Advice Line with Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

Summary

Podcast Title: How I Built This with Guy Raz
Episode: Advice Line with Brian Scudamore of 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Release Date: November 7, 2024
Host: Guy Raz
Guest: Brian Scudamore, Founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and CEO of O2E Brands

---

Introduction to the Advice Line

In this episode of How I Built This, host Guy Raz is joined by Brian Scudamore, the dynamic founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and CEO of O2E Brands. Together, they tackle real-world business challenges sent in by listeners through the show's Advice Line. This segment serves as a practical masterclass in entrepreneurship, addressing issues ranging from strategic focus to effective marketing.

---

Caller 1: Teresa from F L O U W E R

Business Overview:
Teresa is the co-founder of F L O U W E R, a Denver-based food and lifestyle brand that integrates edible flowers into everyday products such as crackers and cocktail cubes. Her flagship product, a beautifully crafted cracker, has garnered attention for its unique flavor and aesthetic appeal.

Teresa's Challenge:
As F L O U W E R enters a new phase of growth with the acquisition of a co-manufacturer, Teresa faces a strategic dilemma: Should the company focus on expanding its cracker line within the grocery sector, or diversify into other product categories like cocktail sugars and candles?

Key Discussion Points:

1. Focus vs. Diversification:
   Brian advises caution against over-diversifying, drawing parallels to 1-800-GOT-JUNK?'s experience where expanding into unrelated services diluted the brand's core competency.

   Brian Scudamore [07:02]: "Customers vote with their wallets. And by far and away, it was junk removal. So we narrowed our focus and said, we are going to be the world's largest junk removal company, and that's all we're going to do."

2. Testing and Validation:
   Teresa considers using her Denver brick-and-mortar store as a test market to gauge customer preference for various products before a full-scale launch. Brian emphasizes the importance of minimal investment in testing multiple ideas to identify what resonates most with customers.

   Brian Scudamore [16:16]: "How do you test a bunch of different things lightly, without a big investment to figure out what are customers voting for with their wallets?"

3. Brand Identity and Storytelling:
   Brian highlights the significance of maintaining a strong, focused brand identity. He suggests that F L O U W E R should emphasize its unique cracker line, which not only aligns with its origins but also offers a clear, compelling story to consumers.

   Brian Scudamore [19:02]: "Own it. Own it. You're a cracker company."

Conclusion for Teresa:
Focus on strengthening the core cracker product, leveraging the new manufacturing capabilities to enhance production efficiency and scale the business. By prioritizing the flagship product, Teresa can build a more robust and recognizable brand before considering further diversification.

---

Caller 2: Jake Pressman from Notion Skincare

Business Overview:
Jake Pressman is the founder and CEO of Notion Skincare, a Los Angeles-based company offering a high-quality powder-based face cleanser. The product is sustainable, travel-friendly, and customizable, allowing users to adjust the cleanser's texture by varying the amount of water used.

Jake's Challenge:
Jake is struggling to identify his target customer and craft effective messaging for his advertising campaigns. He is torn between positioning Notion Skincare as a travel essential or as a customizable skincare solution.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Defining the Unique Value Proposition (UVP):
   Brian encourages Jake to clearly articulate what sets Notion Skincare apart, emphasizing the customizable nature and high-quality ingredients as key differentiators.

   Brian Scudamore [28:34]: "Just for you, Jake, as you probably know... [Define] what is the real benefit here."

2. Target Audience Identification:
   Brian suggests leveraging influencer marketing to gain insights into different demographics. By sending products to micro-influencers across various segments, Jake can gather authentic feedback on which messaging resonates best.

   Brian Scudamore [32:20]: "Send them the product and say, could you do me a favor? Do me a video... find out what stood out for you."

3. Strategic Marketing Approaches:
   Jake considers targeting frequent travelers, highlighting the product's compliance with TSA regulations as a unique selling point. Brian agrees that this niche market could benefit from Notion's travel-friendly features.

   Jake Pressman [34:18]: "I have definitely, every time I've been traveling now, I've taken a video of the product going through the TSA belt."

4. Leveraging Local Opportunities:
   Given Notion Skincare's location in Los Angeles, Brian recommends collaborating with boutique hotels and luxury establishments to feature the product, thereby tapping into a trend-sensitive and influential customer base.

   Brian Scudamore [35:07]: "New York, too. ... experiment with some of those boutique hotels."

Conclusion for Jake:
Focus on cementing the brand's unique identity by honing in on the customizable aspect of the product. Utilize targeted marketing strategies, such as influencer partnerships and collaborations with boutique hotels, to effectively reach and engage the ideal customer demographic.

---

Caller 3: Theo Alex Dean from Fox and Hen Fine Poultry Company

Business Overview:
Theo Alex Dean operates Fox and Hen Fine Poultry Company in Shingle Springs, California. He specializes in raising juvenile chickens and selling them directly to backyard hobbyists, offering convenience and expertise compared to traditional hatcheries.

Theo's Challenge:
Having relaunched his business after a challenging initial run, Theo seeks guidance on identifying the optimal moment to scale operations by hiring additional staff or outsourcing tasks.

Key Discussion Points:

1. Assessing Business Scalability:
   Brian advises Theo to analyze the revenue versus time invested. By identifying tasks that are time-consuming and can be delegated, Theo can focus on the core aspects of his business that drive growth.

   Brian Scudamore [46:32]: "Your time is worth a thousand bucks an hour... look at all the things you're doing... start delegating."

2. Strategic Hiring:
   Brian recommends starting with temporary contracts to test the efficacy of new hires before committing to full-time positions, especially considering California's stringent labor laws and high minimum wages.

   Brian Scudamore [47:04]: "Bring somebody in on a one-month contract and see how that goes."

3. Learning from Failure:
   Theo reflects on his past experiences, acknowledging that early failures provided valuable lessons that inform his current approach to scaling the business responsibly.

   Brian Scudamore [50:31]: "If I had just been successful out the gate, I would have just been looking at a bigger failure down the road."

Conclusion for Theo:
Carefully evaluate the financial and operational aspects of scaling. Begin by delegating non-core tasks through temporary hires to free up time for strategic activities. Embrace past failures as learning opportunities to make informed decisions that support sustainable growth.

---

Key Takeaways and Insights

• Focus on Core Competencies:
  Expanding too broadly can dilute a brand's identity and confuse customers. It's crucial to excel in the primary area before venturing into new territories.

• Customer-Centric Testing:
  Utilize existing platforms, such as brick-and-mortar stores or influencer partnerships, to test new products and gather feedback before a full-scale launch.

• Effective Delegation:
  As businesses grow, identifying tasks that can be outsourced or delegated is essential for scaling without compromising quality or overextending resources.

