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In this episode of 'The Wisdom Of' Show, host Simon Bowen explores entrepreneurial wisdom with Brian Smith, founder of UGG Imports. From a $500 investment to a billion-dollar global phenomenon, Brian shares his remarkable journey of transforming Australian sheepskin boots into an iconic American brand. With raw honesty and deep insight, he reveals the challenges, pivotal moments, and unconventional strategies that built one of the world's most recognized footwear brands.Ready to unlock your leadership potential and drive real change? Join Simon's exclusive masterclass on The Models Method. Learn how to articulate your unique value and create scalable impact: https://thesimonbowen.com/masterclassEpisode Breakdown 00:00 Introduction and surf culture beginnings 05:13 The Pink Floyd moment that changed everything 10:46 Early struggles and surf shop rejections 18:58 The genius marketing strategy that changed everything 25:44 Understanding the Entrepreneurial Lifecycle 33:44 The "Elephants and Mice" strategy 38:35 Five key mantras for success 45:13 Future implications and conclusionsKey InsightsWhy giving value to salespeople transformed the businessThe Entrepreneurial Lifecycle: From conception to maturityHow starting small can attract bigger opportunitiesThe power of persistence in building a global brandWhy uncertainty and disappointment can be assetsThe importance of playing the long game in businessAbout Brian Smith Brian Smith is the founder of UGG Imports, taking the company from a $500 startup to a billion-dollar brand. An Australian native with a passion for surfing, Brian spotted an opportunity to bring sheepskin boots to America. After 17 years of building the brand, he sold to Deckers Outdoor Corporation, where UGG has become a global phenomenon generating over a billion dollars in annual sales. Today, Brian is one of the most sought-after speakers in the world, sharing his entrepreneurial wisdom and insights with audiences worldwide.Connect with Brian SmithWebsite: http://www.uggfounder.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/briansmithuggfounder/About Simon Bowen Simon has spent over two decades working with influential leaders across complex industries. His focus is on elevating thinking in organizations, recognizing that success is directly proportional to the quality of thinking and ideas within a business. Simon leads the renaissance of thinking through his work with global leaders and organizations.Connect with SimonLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonbowen-mm/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialsimonbowen/Website: https://thesimonbowen.com/Get Simon Bowen's Personal Newsletter for Leaders, Thinkers, and Entrepreneurs!
Brian Smith is the founder of UGG. Brian was born in Australia, where he first developed his love of surfing. With just $500, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded $1 billion in international sales. Brian is also the author of The Birth of a Brand, detailing his experience founding UGG, and speaks to entrepreneurs all over the world, inspiring them on their journey of building a business.Twitter of Host (Shamus Madan): @mbitpodcastLearn More About Brian's Book Here: https://www.amazon.com/Birth-Brand-Unlikely-Start-Up-Billion/dp/1582705380/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1677042731&sr=8-1
In this episode, we talk with Brian Smith, the founder of the world famous UGG boots brand about how he launched his business. Brian was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A chartered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded $1 billion of international sales times over. A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most sought after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal visional and spirituality into company culture. Brian spends his time with family and friends in Southern California, still surfs, plays golf, and attempts to improve the planet everyday. You'll love this insightful interview about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and learn valuable lessons from a leader who has been in the trenches and built a valuable brand from scratch.
"The universe is absolutely perfect. Everything you could want or envision already exists. But until you start out on the path, you won't see any evidence of it.” ~Brian Smith Habits2Goals is honored to present an inspirational and fascinating conversation with UGG® Australia founder, speaker, entrepreneur, and sought-after business leader Brian Smith. Brian Smith was born in Australia, where he developed his passionate love of surfing. After studying at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, with just $500 in startup money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After 17 years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded several billion dollars in international sales. Brian is one of the most sought-after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching his breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal vision and spirituality into company culture. Listen in to hear more about Brian's entrepreneurial journey, how he took an idea and turned it into an international brand, and why nobody "gives birth to an adult." Enjoy the episode! LEARN MORE ABOUT BRIAN SMITH Brian Smith's Website Find Brian Smith on LinkedIn WRITTEN BY BRIAN SMITHThe Birth of a Brand TRANSFORMATIVE BOOKS RECOMMENDED BY BRIAN SMITH The Urantia Book The Introvert's Edge: How the Quiet and Shy Can Outsell Anyone, by Mathew Pollard The Alter Ego Effect, by Todd Herman TECH TOOLS RECOMMENDED BY BRIAN SMITH Sash (The SashBag.com) Lash (shopping platform) *** New listeners: By texting the word "HABITS" to the mobile phone number "33444" you will instantly receive your "hack"/habit tracker/habit development template, or you can download it here: thehabitfactor.com/templates. Feel free to share the episode and leave a review on iTunes! ***** Subscribe iTunes here! Subscribe: Android | RSS ***** TOOLS/BOOKS WE RECOMMEND: Grab your FREE copy of As a Man Thinketh (PDF) right here: As a Man Thinketh The 3 C's of SucCcess (Mitch W. Steel) The Psychology of Achievement (Brian Tracy) The Power of Positive Thinking (Norman Vincent Peale) The Magic of Thinking BIG! (David Schwartz) Think & Grow Rich (Napoleon Hill) The Success Principles (Jack Canfield) Getting Things Done! (Allen's Great Book!) TRELLO! **HABIT FACTOR RESOURCES!!** The New HabitXP Planner! (FREE! The Habit Factor's Tracking Template) The Habit Factor® (website: BLOG, tips, tools and other resources) The Habit Factor® Book (Amazon Kindle) The Pressure Paradox® Book (Amazon Kindle) The Habit Factor app (iOS, Android) The Pressure Paradox™ **WEBINARS** Get Unstuck Course Habit Mastery: (FREE) Learn the process to Master Habit, Enhance Discipline and Strengthen Willpower: The 28 Day Breakthrough!
