Secrets to succeeding after failure with Brian Scudamore

Founder and CEO of O2E Brands – Brian Scudamore

Stoked to have Brian Scudamore back on the show. Brian is a serial entrepreneur and author. He is the founder and CEO of O2E Brands, the parent company of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine.

Brian started his business in Vancouver, Canada at the age of 18, and later went on to franchise 1-800-GOT-JUNK? as a way to expand operations. Today, 1-800-GOT-JUNK? has 1,000 trucks on the road throughout some 180 locations in Canada, the United States, and Australia. In 2018, he published his first book, WTF?! (Willing to Fail): How Failure Can Be Your Key to Success.

Episode Highlights:

The keys to success after facing failure as an entrepreneur
How to deal with being the idea guy and having ideas fail
Where is that line of transparency, especially if you only have 10 or 20 employees
How to be attached to the highest-level outcome but not be attached to how you get there

Brian’s Website:

Transcript: Download

Video Transcription provided by GMR Transcription Services.

Jaime: Welcome to Eventual Millionaire. I?m Jaime Masters, and today on the show we have back Brian Scudamore. Now, he did 1-800-GOT-JUNK? He?s got 02E Brands, but he?s got a new book called WTF?! Which I love. (Willing to Fail). You can find it on Amazon. Thanks so much for coming on the show today.

Brian: Yeah. Thanks for having me back.

Jaime: I love that we talk about failure. I watched a couple of your YouTube videos before, and normally we, especially I interview millionaires, they sort of shove the failure part under the rug, right?

Brian: Yeah. Yeah.

Jaime: But I'm a success. So, what made you write this book?

Brian: Well, you know, it?s interesting. I think failure is an important part of success. You really can?t succeed unless you?re failing. So, the example I love to give is my ? I've got three kids. My middle daughter ? they?re all skiers, and I remember when she was about six or seven, learning to ski, she?s like I don?t want to do ski lessons anymore. I keep falling. And I'm like you fall? That?s awesome. And I said to her, you know, you got to keep on falling, because that?s how you get better and that?s how you learn.

And so, she really thought about it and at the end of next ski lesson, she comes up to me, she goes, guess what? I fell today; big smile on her face.

And so, that told me a) she?s listening to my advice, which is great when you?re a dad, but more importantly, embracing failure is such a key. I mean if I look at every single lesson learned, every real WTF moment in my book, I use that to happen to get the tuition, the learning to get me to the next level.

I would not ? we would not be a $400 million business today if it wasn?t for failure after failure after failure.

Jaime: So, it?s one thing to talk about failure after it?s already happened though, and it?s one thing to be in it when it?s crappy. What do you have for advice? Because that?s the other thing. As entrepreneurs, we like to be loners except when things are going well, right?

Brian: Hm-mm.

Jaime: So, when things are going great, we?re like oh this is amazing. We?ll talk to everyone, but when we?re in a hole, it is hard to talk to people, to get out of that.

What do they do when they?re actually in that failure piece?

Brian: Yeah. I think it?s a bit of reflection. So, back to the ski example, when you fall it can hurt. You bang your head, you?re all ? you fall on some ice, you get up, and you go okay, take a deep breath, pull yourself together. When you?ve got a business failure, it could be weeks, it could be months. I mean it can really suck, but what you gotta do is you?ve got to reflect and say ? and the question for me that I always ask when I?m in a bad moment, and it doesn?t mean I?m not human and that things don?t hurt, but I?ll say what potentially good thing can come from this crappy situation?

And I try and think and sometimes I end up brainstorming and making a list of a bunch of things. And I?m like okay. This is good. Now, nobody wants to fail, but when you understand that you can shift your mindset to say, you know what? There?s a lesson here and I needed to learn this, and I will be better as a result. That really helps people get through it.

Jaime: Can you do that in the beginning? I know, especially feeling feelings as an entrepreneur husband, interesting thing for me personally, right?

Brian: Hm-mm.

Jaime: And so, while I know that the idea is to go oh I will learn from this, everybody?s told you?ll learn from this. You?re like yeah that?s great. But at the beginning, it doesn?t feel like that. Maybe towards the end of the failure or like the seeds of change are turning it?s easier to go I can learn this, but at the beginning, it seems way more difficult.

Do you pull yourself to do that at the beginning when it?s still ? when your face hurts still?