• Leveraging Unique Selling Points (USPs):
  Clearly defining and communicating what makes a product unique helps in targeting the right audience and differentiating from competitors.

• Learning from Experience:
  Embracing failures and using them as stepping stones fosters resilience and informed decision-making in entrepreneurial ventures.

---

Notable Quotes

• Brian Scudamore on Focus:

  "Customers vote with their wallets. And by far and away, it was junk removal. So we narrowed our focus and said, we are going to be the world's largest junk removal company, and that's all we're going to do."
  [07:02]

• Brian Scudamore on Testing Ideas:

  "How do you test a bunch of different things lightly, without a big investment to figure out what are customers voting for with their wallets?"
  [16:16]

• Brian Scudamore on Effective Delegation:

  "Your time is worth a thousand bucks an hour... start delegating."
  [46:32]

• Brian Scudamore on Learning from Failure:

  "If I had just been successful out the gate, I would have just been looking at a bigger failure down the road."
  [50:31]

---

Conclusion

In this episode, Brian Scudamore provides invaluable advice to budding entrepreneurs grappling with common business dilemmas. Whether it's maintaining a focused brand identity, effectively targeting marketing efforts, or recognizing the right moment to scale operations, Brian's insights drawn from his extensive entrepreneurial experience offer actionable strategies for sustainable growth and success.

---

Listen to the full episode on Wondery

Transcript

[Guy Raz]

Wonderyplus subscribers can listen to How I Built this early and ad free right now. Join WonderyPlus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. This episode is brought to you by American Express. In today's ever changing landscape, business owners like you are constantly adapting to new challenges you're always on, relying on your instincts while seeking partners and solutions to help flex and grow. That's where the American Express Business Platinum Card comes in. It works just as hard as you do to help you pursue your passions. With its world class business and travel benefits, you can get more for your business wherever it takes you. Like earning five times membership reward points on flights and prepaid hotels booked on amextravel.com, so that going the extra mile for your business is even more rewarding. And with complimentary access to more than 1400 airport lounges worldwide, including the Centurion Lounge, you can keep your business running while you're on the go. See how the Amex Business Platinum Card gives business owners like you the tools and rewards to do more of what you love. Terms apply. Learn [e-mail] AmExBusiness you know what I love most about listening on Audible? It lets your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, new ways of thinking. There's more to imagine when you listen. I've recently been listening to Table for Two by Amor Toles, an incredible collection of short stories and a novella that takes us back to a character from his book Rules of Civility. And as an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog, including the latest bestsellers and new releases. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.combilt or text built to 500500 that's audible.combilt or text bilt to 500500 to try audible free for 30 days audible.combilt traveling to see your fave sports.

[Brian Scudamore]

Team is cool, but traveling with Amex Platinum for the big game is even better.

[Jake Pressman]

Right this way.

[Brian Scudamore]

With access to dedicated card member entrances at select events, you can skip the line. And with access to the Centurion Lounge.

[Theo Alex Dean]

He shoots a three.

[Brian Scudamore]

You can catch the next game on the way home. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn [e-mail] withamex card member entrance access not limited to Amex Platinum Card this.

[Guy Raz]

Episode is brought to you by Klaviyo. Klaviyo helps you build smarter digital relationships with your customers with its unified data and marketing platform featuring email, SMS reviews and more. This Black Friday Cyber Monday, make every moment count with Klaviyo. Learn more at K L A v I y o.com bfcm hello and welcome to the advice line on How I Built this Lab. I'm Guy Raz. This is the place where we help try to solve your business challenges. Each week I'm joined by a legendary founder, a former guest on the show who will help me try to help you. And if you're building something and you need advice, give us a call and you just might be the next guest on the show. Our number is 1-800-433-1298. Send us a 1 minute message that tells us about your business and the issues or questions that you'd like help with. You can also send us a voice [e-mail] and make sure to tell us how to reach you. And also, don't forget to sign up for my newsletter. It's full of insights and ideas from the world's greatest entreprene. You can sign up for [e-mail] and we'll put all this info in the podcast description. All right, let's get to it. Joining me this week is Brian Scudamore, the founder of 1-800-GOT Junk and the CEO of O2E Brands. Brian, welcome back to the show.

[Theo Alex Dean]

I am so stoked to be here. Thanks, Guy.

[Guy Raz]

It's awesome having you back. You were first on How I Built this way back in 2017. It was such an awesome episode and you told us the incredible story of how you started 1-800-got-JUNK. And of course, anyone listening, if you haven't heard that story, go back and check it out. We'll put a link to that episode in the podcast description. But basically you were looking for a way to make extra cash to help pay for college. And this was in like 1989. You were in Vancouver in Canada. You bought a pickup truck for like 700 bucks. And then you just started hauling away people's trash to make money. And it was just like a side hustle at first while you were in.

[Theo Alex Dean]

School, it was a side hustle to pay for school. And I ended up learning so much more about business by running a business versus studying in school that I made a tough decision with a year left in my degree to drop out, started hauling junk full time. And here we are today, 1-800-got junk as a $700 million business.

[Guy Raz]

It's absolutely Incredible. We've got franchises all across Canada, the U.S. australia. You also have branched out. You have a parent company called O2E Brands. You guys have something called wow One Day Painting. You got a cleaning service called Shackshine. It's so cool. By the way, I often refer back to the. We've had 700 episodes of the show. You know, I often refer back to this episode, to yours, because when people say, you know, I don't have a whole lot of startup cash, I say go back and listen to Brian Scudabor's episode. He started his brand with $700, and the genius of this idea was that one truck soon paid for itself and generated enough money for you to buy a second truck and then hire a friend to do the same thing.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah, my business, and this is unheard of, was profitable in two weeks. How does that happen? Right. You go and raise startup capital and start an app, and then you're years and years before you even have any real revenue.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah.

[Theo Alex Dean]

So it's been an unbelievable model, and.

[Guy Raz]

I've been very fortunate and really just started out with some muscle, just hauling crap out of people's homes.

[Theo Alex Dean]

It was an idea that was simple. And I think the simplicity of. Nobody has ever branded this space of junk removal. Yeah, that's what we did. First mover advantage. And we're in Canada, us, Australia, and continue to grow.

[Guy Raz]

All right, well, Brian, before we get to just to our callers today, I have a couple of questions for you. I want to start by asking you. You know, a lot of entrepreneurs, right, they struggle with the question of focus versus expansion. Right. And, you know, whether to stay with that core product or. And when to expand to others? At what point did you decide that it was a good idea to, you know, to branch out into painting and then house cleaning services, you know, rather than just staying focused on, you know, on junk removal.

[Theo Alex Dean]

I think it was a moment of serendipity. I was looking for another business and couldn't find one. My ego wanted another business so we could just take over another space. But then serendipity had it where I got an estimate for my house to get painted, and I had three quotes in the first two. You know, cigarette smokes hanging out of their mouth, and they showed up late, and you felt like they were going to move into your house for a couple of weeks.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah.

