on that area.
They see it and they have -they have it there in front of
them, visually.
Ryan Kimball (26:01):
That's so cool.
I've heard of apps being used,but not that practically and
specifically with a person's job.
That's really neat.
Bob Bolt (26:08):
Oh yeah, and then there's all kinds of other
things like the app has - I canput the policies and regulations
on there and I can put otherthings, but the training videos
to me, are the real reason wehave it.
How do you stretch a pizza?
Pizza is live dough and unlessyou have somebody who's really
(26:29):
good at it, you could be introuble.
And even somebody who watchesthe video a few times has to
practice with it.
But if they see the video, thisis what to do, this is what not
to do.
Watch it a few times, you getthe idea.
Yeah, so the app is great.
It's great.
Ryan Kimball (26:47):
Nice, nice.
Yeah, and we employ a lot ofvideos in our training for the
Competence Institute.
YouTube's kind of the worldwideexample of that app that you
just described for your business.
Bob Bolt (27:01):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Like, for me it's - the app isspecific to my business and how
we do things.
The beauty of YouTube issometimes you don't have enough
money to pay somebody to doeverything around your house.
And rather than learning bytrial and error or going to Home
Depot and hoping the guy atHome Depot knows - if you can
(27:21):
find that video and you'reseeing a video that shows you -
that is part of study technology.
But part of it also is the guywho's talking going to use words
and symbols that you don'tunderstand.
I like it when the guy goesokay, I'm going to use my four
inch trowel.
Here it is, this is four inches, I'm going to use this.
(27:43):
You can use a little bigger oneif you want, but if you use the
small.
And they go on and on, but theyshow you this is a four inch -
or the good, the guys who aregood on this show you details
and - use this type ofscrewdriver, not this type or
that, and they're showing it toyou while they're talking about
it.
So they're clearing up the term, what it is, and then you get
(28:04):
the physical representation ofit, which is awesome.
Ryan Kimball (28:08):
Exactly.
And I think people knowingthat's what they need to be
looking for in theirinstruction, whether they're
getting it from a course theybought, a YouTube video, an app
that they're getting it at a jobwhere they get hired - they
know what they need to look for- so if they do get confused
they don't think, oh, it's just,I'm dumb or something.
(28:30):
They know that person's beingtoo complex, not supplying an
example of the physicalrepresentation or object to make
it clear or whatever, and that- I found that after I learned
the study technology - I wasless self- conscious about not
being able to understandsomething.
I could just go, oh, it'smissing this piece, that's why I
don't understand that.
Bob Bolt (28:50):
And sometimes the key is you have to look and see what
didn't you understand?
Or is there something, even inthe - sometimes it goes as far
as, you get instructions on howto do something or a textbook
and they leave out part that youneed to know.
So there's like missingtechnology on what to do and
(29:11):
sometimes you have to be brightenough to realize - wait a
minute, he didn't cover (29:14):
how do you scrape that part of the
ceiling before you're going topaint?
He didn't talk about.
He just said scrape it.
Oh, okay, maybe I should watchanother video on how do you
scrape a ceiling?
But having all the technologythere is important too - you can
have missing pieces.
Ryan Kimball (29:33):
Makes sense.
(Bob (29:33):
Yeah) Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, great, I think there wasanother point here that I wanted
to cover as well.
Oh, great - so this is moreabout how this applies to life,
lifelong learning philosophyviewpoint.
So, how do you incorporate thisphilosophy of lifelong learning
and self improvement, etc.
(29:55):
, into your business model, andwhat advice would you give other
entrepreneurs in this regard?
Bob Bolt (30:04):
Yeah, this is a good - this is a good point to maybe
wrap up a little bit on here.
We talked about a lot of it,right?
So I'm looking for ways to makethings simpler for my employees
to understand, right?
One way is that app and puttingthings on an app, right?
(30:25):
And then I'm always looking forways to understand things
better.
I have another example, quick,if you don't mind - there's a
thing on my program.
I'm sorry.
I have a part of the programfor my software that runs my
store - is an inventory module.
Oh, what's that?
(30:46):
What that does is - you cantell it how much ham goes in
each sub that has ham on it, andthen at the end of the week you
can run numbers and it'll tellyou how much ham you should have
used.
Okay, then you can input yourinventory that you started with,
input how much ham came in thatweek, input the end of the
(31:07):
inventory, what you ended theweek with, and the program will
tell you where you should haveused 120 pounds of ham, but your
physical inventory tells youyou used 140.
Where did 20 pounds go?
Okay, great, that's great.
