[Music] Hi everybody and welcome to the latest

edition of On the Offense. Uh I am John Clendening in a hotel room in of all

places Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Good to be here and go Tide Roller. My business

partner is I'm Jeff Bomb and I am the only one right now in Texas and you'll

see why that's important in a moment or two. That is important. We are going to talk a lot about the Lone Star State

here. So, uh, thank you for joining us. We are going to make this one especially worth your while. We're both pretty

jacked up for this one for a variety of reasons. So, what we're doing today is

we are uh and we're going to hone in on a very specific fun topic, but a little

bit of context. We are introducing with this podcast a three-part series of

On the Offense. Jeff, our first three-part series, right? Remember, it

it's a it's our own it. We're introducing the first ever client's first miniseries. Remember the era of

the minis? Marie, remember Roots? Absolutely. The Thornbirds.

I I was addicted to the Thornbirds. Really? Really? I was addicted to Rachel

Ward in the Thornirds. You got me. Same here.

So, think of this as a miniseries. Three consecutive podcasts focusing on three

different but related things. And we're going to call it right place, right time, right people. Right place, right

time, right people. We are going to focus today on the right place. And the right place is Texas. Uh and we'll

circle back on that in a moment. Two weeks from now, we're going to talk about right place. Um, and just to throw

out a little teaser, um, uh, right place refers to, um, the increasing momentum

we see in the market towards smaller agencies and we think we're in the right place uh, running a smaller agency. So

much more to come on that. And then uh in two podcasts from now, so in about a

month, we're going to talk about right people, which you know is in the end with an agency, people is your product.

It's the most important thing. But guess what? We're not going to talk about Jeff and I being the right people. Maybe a

little um but we're going to talk about the clients first network

of people that we have built out over our first year as an agency. We're

really excited to tell you about that. All right. So, Texas 25 years ago this

week, Jeff, think back to the houseion days of 2000. We had Oh, yeah. I can

remember like the right like it was yesterday. We had just survived the uh

the scare of Y2K, right? U George W.

Bush, the then governor of Texas, was running for president against Al Gore.

And that would all come to a head in the fall, right? Yes, it was a big year. 2000 was the year of the Hanging Chad,

right? The Hanging Chad in Palm Beach. Hanging Chad in Florida. Uh the New York

Yankees were at the height of their latest dynasty.

Uh that was the year of the Subway Series, the Yankees versus the Mets.

remember when uh Piaza swung at the Clemens pitch and broke his bat and the

bat went flying toward Clemens and he hucked it at Piaza while he was running to first. Yes.

Um, and I believe that was also and we moved this I mean middle of June and it

that was right about the point where Survivor had exploded as a new television show

and uh we watched it that first year and actually the second year too and I'll

tell you what we were that first summer in Dallas we were survivors. It was that

we were survivors. We were we were coffee achievers and survivors at that

point. I looked it up. It was the second hottest summer on record in the state of

Texas, which is saying a lot. Right. Absolutely. And we had a really long drought. If you remember, we had

fissures in our front yard. That's right. Oh gosh. Um, I'm sure that the

summer of 2000 in Dallas with now that global warming Oh, I guess it's a hoax.

Um, ju just kidding. Just kidding. Couldn't help myself. I thought we agreed we weren't going to do that.

Yeah, we did agree and I violated the no politics thing. Uh, the summer of 2000

has probably been outdone by by subsequent summers in terms of

being hotter. We'll leave it at that. But at the time, second hottest summer in the history of Texas. And we were in

Dallas in the Dallas area. We were recruited here by EDS, Electronic Data

Systems, the company founded by Ross Perau in 1962

based on a financially speaking at least a u $100

check that his wife wrote based on a note he had take had taken on the back

of a church pledge card. So we were recruited here by EDS which was u

knockdown dragout at the time for leadership in the IT services space with IBM global services right and uh so here

come the bombs and the clenennings the clandennings from the west coast the bombs from the east coast uh with their

young families in tow to the EDS corporate apartments in beautiful

downtown Plano, Texas. And little did we know in those heady days, Jeff, that uh

a quarter of a century later uh we'd still be here. We'd still be here. Here

we are. I saw no prospect of that, honestly, when we moved here. I didn't

think that was even possible. Now, we've been here 25 years. You know, we're settled into a very nice house. We've

been this entire time. Um never thought I'd acclimate to Texas, you know, before

I got here. The only time I'd been in Texas was changing planes in the airport

in Dallas and in Houston, but that was about it. So, it was a mysterious place

when we moved here. Was a mysterious place. I had been here. I say here, I'm

in Alabama now, but whatever. I had been to Texas multiple times on business.

Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio. Um, but it it had never occurred to me

that I would actually move there. And it's funny, you know, we both ended up raising our kids there, and most of

those kids are now gone. Yeah. Now living outside of the state of Texas. Um, including our favorite producer,

Gellman. Hi, Gellman. Everybody, good morning. Okay, there we go. But you know

what? Another thing we didn't realize was the extent and and now we're going to start to get to Texas and why we

believe Texas is maybe the best place in the entire world

from which to do business. Um, little could we have known back in 2000

that we were essentially early adopters, right? Not that Texas wasn't already a good place for business in 2000, but the

uh you know, somebody left the door open and everybody followed us through that

door. literally countless businesses in

multiple multiple industries in the last 25 years and and I don't know if it's

fair to say largely in the past 10. It seems like it's accelerated even more that countless companies across

industries have relocated their operations to Texas uh and in and in

many of those cases their corporate headquarters. It's just a great place to do business. And I have some things on

my screen here that I'm gonna talk about um in terms of why it's a great place to

do business. But let's take a step back. Enough from me. Jeff, you've got some really fun factoids. Yeah. Let's let's

start out with the fun before John gets too serious because he's always too serious. So,

Texas has the largest bat colony in the world. It's huge and they're Mexican free tail

bats. The King Ranch in southeast Texas is larger than the state of Rhode Island

and it it really it's like a living museum of the cowboy lifestyle that's

played a crucial role in American history. There's only one natural lake

in Texas. That's Cattle Lake, which is not far away. John Cat Cattle Lake in

East Texas. Correct. And it's a uh it's a cypress lake. So there's cypress

trees, lots of Spanish moss and alligators. Indeed. Let's go down the

list more. Um you could fit three of the largest states into the

area of Texas and we're the second largest state to Alaska. We boast the

highest speed limit in the US, which is between Austin and San Antonio, which

has a stretch that's at 85 miles per hour. Really? 85 miles per hour. That's

about what you drive when we're going up to uh the Frisco campus of That is about

what I drive. Yeah. So, anyway, I I'll leave it at that. It's just And and Texas has been its own country. We're

the only state that's been under six different flags. So, there's a lot of

stuff going on here. And as John alluded to, we've got a great business environment. No state income tax for

individuals. Um really lacks regulations for for companies, which makes it really

attractive. Couple of other fun facts. The land mass of Dallas Fort Worth

Airport, DFW, is larger than the island of Manhattan. Think about that. That's

crazy. There's a lot at DFW that people like us never see, but it counts, right?

Yep. Yeah. And another one, pop quiz for you. How big is the economy of Texas

compared to other countries? Maybe a different way to ask is how many countries have a bigger economy than

Texas countries? I'm going to guess seven.

Very close. Six other countries and California. Seven are interesting.

It just goes a long way to uh highlight how big the economy here is. And maybe

just a couple of words on why it's such a great place to do business. You just mentioned a couple of those reasons,

right? just said no state income tax. So if you're headquartered here or maybe

you have a big office here and you need to recruit people here, why is it an easy place to recruit to? At least

compared to the coasts, right? To your point, no state income tax. The uh the

Stanley Cup finals are going on right now and I I actually heard a discussion

on ESPN. This is unbelievable. The state the state of Florida also has no state

income tax. I don't know how I don't know how many states don't have state income tax. Not a lot. I think

Connecticut and Hawaii. I think uh Connecticut has state income tax. Oh, it does? Okay. I believe Tennessee has now

joined the club. Any state of Florida has no state income tax. And there was a

discussion on ESPN the other day that maybe the professional NHL hockey teams

in Florida have an advantage in signing talent because they don't they're because they

can say to a player they're trying to sign, well, you're not going to have to pay state income tax. You're actually going to keep more money in your pocket.