[Theo Alex Dean]

The third guy comes in and says, molding, ceiling, floors to ceiling, moldings, trim. I'll have it done in a day. That was their model. Paint your whole home in a day. Without any compromise to quality. And so I looked at that business and I said, I've done well franchising 1, 800, got junk. I think I can help you. Have you looked at franchising your business? And we ultimately bought his company and we took the model and we called it wow One day painting. Because that's how I felt the moment I walked in the home and we started to franchise it. And now it's on track. One day it will be bigger than 1-800-got junk simply because the painting space is even that much larger than junk removal.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it's so cool. You are still the public face of 1-800-got-JUNK. If you go to the website, there's a video of you right there on the homepage. Do you think it's important as a founder to be part of the story or the presentation of the brand?

[Theo Alex Dean]

I think there's a voice that a founder brings that no one else can. And so I was asked by Roy Williams, who does our radio creative when he first curated our radio campaigns, he said, brian, you need to be the voice on radio. And I said, well, I don't know if I want it to be all about me. And he said, it has to be. You're the founder. You've got the McDonald's drive thru story and that's where the ads are going to start. And so I went with it and no looking back. And everyone buys into a founder story in a different way than a hired gun. Now us founders need higher guns. I've got my Eric Church who is unbelievable at scaling our business as an implementer. But the founder has a Persona and a commitment and passion for a business that's been there from day one.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, no question about it. Brian, it's so great to have you back on. I'm sorry I haven't seen you in a couple years. I gotta get back up to Vancouver and I promise I will. But why, why don't we take a couple calls while we're here together?

[Theo Alex Dean]

I would love that.

[Guy Raz]

Okay, so let's get our first caller on the line. Welcome to the How I Built this Advice line. You're on with me and Brian Scudamore. Please introduce yourself, tell us your name, where you're calling from and just a little tiny bit about your business.

[Teresa]

Hi Guy and Brian. Thank you so much. I'm calling from Denver, Colorado. I'm the co founder of flower company F L O U W E R. We are a food and lifestyle brand inspired by nature. We incorporate edible flowers into our products to bring Unexpected beauty to the everyday. From crackers to cocktails.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. Did you tell us your name? Maybe I missed that.

[Teresa]

Teresa.

[Guy Raz]

Teresa. Okay. Welcome to the show. Thank you. So. All right, so the company is called Flower, but it's spelled not F L O W E R. It's F L O U W E R. Like a merging of flower and flower, Correct?

[Teresa]

Yes. Our flagship product was a cracker. And so in lots of crackers, we have flour. Flour. But our company is based around introducing people to edible flowers and incorporating those in everyday products that just. Edible flowers give an interesting flavor and color and texture to a lot of things that we don't normally add them to. Yeah.

[Guy Raz]

Ooh, what a cool idea. Okay, so you. You're in Colorado, you're in Denver. And when did you start doing this? I mean, it's a great idea. Were you in food? Were you doing food? Was that your business?

[Teresa]

My business partner and I joined together in 2019. We were initially doing charcuterie boards and incorporating edible flowers in whatever we could. You know, we eat first with our eyes, so we wanted to make them as. As beautiful as possible. We couldn't find a cracker that we really liked, and so we started tinkering around the kitchen and developed this beautiful cracker. And whenever we would deliver them to our clients, they would just be wowed and say, oh, my gosh, these are so amazing and beautiful. The taste is there, the look is there. They're fun to eat. They create an experience in themselves. I love making a buzz at an event where people are like, oh, wow, what's that? So that's how we got started.

[Guy Raz]

What a cool idea. Okay, tell. Tell us what question you brought for us today.

[Teresa]

Yeah. So my question is essentially in strategy. So as we're moving into our next phase of growth, we just recently acquired a co manufacturer that's going to allow us to produce a lot more than we have in the past. So should we be focusing on our cracker line creating more of, like, a brand block within the grocery space, or should we be expanding into different categories? The problem is, as what we're finding, because we have expanded into, like, the cocktail space in the past, we're finding that a lot of our national distributors, they don't necessarily want to carry all of the lines at once. We have some distributors that want to carry all the grocery, the more cracker lines, and then other distributors who want to carry more of the gift lines. So I guess my question is, is it wise to be more diverse or is that just diluting our focus okay.

[Guy Raz]

Interesting. Brian, before we answer Theresa's question, do you, I think, magnificent questions for her?

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. Nice to meet you, Teresa. My big question is, what percentage of your current revenue is in crackers?

[Teresa]

So that's a tricky question, to be honest. For this year, the cracker production in self manufacturing was extremely expensive. It was not cost effective.

[Guy Raz]

You guys were doing it yourself in a kitchen.

[Teresa]

Yes. And it's not exactly cost effective.

[Guy Raz]

No.

[Teresa]

Hence our development of our other products that were a little less laborious. Our margins were much better on.

[Guy Raz]

And can you just tell us briefly about one or two. What are those products? This is in the cocktail space. What is it? What do you like syrups or what?

[Teresa]

Sure. So we make cocktail cubes, which is essentially a flavored sugar cube with flower petals in the sugar cube. So as it dissolves in your drink, you get these beautiful flower petals that float in your cocktail and also flavor your cocktail gently. So perfect for a glass of Prosecco. I pop a couple of lavender cocktail cues in a glass of Prosecco, and it's chef's kiss.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. Okay, so you guys were just back to Brian's question. You slowed down on the cracker production because it was inefficient.

[Teresa]

It's inefficient. And we were in the search of a co manufacturer. We thought we had one ready to go, and it didn't quite work out. We now have settled on a co manufacturer that will make the crackers to our standards, where we could produce 17 cases in a day. They can produce 170 cases in a day. So our labor cost is just like it's night and day, frankly. We originated with three cracker flavors, and we backed off those three flavors and only went to one because of production limitations. So now that we have the opportunity, we could conceivably launch the other two flavors as we go. But I'm just wondering if it doesn't make more sense to develop some of our other ideas that are not in the cracker space.

[Theo Alex Dean]

So when I hear you talk about your business, it takes me back into the early days of 1-800-got-JUNK. We were called the Rubbish Boys. Our phone number was 738JUNK. And we could do a lot with a truck. We could do some small moves. We could deliver bedloads of topsoil. We could use that truck to, you know, do deliveries, and, of course, junk removal. So we tried being all things to all people, and it diluted us like crazy. People that wanted junk removal wanted us to also go get some shovels and dig Some ditches and do some landscaping, and it got confusing to the customer. And I believe customers vote with their wallets. They tell you what they value the most. And by far and away, it was junk removal. So we narrowed our focus and said, we are going to be the world's largest junk removal company, and that's all we're going to do. And we stopped doing everything else. When I look at your brand and you're trying to figure out, do you get into other products or not, it sounds to me like you had crackers, which launched the company for you, but now you've run into some challenges, costs and so on, and you're looking at other products. My advice would be, how do you test a bunch of different things lightly, without a big investment to figure out what are customers voting for with their wallets, what do they like the most? And then how do you scale that part of the business?

