The Entrepreneurs Radio Show_027_Tammy Levent

THE ENTREPRENEURS RADIO SHOW Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business

Copyright 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneurs Radio Show Page 1 of 22

EPISODE #27: TAMMY LEVENT

Tammy Levent

Travis: Hey it's Travis Lane Jenkins. Welcome to Diamonds in Your Own Backyard. Sandra, my co-

host and good buddy is not with us today. Shes in the center of Daytona International Raceway for a

few weeks tending to 25 race teams. So, Sandra I know youre listening, we miss you, get back to us as

soon as possible.

Today were talking about unleashing your inner power to get what you want out of your business and

life through strategic partnerships. Also before I introduce you, I want to cover one thing, I have a favor

to ask you. If you enjoyed the free podcast that we create for you, go to iTunes and post a comment

and rate the show and that will help us, of course that will help us know what were doing matters to

you, and it will also help us reach more entrepreneurs in making a difference for more entrepreneurs or

a bigger impact.

Now with each and every show, now I know I lot of you show already know this Id like to cover it at the

beginning of each and every show. Our objective is to give you a seat right next to us as if it were the

four of us on the table me, Sandra when shes here, our guest and then just you. So rather than have a

conversation to all of you all. We try to phrase things in the first person because I want you to be a part

of the conversation with some of the most brightest entrepreneurs and thought leaders in the world,

people that have found success themselves and want to help you by sharing what they know.Everyone

that we've talked to has found a level of success doing what they teach.This has been one of my pet

peeves and frustrations for several years is that theresa large number of people that teach things they

dont actually use in their own business or they give important advice to you and your business and

they're not qualified to give that advice. It's taken me years and lots of money to get me access at this

level and now youre right here beside us joining in on the conversation.

Let me tell you a little bit about our guest -- Tammy Levent. Tammy is a keynote speaker, renowned

businesswoman, philanthropist and business mentor. Tammy helps entrepreneurs and business

owners with success tips and resources needed to become recession proof and ready for success. So

without further ado, let me welcome Tammy to the show.

Tammy: Thank you. It's nice being here. I love doing these shows. I love them especially because

theyre home-grown thats the way I'd say it instead of organically grown and you grow your business,

and you grow your business truly believe that. Your following, a good audience that appreciate what

youre doing because we all need great advice today -- especially today.



Travis: Thank you for that. What we try to do is we try to do a really kind of unscripted show, so the

whole thing unfolds in a very organic, natural way. I like for people to get to know the person that were

interviewing first because I found in building my business that most people dont care what you know

until they know that you care.So I really want to kind of get the back story on our guest. So I guess my

first question for you, how did you get started about mentoring business owners?

Tammy: Wow! Thats a great question there Travis. We have about 2 days. Let me tell you. I think that

life itself when it comes down on you really hard is right there people take it the wrong way usually and

they end up crumbling and with me I turned it around and say when they are going to put it into use

thats exactly what I did.

I was a business owner I have to say that I had to be a business owner from aged of 13 because my

parents own a restaurant. They're Greek I don't have a choice. If youve ever seen the movie My Big

Fat Greek Wedding thats exactly how your life is. They can tell you what to do, they going to tell you

who you to marry, what you eat. My parents were the first immigrants from World War II and they came

to Elis Island. They were given $20 and were said welcome to America and they made something out

of themselves. And thats why I just dont understand why people can't make it today or cant do

something with nothing. And they didnt even know the language. This was my upbringing, my

grandmother worked in the in the furrier, my grandfather being having his shoe repair place very blue

collar. My parents started with a small little place and owned a restaurant but I was always working in

the restaurant. I was the only child so obviously I picked up a lot through the years with them. They

were very successful. They were millionaires and retired by the time they were in their mid-30s.

When I decided to start my company I always worked for people. That was what I did. I was 16 years

old when I graduated high school. I got my associate by the time I was 16 because I went to Junior

college when I was 14. So I was motivated. I started school when I was 5 and I was 6 in first grade. I

was a year younger than everyone went to a private school and was ready to conquer the world at 16.

I moved to New York when I was 16, didnt have a place to live or anything, put my stuff in the car and

went off and found an apartment not in a very good neighbourhood but I know what I was doing and I

ended up working 3 jobs, waitressing, hostessing and I found a job translating. It was an export

business. And I was translating for them and I was like their girl Friday kind of like an assistant and

kind of doing a little bit everything

They told me to sell. I was anxious to sell. I was only 17 and so one day the boss wasn't in, a Greek

customer came in and I was Greek and I started selling products to them which was overseas. I was

selling 2 20 bulk appliances for Greece and Italy and the thing is they needed me because most of

these people didnt speak English and they needed me to translate. So it ended up I had enough of

this selling for about 6 months so I said I can do it myself. And I started doing it and I decided that.

There was a Greek shipping company and they said, Why are not you not doing this? There's only



one company that brings in all these appliances and theyre Israeli and why do the Greeks have to go

there. Why arent you doing it? Youre Greek, you should do this. I said I dont know what they're doing.

I have no idea. I'm not in the wholesale business. I said I'll help you build this brand and I'll tell you

where to get it and everything but I have to become your partner. At 17 I partnered with this company, I

had my own identity. I knew I was smart enough to know to have my own identity. I have the name of

the company, Marathon International and I merged with Seven Islands. Seven Islands is one of the

largest packing companies shipping companies, to go overseas. I was based in New York. I went to

Greece, Mediterranean, Sudan Israel we went everywhere and it was largest company at that time and

we merged it together and that was my first strategic partnership and it cost me what Travis -- nothing!

Travis: Time and effort!

Tammy: That's it! It didnt cost me anything else. And thats why I learned wow, you can build

something. It was not always money. By the time I was 20 I made my first million. I was married then. I

ended up getting pregnant at 25. We had the business that long and then I said oh I need to back to

Florida to my mom. So I came back to Florida and the shipping business there wasn't like what it was

in New York. The hustle and bustle people want to live in New York. They want to live here and it was

open trade started so people can buy what they can buy here and ship it in Europe anyway.