And you might say, well, okay, but think about it. The last four Stanley Cup

finals in a row have featured teams from Florida this year and last year the Florida

Panthers who play in Miami and the two years before that the Tampa Bay Lightning four years in a row team has

made the Stanley. So now there's this whole thing about oh and it got to the point the commissioner of the NHL Gary

Bman had to address it. It's crazy. But anyway, easy place to recruit to because

no state income tax. Number two, modest cost of living, right? Absolutely. At

least shocking, right? At least compared to um the coast and maybe Chicago,

right? Yeah. Yeah. I wouldn't say Dallas is cheap to live,

but it's it's certainly manageable compared to other like cities. Well, you

lived in the LA area. I lived in the New York area for a long time. Really huge cost of living in both those places. No

question about it. The other thing that I think is a factor,

there's just a lot of other opportunities and we'll get to that. There's, in other words, you reload your

family to Dallas or somewhere else in Texas. Let's say the job doesn't work out. Well, you're not left hanging

because there's so many other companies here, right, across countless

industries, right? It there's just so much going on here. And then there's another reason why I think this is a

really, really good place to do business, and that is its location.

Right now, here we are. Distant by plane in both coasts. Two and a half hours. You could do a day trip to LA. You could

do do a day trip to New York. You can be at lunch in Chicago and home for dinner.

I mean, it's it's amazing how much easier business travel is. Um, and it's

just easier to get stuff done. Not to mention absolutely right. Right. Personal travel if you have young kids.

Take it from me. I mean, we lived when when the girls were really small in

California and my in-laws were in Connecticut. Those six hour, five, six hour flights

were not fun. Not Oh, absolutely not. Not it. So, it all of these things add

up, right? Not to me. Why is everybody coming here business-wise? There's a lot more going on there than what we've

talked about. the state is has thrown money at companies um tax breaks and

incentives and things like that. And I say more power to the state government

of Texas for doing that because it brings corporate revenue and and tax

money and people and blah blah. And it's just gotten to the point now where Texas

is essentially the poster child for good business, right? What do you think about

that? It it is it is the poster child for a good business. Look at all the companies that have moved their

headquarters here. Um you know I think of floor which people don't know that

name but that's a huge company huge that deals with shipping mostly along the

coasts but it's headquartered here. Um there have been huge companies that have

moved here a lot from California and and I think that's been a huge incentive for companies to move here. you know where

we are geographically, the wealth that resides here, you clearly the oil

industry was a driver for a long time, but you know, wind farms produce more electricity in Texas than in any other

state in the country. So that really goes against that, you know, that characteristic of Texas where just

cattle farms and oil. Um, so I think those are huge things. You know, for the

most part, aside from the summers, which are just brutal. Um, yeah, we've got

pretty moderate climate. You can do things in the winter that you can't do in other states. So, I I think there's a

lot here that, um, would attract people to Texas. And I I've been really

pleasantly surprised. That's why we've been here for so so so many years now. So, I've been very pleasantly surprised.

Um, you know, I thought I literally thought it was going to be me and a bunch of people with cowboy hats. Ex I I

thought that too. I thought that too. And uh the image is so strong. Found out

fairly quickly that that's not the case. Now I' I'll tell people all the time I'll see one cowboy out a month, maybe

one every six months. Now Jeff and I live in Dallas, which is a very

cosmopolitan, very sophisticated city that has lots of

transplants, right? And so, um, now you go to Fort Worth, you're going to see a

lot of cowboy hats. I'm not saying it's one is better than the other. I'm saying the culture of Fort Worth is very

different, very western, um, as compared to Dallas. Um there there's a saying, John, the Dallas is

where the east peters out. Fort Worth is where the west begins. That's exactly.

And uh you get that feeling. You get that feeling. But you know, when I've been in the airports changing planes and

everything else here in Dallas, I did see people in cowboy hats and I thought, "Oh my, you know, it must be the trend."