[Teresa]

That's a great. That's great advice. We do have a brick and mortar store here in Denver, and initially that was our thought, is that that could be kind of our test market. You know, have products that we're testing and put them on the shelf and see which ones people are gravitate towards.

[Guy Raz]

And can you give us a sense of what you expect to do in terms of sales this year?

[Teresa]

Yeah, we're about a million dollars.

[Guy Raz]

Great.

[Teresa]

That's awesome company. Yep. But it's been a really rough year. I won't lie with the co man search. Yeah, we let go of our baking staff probably a little bit prematurely, but the writing was on the wall. We needed to. We needed to scale. We couldn't continue doing what we were doing, so it kind of forced us into this.

[Guy Raz]

So the retailers right now, I mean, the ones that are carrying the crackers, they really just want foods. They want, like, crackers and other kinds of foods because they would place it all together on the shelves. Right. They're less interested in the cocktail sugars and, you know, the. I'm seeing here, like finishing sugars and even candles, for example.

[Teresa]

Right, exactly. So we sell a lot to, like, small gift shops, and a lot of them carry all of our products. But when we go into the national distribution space, they're a little bit more specialized. So we have, you know, lots of ideas that speak to our company and our ethos. But because we are bootstrapped, we have to place our dollars in a strategic place. So we can't do all of it at once.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. I mean, it seems to me that you've really landed on something Unique, right? I mean, pressed flowers and crackers is not something I've seen anywhere. You know, to me it seems like that's a really awesome opportunity to create a completely new product in a pretty saturated category. Crackers cookie. You know, there's a lot of. But there's nothing with flowers that looks as beautiful as these do.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. When I look at your box, Teresa, I'm looking online and your website, the box and the brand is incredible. What it says and how it looks is awesome to me. My gut, you're doing a million in revenue. When I look through the website of everything that you're offering and different products you want to diversify in, the one that catches my eye the most by far is, is the cracker. And it's how you got started. It's your story. It is beautiful. My wife loves making charcuterie plates and wow, she'd put these crackers on there in a heartbeat. So that's where I would focus. And how do you build that out? You've been faced with some obstacles cost wise. To me it's how do you solve those versus ignoring that problem and diversifying into something else.

[Teresa]

Yeah. And I do believe that the co manufacturer is going to solve those problems. So that's kind of why I'm looking. We're always trying to look forward. Right. So I'm trying to think, okay, hopefully we've solved that problem and now we're trying to move on to the next thing. But I hear what you're saying. I think our crackers are beautiful. I think we've resisted being a cracker company. However, I think we do it best.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. Own it. Own it. You're a cracker company.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. And you have an opportunity to do like rosemary flavored and garlic flavored crackers and even like a parmesan. Like there's so many, so many different things you could do with the floured with that, you know, that beautiful look with different flavors.

[Theo Alex Dean]

In a digital world, it's so easy now with TikTok and Instagram to have people on a larger American wide scale blow this up for you in a great way. Because there are so many food tick tocks watching people make things and everyone's competing to look more beautiful with their charcuterie platter than anyone else. Imagine having your brand on that wood board. I mean it, it could be awesome.

[Teresa]

Yeah, absolutely. Brian, we'll definitely take your advice. Thank you so much.

[Guy Raz]

Teresa. Good luck. The brand is called Flower Co. F L O U W E R. Good luck.

[Teresa]

Thank you so much. Guy And, Brian, have a great day.

[Guy Raz]

Thank you.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Thanks, Teresa.

[Teresa]

Bye. Bye.

[Guy Raz]

You mentioned that your wife likes to make charcuterie boards, and I love to make crudite plates, especially in the summer. Brian, so next time you come down here, I'll make you one.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Awesome.

[Guy Raz]

And normally I have crackers there, but, I mean, these are like standout crackers.

[Theo Alex Dean]

No, they are. They're. They're beautiful. And that's where I kept getting stuck, where I'm like, why is Teresa looking.

[Guy Raz]

To diversify when she's onto something?

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah, it sounds like she was trying to diversify because of problems and obstacles. No, no, no, no. Go solve those with your co packer.

[Guy Raz]

Mm. Yeah. And. And, you know, she could still. I like the idea of doing a flower petal company, you know, and you could still do the cocktail sugars and all that stuff. But. But to me, I think that there's just a really great opportunity with the crackers, because nobody's doing anything like this right now.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. Grow where you're planted. That's where they got their start, and it's working.

[Guy Raz]

We're going to take a quick break, but when we come back, another caller, another question, and another round of advice. I'm Guy Raz. Stick around. You're listening to the advice line on how I built this lab. This podcast is brought to you by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online. Squarespace can help any business owner craft a strong web presence and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place, all on your terms. With Squarespace Blueprint, you can build a completely personalized website optimized for every device. With powerful SEO tools that help you grow the way you want, Squarespace makes checking seamless for your customers, accepting credit cards, PayPal and Apple Pay, and in eligible countries, Afterpay and Clearpay. And you can easily manage your clients and invoices, from vetting leads to receiving payments in one streamlined, customizable workflow. So check out squarespace.com for a free trial, and when you're ready to Launch, go to squarespace.combilt to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. If you've been listening to me for a while, you know that I'm really interested in health and fitness. And for the past year, the single biggest game changer for me has been a biowearable. Why is it a game changer? Well, because it's helped me figure out which foods leave me energized and which Ones make me foggy and sluggish and even hungry. And that matters because it turns out 88% of us have suboptimal metabolic health. That's why I'm so excited about Lingo. It's a new bio wearable from Abbott that tracks your glucose in real time and gives personal insights and science backed recommendations to eat in a way that works for you. To see how your body responds to food and learn what you can do to improve your metabolism, try Lingo. It starts at $49 for a two week plan. No prescription needed for a limited time. Save 10% off your first order by using the code [e-mail] the Lingo Glucose system is for users 18 and older not on insulin. It is not intended for diagnosis of diseases including diabetes. For more information please visit hellolingo.com us you know when you're shopping for like a new car or even a new bike, which I was shopping for recently, and you want to find one with all the right features, something that fits exactly what you need? Well, that's the way it feels today, trying to find the right AI tools for your business. You want to get it right, but it's not always clear which tools are actually going to help. Grammarly is designed to fit your business's unique needs and works right away to help contribute to your overall success. Grammarly works effortlessly with the apps I already use every single day and it saves me so much time while I'm writing. With its super helpful AI prompts, Grammarly works where you work from docs to messages to emails, integrating seamlessly across 500,000 apps and websites. No cutting, no pasting, no context switching. Join 70,000 teams and 30 million people who trust Grammarly to work faster and hit their goals while keeping their data Secure. Go to Grammarly.com enterprise to learn more. Grammarly Enterprise Ready AI welcome back to the Advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz and my guest today is Brian Scudamore. He's the founder of the junk removal service 1-800-got-Junk. What do you say, Brian? Should we take another call?