Brian: Yeah. You know, I think when you?re about to fall, when you?re about to fail, you want to be careful not to think too much of what?s going to happen or you could become a self-fulfilling situation where you do fall.

So, I think you got to be careful in the beginning to say okay I can feel something is happening, the seeds of change as you said, but I think be open to you could fail, but you might not fail and give it your best shot.

I still find, and maybe it?s just me personally, I won't deal with a failure until I?m in it. And we get this. A friend will tell me they?re worried about something, and I?m like but that hasn?t happened yet. Worry about it, deal with it when it does happen.

We?ll have a franchise partner who will run us through all the what-ifs, and it?s like but imagine if. How about change your feeling from what-if could go wrong, imagine if these great things happen.

And we are what we think, and you gotta really watch your thoughts.

Jaime: Were you always like that? Was it easy for you to watch thoughts?

Brian: I don?t think it was always easy, but I think that I?m a very introspective person so that when I do mess up I try and think who?s fault was this? Of course it?s my own. What am I going to learn? Why did this happen? I try not to get too down and depressed about it. Again, depression is something entrepreneurs often face and I?m no different. I?ve had those days in bed where you?re like oh crap, I just can?t get up and get out.

But you give yourself a couple of days to recharge and give yourself permission to be in bed and then go, you know what? Back to the vision. Back to the painted picture. Back towards doing greatness.

Jaime: Can you give me a little more that daily, stuck in the mud, not wanting to get up? Because it?s like a spiral downward a lot of times. Because I work with tons of companies, and nobody wants to talk about those days that they don?t want to get up out of bed, right?

Brian: Hm-mm.

Jaime: They?re like oh we try ? we do our best, but you said just give yourself a couple days. What is the mindset when you?re doing that? How do you give yourself permission when you?re like, but people are piling stuff on me, and I should be doing this; should, should, should.

Brian: Hm-mm. Yeah. I think the mindset is giving yourself permission and just going, you know what, Brian? It?s okay. You?re a CEO, you?re running a business, nobody expects you to be on your A game every single day, and you've got a couple, two, three days for something just to [inaudible] [00:05:43].

It could be a personal issue. It could be something in business that?s brought you down, and it happens. It happens to the best of us. And so, what I do is I give myself permission. I mean I remember years ago I went through a bit of a funk where we had a COO that didn?t work out. It was our second COO after Cameron Harold, who was our first, who was amazing. You go through different growth phases. And I brought on this ex-Starbucks exec, and we just failed together.

Sales dropped $40 million. Got her out of the business. Just about lost the business. I was in a difficult, difficult place, but I gave myself permission to be open about it, so even with my assistant, I would say you know what? I?d call her up or text her and say I?m having one of those days. I just ? I need you to take everything off my schedule, I'm sorry for the last minute, but it?s one of those days.

And so, I think if you can give yourself permission and allow others around you to support you through it and just say I need a day. It?s okay. I mean I want ? we give five weeks paid personal leave to everybody in our company. And if someone needs a day, go take it. They often feel like I've got too many important things, but you?re not going to be good to yourself or the company if you don?t allow yourself that room to recharge and grow.

Jaime: That?s so impressive. And it?s funny, because you have kids, I?ve got kiddos too. It?s so easy to see in kids like yeah you can have a day or two. It?s not a big deal. Whereas when you?re the entrepreneur, you?re the employer, like I know, but I'm supposed to, and there?s all these supposed-tos running through your day.

Now, how much do you actually share with your employees? Because that?s the other piece. Some entrepreneurs are over sharers. They?re like ahh, things are crazy, and then that can cause issues too. So, how much do you actually share when you?re having those off days?

Brian: Yeah. So, we?re a very transparent company. We have no private offices. Everyone?s out in the open. I don?t have a private office nor does our president, but I think there?re things that you shouldn?t share, like you said, the CEOs who might over share.

I think it?s good to be honest and transparent, and I think sometimes you don?t have to say more than I need a day. And we?re human beings. And if you respect your team and your people in your partners to say I get it, you?re human beings, what can I do to help? And so, sometimes you can share with our really talking about all the details.

Jaime: Where is that line of transparency, especially if you only have 10, 20 employees? Not a humongous company like what you?ve got right now, but where is that line of sharing, especially when you start as a small company and you?re used to sharing a lot, where is that line of transparency of what we do share and what we don?t?