But it's not really people from this area in Plano or from where you live. It's people on the outskirts because you

know you get about half hour out of Dallas, you really start to see that real Texas thing. Oh yeah. No, no doubt

about it. And yes, yes, yes, Jeff, you're right. We promise not to get into politics. And so I'm going to make a

political statement that is not meant to be a political statement. Okay. But

Texas, Texas, red state, right? Um they thought it might be turning purplish.

whatever red state at this point. Um, and you know, outsiders

like to say, "Oh, well, everybody in Texas is red, right?" To your point, you

go outside of Dallas, it's all going to be red. But if you're in the city of

Dallas, it's blue. Dallas is a blue city. Um, it is. And it's just I find it

I find it fascinating because also it's just the power of imagery and the power

of messaging frankly right you look at California it's the exact opposite everybody outside of California thinks

everybody in California is blue not true it's not true in either case there are

millions and millions of people in both state that vote the color that is not

the color that everybody thinks is the only color if that makes any sense. Right. Right. And it's just it's it's

the power of it's the power of imagery. So well even here in Dallas itself. So Dallas itself is is clearly blue but

where I live in Colin County is red redder than red where you live. That

little section of Dallas is probably pretty red. All right we are back. We uh we have taken a station break. Um Jeff

had a contractor issue and I had a my phone is dying issue. We were just

saying that the power of imagery when it comes to a place like Texas is so

strong. Everybody outside of Texas thinks everyone here is red. Um not

true. Everyone from my home state of California, everyone outside of it thinks everyone is there is blue. Not

true. It's just the power of the media, power of imagery, the power of

messaging. Um, it's just interesting and I think our one of our points is that

there is a real uh sense of diversity that I feel in Dallas. Um, absolutely.

Uh, and and diversity in all of its forms, right? All of all of which are

positive. But one of them is Yeah. I mean, you find to your point that Dallas

is where the the the east ends, right? I meet a lot of East Coast people here.

Um, in fact, I actually married one of them. Um, my wife is is a New Yorker who

I met in Dallas, right? And so, a lot and you meet a lot of West Coast people, too. My wife, her family is from

Alabama, so that makes us even more diverse. Although Alabama and New

Jersey, there we go. So anyway, now here's another factoid. Texas is so huge

for to drive from here in the Dallas area to El Paso is like 8 hours and 45.

No, 8 hours and 30 minutes, something like that. But to drive from El Paso to the border of California is eight hours

and 30 minutes. So you know, how about that for a factoid? That is a huge, huge

state. Have you ever been to El Paso? I have never been there. I have not. Lori

has, but we've gone to the Big Bend area, which is probably 3 hours

southeast of El Paso. And it's amazing because once you get to that area of Texas, it looks like Arizona. I mean,

desert, cactus, all the stuff. I've just realized El Paso airport, but not out of

the airport. Maybe one of these days, Jeff, you and I will go to the Sun Bowl, which is Oh, God. Yes. The Sun Bowl at

the UTEP Stadium in El Paso. Not that life is all about college football. Oh,

that's right. It is all about college football. Well, it is really. All right. So, you ready for this, Jeff? I don't

know. Throw it at me. You and I are both among the many transplants in Dallas and

Texas. What if you had to say one sports team I I think I know your answer. If

you had to say one sports team that you have adopted as your own

as a transplanted Texan, what would it be? You have to change. really really hard

because you know being from Pittsburgh originally and living in Washington DC

at those points we despised the Cowboys really despised the Cowboys and then I

grew up a huge Pittsburgh Pirates fan and uh that's kind of passed because

it's been so long. So, I don't know if you would have predicted, but I've adopted the Texas Rangers. That's

exactly what I thought you were going to say. The Texas Rangers. Yeah. My answer. And you know how I am the prop king on

on the offense. You are the prop king. If I were in at in my home office right now, I'd probably pull out it's so it's

so cliche, but I might have pulled out my cowboy hat, but instead I'm gonna

pull out my Mavericks. Oh, 2024 NBA Finals hat that I ran in

this morning. So, I'm good with the Mavericks. I'm good with the Mavericks. And that's my answer. I I am a Mavs fan.