I opened up a jewellery store. I love the little name of your code there in your Diamonds in your

Backyard because collect diamonds for one and the second thing was that I opened up a jewellery

store. We had the store, were doing okay, were doing well with it and we had 2 people working in the

store; my ex-husband at the time he was my husband and an employee and five years after we had it

opened, we still had a little bit of the shipping business and I had the baby now. I was house working at

home, not really working much. We had an armed robbery 18 years ago, Halloween day, and two

people came in beat my husband severely, he has some brain damage and he couldn't work and we

lost everything overnight cause the insurance didn't cover it because me and my girl went out for a cup

of coffee at that moment. I lost everything in a minute. In todays world you see how the economy is,

and youre able to know hey, this is going to happen, I better hold of this and better prepare for that.

There was no preparation when you lose everything overnight. Because of the years that I had helped

the community and did so much involvement in this community, everyone came together to help out,

they did. They did flea markets, they did garage sales. They did all these things the people did to raise

money for us, at least, to be able to pay our mortgage and work things out. This was a funny story; I

was behind my American Express loan and forget it. And at the time I had my bills for 6-7 years and I

called them, I know I owe this money but I had this happened to me. And they were like no problem.

We can work it out with you. Just tell us how long it will take, we can take smaller payments and well

work it out. I'd like to see you do that today. How hard it will get you. You missed your 5 days after your

30 days you get sent to collections. I know those days are over.



Travis: Let me stop you there and let me go back cause there so much information here. I knew you

had this catastrophic event in your life. One of the things that you said early on is or you believe most

people misunderstand when bad things happen. Tell me more about that. What do you mean by that?

Tammy: I could do that but I havent told you the worst part. Did you know what happened after that?

Travis: I think so, but I'll let you.

Tammy: So a few months after the robbery, you had to understand I had no income coming in. He was

beaten, he doesnt have a job, he was working part time and that was all he can do. Six months later,

my children were in with the car with my grandmother who was driving them from my home to hers and

she passes out at the wheel. Shes 79 years old. My daughter takes control of the car at 9 years old

and my baby was in the back. They were in an uncontrollable down a road. They hit a brick house

going 45 miles an hour. Then the car crushed the grandmother killed her instantly. My daughter and my

son still went through the windshield. My daughter's face was torn off completely, pretty much they

were pretty much gone, and her tongue was severed and was sitting at the back of her throat. My son

had an oval eye fracture. They told me he wouldn't be probably be able to see, and she wouldn't be

probably be able to talk. So I had 2 children in intensive care, and were talking 6 months later, no work,

nothing. That was probably the worst time of my life. This is the part that you say why do people

crumble and thats what happened to my ex-husband because they think, you know that! Oh my God it

all came down on me now and its up to me to fix it and its up to me to fix it now and it all has to be put

back together the way it was. Its never going to be the way it was.

If you do what you do in your life strategically and when you work you have goals right? If you set one

goal and you do that slowly, and everything is positive and youre working towards that direction. You

need to do the same thing when you have a crisis. You cant just crumble and say, Oh my God I cant

do this its overwhelming, I cant do it. If youre following your goal Travis, to build your brand, your

business what do you do? You sit down. You set goals. You do this, you do that every time you see the

next year you see improvement, you see success. Its the same thing when something bad happens to

you. You cant sit there and say, Oh I cant do this and Im going to fail Im going to crumble. You have

to take that apart and say, Now what the first thing I have to do? I have 2 kids in intensive care; I

cant do anything about that. I cant do anything about the business of the funeral. I got to deal with that

too. And you got to break it down and the first thing I said was, I can break it all down but I need

money. I cant survive without an income right now. I need money. Thats when the time came. I

looked in the paper. I worked for somebody doing corporate incentive travel. I told them they can only

hire me, and there was no one else for this job and I got the position. After 2 years I built this company,

and then he gave it to me because he retired. But I still had to run it, I was still minus at that time. From

the time that I took it over, I was still with all the debts, and everything in my hands, minus $180,000

and I started the company.



Tammy: and I started the company at a minus $180,000? Who starts a company with a minus

$180,000?

Travis: Well apparently you do!

Tammy: And I did it again, I have to do this with a strategic partner and that's exactly what I did.

Travis: I think strategic comes to mind even in the problem solving. Something I taught my daughter is

deductive problem solving and so basically you sat down with all of these events that happen in your

life and then you pragmatically go through them and ask yourself what can I affect and what is beyond

my control, right?

Tammy: Correct and then you say, what do I need to do? What do I need to do at this point to get me

to the next level but lets not make it long term here, you have to understand, this is now.

We have 2 kids. I dont even know if shes going to speak. First thing I have to do is let me find money

so we can live. The second thing I have to do is what is her recovery like? What do I need to do? Can

I find a job working from home? I was speaking with an eye dropper for months. I cant even tell you

how long. My son couldn't see so you have to kind of do things that make sense. You're not gonna go

buy an office space. When I opened up my travel agency I work from home from a phone line and I

worked in somebody else's office I wasnt gonna rent a 5,000 sq. ft. space not knowing what kind of

business I have. You have you grown fully. Its the same business concept. Youre going to build it

fully.

Ok these are my priorities. Work comes first and how can I get the help to get to do that? Where's the

first place I need to go to get the help to help me? Or where my strategic partner to help me to get to

the next level with whatever it is? So we made sure we had people helping us at home to help me with

the kids. I made sure my husband ended getting a job working at a car dealership. Work part time, it

didnt matter. Everyone had to come together and help me at this point.

And that is exactly what Im doing now in business. Im saying now, listen, I'm in a travel business for

Gods sakes! When I tell people I own a travel agency. They go do you still have those? I was

feeling like choking them. Yes we have them. The more that Im under the better off I am. I'm getting

more business every year. But it has been hard. The cash flow is hard. The profit margins are hard.