[Theo Alex Dean]

Let's do it.

[Guy Raz]

All right, cool. Let's bring in our next caller. Hello, welcome to the Advice Line. You are on with Brian Scudamore. Please tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your brand.

[Jake Pressman]

Hi Guy. Hi Brian. Thank you so much for having me on. Hello, my name is Jake Pressman. I'm a calling from Los Angeles, California. I'm the founder and CEO and everything else of notion Skincare. Our hero product is a high quality powder face cleanser that's sustainable, travel friendly, and customizable to fit each user's needs.

[Guy Raz]

A powder face cleaner.

[Jake Pressman]

Yes, exactly. So how it works is you add a dash of the powder into your hand and you add the amount of water you want to get your desired texture.

[Guy Raz]

You make like a paste or like a, I guess it turns into a lotion.

[Jake Pressman]

So it turns into a foam or a paste, depending on how much water you use. So the more water you do, the foamier and gentler it'll be. And the less water you do, the more exfoliating it'll be. And like more intense wash you'll get.

[Guy Raz]

Huh.

[Jake Pressman]

Just as some background. So most face cleansers and personal care products on the market are up to 80% water and packaged in plastic and heavy to ship.

[Guy Raz]

Yep.

[Jake Pressman]

Ours is a powder that you can take with you anywhere. It gets around the TSA liquid restriction, so you can travel freely with it and it's customizable.

[Guy Raz]

And the idea is that you're essentially selling a concentrate. Right. Because what you're saying is that Most lotions are 80% water. You're removing the water. So I guess you could argue that you're actually getting more bang for your buck.

[Jake Pressman]

Exactly.

[Guy Raz]

Huh. Interesting. This is cool. How did you come up with this idea?

[Jake Pressman]

So I grew up watching my dad and grandfather work in the manufacturing side of the beauty industry and working at their company during summers in high school and college. And I was actually originally using a powder exfoliator as my face wash every day, which I now know that you're not supposed to use an exfoliator as your cleanser multiple times a day. But when I discovered this, I was looking for alternatives. But I really liked that experience of using a powder. And traditional face cleansers didn't really meet my expectations. And a few other powder options on the market didn't really cut it for me. So I decided to try and make my own. And after 30 plus iterations of testing on my own skin, which is super sensitive, and my family's and friend's skin, I finally got it to where I thought it was perfect after two years. And I launched it online last year.

[Guy Raz]

Wow. Congratulations. Okay, and how did you. And how are you doing so far in terms of sales? What have you. So roughly, have you broken $10,000 in sales?

[Jake Pressman]

Yes, I'm a little bit below 20,000.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. Okay.

[Jake Pressman]

But yeah, that'll kind of lead into my question that I have for you guys.

[Guy Raz]

Please tell us, tell us your question.

[Jake Pressman]

So I'm having trouble determining who my customer is and like the messaging that I should have behind my ads. And I'm not sure if I should position it and market more as a travel product or try targeting people who really want to, like, customize their skincare routine and have an experience that they can tailor to their own needs every time. Long way of asking is, how do I make sure I'm targeting the right.

[Guy Raz]

The right person. Yeah. All right. Brian Scudemore, jump in into this, please.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah, I was looking at your website, Jake, and it's a beautiful website. What isn't jumping out for me? And I, and I could see myself using the product. There's something interesting, like you said, about the texture of it and adding more or less water depending on the experience. But I'm having trouble figuring out what is the real benefit here. You talk about it being vegan, cruelty free, good for the environment, for animals. And I'm trying to go, what, what is it really about this that makes it unique and special here other than.

[Jake Pressman]

It being a great skincare product on its own? You know, it has all the trendy and effective ingredients in it. But I do think the main benefit is being able to customize it every time and make it like a wash.

[Guy Raz]

Just for you, Jake, as you probably know, I mean, we've done a lot of brands in the show that, you know, one for one and our social enterprises. And at the end of the day, the vast majority of consumers, they just don't care about that. I mean, we wish they would care more, but they don't.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Right.

[Guy Raz]

They really want to know what does this do for me? And if you go to the website, it's very clean. Your branding's really nice. It's like the kind of premium product you would find at like a hotel, you know, where you could buy it from the little minibar. But it just says, you know, vegan, waterless, cruelty free, sulfate free. That's all great, but that can go down below. I mean, to me, I want to hear, you know, infinitely customizable for all skin types. With, you know, I'm looking at the label here and I see green tea extract, rice powder, colloidal, oatmeal, but it's tiny. You got to find that. To me, it's like, that's what I want to see right at the get go because that sets the tone for what you're about to potentially buy, right?

[Theo Alex Dean]

And then the story, working with your grandfather in this sort of same space and how you've grown up building your own product and why. I think having your story show up, it isn't just the brand look and feel, but. But you are the face of, the clean face of this, of this company. What is your story? And because I think people buy brands they connect to and buying into a brand is so much more than just the rice powder and the oatmeal. It's you. So is there a way to even tie your story and the name notion you talk about the fact that your number one unique sort of selling point here is that it's a customizable product to whatever you want at any point in time. How do you tie those things together? I don't know the answers, of course, but food for thought.

[Jake Pressman]

Okay, thank you.

[Guy Raz]

Jake, who right now, I mean, who do you imagine using this? Is it everybody? Is it a certain age demographic? I mean, you look at brands like Drunk Elephant, which we've done on the show, and originally it was made for sort of women over 40, but TikTok has changed that now you see teenage girls are using it. Who do you imagine using this powder using notion?

[Jake Pressman]

Well, other than myself, in my mind, the target user is mainly women between probably like 20 and 35. And I've had some older people, like 60 plus give me great feedback. But also I have my friends that are all in their 20s using it as well. But in my mind and how I envision marketing it, it's probably between. For women between 20 and 35.

[Guy Raz]

Brian, how would I think Jake has an opportunity here to answer his question? By testing it out. Right. Without knowing in advance who the target audience is, there might be ways to kind of test out the answer, right, to target different groups. I don't know. I mean, how would he do that?

