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The WarPlan Podcast
Weaponize Your Mind, Build Your Empire: From $0 to Millions with Mike Burke & Pat Clark
00:41:10
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- [00:00]
Mike Burke
Foreign.
- [00:06]
Pat Clark
Your competition is asleep. It's you against the world. And if you want to win, we need to get a few things straight. Your business is a mental war. Your success is a mental war. And making money is a game. And the game of money starts in your mind. This podcast exists to help you weaponize your brain through advanced marketing mindset and money concepts. To have what others don't, you need to know what others won't. Your future fortune awaits. Welcome to the War Plan podcast. Hey, my friend. Welcome back to the War Plan podcast. How are you? Have all of your hopes and dreams come true? You still working on it? I hope you're doing good. Can you believe we're in the middle of Q2 already? And I don't know, did you earn your bachelor's degree in pain or your master's degree in suffering yet? I have a special treat for you today. I got two guests on the podcast. It happened randomly. God does weird things. Dots get connected. I'm in the studio working this weekend because we have an epic live four day challenge starting this week. Just go to frappchallenge.com frappchallenge.com if you're interested in that. But I had the pleasure to be introduced to Mike Burke. Mike Burke, you don't know him yet, but you're going to want to, is the brother in law of my good friend Pat Clark. And if you don't know either of their names, just take my word for it. They're super smart, entrepreneurial, guru people, Good hearted, fighting for the little guy people. And Pat I've known for years, he came from nothing, an abusive living situation and trailer park and just stress and built a multimillion dollar business. And now he has this huge franchise called Bright Brothers. And we're gonna talk about principles for success. And then Mike, he's the founder of Sunstoppers. It's an enormous solar film thing. I'll let him explain it. And they do gajillions of dollars in revenue. He travels the world, he inspires people. He was an overweight kid with ADD picked on, couldn't read till sixth grade, and now he is a person. So with that being said, let's help all the people. Guys, how you guys feeling?
- [02:08]
Mike Burke
And this is amazing. I love the studio. Pat, thanks for bringing me here.
- [02:11]
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, man, this is, this is what it's about right here.
- [02:14]
Pat Clark
The studio is so cool, right?
- [02:15]
Unknown Speaker
It is, yeah.
- [02:16]
Pat Clark
It was actually already built like this when we bought it. You know, that's why I bought it. I'm like this is insane. So, yeah, a lot of good things coming out of here, this podcast being one of them. Mike, could. Could you maybe go first? Just introduce yourself, your background? Yeah.
- [02:29]
Mike Burke
So my name is Mike Burke. I own Sunstoppers. I actually started doing window tinting in school and developed my first brand, Lightning Mics, which was just me tinting, which was more of a window tinting based business. I got into accessories, started doing accessories on cars during the Fast and the Furious days, then migrated and said, wow. Buying accessories, doing lifts, doing stereos, doing 500 different things to cars wasn't making any money. And when you're taking loans out on your personal vehicles to make payroll, I needed to change my business model. And I said, hey, man. It was time to focus on what I was really good at. My passion was cars and helping people. But the gratification is seeing a transformation. I'm an artist at heart. I have an art gallery here in Texas that I donate paintings to people for my charity. And I do all types of different creative things. But I'm deep down an artist. My ADD brain sees things before other people can see them. So what I've done is I've mastered the art of window tearing and then trained multiple people on how to do what I do and opened up multiple locations across the world and partnered with my manufacturer, Expel, and they saw what I was doing to help a lot of the little small guys. And now I'm doing some speaking and coaching and have a podcast called Real Talk with Mike Burke. And now I'm here with you talking with some really amazing people. And I love what you're doing to help a lot of small businesses. And that's my passion, is to give back. Once you've made a certain level of success in life, what are you going to do with it? Are you going to sit at home and brag about how much you've bought and how many things you own, or are you going to turn around and make a difference in this world and help other people?
- [04:16]
Pat Clark
Can I get a witness? That's it. All right, well, Pat, catch us up. For people that are familiar with you, what's your story?
- [04:23]
Unknown Speaker
So, you know, started when I was 20 years old in the exterior cleaning industry with a company called Precision Pro Wash. A lot of pain and suffering, like you said, right? Not knowing anything about business and going out and just making a homeowner happy, right?
- [04:39]
Pat Clark
And growing that, shaking hands, kissing babies, knocking doors.
- [04:43]
Unknown Speaker
That's it.
- [04:43]
Pat Clark
Boots on the ground, bog marketing, making.