Its just like any other business we have in this economy right now. But the funny thing is, I actually go

out and tell people, I need your help. I need your help to build my business and when you help me

grow my business Im going to reward you and give you a percentage of my business. I dont mind

sharing but this is what I am at, at this point. And what its done, I have a group of people and Im going

out there and really marketing for me because they know theyre going to have a share of this whole

different place right now in this country



Travis: Tell us about, to back up for a minute, Diamonds in your own backyard is actually the discovery

of what you think is the end of your life, when really its the beginning of next and maybe the most

important phase of your life and it sounds to me that this is a turning point of clarity and direction for you

as well. Some of these catastrophic events that had happened to you. Am I accurate?

Tammy: Yes.

Travis: Rather than being a victim. You chose a series of small action steps and sort of take them to

move yourself forward.

Tammy: Right. You cant do it all at once. Its the same way. You cant quit. You dont go into school

and you got an exam on your Chemistry exam you have to go to the class first. So its the same exact

thing. You have to go slow and say, ok, whats my prioritize of everything? Like now Im sure people

know their strength they really are, Im one of them. You cant get any cash advance or I mean, you

cant get any credit lines anymore they cut our credit lines 5 years ago for no reason we didnt do

anything, the whole entire country. When youre looking at this and youre a small business and youre

trying to make it and wow, I cant go this route. I cant go that route. My hands are tied. No theyre not;

you're going to look at other options. Youre not going to dwell on, I cant get it.

After September 11, I think some like 10,000 travel agencies shut down. Im like why? You know what I

mean? That was just an excuse to shut down. That isnt the real reason you shut down. The real

reason you shut down is because you just couldn't take it anymore. You cant work it anymore, because

our commissions were cut but the real reason is that right after September 11, yeah it was a little hard,

but there are ways of going around and making it. I've been in business now for 18 years with Elite

Travel.

Travis: I feel like we're in the survival of the fittest right now, do you?

Tammy: I don't know what were in.

Travis: The stronger companies are consolidating

Tammy: I dont know what you do besides this. I dont know what other business you are in. I dont

know anything you do besides this but every time I turn around I talk to somebody else, its like, I dont

know but I try this and I try that, but were all talking about the same thing. Were all talking about the

same exact thing and I kinda like, why do we keep watching the news and the government. You knew

how its gonna go. Take it in your own hands. Be responsible for yourself. This is your life. You make

the difference. You have to make the difference. You cant expect someone else to do it for you

because honestly, I dont think anybody cares.



Travis: I think that is the mindset of the entrepreneur isnt it? We dont sit and wait for someone to

hand it to us. We much rather create our own rules and go out and get it ourselves.

Tammy: Right. Thats true. And nothing will stop us. We dont care to anything.

Travis: Well transition me, let's talk more about what you do, one of the things that you teach. Because

I do the same thing and I love the concept and I happen to know its extremely effective. And thats

Strategic partnership, tell me more about that.

Tammy: Strategic partnership is a formula, first of all, I have a formula set and everyone can actually

buy my DVD or rent it give it on Amazon and its coming about 3 weeks it will be on tammylevent.net,

not on dot com. Dot com is my website but .net will have the product itself. Its not something you walk

on randomly into a networking event and say, Im gonna find an expert whos gonna help me with my

business. Its actually a formula that I created that you set down 3 different goals. One of them would

be your personal and business goals, and everything that you have on your business goals including

yourself personally you cant help anybody else or build your business unless youre personally right

yourself. The second thing is what your competition is. What's holding you back from doing what you

want to do? Is it money? Is it competition? What is your restraint? Everything that would be against

you. Put down on your paper. What are the talents that you can bring? Dont start looking about with

what you need or what you want. What can you bring to the table. What you can get to somebody else

that you can offer. Then I put a line under that, and I start pulling them together, what is my strategic

partner look like. I'll give you an example for this year I wanted more exposure I told someone, you

know what he said to me? Tammy what do you want? You want a Goodyear blimp over your house

with your name on it? Its over Tampa Bay!

Travis: thats exposure.

Tammy: No, I want different exposure. I do write for 4 magazines. But I want to focus on one and

really build that relationship with a magazine that understands me that I can act as a pro, give them a

percentage, whatever comes there really build a travel site almost within their magazine. I did that with

Destination Tampa. Im gonna tell you what I build strategically in the last 16 days, cause this is my

goal to build this in 16 days. Im actually writing a journal for this which will be my next book. Build your

business and your strategic partners and build their brand in 16 days or more than that in a year. I built

my partnership with her I called her up. She loved it. Because she needed a pro on travel, she wanted

to put more travel related items on there. I'm giving her free trips to give away, its giving me more

exposure, its helping her build her brand. Cause if you have something to give away on your

magazine or on your way of show or whatever it is youre doing youre gonna get more people listening.

So I help her build thats strategic partnership right there. Neither one of us put any money in, at all.

Just takes time that was one.



And then theres moreI created this DVD thats going to be selling in Amazon. I found somebody who

sells135 products already on Amazon most of them are speakers, he puts us together, knows what he's

doing, published his book. And we didnt cost anything very little for production we were splitting all the

revenues, so that is no brainer that its not really cost me much a little bit of production but were getting

on the next level of residual income so thats was my second strategic partnership and that's what I do

for others. Im going to give you an example of the gentleman that I had that I coach and he is on

wealth management. If you dont know anything about the financial planners out there youre hands are

tied. You cant advertise in the newsletter, other than what they can give you to print it. You cant go to

LinkedIn, you cant go out publicly speaking. You can't do any interviews so where are you gonna go?

And with this you can only bring in clients who can give him a quarter of a million dollars or higher.

Thats tough Travis, Where do you gonna find it? You know what Im saying?

Travis: How do you even prospect that?

Tammy: I dont know. Well, I did gave him an idea and its working for him and I told him. Thats why

he came to me cause he think Im outside the box. Whats your passion? He says golf! I said, oh my

god you make the best deals on golf because I do but Im running out of places, Im running out of

people that we golf together now. I said, ok, I'm going to go ahead and strategically partner you with

somebody huge in the golf industry and thats what I did, and I partnered with somebody who is bigger

than life. He creates potters and I put them together and they now they are going to be creating

tournaments together. And they were strategically decided on15 tournaments but these tournaments

are for those members only type people who can pay $80,000 to $100,000 for membership. Thats

where the money is going to come in for his business the rest is up to him. I cant hold him by the hand

and get a client for him but I gave him the tools to get there that he didnt think about and he can do that

all day long. And hes excited because they already have five already set date tournaments and let me

tell you the best part I started coaching him on 3 months ago November 1, with the first day so, in less

than in 60 days I created a brand for him, a logo, a website, tournaments and created a name for

himself and a brand in 60 days.

