Promoting Business Breakthroughs - Igniting for Impact – with Kraig Bougher – [Ep. 255]

Linda J Hansen:  Welcome. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the Prosperity 101 Breakroom Economics® Podcast. My name is Linda J. Hansen, your host and the author of Prosperity 101, Job Security Through Business Prosperity, the Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck® and the creator of the Breakroom Economics® Online course.

The book, the course, and the entire podcast library can be found on prosperity101.com. I seek to connect boardroom to breakroom and policy to paycheck. By empowering and encouraging employers to educate employees about the public policy issues that affect their jobs. My goal is to help people understand the foundations of prosperity, the policies of prosperity, and how to protect their prosperity by becoming informed, involved, and impactful®.

I believe this will lead to greater employee loyalty, engagement, and retention, and to an increased awareness of the blessings and responsibilities of living in a free society. Listen each week to hear from exciting guests and be sure to visit prosperity101.com.

Thank you so much for joining with me today. It is a pleasure to have you in the audience with us today. Today I have someone that I think you may even want to do business with. A lot of times I have policy leaders and different types of experts. But this is someone I think you're going to want to know his website and some things that he's up to. So be sure to stay tuned for the entire broadcast so you can get all the details.

But before we get into the interview, I want to say thank you so much to our prosperity partners, those who give financially to help us keep this podcast on the air. I also want to say thank you to our strategic partners, those who also help us keep the podcast on the air by partnering with us in the Freedom Marketplace. We don't have a lot of time for this episode, so I'm going to lead you to the show notes to support our strategic partners. But please do visit the show notes and support those partners who are part of the freedom economy and working to make sure we protect liberty here in America.

So with that being said, someone I know who cares about all those issues, freedom, liberty and truth, is Kraig Bougher. He is one of the owners of Extreme Recognition. He and his wife, Desiree, are owners of this wonderful promotional company that they've had for many, many years. And apart from that, that has launched into a ministry as well.

But Kraig, first, I want you to introduce the listeners to Extreme Recognition, what led you to be involved with this company, and then we'll go into the ministry part of what you and Desiree do.

Kraig Bougher: Yeah. Linda, it's great to be with you. I always enjoy talking with you. So thank you for having me on your podcast. And yeah, Extreme Recognition, you can kind of see a lot of the stuff behind us. So we're actually sitting in a showroom/conference room here at Extreme Recognition.

Recognition programs, incentive programs, promotional products. I always tell people there's nothing we can't put your brand or your logo onto. So we help companies put together recognition programs. Maybe it's years of service, maybe it's a safety award program.

There's a lot of different things that we can help companies, not only attract employees, but to keep employees. That seems to be a really hard thing to do anymore. And people are always looking for the next step in life, the next extra dollar per hour.

I can't help you with money, but we can help you recognize your employees. So many companies will have us do different surveys, and we've been doing this for so long, Linda, that I want to say back in '91, I was with a different company, but we broke away from that company just probably three years into it, and we've been doing this ever since.

But different surveys, people will say, "Well Craig, why are our employees leaving?" And the different surveys that we'll do will come back, and it's always number one or number two: it's lack of recognition and praise.

The other one being money. Well, to me, I can't fix the money thing, but recognizing the achievement and celebrating that, that's where I think a lot of companies can change and enhance and really do a lot better job than what they're doing.

It doesn't necessarily have to be a bigger budget, a bigger dollar amount. It's just taking the time to celebrate achievement. It gets harder and harder, because look at all the people nowadays that are working from home. It gets hard to do, but there are ways to do it. And most of the time, it's a communication tool. And what is it you're trying to communicate? You're trying to communicate recognition, celebrating that accomplishment, and all those accomplishments. And that tool really can be used almost on a daily basis.

And it's just getting the management, getting the team involved with a system that's going to work for their company. That's the biggest thing that we do here, along with promotional products. The gift collections are huge. I always tell people we can do inexpensive 30-cent pins, and the next thing we're doing is a Rolex watch. So there's lots of things that we do to help companies achieve their goals and recognize their employees.

Linda J. Hansen: That's really great, and I love it that you go beyond the promotional products and you really get to the core issue of valuing the employee.