- [04:46]
Unknown Speaker
It a lot of tears throughout the way. But yeah, Growing that business and then hiring my first employee and not knowing anything about that and failing a lot throughout that, but getting a business coach, right. And showing me kind of the path, like what is possible. And because growing up in a trailer park, right, making $50 and mowing lawns and not knowing about money blew my mind. And I think that was the biggest thing was like, what is possible out there for anybody? Like, if you go out there and hustle, you can make anything happen. Right.
- [05:20]
Pat Clark
That gives me a good question to kick off this whole interview here. So one of the things I've noticed is that what people think big is is a indicator on how long it's going to take for them to achieve it. And what I mean is, if you think that a million dollar revenue business is big, then it will be for you. And so think of like Mark Zuckerberg's daughter or something. And so she's going to start a company, her frame of reference is already orders of magnitude bigger than everybody else, right? Yeah. So she kind of like accidentally hits a million in her first week on her way to what she thinks as big. And so when you grow up in poverty, like, your frame of reference is so limited because I remember when we hit 300,000 in revenue with my first company, I thought I was like Jeff Bezos or that was like my lifetime obituary goal, you know? And so you move really slow because you don't even understand how big the opportunity is. Yeah. And I'm curious both of your thoughts on that as an idea. What do you think?
- [06:17]
Mike Burke
Well, I'm going to dive in a little bit more into that. My dad coached me years ago. He was an accountant and he would say, son, he would call me a busy fool. And that's all he called me when I first started out in my business because I was diversifying into so many different things. And my dad, thankfully, he gave me some fuel. I have a marketing degree from college and he was very disappointed in me when I opened up a window tinting business and accessory business. He looked at me and said I was an embarrassment to him.
- [06:53]
Pat Clark
Did he really?
- [06:54]
Mike Burke
I swear.
- [06:54]
Pat Clark
Oh, that's like. That's a core memory and not a good one.
- [06:57]
Mike Burke
My dad said I was an embarrassment to him and my mother because he wanted more for me. Okay. It came from a heartfelt place, but it was like he looked at me as like an oil change mechanic. He looked at me like I was a grease monkey. And he said to me, I didn't pay for you to go to college to be a f Ing window tinner. So it gave me the fuel to prove him wrong.
- [07:20]
Pat Clark
A nice chip on your shoulder can be helpful.
- [07:21]
Mike Burke
Big chip, Big chip. I lost all my friends when I got out and started my own business. I wasn't the banker. I wasn't the guy. I had a college degree. I was one of them. I was playing golf and playing cards until I was no longer invited to play cards and play golf. I wasn't invited to be one of the guys because I worked on cars. I would go out in public with my friends, and they go, hey, man, I'm a network engineer at Cisco. Or I'm a banker. I'm a program, whatever. They lived for titles years ago. Everybody wants to go around bragging about what title they are. I'm a VP of whatever, right? No, I'm the janitor. I'm the maid. I'm the entrepreneur guy that wears every hat in the business, right? So my dad would call me a busy fool when he looked at my numbers, and he goes, son, you did a million dollars in sales, but you spent $999,000 in overhead and payroll, and you made $1. So literally, I was going broke chasing the big number, the big top number. And when I chased the top number, what I coach now is chase the bottom number. So when people are over here going, I want a million dollars in sales. No, you don't. What do you want a net income this year? And how do we clean up the books? How do we clean up your expenses? How do we get you stopped drinking at the convenience store? How do we do every little thing you can do to put more net profit into your pocket? Because it takes money to make money, and if you don't have any money, you can't grow your business.
- [08:45]
Pat Clark
So that's what this challenge I'm doing next week is all about. We didn't even talk about that. It's all about profit. You know, revenue, profanity, profits for sale.
- [08:53]
Mike Burke
So I was not. I have an accounting background, which means I took a lot of accounting classes in college, which does not mean I am an accountant, but I do understand the checkbook going up or checkbook going down. So my accounting skills were. Every month, if my checking account went up, I was making money. If my checking account went down, I was losing money. So I had a downward. I had an upward trend. And I put everything in the bank and I spent everything on one credit card until I got another credit card, and then I maxed out more credit cards to try to get my business afloat. And I realized that I was very, very good at one thing, which was tinting cars. I was tinting 10 to 15 cars a day by myself in a shop while my accessory guy was selling accessories and rims and tires and all these other stereos. Well, we would buy the rims, buy the stereos, buy the equipment come in. There'd be problem after problem after problem, and there would be costly problems. So the guy would order the wrong lug nuts, or he'd order the long wheel pattern, or he would order something wrong. And we would have to sit on those parts until we could resell them. And they took all my profit away. So all of a sudden, window tint was a roll of film sticker that goes on a window. People like it, they pay for it. If they didn't like it, I could rip it off. And I had $6 material cost, so I could replace it very easily. And then we started doing volume. And I started listening to my restaurant friends and going, listen, if you're going to make money in this business, you're going to do volume.
