Unbound with Chris DuBois

Want to learn how to use communication as a tool for building connection? We have an episode for you. Are you a leader trying to get more from your business in life? Me too. So join me as I document the conversations, stories and advice to help you achieve what matters in your life. Welcome to unbound with me, Chris DuBois. Welcome to unbound. Today I am joined by Mr. Scott Edwards. Scott is a lifelong entrepreneur, starting companies from a chain of comedy clubs, even owning a submarine in a beach shack in Hawaii is experience and using communication as a tool for connection is powerful, something that all leaders should strive to emulate. And I am excited to have you on the show. Wow. I'm so excited to be here. Ladies and gentlemen. I'm on unbound. Yes, thank you. Thank you. It's very exciting. I know that the audience is just going to sit out sit down, relax. Was is going crazy. But we're going to have a fun conversation and share some insight information and maybe make you chuckle a bit. Let's see. Yeah, you are probably the only guest to bring an actual audience in with them. So let's well I know it's important for the ego to feel like somebody's there, right kids feel if only I could get my own kids to cheer me like that. Father's Day, by the way, Chris, I know that. You have a lot going on in your own life and you've pulled together this amazing podcast unbound. Congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate that. Hopefully keep ramping it up the way it's, it's going right now. But let's, uh, let's talk about you. Yeah. I would love to hear more about your backstory. Because I mean, you and I chatted before born a poor black child and a log cabin is no, that's a different book I read. No, I came from kind of a dysfunctional family was out on my own and an early age. Sorry to disappoint the parents out there. But no college No. Nothing planned or trained for. But my father was a very gregarious outside salesmen for Johnson and Johnson and other big companies. And I think I kind of picked up on his personality. And while in high school, I just had this itch. I was I get this Chris, I was actually the night maintenance at this cheap ass motel here in Sacramento, and I overheard two guys talking about how they were making good money painting lines in the parking lot on the side, and I'm thinking, Hmm, I could do that. So I talked to companies that did it. I did a lot of research in at the age of 17. Started my own small construction company. Now No, no, I didn't have a silver spoon. There was no money. In fact, I had a great idea. And I knew what I was doing. But I had to get a high school buddy who had just come into a huge $500 inheritance, to use that money to buy our first paint machine. And the two of us, we're all set to go. And then we go, oh crap, how are we going to get the paint machine to the various job sites? Hey, and we went to another high school buddy that happened to own a van. And thus the three of us formed the Three Caballeros and became a an A restripe, a small construction company. And what's exciting, Chris is I started that at age 17. I sold out a couple years later, but the guy that owned the van. Paul kept that company ran it for over 30 years. And now his kids are still doing that work. So it's been around a while. Yeah, all because he were working at a cheap motel. Yeah, cleaning toilets and TVs, you know, you never know where integration will come from. It's a you left a legacy for someone else's family. It was a fun start, you know, three high school kids were running around all over. We did all the McDonald's in Northern California, all the Safeway stores, which is a big grocery chain. We even did an airport, we started getting into asphalt repair. And we did some we expanded and it was it was you know, we learned a lot. But the point of the story was I had the idea, the dream. And because of my personality. I was the salesman. So I would go out and close the contracts and then the three of us would get together and do the grunt work. But it was all about and this is a little advice for your listeners. When there's some thing you want to do, there's no reason to recreate the wheel. So when I heard about this idea and got going, I went out and talk to other people already doing it. And what you find is people love talking about themselves and their business. So I would go to other striping companies, painting companies, you know, where do you get your pain? How much do you charge? You know, how do you do this? Because I've never done it. And people love to share is you just have to not be afraid to ask. Yeah, I love looks like you're taking notice I can go slow. Now. No, I so I love the concept. I call it the gift of going second. Someone else said it before me I'll take full credit. But the with the idea that people have done it before they've written books on it, they are talking about it live, they're on podcasts. They're doing episodes like this explaining these things. That's like, why would we not go to these people who have