But now you have to figure outhow to use that program.
And that program is a bear.
(31:27):
It's like the Facebook AdsManager we talked about earlier.
It's, oh boy! And I'm in theprocess of doing that right now.
So, I think one thing to say islearning new things and evolving
is a constant process.
You're - you should always belearning and you should never be
(31:48):
like, oh, that's toocomplicated, I could never do
that.
Wait a minute - evaluate it.
Is it too complicated?
If you can count your ham andput in a number in the thing and
whatever - you have to figureout where the number goes, how
to calculate it, how to run thereport.
It's again, it's one bite at atime - you can do that.
The thing I would say - so, I'mconstantly trying to learn
(32:11):
things myself and for mymanagement team.
I'm constantly trying to makethings easier for my employees
so they can learn things easierand simpler.
Why?
So that I have a better product, so they're more productive, so
things are more consistent.
Okay?
But I would say to any - myadvice to any entrepreneur is,
(32:32):
if you're building a business,you learn the basics of the
business you want to run andmake sure you try to clear up
terminology for your businessand make sure you understand
what the elements of it are.
Take your time to learn it andthen, while you're doing that,
think about how you're going tocommunicate that or relay that
(32:57):
to your employees or teammatesor whatever you have that are
going to have to do thefunctions, the basic functions
of the business.
And there was no app fortraining five, six years ago.
It's only three, four years oldand I've been using it and
developing it, so be willing tolearn new things and incorporate
them.
(33:17):
But I think the key thing is,it's a process - I don't know,
Ryan - in life, that youcontinue to learn and don't - if
you feel like you don't get it- Oh no, this is too much - it's
probably just because you don'tunderstand something and back
it up, and there are some thingsthat maybe you need a
(33:38):
professional for right?
But there's a lot you can doyourself.
Does that make sense?
Ryan Kimball (33:46):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Great! Makes a lot of sense tome.
It's actually simplified things.
Whenever you talk to somebodyabout how they use a piece of
technology and how they've madeit and been successful with it,
it just helps simplify things inyour own world, so to speak.
Yeah, totally makes sense.
Bob Bolt (34:07):
And as a parting comment here, I would say if you
, through your endeavors here,have tools - you have tools for
learning, study, et cetera, Iwould advise people to take
advantage of it, because it'snot - you know what?
They're very simple, but simpleis powerful.
(34:28):
They're very simple, butthey're very powerful, and dive
into it and it'll be time wellspent if you learn them.
Ryan Kimball (34:38):
Thank you so much, Bob.
That's really good stuff.
I appreciate you taking thetime today and we'll probably
have you back on, if you don'tmind, in the future, to talk
about some other tools andwhatnot, you've used to be
successful as a businessman.
Bob Bolt (34:52):
Sure, I'd be happy to do it! (Ryan
)
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Competence Institute podcast.
This week I am very excited tohave a special guest with us, Mr
Bob Bolt.
He has been a business personfor a long time, very successful
in life and has used studytechnology extensively, as well
as The Way to Happiness.
(00:20):
So we're gonna talk about thattoday and see what he has to say
and tell us about that.
Hi, Bob! (Bob (00:24):
Ryan, how are you today?
) I'm doing great, thanks! Thankyou for being with us.
Bob Bolt (00:31):
Oh, this is fun.
Yes, I'm happy to talk aboutthe study technology.
Ryan Kimball (00:35):
Awesome, great.
So I'd like to start out withjust a little bit about your
background and yourself and whoyou are and how you relate to
the study technology.
Bob Bolt (00:45):
I've been in - you mentioned - I've been in
business for a long time, so Iown a restaurant in the local
Buffalo, New York area and I'veowned it - Are you ready?
I've owned it for 42 years.
(Ryan (00:59):
Wow, I didn't realize that.
) Yeah, since 1981.
It freaks me out a little too.
But when it comes to the studytechnology, I was introduced to
it before I bought my businessand I used it to help me learn
different things with musicbecause my background before
(01:24):
being a restaurant owner, Iactually worked in the
restaurant business, but Ididn't own one.
But I was a musician and Iplayed drums.
I played percussion in highschool and being able to have a
study technology just to learnmusic or any field of life was
important.
So it goes - it predates mybusiness experience knowing
(01:47):
about how to learn.
I had that background initially.
Ryan Kimball (01:53):
Neat! That's so cool.
I didn't know that about you atall, so very cool.
(Bob (01:57):
Yeah!) Just curious - you were into music and you said
you used the study technology abit for that.