- [10:23]
Pat Clark
When did you start realizing how big the opportunity was?
- [10:27]
Mike Burke
I think after I closed my very first store, I failed the very first store I ever opened up. I went from selling cars, moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, opened up my very first tent shop, and within nine months I went out of business. And what happened is I lived a lifestyle of thinking I was a business owner, right? I'd go around to every bar I own a business, I'm a business owner, I'm the man, right? The business is just going to run itself, right? So anyway, I had employee issues, stealing, theft, money management issues, cash flow issues, where I started doing dealership work and the dealership work, Holy cow, what's net 30? Holy cow, what's net 60? Holy cow. My credit card's due. Oh my God, the rents power is due. So I went down with 30 grand in the bank and I came back home with minus 300 in nine months. And then I sold cars a little bit more and I went back to doing what I really enjoyed doing, which was tenting. And I became mobile for three years. So I ran the business mobile for three years.
- [11:27]
Pat Clark
That second time you just, I learned you were thinking bigger or were you just thinking smaller, that you need a professional?
- [11:33]
Mike Burke
No, I literally, the second time around, I thought smaller. I said, how do I net more money? I was thinking too big at first. So what happened is my dreams couldn't outweigh my wallet. And so if you don't have the wallet to Support the dreams. Think small. First you gotta hit first base before you hit second base.
- [11:51]
Pat Clark
One of the things, when I do workshops live, sometimes I'll trick the crowd. I'll go around and I'll ask everybody, what do you want? Most time, people don't know what they want. They only know what they don't want. But that's a different thing. But they'll say things like, I want to be debt free. I want a second home, I want to travel, I want a vacation, I want to pay cash for my kids, college, I, et cetera, charitable and build an orphanage. And then what I help them realize is that every single thing that every person said is actually only one thing. And it's money. But it feels gross and icky and bad. Like, you're a bad person to say, I want more money. And specifically not just money, it's profit. You can only pay for your dreams with profit. You can't pay for your dreams with revenue. Right. But people have a hard time just saying, I want to make this much above my burn rate of my personal lifestyle. And they feel like they're a bad person. I go to you, Pat, what are your thoughts on this whole thing?
- [12:45]
Unknown Speaker
Oh, well, you just hit it. Like, it blows me away how people don't talk about money. Like, we know growing up, we never talked about money. It was like this scary thing. We didn't have any, so why would we talk about anyway? So, like, when it goes back to that comment raised, everything is relevant. So for me, it was getting myself out of my circle. Right. Like getting into a room that people talked about money because I didn't. And we were afraid of money. And it was. I had to break that in my brain because I didn't want to make money because I didn't want people to think of me differently. I was like, I got this business, we're actually making some money. But it was scary and it was holding me back.
- [13:22]
Pat Clark
You can't celebrate your wins with all relationships. Yeah. Like, and it's a really sad thing. You know, one of the quotes I love is be very cautious of people that don't clap and cheer when you win. When you come out of that, I mean, that happens. Relationships are burned.
- [13:37]
Mike Burke
I'm adding this one thing I have said in many seminars before. Money is either a tool or a weapon. Decide which one you're going to use. The tool is, you can build things with money. You can hire more people, you can employ more people, you can help more people. Okay. With money, with profit from people who think Bigger are going to hire more people, they're going to change people's lives through making money. Or you can use it as a weapon. Make the money and you can hurt other people with it. You can tie up people in court, you can sue people, you can get lawyers. You can be the bully. Which one are you with? Money. Okay. Are you gonna be the guy that has money and help more people? Are you gonna be the guy with money and hurt more people? I think that's a big decision you need to make early on in your career. What are you gonna do with the money? Are you gonna hurt people or help people?
- [14:36]
Pat Clark
You know, some of the greediest people I've met are very poor. Not always. There's no always, but it's a thing. And some of the most money obsessed people I meet are poor. You know, it cracks me up when middle class people or corporate people, they say things like, money isn't everything. And then I ask them, well, why do you spend 50 hours a week trying to get more of it? And so we pretend like it's not important, even though it's critically important. Zig Ziglar said, money isn't everything, but it's similar to air because it's the only thing you can think about when you don't have enough of it. Right? And it's like. So there's so much I want to say about that. And there is. I don't know, it's. It's. It's a mindset thing, I guess. Yeah.
- [15:17]
Unknown Speaker
Well, it brings me back, too. Like, money was the thing I wanted to do. A million dollars, Right. Like, in my exterior cleaning company, that was my goal because, I don't know, it was a million bucks. Everybody kind of thinks of a million.