already done it so that we can jump ahead a couple steps? Well, I've found a week in advance it No, you're exactly correct. I've tried to mentor several small business owners. And my last I like different adventures. My last adventure, I owned a insurance brokerage, and I was a small business expert in commercial insurance. And I was interacting with all these business owners. And it's incredible how many really don't know what they're doing, or they, they just, they had a passion for the work. But they didn't know how to do that run the business behind it, how to manage employees, dealing with inventory in banking. And, you know, after starting over a dozen companies, I have some wisdom that I'm able to pass on and help these people. And I've always enjoyed that. Yeah. And do you think it's interesting that a lot of times they will people will start a company, right? They have that passion? They become like the leader within their organization, they're doing all the things that try advancing it. But what at what point does it become easy for someone to say, you know, this isn't for me, I need to bring someone else in to assist with these things. And I guess for you is like a serial entrepreneur, right? You've had so many businesses like that, that has been a thought you've had at some point where it's like, I can bring other people in to execute on this. Yeah, I'm kind of the idea guy, the sales guy, the kind of the power, the force behind getting things going. But I'm not a great worker. I mean, the reason I work for myself all these years, Chris, I got fired from every job I've ever had, when I worked for other people, because I thought I could do it better than them. And I wasn't always right. But the truth is that it always takes a support team. And if you surround yourself with people that have a similar passion to you that have a work ethic that is so important that you can develop an idea into a company. And one of the biggest challenges I think, is finding people that have that passion and a work ethic. And what I spent a lot of my young life doing when I opened my chain of comedy clubs, I had three of them for over 20 years, they're actually still operating, I sold out. But when I hired new young people, I laid down some, you know, rules, some guidelines and tried to inspire them, to have a work ethic to understand that nothing in this world is for free, and you have to earn it. And it's all about your self respect and your interest in the business you're working for, you know, so many of these young people. And I mean, and I'm old, so anybody under 50 fits here. But for young people, they don't understand they're spending, you know, 40 hours a week if they're doing a good job at a business. Well, that's a pretty big chunk of your life. So why not treat that business? Like it's yours like it's your home, you know, clean up after yourself. Don't be afraid to clean up after others. I had a rule, no wasted trips. If you're going from the showroom to the kitchen and you see some dirty glasses are something on the floor. Don't wait for someone else to get it you get it. This is where you live take some responsibility and interest in what you're doing. And I've taught that to I'm proud to say hundreds of people over my decades of businesses and I think all ego aside, they learned something and they're all better for it. And it that sounds a little naughty. I apologize but I I do know, that's important to pass on my beliefs, you know that my core beliefs are I only go into a business if I'm passionate about it. If I, you know, I may not know what I'm doing, but I'll learn. Right. Right. And there's something exciting about being able to learn something new. Well, it's so interesting because people say, Well, you had a chain of comedy clubs, and I had a travel agency, I had the submarine, and then I had an insurance brokerage. And, you know, how do you have a passion and all these different things? Well, it's really not per se the business as the service, you know, insurance. I'm like everybody else in the world. I hate insurance. But it's a necessity. And people have questions and need help. So I enjoy the customer service aspect of insurance. And that's where I shined. I was Scott, the insurance Pro. Branding, by the way is important. Yeah, there's a little tip for you business people, branding works. Something that just talking to you, right? The Comedy Club stuff is great. You obviously have a good sense of humor. I want to talk more about how you use comedy, just in sales. Right? Getting that humor across to well, it's it's when it's a great question, Chris, you you ought to have a podcast. What's interesting is that people think that if you're in the comedy business, that you're a jokester, the funny guy. And the reality is, I was the business behind the comedy clubs. In other words, I when you're in a comedy club, it's a restaurant. So you're running a restaurant, it's a bar. So you're running a bar, you're producing shows. So I'm a producer, I would do all my shows and my clubs. But I also did three