Brian: I think it?s up to the person, the leader of the department. So, while we?re not a 20-person company, we?re a 550-person company, at the head office, we've got different departments in different segments of people that I?m sure are sharing amongst each other, but I think is a leader, you?ve got to lead by example and be positive, but you also need as a leader to be trustworthy, and I think trust comes from vulnerability. You gotta be real.

Again, someone having a bad day, someone having a frustrating moment, tell someone that that?s what?s going on so they don?t get this oh is that person mad at me. You know, what?s the deal?

So, our transparency is ? it would come down to the value of just being real, be authentic, just be yourself, and say it like it is.

Jaime: Mm. Okay. That makes ? because they can feel it anyway. And so, if you don?t say anything, sometimes that?s even worse than if you just say you know what? Today?s an off day, let?s keep moving forward and will be okay with that.

Brian: Yep. Absolutely.

Jaime: I was watching a speech that you ended up doing about comparing yourself to others also. So, I appreciate that you say that, because everybody does it and doesn?t really talk about that either.

How did you cope with it, or what did you do to get past some of those things?

Brian: Yeah. So, I joined EO, the Entrepreneurs? Organization, when I was 26. So, 1996, and you had a have a million dollars in revenue, and I was very, very close, and they said you?re gonna get there. We know you will. So, they allowed me.

But what I did, which was a WTF moment of failure for me was comparing myself to others. I looked around the room, I looked around my Organization of EO in Vancouver, and I'm like wow there?re people with $10 million businesses. I?ve got this little million-dollar junk-removal company.

There were people that had $100 million businesses. They were in software. They were selling their companies for huge multiples. And I just looked at them like wow, who am I? I didn?t finish high school, didn?t finish college, have a garbage removal business, and I started to go okay I'm in a bit of a doom loop here is what I called it.

So, I went over to my parent?s summer cottage. They had this little cabin on the water and I took out a sheet of paper, and we?ve talked about this in the last podcast, I created the painted picture; the vision. And I wrote out where we would be, not where I hoped to be or what it could look like, but I started to look at the future and say this is where we are going to go.

And what?s interesting is it took me out of that doom loop, and I saw this pure possibility, and I said I can make this happen, and I will make it happen, but what I did in the process was started to reflect and realize why am I compare myself to others? Why do I care what someone else is doing and how big the company is? Why not just believe in my own vision and my own dreams and stay focused on that.

So, I shifted from a negative mindset to a very positive one and stopped comparing myself to others, and it stuck with me since that point. What was that? 25 years ago, and I?ve really, really walked life on a road of not comparing myself to others.

And I think what scares me, and ? we talked about kids, what scares me with my kids, and I'm sure many people, is social media. I?ll be away somewhere with my kids and they?ll look at their Instagram and go look with so-and-so is doing. Well, come on. They must?ve taken a hundred photos, they photoshopped it, they made it look perfect. You got understand that people aren?t really at their best on Instagram and social media, that life is behind that, and try not to compare yourself to others.

They say that Facebook often causes depression, because everybody looks at what other people are doing. Well, it?s not really what they?re doing, it?s what they?re presenting to the world in that moment trying to show themselves as I'm happy and here?s my recognition that I want for what I?m doing.

Jaime: How do you ? especially with the kids? side. Because to me, I agree with you a million times over. It?s like ha ha. Nobody?s actually sharing the real story behind the things, right?

Brian: Yeah. Yeah.

Jaime: And everything looks perfect, and we?re comparing to something that doesn?t even exist, which sucks, but how do you try to tell your kids to do that? Do you just have them put blinders on like you did? It sounded like yours was a quick hit, and you?re able to do it for the rest of your life. What are you telling your kids to try to stop that?

Brian: You know, I've said to my kids, go towards what makes you feel good. Stay away from what makes you feel bad. So, that simple rule of if they?re looking at Instagram and it?s making them feel bad ? that?s only my oldest who?s on Instagram. The others aren?t there yet, but it?s like if you?re not feeling good stuff from seeing what others are doing, stop doing it.

Follow your heart. Follow your brain into a place where if this makes you feel good, go do more of that. You know, if helping others makes you feel good, do more of that. If criticizing yourself and comparing yourself to others hurts, stop doing it.

Jaime: This self-awareness of small children ? and that?s the other piece. You?re teaching your kids self-awareness at a really young age, which I don?t feel like I learned that at a young age. It was something that came up later going oh I should probably look at myself, right?