I know when you and I first met, it was just such a joy to my heart to meet you and Desiree, because as I've shared with you before, sometimes it takes people a little while to catch the vision of what I'm trying to do with Prosperity101® by educating people about policies in the workplace, helping to create that communication between the employer and the employee, so that the employees start to think a little more like the employer. And they begin to understand what it takes to run a business and what policies really matter to that business and how, as citizens, they can be engaged.

Well, you both really caught on to that quickly, and I could understand why, because of your focus on creating loyalty, engagement, and retention in the workplace, which is what my focus is too, making sure that we create that communication and that bond in the workplace.

Can you give us some examples of where this has been really positive with some of your customers, where maybe it even turned around the direction of the company, or maybe it just really helped certain people within a company?

Kraig Bougher: Yeah, because companies, business owners, they have a tendency to see what others are doing. I'll take years of service because it's simple, it's easy, but so many people would start at five, they would give them a gift collection at 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, all the big moments.

But at the end of the day, you would go back in, you'd say, well, where is the turnover happening? Where is the problem at? And they say, well, it's, wow, it's in between 1 and 3.

Well, that's where you need to focus your attention. So there's many times we've gone into companies that have had a high turnover at early years and started addressing that. Let's do something for an onboarding. In other words, let's celebrate that new hire right off the bat. And then let's celebrate them again, maybe at six months, but at least at 1 year. Let's celebrate that 1 year.

And you look at that, Linda, the people that I talk to anymore, that next generation, my goodness, they've had more jobs than you can shake a stick at. And, okay, that's fine. But let's celebrate that 1 year.

And let's maybe do it again at 3 years before you start your traditional f5, 10, 15. And when you do that, we're seeing an impact. Because these are things, it’s easy to measure. You know, when are they leaving? You ask somebody what their hire date is, they’ll know exactly what their hire date is. If they know that, then that’s probably a pretty important date in their career. So to me, if that’s the case, then let’s help get that, especially find out where the need is at.

And let’s address that need. Just don’t do what everyone else is doing because every company is different. And so to me, just going and finding out what those needs are before we come back with a solution, that to me was the biggest thing.

Years ago, we used to just go in and say, “Guys, here’s what I have. I hope you like it.” But now you’re sitting down and you’re finding out where some of those issues are at, when it happened, how it happened, and what we can do to fix it. We come back with the right solution, not just a solution, but I think it’s the right solution. And that, to me, is what makes a difference.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, applying the right solution is what can make a difference to a lot of people. And my former boss, friend, colleague, and well-known presidential candidate, Herman Cain, always said, “If you want to solve a problem, go to the people closest to the problem to find the solution.” And I really appreciate the fact that that’s what you’re doing. You’re not just another promotional company that just sells things.

You are there to solve a problem and to really help a business grow, really through communication and from the ground up, creating that communication and that bond in the workplace. I think that’s exciting. Not only that, it shows respect for the employees, which is so important.

I mean, people are so disrespected so often, and it is great to show respect. Before we get into how that grew into a ministry, I do want to ask you, if you could talk to employers about why it’s important for them to help employees understand policy issues that affect their jobs, what would you tell those employers? And can you give an example of something in the world of regulations, taxation, something that has affected your business that maybe you either needed to or wanted to talk to employees about?

Kraig Bougher: Yeah, even I look at the tariffs now, and almost everything, I can't even tell what’s all behind me, but so much of it is made overseas. And if I listen to the media channels that are out there, they paint a pretty doom and gloom picture on tariffs.

Now, to me, it’s that awareness, it’s that understanding. What are tariffs? What are they doing? How are we doing this? And to me, especially in my industry because again, we’re ordering a lot of products from overseas, we believe that it’s short-term.

And to me, it’s that understanding of why we’re doing what we’re doing. Too many people are out there, too many employees are out there and they just have no idea what they’re talking about, and they need to be educated.

And people, I think, are hungry for that, but they want the education from a... it’s usually way right or way left is what we’re getting. And to me, let’s find the truth and let’s talk about what is truth and why some of these decisions are being made and how that affects a company and us as business owners.

I mean, look at the tax that we pay, look at all the different things that we pay. And sometimes I think employees look at business owners as, “Well, they’ve got the money to do it,” and they don’t know the struggles. They don’t understand some of the decisions that need to be made on a daily basis.