What is the acronym? M4L. Mavs. MF4L.

I think Cuban started it. Mavs fan for life. Our whole family is crazy about the mass. And Oh, there you go. Right.

When they won the 2011 NBA title, we went crazy when they traded Luca.

Oh, don't even bring it up. We could do an entire three-part series on on the

offense about the Luca trade, could we not? Oh, we could. We could. Well, and

you actually could even if you took it from a brand reputation point of view,

right? Think about that. Take a huge chunk crisis. Chunk out of the Mavericks

brand. Yeah. Anyway, don't don't get us started. But when the Mavs went to the

finals last year, we were crazed. And then they traded Luca and we lost our minds. And then the night that the Mavs

won the lottery, meaning we get to take Cooper flag, we lost our minds again.

And the draft is in a couple of weeks and we're really excited. Let's just hope that they don't blow it again and

trade the pick because this is a generational player that they're drafting. So anyway, yes. Yes. All

right. Here here's another one for you. How has Texas changed since you and I

came 25 years ago? Can you think of

something physically that's changed like building or some thing that people do

every year there or some some cultural thing or just how has it changed for

you? I mean, for me, the thing I've noticed the most, and we worked up on the sixth

floor of the EDS building, and so when we first moved here, if you look to the

east, all you saw were the roofs of houses. If you look to the north, not so

much because that was Frisco. It was really beginning to develop. And if you look to the west, there was nothing.

Today, if you look in any of the directions, all you see are buildings and roofs. And adjacent to EDS, you've

got this development called Legacy, which has three parts that are kind of like European villages. But it's

incredible in that Legacy West, all the office buildings that have gone up. So,

I think it's just the influx of people. It's incredible.

What's your thought? That's a great answer, Jeff. And and that's, you know, every every metropolis has a version of

this, I suppose, but that's where everyone's moving in the in the Dallas area. Everyone's going to the north,

right? Plano, then Frisco, then McKini, then this and this, right? And all of

that commercial activity around EDS is is a reflection of that. Yeah. Um, my answer would be I really feel like

Dallas has a true city center now. And that is yeah that is Clyde Clyde

Warren Park. That place that's a wonderful that's a wonderful thing that they did there.

That place is fantastic. So for those of you who don't know what Clyde Warren Park is, it is built and it

was probably what maybe 10 years ago at this point. Something like that. I think so. Yeah, I think so. Um,

literally they built a park on top of a highway, which makes no sense on the

surface, but there's a highway that goes under it. Uh, and there's a park on top.

So, it is it is an urban park, but it's surrounded on both and it's couple of

blocks long. It's not that long. Um, but they've and it's surrounded by highrises

on either side. On one side is the uptown side and you have these amazing

condo towers that look down on it and and then on the other side is the downtown side and that's where the arts

district is and and on either side on one side on the downtown side they have

all these food trucks that are there every day and then on the other side you

have restaurants and this place is gorgeous And it's very centrally

located. It is essentially the central park now of Dallas. And true, it's just

a really cool place. And and it's hard to be at Clyde Warren Park and look up

and look around and not feel like, you know, we're in a pretty cool place,

right? And yeah, I'd I'd agree with that. I'd agree with that. And yeah, I'm sure I'm sure that the people who work

for the state or the city of Dallas in the state of Texas when they're talking to a c yet another company to recruit

them, I'm sure that's one of the places they take them, right? Look at this

stuff that your employees and their families are going to get to enjoy. Clyde Warren Park is just it's one

example and it's the most it's the coolest example that I can think of, but it's only one example. I mean, there's

just so much more going on now than there was when you and I

first moved here. Yeah. 25. Just happening. It's true. Do Do you know

that the Dallas Arts District is the biggest arts district in any city in the country?