Brian: Yep.

Jaime: And so, we?re trying to do better with our kids. What other things, especially in writing the book, I?m sure you?ve learned a lot of stories and going back, what are you trying to embody now and give to your children on these WTF moments now that you know all the things that happened in the past?

Brian: Yeah. I think my life?s mission or purpose is showing people that they can accomplish anything their mind can see and believe. Imagine big possibilities, and then you never know, they might just actually happen.

And so with my kids, with our franchise owners of any of our brands, Shack Shine, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, I want everyone in our business to be able to see that whatever their big dreams are, if they stay focused, if they paint the picture and believe in themselves, they can make these things happen.

So, with my kids, it?s that constant you know what? You can do whatever you want, but embrace failure along the way. Have those moments and just go okay another piece of learning that?s getting me another step closer to my dreams.

You could give examples of anyone. One of the ones I shared recently with my kids, which is a popular one, is Michael Jordan getting cut from his high school basketball team but then becoming the greatest basketball player on the planet. My kids I gave that analogy, because I?ve got a daughter who?s a ski racer, and she was feeling bad about herself.

And it?s like no. You gotta understand that people need to screw up. People need to learn from that and have that positive energy and momentum that comes from rising out of the ashes and picking yourself up and going I got this.

Jaime: That contrast does actually make the success even better, because if we just had the success side, we?d be like oh this is great, but there?s no contrast to compare to either.

And life isn?t like that anyway. Life is a bumpy ride in so many other ways, right?

Brian: Sure.

Jaime: What other coping tactics you've got for us? Okay. Go ahead.

Brian: Yeah. I was gonna say, I mean success without failure I think is a hollow victory. If you?re experiencing success without some bumps along the way, it seems hollow.

I mean I want the success where you've got these moments where you just about give up, and maybe you even should give up, but you persevere and you get through. That?s a success worth telling your children about and your coworkers and just going wow we did this when nobody thought we could. It feels so much greater.

Jaime: So, I so appreciate you saying that. When you?re in it, it feels a little different going like I will do it, right? When I was $70,000 in debt, I was like well I haven?t seen anybody else do this and quit a six-figure job, but it?s gonna be a better story is what I kept telling myself. It?s going to be a better story later when it actually happens, right?

Brian: Of course.

Jaime: But when you were telling things, you actually seemed almost non-attached to your painted picture. You?re like oh, if it happens, it happens.

What do you feel like on the attachment or the ? I don?t want to say grip, but do you feel attached to it so that we can pull yourself towards it, or is it like we?re just gonna do the actions now and not hold on to, it must be this way?

Brian: Yeah. So, I would be attached to the highest-level outcome of the painted picture. So, when I set the vision, the painted picture, five years out by the end of 2003 to be in the top 30 metros in North America with 1-800-GOT-JUNK, to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show. There were some key highlights in there that I said I don?t know how we?re gonna get there, I'm not going to worry about how we?re going to get there, I?m just going to attract through the painted picture like a magnet, great people to the vision that want to be a part, and we?ll figure it out.

And we had five years to figure it out and we did. And we did hit the top 30 metros. We did get on the Oprah Winfrey Show. We did build The FedEx of Junk Removal.

I think it?s attachment to the highest-level outcome but not be attached to how you get there. It?s just like going on a journey and sometimes you have to take different paths and sometimes your car breaks down or you?ve got a flight delay. I mean you get bumps in the road, and you figure out how to still get to that destination if it?s important; same thing with the painted picture.

Jaime: Huh. So, it?s not like you wrote I want to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show and then emailed every single person that?s ever been on it or like you didn?t just go straight in for the kill, you let things naturally unfold?

Brian: I did. So, I recruited someone named Tyler Wright. We talk about him in the book. And he was our first PR hire, a guy who came in with tons of energy and enthusiasm. He used to put on a blue wig whenever he?d pitch the press just to kind of get in this wacky spirit, and big tall guy, and Tyler would pitch the press with no experience, but he had all the belief.

He goes wow. We had on our Can You Imagine wall, can you imagine being featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show with my name below it? We all had different goals that we put up on this Can You Imagine wall, but that was important to me.

It became important to Tyler where Tyler would often sit at that wall he?d look at that. He was picturing himself manifesting this energy towards I?m gonna make it happen. It took them about 14 months, which is a long time, but it was absolutely worth it.