Travis: I love it! So basically, on what you did is reverse engineered who his ideal client is. He really

cant prospect with people unless they have what did you say, quarter of a million dollar annual

income?

Tammy: I know thats hard! No. not annual income thats what they had to invest with him!

Travis: They have to have a $250,000 portfolio and so you basically what you did is reverse

engineered that and went to places where people typically has to spend $80,000 to $100,000 just to be

a member of the country club and then put him in front of those people so its most likely that he's got an

audience of potential prospects, right?



Tammy: Well the tournaments they are doing are for a 144 people each. So lets say 144times 15

tournaments a year, he's in front of 2,160 people that are potentially his clients and the way that he, ok,

not everyone can afford $2,000 to play golf in all these different cities. But who I hook him up, you know

what he says, I really need help and I knew this, I need help in my tournament. So, why don't you

come in and help me Ill pay you. So now the tournament is paid for, all he had to do is he get, pay the

travel expenses, really everything is done for him, its not costing him anything but he got to get out

there and build hiswith out of 2100people at least, my goal with him was to find at least 10 people to

be able to make a special deal.

Travis: Right. Thats brilliant. Can you go deeper with the strategy?

Tammy: Deeper in how?

Travis: Well can you give us more examples.

Tammy: Sure. The other one I did was I needed to find a way to increase my bottom line. So in our

travel business, now Ill be open up with your readers, by the time were done, we net maybe between

10-12% of a profit thats all that we make. So when people say they gonna go online or whatever it is,

we can do that but we have a price match. So when we price match someone and then we're

discounting on top of that we may end up with only something like maybe what 7% by the time we were

done so with the profits are slim out there. My goal was to find resource people who would work with

me and give me a higher profit margin and thats exactly what I did and then the other thing my

personal goal was that I need more rest and I need to spend time with my family. So not only did I find

a way that I can make more profit, going to somebodys location and signing contracts and working

direct deals which gave me lucrative more income more cash flow. But I also made a deal instead oh

by the way, I need to come here at least 3 times a year with my family.

Travis: Quality control.

Tammy: Exactly. I need a rest and certification for free because travel agents dont have the perks

they used to get and that was part of my partnership.

There's something else that I did and that completed some of my personal goals. But Ive done it with

other companies as well. I strategically partnered a social media person with a writer and a web guy

and a SEO person. They build their own company and its huge now. So we did that and I helped

them do that. I just had them individually. It was my web guy, it was my writer, it was my social media

girl and my SEO person. And they were just separate. And I told why are you guys workingyou didnt

know each other but I know you working separate butI think I can bring you together and build a bigger

brand, and I did that. Two years ago they build this corporation and now its huge.



Travis: I think the plight of entrepreneurship is fun but it can be lonely because we tend to do a lot of

things alone and when you are a leader you really cant be buddies or friends with any of your staff

cause you have staff and then a lot of this problem solving we do is alone and so I think most

entrepreneurs get stuck with the mindset of thinking that they need to do everything rather than building

a network of people that you can trust and call on to help you, right?

Tammy: Correct. And another thing I do is, you know, I did a lot of things alone, and youre absolutely

right. Im at a point now where I'm so open about things like I am now in your show and I tell you Im out

there look I'm real too. Youre not the only one with cash flow issues. Youre not the only one with this

issue and that issue. Were all going through them, but I think Im more vocal now than I ever was

before.

I actually go out and I'll say how are you doing and how is it affecting your business and what are you

doing and Im finding it everywhere. And I turn around and the next person that I saw was, they have a

great model and theyre just doing fantastic is not doing as great as I thought they were doing, you

know what Im saying. Im getting people to open up more and also share their stories and their

problems and I say, listen, you really need to think about a strategic partner. I can give you an idea of

how to do it and I actually help them partner with other companies to build bigger brands. You see it all

the time. If you go to a mobile station aren't you gonna see a Dunkin Donuts or something there like

everyones doing that now because they cant stand alone. You know what I mean because you see it

so much, I don't know what state you're in.

Travis: I'm in Texas and yeah I see a Taco Bell and a Subway.

Tammy: Is it better to go under or is it better that Taco Bellsay hey Subway this is my situation why

dont we brand together? Of course!

Travis: In the technical world that would be considered a mash up where you would take 2-3-

4technologies and bring them together and I believe thats one of the newer business models today is

just kind of a hybrid business model. Ive got a large team and the overhead of having that large team is

challenging and frustrating at times because they dont have the drive or initiative that individual or

smaller entrepreneurs do. Its really nice to bring 5-10-15 entrepreneurs together and do something in a

concerted fashion and everyone is an expert on a very deep level of what theyre doing. It brings about

incredible synergy together. I teach local groups how to bring a 100 businesses together, and refer and

like a trust one another and refer one another and also other things that will help grow their business

but that synergy is impressive what it does to the business.

Tammy: Absolutely! And the thing is, I can go on and on. I have a whip shop instead of a work shop.

So I have the whip shop which means women have infinite power because at the time of the accident

and I had to get a temporary job after the jewellery store and I worked telemarketing and the day we



came with a trainer and he gave me a whip. Im sitting in the hospital thinking of what the this whip

is something, its just giving me a little bit more power more control. And thats how I came up with the

acronym and here I was 18 years later I came up with something. With my Whip Shop what I do is I

actually teach people how to market and brand without losing your own brands together. So when I

strategically partnered in the travel industry I was minus $180,000 remember, I couldnt do that alone. I

had to find someone even though I had a book worth $2,000,000 of business it didnt matter I was

minus, how was I going to start?

