BYOB: Build Your Own Business, Be Your Own Boss with Brian Scudamore: An EOFire Classic from 2022

0:01Who's ready to rock today? Fire Nation JLD here and welcome to Entrepreneurs on Fire brought to you by High Level, the all-in-one sales and marketing platform. On today's classic episode, we'll be talking about BYOB, build your own business, be your own boss. To drop these value bombs, I brought Brian Scudamore into EO Fire Studios. Entrepreneur and author, Brian Scudamore, pioneered the industry of professional junk removal with 1-800-GOT-JUNK. He turned a chore into an exceptional customer service experience and scaled that success into two more brands, WOW, One Day Painting, and Shack Shine.

0:34And today we talk about how you can tell yourself the fears and worries you have and write them down. Then talk to others about how to overcome those fears and worries and be on your way and oh so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode goes to Brian and our sponsors. Are you ready for the ultimate all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs, marketers, coaches, and agencies? Build funnels, automate follow-ups, manage clients, and even white label your own software. Say hello to our featured partner high level and visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial today. Fire Nation, success isn't a solo journey.

1:13It's about who you surround yourself with. That's why I built the Freedom Circle, a powerful community of entrepreneurs ready to support, inspire, and share the ideas that move you forward. Visit freedom-circle.com to learn more. Brian say what's up to fire nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. Yeah. What's up fire nation. So happy to be back. I know I've been on before and, uh, I just love the inspiration you give to the world, John. It's amazing what you do to inspire entrepreneurship and your book and the world changing things you're doing from Puerto Rico and so on.

1:59The thing that always stands out for me was success that I think people don't often realize is you have to make mistakes. And I wrote a book all about failure and being willing to fail. However, it isn't just failing. It's making little mistakes here and there that Steve Jobs used to say, you can connect the dots in your life, but it's always backwards. You can't connect the dots moving forward because no one knows how life is going to unfold. But when you look back and you start connecting little dots, you often realize, I think people that were successful, people like myself, that all the little mistakes and challenges, hurdles in life, it's those that led us to being successful.

2:46It taught us to work harder. It taught us to work smarter. It taught us to innovate in our businesses or our lives. It gave us the tenacity to pull through. And so I think people don't really learn from their successes and their glory of victory. You learn from the challenges. And so my feeling on that is people need to have peace with failure, have peace with mistakes, and accept that, okay, there goes another one, and then ask, what can I learn? How is this going to make me better? What a great way to start this interview off. And thank you, first off, for those kind words. I really do receive them.

3:26And I thank you for that. And coming from you with the massive success that you've had over the years, it really does mean a lot. So I appreciate that. And Fire Nation, today we are talking about BYOB, build your own business, be your own boss. But before we get into the meat and potatoes there, Brian, Let's start on day one. Tell us about your entrepreneurial journey, the start, the meat, the potatoes. Well, the very start, I think the fire sparked in me when I saw my grandparents who ran an army surplus store in San Francisco in a dodgy area of town. I used to, I grew up in San Francisco, then in Vancouver, Canada, which is home today.

4:06I used to go back to their store year after year after year, summer vacation, Christmas holidays and I'd go work in their store. And I just loved watching how grandma and grandpa ran that business like it was a game, like it was fun, like it was caring about the customers and people that came into their little shop. And so that was my beginning. I knew that I would always want to do something in the business world. In fact, even when studying in college, I didn't make it through college. I went to 14 schools from kindergarten through to but not graduating high school, talking my way into college and going to many and still not graduating there because I was learning more about business by all the little businesses I had on the side.

4:50In high school, I sold treats, snacks out of my dorm room. When I was a kid in the summer, nine, 10 years old, I'd run car washes in my neighborhood and charge money. And when I was in college. I used to sell hockey cards from my apartment across borders. And then eventually I started the Rubbish Boys, which today is 1-800-GOT-JUNK, but it was a way for me to pay for college. I just found all my passion, all my learning, all my failures was coming from running a business. And it was this little beat up old junk removal truck that I saw in a McDonald's drive-thru and I looked at that truck and said, I can do that.

5:32That funded my college education and then some. And here we are today building what currently with 1-800-GOT-JUNK, the first of my three businesses, is a$600 million business this year. And then we have Wow One Day Painting and Shack Shine, two other home service brands that we franchised, which will each be$100 million brands in the near future. You've got it made in the shade, brother. I mean, you've had so much success over the years. You continue to go from strength to strength. And I know there have been struggles and failures along the way, of course, as part of the journey. But why are you still so passionate about helping others become entrepreneurs?

6:10I know this is something that it's a question I get all the time. Why am I passionate about entrepreneurship? And why am I passionate about helping others? Well, I've seen how much fun I've had on my journey of building my own business and being my own boss, that once I started to build something that was becoming some national brand names across North America, I thought, how can I help the younger, newer, the entrepreneurs entering into this world who want to build their own business? How can I help? And I realized that I was already helping those people. Through a franchise model, we give a system, a proven recipe and process to people that want to start their own business, that don't know where to start, might not have an idea, and they need the support.

