Brian Scudamore's Success & Failures at 1-800-GOT-JUNK

Brian is the Founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK, starting from his own pickup truck, Brian built his business from the ground up. Originally called the “Rubbish Boys”, Brian funded his college education by hauling people's junk away for a small fee by going door to door. Learning more about the business by running the business as opposed to school, Brian dropped out and became a full time “junk man”. Brian says he made mistakes and grew from them and that is what enabled him to become a successful entrepreneur, writing about these learnings in his book “WTF (Willing to Fail)”. Figuring it out on the streets, Brian created a memoir of all of his mistakes and learnings to share with the world. “You can’t grow as an entrepreneur and you cant be successful without a mandatory ingredient, which is failure,” Brain argues.

By admitting failure, Brain creates power. He is able to reflect on his failures as gifts and lessons that enable him to constantly move forward. Brian says he has a great support system that is full of knowledge that has helped him stay courageous throughout his journey. Without the help of others, he wouldn't have been where he is today. By sharing his mistakes, he hopes others will learn before they have the same issues. Brian takes calls weekly, coaching others on fixing their own business problems.

Brian speaks to the importance of personal connection. He thinks from a customer service standpoint, consumers are hungry for human interaction on a daily basis, as social media can only take you so far. He says he’s trying to take advantage of personal experiences that create happy customers by creating a fluid brand that is not only branded well but showcases friendly basic human interactions that are lacking in most other aspects of life. Brian says he’s the first one to realize in the junk industry how important the brand experience is, by being a consistent, quality service that's friendly (he compares it to Starbucks) they can create a successful and accountable business.

Brian finds inspirations from:

• Guy Raz Podcast “How I Built This”
• Inspirational places, walking and enjoying nature

Brian gives this advice to younger entrepreneurs:

• You're going to make mistakes, ask yourself with every mistake what's something positive that could come from it
• Not everything you will do will be a success
• Find the right people and treat them the right way, your team are the most important part of your businesses success

Brian thinks in this storytelling age, it’s important to get out there and tell your story. He thinks of it as “free media” by pitching yourself on the news, podcasts, online, anywhere you can get your voice out. It’s important to persist in order to succeed, even if you get a no when trying to get your brand or story out to the public, you must ask the questions that will make your brand interesting enough to be showcased. Use your natural strengths to become stronger, don’t waste your time on the things that are unimportant.

Written by Juliana Bermudez