And so I went to someone made a phone call and said, listen, if you help me answer phones, do my fax

and give me your desk I give you 30% of my profit and he's like, Hell yeah, be there in the week.So I

go there we still kept his identity; but I kept mine as my company. And when we do things together

either its Elite Travel of events or he was there supporting me or it was a Bay Travel event and I was

supporting him. So we always never ever lost our identity. Thats very important when you strategically

partner. You dont want to be Im Elite Travel now Im with Bay so I became Bay travel, it was never

that way. I always kept Elite Travel as my own.

Travis: I think also you need to make sure that you two align with your principles and mindset in

business.

Tammy: Yes and you also had to, as though you both have that, you have to make sure that you have

everything contracted. I dont care what it is, even if when there is no money involved you still need to

have it in writing. Because when things go bad no one cares, when things go good trust me everyone

wants a piece of everything.

Travis: The palest of ink is better than the brightest memory or the best memory. I had a mentor that

use to say that all the time, basically, its just a classy way of saying Get it in writing.

Tammy: Its simple. Even if its worthwhile from my personal outline. What do you gonna give me?

What am I gonna give you? We agreed to it, thats it, thats the contract. It doesnt have to be a whole

contract because you dont have money to exchange. Just say, Hey, we both leave with what we

came in when were done, lets call it a day, and you have to have something.

Travis: Sometimes people and theres not even necessarily malice or malicious intent. Sometimes

people forget what they agreed to and they thought it was this and it was really that. And now that they

got their mindset on that although its inaccurate they aggravated or angry with you.

Tammy: Youre correct! Youre right. That does happen. Hey its like a marriage or divorce. Isnt it?



Travis: Yeah. I used to think, so my first business was a home improvement company and I still have it

and whenever we painted the outside of someones home they would come out and point out all of the

old paint on the bricks that we werent supposed to paint. It wasnt the colour that we painted the house.

Lets say their old house was dark brown, and we painted the house white. They would insist that we

got brown on their paint. I mean on their brick and so Id think seriously, you realize that your house

was just brown, right and we painted it white and for a while, I thought, and this applies to the analogy

of what youre talking about , for a while I thought they were doing that maliciously. When I come to

realize they just didn't know any better and so, I made it a point to point these things out in the future

and so the contractual agreements that I had with my clients is the same thing that you do with

somebody that you work with. You need to point those details out so that everybody's on the same

page so if it needs to be resolved 3 years from now then everything is just clear.

Tammy: Right.

Travis: Great advice there. Thank you for that. Whats the best advice that you can give business

owners that will help them take their business to a whole new level right now in your opinion?

Tammy: Thats a really broad statement. It depends on what the business is. I really have to say that

because I can only think of a business and where to take them if I know the business. In my own head

like, where they should partner, where they should do. I really think they should start looking into more

strategic partnerships not dwelling on the fact that theyre not having the cash coming in and everything

else, thats one. Two, the clients that you so work hard for, you work so hard to get your clients why are

you losing them? You're losing them because youre not following up through the years. I probably

have the best following ever in a business. I had a text message this morning from a bride, as I read it

to you she text me on my phone and she said to me, can you believe its been 5 years since you've

done our wedding, and were ready for another trip, and she goes every year. So whats crazy its five

years later she text me and Im ready to go on another vacation and thats because we continue to

send out a blast email every single month for every single client that we ever had in this company. So

we have a database right now about a 150,000. So it goes out every single month we dont forget to do

it. Every month they get specials, sales everything. We call on one for their anniversaries or birthdays

coming up. We ask for referrals, we refer for referrals. I tell people it took you so long to get that client,

you sat with them, you took time with them, you went back and forth with them, you negotiated with

them you finally got the deal . Now with my business when they come back from a vacation we send

them a welcome home letter. After the welcome home letter, we continue to be in their face for the rest

of their lives. Now they can either unsubscribe and not talk to us ever again or theyre gonna remember

and say next time we have a vacation lets go to them because they do have a price match guarantee

were they are able to help us. You see what Im saying?



Travis: Oh without a doubt!

Tammy: A lot of companies dont that. I go to a drycleaners do I get anything from them? And says

hey, were here, were here for your business or a coffee shop or where I had my car wash. All these

places need to do something for their clients to keep and retain that business because competition

today everybody wants a part of your business and what sets you apart from that person to retain that

business.

Travis: Relationship. That was great advice. I didnt want to lead you Tammy on that but I want to get

your perspective on it and I think most people don't realize it costs 6x more to acquire a new client than

it is to keep the old one.

Tammy: It's hard.

Travis: There was a great story I heard recently about a car salesman thats in the Guinness Book of

World Records for selling the most cars 4 years straight and his secret was he sends a personalize

post card out every month to everybody that ever bought a car from him. He sells something like I think

theres a number and may be a little off but its 7 or 8 cars a day. And he says, whats surprising is Ive

told a lot of people my secret and nobody's doing it.

Tammy: Exactly and all it is, is the follow up and to continue with the follow up and also when you do

get it to ask for those referrals and we do all the time. Every invoice that goes out, there is a cover letter

with it. By the time they make a payment, by the time they make a deposit they get a letter, they make

payments in between they get a letter, they make their final payments they get a letter. They paid us for

they get a letter. And what it is every time is we ask, Dont forget to give us referrals. We get paid for

that we give you $25 for each referral and what we do we put them in their invoice, so when they finally

call us and say hey were ready to book a trip, oh hey you've accumulated $100 for this. We dont

have to do it where there is a miles and points and all this. We had this on their statement. So they

know hey we have money at Elite. So you have found for what we have. We have a rewards program

in place and we just continuously update that and thats one thing they should be doing and talking to

other entrepreneurs towards the end of last year, I really sat down and took a really good look at my

business. And I sat down and put everything down on paper, every little dime that I spend, how much

goes to this, how much goes to that and I dissected it and said ok Im taking over my company. This is

all that I can afford and this is all I can do I need to take over and bring my company to whole different

level. Because we've also come down in profit and everything and we still do the same advertising, we

still do the same marketing. We probably pay more now than we did before, but looking at the

smarketing avenues that we currently have to see if they really, really work.

