Transcript:
Dr. Miles has a great education and background. He has a PhD and MBA, he has a- A- An entrepreneurship and general business, he has a MBA in international business, and a BBA in marketing. He’s an award-winning researcher, award winning professor, statistician, legal expert witness, that would be interesting. And best-selling, uh, author. And Dr. Miles is nationally known as a start-up and marketing expert.
So how did you get started in all of this? I was- I was looking at some of the research on you and I thought, “Well, he’s got 12 years in marketing and strategy, he’s got 10 years in banking and finance, he’s got 13 years in retail merchandising management, 10 years in consulting, and 11 years in research and statistics.” So, you got to be 56, but your picture only looks 42.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh you’re close, I’m 53. (Laughing).
David Brower: I- I’m glad I erred on the side of younger.
D ANTHONY MILES: If- If you look in dog years I’m probably 56. (Laughing).
David Brower: I totally understand.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh, um, uh. My story is really interesting. Um. The reason that I have such a, uh, l- I- I- I guess a mosaic of extensive background is, I got my PhD later in life. And, uh, I had a guy when I was first, um, getting into my career, and I immediately wanted to get my MBA right after that. And the guy said, “Hey, young buck, why don’t you go get some experience and then go back and get the graduate degree?” So I took his advice and, uh, I got my experience in a retail industry. I spent, uh, 13 or 15 years in retail and I learned a lot about marketing and product placement in the retail industry. And then I went into the banking industry after I graduated, and then, uh, I went back and, uh, wanted to study further. And I went back and got the PhD and I got the, uh, bug to start my own consulting practice, because I saw a lot of opportunities that were out here.
And I felt that for some reason, uh, David, when I was in the, uh, job market, I just didn’t fit anywhere. I always felt like I thought outside of the box, I was always an independent thinker, I didn’t follow the crowd. I was more of a contrarian, and that’s what started me on starting my own business.
David Brower: That’s terrific, man. When you can- When you can lock in to where you want to kind of head in your, in your niche or many of them, and then have the confidence to take that leap of faith, that’s, uh, that must have been quite a, quite a moment for you?
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh, absolutely. It was a, uh … Sometimes, uh, we have a calling and we don’t heed the calling and then sometimes we get forced to heeding our calling. And, uh, I got the, I got the rude awakening of my life. I got downsized from my job and I was at the bank and I said to myself, because my second daughter was just born. I said, “I’m not ever going to let someone decide how much money I’m going to make, and when I’m going to make money.” I said, “I just, every entrepreneur has that epiphany in their life and I had my, I had my moment of clarity.” And that’s what happened with me.
David Brower: Well the same thing exactly happened with me. I had a corporate job, uh, in marketing with a large automotive group, and, um, they, uh, came in and fired me over a cup of coffee. That was pretty special.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh wow.
David Brower: (Laughs) and so, I talked- In fact, when we got done with the cup of coffee, I walked out and called my wife and I said, “I think we need to pray about this.” And- And so we did, and we decided to take a leap of faith when my- The last day on my job was April 30th, 2008.
D ANTHONY MILES: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
David Brower: No, 7. 2007. And so we took a leap of faith and I started my own business the very next day and I haven’t looked back.
D ANTHONY MILES: I tell you, it’s- It’s- Everybody gets the bug. Uh, sometimes you have composure in entrepreneurship (laughing) where you’re firstly an entrepreneur but, uh, that’s a, that’s a tale that I think a lot of, uh, your listeners probably could relate to. Uh. It’s nothing like a man trying to take care of his family.
David Brower: Right.
D ANTHONY MILES: And all of a sudden, somebody tells you that you’re no longer needed and we’re going to go in this direction. And, uh, I think that that needed to happen to me, it probably needed to happen to you, because so many opportunities have happened to me since having my own business. And you know, when you’re an employee, you don’t- You don’t- You’re a- You’re a- You’re a resource.
David Brower: Right.
D ANTHONY MILES: And you don’t, people don’t interview you on the radio, people don’t call you in to speak, and you get an honorarium for speaking.
David Brower: Right.
D ANTHONY MILES: When you’re an employee, you think like an employee, you act like an employee. You only do that job, then you go home and then you go back the next day. And I- I- I don’t think I have ever fit that mold. And you- I see a lot of similarities between us.
David Brower: Yeah, absolutely, right. And I’m wondering, I- I mean I’m thinking there’s got to be two or three or four, maybe 100, who knows. That are listening to this and are going, “Damn, yeah I don’t- I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this employee thing, I want to take a leap of faith and do this entrepreneur thing.” And so when you, when you help people start in small and medium businesses, what- How do you do that? How do you work with them?