TV series, I did several concerts. So as a producer, I had certain things I had to make happen. As a restaurant owner, there's other duties and chores you have to make happen. As a bar owner, you have other responsibilities. And to answer your question, I loved getting on stage, because I'm shy. And I am seeing all of my shows for over 21 years. So yes, I can be funny, and I have a good personality. But I was never the jokester. I was the producer. Now I kind of got away from your question. So to answer your question, I was really good in sales. But it wasn't because I was a jokester, and could pull a joke out. In fact, I have a rule, I only have one clean joke and one dirty joke for depending on the situation. But what it taught me all those years on stage and all those decades in sales, is to not be afraid to talk to people being gregarious part of that his personality, but it can be taught. And be sure to ask the right questions, and then shut up and listen. You know, so many sales people want to talk and talk and talk and talk until they get the sale. You know, I was in car sales for a while I was a fleet director for our Ford store. And the guys on the line that was like they would approach the what we call up the people that came to buy a car with like they were selling, you know, a watch on the street a want to buy a watch, you know, kind of sleazy, and that's why people are afraid of car salesmen. I was very successful in car sales, because I didn't approach them like, Ooh, you're my next victim. I approached him as that I'm here to solve your problem. So what's your problem? And I got a little story. Do you have time, Chris? I have plenty of time actually cleared my calendar for this. I'm selling cars. And this guy comes in with his wife and three kids. And he goes, Man, I want to see the new Mustang. Ah, okay. Right. So I'm, you know, who knows, maybe he came into some money and he needs a toy. So I'm walking with a map to the car. So you know, what are you going to be using the car for? Well, my wife has to take the kids to school and, and sometimes my golf buddies will join me and have to do something and Oh, yeah. My, my son is a soccer player. So we take some of the soccer team. And I'm listening to all this. I'm not saying anything. At that point. I'm just listening and making mental notes and we get over to the Mustangs and I go, man, these are sweet cars. They got so much horsepower, and they're wonderful. But, you know, based on what you told me, the need for the car isn't going to be met with this Mustang. In fact, if you get this Mustang it's pretty much just you and your wife, you might as well sell The kids, right? So I walked, I said, let me show you something. And I started heading towards what they call the soccer mom vans. And this guy starts freaking out, right? But his wife, who is a big important part of this whole purchase, her eyes get real big. And I said, Now settle down, let me show you. And I start showing the sliding doors and the automatic this and how it will fit not only the kids, but their neighbor, kids and the soccer team and his golf buddies in the golf bags. And I'm now selling the vehicle based on his actual needs, not on what he thought he wanted. And even though he probably was a little disappointed, he wasn't getting the fire engine red Mustang, his wife was so happy. And he would have ended up happier, because now they had a vehicle that actually met their needs. So going back to your question, whether you're selling comedy, construction, cars, submarine tours, insurance, it's all about listening to the needs of your clients or customers in satisfying them taking care of them. Yeah, that is a great lesson. Because you'll often see a lot of companies who basically say if you got money, we're we're willing to work with you. But you're not the best fit for for everybody that's coming into your company. Yeah. So when that person has a bad experience, we have to be willing to say no, you know, for example, around the chain of comedy clubs, and I want to name drop a little and brag. I was doing this and I started in 1980. I was 24 years old. And I was working side by side. The guy that really helped me get going was Bob Saget and Dave cliche from Full House. Garry Shandling, George Wallace, Jerry Seinfeld, all these guys, Dana Carvey, were coming in, but they were new young people too. And we were all kind of learning the business together. But they were very supportive of me and vice versa. But what was interesting was, when it came to my customers, there were a few famous comics that I said, Man, I think you're really funny, but you won't work in my room. Right? My job was to present a product, a show for my customers here in Sacramento, which is kind of a not a huge Hollywood kind of town. And so there's times that you have to say no, was the point of the story, Chris, is that you, you don't always want to force a square peg into a round hole you want to bring to your customers and clients what's really going to work? In fact, there was a couple of times that, you