So what I did was lets say for instance, I was in the Robb report and I noticed that our sales in the

Robb report have come down tremendously. No one reads magazines anymore, no one reads the



paper anymore, so why am I advertising for a lot of money in the Robb report when it doesnt give me

the business anymore. They really need to take a good look at their business and not rely on their CFO

and whoever else running in their company or their accountants. They need to look. They started that

company from ground up. They need to go back and do the same thing exactly.

Travis: So a lot of businesses are not tracking their advertising. So therefore they dont really know

what is or is not working.

Tammy: Everything that goes through here gets tracked my number one source in here besides the

referral I would say is Google. Everything else, I know youre in your social media, its a tool and it gets

you out there but it doesnt bring me anything.

Travis: Its hard to monetize social media. Its a good way to stay in touch with your people, but its

hard to monetize it.

Tammy: Theyre too busy writing about your dog, they dont care.

Travis: Little cynical are we?

Tammy: Dont get me wrong, its not the dog, it can be anything. I asked my girl one time do we really

need to be in Facebook? She looked at me like I was crazy. Of course you do!

Travis: I think a lot of people ask themselves that question. Its just a great way to stay in touch with

your following, your people and let them know whats going on with you and in deepening maintain the

relationship. One of the things I wanted to go back to is, so you follow up with all of your past clients. A

lot of business owners ask a question so what would I send every month? Give me a birds eye view of

what you would send your clientsso that you're not constantly bombarding them with some type of sell,

sell, sell. What do you follow up with them to maintain that relationship? What type of information?

Tammy:I have 2 different email blasts. One is my Get Whipped one with Tammy Levent. That one is

my seminars I do those once like every couple of months or I may do a private luncheon or whatever

that one is different. That one I send out every week for a month before the event. I make it catchy and

its funny. I dont know if you ever saw the one that I did with my Get whipped and Branded. But I

have noticed people are cracking up like, she's crazy but I have a full house and that's exactly the point.

Now this one says New Year More Money No Joke Part 1 and I have different videos. So all my email

blasts have different videos in them so I created videos with the people that I am speaking with me or

what the topics about. People are lazy they dont want to read, that they love the video I have fun with

the videos.

The travel part of it I first send out an email that says, hey this is a fax about our company and I send

them deals that they cant find them anywhere else. They cannot go to Expedia Travelocity. Nowhere



to find the deals I give them and I send them through a purchasing house, there's somebody that I work

with that finds these deals and sends them out to them every month. So they get deals that are

ridiculous like a cruise for $200 a day and normally they pay $400 for it so these are the kinds of deals I

put out on the blast with the travel agency

Travis: And its actually a quality trip?

Tammy: Yeah, Caribbean. Oh yeah, absolutely. You can find that onEliteTravelGroup.net, every single

one of my deals is posted there and I have something thats called Triplets which will really blow you

away. So when you go on Travis and you want a family trip for Christmas, so like this coming 2013,

and you put in my budget is $2,000 for a family of 4 and we want to go away for the week, which is very

cheap. You put all your information in there, and they ask you what you want to do and every time it

finds that trip for you it will email you.

Travis: Hmm nice

Tammy: Isnt it? I love it.

Travis: And you talk about the follow up for your coaching of business owners. Give me a feel of your

follow up for people that buy travel because I think a lot of business owners think of their business on

every one dimensional way. Do you get personal in your follow up? How friendly or personal do you

get? Are you just sending them offers? Tell me about that.

Tammy: We just met your bridal shows around the country. We used to do them all over the country,

now we do them in Atlanta and Tampa only. I just cant Im too spread out. We go to the Atlanta show.

Just to give you an example. First of all my competitors would say why are you here? You can come to

Tampa. I dont know. I dont have a problem with that. Why are you asking me why I am here? Cause

Im from Tampa and Im in Atlanta market. Im here because I'm good at what I do and Im going to take

over your business because youre not doing it to Atlanta which is a great market.

I meet the bride, right after we meet the bride we have a registration form for a free trip that were giving

away.

The first thing we do is we will call the bride? Who makes a phone call today? No one cause its all

social media. So we make a phone call and say, hey you know we met you and we like to make a

follow up with you. So thats the first thing we do. The second thing we do we put them in our database

and we send them a blast email and this email we say to them is very personalized. So I had

somebody doing this here at the office one at a time it was going to say it was nice meeting you at the

show, let me tell you a little bit more about Elite Travel, in order for us to help you please give us this

information.



When are you planning on travelling? Where do you like it to do? What is your dream destination?

What is your budget? Where are you living from? All that information, and then, thank you very much

whatever. And then after that they get a follow up from us every single month, the deals and the

promotions that we have. Thats a lot of work for one client but we do all that for thats how we get the

business. But for an agency to say that they do $4M -$5M in business it sounds like a lot of business.

To make a profit in that business is another choice. You have to have that kind of business. An

average airline ticket is $400 thats a lot of tickets to make that kind of money.

Travis: Right.

Tammy: Right. You have to really work hard to get those clients because there is a competition and

my competition is huge. They have billions behind them and its all online. But I dont consider this

competition because their customer service is out the window. I have customer service. I think people

are tired with social media people need to connect with people. We've lost that I think people need

more of that connectivity, and people could relate. And when they pick up the phone, you know that we

are open 24/hours a day 7 days a week 365 days out of the year. Thats crazy!

Travis: Oh you are!

Tammy: And we answer the phone and we never have an answering machine and weve made

everyone takes turns in whos answering the phone in what day and theres always somebody from

there at the office and weve been doing that for 18 years.

Travis: So one of the things you add there is the personal touch.

Tammy: The best of personal touch. We really know our clients. I cant just search you. Ill call them

for Happy New Year or theyll follow up and text me. Ill say Ill go on Facebook and I always tell them to

become my fans through years. Ill say I'm coming to New York and people will write to me, and right

now I just wrote Im coming to Atlanta and I have 5 people say, Oh, I'll take you out from there. Ill

meet you out for lunch. Lets go here lets go there. So my existing clients are coming to me and its

become a little bit more friendlier than just the social media aspect they know me a little different. But I

built that relationships and thats what you need people want those relationships.