And even in the political realm, you see people sitting back. I think some of the companies that are out there today, one of our big companies is a transportation company. And the way they vote... I’m not saying you need to vote one way or the other, but I’m saying if you understand the parties, if you understand the things that are out there, I think we’re going to vote smarter.

And if that is your income, if that’s your income from that particular company, you want to help them grow. You want to be able to help them meet their needs. Because maybe you’re not even in it for the company. You’re in it for what’s in it for me. Okay, I’m fine with that. But at some point, if you’re only in it for what’s in it for me, you need to help that company grow.

You need to help that company be competitive, effective in the workplace, in the marketplace. And when you understand that, to me, it’s a little bit different. It’s like, wow, especially in transportation if I’m voting on something that’s going to raise the cost of fuel drastically, that could hurt my boss’s company that pays me a decent salary, a decent check.

I mean, there are little things like that. But it’s decisions that, I’m not saying I want to go and effectively change the way you vote, I want you to be smart about the way you vote. And people aren’t smart. I’m tired of people saying, “Well, I’m a Democrat. I vote Democrat because my mom and dad voted Democrat and my grandma and grandpa.” Why? Look at the bigger picture. Same thing on the Republican side. Look, what’s going to help your community?

What’s going to help your community grow? What’s going to help your state grow? Because all those things are going to affect your income. It’s going to affect your company that you’re working for. You want this promotion. You’re begging for this promotion.

But if the money isn’t there to promote you, maybe in the back rooms of your company, they’re looking, “How am I going to, I need to lay off these people.” Get it to the point where the way that we vote is so crucial. It’s so important. But again, I’m not saying I want you to vote one way. I’m not saying I want you to believe the way I believe. I just want people to be educated.

And we need to be educated, not from CNN or Fox News or all these places. We need to be smart. It’s about we the people, not about who’s in the White House. Even though that’s going to help, it’s we the people and we need to quit relying on somebody else to educate us. We need to find out these answers and we need to find out truth. That’s what I love. That’s what I really love about what you’re doing. It’s affecting change.

Linda J. Hansen: Well, it is. And I thank you for that. I love that passion that you have because, as you know, I believe with all my heart that employers can be and should be absolutely instrumental in not only reclaiming America, but preserving it for the future.

And we have so many adults within the workforce now who have never been taught basic civics, basic economics, the basic information that will help them do what you said, vote smart. Help them understand how to even look at issues. No one wants to tell someone how to vote or who to vote for. But we do want to educate them and help them know how to educate themselves further.

Like how do they, it's how to think, not what to think. And so that's my goal. And when employers do that, it's so influential and positive because, what's more local than where you go to work every day? And the person who signs your paycheck has a lot of influence over you.

So if the person who signs your paycheck comes to you and says, "I really care about you. And the reason I'm sharing this information is because I care about you and your family. And I want to keep giving you a paycheck. I want to keep you employed. And this is important information." So I just hope employers step up. And I appreciate what you do to encourage that with employers. I know that there's been many employers who've been silent over the years. That's part of the reason why our country has been floundering at times.

But now I feel like employers are seeing the vision that I've had for many years that they have an important role. They can, in a sense, re-educate those who've come through the public school systems and have not been taught these basics. And they can help them so we can move this country forward very, very positively.

No matter who's in the White House, no matter who's in Congress, no matter who or what's on the ballot, we can help them be educated. So I appreciate that. And thank you for sharing that. We can hear your heart in there, and it's really precious, the educational desire and really hoping to make their lives better. And I know that that is something you want to do with your ministry as well.

You and Desiree have founded this Ignite Christian business. And it is just a precious ministry. I'd like you to tell the listeners about Ignite, how they can be involved. And then you have a conference coming up. So I'd like you to be able to share about that. So listeners, if you hear this before the conference, you can certainly register.

But if you happen to listen to this podcast after the conference, you can still get involved with Ignite, and you could sign up for next year's conference. So yeah, we can look ahead. So whenever you listen to this, Ignite is an important organization that I think is really impacting the marketplace in a wonderful way by igniting Christian business leaders to be impactful within the marketplace. So tell us more about Ignite.

Kraig Bougher: Yeah, Ignite started really during kind of right in the middle of COVID. And here, I am a business owner. I was just absolutely frustrated. I was frustrated with what was going on. And you almost had that hopeless or helpless feeling. It was just, I just remember the frustration. And I remember looking at myself, where I was, and here I am a former Marine.

