KENTUCKY NEWSMAKERS. > HELLO THERE FROM WKYT 27 NEWS FIRST. HOPE YOURE ENJOYING YOUR WEEKEND. WHILE THE CROWD ROARS AT FANCY FARM OUT IN KENTUCKY TODAY, WELL TAKE A LITTLE BREAK FROM POLITICS HERE AND SHIFT OVER TO THE ECONOMY AND MEET AN INTERESTING KENTUCKIAN. WE HAD A LOT OF POSITIVE FEEDBACK RECENTLY WHEN WE INTERVIEWED SOME KENTUCKY AUTHORS AND TLKED ABOUT SOME HISTORY IN THE STATE. PAUL OVERSON HAS BUILT A LARGE KENTUCKYBASED BUSINESS WHICH IS GROWING IN THE MIDDLE OF A RECESSION. IRONICALLY HE SAYS THAT TOUGH TIMES ARE GOOD FOR HIS KIND OF BUSINESS. OVERSON WAS FROM BOYLE COUNTY AND COACHED FOOTBALL BEFORE GETTING INTO NETWORK MARKETING WITH LONG DISTANCE PHONE SERVICE BACK IN THE 90s. HE BECAME WEALTHY, RETIRED BEFORE THE AGE OF 40 BUT RETURNED TO FORM HIS OWN COMPANY, KNOWN FOR HOMES, FUN, MOTIVATIONAL STORIES, TALKS, ECONOMIC THEORIES. OVERSON ALSO SURVIVED A TOUGH BATTLE WITH CANCER SOMETIME BACK. SOME ARE CONSUMED BY SETBACK, OTHERS CONSIDER THEM AS CHALLENGES, AND CERTAINLY MANY PEOPLE ARE DOING THAT RIGHT NOW. MR. OVERSON, WHO RUNS FORTUNE HIGHTECH MARKETING IN LEXINGTON JOINS US TODAY. WELCOME, SIR. WE APPRECIATE YOU BEING HERE WITH US. WELL TALK ABOUT SOME THINGS ALL THINGS KENTUCKY HERE. >> THANK YOU, BILL. THANKS FOR HAVING ME. >> TELL US A LITLE BIT ABOUT YOUR BACKGROUND. IT STRIKES ME, YOU CAME FROM BOYLE COUNTY WHERE A FOOTBALL COACH AND ATHLETICS PAVED A LOT OF THE WAY, RIGHT? WHAT DOES BEING ON THE PLAYING FIELD, TAKING PART IN THAT KIND OF COMPETITIVE SITUATION MEAN TO FOLKS, YOU THINK, EARLY IN LIFE? >> WELL, BILL, ACTUALLY, I COACHED BASKETBALL, BUT I THINK IN ATHLETICS, ITS ALL THE SAME. THAT IT AKES A CERTAIN SKILL SET, A MINDSET, NEVER GIVE UP TYPE ATITUDE. YOU KNOW, YOU AND I WERE TALKING ABOUT THAT BEFORE, THE ATTITUDE, NOT GIVING UP, NOT GIVING IN, NOT GIVING OUT THAT IT TAKES TO WIN. AND I THINK THATS THE SAME WAY BUSINESS OPERATES TOO. I FIND THAT THE SAME THING THAT MAKES AN ATHLETE SUCESSFUL TYPICALLY MAKE A PERSON SUCCESSFUL IN RELATIONSHIPS, MAYBE IN OUR SPIRITUAL LIVES, MAYBE IN OUR BUSINESS LIVES, AS WELL. >> YOU LOOK AT THE ECONOMY TODAY AND YOU SEE THAT PEOPLE HAVE GOTTEN IN TROUBLE. IN MANY CASES, ITS BEEN THE WAY THEYVE HANDLED CREDIT AND PERSONAL SPENDING AND SO FORTH. DO YOU SENSE THAT AMERICANS, KENTUCKIANS, PEOPLE YOU TALK WITH, HAVE LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THESE TOUGH SOMETIMES IN. >> YOU THINK SO, BILL, BUT THEN YOU TURN ON TV AND YOU SEE AT IN SOME SENSE, I THINK SOME OF OUR LIVES WILL NEVER E THE SAME. SOME PEOPLE OUT THROUGH WILL ALWAYS HAVE LEARNED. BUT INEVITABLY, IF HISTORYS TAUGHT US ANYTHING, ITS TAUGHT S THAT HISTORYS ABSOLUTELY TAUGHT US NOTHING, THAT IF YOU GO BACK TO THE 1930s CERTAINLY, IM NOT AN ECONOMIST OR THE 1960s, 1970s, THAT WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS