17 – The Brain Gym Man: Tom interviews Jerry Teplitz

Episode 017 - Jerry Teplitz
[00:00:08] Welcome to Screw the Commute. The entrepreneurial podcast dedicated to getting you out of the car and into the money, with your host, lifelong entrepreneur and multimillionaire, Tom Antion.

[00:00:27] Hey everybody. It's Episode 17 of the Screw the Commute podcast. So glad you're here. And don't forget in episode 16 the one I just did, if you haven't heard it you've got to check it out, it's called 20 ways you can get robbed at a seminar. I had an anti scam thing going where I identified ways that unscrupulous seminar leaders rob you at events. So make sure you listen to that and then also let's see what else I got going here. Well our sponsor for today it's called switched on Internet marketing and I'm not going to say much about it because our esteemed guest is the impetus behind it and he's going to tell you all about it. So we'll get into that right now.

[00:01:22] Dr. Jerry V. Teplitz is an attorney he has a Ph.D. in holistic health sciences and is celebrating its forty fourth year as a professional speaker. Jerry has spoken to over 1 million people is earned the title certified speaking professional from the prestigious National Speakers Association. Jerry's the author of nine books and his two latest book Switched on Selling and Switched on Networking went to best seller status on Amazon. Doctor Teplitz has been selected as an association excellent speaker by the Canadian Society of Association Executives and a best in class speaker by the professional convention Management Association. And finally he's an expert in brain performance. Jerry, Are you ready to screw? The commute.

[00:02:18] For sure Tom. I've been doing that for a long time.

[00:02:23] Oh my goodness. Yeah 44 years as a professional speaker. You haven't been commuting for a long time. That's for sure.

[00:02:30] Yeah. As a matter of fact my office is a building separate from my house so my commute is oh about 14 seconds if I stopped to pet the dog or the cat.

[00:02:45] You got me beat. I think I clocked mine at 37 seconds.

[00:02:49] You got a much bigger place than I do. What the heck.

[00:02:53] So tell people what you do.

[00:02:57] As Tom said I do professional speaking and it's on brain performance and I literally show people how their energy system operates and how they can take charge of it and just give you a quick example. Tom you're now representing my audience. Have you ever had a negative day at work?

[00:03:16] Oh no everything's perfect all the time.

[00:03:19] Tom, would you cut it out. So you have. How did you feel at the end of that negative day. Down. Yeah people we use words like drained tired exhausted and they're good descriptive terms. Did you ever have a day at work that was a very positive one that just clicked.

[00:03:36] Yep we sure have lots of how.

[00:03:38] How'd you feel at the end of that one.

[00:03:40] Great. Tony the Tiger great.

[00:03:42] Yep. And people use the word in my seminars and keynotes of energize. So it's very real negative days actually leave you physically you're mentally you're emotionally you're drained and exhausted. Positive days you're energized. So what if you could actually create every day to be a positive day for yourself as a business person. What's that going to do to your performance level your productivity level the communication level and your enjoyment of being in the business level. It's all going to be very different than it is on that negative day. And that's what I'm showing people how they can create at least the last 4 hours of every day to be very positive. Tom has actually seen me speak and we've been on the platform together. So he's seen very different what I'm doing that I'm showing people.

[00:04:31] Yeah You don't see this very often and I just thought of something while you were interacting with me when I said the word great. I was on an upbeat when I was. It was great. Like Tony the Tiger like up rather than down my descriptive term was down and we didn't plan this. Now descriptive term was down when a bad day and then the Great was up. One of the good days so things are looking up.

