3 Valuable Lessons Every Entrepreneur can Learn from Brian Scudamore, 1–800-GOT-JUNK
If you live in Canada or The United States, you have probably heard of 1–800-GOT-JUNK, but do you know the full story?
I learned about @brianscudamore early in my entrepreneurial journey when I ran a barbecue cleaning business while I studied at the University of Guelph. Unlike many entrepreneurs that I saw in the spotlight, Brian’s success was graspable and what he had accomplished seemed to be in reach. He stood out as a role model for me as I hoped to one day scale my business as big as 1–800-GOT-JUNK.
Brian started 1–800-GOT-JUNK with a $700 investment in 1993 as a student at Concordia University¹. His original plan was to use his earnings to pay through college.
Like many great entrepreneurs, he started knocking on doors for sales in his local area. He would also look for places to scoop garbage that the city wouldn’t take.
Through a lot of hard work, his business took off and he decided to drop out of school because he felt that he was learning more from his business than in school (for any student entrepreneur, this is very relatable).
1–800-GOT-JUNK now has over 150 franchises worldwide with over $200 million in revenue and is the largest junk removal franchise in the world.²
Today Brian is a serial entrepreneur, winner of many awards and regularly contributes to Forbes but maybe more interesting is the challenges he went through to get there.
Brian struggled tremendously in school and actually never completed high school. Despite this, he convinced the admissions office of Concordia University that he was worthy of acceptance to their business program and they agreed¹.
In 1997, 4 years after starting, Brian hit $1 Million in revenue but realized his team of employees did not share his vision for the company and decided to lay off the entire staff. He adopted a new motto that states “It’s All About People” and re-hired to reflect his new vision¹.
Here are some key takeaways:
- Not all successful startups need to be glamorous or tech-based. Brian earned $250 million in revenue from cleaning up junk from people’s homes.
- Opportunities are everywhere when you have your eyes open to them. Brian was in the drive-thru of a Mcdonald’s when he saw a truck advertising junk removal on the back. The rest was history.
- Grit beats experience and intelligence any day. Brian failed his grade 8 math class and almost never got into university but this didn’t stop him from pursuing an opportunity when he had a vision.
I hope this short story of Brian Scudamore and 1–800-GOT-JUNK provided you with the same inspiration for your own entrepreneurial journey as it did for me.
Remember, the best time to start your journey is today!
References
1^ “Entrepreneur of the Year 2015: B.C.’s winners | BC Business”. www.bcbusiness.ca. Retreived 2020–09–08.
2 ^ “How one man turned his college side hustle hauling junk into a $300 million-a-year empire”. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/12/brian-scudamore-built-1-800-got-junk-into-multimillion-dollar-empire.html#:~:text=That%20early%20intuition%20proved%20clairvoyant,he%20tells%20CNBC%20Make%20It. Retreived 2020–09–08.