We got on the Oprah Winfrey Show. And there I am up on stage 4-1/2 minutes, taking about the business, having Oprah smile back at me. Got to give her a big hug behind stage. I mean it was amazing, but it was Tyler. It wasn?t even me. It was me putting an idea out there to the universe. It was Tyler going this is important. I want to be a part of this, and he emailed. He called. He did all sorts of things to try to make it happen, but he believed it would happen, and it did.

Jaime: Tell me more about the Can You Imagine wall. I don?t feel like ? so, when I started interviewing millionaires, people talk about vision a lot. And I had no idea how much data on vision came back, right, back in the day when we started seven to eight years ago.

But you?re preaching it, which I so, so appreciate. So, tell me about why you even started and what the Can You Imagine wall is.

Brian: Yeah. So, we had this big wall in our old office years ago, early 2000s, and it was just a blank wall. And I'm like it needs something on it. You shouldn?t have a blank wall. You need to have a vibrant office.

So, I put this big saying up there, a vinyl decal, that said Can You Imagine?

And the reason it put it up there is Cameron Harold, who was our COO at the time, said I?m not the vision guy. I don?t think about vision. I can?t think about vision.

I said I disagree. I think everybody can think about vision when you ask them what can you imagine. So, what I did with Cameron is I said if you could take ? proof that you could vision, if you could take a trip anywhere in the world, where would you go? Who?s there with you? What?s the cold beverage in your hand? What?s the weather like? What are the sounds in the air? How are you feeling? You know, you ask people questions, they can imagine that stuff, and they can create their own vision of the moment or a business or of their life.

So, I put Can You Imagine up on the wall, and then days later I put being featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show, with my name a lot. That is something I imagine. And I told others. And then I got a bunch of big markers and some paper and I said you know what? Other people think what you can imagine the business doing that you can be a part of and let?s start putting some of those ideas on the wall.

So, we had things like can you imagine being featured on the side of a Starbucks cup. They used to have a program called The Way I See It campaign.

Jaime: Yeah.

Brian: And I was on cup number 70. Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK with the quote, all about something. They helped me write it, but it was like ?You are what you can't let go of.?

Jaime: Ooh.

Brian: And so, you know, somebody ? Andrea Baxter, who envisioned that idea, she believed she could make it Happen. I actually thought she couldn?t make it happen. I?m like naw. They?re not gonna put a junk company on the side of a five-dollar latte. But you know what? They did, because she believed and she worked towards making it happen.

So, can you imagine ? well, it?s something that I think is a possible way of envisioning your future and something that I wanted to do that I ended up to a couple of years ago was I went to my kids? school, and I said I'm gonna run workshops with every single class asking them what they can imagine. What can they see for themselves? Curing cancer, going to the moon, being a woman hockey player in the Olympics. You know, all sorts of different things, and we created this big, beautiful wall that will be a permanent structure at my kids? school.

Someone else all the wall from a different school wanted me to come to the workshop there, so we did a second wall and that whole idea is spreading, because you know, you mentioned that you didn?t learn ? as a kid, you didn?t learn about introspection and self-reflection. One thing I think we don?t learn as children very often is thinking and dreaming about possibilities.

So, when you can think and dream big and you?ve got permission to do so, some of those big ideas that those kids will be a part of is phenomenal.

Jaime: Ah. It sounds so fun to be in your life. You?re like ooh let?s think of this. Ooh, let?s go do this.

Brian: Ideas. Possibilities.

Jaime: Well, and there?s definite time and space, especially as a visionary entrepreneur, to give yourself that time and space.

Where does the inspired action come from though? It sounds like you go ooh let?s do this, but then there?s lots of action that happened in order to get you one of those things that you just mentioned. Where does that come in?

Brian: Yeah. So, it?s having the right people surrounding you, working with you. I mean I think of a lot of ideas of course. I'm an entrepreneur. I?m a creative type. I love to cook. I love to learn new languages. I love to create businesses, right? So, it?s in my personality.

When I come up with ideas and they sit down with my team, say my president, Eric Church, he?ll often say eh, let?s park that for a bit or that?s a great idea, but let?s revisit it in a few months, because we have so much on our plate.

So, you need I think the balance of someone to say it?s a great idea but the wrong time, or it?s a great idea, but I think it?s going to cost too much money. We've got to pick from other great ideas. You need a bit of that rigor and discipline to make those things a reality.