- [15:27]
Pat Clark
I call it a placeholder goal. It's because that's what the people all say they want to do. Yeah. Yeah, me too. I want that.
- [15:33]
Unknown Speaker
But when you get there, things change. Like, my why changed? Right? It was like you get to a million, you're like, wait, this isn't all what it's cracked out to be, right? Have a regular life, but money helps you. Like, you said it the best, I think, in a podcast was like, money is just good deed tokens.
- [15:47]
Pat Clark
Yeah. Certificates of good deeds.
- [15:49]
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. And I took that because, like, I was able to buy a car for.
- [15:53]
Mike Burke
I don't understand.
- [15:55]
Unknown Speaker
I was able to.
- [15:56]
Pat Clark
Sir, coming in. Yeah, Siri, what are your thoughts?
- [16:00]
Unknown Speaker
But no, I was able to buy a car for an employee. Right. A team member. And it was awesome to be able to do that and then, you know, support the community, give back school supplies to kids. Like as we were turning profit. Right. We were using it and it's an extension of your heart.
- [16:17]
Pat Clark
One of the problems in society is that people love generosity, but they like to be generous with other people's money. That's what, that's what socialism is. Right. I forget who said it, but they said socialism is, you know, being generous with other people's money.
- [16:33]
Mike Burke
So as we're having this conversation, I'm chatting with ChatGPT. ChatGPT, sorry I asked how many small businesses do a million in sales? Roughly 9% of small businesses in the US make 1 million or more in annual revenue. Here's a breakdown. There's about 33 million small businesses in the U.S. around 3 million of them hit the 1 million revenue mark. So the vast majority, that's 80%. The vast majority do less than $500,000 per year in sales. So when you're sitting Here talking statistics, 80% of small businesses in the U.S.
- [17:15]
Pat Clark
Do you want to hear one even worse than that?
- [17:18]
Mike Burke
Yeah. Tell me something worse.
- [17:19]
Pat Clark
Another stat that I'm going to use next week in the presentation is 81% of small business owners are two weeks away from overdrafting their business checking account.
- [17:28]
Unknown Speaker
Yeah.
- [17:28]
Pat Clark
And so it's a profit problem, It's a profit crisis. A lot of, a lot of people are accidentally running a non profit on accident, you know, and like we have hopes and dreams, but then it kind of fades and then you kind of go quietly into the night and your, your soul just gets crushed and we gotta stop feeling bad for being profitable. That's why I like dollars as being certificates of good deeds. You know, the money that Mike's earned is evidence of the good he's done in the world. Yeah. The other thing, like biblically speaking, just to do a little nerdy churchy thing, even if you don't, if you think that's nonsense, there's no economic pie doesn't exist. The economy works like a garden, not a pie. And what that means is like the consumption by people creates production similar to if you eat an apple and it puts 10 seeds in the ground, it creates more apples. And as you make money and you invest in travel and go out, hang out with Conor McGregor, which you have to tell us that in a minute. But as we're doing things and flying, it's lubricating and creating opportunity for everything else. And so this whole idea of, and I think this comes from poverty programming, that me winning means someone's Losing, it's. It's literally just not true. I'm not saying positive, warm, fuzzy things. It's not how it works. Me creating wealth creates more opportunity, you know, I don't know.
- [18:44]
Unknown Speaker
What do you think it is? It's stimulating. Yeah. Because you got. You're leveling up your team who makes more money and then that money goes elsewhere.
- [18:51]
Pat Clark
Yeah. Debbie, my friend Debbie was just here when you guys got here and her house burned down. And so by her building another house, it's. It's doing all this good stuff. Right. And so opportunity begets opportunity. That's how it works.
- [19:07]
Unknown Speaker
Agreed.
- [19:07]
Pat Clark
Yeah. So what's up with this Conor McGregor thing? How did a window film kid with no confidence that became an entrepreneur whose dad wasn't proud of him, but then became very successful? Go hang out with Conor McGregor.
- [19:19]
Mike Burke
Well, it's so crazy. I've had so many opportunities to meet so many celebrities through cars. Most celebrities. And most people who have made an impact on some larger scale for some reason love automobiles.
- [19:34]
Pat Clark
Yeah.