know, I'd fired people, you know, you comics that weren't really, you know, doing what they contractually promised to do. And I'd have to let him go. So it's, it goes back to that. What's best for the customers and clients, and then the management side, being able to make those decisions and stick by him. whether you're right or wrong, you're still the boss. Right? Well, and going back to, you know, you're talking about needing a strong brand. And that brand is your reputation. And so if you are selling to someone and not giving them what they actually need, right, they're gonna leave you bad reviews, they're not going to be happy. They're gonna tell their friends like, that wasn't a great show, or like, yeah, this car is awesome, but I can't. And so now it looks bad on your website. It was later, though, and I wanted to share this with people that worry about bad reviews. When we first started, it was well before the internet. So when you're in show business, or the restaurant business, it's all about the newspaper reviews. By the way newspaper was these big paper things that had black ink in a lot of people forgot how to read the back of the day. That was where you got your Free Press was in the reviewers would come in and comment on the show. We had this one guy rich Simon with the paper that's no longer around. And every week or two, he would come in and review the shows. And he would it was there weren't great reviews. He was, you know, commenting on what they were wearing. And he didn't like if they said dropped an F bomb or something. Stand up comedy I should explain to the audience was really new in 1980. It was pretty much the break between strippers and jazz bands. It wasn't a mainstream entertainment. So this reviewer was kind of critical. But bad review or not. Every week or two I had a free big ad in the paper saying that this is what's going on and we had several customers say I'm here to see your show because rich Simon didn't like it. Don't worry so much about what happens on Yelp. If they're talking about you, that means you had business with them. And that's a good thing. Yeah. Do you start paying for his drinks? So he come in more? Well, I think what happened is, is comedy became more mainstream stand up comedy. And he saw more and more shows. He came around, and we started getting better and better reviews. He really liked Jay Leno. Leno was one of my early regulars. And he did some amazing interviews and reviews of Jay Leno. But I was just sharing that story, because there's kind of theory behind it is that bad news is still news and free marketing. free advertising is something that, you know, nobody can turn down. Yeah. Let's talk. Public speaking. So you emcee a lot of your shows, you know, at the Comedy Club, even just being in sales, right, you're getting in front of people a lot talking to them. I think a lot of leaders that is the biggest fear for most people is public speaking, getting in front of people, like everyone's palms get sweaty. And they Yeah, definitely. Right. I'm just curious. I mean, I've even I there was people that after I retired, thought I should be a public speaker and share my story. And I did a couple. I did it a couple times. But it wasn't fun talking about myself and I was nervous. So funny, as you get me in front of a big crowd, I'm like this, I'm automatic. But you get me in front of a few people to a crowd talking about myself. I wasn't comfortable with it. But when it comes to public speaking or sales, it helps to have an A personality which you're born with. It helps to be gregarious and able to talk to anybody at any time. And always have a smile on your face. And that sometimes can be difficult, but is a good thing to strive for and can be taught. The other thing that I think is important to explain to people because you do have that intense fear that I'm going to go up there and die, and I'm going to go up and bomb. And first off, let me tell you, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Dana Carvey, all the people, Ray Romano that I got to work with Paula Poundstone, Robin Williams, we have all bombed at some point. And you know what's interesting, Chris, and this is a little tidbit for your listeners. No one's actually ever died from embarrassment. Really, no one's ever died from embarrassment. So what's the worst that can happen? It's like when you're a salesman, you're you know, you pretty much train yourself. You're gonna get two or three noes before you get a yes. Well, a lot of people hear no, and they shut down. And in my business, when you hear no, that just means you haven't answered their problem yet. It's just a step. Right? So it's being a public speaker is understanding you're not going to dive embarrassment that nothing's you could say or do is going to ruin your life per se. In general. And in sales, it's so important to understand that you're always going to get a few noes. And you can't let those disappointments stop you. You have to keep barreling forward. And it may always, you know, may end up being five or six noes