[Theo Alex Dean]

If it was me, I would pick some. They don't even have to be necessarily micro influencers, but people whose opinion would matter to you in enough of a diverse group of your targeted potential customers. I'd send them the product and say, could you do me a favor? Do me a video. You don't even have to share it if you don't want. But tell me all the things you love about this product and why. Tell me what stood out for you. Don't tell them the things that you're looking for, but find out. Just ask them, would you use this? Did you like it? Why? See how they connect to the product and then maybe you do another round and you get some micro influencers to share these TikTok videos. I mean, I've Got teenage daughters. I see what they do when they put on makeup and show the world. Right? They do a fit check, they do a makeup check, and they blast it out. If your product is something meaningful to a certain demographic who wants to then talk about it on social, that's where these things really go viral.

[Jake Pressman]

Right.

[Guy Raz]

I think that there's maybe, by the way, we're hearing from everybody across the board and, Brian, you may even be facing this issue, which is that customer acquisition through social media has just become much, much harder. There's just so much more noise out there. But I wonder whether you target travelers, people who travel frequently who don't want to have to take all their stuff out of their bag when it goes through the tsa, you know, and a lot of frequent travelers are TSA pre. So they. They're just there. They got to get to their flight quickly.

[Jake Pressman]

Right.

[Guy Raz]

And if the lotion size is 4 ounces, then it's going to be another 10 minutes of a delay. And so to me, it might be interesting to see if you can try to target people who frequently travel. So forget about men, women, young, old. Just see if that sort of clicks in some way.

[Jake Pressman]

Yeah, no, I love that. I've definitely, every time I've been traveling now, I've taken a video of the product going through the TSA belt.

[Guy Raz]

There you go.

[Jake Pressman]

And I'll have random comments from what I was doing those TikTok ads being like, no, this will make you get stopped. It'll get longer. Being like, I've been around the country with this and I have never had one problem. And I done an experiment where I've taken a traditional face cleanser and just, like, put it in to see what would happen. And of course, it got thrown away.

[Theo Alex Dean]

And I think your brand lends itself to having some fun with the word no. That is a notion. No TSA delays, no water, no problems like that. There could be something there.

[Jake Pressman]

Yes. I love that. Thank you.

[Guy Raz]

I like that. That's cool. I like that idea. I mean, this is also the kind of product that you may want to consider. You know, look, you're in la. This is the media capital of the States. Right. New York, too. And you have an advantage for being in Los Angeles. There's celebrities, there's a lot of influential. It's a cultural capitalist where trends start. I mean, to me, I could see you taking this to, like, the proper hotel in downtown LA or in Santa Monica or, you know, one of these really cool boutique hotels and seeing if they'd be willing to, you know, to carry it in the gift shop. Would you be willing to offer this in the rooms? Something like that? Because that's also where we did an episode on Sunbaum, which you should take a listen to if you haven't heard it. About a year ago, and I mean, this is a version of what they did. They essentially started selling Sunbaum in boutiques in Hawaii. Right. Because the idea was, hey, if tourists go to Hawaii, they'll see the brand and the, the in the shops and they'll go back to wherever in the US or oftentimes back to Asia, and they'll, they'll bring it with them. And that's actually how it started. And so it could be interesting to experiment with some of those boutique hotels.

[Jake Pressman]

Yeah. Because definitely the people that are passing through, especially that kind of hotel, because you also, you're. They're presumably travelers that need to go back.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jake Pressman]

So I think it would fit really well. So thank you for sure.

[Guy Raz]

Brian, any last words of wisdom for Jake?

[Theo Alex Dean]

I don't know about wisdom, but I'm just, I'm excited for you. I like your brand, I like your story, and I think that if you make some changes in how you tell your story and tap into your history, you know, something on your website, if you've got a photo of your grandfather doing anything in the cosmetic space, I mean, he's your grandfather. I don't know the age difference there, but this has to be an old photo that you can find and then recreate that photo with you today. You have instant credibility in the cosmetic space because it's a third generation family business. I think you've got a cool product and I think you got a great business ahead of you.

[Jake Pressman]

Thank you, Brian.

[Guy Raz]

Agreed. The brand is called Notion Skincare. Jake, good luck, man. Thank you.

[Jake Pressman]

Thank you so much for your time and advice. Thank you, guy.

[Guy Raz]

Thank you, Brian, thanks for calling in.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Thank you.

[Guy Raz]

I'm really. I gotta be honest with you. I'm terrible at regularly washing my face and I'm embarrassed to even say that on national podcast here.

[Theo Alex Dean]

The world now knows I'm looking at you differently here now.

[Guy Raz]

Well, I do, of course, I take very good care of my teeth and, you know, but just a face washing regimen, I'm just not very consistent. But I tell you what I do do I use sunblock every day? You know, I'm about to turn 50, Brian, so I gotta, you know, gotta protect my skin from the sunspots.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Always. Always.

[Guy Raz]

All right, we're gonna take another quick break, but we'll be right back with another collar. Stay with us. I'm Guy Raz and you're listening to the advice line right here on how I built this lab. I love a great deal as much as the next guy, but I'm not gonna crawl through a bed of hot coals just to save a few bucks. It has to be easy. So when Mint Mobile said it was easy to get wireless for $15 a month with the purchase of a three month plan, I called them on it. But it turns out it really is that easy to get wireless for 15 bucks a month. In fact, the longest part of the process was the time I spent on hold waiting to break up with my old provider. To get started, go to mintmobile.combilt there you'll see that right now all three month plans are only $15 a month, including the unlimited plan. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. You can use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. To get this new customer offer and your new three month premium wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month. Go to mintmobile.combilt that's mintmobile.comb cut cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.combilt 45 dollars upfront payment required, equivalent to 15 dollars a month new customers on first three month plan only speed slower above 40 GB on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. C. Mint Mobile for details as a B2B marketer, you know how noisy the ad space can be. If your message isn't targeted to the right audience, it just disappears into the noise. With LinkedIn ads, you can precisely reach the professionals who are more likely to find your ad relevant. LinkedIn's targeting capabilities allow you to filter by job title, industry, company and more, and reach your customers in a respectful environment. You'll have direct access to and build relationships with decision makers on a platform with a billion members, 130 million decision makers and 10 million C level executives, you'll be able to drive results with targeting and measurement tools built specifically for B2B. In the technology space, LinkedIn generated two to five times higher return on ad spend than other social media platforms. And 79% of B2B content marketers said LinkedIn produces the best results for paid media. And we know this because we hear this from the founders who are on this show every single week. Start converting your B2B audience into high quality leads today we'll even give you a $100 credit on your next campaign. Go to LinkedIn.com BuiltThis to claim your credit. That's LinkedIn.com BuiltThis. Terms and conditions apply. LinkedIn the place to be. To be. Welcome back to the advice line on how I built this lab. I'm Guy Raz, and today I'm taking calls with Brian Scudamore. So, Brian, why don't we bring on our next caller?