What did you use it for, morespecifically?
Bob Bolt (02:08):
Specifically, if someone doesn't understand music
and doesn't - especiallyreading charted music, right?
Like, I could play the drum setand read a drum set part on a
piece of music.
Now, where study technologycomes in is, if you don't, boy,
we're getting into the nittygritty.
(02:29):
But if you don't understand allthose little symbols and things
that are on a staff of music,first of all, what the lines
mean, what these symbols on theend mean, there's symbols galore
in music and - just, if youdon't understand a word, you
don't understand a word.
It's easy.
There's a word.
(02:50):
I don't know what that means,but symbols are - people, it's
the same thing with symbols.
If you don't understand whatthe little clef thing is and you
don't understand what the noteis or the time signature, and
here I'm spitting out terms, butyou have to know that stuff or
you'll be lost.
You'll be lost.
(03:10):
I'll give you - can I give youan example from earlier in my
life?
(Ryan (03:13):
Yeah, absolutely.
)I was sitting in a class - it
was a math class - next to agirl and we were supposed to
work on our assignment.
And I'm sitting there and Ilook at her and she looks blank
and lost.
She's looking at the paper andhas no clue, right?
(03:37):
And I looked over and I said,do you want some help?
And she looked at me and noddedher head sheepishly, yeah, yep.
And so I said to the professoror teacher, I said can I slide
over and work with her?
And he goes, yes.
So I go over to her and I lookat a formula in front of her and
I see the various symbols inthe formula and one of them - if
(04:01):
you understand math and I hope,depending on who's listening to
this, they understand math.
If they don't, in a formula youcan have parentheses like you
do in an English sentence.
Right, and I said, so - I saidto her - I go, let's start with
basics, because to me that'swhere you have to start on any
subject.
Right.
) I go, these things are likeparentheses in common writing.
(04:24):
Do you know what those do?
And this girl is really cuteand she looks, she shook her
head and, nah - nope, I go.
Okay, so here's the thing youhave to - and so, basically, I
went over and cleared up withher what those symbols mean in a
math formula and then in theend she could do a simple
formula, because she knew thatyou had to figure out what was
(04:46):
in the parentheses first, and Idon't wanna confuse people who
are listening if you don't knowmath, but that's just a simple
example from my education daysof using study technology just
to help someone.
But what was I doing?
I was helping her clear upsomething she didn't understand.
She had a symbol, a thing, andit was like - and she couldn't
(05:10):
do anything because she wasstopped right at that point.
So that's a simple example.
And then music - I went overthat - and then there's other
things in music too.
It was like, when you studymusic - one other comment on
this is there's lots ofinstruments, right, and you can
read about an instrument or thisor that and you're like what is
that?
What is that instrument, right?
(05:31):
So sometimes it helps to get togo see it, physically see it,
or see a picture of it, orsomebody could at least explain
it to you.
Have you ever seen that thingwith a long thing that slides
out, in and out?
That's a trombone.
You know what I mean?
Oh, that's a trombone, wherethe thing slides.
(05:52):
Yeah, I've seen those! But apicture is better, or the actual
thing is even better.
And that's just another exampleof how you can help understand
something.
And then, that way, music,because music, oh my gosh,
there's so many - what's aclavichord?
What's a - what's the differencebetween a clavichord and a
harpsichord?
(06:12):
You know what I mean.
It's like a piano a little bit,but it's not really a piano, and
then you have to see it, listento it, so you can understand.
Ryan Kimball (06:21):
It makes sense - makes a lot of sense.
Cool, great examples.
Thank you.
(Bob (06:24):
Yep.
) Yeah, and also, obviously, wewanted to talk to you about your
journey as a business personand as a business leader.
I know you're a leader in thecommunity where you live and you
mentioned how long you've beenin business and successful at it
, so I wanted to ask you abouthow have you integrated
(06:46):
different learning and studytechniques that you know to
enhance these skills as a leaderand in your decision-making
processes as a business person?
Bob Bolt (06:55):
That's a heck of a question, Ryan, but for me, I
look at different things I doand as a business owner, you
have to understand basic things.
Right, I own a restaurant.
How do you figure out your foodcost?
What elements do I have to do,you know?
(07:16):
So you go to a webinar or aseminar or something.
Back when I started, there wereno webinars, there was no
internet, there was no cellphone.
So you went to a seminar or athing or someone taught you, and
sometimes it could be dauntingbecause they're using terms to
(07:37):
describe food cost percentagesand gross profit and all this
other stuff.