[00:05:00] As a matter of fact if we had wanted to do this what I do on some radio interviews I'll have somebody the host of the show stand up and tell the listeners if they're in a place where they can stand up and then I'll have them close their eyes and think of a negative workday and then I'll ask them while they're doing that thinking to just observe internally what their physical posture feels like their breathing if they have pain anywhere. What's going on in their mind. And then I'll ask the host to share and what they'll normally say is when they were thinking that negative work situation their breathing was shallow. They were slumped in their posture. They may or may not have had pain. Some people do some people don't and they may have noticed like their mind churning when I have them focus on that positive work day it all flips just like you were just saying. They'll actually report being more upright breathing is deeper. If they had pain in most cases it's actually gone and they'll notice a change in what their mind is doing for the first time and the second time. So there's research that's actually out there showing that we actually have chemicals produced in the body that are different when we're in this what's called upright high energy state versus the slumped more depressed state. So it actually changes the physiological chemicals in the body as well.

[00:06:31] Amazing. So I know that you are an attorney but you have probably haven't practiced for a while right. When's the last time or did you ever have a job.

[00:06:41] Yes I had a job. And it was after law school I worked as an attorney for a year and a half for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. And that was very early EPA days. And this was in Chicago. And while I was there I was hanging around with a group of friends that were getting into what back then was weird stuff which today is now totally accepted and that was things like yoga meditation nutrition. When it was like unknown. And I was actually scared of the stuff. Yeah yoga meditation what do you do in there and hanging around with those friends I got peer pressured into trying some things. And one of the very first things was hatha yoga which I did with a negative attitude. I was going to prove to them that this didn't work. Use my legal skills to tear it apart so they leave me alone. The problem was shortly after I noticed lower back pain problems I had most my life were gone. I had more flexibility than I had as a high school athlete. I got so excited I started studying it wound up becoming a master teacher of Hatha yoga and never really stopped studying and wound up eventually getting a Ph.D. in holistic health sciences.

[00:08:02] Amazing. And use still practice yoga toady right?

[00:08:05] Everyday and that's part of in terms of screw the commute that I make sure to do every day I do about 20 minutes of yoga and I meditate twice a day so I'm able to keep myself at high energy regardless of what happened during the day. I put myself right back in high energy at the end of a day.

[00:08:22] That's great. Now you remember the moment that you decided that Look I'm not going to go to this law job anymore and I'm going to go out on my own.

[00:08:32] Well it was I don't know if it was an exact moment but what was happening is we were too effective as an agency. This was early environmental days and our policy is we would negotiate with you first of all after we have sued you as a polluter and we would negotiate if you agreed to an abatement program in the shortest possible time that our engineers agree to, you agreed to a penalty for past acts of pollution and you pled guilty to having been a polluter. So basically he was saying rollover play dead and we'll talk to you about this. And so industry hated us and the attorney we were actually trying our own cases and the attorney general of the state of Illinois where I lived at that point took our trial powers back. He was a Republican and heavy pro industry so he started holding cases up to the extent I had nothing to do every day at work. I would read a novel. I had nothing to do because he would not file a case unless it was 100 percent provable. Even though our burden was only 51 percent which is called preponderance of the evidence he wanted it to be 100 percent which you can't get to. And so he was not filing cases and I had less to do so that was part of it as I was moving into these other areas. And also was started getting involved with a marketing program to colleges and decided to market myself and I created a program called how to relax and enjoy being a student or passing your exams and that was the very first time that I actually put myself out there to do this work. And one of the things I was showing the students was Japanese pressure technique called shiatsu again which was totally unknown then. I was showing them how to get rid of headaches or even hangovers in 90 seconds.

[00:10:37] Could be very valuable in college.

[00:10:40] Yeah I was very popular on campus.

[00:10:44] If somebody sat there in a situation where they're thinking about they loved to be in business they'd love to have a lifestyle business like you have where you set your own schedule do what you want. What advice would you give them.

[00:10:58] First of all I don't actually set my own schedule completely because as a speaker a client wants me to come to X location guess where I'm going to be that day.

[00:11:07] Well yeah but you could have turned it down if you felt like it.

[00:11:10] Well if you want to stay in business you better not. And then I may have to fly somewhere else the next day. Now I know how to keep myself energized so I've actually gone to Australia and back with no jet lag.

