123: How to Build a Fortune with Garbage (w/ Brian Scudamore of 1-800-Got-Junk)

Background on Brian Scudamore of 1-800-Got-Junk:

Brian Scudamore is the founder and CEO of O2E Brands, the banner company for 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine. He is a serial entrepreneur, known for pioneering the professional junk hauling industry with 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Since conquering that market, he’s gone on to apply the O2E (ordinary to exceptional) formula to the painting, moving, and home-detailing industry with WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, You Move Me, and Shack Shine.

Currently, he’s at the helm of a burgeoning home-service empire; each brand has franchise locations in every major metro in North America and Australia. He’s a respected industry leader and speaker, well-known in the business community for his belief in people and passion for innovation.

His companies have made celebrated appearances on ABC Nightline, Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, CNN, The Today Show, Oprah, and CNBC. Brian’s story has been featured in Fortune Magazine, The New York Times, Huffington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and he contributes regularly to other noteworthy publications.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[2:28] Brian Scudamore is the CEO and Founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. He was born in San Francisco and moved to Vancouver at a young age.
[4:06] At 18 years old, he got the idea of hauling junk to pay his way to college. He withdrew his life savings and bought an old pick-up truck to start his business.
[6:48] His entrepreneurial spark was inspired mostly by his grandparents.
[9:00] Brian talks about the tremendous growth of 1-800-GOT-JUNK. It took them 8 years to get to a million in revenue.
[10:27] The first ten years of his business was full of challenges and hurdles, but he also describes it as fun and invigorating. He wrote a book recently entitled WTF Willing to Fail, which has an overall theme of failing and learning.
[12:44] Gusto is making Payroll, Benefits, and HR easier for small businesses. In fact, 9 out of 10 customers say Gusto is easier to use than other payroll solutions. Gusto also saves you time – 72% of customers spend less than 5 minutes to run payroll. To help support the show, go to: millionaire-interviews.com/gusto.
[14:10] At first, he decided that having a partner in his business was a great decision. However, Brian found out that taking the mentorship route was more helpful for him.
[17:20] According to Brian, joining the entrepreneur organization and learning from other entrepreneurs was extremely valuable.
[18:02] Five years into the business, Brian fired everyone in his company.
[19:23] Brian gave some tips on hiring the right people for the business. He used the Beer and Barbecue Test in their hiring process.
[22:03] Rubbish Boys was the original name of his company. He tells the story of how he was able to get the 1-800-GOT-JUNK number.
[27:24] Brian was working all the time. His ratio of business life was higher than his personal life.
[29:24] Capterra.com is the leading FREE online resource to help you find the best software solution for your business. With over 700,000 reviews of products from real users, discover everything you need to make an informed decision. Join the millions of people who use Capterra each month to find the right tools for their business. Visit: millionaire-interviews.com/capterra.
[31:11] Joining the Entrepreneur Organization made him compare his business with other larger businesses. This caused him to get depressed, but this experience also turned out to be very beneficial for him.
[37:36] He gave some insight about franchising the business and how it can work out for the company.
[40:45] The company, combined with all their brands, are expected make about 440 million in revenue this year.
[41:48] Brian talks about failure and why it can be essential for growth and move the company in a better direction.
[45:14] He made the mistake of hiring the wrong COO, which caused major problems for the company.
[47:37] He gave suggestions regarding finding the right mentors for your business.

Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? The E-Myth by Michael Gerber (I’ve read it multiple times, front to back); The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack (It’s the book that motivated me to do profit sharing and adopt total transparency when it comes to our financials).
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Anything I forget that I need last minute — like the ugly Christmas sweater I bought the other day 🙂
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Everything Google
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? As a franchise system, we’re always looking for awesome people to build our brands with. The biggest challenge we face is finding people who are happy, hardworking, hands-on, and hungry (we call it the 4Hs), and ready to be “willing to fail” and take a chance on entrepreneurship. We believe good people know good people — so if your listeners know someone who’s looking to get into business (while having the support of an incredible network of peers), they should send me an email!

Key Point from the Interview:

“It isn’t about how you’re going to get there, it’s about where you’re going, and then putting together a team of people and taking the time to figure it out.”

Resources Mentioned:

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