- [19:35]
Mike Burke
And so the love of automobiles and working on automobiles allows you to travel and meet all types of different walks of life. And I've met some very amazing people in my life. I was in Amsterdam doing a show for Expel, which I do consulting for, and I was a speaker at their conference. And I met a friend of mine I have not seen in a while that was from Ireland, and he talked us into flying over there. And we were in Dublin having dinner at a really nice restaurant. And I said, hey, Conor McGregor's bar is here. I said, let's go over there and check it out. And the Roadhouse sign, I knew he had the roadhouse sign there and walked in. On a Monday, they were closing and the old owner, Liam, decided to let us in, have a beer, talk to Ed, his five star Michelin chef. And we got to know these guys for like an hour and a half. And they were sitting around waiting for Connor to come in. He was training and he likes to eat a steak on his way home. So they'll wait around for him to come in there and eat because it's a beautiful, awesome restaurant. Like, the food is absolutely amazing. At his Black Forge restaurant, he also has a stout beer there that he is partners with. It's actually really, really good. It's a little lighter than Guinness. I thought was better than Guinness. Anyway, he didn't make it. And we became friends with these guys and they invited me back for a VIP section to sit with Connor because Tucker Carlson was interviewing him. And we sat Next to him, had some steaks and listened to some very authentic Irish music. Got to talk to him for a little while, meet him, and took me in the back, got a picture with his belt, his weight belt, his UFC championship belt. So cool. And got to see the interactions of the guy behind the scenes and in front of the scenes and what a charismatic, outgoing performer he is. He has absolutely learned how to be a character. And one on one, he's like any movie star, any celebrity I've ever met. One on one, they're great people, they're humble, they're very nice. But on stage, just like me. When I get on stage, I'm not. I'm not like I am today. When I get on stage, I have power, authority and initiative. And that's how these guys are when they're out in the public. They're selling themselves 247 when a camera's on them. But behind the scenes, when a camera's not on them, they're normal people just like anyone else who have real thoughts and real agendas and real goals. He's a family man, he's got multiple kids. He's still with the same woman that actually supported him through his career. Has he done some bad things? Yes, absolutely. We all have. Fame and fortune changes people to an extent that it invites new people that aren't always have your best interest. So when you think that you're surrounding around people that are going to think the way you do. My girlfriend says it best, Mike. Not everybody thinks good. So when you go into a conversation and you're doing good and you're doing good things for other people, they don't have the same intentions that you do. It's the intent. So if I'm always putting good out there, I think other people are going to do good as well. But Connor is an amazing guy. It was very last minute. So it's very important for you to talk to people, be yourself, be authentic and be real. And it was nice to be invited. I was not a guy that walked in acting like I had a celebrity crush. They're just people. I put my jeans on just like they do. And it was very, very humbling to be invited.
- [23:08]
Pat Clark
It brings up a good point. That's a business principle just about networking. And before we hit record, we're talking about mindset, skill sets and network. And you were saying one of your success tips is just talk to everybody, meet everybody. I'm curious, Pat, from you too, you have a new business partnership with a stud muffin of an entrepreneur guy how did that happen? Networking, meeting these people. I mean, how valuable is one good relationship?
- [23:34]
Unknown Speaker
Oh, it's. It's a game changer. Like, absolute game changer. And so, like through my story is like growing the company, right? Seeing it, seeing it grow. And they reached out to me. So I was doing public speaking, I was doing some big things in the exterior cleaning industry. And they're like, man, this is like, you know, Pat Clark is the Larry Janeski of, you know, basement systems. And that's what he did. He made his name in basement systems over 35 companies. You know, he does very well. He's a, you know, billionaire, if you will.
- [24:02]
Pat Clark
Is he?
- [24:03]
Unknown Speaker
Yeah. And he actually saved a bank that was going out of business and actually, you know, revived it, if you will. And so he's doing some amazing thing in his community there in Connecticut. And, you know, through those businesses, he had a system and he sells products. He's got 35 plus patents on products that now he sells to all these dealer networks that he has. And he's partnering with companies as well to bring them in. And they have the school of entrepreneurship and all these things that he's developed over the 35 years. And he started just like all of us, right. He was 17 years old and the building boom was happening and somebody called and he put an ad in the papers like carpentry. No small, no job too big or small. And they call me, well, can you build a house? He's like, well, I think we need to meet. I'm like, yeah, 17 years old. And so anyway, he ended up going. And the guy, you know, was like, yeah, let's do it. And so he ended up building his first house at 17 at a very. Yes, at a very young age. And so, you know, he went to building multiple houses. And what happened was he had a sub that poured a foundation that cracked. And Larry is like, he's all about science. And he went in and he was like, how do I fix this problem? You know, because in the name of good customer service. So he figured out the solution and then he went in and he actually wrote for two years. He sat down and wrote the book of solutions, four basement crawl spaces. And he invented clean space. What's funny is I used to. I was in mold remediation in the very beginning when I started my business.
- [25:32]
Pat Clark
Because that's where they go and crawl. They put that plastic in there, that vapor barrier.
