Brian Scudamore has built an empire out of junk.
Literally. He is the Founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, a franchise-based, full-service junk removal company dedicated to helping people reclaim the space in their homes and businesses. Since it’s conception, it’s grown from a truck and a dream to a multi-million dollar business. And it’s not just about getting rid of junk.
“While we’re in the junk removal business, we’re really in the franchise space helping to empower entrepreneurs. We’ve got about 250 partners. Owners who have partnered with us to build amazing junk removal businesses under the 1-800-GOT-JUNK? brand throughout those three countries, and we’ve since expanded on today to three other spaces. Window washing with SHACK SHINE. We’ve got You Move Me, a moving company, and then, of course, a painting business where we go paint peoples homes in a day and that company is called WOW 1 DAY PAINTING. So, when you ask me at dinner what do I do for a living? I’ll say I inspire entrepreneurship.”
Brian sat down on Mission Daily to talk about his dreams, his mistakes, and what he’s excited for next.
He was open to an out-of-the-box idea. Brian wasn’t a great student. While trying to figure out how to pay for college, he found his life-changing business.
“I was thinking about my future and what kind of job I was going to get for the summer when I noticed a beat-up old pickup truck with plywood side panels on the box in front of me. I looked at that truck and I went, ‘Oh, that’s an idea.’ I looked at Mark’s hauling business and I said, ‘What if I went out and bought a truck and started hauling junk? That might be a great way to pay for university.'”
But it wasn’t an easy start.
“So, I bought a truck a week later. I formed a company called The Rubbish Boys which was just me, but a vision for something bigger, and started hauling junk. I had a little pickup truck with the plywood sides and would knock on peoples doors when they had a pile of junk in the alley, the laneway and offered to cart it away for a fee. That basis business model has become what 1-800-GOT-JUNK? is today. It was about eight years into the business when I decided to rebrand under 1-800-GOT-JUNK? as a way to have a name and a phone number be the same as we expanded throughout North America. I did some research and started to toy with the franchise model. I’d always been a big fan of what Ray Kroc had built with McDonald’s. Having other people have skin in the game. I created this franchise prototype which we expanded to Victoria on Vancouver Island, four hours from Vancouver. We then expanded into the United States. Seattle is only two and a half hours south. And then it became, ‘Okay, let’s really crank up this franchise model and start to accelerate things. No looking back.’ Well, it took us eight years to get to a million in revenue. We do a million in revenue on most given days today.”
Be ready for failure. It sounds like a dream, but Brian is very clear that this journey was anything but easy. There were rough waters. He literally wrote the book on failure.
“I wrote a book about failure and it talks about a lot of the dark moments. My book’s called WTF?! (Willing to Fail). I believe failure is a gift. I really believe that in sports, business, and anything in life we make mistakes, but as long as we’re able to embrace those mistakes, be grateful for that moment and learn, that becomes a springboard for bigger success. So, one of my darkest days was five years into the business when I had a team of eleven employees. There’s that old expression when bad apples spoil, the whole bunch… I think I had nine bad apples.
“So, I was faced with the decision and I said, ‘What do I do here? Do I just get rid of the nine?’ I decided that the culture was poisoned and that I didn’t want to risk having two people left who might have been tainted by the others. So, I fired all eleven. I made a bold decision and I sat everybody down together in one meeting and I started with two words. I said, ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’ve let you down, that I failed you by not finding the right people or treating you right.’ I didn’t give them the love and the support they needed to be successful.”
Be careful who you hire. Brian has a simple way to make sure you hire the best people.
“We call it the beer and barbecue test. When you get out there and you interview an employee, ask yourself the question, ‘Would you have a beer with that person? Do you like them? Are they interesting and interested? Do they have a shared passion for building something? Do they really just fit with the type of values we have and the vision we have for building something bigger and better together?’ That’s step one.
“The second step is then to ask yourself how would they fit at a company barbecue? We love to throw great parties. When we have a barbecue there’s lots of diversity. There are introverts, there are extroverts, but people somehow fit as a community. Could you see this person showing up to a company barbecue and fitting? Could you see them having fun? Are they a little quirky like us? Do they just somehow fit?
“By asking those two questions of yourself, that simplifies the formula for how to find great people. People often ask, ‘How do you find great people?’ I often turn around and say, ‘How do you find friends?’ People have trouble answering that question, because they’re just like, ‘Well, it just happens.’ Well no, it doesn’t just happen. You’re very selective. You take your time. You don’t waste your time with people that aren’t honest or real.”
Be willing to stay sharp. If you think Brian is done learning because he’s successful, you’d be wrong.
“We’ve all heard the phrase: ‘If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.’ So, I’m definitely putting myself in the right rooms. I’m definitely putting myself in places like YPO, the Young Presidents Organization, which I was a member of for years, or EO, the Entrepreneur Member Organization, which I’m a part of still today. I’ll often go to different marketing events or trade shows and I will just try and learn from others who are experts. And so, by being the least smart person, if you will, in a room that’s how I learn. I realize today that I have so much to learn and that’s where the joy comes from is just learning how to be better and how to make our people here better.”
Always be excited for what’s coming.
“The most exciting thing for me in life beyond my family, of course, is watching other entrepreneurs grow. I have an executor here, an implementer, who, if I’m the visionary, is our implementer, our president, our COO. One thing I’ve learned from Eric is that exciting new things aren’t always the answer. A lot of times the best way to grow is just slow and steady. Just keep at it, keep pushing and do the things that work. So, I don’t have anything new for you. I don’t have any fifth brand we’re launching right now because our hands are full with four. So, nothing new. By 2022, we will be a billion-dollar business. This year, we’re at 444 million is our current trend rate for all four brands combined. So, it’s exciting to know the size and scope of what we’re building. Now, I throw that out there not from a bragging standpoint, but just to give a sense of the momentum that starts to get built. Money is a measurement for me. It’s a bit of a yardstick of the scale of what we’re building.”
To hear more about Brian’s journey from one truck to multi-million dollar business, tune into the full Mission Daily episode here.