D ANTHONY MILES: Well, uh, I’m a business advisor of high net worth individuals, which is lottery winners and professional athletes, and other high-end people. And, uh, what I do is I give them the good, the bad, the ugly. And I- And you know, obviously they bring me in for my, uh, expertise to, uh, give them some, uh, business advice. And I said, “Look, I wouldn’t do that business.” One, because I like- I need to see something from the people who asked you to jump into this business, and if it’s a, a guy’s friend and a guy has no experience to me, that’s a red flag. And I think a lot of us, whether we want to admit this or not, we’re victims of the people we hang around, our circle. And-
David Brower: No question about it, yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh I- I- I’m- I’ve been a victim and you’ve been a victim.
David Brower: Yes, sir.
D ANTHONY MILES: And sometimes the people that we know, may not be the best people to get us to the next level.
David Brower: I mean, we are who we surround ourselves with.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh, absolutely. Having friends is like a diet. What people, the people that you have around you is a- Is a- Is a- Is an indicator of the type of diet you have, the type of thinking that flows through you. And if you’re around people that are criminals, you’re most likely going to be involved in criminal activities. If you’re around people that are always talking about the next business deal and how to make money on this next deal and talking about buying a franchise, well that’s- That’s got to be some type of cross pollinization on you and some influence on you.
So you want to always surround yourself, you at least have a mentor and surround- S- Surround yourself with people that want to see you do well and people want to see you, that will push you. Now you don’t want a ‘yes man,’ but you want someone to say, “Hey, you need to re-think that, you don’t want to do that, you want to do this.” Like I was telling, uh, one of my students, me and him went to the movies yesterday, you’ll find this funny, David. We went- I took him to the movies because I wanted him to see that movie, the- The [inaudible 00:07:10] called the founder of Bob McDonalds.
David Brower: Oh yeah, I haven’t seen that yet.
D ANTHONY MILES: And … You got to see that movie. Oh. And he was so into the movie, and he’s an entrepreneur as well, and I said, “What did you learn from that?” He said, “I don’t know Dr. Miles, uh, that was, uh, that was something else.” I said, “Well, when you have your business, you got to protect your intellectual property, you got to also look at, you got to al- You also have to have a strategic model in mind for future expansion about what you’re trying to do. You always have to have strategic planning.” Y- You know? If you can’t do it, get somebody to help you. You have to see that movie.
David Brower: Yeah, you got to be looking ahead all the time. Don’t you?
D ANTHONY MILES: Absolutely, because you know, right now business. I think it’s harder to start a business now than it ever has been in a certain aspect. Because there’s people- There’s- I think this is, we’re living in the age of entrepreneurship.
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: The corporate- The corporate route isn’t cutting it anymore. And- And, uh, universities are starting to pick up on this. Now this is one of the complaints when I was a university professor. You should be teaching entrepreneurship, along with marketing, finance, accounting, because all we’re doing is creating employees. And one of the things I always had a problem with the colleges and universities was this. They’re set up to create employees, you go get a college degree and you go get a job and you graduate. And then you’re out in the work force. I always said to myself, there’s got to be something different than to do this? Maybe I don’t want to be an employee, you know?
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: And I- No, it’s- It’s getting worse and worse and worse. There are college graduates coming out every year and the jobs are getting less and less and less. So you got to teach people entrepreneurship, that’s the only, that’s the only savior that I can see right now.
David Brower: So if somebody, a- And that makes all the sense in the world to me. I- I- I used live in a, manage a, manage a group of radio stations years ago and, and the university in town there would send over their students to have me interview them and maybe hire them as an intern or whatever. And I would sit there and look at them and they would say, “Well what’s your degree?” And I said I have no degree.
D ANTHONY MILES: Hard knocks, huh.
David Brower: Yeah, I said my deal is attitude and aptitude. If you- If you got the attitude and the aptitude, I want to hire you. I don’t care about your college degree.
D ANTHONY MILES: I like you so much. We- We definitely got to chat. I love what you just said. Because you got to have three literacies in the work force. And it doesn’t mean college degree. Then you got to be literate, you got to be able to know how to read, you got to be numerate, you got to know how to add, subtract and divide, you got to be computer literate. You got to be able to know how to work on a computer.
David Brower: Yep.
D ANTHONY MILES: And if you don’t have those three literacies, you’re gonna get- You- It’s not going to be a rosy picture for you and a great outlook for you finding a job. And we’re getting students who can’t write. They are so busy typing, using text speak, that they don’t know how to write a coherent sentence.
David Brower: Oh my gosh.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh yeah, it’s, it’s getting bad. It’s getting really bad.
David Brower: I know, and I … My grandkids are, are, are not even being taught cursive anymore.
