brianscudamore

I was only 5 years in business... and probably didn't know that litigation was even a risk... I was naive. I treated the people I fired with respect... told them that it was my fault and that I didn't hire the right people, didn't give them the love and support they needed etc. It was my mistake and I said I was sorry. I guess they believed me and understood - and thus avoided litagation. That whole experience helped me see that transparency was powerful.

I started so small that it was pretty easy :) I spent only $700 on a beat-up pick-up truck and a few hundred more on flyers and biz cards. I had nothing to lose but $1000. So, was it difficult? Not really... I just got started and learned on the fly. It was the later years that got hard. Like 5 years in firing my whole team. I was in YPO (Young Presidents Org) and I remember hearing that building a billion dollar biz is easier than a $100M biz and that is easier than a $1M biz. SO, it gets easier but the bad news is that I think the first million is really hard!

We've hauled some pretty weird stuff... things you'd never expect to see! We did a full truckload of escargot shells, we found John Wayne's Bible, a full truckload of dentures, a WWII bomb (not active!), a GIANT set of the aquarium from Finding Nemo, a little kitten in an old freezer (we named him Freon). One time, I went into someone's basement and they'd lined every speck of space with cans of Campbell's tomato soup. A franchise found an antique birthing chair (I didn't know that was a thing!). We also found around $400,000 in old floorboards (which we returned).

and 2) the ONLY thing I have kept, true story, cuz I'm such a minimalist... is my report cards from grade-school... not sure why but I did. There is a pattern in them, "Brian could be so successful if only he focused"; and "Brian has to learn not to be so disruptive." Well I guess now it's OK to be a disruptor. :) Glad I kep them.

thanks for reading the book!! :)

Great questions!

1) The criteria was this... what industries, in home services, are currently ordinary and have the potential to be made exceptional through customer service. We didn't really do a ton of research other than making sure the market was very fragmented. Take Shack Shine for example - there's no real national player and there are tons of mom and pop window washers... the industry was ripe for reinvention. And lastly we looked at the spaces we entered and asked - 'Will the service make people happy?' - removing junk, a fresh coat of paint etc.

2) Selling any of our brands isn't in the cards. We're building something bigger and better together, and I love that O2E Brands is a family. We have a lot of (awesome, fun, exciting) work to do to achieve the vision we outlined in our Painted Picture. I'm focused on that! We're having too much fun to sell... and it's about the people not the money.

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The big thing... and this is just me and how I work....

1. Will the biz make me happy
2. Is the industry ordinary, or the service level ordinary, and can we make it exceptional by doing something uniquely... like with WOW 1 DAY Painting and painting people's homes in a day
3. Will it make customers happy
4. And can we find happy people to build the business with us.