[Theo Alex Dean]

Keep him coming.

[Guy Raz]

All right, let's bring in our last caller. Hello. Welcome to the advice line. You are on with Brian Scudamore. Please tell us your name, where you're calling from, and a little bit about your business.

[Brian Scudamore]

Hi there, Guy Brian. My name is Theo. Alex Dean, and I'm calling from Shingle Springs, California. I founded and operate Fox and Hen Find Poultry Company, which is a live poultry sales company. I raise juvenile chickens and sell them to the backyard hobbyist market, which is basically people who want to raise chickens in their backyards.

[Guy Raz]

Wow. And where is Shingle Springs in California, by the way?

[Brian Scudamore]

It's about half an hour outside Sacramento.

[Guy Raz]

Okay, so you're near the Central Valley?

[Brian Scudamore]

Yeah, we're kind of in the foothills.

[Guy Raz]

Which is the bread basket of America. So you have a business that sells live chickens direct to anybody who wants them?

[Brian Scudamore]

Pretty much, yeah. I raise them to a juvenile age because that's a big part of it. Most of the time, when someone wants to go out and buy chickens, they have to go to the feed store and buy these little baby chicks that are really fragile and hard to raise. And you don't know if they're male or female. And it's just kind of a complex process for someone who's new to chicken.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. How do you, by the way, how do you ship the chicken? Do you just put it in, like, a FedEx box and just ship it, Poke some holes in it?

[Brian Scudamore]

So that's kind of a big part of my business model. There are ways to ship chickens through, like, the USPS system, but I actually, I offer delivery, so I actually hand deliver. I drive to the customer's house. I offer free local delivery to kind of the El Dorado county area. And then I offer delivery pretty much everywhere, from Reading to the Bay Area down to Modesto. Wow. I drive them myself to the customer.

[Guy Raz]

Okay. So right now, it's gotta be. It's a pretty local business. And what do most people do with the chickens? Are they for eggs or do they actually, like, slaughter them and roast a chicken?

[Brian Scudamore]

Most of my customers want them for Eggs and for pets. You know, a lot of people who just kind of keep chickens as a hobby, they'll have, you know, six, maybe 10 birds in their backyard. They go out and they watch them. Cause they're just very enjoyable to watch.

[Guy Raz]

And so I'm assuming that if somebody was like, yeah, I need, like, 10 chickens because I want to eat them, would that be weird? Would you still sell them, the chickens?

[Brian Scudamore]

I do still sell them. Mainly it's just that there are certain kinds of chickens that are for eating and certain kinds of chickens that are for eggs. And most of the ones I sell are for eggs, and they tend to be a lot of what I specialize are in the rarer breeds. So it would kind of be a lot of money to spend on a chicken just to eat.

[Guy Raz]

All right, so you've got this chicken business. And tell us what question you brought for us today.

[Brian Scudamore]

So my big question kind of requires a little bit of context.

[Guy Raz]

Please.

[Brian Scudamore]

I relaunched this business this year in 2024. I actually tried this business once before in 2021, and it was kind of a success and a disaster at the same time.

[Guy Raz]

What happened?

[Brian Scudamore]

So it was immediately very successful, and I was not prepared for that. I was 20 at the time. I had no experience running a small business. I had worked for a small business that did something similar. But I just thought, you know, I'm good at raising chickens, and I can sell them. And I'd done sort of these small, little test batches before, and I tried to launch full scale into this huge thing, you know, trying to sell hundreds and hundreds of chickens per month. And the problem was that it went so well. I was getting, like, 40, 50 phone calls a day. I was getting all these emails. I was trying to do all of it myself. And because I thought at the time, okay, I'm an entrepreneur. This is my business. I have to do it all by myself. And that was kind of my big mistake. And so my question is, I kind of did a soft launch this year, next year, in 2025, I want to go big. I want to try to do what I did before, and I want to succeed at this time. And so how do I find that turning point where I go, okay, I need help. I need to hire people on. I need to outsource these tasks. How do I know when that is the right time for that?

[Guy Raz]

Perfect question for Brian Scudamore. Because you started your business by yourself with a truck, and then eventually the demand was so high, you had to hire some buddies. Theo, before we get to your Question. Could you just give us a sense of roughly, are you doing 10, 20, 30, $50,000 in revenue more a year?

[Brian Scudamore]

Right now, I'm doing around 10 to 20,000. Next year, when I launch into a bigger scale, my goal is anywhere between 80 and 100,000.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. All right, Brian, thoughts?

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. Theo, Nice to meet you. It's a great question. I think that as any business starts to grow in scale, you've got to look at how much revenue are you doing and how many hours are you putting in? And do the math. If you're doing 100,000 in revenue and you're spending 100 hours running the business, you're probably spending more than that. But just for simple math, your time is worth a thousand bucks an hour. So then you look at all the things you're doing in the business that you could pay someone much less than that thousand dollars an hour to do and start delegating things so that you can free your time up for what's most valuable. The way I identify for me what's most valuable and always have is I look at what do I love to do and what am I good at, and there's often overlap there.

[Brian Scudamore]

Okay.

[Theo Alex Dean]

And then the things I don't like to do and I'm not good at, I try and find other people to do because if they can do a better job than it, then I can. There's better delivery drivers out there perhaps than you who might enjoy that more than you. That frees your time up to do the raising of the chickens or whatever you might be doing. I think it's trying to determine where's the best use of your time. Dollar for dollar.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah.

[Brian Scudamore]

Okay. Wow. I love that. Thank you for that.

[Guy Raz]

I would also consider, you know, California, Brian, as you probably know, is a challenging place to do business, especially if you're a small business. Sure. For a variety of reasons. And I would consider, Theo starting out working with somebody on a temporary contract.

[Brian Scudamore]

Okay.

[Guy Raz]

Just to see, A, if it's going to work out, B, if you can afford it, because eventually, if you do hire that person, there are, you know, there's a pretty high minimum wage in California.

[Brian Scudamore]

Right.

[Guy Raz]

And there are other requirements as a small business owner with, in terms of the, you know, the unemployment insurance requirements. And so, you know, it's a pretty big commitment, even for a small business. But it could be. It could really scale your help, scale your business. So, you know, you're looking at paying somebody What, I think 20 bucks an hour in California. I would start by bringing somebody in on A one month contract and seeing how that goes and seeing whether you can afford it. Because if that person is really helping you fulfill more orders and deliver more orders, then ultimately you want the employee to generate enough revenue that more than pays their salary.

[Brian Scudamore]

Right, right. Okay. That makes a lot of sense. Thank you.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. Guy makes a great point. I think that you can try before you buy and you can test out an employee and see if they're really the right fit for you. Because let's face it, delegating is one thing and can save you a lot of time. But if you're delegating to the wrong person, all that does is cost you more time.