On today's episode of Gritty Founder, I talk with Brian Smith about his journey as an entrepreneur. Brian Smith was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A chartered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded $1 billion of international sales several times over. Some Questions I Ask Brian: - When you were growing up, how did you learn about entrepreneurship? (1:30)- Did your parents support your entrepreneurial ideas? (4:50)- What do you think is the most important skill an entrepreneur needs? (6:47)- How important is advertising when you are starting a business? (13:44)- What advice would you give a first-time founder who wants to start something but is not sure what to build? (16:04)- What would you say to founders who are in the process of starting something, but have picked the wrong idea? (18:58)- What is the most important piece of advice you can give the next generation of founders? (25:30) In This Episode, You Will Learn: - How Brian became an entrepreneur (1:31)- How Brian came up with the idea for Ugg boots (3:32)- The importance of being able to pivot as an entrepreneur (5:33)- Why you need a certain level of ignorance when starting something (6:47)- One of Brian's failures that turned out to be a blessing (10:32)- Advertising and the importance of sending the right message to connect with your target market (11:27)- It's not how big you are that counts, it's how big you are perceived to be (14:21)- How Brian unintentionally lost all ownership of Ugg, the company he started (20:22)- Every new business or venture starts as an infant. You can't give birth to adults. (25:52) Connect with Brian Smith: WebsiteTwitterInstagram Also Mentioned on This Show... Brian's favorite quotes:"Most often, your most disappointing disappointments become your greatest blessings.""If you can't act effectively, don't act." Brian's favorite books:Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon HillLosing My Virginity by Richard Branson
In this fascinating interview, you'll learn lessons on the birth of a brand from UGG founder Brian Smith. Brian was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A charterered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded $1 billion of international sales times over. A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most sought after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal visional and spirituality into company culture. Brian spends his time with family and friends in Southern California, still surfs, plays golf, and attempts to improve the planet everyday. You'll love this insightful interview about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and learn valuable lessons from a leader who has been in the trenches and built a valuable brand from scratch.
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Brian Smith was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A chartered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most sought after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching his breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal vision and spirituality into company culture. Brian and I discuss; The motivation for business Bringing a trend from Australia to California Challenges he overcame in the early days like getting distribution for his product How exercise and meditation helps him manage stress in business How to create demand for a product that the market doesn't necessarily know it "needs". The brand re-alignment that created the tipping point for Ugg's His four mantras for business. Important things to understand if your goal is to build an iconic brand and more... Other Links: The Birth of a Brand (book) Sponsor/Partnership: TubeBuddy's channel management browser plugin helps content creators, brands, and networks save time and grow their brands directly from within YouTube.
