079: Fired by his Family… How did Brad Martineau rebound to Build a Thriving Business?

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Background on Brad Marineau of Sixth Division:

Brad Martineau is the Cofounder of SixthDivision & PlusThis. Companies that help businesses plan out and thrive on marketing automation via Infusionsoft. Brad started his business career as Infusionsoft’s sixth employee and got a front row seat in watching the company grow from just six to 150 people, and from $500,000 to over $15 million in revenue.

He saw that Infusionsoft was a great tool that helped small businesses leverage technology, but he also saw a lot of their clients struggling to implement it. In 2010, after being fired by his brother's at Infusionsoft,  he started SixthDivision with the goal of that company to make it easy for people to get their automation ideas implemented so they can make more money and have more time on their hands.

Brad is married with five kids, and he loves playing basketball, addicted to fitted hats, and he is into the whole entrepreneur thing. Brad’s specialty is simplifying the complex and bridging the gap between theory and execution. He loves teaching and helping people understand difficult concepts. It drives him nuts when he sees someone not being able to do something because they don’t know how. He launched SixthDivision to provide Infusionsoft users a better source of coaching, training, and done-for-you services.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • [1:12] Brad is the co-founder and CEO of Sixth Division. He also admits that he is addicted to basketball.
  • [3:31] Brad describes himself as an unwilling entrepreneur, which means that he grew up thinking that he would not start his own business.
  • [5:07] Brad was thankful that he was laid off from his job because this pushed him into a whole new different field. However, he was really scared to have no job and he has no idea how to start a business.
  • [10:59] At 2:30 am, Brad was told that he was going to be laid off from the company he was working for.
  • [16:05] After being laid off from InfusionSoft, Brad accidentally got into freelance consulting. He was also surprised about how easy it is to make people buy into his service.
  • [20:58] During his freelancing stint, he felt he had no confidence in what he was doing. He was constantly nervous and worries all the time that his freelance consulting job isn’t going to last.
  • [24:34] Brad’s favorite quote is “In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”
  • [30:14] “The fastest way to get smart, is to run out of time or run out of money.” Brad says that if you run out of time and money, you cannot afford to be stupid anymore.
  • [33:55] In 2011, Brad convinces Dave to join him in creating their own company.
  • [37:09] During Brad’s presentation, he was able to sell a $6,000 service, which was a major turning point for his company.
  • [42:16] Brad’s advice is to firmly decide what you really want to do and write it down. The basic foundation should be revenue, time, fulfillment, and your vision for the future of your business.
  • [43:06] Today, his company is focused on helping businesses organize their sales and marketing.
  • [45:19] Brad is now playing the co-founder role, wherein his work is geared towards supporting people and helping in the direction of the company.
  • [46:01] Brad’s final advice for entrepreneurs is to be clear about what you want to do and just decide on it. Believe in your gut.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

  1. 📖📚 Favorite Book(s)? K. So I don't do favorites but a book I really like has been Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson. Another was Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits by Greg Crabtree.
  2. 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Again, I don't do favorites but Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones rank up there.
  3. 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Infusionsoft & Basecamp are ranking pretty high for me.
  4. 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Good question. I'd say the story we tell. I think we do a pretty good job but we can always do better and I believe the story you tell is possibly the most important component of your business.

Key Point from the Interview:

  • “In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.”

Resources Mentioned:

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