[00:11:25] So I know how to do things like that which means it makes it very easy in effect to do what I do whereas most people I had one guy who a friend of mine he'd come off the road for having been on the road for like four or five days and he'd say it took him a week to recover which is not a good business strategy. So anyway if you're looking to start moving into your own business you need to do it. From my standpoint I kind of jumped off the roof. I left the EPA and I evolved very quickly into speaking at colleges and actually didn't have a lot of money as I was building the business so it was real tight. So my suggestion be if you can do some planning take some time and build up a war chest of some funds to assist you going through it because you're starting from scratch. When you start building a business normally.

[00:12:24] That's for sure. Now all these years anything funny bizarre happen in your business life.

[00:12:31] Well the bazaar is kind of things that have happened with travel a lot where I was flying from Bangkok to Australia. I take it back. I was going from here to Brazil and I had a stop in Bogota Colombia on the way down. And the connecting plane was late. I was wondering if I'd make the flight. I get down to Colombia and you know how if you're connecting internationally usually just goes to another part of the terminal you don't exit security well you have to exit security with your bags and go through customs and immigration into Colombia before you can turn around and run to the ticket counter to check back and again for the next flight.

[00:13:27] So literally I got to the ticket agent maybe 20 minutes before the flight supposed to leave. And I'm pretty much crying and because I got to make this flight and she checks my bags she said OK check bag. She actually walks me down to the gate to put me on the flight and I go Great thank you. Ahhh. So at the gate the ticket agent at the gate says OK your passport your ticket and your visa. Guess what I didn't have. A visa. I had asked the group that was bringing me down. Did I need a visa. And they never responded and I forgot to ask them again. Guess what. No visa. No enter country.

[00:14:21] Yeah but you could bribe them, couldn't you.

[00:14:24] Well it was a Friday late afternoon. To buy it you had to go to the embassy. Guess what's closed until Monday. The embassy the Brazilian embassy. And so I got stuck in Bogota for several days but wound up having a great time I went to the hotel to check in. And I was telling hotel that I found this woman who's the you know at the desk I start telling her this story and she volunteers to be my tour guide while I'm down there. I mean nothing You know no funny business. And I mean I got to see Bogota in ways that you probably would not get to see it took by the way on Monday took five minutes to get my visa and my bag by the way had gone on that flight that I'd missed. And so I was out. I had to go buy other stuff and when I get down to Rio de Janeiro I'm now going on to Sao Paulo I try and find my luggage and I can't find it in Rio. And I got to get on a plane. Well what happened is the plane I came in was not going to be the plane I was leaving on I didn't know that. And so they actually bussed me out. I get to Sao Paulo. I go through customs immigration and go to baggage to file a claim and guess what sitting there. My bag. How the hell it got there I haven't the foggiest notion and still don't know. So that was kind of a bizarre story.

[00:16:02] You got a free extra trip a tour guide and your bag showed up anyway.

[00:16:06] And I wound up speaking in Bogota because of that about six months later from somebody I had met there in Bogota.

[00:16:14] Good for you. Of course we've all had crazy stories traveling. But what do you think is the best part of working for yourself and what's the worst part.

[00:16:24] So the best part is you're the one in charge. I set my own hours. I work long hours. But I set my own hours with it and I'm and I do willingly. I get to have an impact on lots of folks when I go out and get in front of an audience. The worst part is it's long hours. So it's both good and it's also the not as good and I have a staff of folks so it's actually I've got two people who work for me full time so is actually managing and running an office as well. But the pluses on that is you get more done. When I started out I had to do everything including the bookkeeping which I hated to do and would only force myself to do it once every six months and I feel guilty for the other five months that I'm not keeping the books and I didn't even have couldn't even afford at that point when I started a printout calculator and computer. Nobody had computers then either. I was once audited by the IRS and the guy was doing random tally of columns. Again the calculator I used was not a print. It didn't have a printing printout. And so I just would tally the close two out of three totals and that's what I put down as the total. Fortunately the guy picked columns that actually added up. So it's like I was doing things that I really dislike doing and things that were difficult for me and then went with computers coming on needing an expertise so I've had staff over the years which has made it much more powerful that you can impact and be out there much more but you also are managing a staff at that point.