7:01And we've helped people build. We've got some franchise owners right now that are building$100 million businesses themselves in the number of franchises that they own. And for me, that feels great. How do we sort of pay forward this spirit that I got excited with that I see others getting excited with. And so I wrote my second book, BYOB, build your own business, be your own boss as a way to help encourage others to take the leap for themselves. And there might be two paths that that I think are the biggest, best paths to take in starting a business. You start with a blank sheet as I did and build it from scratch.

7:40It took me 10 years to get to a million in revenue. Or a franchise. You buy into someone else's idea and become a part of their family and you build something bigger and better together. Like Paul, our first franchise partner in Toronto for 1-800-GOT-JUNK, who did his first million dollars in business in his first calendar year. Two paths that both make sense. And the book really talks about the journey of which one's best for you. And I think it is really a personal question. You as an entrepreneur, me as an entrepreneur, we're in it for maybe many of the same reasons, but many different reasons.

8:17And someone needs to investigate what is it that they're looking for from being an entrepreneur? Well, no matter what reason we're in it for, fear's everywhere. Fear is just parts of the journey. I mean, if you're a human being, there's gonna be stressful times. there's going to be times of anxiety. There will be fear, which a lot of times, as I like to say, is false evidence appearing real, but it's still fear. What do you say to people who love to just say something along the lines of, it's too risky. I can't take the chance that I'll fail. I think that's where someone then says, well, if I really still dream of running my own business, which almost 70 % of Americans have said, I want to run my own business one day and I don't know where to start or I'm limited by fear, I'd say, well, look at the best options that you have in front of you.

9:10Maybe it is too risky to start your own business from scratch. Or maybe you should start a very small business from scratch and earn your wings and start to build it up slowly like I did. $700 investment in a beat up old truck and a few hundred dollars in flyers and business cards that paid my way for college. It took me eight years to get to a million. That's slow. But then I was able to ramp up once I had some confidence, some systems and a great team of people in which to build it. Or again, join a franchise. Someone I've gotten to know recently, and I talk about him in the book, is Shaquille O 'Neal.

9:45And what I love about Shaq, besides his multi, multi NBA championships and all the big rings he's got, is looking at him as what was next after basketball. after the NBA what was he going to do and we know that professional athletes often fail in life and make a lot of mistakes and go bankrupt shortly after their pro careers and he said you know what I'm going to take everything I know from business my desire to win my hunger to build something to be a part of a team to lead and to make some mistakes and what he did is he he went into franchises. And he started investing in and partnering with a ton of great people.

10:30He goes, Brian, I know how to lead people. I know how to build winning teams. I know great ideas and how to put the right people in to execute. And he's now worth a half a billion dollars. And he's building franchises. And here's someone who recognized that he didn't need to be the idea guy. He didn't need something original. He needed to be a part of a winning team. And he wanted to be the leader and champion of that idea. And there he is no longer winning in basketball, but winning in so many other things that he's sinking his teeth into. I used to love Shaq so much when I was growing up. I mean, I was a teenager when he was drafted, I remember, and I just actually became a huge fan of the Orlando Magic right away because of it.

11:11And I named my little elk cottage that my parents had at a lake house. They had the main house and this little elk cottage that I was able to stay in as a bedroom, the shack, S-H-A-Q. And that was just because I loved what he was doing on the court. But I love that you brought this up of what he's now done off the court. That's super cool stuff. And Fire Nation, we're going to be talking about some really important things for you, the entrepreneurs out there, when we get back from thanking our sponsors. It's January, and that means new goals for your business. And because I know you actually want to hit those goals, it's time to stop messing around and start knowing exactly what's happening with your money.

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13:32On top of it all, their support team is second to none and has your back every step of the way. Seriously, every question that pops up, they will have your answer waiting. And if you visit my special partnership link, you'll get a free trial. So visit highlevelfire.com to start your free trial and see why thousands of businesses are switching. That's highlevelfire.com where marketing, sales, and automation finally come together. High level, join the revolution. Brian, we're back. And I just want to ask a question because I see a lot of people that are out there. They're like, well, I can't succeed because of this or because of that, because I'm too young, because I'm too old, because I'm a male, because I'm a female, because I'm this, because I'm that.

14:14Can anyone succeed as an entrepreneur? Of course they can, because everything you just listed there, I've heard from many people who had that story, or one of those examples in their brains, that was limiting them until they found something that they could follow through with and succeed. In my first book, WTF, Willing to Fail, I talk about the fact that I believe that passion follows commitment. People often think it's the other way around. Be passionate about something and then commit. I believe, and people I've studied, as you do, we both love studying other people and what has made them successful and what they've learned in life, is commit to something first.