THE 1987 STOCK MARKET CRASH WHEN THE LATE 90s WHEN THE NASDAQ BURST. MANY OF US JUST DONT LEARN THOSE LESSONS. WE LEARN THEM, BUT ITS KIND OF LIKE THE CAR ACCIDENT INNHIGH SCHOOL. EVERYBODY SLOWS DOWN FOR A WEK OR TWO, BUT THENIN A CERTAIN TIME FRAME, EVERYBODYS BACK UP AND LIKE THEY WERE. SO HOPEFULLY WE HAV BUT IVE GOTTA A FEELING WELL HAVE TO BE RETAUGHT THESE SAME LESSONS HERE IN ANOTHER FEW YEARS. >> YOU THINK IT IS CYCLICAL, THOUGH, THE ECONOMY THINK? MEAN, HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO WATCH THAT, YOU KNOW, AND SE THAT THINGS GO IN CYCLES? GOOD TIMES, TOUGH TIMES KIND OF FOLLOW EACH OTHER? >> ABSOLUTELY. ABSOLUTELY. IT SURELY IS NIGHT FOLOWS DAY AND DAY FOLLOWS NIGHT, AND WE WE WILL COOE OUT OF THIS ECONOMIC RECESSION THAT WERE EITHER JUST COMING OUT OF NOW OR MAYBE ALREADY OUT OF, BUT WELL COME OUT OF IT. AND THERE WILL BE YOU KNOW, WE TRY TO TELLLOUR REPRESENTATIVES IN THE BUSINESS THAT WHEN TIMES ARE GREAT, FIX THE ROOF WHEN THE SUN IS SHING. YOU DONT WAIT TILL ITS RAING. THIS IS THE TIME TO BE PREPARED TO COME OUT OF IT I THINK AS AN INDIVIDUAL AND ALSO WE AS FAMILY MEMBERS THROUGHOUT THE STATE OF KENTUCKY AND THE COUNTRY. >> IS KENTUCKY A GOOD PLACE FOR YOUR BUSINESS? IS IT A GOOD BUSINESS TO HEADQUARTER A COMPANY OR TWO YOU KNOW, FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE WAY IT REGULATES BUSINESS, TAX, THAT KIND OF THING? >> BILL, TAX WISE IS NOT. KENTUCKY IS MY HOME. YOU AND PRESCRIBE TALKING ABOUT THAT BEFORE. YOURE A KENTUCKY MAN, IM A KKNTUCKY PERSON, AS WELL. KENTUCKY IS MY HOME. TOMMY MILLS AND I BASED THIS COMPANY IN KENTUCKY BECAUSE WERE KENTUCKIANS AND WE WANTED TO LIVE IN KENTUCKY AND I WANT TO DIE IN KENTUCKY. I HAD LIVED IN FLORIDA. FLORIDA, MUCH MORE CONDUCIVE TO BUSINESS. TEXAS MUCH MORE CONDUCIVE TO BUSINESS. NO STATE TAX, NO ESTATE TAX WHEN YOU DIE. MANY DIFFERENT REASONS, BUT KENTUCKY IS HOME TO ME, AND IM NOT GONNA SAY KENTUCKY A BAD STATE TO DO BUSINESS. ITS CERTAINLY IMPROVED. BUT PROBABLY NOT ONE OF THE TOP FIVE STATES TO DO BUSINESS IN, NO. >> ANY RECOMMENDATIONS YOU WOULD MAKE TO LAWMAKERS IF YOU >> WELL AND OF COURSE I DONT WANT TO GET INTO PRETTIES, BILL. ITS ALL I CAN DO TO BE IN BUSINESS BUT CERTAINLY LOWER TAX RATES YOU HAVE. ANYTHING YOU DONT WANT A LOTF OF COURSE, TAX IT, AND ITL GO AWAY. IF YOU DONT WANT A LOT OF PEOPLE MAKING A LOT OF MONEY IN YOUR STATE OR YOU DONT WANT A LOT OF WEALTHY PEOPLE IN YOUR STATE AND I RECOGNIZE MOST OF US OUT THERE WATCHING THIS AND MOST OF US IN THE STATE, WE DONT HAVE THOSE CONCERNS. BUT BASICALLY BUSINESS, I READ ONE TIME, I NEVER WORKED FOR ANYBODY THAT HAD LESS MONEY THAN I DID. SO MOST OF RECESS WORKING FOR PEOPLE THAT HAVE QUITE A BIT OF MONEY. SO I THINK THE TAXING BEHAVIOR AND AGAIN IM NOT HERE TO HAVE ANY KIND OF TX POLI LIKE THAT.