Linda J. Hansen: There's never a former Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine. 

Kraig Bougher: That is for sure. And so I looked at that. I looked at myself as a follower of Jesus Christ, a business owner, a husband, and have my beautiful family. And I just felt I wasn't doing my part. I wasn't doing enough.

It was like I was in survival mode, like so many others. I remember picking up the word of God, Linda, and I said, "I'm going to either believe this from start to finish and everything in between, or I'm just done." And it was like I heard somebody say to me one time that they didn’t know I was a believer.

And it was like, to me, if somebody knows you, and maybe it's in the business world, and they've known you for a period of time, I just think that's failure. You should be doing something. You don't have to take your Bible and beat people over the head, but there should be enough fruit showing in your life, in your walk, that people know that you're a follower of Jesus Christ.

I just felt like I was almost like a hypocrite. And it wasn't like I was deep in... it wasn’t like that. It was just like I wasn’t doing my part. I remember I instantly just said, “Okay, I’m in. I am all in with this.” And I felt in my heart to put together a conference for leaders.

And I went to my wife, and went to a really good friend of mine, and within two months, we had a conference, the first Ignite Christian Business Conference. And really, I thought, we kind of thought, it’s going to be a one and done. And we’re going to go and we’re going to get Christian business owners, entrepreneurs, business leaders, and we’re going to pump them up and say, basically, “Go get 'em, Tiger.” That’s really kind of what I thought.

And it ended up being really, really good. I enjoyed being around those people, those like-minded people. And so many people came up to us after that conference and said, “Kraig, you’ve got to keep this going.” And again, we were just thinking one and done. And here we are, May 15th and 16th of this year is going to be our fifth conference.

Yes, we’ve got a couple of really good keynote speakers. We’ve got some dynamic workshops. It’s to the point, Linda, where I just feel if you’re a business leader, you don’t necessarily have to own a company. But if you’re a business leader, if you want to see change in the workplace, in the marketplace, if you want to see change in your community, I think this is a conference that you’ll find very helpful, especially with the workshops that we have.

We’re going to talk about AI. We’re going to talk about Bitcoin. And you talk to so many people that are in leadership roles, they don’t know hardly anything about AI. They know almost nothing about Bitcoin. And there are other topics that are going to be talked about: multiple streams of income, lots of great things around leadership that are going to help you with your personal walk, going to help you with your business.

It’s going to be things that you’re going to be able to apply right away. And the thing that we’re excited about, Linda, is yes, the conference happens every year. But what we’re more excited about than the conference is what has been built that happens every single week with the Ignite community.

We’ve got strategic partners. And the strategic partners, they are partners. They’ve partnered with Ignite and they meet in small groups that meet once a week for an hour by Zoom. And these groups are no more than eight per group, because we want people to have that relationship and to be able to build trust amongst each other. But what we’re finding out is, it’s really helping each other out. It's picking each other up, encouraging them to go the extra mile. And even in these groups, what we have put together is the mission impact plan. The mission impact plan is your own personal mission statement.

You go over your own personal mission statement once a year. That could be about your business, your marriage, or your ministry. There are so many places where this mission impact plan can be so effective. The rest of the group, when they hear you go over that, what they become is your own personal board member. And that's what I love about what we're doing because we hold each other accountable. People will come up and say, “Okay, Linda, you said this, this, and this. How are you doing with that? Have you ever thought of doing something like this to encourage you along the way?”

These are really effective groups that meet every single week. We also have a mastermind group that has formed since this. If you've ever been part of a mastermind group, I love a mastermind group. Most of the people in there are executive C-suite level people. They’re business owners. Getting together with a group of those mastermind people is a lot of fun. We do a couple of retreats, a spring and a fall retreat. There may be even more retreats we do. We actually use a lot of those mastermind people to do many of the workshops. These guys have been there. They’ve done that. They’ve shown great success. They’ll talk about the things they’ve done wrong, the things they wish they would have done better if they had to do it over again, their walk with the Lord in the workplace, those types of things.

I just personally love the big names, the Hollywood figures and I’m not knocking people with big names but I get more out of just a guy that’s made it, who’s done really well, and is still in the trenches doing it every day. That person can come alongside and say, “Linda, I’ve been there. I’ve done that. Don’t go this direction because I fell into that trap. You might want to reconsider going over here and try something else.”