[00:18:02] But at least their commute is longer than yours.

[00:18:05] A lot longer.

[00:18:09] So tell everybody about what we're working on because it's really out of my level or comfort level or a range of expertise. And when I saw the kinds of results as you were getting I thought you know what I got a team up with this guy and let's do something because the stuff that you have is just so powerful so tell them about what you're working on.

[00:18:33] So there's a brain rewiring approach that I do to sales which we then translate into Internet marketing. It doesn't teach technique so it's normally if it's alive it's a one day seminar. But we now have switched on internet marketing as an online course. Just to give you an example with switched on selling first because that's the course that I have done the most research with. So we're not teaching techniques. We're actually using very simple body movements that are called Brain gyms that were developed for children and adults with learning disabilities originally where we can take D and F graded students give them the capability of becoming A level students in a semester just using movement. What I've done is put in the business arena and switched on selling was my first class and to validate this work because as Tom was saying it's very different than what's out there. There's nothing like it. We did a study with six hundred ninety five salespeople gave them a pre seminar questionnaire when they walked in first thing in the morning post seminar questionnaire at the end of the day but then we collected the forms back from them got them back to them a month later and ask them to do it a third time because we wanted to get over seminar high or a placebo effect because people go to a seminar they leave really excited.

[00:19:50] Three days later they're doing exactly what they did before. And Tom you've experienced that I know with folks who have come to your stuff. They leave with great stuff but they don't necessarily do anything with it. Just to give you a quick example for our listeners was one of them was I am comfortable asking for the order and closing the sale. Tom you'd agree that's a pretty important part of the sales process.

[00:20:18] You don't do that. Nothing else matters.

[00:20:21] Well guess what 52 percent of these real sales people responded negatively. End of the seminar day it went from 52 percent negatively to only 8 percent still there. A month later it dropped to 6 percent on strongly agreeing that I'm comfortable asking for the order and closing the sale beginning of the day with 16 percent end of the day it jumped up to 35 percent a month later. They got even better.

[00:20:52] This increased over time rather than decrease which is the norm.

[00:20:58] The norm is you go to a seminar you leave excited and you get a drop off. And this didn't drop off it went the other way. There's a bank in Nebraska. President heard me speak brought me in to do this for sales people who were the reluctant sales force. These are folks he said to them you got to be selling who did not get into banking because they wanted to sell. And they were doing reasonably well. They went through the one day seminar a year later his bank was selected as Bank of the year in his industry because of the level of improvement that had happened in their sales folks from a one day seminar. So Tom was aware of this from our prior conversations him hearing me talk about this. And so we said talking can we create and redo switched on selling to pick up the places where somebody who's internet marketing gets stuck and doesn't like doing and doesn't feel good. So we did the class and we videoed it at Tom school. So we did the same kind of research like I've done with everybody else. One of the statements in this class is I easily and clearly understand and can explain my purpose direction and story. Again Tom would you say as an Internet marketer that's an important thing to be able to do. Explain all that. Yes it is.

[00:22:20] So beginning of the day 57 percent of them responded negatively 14 percent even said not applicable.

[00:22:37] It's kind of strange. End of the seminar day. Nobody was negative. Nobody was not applicable. We now had 57 percent in agree. And 43 percent in strongly agree. Now I always do a month later with folks to get over that seminar high notion for them. And also to reinforce to them that something really changed from these exercises. So now nobody was on the negative side. Nobody said that not applicable. Now it went from 57 percent it actually dropped to 29 percent. That said agree however on strongly agree it moved up from 43 percent to 71 percent so not only do we have 100 percent on the positive side. We had most of them saying strongly agree that it's easy. I easily and clearly understand I can explain my purpose direction and story every single question that we asked in the class. That's how the graphs shifted so that the notion of having a block that's stopping you from going forward as an Internet marketer is gone as simple as that.