[Brian Scudamore]

Yep. Yep. That makes a ton of sense.

[Guy Raz]

I. I wonder. And you can't really pay people on eggs anymore. Pay them in cash. You pay me in eggs. You know, by the way, every. I've got a bunch of friends with chickens, and they're always like, what can we bring? Like, when I invite people for dinner. And I'm gonna be honest, I don't like when people bring food to my house when I make dinner. Because if I'm making dinner, I want to serve you the food I'm making. I don't want a bunch of different. I don't want your, like, marshmallow walnut fruit salad. Like, I don't want that in my. You know what I mean? So I will often say, just bring me eggs from your chicken and it works out.

[Brian Scudamore]

I love that.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, I get those blue eggs and the pink eggs, and they're delicious.

[Brian Scudamore]

That's a big part of what people love for me is I specialize in those rare breeds. And a lot of them play those blue eggs, green eggs, the dark chocolate brown eggs. And people just go crazy for them because it's just such a pretty little arrangement with an egg carton.

[Guy Raz]

And by the way, if anybody listening gets one of those eggs, don't use it in a cake or a. Like, it just poach that egg or soft boil it. You gotta eat the egg. Don't mix it into the batter.

[Brian Scudamore]

Yep. Backyard eggs, they just. They hit different.

[Guy Raz]

They hit different. Use that in your egg pasta or whatever. They're special.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Wow. Who would have thought?

[Guy Raz]

Who would have thought? Well, Brian, it sounds like Theo is onto something kind of similar to your start. Right? There's this, this, this. It's one person, one business, doing all the jobs. And maybe it might be worthwhile bringing somebody else on to grow it.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Absolutely. You're starting small, and that's the best place to be. You get to try new People and new things with the business and make some mistakes and fail like you've done before, but then pivot and adapt and relaunch.

[Brian Scudamore]

Yeah, no, that was a big part of it for me, was the failure, because I know that if I had just been successful out the gate, I would have just been looking at a bigger failure down the road when I was farther, even deeper in. And so I was actually really grateful for that first experience that went terribly because now I know what not to do.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. All right, well, the company is called Fox and Hen Fine Poultry Company. Theo, thanks so much for calling in.

[Brian Scudamore]

Thank you for having me.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Thank you, Theo.

[Guy Raz]

Congrats.

[Theo Alex Dean]

All the best.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, it sounds like you have not eaten enough blue eggs there, Brian.

[Theo Alex Dean]

You know what? I actually mentored someone for an hour. He came in and wanted to talk about his business. Nothing to do with eggs. But as a thank you, he came in the next day and brought me a dozen eggs from his own farm and his hobby farm. And there were blue eggs, green eggs, different sizes. I. I was like, whoa. Had no idea.

[Guy Raz]

No idea. And then. And then you ate them and you were like, these are pretty good.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Blue eggs don't come out as blue eggs when you crack them. I was.

[Guy Raz]

I thought they don't come out blue. Yeah, they just come out, but sometimes really yellow. That like orangey yolk.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Oh, yeah, Big time.

[Guy Raz]

Delicious.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Very delicious.

[Guy Raz]

Some really interesting business ideas in the show today.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Very much so. I. I did the season on Dragon's Den, which is the. I know, the Shark Tank of Canada.

[Guy Raz]

Right. It was the original shark tank. It was, like, the inspiration for it.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah. And. And this is really interesting because this is a version of that where you're taking some businesses and learning about them on the fly and asking some question and applying some advice. So thank you for having me. This was fun.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah, Just like a nicer, a little gentler version. Easier.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Easier. Yeah.

[Guy Raz]

Yeah. I think we should. Maybe we need to bring in a little music, some dramatic music.

[Theo Alex Dean]

That could be fun.

[Guy Raz]

Could be. We could do, like, a special Dragon's Den homage episode.

[Theo Alex Dean]

There we go. You could get a dragon and a shark together and see what happens.

[Guy Raz]

Brian, before I let you go, last question for you, which is, you know, now that you have got all of this experience, I know you do a lot of mentoring. What do you wish you knew when you were starting out that you think might have been helpful for you to know?

[Theo Alex Dean]

Yeah, we talked about it a little bit with one of your guests with Theo. I think I wish I had known at a younger age, how many times I would fail and how there was a gift in every one of those failures. So I think young entrepreneurs and old entrepreneurs, people beat themselves up over their mistakes, but if they're able to sort of open their heart and their mind to go, hold on, there's a gift here. There is something I'm going to learn that will lead me to a bigger, better place. It has been absolutely liberating for my journey as an entrepreneur over 35 years. That's the one thing I'd want to know.

[Guy Raz]

Nice. That's Brian Scudamore, founder of 1-800-GOT Junk, CEO of O2E Brands. Brian, thank you so much for joining us.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Thank you. It was absolutely great.

[Guy Raz]

And by the way, if you haven't heard Brian's original How I Built this episode, you've got to go check it out. It's so funny. It's so good. We'll put a link in the podcast description. And here is one of my favorite moments from that interview.

[Theo Alex Dean]

I was learning much more running a business on the streets versus studying in school. And I remember sitting down with my father, who's a liver truck transplant surgeon. But I remember having to sit down to him and just say, dad, got some good news for you. And I presented it as good news because to me it was good news. And I thought if I could get him excited, he might agree with me. And I told him I was leaving school. He said, you're dropping out of school to become a junk man.

[Guy Raz]

Thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to check out my newsletter. You can sign up for it for [e-mail] each week it's packed with tons of insights from entrepreneurs and my own observations and experiences interviewing some of the greatest entrepreneurs ever. And if you're working on a business and you'd like to be on this show, send us a one minute message that tells us about your business, the issues or questions you'd like help with, and hopefully we can help you with them. And make sure to tell us how to reach you. You can send us a voice [e-mail] or call us at 1-800-433-1298 and leave a message there. And we'll put all this in the podcast description as well. This episode was produced by Carla Estevez with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Neil Rauch. Our production staff also includes Kerry Thompson, Al Alex Chung, Chris Masini, Devin Schwartz Katherine cipher, Sam Paulson, J.C. howard and Elaine Coates. I'm Guy Raz and you've been listening to the advice line on How I Built this lab. If you like how I built this, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.

[Theo Alex Dean]

You've worked hard to build your brand.

[Guy Raz]

So why settle for one size? Outfits Branded clothing? Lands End Outfitters creates apparel your employees.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Will truly want to wear.

[Guy Raz]

All backed by above and beyond expertise. See why Landzen Outfitters has been a.

[Theo Alex Dean]

Branded apparel supplier to some of the world's most respected brands for more than 30 years. Years go to business landsand.com pod20 and use code pod20 for 20% off your first product. That's business.landsend.com pod20 code pod20 for 20% OFF your first product.