So, the action is certainly the hardest part, and I?m not the executor, so it?s having someone in place like a Tyler Wright who went out and got us on the Oprah Winfrey Show. You dream big ideas, you coach and cheer lead others to go out and make them happen.

Jaime: So, you have everybody?s dream job. All the visionary entrepreneurs that only have a handful of employees are like I just want to be an idea guy. Idea person going ?

Brian: Exactly.

Jaime: ? do this. Do that. How did you feel like you really ? or I should say when did you feel like you finally had that role? Right? As just ? mostly the idea guy?

Brian: Yeah. So, it?s certainly taken years and years. These overnight success stories sure take a long time. It?s been almost 30 years, but what I have done is worked slowly and steadily towards taking myself out of the things that I?m not good at.

So, when I brought Eric Church on board seven years ago, our president, I hope he?s here forever, he?s phenomenal, he?s a great friend, what Eric does is he executes. He?s the implementer. I?m the visionary guy. If he wasn?t here, I would be able to have that same role.

So, I think it?s having a partner. It?s having a size of a business where you can take yourself out of the things that you don?t like to do or you?re not as good at.

If I think back to the earlier days, I still was an idea guy, but I had less time to do the ideas. And I would go take a retreat like go to my parent?s summer cottage and think through the vision and the painted picture, but now I get a chance to do it almost every day, which is fun and exciting.

Jaime: How do you deal with being the idea guy and having ideas fail? Because your books all about WTF, right?

Brian: Of course.

Jaime: And if you?re willing to fail and you have ideas, what have you learned in that? Like what ideas work versus what ideas don?t. Tell me more about how you decide to go after something.

Brian: Yeah. So, I think when you?ve got an idea, you just don?t know, beyond trusting your gut and your heart, is it something that?s going to work or not. I think the question becomes is it something worth giving a try.

So, we talked off camera about the Wizard of Ads, Roy Williams, and we went down to Austin, where I know you?re based, and that?s where he is, and we went to his ranch; his academy.

And he said, you know, let?s get some franchise partners of yours down here. Let?s challenge them to do some experiments. Let?s do some advertising experiments. And so, his vision was let?s get ? I think he got seven people together, he said everybody is going to do a $10,000 radio experiment. That?ll be $70,000 worth of radio that hopefully there?ll be one or two things in there that work, there?ll be a whole bunch of things that fail, but the entire group of seven will get the benefit of $70,000 of learning for only $10,000.

Brian: Nice.

Jaime: So, people came up with and challenged by The Wizard to come up with bold, crazy ideas, and one of them, that I actually thought when I was in the room was ridiculous, was the winning idea.

We were going to try being open until midnight. And so, on our radio ads, Alan, from Baltimore, our franchise partner, he said we?re gonna be open until midnight. He said people will see that the availability that?s there is just like no one else.

And I'm like yeah, but it?s dark at that time. Nobody?s gonna have junk hauled away from their backyard or their basement. No one wants anybody to come into the house at that time, and Roy cut me off, The Wizard, and he goes no, no. We?re gonna try it. This is an experiment. Why it turned out to work and now, our entire franchise system runs those ads, open until midnight, and we are actually open until midnight, is because customers hear it and they go, I'm not calling them at 11:00 p.m. at night, but wow, these guys are serious. If they?re open until midnight, that?s phenomenal. They must execute well. They?re so committed. They?re all about customer experience.

And so, I would hear from people, friends and family in my town and others would say you guys are open until midnight? And it surprises people. So, it?s been a great marketing experiment that paid off.

Now, I don?t remember all the failures, but six out of the seven radio experiments did not work, but all we needed was one to work, and that helped really grow our business.

Jaime: And it was the one that you didn?t think would work. How does that ? you know what I mean? How does that work when we try to choose ideas?

Brian: It is. And so, I think what?s interesting about that that I'm reflecting on right now is just because I think it?s a bad idea, if I'm the founder and I'm the chief visionary guy who I have all these great big ideas doesn?t mean that my opinion even matters.

Sometimes you just got to trust your people and try it. Getting on the Starbucks cup. I didn?t think it would happen. Being open until midnight. Thought it was a bad idea. Both times I was wrong.