[00:23:57] It was amazing it sold me that's for sure and that's why we've been on this project trying to really get everything in a usable format so that we can spread it around the world pretty much any anybody that can speak English can take advantage of this. It is powerful and it's just so different than what I'm used to. It's just amazes me. But again I've known Jerry for years and seen him do all kinds of stuff with checking out people's brochures and picking which ones better based on these techniques and movements that he teaches. You think it's a magic trick when you first see it. I got to be honest with you Jerry it's just so crazy to see these people reacting differently to different stimuli. And I wasn't a believer at first but after you know one thing with me if something happens over time I start to become a believer. And this is really powerful stuff.

[00:24:58] Well not only that what Tom got to experience is the way I run my live programs and actually was doing it in the video too is I have the audience stand up and do this stuff I'm sharing with them and each other to validate each step of what I'm doing. So the notion is yeah this looks weird. It looks like it's a magic deck. So you guys get up and you prove it to yourself. The biggest comment I have of my evaluation forms was I was a skeptic and now I'm a believer. And that's what we did with Switched on Internet Marketing is the same exact approach. So even if you're watching this by yourself you'll be able to afterwards find somebody and do it with them but we actually have several experiences we actually give you that you participated by yourself to start experiencing the changes that happen.

[00:25:53] Yeah because sometimes this internet marketing is a lonely world. I mean you started doing everything by yourself a lot of people do and they need these techniques other than all the stuff that I teach and the nuts and bolts of how to if you don't implement and you don't have that energy. You don't have that mindset that this program gives you. Then all the nuts and bolts don't really matter. They're just like dumped in a big bucket.

[00:26:22] And that's what I think got you most excited Tom was that people will actually be able to start to do the nuts and bolts because your system is you want to empower people to be successful. You know it's like you put out so much energy and love and that you really want people to be successful. And I think it actually hurt you when they don't use the stuff you put out there.

[00:26:46] Absolutely. I mean I just work day and night. I don't have to. I've already made my way. I could just quit and not do anything. But I just get fired up seeing people. Why do you think I'm doing this podcast? I mean I just get fired up if people could just experience what it's like to set your own schedule to be your own boss. To get all the pluses that come along with working for yourself. Yeah I get fired up about that and when I see stuff and people that they can't see in themselves. And this program will help them see that and when nobody's around it's going to help them keep going forward and getting the goals that they want.

[00:27:28] Yeah because if you could switch your brain and your body on it's like you're in sync yourself with your ability to know that you can create success because the blocks that were stopping you before. Whatever it is are gone. As simple as that.

[00:27:46] That's beautiful. Now we're going to have the details of where to get this in the show notes what's the website where they would check this out.

[00:27:55] It's real simple it's SwitchedonInternetMarketing.com.

[00:28:04] We'll have that in the show notes. Like I said I'm fired up about this because you know I've had a pretty good percentage of people do very very well with my training over many years. But if I can up that percentage I'm there whatever it takes. So let's switch back to what's a typical day look like for you and how do you stay motivated. I don't think you need it so much with this ability that you have.

[00:28:29] Yes. So a typical day for me is I start work around 10:00 but I'll work until 6 and a lot of it's because I do speaking in front of a lot of association groups business conventions corporations. We do a lot of telemarketing sales in terms of to get booked. So I'll be on the phone a lot that I'll be creating working on PR materials or other aspects of what we've got coming down the pike and then in the evening I'll come back and that's when I can actually focus in it for an hour or two on special projects like videoing something or that I wouldn't have time during the day to put into what I do. So most people view me as a workaholic but what they don't realize is when I go on the road to speak I actually may speak for an hour and a half in a day and that's it may make a couple of phone calls. I'll spend a lot of time reading. I go out to great restaurants for meals at the client expense. And so going on the road is actually a vacation for me.