And I remember distinctly -because I bought my business in
1981, I was introduced to studytechnology around 1973, 74.
And I remember consciouslythinking, wait, what's the gross
(08:00):
profit thing?
What's that?
Well, you have all your salesand what's your gross profit?
So I had to clear that up andfor people who are confused, you
have your total sales, you do.
Your gross profit is what'sleft after you pay your key
expenses like food, paper costsand labor, right, and then
(08:22):
what's left that's gross profitto pay everything else your
insurance, your whatnot.
So right in the beginning, I waslooking at those terms and I
knew I had to understand them ifI was gonna figure out how to
run a restaurant successfullyand have it make money, because
(08:42):
- this is somewhat off topic,but it's important.
The margins of profit in arestaurant are slim.
They're not - you don't make20% on the things you sell.
You make - you hope, as anowner, you walk away with close
to 10%.
You hope, right, and thatpercentage can disappear fast.
(09:03):
So the value of anunderstanding the terms and how
to figure out a food cost, justas one example, are key, and so
I've used it - I'm actuallyrealizing as I'm talking to you
how much I've used it right fromthe beginning, and it's true.
Ryan Kimball (09:20):
Nice.
That makes sense.
So it sounds like there's anattention to the detail of
understanding things in order toget into the level of success
that you've accomplished overthe years.
Bob Bolt (09:33):
Right.
If you don't understand how tofigure out a food cost
percentage, or you don'tunderstand what gross profit is,
or you don't understand anyother terms like that, then you
can't figure it out because youdon't know what you're doing.
So, in order to know whatyou're doing, you have to
understand the terms used andthen how they're used.
(09:54):
Just like the math formula -you have to understand what
parentheses are.
What are the two little linesthat go horizontally?
Oh, that's an equal sign.
If you don't understand that,you have no clue.
Now that - most people go,everybody knows that.
No, not everybody knows that.
When I asked her if she knewwhat the little parentheses were
and she looked at me sheepishlyand shook her head no, I was
(10:15):
like, oh boy, we got to workwith this girl.
But - right?
- we have a ways to go, but Ithink with the restaurant
business or any business - ifyou want to be an architect, if
you want to be a dancer, youneed to know what the different
dance moves are.
The instructor says blah, blah,blah move.
(10:36):
You need to know what thatmeans and how high you lift your
leg or jump or whatever you dowhen you dance.
Because I don't know, right?
Ryan Kimball (10:45):
Okay, great.
Let me ask you this - I'm just,I'm curious about your journey
as a business person and whatnot.
Were there any, like, pivotalmoments where you were really
glad that you had thisunderstanding of how to study so
that you could work throughsomething in your business, get
to the next level, handlesomething?
Bob Bolt (11:04):
Yeah, there's a couple things that are pivotal - is,
like I mentioned, when I boughtmy business in 1981, there were
no personal computers, right?
We got computers - when did weget computers?
In the late 80s, early 90s,like late 80s, and we started,
yeah, and we started putting ourbook work on them and
(11:24):
spreadsheets.
And what's this spreadsheet?
Right?
How does this spreadsheet work?
Oh, microsoft Excel, what'sthat?
So I'll never forget.
When I got my first computers, Itook them out of the box.
They were an IBM - not from IBM, but an IBM type computer or a
(11:44):
desktop regular computer, not a- I think Apple was just in
schools at that point.
But I remember there was alittle booklet that came with it
and it was super simple.
So I sat down with my computerand I opened the little booklet
and it said this is your floppydrive.
When it had a little bird withan arm pointing to the thing and
(12:08):
I looked, I go, that's that.
Oh, that's the floppy drive,okay.
And then I kept going throughit and I taught myself.
So I don't talk too long inyour podcast here, I evolved and
taught myself how a computerworked and I taught myself how
to use, for instance, MicrosoftExcel and basic, simple things
(12:31):
and I went to a few seminars andlearned oh, if you right-click
your mouse, you can do this andthat - like, the guy was really
good.
If you learn one thing today,learn right click.
And I didn't know aboutright-clicking and what's that
other button on the mouse for,right?
That's an example.
And then I even took it up tocomplicated things where I was
(12:53):
doing projections and salesscenarios.
There's a thing called scenariomanager where you can have a
whole spreadsheet for yourrestaurant with different sales
and stuff and plug in - thissales level, what will this do?
That sales level, what willthat do?
If you change the food cost,what will that do?
And it ran the whole thing andI learned how to do that and
(13:15):
it's simple but it's not if youfirst look at it - it's like, oh
, my heavens! Can I give you onemore on that area?