and you don't get the sale that happens a lot too. But so what what damage has happened? Nothing. Right, we're gonna buy right and it wasn't the right product for the to meet that customers need. That's how you have to look at it. People take it personally. It's not a personal thing. I mean, it's true. Someone may just not like you and not want to buy from you and heck with them. There's a lot of people out there a lot of fish in the pond, as I say, but sometimes are actually a lot of times when you're getting consistent knows. It's just that you didn't have the product or the service that solve their needs. I hope that's not too simplistic. It's a truism. No, yeah, I agree. Oh, well, that I feel really good about. Yeah, perfect. All right, double index. Let's talk a communication as a tool for building connection. Right you've worked in I keep coming back to the comedy club. So I think this is the most interesting thing for me, hopefully for other people too. And I'm not just boring everyone else by the fact that you've worked with all these great comedians stay. Yeah, stay where you're at is one of the great bastions of communication because whether you bomb or kill it's interesting that they're both kind of negative terms. But in show business, you either bomb or kill No. And it's a matter of engaging with an audience or communicating with the audience. So whether you're the high intensity machine gun style of Robin Williams, or you're Larry bubbles, brown who's very slow and methodical you, it's all about taking the audience on a journey. And you're doing this strictly with your words. And so you have to get the audience kind of onboard, right? You want them to take the journey with you. So when you're, I'm helping a young comic, improve his set, become a professional, it's all about, you know, introduce yourself to the audience, maybe do a little self deprecation or share a little bit of your story. So they get to know you a little bit, maybe talk to the audience a little bit, so you know a little bit about them, and then ease into your material. And take them you know, down that use that story, that joke, joke, joke joke, but it's really a story a path. And then what we try to teach is you come out strong, and then you plateau and try to fill the time, whether it's 10 minutes or 60 minutes, I once had Jay Leno do a 90 minute show was incredible, in concert, and then you want to end strong, so that not only does the audience leave, you know, really amped up and happy. But they're going to want to come back for more so that barony with the audience is all about communicating and engaging with the audience. So Chris, your podcast is a lot about business and sales. It's the same thing, that when you're talking with a customer, or dealing with a client, you want to engage with them communicate. And there's there's a couple subtle things, that means you don't want to talk over their head, you want to talk at their level, it also means that you need to listen so that you're talking about something that engages them. Does that make sense? And these are things that help you and that potential customer or client connect, so that you can help each other. You're helping them by solving a problem making a sale, and they're helping you by making the sale and making you commission. Right? By the way, I was always commissioned sales, there's, you know, a lot of people and there's a whole different personality type the quote unquote, county or state workers that go sit in their cubicle, and they make their 12 bucks an hour or whatever. You know, that's fine. That's if that's how you want to, you know, live your life. For me, I was, you know, filthy rich a couple times, submarine b check, and why some really fun stuff. But I was dead broke. I went bankrupt a couple times. And as an entrepreneur, you have to have the strength, and the personality and even the ego to go through those highs and lows, and always striving to make a buck and make yourself better. Right, man, this how many you know? The one you've you've had, what 12 different businesses. I think you said during the comma, club years, the 80s and the 90s, there was a boom of comedy and I made some bank. And because I'm always looking for that next adventure, every year I would open a business so I had the comedy clubs. But then across the street, I opened up a jazz club and then up the street opened and in the restaurant, I'm into art. So I had a couple art galleries. At one point, I was working with some people I was a partner in a company called snuba, which is underwater snorkeling around the world. And the guys that developed by the way, it's still all over the world develops Nouba built a submarine, semi submersible submarine and asked me to come out to Hawaii and help them put the finishing touches on it and help with the initial marketing. And I'm sitting there working and doing the loading the ballast and screwing things in the summary. And I go, you know, I want one of these. And so I got some partners and we bought a submarine and we put it in