How the Founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK Built His $700M Empire

Founder's Journal

Morning Brew

Entrepreneurship, Careers, Business

4.8 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 29 November 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 8: Today, host Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) is solo again for another special episode of The Crazy Ones, this time featuring founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK and 02E Brands, Brian Scudamore (@BrianScudamore). Brian bought a used truck and started 1-800-GOT-JUNK in 1989 as a college dropout. Today, 1-800-GOT-JUNK makes $600 million in revenue, and Brian has also created the parent company 02E Brands which brings in an addition $100 million with its other businesses. Listen to hear Brian explain how he grew 1-800-GOT-JUNK from the ground up with a mixture of brilliant publicity tactics and smart hiring, as well as how Brian thinks about his role as a leader as his company grows. #TheCrazyOnes #Startups #Entrepreneur Listen to The Crazy Ones here: https://link.chtbl.com/OV4W93_W Subscribe to Morning Brew! Sign up for free today: https://bit.ly/morningbrewyt Follow The Brew! Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/morningbrew/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/MorningBrew Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@morningbrew Follow Our Hosts! Alex Lieberman (@businessbarista) Sophia Amoruso (@sophiaamoruso) Jesse Pujji (@jspujji) 00:43 - Intro 03:12 - How Brian started 1-800-GOT-JUNK 05:37 - 02E Brands’ reach and annual revenue 06:40 - Brian’s passion and what keeps him motivated 10:50 - How Brian got onto the Ellen Degeneres Show 14:37 - Brian’s opinion on PR to promote your business 16:20 - Brian’s decision to lay off his whole team in 1994 19:23 - Why Brian places a high importance on hiring for culture fit 21:44 - The most important decisions Brian made to allow his business to grow 25:54 - How 02E’s brand franchising works 29:53 - How Brian determined the price of services for 1-800-GOT-JUNK 32:07 - The systems Brian implements so that his ADD doesn’t derail him 34:48 - How Brian’s management of the business has changed as the company has grown 41:13 - Brian’s transition to being less hands-on with the day-to-day operations as his company grew 42:48 - Startup AMA: How do you think about what to do with the cashflow of your business? Links: WTF book BYOB: Build Your Own Business, Be Your Own Boss The E-Myth Revisited Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	It is hard on the ego. As an entrepreneur who me built things to a hundred million dollars,
0:05.4	I had a seal on place that didn't work out and I had to get that person out.
0:09.4	My franchise partner said, Brian, you're not like with all due respect you got rid of this person,
0:14.1	but you're not it either. And I just felt crushed and hurt. I'm like nobody believes in one 800
0:18.8	got junk more than me. And everyone's like, yes, we know that, but you're not good at getting it to
0:24.0	the next level. You've hit a ceiling and you can't do it. They were right. So I had to accept it,
0:28.8	and it was hard. But once I accepted that someone can do it better, my role became as the leader
0:35.4	to find that person who can do it better, allow them to do it better, get the hell out of my own way.
0:41.9	And that's when things started to grow. What's up, everyone? I'm Alex Lieberman.
0:46.6	And I'm Sophia Emerizo.
0:48.4	Yo, this is Jesse Poogee. And this is the Crazy Wands.
0:53.1	What's up, everyone? Welcome back to the Crazy Wands, a show by entrepreneurs,
1:00.3	four entrepreneurs. I am once again, without my usual co-host, Sophia Emerizo, aka the Dean,
1:06.4	and Jesse Poogee, aka Baby Buffet. They gave me the name, the mailman. So I'm the mailman.
1:11.6	But I do promise they will be back with us again next week. I think Sophia was at some
1:17.0	conference in Helsinki. And I think Jesse's actually in New York. I hope I get to see him over
1:20.8	the next few days. So instead, we have yet another special episode for you. Joining me today is a man
1:27.0	that, if you're an entrepreneur, you're going to want to hear from his name is Brian Scootamor. And he
1:32.3	is the founder of 1-800-Gott junk, the world's largest junk removal company. If you live in a larger
1:39.2	metropolitan area in North America, it is hard to imagine that you have not seen one of these iconic
1:45.7	blue and green trucks before. Brian also has launched two more businesses under his umbrella.
1:51.1	Wow, one day painting and Shaq Shine. He published a book in 2018, which was a number one Amazon
	...

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