[00:29:37] Yeah. And you keep up with your yoga and mediation thing?

[00:29:42] Every day I do 20 minutes of yoga. I'll meditate. By the way I teach yoga and meditation in some of the books I've done and I'll meditate I teach people to do at 15 to 20 minutes. I do it now about 25 or 30 just because I've been doing it for so many years and then I'll do a late afternoon early evening before dinner I'll do another meditation. So you know how the fatigue that has built up over the course of a day Tom. I'll sit down and meditate and every time you meditate it's as if you are going to deeper state than the deepest state of sleep. So you're getting the equivalent of like six to eight hours of sleep and that period of time that you're meditating and I'll be ready for the evening. And so I don't usually go to sleep until about 1:00 o'clock and I'll be up 730 but then with doing all the things I do taking care of our animals walking the dog eating showering all that stuff. So I'll get to the office around 10:00.

[00:30:44] Wow. Well I got to get on this. I've heard a lot of these people on my podcast talking about meditation. I sit down and try it and then 30 seconds well in 30 seconds I've already had 50 thoughts of things I need to be doing. I don't think I'm very successful. I have to work on my meditation technique. What book of yours has that in it?

[00:31:04] Managing your stress in difficult times succeeding in times of change and you're actually meditating. You just didn't really realize it when you're in a meditative state which you go into very quickly when you start to whatever technique you're doing and a thought pops up because you actually can't make the mind stop thinking. So those 50 thoughts that come up when you're aware that you're not doing the technique and that's the key word when you're aware or you just go back to doing it again. You may flip off again into another 50 thoughts when you're on the 51st and you're aware Oh I'm supposed to be doing the technique you just go back to do without getting upset or angry. And what they found is they wired people up with test equipment and they would say go meditate when they come back they asked how it was and one person say fantastic best meditation I've ever had. I didn't want to come out of it the other person says I was antsy had lots of thoughts I didn't want to keep sitting there when they looked at all the vital signs being measured heart rate breath rate. Both were at the same deep state and rest and relaxation so the notion of I think too much is that you haven't been taught right.

[00:32:24] I'm gonna get that book that's for sure. Is it on Amazon?

[00:32:27] Yeah. Or you can go on my Web site at Teplitz.com.

[00:32:31] So I want everybody to check out all the details of the switched on internet marketing program that will be in the show notes. But Jerry how would they get in touch with you if they have questions or want to check out your other product or have me come speak to their group.

[00:32:50] Just go to Teplitz.com. You'll be able to get to Jerry.

[00:32:57] So thanks Jerry for coming on. Do you have any parting thoughts for all our screwballs, we call them on this show, about being in your own business and what it can mean to you.

[00:33:09] Well a lot of people get into their own business because they really want to help people and they've got an idea for doing that. And I think that becomes a strong motivator for folks beyond just the financial part of it. And so really look at why do you want to do a business and really have a focus on that mission that you're on. Because most people get into business because they really have some kind of mission. They want to impact the world. So go for it. Because I never would have thought I'd be in the business for this many years. I thought I'd do a couple of years of teaching people how to manage stress and then everybody be relaxed and I'd be done.

[00:33:54] I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

[00:33:57] Not yet anyway.

[00:33:59] Well thanks so much for coming on and thanks everybody for visiting our podcast. Make sure you stop at screwthecommute.com subscribe please leave us a great review because we bring on great guests like Jerry and then currently once a week I do a more in-depth training session where I give you just go deep. First episode was on keywords which is the number one thing you need to know on the nuts and bolts of selling online. And let's see what else I've got going on here. Oh well last episode 16 was on the how to get robbed at a seminar. You don't want to get robbed. You know I love seminars but there's a lot of unscrupulous people. So I want you to know how to keep yourself safe when you go there. And this has been Episode Seventeen and we will catch you on the flip flop.

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