Ryan Kimball, Host (13:27):
Yeah, absolutely.
Bob Bolt (13:27):
The one other thing is - and this is more recent -
the world, advertising, media -lot of it is just on digital,
right?
We're on digital voices talkingto each other right now.
I'm in my home in the Buffaloarea.
You're in your home and inCentral New York or wherever you
are, and we're in our spots,right?
(13:50):
But along with that has comewhat everybody knows - Facebook.
Okay, you can advertise onFacebook.
They make it very simple incertain ways.
You can post a little thing foryour restaurant and you can
boost that post.
That's easy peasy and you canlearn how to do that pretty fast
(14:11):
.
But then there's somethingcalled Facebook Ads Manager.
Oh! So I said, I want to learnthat because I know how to
insert pictures and things anddo graphics, and my wife is a
graphic design artist, which isgreat.
So if you're in a business,marry a graphic design artist
and that will help youwonderfully, right?
(14:34):
But Facebook Ads Manager is afabulous example, because if you
don't know how to use it andyou go in and you have a
business page and you click ongetting into Facebook ads
manager, you will see stuff -it'll be like what is this?
It's just, I don't know whatI'm doing.
(14:55):
There's all these differentlevels and things you can do and
it's like a bit crazy.
And what I found and maybe youknow what I'm talking about is
if you hit something you don'tunderstand and you really don't
understand it sometimes you justwant to give up.
It's, I don't get it, or youfeel stupid.
(15:16):
You feel like you're stupid,right?
So you want to give up.
That happened to me.
I tried to get into FacebookAds Manager.
I went, oh no, and I walkedaway from it and it was like a
week or two later I came back,tried again, so I did what a lot
of people do.
I went to YouTube, right?
So I watched a YouTube videoand the guy goes through and
(15:41):
what does he do?
He tells you, this is this part, this what - this is what this
does.
First thing you have to do isregister your business page and
do blah, blah, blah, blah, blah- and that's over here.
You click this button here.
So, I would have one screenopen going and I would stop it
and go to my screen and go okay,where's that button?
Okay, I can find it.
Okay, ah, there it is, and Ispent probably six hours going
(16:06):
through a 45 minute video whichreally explained it.
Then I had someone in mybusiness who helped me with it
and I gradually learned it.
Now I can sit down and load andlaunch a Facebook Ads Manager
campaign and do it in about 10or 15 minutes, boom, boom.
But I was totally lost.
(16:28):
I - and if it wasn't forYouTube, that's a - that's
terrible.
But if you want to learn how todo something, honestly, you
want to learn how to dosomething?
You go to YouTube.
I couldn't get the shutters offmy house, Ryan.
How do I get shutters off myhouse - went to YouTube and then
(16:48):
they tell you! You can't figureit out.
Why can't you figure it out?
Because you don't know what'sgoing on.
You don't know how the shuttersare attached.
Oh, they're attached by thisthing that if you slip this tool
underneath and just pop it,it's gonna crack that little
do-hingy in there and you'llhave your shutter off.
That's study technology.
I learned what it was fastenedwith, what it was called and how
(17:12):
you break it apart.
Now I hope I'm not too offtrack there, but I think it
applies.
Ryan Kimball (17:19):
Yeah, totally, I agree, yeah, absolutely Very
practical.
Bob Bolt (17:23):
Yeah.
Ryan Kimball (17:24):
Okay, nice.
Thank you for that.
And I wanted to ask you -something that came to mind when
you were talking, was sometimesyou can Google something and
you can YouTube it, and YouTubeis one of my favorite go-tos as
well for figuring stuff out.
But there can be a phenomena ofinformation overload or there's
just too much in the video.
(17:46):
Have you found any ways tonavigate that, as you're
learning these skills in thebusiness world?
Bob Bolt (17:53):
To correlate it back to what I was talking about, the
Facebook Ads Manager video, youhave to take a bite at a time,
right?
The guy started out and Ididn't.
I think the key thing is, ifsomebody is a good teacher,
they're going to teach you athing.
They're going to start with abasic and build from there.
They won't overwhelm you withthe high level stuff first.
(18:13):
If they do that's somethingwith that teacher, he's got to
start at the lower level.
This guy started at the lowerlevel.
Now, I'm not sure if this iswhere you were going, but what
you made me think of is don't goby something - like, he starts
out with a business, becausethey think you have to do this
first.
Oh, that's just signing up forit.
I don't need to know that.