- [25:36]
Unknown Speaker
Yep, yep. Dehumidifiers, the. The sump pumps. He does all that. And he has patents now on the sump pumps the drainage, like all the things. And he actually wish he'd like patented the name clean Space because there's other things. But he invented it. And so it was actually against building code in the beginning. And he fought and fought. Now it's not now it's part of it. Because the science.
- [25:57]
Pat Clark
Yeah.
- [25:57]
Unknown Speaker
And so it's amazing to see that.
- [25:59]
Pat Clark
And like it's amazing to me that Pat Clark from the trailer park is business partners with a billionaire. You have a nationwide franchise, you have a wife that adores you, you have kids that look up to you. And you're young, you know, peak earning years, by the way, for anybody listening for a man is between 50 and 60 years old. I think I told you this last night when I was talking to you because in a way, I look at everything I've done so far as like pre training or something, you know, I mean, because was it Tony Robbins says people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and they underestimate what they can achieve in a decade. And it's gonna be wild. I'm gonna get my popcorn and just keep watching what happens with you. Right. You have God's favor in your life. You're smart, you're learning, and being around people like that is insane. I'm sure he just thinks different. The way he approaches everything is gonna be at a higher order because we're not there yet, but it's amazing. What about you, Mike, with just networking as a business principle and the importance of it?
- [26:55]
Mike Burke
Well, when you meet guys like Michael Jordan through the owner of the Mercedes dealership, that you fly on a plane to Las Vegas to go to the SEMA show and you're invited to fly on a private jet and you're tinting cars inside the Mercedes dealership, it's because.
- [27:13]
Pat Clark
It'S just an average Tuesday for you.
- [27:15]
Mike Burke
It is now, but. So the thing about networking is I earned the respect of the owner of the Mercedes dealership tenting his cars. And we became friends. And he would call me at midnight telling me a car would come in and he wanted me there in the morning tenting it. And I was always said yes, always said yes. I answered my phone at midnight. So people of authority, people who are someone that have a lot more than you, the way to earn their respect is to always answer their phone calls. If they take the time to call you, you answer yeah. Period. And if you're the first one to answer, you're the first one to act. They're the first one they can call when they need something and you add value to their life. And when you add value to their life, they will keep you in their.
- [28:02]
Pat Clark
Life, in their circle. Yeah, that's so true. I was in the middle of a zoom call with an attorney this week. We're interviewing an attorney for some legal papers and stuff. Just like to have our guy. I haven't really found my guy. So we're talking to this guy and just mid zoom call, I get a phone call from a particular person and I'm like, I'm really sorry, but I'll be right back for that exact reason. Right. It's just like I'm not sending this to voicemail, you know, And I think saying yes, but it requires humility to do that, does it? Not just to say yes, to serve. To look for ways to add value, to play the long game.
- [28:40]
Mike Burke
Well, I'll tell you a quick story. I don't know how long you want to be on this podcast, but the way I earned the respect of the Mercedes dealer, Okay. I was a one year old business called Lightning Mike's Window tinting in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I tinted windows for zero dealerships. I was doing 100% retail. I'd probably say 80% of my client base was urban based ethnic diversity.
- [29:07]
Pat Clark
Yeah, you're pimping out like super cool.
- [29:09]
Mike Burke
I was doing, I was doing color Supremes and like, I'm just gonna leave it there with like rims, big rims, big thumping stereo systems. I was very, very busy. I was just me. I was the only tinter. But I had a guy selling accessories and rims and things. What happened is everyone in Charlotte, North Carolina knew I was very good at tinting. The Mercedes dealership lost their person that they were sending cars to. And the owner of the dealership liked black limo tint on every car. And he would have a demo about every three or four weeks. He would drive a new SL 500 or some type of car that came in that was an AMG that he wanted blacked out. Well, they called my shop, I answered the phone. It was a general manager Bo. He said, hey, I got Skipper's car, no problem. Bring it over. They bring it over. I tint the windows in probably a half hour. It was limo tint on a CL500 two door car with auto drop windows. When you open and close the windows, the windows drop. It was like the first year that ever happened. So they go take the car back. I take the car back actually, and said, hey, somebody, you know, run me back over there. And I told the Manager and the service porter do not roll the windows down for at least a couple hours. Let the car sit, because as soon as you do, the window tint's wet and it'll suck up moisture. What do they do? They take the car back in the back and they get a call about 30 minutes later, same manager said, hey, man, I thought you knew how to tint windows. I said, what are you talking about? He goes, well, the window tent's peeling off. So I come over there, I bring film, I know exactly what's going on. I go in the back, and I'm in the detail bay now. And I'm in the detail bay ripping off the two windows. And I decided, you know what? I'm only going to rip one of them off. And then Bo came over there, and I said, hey, Bo, I'm not going to redo these windows. I said. He said, why? He says, because the owner wants to take the car home right now. And I said, hey, bro, told you guys not. I'm yelling at this guy. I have three customers waiting at my shop right now that are paying customers, and I'm dealing with what I consider. And I'm telling the general manager of the Mercedes dealership that you don't know what you're doing. Your detail guys don't know what you're doing, and you're not listening to me. I said to leave the car outside and to let the windows sit for a little while, because they have auto drop windows, and they need to sit, let the film and the moisture dissipate. The owner of the dealership was standing at the little top, and he was listening to me. And he walks over and he goes, hey, I'm Skipper Beck. And I said, what's going on? And I said, well, this guy right here won't listen to me. And I said, I've told him twice, he's a general manager, okay? And I'm over there telling the guy, he won't listen to me and telling him that I said, sir, don't you have a ton of cars here? Can't you drive something else home? You know, I started talking to the guy like he worked for me, and I said, I've got customers at my store that are waiting on me, and I've got cars and money I'm losing dealing with this. And he looked over and put his arm around me and looked at the general manager and said, this is our window tint guy. No one will ever tint our windows but me.