14:59And then over time, you start to see that, you know what, I can do it. I'm building confidence and man, I am passionate. So if I look at my own business, I committed to it as a way to pay for college. I wasn't very good at it. Five years into the business, I fired my entire company of 11 people, half a million in revenue. I picked the wrong people. They weren't glass half full types, and I had to get them out of my business and start again. But I learned valuable lessons. I built more confidence and started to really grow my business. So I think what happens is people are held back by fear. They're held back by self sort of determined notions in their mind of why they can't do something.

15:43And so how do you give yourself that positive talk or surround yourself with people that can say, yes, you can be the first person under whatever category to build a business in this area? People told me no over and over and over when I went to seek experts saying, I built this million dollar business. I'm thinking franchising might be a way to grow. What do you think? And every expert, 100 % of them said, I don't think it can be done. I don't think you can franchise junk removal. It's too fragmented. Someone else is going to come in and just start their own business. Why do they need your systems and processes?

16:19And what I did is I said, well, why wouldn't it be franchising? What's franchisable? What's missing? And what I gathered from the conversations was the answers that I was able to go put in place, build a call center, do all the booking and dispatch, have one central phone number and a central brand, 1-800-GOT-JUNK. We've done it with Shack Shine. We've done it with Wow One Day Painting. We followed the same recipe. In fragmented mom and pop industries, we've made them work, even though franchising experts thought we couldn't. So my, I shouldn't call it wisdom because that makes me sound like I think I'm so smart.

16:56My opinion is tell yourself, here's the fears and worries I have and write them down. And then go talk to others and say, what do you think about this? How could I overcome that? Is this real? Is this just in my mind? And when you get some more data from people you trust and admire who have been successful in your mind, then great. Get some confidence to go take a leap. I think people, you know, back to your earlier question of what holds people back and the fear of starting your own business, you have to convince yourself that you've got nothing to lose. And so that might mean, again, starting very small, taking a step before you start to really run.

17:40But what is the next best thing, sorry, the next step you can take towards living your dream? Is it reading a book? Is it reading BYOB? And then at the end, I say that it's meant to be a conversation, having a beer, having a cappuccino together. And at the end, it should give you some insights into, is entrepreneurship right for me? Do I feel I can take one of these two paths or not? And if you're not someone that wants to take the leap and you're paralyzed by fear, or you know in your heart it's not right, that's also okay. You wouldn't want to see someone take an unnecessary risk and do something that they couldn't one day fall in love with.

18:21So it's a big conversation. It's one that we could probably talk for, for both of us for days. But I wish I could somehow encourage people that know in their heart that they're meant to be an entrepreneur and that they one day will be to take that step. So Brian, we love stories. For us, they are just the core of everything that it means to be an entrepreneur. So tell us about somebody that you've helped become a successful owner. Tell us that story? Yeah, so we have a fellow named Miles Revelle, who's a franchise owner in Shack Shine. And I saw that he came from a college pro painting background, which happens to be where many of our successful owners have come from.

19:04They did student painting in college. So they got a taste of entrepreneurship, but do they want something bigger? And I stumbled across as we get these LinkedIn feeds that feed you different people. And I saw this guy, Miles Revelle, used to work for college pro. And I sent him a note and I said, you look like you're not running your own business today. Have you ever considered that? And he sent me a note back and he goes, that is so weird. He goes, I'm literally looking out my window in Toronto at your Toronto office and I can see your signs for your businesses. And he goes, that must be a sign.

19:38And we sort of joked. And I said, well, I just saw your name pop up and thought I'd put you in touch with my team. if you wanted to have a conversation. And he said, absolutely. He became a shot shine franchise owner and is exceptionally successful. And it's interesting because he wasn't really sure how to take the step. He said, I started a student business. I didn't build, you know, I don't know where to start to build something bigger. And he had his own ideas, but couldn't take the leap. It was the franchise program that he needed a proven recipe. When we're baking a cake, you go to google you find a five-star recipe you take an attempt at making it right the first time sometimes we do sometimes we have to try again but a proven recipe allows you to focus on growing your business and not trying to figure out what kind of business am i in again there's two paths people can take and they're both you know someone who went out and started uh what we're talking on right now skype in uh scandinavia i mean it became a massive business and microsoft bought it for billions, there's a lot of value in starting something from scratch, but it's figuring out what's right for you.

20:45People I love helping and, you know, I think at a sort of a bigger level, what I love doing is I met Simon Sinek years ago and Simon Sinek's famous out there in the business world. And he wrote a book called It Starts With Why. Well, I was lucky enough to have Simon sleep on my couch one night before he was famous. And he was sort of putting together this whole start with why concept and he helped me uncover my why and mine at the end of the day we we realized was to help people imagine big possibilities for themselves if you imagine big possibilities you never know they might just happen and so i encourage people to dream bigger with the things they're doing and if i look at miles reveal he said you know i heard the story of Paul Guy, your first franchise owner, and how he drove a 1-800-GOT junk truck from your Vancouver office with all his life's belongings in it to Toronto, which would be the first franchise.