You're kidding me. No, I did not know that. Mhm. I mean, that's there's just a

lot there's just so much going on. And to that point, and having an a huge arts

arts district helps, I'm sure. Another factoid that I recently came across in the news by 20 So, well, actually, I

don't think we've I don't think we've said this yet, but Texas is now number one in the country for the state that

has the most corporate headquarters. It used to be either New York or California. Texas has now bypassed both,

which is amazing. Now, it's one thing to have the most corporate headquarters. It's another thing to have the most

people. And apparently by 2040, this is a I just saw this factoid a couple of

weeks ago. By 2040, Texas will be the most populous state in the United

States. I'm not surprised by that at all. Now, the only thing those people are going to need to understand before

they show up is it ain't fun in the summer, right? Um, no, it's uh it's hot.

It's hot. I'm here to tell you it is just it's just hot. But the way I like

to say it to people is a little tough for a a beach boy from California in the summer. But if during the if you will

the school year, no better place to be. No, no better place to be. One time I was in Arizona at the Phoenix

airport and I went into the little shop there and they had t-shirts that it's a dry heat and it was a skeleton

lounging on a chase lounge with a drink in its hand. It's a dry heat. And I

think that's what you could say about Dallas in the summer. It's a dry heat. Lots of skeletons, lots of lounge

chairs, lots of cocktails. Texas is really becoming the center of commerce

in the US. Not where it happens, but we're a great place. We're a great place. The the headquarters are here

because they've got easy access to both coasts. Um, so, you know, it's a hub of

activity by and large. It's a good place to live and it's a great place to do

business. And why wouldn't you want to do business with a firm like ours that's headquartered right here in the suburbs

of Dallas? I I love the fact that the skeleton, by the way, is an it. It's not a he or she it. You can't tell. In its

hand. Yeah. No, but uh I would say I would say a couple of

things about and and you know this is why I'm wearing my hat today, right? So,

um, because I did plan to say something about what we can do to help you. Yes,

clients first. What we can do to help you from Texas. I would say three different things. One is if you are a

business that is based in Texas, yes, we can help you. We can help you

because we're here with you. It's easier to immerse ourselves in your business.

It's easier for us to build relationships with your team because we're just down the street, if you will,

especially in Dallas, but anywhere else in the state is easy for us to get to as well. So, we're here with you and share

a passion like many of you do, we're sure, for living and working in the

state of Texas. If you are a business that is based somewhere else and you're

looking to relocate your headquarters, maybe establish a major office, which a

lot of companies are doing. It's not always about the headquarters. Sometimes it's about a a secondary office. Toyota

North America has a huge huge facility they build right here in Plato. Huge.

That's right. Well, and that's or if you're a uh non US headquartered company

and you're looking to establish a US headquarters in a US city. Yeah. I mean,

Toyota is a great example, right? Because we're here, because we're on the

ground, we know how the city works. And so, we can help you with that as well.

We like to think of ourselves as a bridge both to Texas and from Texas, if

that makes sense. And I think the third thing I'd say, let's say you're a business that's not based in Texas,

California, New York, whatever. You're not looking to move a big office here or move a a domestic headquart. None of

that, right? But what if you just do business here, right? We're again, we're

on the ground. We can help you. We know how Dallas works. We know local CMOs. We

know local CCOs. We know local journalists. Just yesterday, for example, I had coffee

with the editor-inchief of the Dallas Business Journal. So, we know local journalists on the ground and we know

the local schools. We know the local nonprofits. I am an adjunct professor at

the University of North Texas outside of Dallas. We know the landscape. We can

help you if you are in any one of those three buckets. I am uh very pleased that

I made the leap 25 years ago. It sounds like you are pleased as well. If I

hadn't moved to Texas, I wouldn't have met you and there'd be no clients first.

And likewise, John, if you haven't gone to our website, please visit our website at clientsfirstmc.com.

We're on all the major social channels, so you can catch our videos on YouTube. Stay in touch, keep in touch, hire us.

You can't go wrong. Hey, it's been great today, and please join us on our Oh, and look at the uh the Mavericks finals.

That was amazing time. Amazing time. It's going to happen again. It's going to happen again very soon. It's better.

So So again, bye from Texas, John. Bye from Alabama. And uh we'll see you soon.

Spread the message everyone. God bless Texas.