- [32:10]
Pat Clark
I could see how that situation could go the Exact opposite.
- [32:13]
Mike Burke
It could. I was willing to lose the place because I was a new business owner that had only been in business for a year and I had three. I had my accessory manager.
- [32:22]
Pat Clark
What's the principle, though, that you.
- [32:24]
Mike Burke
The principle is I was losing money. The principle is I was losing money. And I was willing to stand up for being me, for being confident that I was losing money. But I was over here dealing with this customer service issue that I had told the general manager at the very beginning. When I dropped the car off to let it wait, they did not wait. The owner heard me explain that situation.
- [32:47]
Pat Clark
And he vibed with your.
- [32:48]
Mike Burke
And he vibed with me and said, listen, this guy knows what he's talking about. He knows what he's doing. And I like the fact that he has come back over here. I didn't just call him and say, hey, man, I'm busy at my shop, bring the car back over. No, I drove back over with film willing to do that car over right now because I wanted to prove to them I was good and I did know what I was doing. And you're insulting me, telling me I do. I am very good at what I do. And you were insulting me, telling me I didn't know how to do my job.
- [33:19]
Unknown Speaker
I think right there too, like, success leaves clues. Because that brings me back to. We did an apartment complex, $150,000 apartment complex. And the property manager calls back, you know, a week later and says, look, there's. There's mildew growing back in the, in the breezeways. I'm like, there's no way. But, you know, no, no big deal. We're gonna take care of it. This was 10 hours away from our shop. So I got my sales guy, I said, we're jumping in the truck with pump up sprayers. We're going to service this customer. I was out there the next day, and then on the way back after we did everything, we walked her around, right? But we showed up with, you know, confidence and that we're the expert, that. Let's figure this out. And then she called me back on the way home in that 10 hour drive with $250,000 and more contracts.
- [34:01]
Pat Clark
Nice.
- [34:02]
Unknown Speaker
But you have to show up with authority. You have to be the expert.
- [34:05]
Pat Clark
I've noticed in business too, like, problems in business are oftentimes the biggest opportunities of all. Because like the way you show up during a crisis, a conflict, whatever, is huge, right? Like, if you own it, if you run towards problems, not away from them, like you did when you drove to the dealership.
- [34:21]
Mike Burke
You know, that's a prime example of what I coach in Google Reviews. I was at a seminar where people were in a roundtable discussion and one of the guys there says, man, we're the only five star Google, blah blah blah. And then one of the other guy goes, yeah man, I got a bad review yesterday. And you know, I was, I went off on this guy and blah, blah, blah, blah. And he knocked me down. And I looked at the guy and I had to educate him and I said, bro, I said be thankful you got a bad review. I said be thankful if you are five stars and you've never had a bad review ever. You're fake. You are a fake business. I said, I'm going to tell you what Ruth Kriss, general manager told me years ago. He said, we allocate 3% of all stakes to come back in a year because if we're not cooking enough steaks, if we're not messing up a couple of steaks here and there, we're not cooking enough steaks. So the moral of the story is, is that your mistake, how you handle the mistake, allocate knowing that you're going to make mistakes. Every Google review I've ever gotten bad, the very first thing I do is I tell the person, thank you, thank you for taking the time to write a bad review. But it's not a bad review. It's a way for me to change a process that was wrong in our or what we're doing wrong. So I have a meeting about our Google bad reviews and I say, hey, what can we do better to not let this same problem happen again and we write a rebuttal to that customer, we offer them dinner, we offer them $50 for their inconvenience. We do something to admit the fault, to admit the thing, but thanking them so I can implement a process that can be changed, that that doesn't happen again.