D ANTHONY MILES: Can you believe that? Oh wow. I never thought I’d see that. (Laughing).
David Brower: I’d never thought I’d see that day, and I’m going, “Seriously?” Yeah, Da- Yeah that’s why we’re doing this.
D ANTHONY MILES: Wow. That is a lost art.
David Brower: So I love your literacies man, that is, that is so spot on.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh yeah.
David Brower: And for- And, uh, and for anybody who’s considering not being an employee any longer. You really have to, uh, evaluate those three literacies, you got to evaluate the people that you surround yourself with, and you got to be willing to take a leap of faith when the time’s right, huh?
D ANTHONY MILES: Absolutely. And, uh, everybody gets their call at a different life and- And- And I’m like this David, I don’t judge people. You know what I say when I see somebody that’s not there yet? I say, they’re on the stage of development.
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: Okay? I don’t have a right to judge somebody because I don’t know their story, I don’t know their struggles. That guy might be walking around raggedy and he may have a multi-million dollar business, he doesn’t want to attract attention to himself.
David Brower: Yeah, that’s right.
D ANTHONY MILES: So- So I treat everybody the same and if I see somebody that needs help. I mean I don’t want to like give away the story, but I try to help people and I always have that attitude. When I see somebody that’s not there yet, I always say they’re on the stage of development. How dare you talk about someone because of the way they’re dressed, there’s a multi-million dollar entrepreneur inside of everybody.
David Brower: Absolutely right. I- I remember years ago, I- I had walked into my insurance office to check on something.
D ANTHONY MILES: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
David Brower: I don’t even remember, and there was a good ole boy farmer guy, stereotypical with a bib up overalls, the cowboy hat, the piece of straw hanging out of his mouth, the whole thing.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh wow, oh wow.
David Brower: And so he finished his conversation and he walked out and I said, “Now that was an interesting man.” She says, “You have no idea, he’s a multi-mall- Multi-millionaire.”
D ANTHONY MILES: There you go. And I believe every entrepreneur should have this book called A Millionaire Next Door. ‘Cause we’ve been fooled about people that are really- That are entre- That are, uh, millionaires and that’s really a distortion of reality.
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: People that have money don’t spend, don’t spend money buying $1,200 Armani suits. People that are millionaires try to keep stay being a millionaire by being frugal, okay? Millionaires don’t buy brand new cars every year, they buy used cars.
David Brower: Yep.
D ANTHONY MILES: So, you know, your, your habits and all of those different things will lead you to being the type of entrepreneur that you want to be and also being wealthy. And what we don’t, what they don’t teach in school is this, because I was a university professor and I can say this. What they don’t teach you is how to be self-employed and how to be self-sustaining. There’s got to be more to life than just going to school and getting a degree and getting a job and then retiring.
David Brower: No, of course there is.
D ANTHONY MILES: What’s wrong with that picture? What’s wrong with that picture?
David Brower: Exactly right. Well, and even if they, even if they do have that mindset, I mean there is no way that you’re going to stay with a company for 30 years and get a gold watch. I mean that’s-
D ANTHONY MILES: I totally agree.
David Brower: You know what I mean?
D ANTHONY MILES: Are you- Yeah absolutely. You ever heard of Just in Time inventory?
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: Where you bring in inventory, you sell it and get rid of. Well that transferred into the workplace. Now you got Just in Time employment. You’re only needed when you’re needed. That’s why you’re seeing a rise and the influx in more, uh, uh, the emerging of, uh, of, uh, temp, temp agencies.
David Brower: Oh for sure, yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: They only want you for- They only want you for a short period of time on a project and then seeing you on your way, they cut an overhead. I mean some businesses just, you know, they don’t see why they need employees. They can run a business on a core staff of maybe 10 people, they don’t need employees.
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: So they may have sub-contractors. So what you have to do, and I’m telling all the kiddies out here listening to this. The key word now is multiple streams of income. Always have multiple streams of income. Don’t- Having a job is like having one client, and when that client is tired of you and tired of the engagement, they will let you go. And you’re going to go from one to zero. You don’t want to go back to zero, you always want multiple streams of income. If you have, like you, you have your radio show. Then you’ve got your speaking engagement arm of your business, you have, uh, your consulting part of your business. The key word now is multiple streams of income. Always have three sources or four sources of [inaudible 00:14:16].
David Brower: No question about it. I- I preach that, I don’t know how many times. In fact, I did an- An interview with a good friend of mine yesterday.
D ANTHONY MILES: Yes.
David Brower: And we had the exact same conversation because without multiple streams of revenue, you, you can’t make it in this world any more. I don’t care what you’re doing.