And so, I think as an entrepreneur, as a leader, and anyone that would be watching this podcast, it?s how do you empower your people and give them the leeway to try things that are new, surprising, and different, and never know. They just might be big ideas that are successful.

Jaime: Well, and how much do you test them? Because there are a billion ideas that you could technically be testing, right?

Brian: Sure.

Jaime: So, where?s that risk/reward line on some of that stuff?

Brian: Yeah. So, that?s where I think you prioritize. So, we?re big fans of a top three methodology. So, if we?re setting our goals for the quarter, if a department leader is setting their goals, it?s what are the three things you?re gonna get done? I know the list is probably 17 items. You?re not gonna get 17 items done. Pick one, two, or three things to really hard-core focus on and make that your theme for the quarter.

So, I think you can have some great ideas, but you still gotta pick what can you test? When the Wizard had seven franchise partners each coming up with an idea, he didn?t get them to test two things, he said just test one, but we?ll bring the learning together of the seven people in seven experiments, and we?ll see what works.

Jaime: That?s genius. I love that. Tell me a little bit more about your planning, because it?s the beginning of 2019, and this is going to come out. What do you do to really prep to have the best year ever? Because I'm assuming every year is supposed to be the best year ever when we started, right?

Brian: Yeah. Absolutely. Something I?ve stopped doing, it?s probably been about 10 years now, is I no longer make New Year?s resolutions, which is me learning from a failure, because what would I do? I'm gonna workout, I'm gonna lose weight, I?m gonna get in shape. This is going to be the best year ever. I?m gonna look so awesome. January 4th, January 5th, I'm eating crap again. I'm not exercising. I?m off the bike.

So, one thing I?ve done starting New Year?s, no more New Year?s resolutions. I don?t even try to think about them. Why not pick a day? I think Jerry Seinfeld made some joke about it. It?s like have a today resolution and just pick something right now in this moment. If you want to change, don?t wait until January 1st, start today.

So, that?s something that ? to set up for a great year I think getting rid of that philosophy for me. One of my most important things is really focusing on my health and on fitness. I think as entrepreneurs, we travel a lot, we?re busy, we?re stressed, they?re things going on, you can't make it through without taking care of your body.

How do you take care of your mind? Make sure you eat well. Now, I have fun as well. I love my red wine and other things, but it?s making sure that there?s a good focus and intention on fitness. So, every single day, one of my routines is I get up at 5:55 a.m. I like to be up about an hour before the kids so I can do things like exercise and hop on the bike or whatever it might be, but it?s really setting at 5:55 a daily intention with something I?m going to do for me today that will help me be the best me I can be.

Jaime: So, instead of New Year?s resolutions just actually having a habit that you actually start doing, but you didn't necessarily started for a New Year?s resolution, but how did you continue it? Because a lot of people will say that they will exercise, and then they don?t.

Brian: So, for me, it?s if I set my intention and put it in ? I've got a note in my iPhone, a daily note, where I just log the date in my intention, and so I?ve got it for years now.

Jaime: Really.

Brian: And I can look back at any date. Now I miss days, but for the most part, I put it in there. And so, my intention today was to get on the bike tonight at the end of the day, and so just to make sure that I did something. I had an early morning, I had a lot going on so far today, but it was still going, you know what? I'm gonna make sure at the end of day, no matter how tired I am, I'm going to get on the bike.

And sometimes it?s doing things to trick yourself. So, I have this rule where I'm like a 5-minute ride. So, tonight I?ll get on the bike, I?ll give it five minutes. Chances are I?ll actually stay on it for 20, 25 minutes, but I'm going to start with five and that?s all I?m going to commit to.

And sometimes you need to do those little things to say just given five minutes. Of course I can do five minutes. Who couldn?t find five minutes to hop on the spin?

Jaime: That?s huge. That?s a little domino that actually works. I love ? there?s a great book called The Intention Experiment.

Brian: Yeah.

Jaime: And I want to know more about what you?re doing for the intention thing. How many things are you putting on their, because overachievers and me I'd be like okay let?s put 100 ? no not 100, but how many things do you actually put on there, and do you make sure that you do all of them when you attend to do them? Or how does that work?

Brian: Yeah. So, my rule is just one thing.

Jaime: Oh. Just one.

Brian: So, if my daily intention ? it?s just what?s the most important thing I need to focus on? It might be don?t have any alcohol today, not that I drink a ton and all that kind of stuff, but sometimes I?m just like you know what? I want to get back in the habit of not sitting down and having a glass of wine at dinner. I want a bit of a break. So, today, no alcohol.