- [36:01]
Pat Clark
And from a marketing perspective, just As a sidebar, 5 out of 5 stars is not trustworthy. People psychologically they try, I think it's 4.6 or 4.7 is the most trust people have. If you're on Amazon and you're buying a product, you don't want it to be five because we all know intrinsically that's impossible. But like the 4.6. So hey, don't hate your haters. My haters are your elevators. Anyway, let's get ready to, to wrap this up. What's maybe a good signing off thought, A word of encouragement, some piece of advice. There's Tariffs, there's inflation, there's uncertainty. People think they need leads. They're confused about profit and revenue. I'm telling you, you got to come to our challenge. Frappchallenge.com but in general, what do you want to say as we wrap up?
- [36:46]
Mike Burke
I've got something to wrap this up. One thing that I have said in many business seminars, you gotta pat yourself on the back every once in a while, and you've got to celebrate wins. I think what happens is, in life, we're so chasing a goalpost that is unreachable to most, right? But when you hit a plateau in any level of business, doesn't matter what it is, you need to ring the bell. And what I use as an analogy is in sports, I use football. When someone scores a touchdown in football, does the whole team celebrate it? Does the whole team, the coach, everybody, the fans, everybody cheers. The band's going crazy. Everybody goes nuts. We need to do that in business culture more. We need to have a celebration of wins, and it needs to be a win by the entire team. We need to spank each other on the butts, pat each other on the back and say, good job. Because what we've had is we hide behind our phones and we don't interact with people like we used to because of COVID because of whatever reasons. I'm not giving anybody a certain reason, but you know what? A hug, a high five, a pat on the back, a. That a boy or that a girl. We need those more. And I want to end on. We need to celebrate. The little wins add up to be big wins. So if we're not celebrating, why are we playing the game?
- [38:10]
Pat Clark
There's a lot of fire in there.
- [38:12]
Unknown Speaker
A lot. That's awesome.
- [38:14]
Pat Clark
If you can't find joy in the journey or if you don't understand that the. The process actually is the payoff, because the end goal that you get never satisfies anyway. I'm not to say you're not excited when you hit your goal. You are for about five minutes, for a week, for a month. It never feels like you think it will. No matter whatever level you're. There's a new devil at every level, right? So we move the yard sales, never celebrating the small win.
- [38:39]
Unknown Speaker
So I love that it shapes you. You know, it's like, you know, you see all the things, and like, we're. We're still crushing it. Numbers are up. Every. Every new franchise we're putting on is crushing it. It's like, you know, the franchise, you.
- [38:52]
Pat Clark
Were just say, did like 6 grand the first day or something in revenue, right?
- [38:55]
Unknown Speaker
Yeah.
- [38:55]
Pat Clark
That's insane.
- [38:56]
Unknown Speaker
And it's like, you know, and the numbers are off the charts and he's like, you know, you hear all these things, you can't get this in my market. You can't get this here. You know, it's like, you know, cut out all the noise, cut out all the things you can't change, right? And start focusing on the things you can change and go after it. And you know, the world's big, you know what I mean? And we're just getting this little piece of the pie in each market and it's like, you can do it. Just go for it. Cut out the bad noise, you know, focus on the positivity, love up on the people around you. And it's gonna, it's gonna change.
- [39:25]
Pat Clark
I agree. I believe you guys are legends and scholars. I appreciate you taking the time, man. This is so good. And for anybody list, go to frappchallenge.com unless you hate money. Go to frappchallenge.com Unless you hate your dog. No, I'm just kidding. You don't have to come to the challenge, but we're going to be live. And I'm going to walk you through some really clever out of the box frameworks to increase the frequency in which people buy from you, the referral channels and partnerships you open up. How to manipulate your average ticket through asymmetrical marketing, and of course, how to manipulate pricing. There's four different ways you can manipulate pricing to print money for yourself. And you're not a bad person for making profit. You need to pay your staff more. You need to have an emergency fund. You need better equipment, technology. You need to be making the money that the five years in the future version of your company needs. But you got to start doing it now. Don't act your age when it comes to your business. We got to get the prices up. So take care. We love you. God bless. Do you want to weaponize your brain and turn it into a money making machine? Consider joining Warplan Coaching. You'll get thousands of dollars in exclusive courses and training, a private community, a chance to come to in person meetups at Warplan Studios, and access to myself for Q and A every single month. Want to know the best part? It's free. Plus we'll send you a private weekly newsletter full of money making tips and cutting edge ideas. Just go to warplan.com to sign up. Hey, I'm your biggest fan. I'm rooting for you. We'll see you next.