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AIRDATE: 08-01-2009
TRANSCRIPT: kentucky newsmakers. > hello there from wkyt 27 news first. hope youre enjoying your weekend. while the crowd roars at fancy farm out in kentucky today, well take a little break from politics here and shift over to the economy and meet an interesting kentuckian. we had a lot of positive feedback recently when we interviewed some kentucky authors and tlked about some history in the state. paul overson has built a large kentuckybased business which is growing in the middle of a recession. ironically he says that tough times are good for his kind of business. overson was from boyle county and coached football before getting into network marketing with long distance phone service back in the 90s. he became wealthy, retired before the age of 40 but returned to form his own company, known for homes, fun, motivational stories, talks, economic theories. overson also survived a tough battle with cancer sometime back. some are consumed by setback, others consider them as challenges, and certainly many people are doing that right now. mr. overson, who runs fortune hightech marketing in lexington joins us today. welcome, sir. we appreciate you being here with us. well talk about some things all things kentucky here. >> thank you, bill. thanks for having me. >> tell us a litle bit about your background. it strikes me, you came from boyle county where a football coach and athletics paved a lot of the way, right? what does being on the playing field, taking part in that kind of competitive situation mean to folks, you think, early in life? >> well, bill, actually, i coached basketball, but i think in athletics, its all the same. that it akes a certain skill set, a mindset, never give up type atitude. you know, you and i were talking about that before, the attitude, not giving up, not giving in, not giving out that it takes to win. and i think thats the same way business operates too. i find that the same thing that makes an athlete sucessful typically make a person successful in relationships, maybe in our spiritual lives, maybe in our business lives, as well. >> you look at the economy today and you see that people have gotten in trouble. in many cases, its been the way theyve handled credit and personal spending and so forth. do you sense that americans, kentuckians, people you talk with, have learned something from these tough sometimes in. >> you think so, bill, but then you turn on tv and you see at in some sense, i think some of our lives will never e the same. some people out through will always have learned. but inevitably, if historys taught us anything, its taught s that historys absolutely taught us nothing, that if you go back to the 1930s certainly, im not an economist or the 1960s, 1970s, that we have to go through this the 1987 stock market crash when the late 90s when the nasdaq burst. many of us just dont learn those lessons. we learn them, but its kind of like the car accident innhigh school. everybody slows down for a wek or two, but thenin a certain time frame, everybodys back up and like they were. so hopefully we hav but ive gotta a feeling well have to be retaught these same lessons here in another few years. >> you think it is cyclical, though, the economy think? mean, have you been able to watch that, you know, and se that things go in cycles? good times, tough times kind of follow each other? >> absolutely. absolutely. it surely is night folows day and day follows night, and we we will cooe out of this economic recession that were either just coming out of now or maybe already out of, but well come out of it. and there will be you know, we try to telllour representatives in the business that when times are great, fix the roof when the sun is shing. you dont wait till its raing. this is the time to be prepared to come out of it i think as an individual and also we as family members throughout the state of kentucky and the country. >> is kentucky a good place for your business? is it a good business to headquarter a company or two you know, from the standpoint of the way it regulates business, tax, that kind of thing? >> bill, tax wise is not. kentucky is my home. you and prescribe talking about that before. youre a kentucky man, im a kkntucky person, as well. kentucky is my home. tommy mills and i based this company in kentucky because were kentuckians and we wanted to live in kentucky and i want to die in kentucky. i had lived in florida. florida, much more conducive to business. texas much more conducive to business. no state tax, no estate tax when you die. many different reasons, but kentucky is home to me, and im not gonna say kentucky a bad state to do business. its certainly improved. but probably not one of the top five states to do business in, no. >> any recommendations you would make to lawmakers if you >> well and of course i dont want to get into pretties, bill. its all i can do to be in business but certainly lower tax rates you have. anything you dont want a lotf of course, tax it, and itl go away. if you dont want a lot of people making a lot of money in your state or you dont want a lot of wealthy people in your state and i recognize most of us out there watching this and most of us in the state, we dont have those concerns. but basically business, i read one time, i never worked for anybody that had less money than i did. so most of recess working for people that have quite a bit of money. so i think the taxing behavior and again im not here to have any kind of tx poli like that.