Or it might be smiling more. I mean it might sound ridiculous, but sometimes I?m like you know what? I can get busy and I can look like I?m not caring as much about others, so sometimes it?s just making sure I?m smiling more. Sometimes it?s paying attention to people?s names. I?m really good at remembering names, but I often find that as the company gets bigger and things grow faster it?s harder. So, again having that intention.

And so, I find by having these little tiny successes, they build on themselves, whether it?s a health goal, mental goal, or something about the business. That daily intention and focus somehow sticks with me and helps guide the day.

Jaime: That?s amazing. And it sounds fun too. I like how you sort of turn everything towards more fun in your life, so that way you actually ?

Brian: Yeah.

Jaime: ? enjoy the daily pieces of your life too, which makes a huge difference on 2019 and if it?s your best year ever in the moment, right?

Brian: Absolutely.

Jaime: Oh. I know we have to start wrapping up. So, I?m going to ask you the last question.

Brian: Okay.

Jaime: What?s one action, just one, listeners can take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of a million?

Brian: Yeah. So, you know I?m a big fan of the painted picture. I would say somebody writing down what?s the most important reason why they want to get to a million.

So, people sit there and say a million. Well, a million to do what? For what? And I think that when people set a financial goal, our goal is to build a billion-dollar business, we?re 40 percent of the way there. It?s not about the money, it?s about the significance of creating entrepreneurs and helping take someone and have them live the American dream by starting their own business and so on.

There?s a lot of why behind it. It?s not really the money. And so, I think if someone wants to get closer to a million, write down today, what?s the number one ?why? behind the million.

Jaime: I love ? I have a follow-up question on that now. How do you integrate that into your painted picture?

Brian: Well, to me, the painted picture is what the future will look like, how you?ll act. It?s just this ? if a picture says 1,000 words, the painted picture is that visual that you can take from your brain, put it down in writing, and share with others.

I think that the painted picture ? mine have always been sort of a one-page double sided. It has to have the ?why? just scream at you. It can?t seem like a hollow picture that?s just there because of ego.

You know, we want to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show because of ego. No. I wanted to be on the Oprah Winfrey Show, because I knew she?s a phenomenal influencer. She?s a wonderful woman. I wanted to give her a big hug, and I did.

You know, there was a bigger dream behind that. And so, I think it?s people have to understand, why is this important? I think North Americans often think too much about, you know, one day I?d love to have a Ferrari or one day I want this big house. Well, why do you want a big house? Do you have a big family? Do you love to entertain? Do you love to cook? I mean think through the deeper why, and then I think success becomes easy.

Jaime: And it gets you through those failure moments like you?re talking about.

Brian: Exactly.

Jaime: Because you ? otherwise you?ll give up for a second. Thank you so much. Everybody make sure you go get his book right now. WTF. You can find it on Amazon, and I?m assuming at most major retailers.

Tell us where specifically we can get it online and what to look up.

Brian: Yeah. So, WTF?! (Willing to Fail). You can find it on Amazon. I think it?s in some retailers, but Amazon is so easy. I mean they really make it easy. They do such a good job.

And if anyone ? if I could ever help anyone ? if anyone has a question they want me to answer, they can go to any of the social media. So, you can go to Instagram@BrianScudamore. I love to help people. I know on your last show, I said if anyone wanted a painted picture, send me a direct message, and I?ll fire you one off as an example. That still stands.

I love sharing what we?ve learned. We?re not perfect, but the lessons we?ve learned, if it helps inspire others and helps get some are closer to being that Eventual Millionaire, happy to help.

Jaime: I so appreciate how approachable you are. Also usually you?d assume the person ? the visionary at the huge $400 million company wouldn?t be like email me. Let me know how things are. So, thank you for being authentic ?

Brian: Awesome.

Jaime: ? and you, I really, really appreciate it, and I hope you have a fantastic 2019.

Brian: Thank you. You too, Jaime. It was awesome.

Tags: 1 800 got junk, Brian Scudamore, CEO of O2E Brands, entrepreneur podcast, eventual millionaire, got junk, jaime masters, keys to success, millionaire entrepreneurs, O2EBrands, podcast, start-ups / startups, startup entrepreneur, success after failure, top entrepreneurs

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