You go by it and then you'relost because you went by the
(18:36):
thing in the beginning on how tostart it up and have it there
at all, so you can even use it.
That's just stupid stuff Idon't need to know.
Oh, no, you need to know thebasic thing.
Like my computer, when I tookit out of the box in 1989 or 88
or whatever it was, and it hadthe little thing with a little
(18:59):
picture and little cartoon birdthing pointing to the disk drive
saying, this is your disk drive, I went, oh, that's a disk
drive.
Okay, what's a disk drive?
Oh, you put a disk in it.
Oh, the disk stores theinformation.
Oh, and you go on.
I don't know - did I answeryour question?
Ryan Kimball (19:17):
Yeah, absolutely that's great.
I just wanted your input on howyou navigate that.
It sounds like fundamentals.
Fundamentally, be willing tolearn the basics and really
learn them well, so you canlearn more complex things - what
I'm taking away.
Bob Bolt (19:30):
Yes, and don't - try not to go by things you don't
get.
Like, people know - peoplewho's reading something and,
they - eh,.
what's What's that?
Depends on how important it is.
It might not be - maybe Maybeit won't be, but you have to
evaluate - is it important ornot?
And if it's something about howto do Facebook Ads Manager and
you just went by it and it's thebasic on setting it up, you
(19:51):
better stop, rewind the littleYouTube thing, video thing, and
go back and then stop and go toyour thing and click where's
that button?
Oh, that's that button.
Oh, I see.
Okay, now my screen looks likehis.
Okay, Now, what did he say?
I rewind it again.
Sometimes I went over this -parts of this video - four, five
, six times because it was just- it was a lot.
(20:14):
45 minutes was a ton of data,but I had to break it down.
And maybe that's what you'regetting at too - you break it
down into chunks or pieces.
Understand that piece, then dothe next piece.
Understand that piece, then dothe next piece and then start
playing with it and using it andthen you can figure it - then
you figure it out from there.
Ryan Kimball (20:36):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think that sometimes we hearpeople say what you just said
and you're someone who's doneand accomplished things and it
almost seems too simple that itcan't be just that you have to
understand things and thenunderstand new things, right?
It can't be that simple, but itreally is, and I think what
(20:58):
you're saying is a bit of atestament to that.
Bob Bolt (21:03):
And here's the funny thing I just thought of you can
teach an old dog new tricks.
You can.
I'm not a young dog, you knowwhat I mean.
You can teach an old dog newtricks if you have some study
technology.
Like some guys my age - and I'mnot 25 anymore - some guys my
(21:25):
age don't know how to use a cellphone at all.
You know what I mean?
They're lost.
And I'll say to them it's notthat hard, there's few basic
things.
Oh yeah, I don't want to learnthat.
It's too confusing.
Oh, why is it too confusing?
Actually, using a cell phoneand texting someone is simple,
(21:46):
right?
But youhave to understand your basics.
And if you don't understandthat - oh, you have a contact
list and you - when you put yourkids and your relatives and
your business associates in yourcontact list with their phone
numbers, so when you have yourlittle cell phone and the phone
rings, their name will pop up onthe thing and you'll know it's
(22:07):
them.
Oh! But if you don't know that,you're in trouble.
I think that's a good examplewith a cell phone, because some
people are resistant - and Ilove that! With study technology
- here we can mark this down.
This is a good one, Ryan.
With study technology, you canteach an old dog new tricks.
Ryan Kimball (22:28):
I like that.
Bob Bolt (22:29):
I do.
Ryan Kimball (22:29):
We'll start using that.
Yeah, with study technology,you can teach an old dog new
tricks.
(Bob (22:34):
Whoop-whoop!) That's great.
But it's true!) Yeah, I agree! Yeah, absolutely.
Good) Awesome, great, thank you.
That's very clarifying to meand I just wanted to bring up
the other points and make surethat we all got them fully.
We noted some things I wantedto make sure we covered today.
We got the first few here andyou might have covered this one
(22:54):
already, but let me just ask youabout it.
This is regarding, specifically, business growth.
So, is there any specific wayyou've adapted or customized
study techniques to fit theunique needs you had in your
business or with your team, youremployees and your business?
Bob Bolt (23:13):
OK, my thoughts go in a few directions there.
One direction it goes in is -when you're studying something
or learning something, you canread about it and there's words,
right?
- but you don't see the thing,right?
So, I don't know - like adancer has to learn a new move,
(23:35):
and she has a book or shegoogles it or whatever, and it
shows a little diagram of thatmove.
You lift your leg like this anddon't lift it higher than this,
and then you see it and go, oh!that's the way that move goes.