Man, I wish I had something like that when we first started in business. There were so many things we could have avoided. I think we’d be further down the line. And here’s the exciting thing, if we can take the next generation and have the successful people that we have continue to grow with the Ignite community, and if we can start to grab hold of this younger generation and help them along the way, that’s what it’s all about. Because if we keep going in this direction and it’s just about people our age, it's fun, it's good, and we can do better. But if we’re not bringing up that next level, that next generation, I think it’s all for nothing. 

That’s what we’re really getting into, is bringing up that next generation, teaching, and encouraging. To me, it’s a great community, and it continues to grow. People say, “Well, Kraig, I thought it was just a conference.” Well, it started off as a conference. But to me, the excitement comes every single week, jumping into these different groups, starting new groups, and watching them grow.

Desiree has a group of just ladies, and sometimes I can hear them in the other room praying over one another. I can hear them crying. I can hear them laughing. It’s powerful. To me, if you’re going through a situation, it doesn’t even have to be business related, if you’re going through something, there’s nothing more rewarding than spending time with your group and saying, “Guys, I’m going through this. I need your help.”

That’s what it’s all about. That’s how we take good leaders and make them great. That’s how, as Desiree always says, we make the marketplace the miracle place. To me, that’s where it’s going to start. That’s where it’s going to happen. And I think you’re going to see some great change, that's going to come out of Ignite, the Ignite Kingdom Conference. You need to go to ignite-cb.com and get registered for this conference that's up and coming.

If you're, if you're listening to this before, before that, this date of May 15th and 16th, you want to be in the room with these like-minded people. It's gonna be a lot of fun. 

Linda J. Hansen: Well, it will, and the web address is ignite cb.com where you can go get details about the conference and register. And then if people are interested in doing business with extreme recognition, how should they reach you?

Kraig Bougher: Yeah, just go to xr gifts.com. It's the just the letter X, the letter R XR gifts like Christmas, gifts.com. 

Linda J. Hansen: I think both businesses, well both entities I should say, Your organizations are excellent. And so listeners, you can go to these websites. You can get ahold of Kraig, you can get to know him, you can get to know Desiree, but hopefully you'll come to the conference May 15th and 16th in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

And then you can get a feel for it through their website and looking at past conferences. But even if you can't make it to the conference we invite you to be part of the community, the Ignite community, and make the marketplace a ministry. Make it a miracle place. And I thank you, Kraig, because your heart for the marketplace and for business is much like mine.

My goal is to keep the soil fertile for the gospel. I want to make sure we have communication and education and freedom so that we are free to share the gospel, not only with each other in the workplace, but as a nation. And we need to keep the soil fertile for the gospel. So, for all of us following through on the call that God has on our life, whether it's in the workplace, in a business, or whether it's in a ministry, which is another work place or whether it's just in our home, which is the most important place. So we just really appreciate the fact that you have this ministry and this heart for people and hope that people will get engaged with Ignite. So thank you so much for joining with us. Just give the two websites one more time before we close.

Kraig Bougher: Yeah, for Ignite, it's ignite-cb.com. And for extreme recognition it's xr gifts.com. 

Linda J. Hansen: Alright, perfect. Well, thank you and hopefully listeners, you can make it to the Ignite Kingdom Conference, in Council Bluffs, Iowa this spring. And if not, if you're hearing this after the conference, please go to the websites and get engaged in some way. So thank you for listening and thank you, Kraig, for being here. 

Kraig Bougher: God, it was great. Thank you for having me.

Linda J. Hansen: Thank you again for listening to the Prosperity101® podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share and leave a great review. Don't forget to visit prosperity101.com to access the entire podcast library, to order my newest book, Job Security Through Business Prosperity, the Essential Guide to Understanding How Policy Affects Your Paycheck®, or to enroll you or your employees in the Breakroom Economics® online course.

You can also receive the free ebook, 10 Tips for Helping Employees Understand How Public Policy Affects Their Paychecks. Freedom is never free. Understanding the foundations of prosperity and the policies of prosperity will help you to protect prosperity as you become informed, involved and impactful®.

Please contact us today at prosperity101.com to let us know how we can serve you. Thank you.