Travis: Good advice. I agree with you. 100%

Tammy: It takes a lot of time Travis. Its not something that happens overnight. Because you really got

to love what you do and you got to love your business you know? You built it; you don't want to lose it.

Travis: Full time job isn't it?

Tammy: Oh yeah, oh yeah.



Travis: Let me segue to the 3 questions that I do, that I gave you a little time to think about. Because I

always want to give our guest, our fellow listener that person sitting at the table right with me and were

having a conversation here. Why dont we give them as much value as possible and so youve already

taught a lot of really brilliant things that I completely agree with for business. What book or program

made an impact on you related to business that you would recommend and why?

Tammy: Oh I love these questions; first of all, I havent seen this question until 3 minutes before I

called you. I didnt have time for this are you crazy but I'm good at this. I am so excited right now you

have no idea. I'm going to tell you about a program and nobody knows about it. What happens was, I

was invited to go to someone's house and they were going to introduce this new software program. And

I say this is multi-level and they like, no. I say ok, why is it everybody is here? Why is like 30 top

entrepreneurs of Tampa Bay, one of them is worth half a billion dollars, and the other one was probably

a billion dollars and the rest of them I had no idea who they were. And I want to know why I am invited

in this group of people about this new software program. They said because this is coming out its

already in other countries and were finally bring it here to the United States. We want you the first

people to see it, play with it, use it, and work with it. And tell us whatyou think? This was probably in

November maybe in December? No, actually its December. So were only talking about a month ago.

Its called TimeMaker.org, when you go on to the website you wont understand what it is. You had a

basic understanding of what they call it. But this is what I call it. I call it Outlook, with apps and any

other program that makes you put tasks together on steroids. This is the most incredible tool I have

ever worked with for my business and I recommend it for any business. Basically what it is, when you

open up your emails Travisin the morning, how many emails do you have?

Travis: Oh hundreds.

Tammy: Hundreds. So do I; I used to when I use Outlook. When I open up my emails now, I have

maybe 20 emails. Thats it. Everything else gets categorized exactly where it needs to go. I hated

opening up my emails. There's a Facebook message, theres a LinkedIn message, theres junk mail

and theres a message that I need from you or from another person or a vendor or whatever the case

maybe. When you send out an email in the beginning it takes a little bit of work. Its only been like 30

days for me and I put the information in there. I actually sort it. Its very easy to do. You tell it where it

goes do you dont even need to type anything in, you kind a guide it where it goes with your files like

you normally do with outlook. And then any time you send your email or you receive an email it

automatically goes in that file folder and will show you things that are opened and things that hasnt

been opened. It ties in with your iPhone or it ties in with your iPad with everything that you have. Youve

already eliminated all that time. The whole objective is the time is money. Time of opening up emails in

Linked In that I dont want to open right now, but I still have to go through each one to get to my real

email.



Travis: Kind of like a TV or a DVR for your email right?

Tammy: Yeah. Similar to that but its more than that. So lets go to the production task first. So you

have a task on the production company. I manufacture cars and I want to know that I put 10 in the line-

up or even if you own a magazine or a publication and you have deadlines to meet. You have to have

these headlines. What do you do now Travis in any business, you know what I do? You send an

email, Hey Katie I need this done and I need this done by next week, ok? And what happens? Next

week comes and she didnt do it or she's late on it and you have no way of tracking it. You really have

no idea with what's going on with your company. Now usually they send out emails. There are ways

that you could send the production task like that and still you dont have deadlines that they have to

meet.

So what you do now is you put a deadline of when and how to meet and they can either response you

by sending the date; deliver response you by I cant do it, its not my project to do or they have to

complete it for the day and if they dont complete it they have to give you answers why. But not only

does it track it, but it also analyses and see the work production for each person and how much its

costing you. Is it worth them? Are they a good employee or not? Especially in todays world, where

we have people working in these companies that may not be worthy of working there because theyre

lazy and they are unfaithful all day or whatever the case may be. These can eliminate a lot of that. Its

going to build more production.

Travis: Very cool. What did you say the name of that one?

Tammy: You look at that all at once and you can see whats going on in your entire company by doing

that in one shot. Everything. Whats due today, whats overdue, whats havent been worked on. And if

youre not on the things on like if I email you, I can still put a date on it and say I need this by this date

and it pulls you into my system so you are forced to work under my guidelines, under my system and

with my date. And guess what the software is free. Its got over four million lines of code in it. Its crazy!

Travis: Hey tell me again, what did you say the name of that was?

Tammy: Its called TimeMaker.org. It is pretty sounds good to me. You pay a monthly fee and thenif

you want training for it like I did because 4M lines of code I need training. And that is a $1,000, but if

youre a big corporation its nothing to you but you really are saving so much money. The money and

the time; its put me to a whole new level for me as far as the quality of time of what I had left.

Travis: So the second question is what are your favourite tool or piece of technology and I think that

probably applies more to that right there Timemaker.org. Do you agree?

Tammy: Yes, absolutely.



Travis: Is there a book that had an impact on you that you recommend to fellow entrepreneurs?

Tammy: Good to Great . I would say I read that book a few times. It was a basic book on business and

personal but I really like that book.

Travis: Is there a famous quote that would best summarize or best summarize your belief or attitude in

your business? Do you think in that terms or famous quotes have any place with you and your mind-

set?

Tammy: No. I like a lot of quotes. I really dont have any quotes that comes to mind I really dont. I

really dont because there so many. There's one particular one but I have no idea where it came from,

but I look at it every day, which is: Integrity: In matters of style move with the current ; and in matters of

principle stands like a rock. Thats the only thing I read every day when I come in and I dont know if

thats a quote because I dont know where it came from.

Travis: Yeah sounds like a quote. Read that to me again.

Tammy: Integrity: In matters of style move with the current; and in matters of principle stand like a

rock.

Travis: Oh I like that! So, in matters of style move with the current; and in matters of principle stand like

a rock. I think thats great advice.