Ok, for me -I own a restaurant.
We have - our main product issubmarine sandwiches, okay?
(23:58):
So we have to train people howto make a sub.
Ok, usually the old school wayis you go to the front counter
or wherever you're making thesandwiches or the subs and you
work with somebody who knows howto do it and they show you how,
okay?
That's good, but you're onlygoing to be as good as that
person is, right?
What if one of your key peopleisn't there that day?
(24:19):
How much lettuce do we put on?
What's too light, what's toomuch?
What we started doing - andagain, digital world.
We have an app.
I'm connected with this companyand my employees have apps on
their phone and myself and oneof my key managers made subs and
(24:43):
I videoed it and then we showthem.
The cheese goes on like this,then you put the lettuce on.
Now the way you can do thelettuce is you get in your hands
and you do this certain way andyou put it on, you stretch it
out and this is how much youshould have.
If it looks like - this is whatit looks like, and somebody
sees it and goes, oh, wow, I wasputting too much before, or the
(25:06):
first day I worked I didn't seethis video.
But that's the thing where it'snice to have the thing that you
can look at - a video, apicture, the real thing, right?
And so - digital world again.
Ok, get you - boy,you know what - you really got
to work on your lettuce.
(25:26):
Tell you what.
Grab your phone - when you comeoff break, before you come back
up to work, grab your phone, goto the app and read - look at
file number blah, blah, blahabout how to put the lettuce,
tomatoes and onions on the sub,again.
Just take a look at it again.
Okay?
Oh, ok.
And they do it.
And then it's, Oh, I see.
Yeah, I'll work on it.
And it's simple.
(25:47):
And I really like that becauseit keys in on that area.
They see it and they have -they have it there in front of
them, visually.
Ryan Kimball (26:01):
That's so cool.
I've heard of apps being used,but not that practically and
specifically with a person's job.
That's really neat.
Bob Bolt (26:08):
Oh yeah, and then there's all kinds of other
things like the app has - I canput the policies and regulations
on there and I can put otherthings, but the training videos
to me, are the real reason wehave it.
How do you stretch a pizza?
Pizza is live dough and unlessyou have somebody who's really
(26:29):
good at it, you could be introuble.
And even somebody who watchesthe video a few times has to
practice with it.
But if they see the video, thisis what to do, this is what not
to do.
Watch it a few times, you getthe idea.
Yeah, so the app is great.
It's great.
Ryan Kimball (26:47):
Nice, nice.
Yeah, and we employ a lot ofvideos in our training for the
Competence Institute.
YouTube's kind of the worldwideexample of that app that you
just described for your business.
Bob Bolt (27:01):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Like, for me it's - the app isspecific to my business and how
we do things.
The beauty of YouTube issometimes you don't have enough
money to pay somebody to doeverything around your house.
And rather than learning bytrial and error or going to Home
Depot and hoping the guy atHome Depot knows - if you can
(27:21):
find that video and you'reseeing a video that shows you -
that is part of study technology.
But part of it also is the guywho's talking going to use words
and symbols that you don'tunderstand.
I like it when the guy goesokay, I'm going to use my four
inch trowel.
Here it is, this is four inches, I'm going to use this.
(27:43):
You can use a little bigger oneif you want, but if you use the
small.
And they go on and on, but theyshow you this is a four inch -
or the good, the guys who aregood on this show you details
and - use this type ofscrewdriver, not this type or
that, and they're showing it toyou while they're talking about
it.
So they're clearing up the term, what it is, and then you get
(28:04):
the physical representation ofit, which is awesome.
Ryan Kimball (28:08):
Exactly.
And I think people knowingthat's what they need to be
looking for in theirinstruction, whether they're
getting it from a course theybought, a YouTube video, an app
that they're getting it at a jobwhere they get hired - they
know what they need to look for- so if they do get confused
they don't think, oh, it's just,I'm dumb or something.
(28:30):
They know that person's beingtoo complex, not supplying an
example of the physicalrepresentation or object to make
it clear or whatever, and that- I found that after I learned
the study technology - I wasless self- conscious about not
being able to understandsomething.
I could just go, oh, it'smissing this piece, that's why I
don't understand that.
Bob Bolt (28:50):
And sometimes the key is you have to look and see what
didn't you understand?
Or is there something, even inthe - sometimes it goes as far
as, you get instructions on howto do something or a textbook
and they leave out part that youneed to know.