D ANTHONY MILES: You- You- You- You really can’t. And that guy, you remember that guy who- Who got, who got fired on Friday then he’s back in the ground on Monday and they don’t want to pay you what you were making, even though no matter how many degrees you had. I mean, the, the, the college degree is so devalued now with the, uh, with, you know, with online education. It’s- It’s made the college degree a commodity. And a guy who gets a certification may make more money than a guy getting a college degree. I mean this- I never thought I would see this reversal.
Like my situation is a little bit different. I got my, my PhD because I wanted to build my consulting practice.
David Brower: Right.
D ANTHONY MILES: Okay? I didn’t get it just because I wanted to get a faculty job. It would- It would have been nice to have a faculty job, but you know what? It would have been- I would have eventually would have left. However, why don’t I just start off at the gate and build up my business and corporate my business and build up my client base and I’ll make money than the president of the university?
David Brower: Absolutely.
D ANTHONY MILES: So, yeah. I mean we, I really- We really have a stigma in this country called employee-ism. Being an employee. And when you’re an employee, and I know, I- I think I’ve heard Robert Kiasake say this, the guy that are rich that are poor that. He said when you’re an employee, you’re in a constant state of fear. You’re worried about losing your job, because when you make a mistake, they fire you. It is so easy to get fired from a job. Like I live in Texas, they have something called at will employment. That means they don’t have to have a reason to fire you. They could fire you because they feel like it or they’re having a budget crunch in the quarter.
David Brower: Yeah.
D ANTHONY MILES: So, uh, an employee is in con- In a constant state of fear. And when you’re in a constant state of fear, you don’t perform well. They call that, I don’t know if you’ve heard Sean Diddy Combs say this, they calling that scared money. You know?
David Brower: (Laughing) Yeah absolutely. That is a true story there, man.
D ANTHONY MILES: Yeah, so we got people that are afraid, you know, every day of your life. Like well I heard a guy say this, “You’re like a duck every day, waiting to get shot, you just don’t know what day it’s going to be.” (Laughs). [crosstalk 00:16:32] employers.
David Brower: Right. Right. You- You don’t see the blind and here it comes.
D ANTHONY MILES: There you go, and normally when they fire you, they’re going to fire you. They don’t care if you just bought a house, they don’t care if your daughter was just born and everybody gets their wake up call sooner or later. Either you get it in their 20’s, or you get it in your 40’s and 50’s, which a lot of people do. Like I got, I was let go and I was 37, 38 years old from my job.
David Brower: Yep.
D ANTHONY MILES: And I was- And I looked at it as a blessing, because that told me I needed to re-invent myself.
David Brower: Absolutely.
D ANTHONY MILES: Absolutely.
David Brower: Absolutely. I could talk to you for hours, man but, we’re just about out of time here so.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh yeah, we got to do it again.
David Brower: We got to do it again, this is like crazy fun.
D ANTHONY MILES: Yeah this is a motivational speech, huh. (Laughs)
David Brower: Yeah that’s it. Let’s talk about your books before we leave though. You got, uh, two books out there.
D ANTHONY MILES: Sure.
David Brower: Risk Factors in Business Models and Entrepreneur, uh, Entrepreneurship and Risk. Which is available on Amazon, I assume?
D ANTHONY MILES: Sure. Yeah, my book is available on Amazon.com and, uh, my book is a wakeup call, every entrepreneur should have my book. And my book will try to help you be successful by giving you the good, the bad, the ugly. The risks that involve in starting a business and how to avoid those risks. And, uh, my- You can reach me on, uh, my website, you know, mdicordentials.com, I’m on LinkedIn and, uh, my book, my book you will enjoy reading.
David Brower: You got- You got two books, new books coming out that I got to get my hands on. One is, uh, How Do You Get Away With Murder in Marketing and the other one is Forensic Marketing.
D ANTHONY MILES: Oh my God. You saw that huh? (Laughs)
David Brower: Oh my God, I’m sitting here going, where’s, where’s the book man? I want the book.
D ANTHONY MILES: Yeah. Yeah, we should- I will definitely see you all to grab coffee, David. Well the books should be out in, uh, April or May, we’re still finishing it up.
David Brower: All right.
D ANTHONY MILES: And I will personally send you a, send you a, uh, hard copy with my autograph and things. And I’m just blessed that you had me on your show today. I think that that’ll be a great, great topic the next time I come on your show, I’ll talk about how to get away with murder in marketing, forensic marketing.
David Brower: Absolutely. And we will definitely do that. Thank you so much Dr. D. Anthony Miles, our guest today on your 20 minute podcast. And be sure to like us on Facebook, at Facebook.com/your20minutepodcast. Dr. Miles, it’s been a treat, man, have a good week.
D ANTHONY MILES: Thank you, I’ve enjoyed it so much. Talk to you later.