Tammy: I look at that every day and say, Hey Tam! Whatever happens you always have to have your

integrity.

Travis: Its obvious to me that you're just a very energetic, dynamic person and I absolutely enjoyed

connecting with you in going deeper in your journey. I appreciate the fact that you shared such a

personal story of loss. Those are the defining moments from any of us in our lives and your willingness

to share those things I think it gives other people permission to own failure and to move past it and

maybe not own but find a way to move past it and not letting it own you. I think thats a better way of

saying it.

Tammy: That is right. For a lot of people out there that has friends who've lost jobs. You know,

especially in this world and in this economy you just have to go out and you can find work; there is

ways of doing it. Like now with TimeMaker, Ill be perfectly honest with you, when I saw this, if

somebody ask you Travis, Would you like to be on the ground level of Microsoft? I mean a real

company that you see the future. I mean they have the government of Israel on it, Motorola on it, car

dealerships on it, they done it on every other country but ours. They save our country for last. Do you

want to jump on board? I jump on board because I see the potential of this company.



So, I call the owner I must sound like a crack head on the phone cause Im like, Mayor can you tell me

where you have a training? He said, I have training but this is for corporations. You dont work at

them.I said thats okay. He said, but you don't work for this company. I said no, I really want to. I have

to be involved. I have to know more of this company. I have to be involved with your company

somehow. Im going to come to this training and his answer was very vague, he doesnt even know

how to tell me no. So hes like, ok its next week at Fort Myers for three days at this hotel. What will I tell

them of your company? So tell them I work for you. So here I am infiltrating and getting in even though

Im not hired, but you know what Im saying I know what I believe in it so much that Im going to make

my way in. And I think thats my best advice right now to anyone out there looking for work, looking for

anything even though its something that you may want. You may think that youre a pain in the butt but

you continuously go in there every day. Go ReadLes Brown's story or go watch it in YouTube. He did it

every day till he got that job so I'm telling you the same thing. There is something else you wanted bad

enough, keep applying every day. They may think youre crazy, but you know what? Theyll say, lets

just hire this person obviously theyre committed. So thats my biggest advice to people that are looking

for work or people that need work right now. I think thats our biggest challenge in the United States

that people need jobs, even though we are entrepreneurs, I would say that.

Travis: Well I love it. Its obvious you have tenacity and gumption and you know youre a dynamic

person that is rare and a go. Sometimes Im guilty of that at times I press buttons and get in trouble for

that. But thats just the by-product for that you know, of being assertive. So great job! Thank you for

coming in to our show and sharing all these wonderful tips with our guest. Let me segue to wrapping

things up I want to remind you guysweve got the show notes at the bottom that you could find all the

links to the books and resources mentioned in the show under Tammy's profile. Tammy, do you have

any other links thatyou want to share with us that people can connect withyou on?

Tammy: All my links. Well the tammylevent.com which is where you can read more about me, my

story, my whip shop, coaching; how we can work closely well and all that. And tammylevent.net soon.

That will be all my products and we have the travel. Somebody in your city incorporate on incentive

travel. Dont stop doing that with your employees, they need that. Elite incentive travel. We have all of

our websites. I can send them to you its at the bottom of my signature side. I could give them all to you

if you need them in writing.

End of Interview

Travis: Yeah, that will be great. In that way we can put them in the show notes. You our guest can go

to our show notes and just Click on things and connect with Tammy directly. That way you can get to



our show remember to go to DIYOB.com so thats an abbreviation of Diamonds in Your Own Backyard

(DIYOB), enter your name and well send you the 2013 business owners guide From Frustration to $70

Million Dollars (A behind the scenes look at what you need to know to grow your business to incredible

levels of success.)Its a thing that I discover over the 20 year of my journey of building my business to

that level and I want to share these things with you. Also when you opt in you become part of the

Authentic Entrepreneur community, where we are setting up a network of people, tools, resources that

you can refer to grow your business. Well do programs with other great guests like Tammy later and

you'll have access to those training programs as a member of Authentic Entrepreneur community.

Everything that we do is dedicated to giving you the shortest path to that next level of success. Again I

want to remind you that Ive personally spent over a $150,000 to get to know many of these people

through masterminds and events and travelling to these events and now you'll be able to connect with

them through our network.

One other thing is Ive been talking about increasing our interviews to 3 per week and schedule

continues to get in the way. Im going to transition to 2 interviews a week and then were try to work our

way up to 3 per week I just wanted to mention that to you because I told you that that was going to be

happening.

Today I want to close the show by telling you something that you dont hear very often and I said this on

the last episode. As an entrepreneur, I know most entrepreneurs dont get told or given a thank you for

being the leader. Thank you for setting such an incredible example of what its looks like to go after your

dreams. Now you may not know this but most people are in awe of your ability and courage to take the

risks, overcome your fears and go after your dreams. Just like you heard with Tammy, she had fears

and she moved forward in the presence of those fears. So keep pouring your heart and soul into this.

Its well worth it. We need as many great entrepreneurs as possible. So take care and I look forward to

talking to you on the next episode.



How We Can Help You

We know that finding someone that you can trust online today is hard and that so many so called

gurus are self-appointed and have never really even done what they teach you to do. Thats exactly

why we created the Double Your Profits Business Accelerator. This is an exclusive offer for our fans at

a fraction of its normal cost.

Here's what to expect. We'll Schedule a 'One on One' private session, where we'll take the time to dive

deep into your business and tell you what is missing, so that you can have your best year ever!

We'll do this by performing a S.W.O.T. Analysis. This tells us your Strengths, Weaknesses,

Opportunities and Threats within your business.

This will be an eye opener for YOU, for several reasons, however some of the most common reasons

are.

As the 'Business Owner' its difficult to see the big picture of your own business because youre in the

middle of a daily management.

And you are too emotionally involved to completely impartial.

This is a common problem for EVERY business owner. It doesnt matter if you are a one-man army, or

an army of 150, the problem is still the same.

Travis Lane Jenkins

Business Mentor-Turn Around Specialist

Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show

Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your Business"

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