So there's like missingtechnology on what to do and
(29:11):
sometimes you have to be brightenough to realize - wait a
minute, he didn't cover (29:14):
how do you scrape that part of the
ceiling before you're going topaint?
He didn't talk about.
He just said scrape it.
Oh, okay, maybe I should watchanother video on how do you
scrape a ceiling?
But having all the technologythere is important too - you can
have missing pieces.
Ryan Kimball (29:33):
Makes sense.
(Bob (29:33):
Yeah) Yeah, absolutely.
Okay, great, I think there wasanother point here that I wanted
to cover as well.
Oh, great - so this is moreabout how this applies to life,
lifelong learning philosophyviewpoint.
So, how do you incorporate thisphilosophy of lifelong learning
and self improvement, etc.
(29:55):
, into your business model, andwhat advice would you give other
entrepreneurs in this regard?
Bob Bolt (30:04):
Yeah, this is a good - this is a good point to maybe
wrap up a little bit on here.
We talked about a lot of it,right?
So I'm looking for ways to makethings simpler for my employees
to understand, right?
One way is that app and puttingthings on an app, right?
(30:25):
And then I'm always looking forways to understand things
better.
I have another example, quick,if you don't mind - there's a
thing on my program.
I'm sorry.
I have a part of the programfor my software that runs my
store - is an inventory module.
Oh, what's that?
(30:46):
What that does is - you cantell it how much ham goes in
each sub that has ham on it, andthen at the end of the week you
can run numbers and it'll tellyou how much ham you should have
used.
Okay, then you can input yourinventory that you started with,
input how much ham came in thatweek, input the end of the
(31:07):
inventory, what you ended theweek with, and the program will
tell you where you should haveused 120 pounds of ham, but your
physical inventory tells youyou used 140.
Where did 20 pounds go?
Okay, great, that's great.
But now you have to figure outhow to use that program.
And that program is a bear.
(31:27):
It's like the Facebook AdsManager we talked about earlier.
It's, oh boy! And I'm in theprocess of doing that right now.
So, I think one thing to say islearning new things and evolving
is a constant process.
You're - you should always belearning and you should never be
(31:48):
like, oh, that's toocomplicated, I could never do
that.
Wait a minute - evaluate it.
Is it too complicated?
If you can count your ham andput in a number in the thing and
whatever - you have to figureout where the number goes, how
to calculate it, how to run thereport.
It's again, it's one bite at atime - you can do that.
The thing I would say - so, I'mconstantly trying to learn
(32:11):
things myself and for mymanagement team.
I'm constantly trying to makethings easier for my employees
so they can learn things easierand simpler.
Why?
So that I have a better product, so they're more productive, so
things are more consistent.
Okay?
But I would say to any - myadvice to any entrepreneur is,
(32:32):
if you're building a business,you learn the basics of the
business you want to run andmake sure you try to clear up
terminology for your businessand make sure you understand
what the elements of it are.
Take your time to learn it andthen, while you're doing that,
think about how you're going tocommunicate that or relay that
(32:57):
to your employees or teammatesor whatever you have that are
going to have to do thefunctions, the basic functions
of the business.
And there was no app fortraining five, six years ago.
It's only three, four years oldand I've been using it and
developing it, so be willing tolearn new things and incorporate
them.
(33:17):
But I think the key thing is,it's a process - I don't know,
Ryan - in life, that youcontinue to learn and don't - if
you feel like you don't get it- Oh no, this is too much - it's
probably just because you don'tunderstand something and back
it up, and there are some thingsthat maybe you need a
(33:38):
professional for right?
But there's a lot you can doyourself.
Does that make sense?
Ryan Kimball (33:46):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Great! Makes a lot of sense tome.
It's actually simplified things.
Whenever you talk to somebodyabout how they use a piece of
technology and how they've madeit and been successful with it,
it just helps simplify things inyour own world, so to speak.
Yeah, totally makes sense.
Bob Bolt (34:07):
And as a parting comment here, I would say if you
, through your endeavors here,have tools - you have tools for
learning, study, et cetera, Iwould advise people to take
advantage of it, because it'snot - you know what?
They're very simple, but simpleis powerful.
(34:28):
They're very simple, butthey're very powerful, and dive
into it and it'll be time wellspent if you learn them.
Ryan Kimball (34:38):
Thank you so much, Bob.
That's really good stuff.
I appreciate you taking thetime today and we'll probably
have you back on, if you don'tmind, in the future, to talk
about some other tools andwhatnot, you've used to be
successful as a businessman.
Bob Bolt (34:52):
Sure, I'd be happy to do it! (Ryan
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