21:443 ,500 kilometers far away. Miles said, I want to be as successful as Paul. I'm going to start the way he started, even though I'm in Shack Shine, which is windows, gutters, power washing, a very different business. He said, I'm actually living in Toronto. I'm going to fly to Vancouver. I'm going to buy my Shack Shine van, my first one, and I'm going to make that same journey across the country just because Paul did it. I want to be able to tell a great story one day, and I think it's important. And he started off, it was a little crazy, but he started off on the right footing going, you know what?

22:17I'm an entrepreneur. I'm a franchise owner. I'm going to think differently, and I'm going to model the masters, the people before me who have done great things. I want to learn what they did that worked, and I want to invent some things for myself. Fire Nation, I really hope you're taking these stories and that great little interlude that I loved with Simon Siddick that you had. I mean, that's such a cool thing that happens as you're on this journey. And you're gonna have your own stories, Fire Nation, as you go through. And then you gotta pay it forward and then pay it backward to help other people as they're having their come up story.

22:50So I love all of this stuff. And ending with a bang, Brian, B-Y-O-B. It's your new book. It gives people two clear paths to becoming their own boss, which I love. tell us about those pasts tell us about this book and where fire nation can get their hands on it well the easiest answer first is uh where the fire nation can get their hands on it amazon the world's biggest bookstore we all know how to get there pretty easy it's in kindle audiobook hardcover paperback you know you you pick what you want now quick question did you do the audio version i did i did so anyone that wants to listen to the audio version you just got a sample of my voice.

23:29You can tell whether you like it or not. You know what? It was funny because my co-author, Roy H. Williams, said, Brian, it's your book. You have to read it. And I wasn't sure about doing that with my first book. And I did it. And I got so much great feedback that I would agree when I listen to an audio book from Jim Collins and he's reading his own book, so much more impactful. So I was glad I was talked into six hours in the studio to get it right. You know, the 90 minutes of the book. So BYOB, the two paths again are someone can start with a blank sheet and say, I've got an idea. I've got this revolutionary idea for how to build a new coffee shop.

24:12I'm Howard Schultz and I go start Starbucks and I go build this third place and just this barista experience and taking that experience of coffee to a whole elevated level and bringing that passion and life from Italy to North America. He took the company public. He had all sorts of ups and downs. And I've been fortunate enough to meet him. And it's an incredible business. And I'm a huge Starbucks fan for the way they treat their people. But that is one path. And it's a longer path. Now, the payoff can be massive if someone's looking for creating exceptional financial wealth. But with that wealth also comes big, big risk.

24:55Most businesses don't become $100 million billion businesses. Very, very few do. And I meet entrepreneurs who are determined to build the next app or the next technology that's going to revolutionize the world. If they believe like Elon Musk, that it's really a game changer for the planet, and that is their sole motivation or their primary motivation, awesome. If somebody's motivated by money and says, you know, I'm going to build up this company, sell it, take it public and really cash out and buy a private island like Branson, you know, that might be the wrong motivation in my mind, because it's we're purpose driven people.

25:34We're all here on this planet to do great things and inspire others to live their great dreams. So a lot around one path that you can take of building it from scratch. And if that's the direction you want, awesome. I would love for this book to motivate you to take that first step. The other path in my mind is joining someone else's mission, joining someone else's great brand. If it's Shack Shine, one of our brands, for example, or if it's someone else's awesome brand and franchising, something that you love as a product or a service that you can believe in and get behind and you say, listen, I really want to build something with people.

26:15We talk about the fact all the time across O2E brands, which stands for ordinary to exceptional, our three brands we talk all the time about building something bigger and better together. None of us would choose to do this alone. While I might have started the idea, planted the seed of something that's grown into this massive oak tree, I never wanted to do it alone. And I very quickly brought people in that I could build this alongside and build it with. We're really, we're we people. We're building this thing together. And so I think a franchise then is that option of saying, I'm not great at everything, but I'm great at the execution, at following a recipe.

26:59We get a lot of people that come out of sports because they say, I know how to follow a playbook. I know how to win. I know how to set great goals. I know how to work hard. I know how to play hard. And so it's determining like Shaquille O 'Neal, what is best for you? You see a lot of pro sport athletes get out there and start alcohol companies afterwards, and they've got to have their own gin or their own vodka. Yeah, starting something from scratch is pretty exciting. but a lot of people like Shaq, he just goes, you know what? I just want to win and I want to build great teams. And the shortcut for him was franchising.