Monterey, California and ran it for about a year and a half and lost our asses. It was it was one of my biggest financial moves because the water Monterey was too cold. There was a problem with algae bloom, that we had to pay a scuba diver to go long and keep the windows clean. And it was a big financial mistake. But we ended up selling the submarine to the Wrigley Gump family and it still operates out of cash Catalina Island in Southern California. But the the interesting part, Chris, is that even though that was a huge financial failure, how many people can go on in their life saying, you know, I own a submarine? Right. And it sank financially? Definitely. Yeah. So what? What company? Would Are you still like missing out on like, what? If you had to start something else? What would it be venture your new passion project? Yeah, what are you? Well, my semi retirement stage I started a couple podcast and like you I'm really enjoying doing podcasts because I get allowed, I'm allowed to share my passion for in, in my case, stand up comedy and re engage with old comics and club owners and booking agents. And it's just a thrill for me and I found an audience, I just hit over 100,000 downloads. So I'm, I'm, you know, having fun with that. But my next adventure, because I actually just really officially retired in April. And this is June when we're recording this. And I'm planning a, like a streaming video TV show. Does that mean I'm still working on it, but it's going to be a YouTube TV channel about comedy and funny is funny, because whether you're watching a Laurel and Hardy or Charlie Chaplin, black and white movie in the 20s, or you're seeing stand up comedy up the street. funny is funny. Yeah, I can agree with that. All right. What book? Do you recommend everyone? Well, I don't know if there's any books that might be of interest to anybody in the comedy industry. But I thought about this because you gave me a heads up Chris on the unbound podcast, what I would recommend for people interested in business sales and communication. And there's a lot of books out there, but may I refer you and your audience to a podcast? There's a new podcast just started a few months ago called How to Talk to humans, how to talk to humans available on all podcast platforms. That is starring a very talented comic magician and successful businessman, Larry Wilson. And this podcast is really the strongest form of communication training I've seen or heard of. And that's why I'm passionately telling you and your audience about it. How to Talk to humans, Larry, you know, he's slow, is, you know, very specific with his words. He's teaching, sharing. And because he's been in show business for over 40 years, he has stories with Cary Grant and Hugh Hefner, and in other famous people, Sammy Davis, Jr. And he and toured together. And so he's able to use these stories and his talent to communicate, to share with the world. And he's doing it through this podcast how to talk to humans. So if you're done reading the hundreds of books out there on communication, right, this podcast is seriously good stuff. Awesome. I'm gonna check that out. Scott, this has been a lot of fun. It's been funny as well. Thank you for joining me. This has been great. We have to stop there. Oh, I at some point, at some point. You asked me to walk down on my calendar, but I can only do so much. Yeah. Well, I gotta tell you. It's been so great, Chris, is the time has flown by. I hope that the audience got something out of it. I really appreciate being on unbound a up and coming successful podcast. Congratulations on everything you're doing in sharing, and if it's okay to plug right now. Cast is stand up comedy, your host and emcee. Once again, stand up comedy, your hosted emcee available on all podcast platforms. And it's a combination of actual comedy from Gary Shandling. Sagat Dave co da Dana Carvey, I can go on and on Jay Leno, Ray Romano, so many great comics I share their comedy material from back in the 80s and 90s. But what's great is now I get a chance to interview them and they share their stories. So there's lots of stories from club owners and prevent Estoril comics. And then it's about a 45 minute format. If that's too much for you, I do have a second podcast for the short brain people that like five or six minutes long, just pure comedy. It's called comedy appetizers, comedy appetizers, and you get five to six minutes of pure stand up comedy each and every week. So check those two out. And if you get a chance how to talk to humans, and I think we'll fill your life with information and comedy and laughter sounds great. Scott, thanks again for joining me. Hey, Chris. You're doing a great job. Thanks so much for having me. Let's hear for Chris. Nice job, Chris. is amazing. You got to bring your audience around, just pump me up. If you enjoyed today's episode, I would love a rating and review on your favorite podcast player. And for more information on how to build effective and efficient teams through your leadership, visit leading four.com And as always deserve it