On today’s show, Laura talks to Brian Smith, founder of UGG Imports about how he grew UGG into a successful business and the valuable lessons he learned along the way. Brian is Australian born and was raised with an enduring passion for surfing and the surf culture. In his youth, he enjoyed the epic waves […]
On today’s show, Laura talks to Brian Smith, founder of UGG Imports about how he grew UGG into a successful business and the valuable lessons he learned along the way. Brian is Australian born and was raised with an enduring passion for surfing and the surf culture. In his youth, he enjoyed the epic waves on both coasts of his home country. He was educated at the Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia, where he received his first of many business credentials. After ten years as a public accountant, Brian felt a burning desire to do something that would fit his passion for surfing while looking for a business idea that would allow him to support himself. He turned in his resignation notice, got on a plane to the States, and became a regular at the classic surfing destinations up and down the southern California coastline. He called Malibu, Cardiff-by-the-Sea, and Swami’s Beach his “office.” One day, while pulling on his sheepskin boots after a cold surf session, he realized there were nothing like them available in California. He and a surfing buddy shipped six pairs from Australia to show them around, in search of interested takers. It was at this moment that the UGG brand was born. Brian called on every surf shop up and down the California coast, enthusiastically showing prospective retailers the UGG prototype. Most of the shop owners would deliver the same disappointing reaction: “Brian, we sell flip flops, not boots.” Not willing to give up his idea, he then embarked on a laser-focused effort to gain endorsements and support from the surf community of which he was becoming a respected member. Finally, with two young Pro-surfers on “the UGG team”, a new cult was born and “UGG” became the cool word on California campuses and beaches alike. Had he not diligently stuck to his vision, the idea of UGG Boots would never have come to fruition. Undaunted by the surf shop owners’ initial rejections, Brian forged forward with his dream and we all now enjoy our much loved and favorite casual footwear—our UGG boots. After 17 years, Brian sold his company and the brand to Decker’s Outdoor Corporation. With their resources, the “casual comfort” segment of the footwear industry came to life and the UGG Brand now garners more than a billion dollars of sales per year, year after year. Having developed the art of storytelling throughout the years, the stage became the perfect place for Brian to present to business owners the ups—and downs—of being an entrepreneur. He found that he not only enjoyed giving these talks, but his audiences were responding in wide embrace to his stories like he never could have imagined. The size and scope of the audiences grew and now he is one of the most sought-after speakers in the world today. He brings a magical mix of real world street smarts, kindness, compassion and respect for the entrepreneurial drive—all of which fits business of any size. And, yes, he still continues to surf when he’s not on tour. To book Brian Smith, please contact Kelly at (717) 781-0838 or Kelly@UGGfounder.com. Brian can be reached at Brian@UGGfounder.com.
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Brian Smith was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A chartered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most sought after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching his breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal vision and spirituality into company culture. Brian and I discuss; The motivation for business Bringing a trend from Australia to California Challenges he overcame in the early days like getting distribution for his product How exercise and meditation helps him manage stress in business How to create demand for a product that the market doesn't necessarily know it "needs". The brand re-alignment that created the tipping point for Ugg's His four mantras for business. Important things to understand if your goal is to build an iconic brand and more... Other Links: The Birth of a Brand (book) Sponsor/Partnership: TubeBuddy's channel management browser plugin helps content creators, brands, and networks save time and grow their brands directly from within YouTube.
Brian Smith was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A chartered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded $1 billion of international sales times over. A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most sought after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching his breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal vision and spirituality into company culture. Brian Smith has recently written a book based upon his journey from conceiving the idea, all the way to selling the business as a national brand. The books theme is that you can't give birth to adults. Every business starts with conception, then birth...the long infancy, then toddling, youth and teenage phases. This understanding is powerful, as hundreds of people in his keynote speaking seminars tell that they were about to give up on their dream, but now they identify themselves in one of the early phases. This gripping story of ecstatic highs and crushing lows of UGG, and Brian show how you can dig deep to overcome every obstacle in your path. Called The Birth Of A Brand, the book is available on Amazon, and you can download the first chapter free from his website, www.BRIANSMITHSPEAKER.com. www.BRIANSMITHSPEAKER.com https://twitter.com/briansmithugg https://www.facebook.com/BrianSmithUGGFounder/
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http://www.briansmithspeaker.com/ () Brian Smith was born in Australia, where he developed his love of surfing. A chartered accountant, he studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. The UGG brand has since exceeded $1 billion of international sales times over. A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most sought after business leaders in the country today. As a media guest and inspiring speaker, he is committed to teaching his breakthrough business strategies to entrepreneurs and translating personal vision and spirituality into company culture. Brian spends his time with family and friends in Southern California, still surfs, plays golf and attempts to improve the planet everyday. Strategies used to fund business We didn’t know what our strategy was back then. None of us had the money, so Doug and I borrowed $500 to buy the first samples from the manufacturer. Founders Doug was his surfing buddy. Brian saw a photograph in the surf magazine, looked at Doug and asked, “Hey Doug, you wanna go into business? We are going to be millionaires.” How did you choose the name for your company and how important was that in establishing your brand? Nobody knows who started the name Ugg. The name was pretty generic in Australia, but in American law, nobody had brought in sheep skin boots and stayed there, so I was the first one to register the name. Do you think Ugg boots for men will make a comeback with Tom Brady back in the scene? It already has. We originally made it a hit with surfers. Then all the moms were buying it for the kids at Christmas. Then got in the snowboard and ski market. But when we went back east, we discovered in Minnesota that ice hockey was bigger than surfing and every kid has to go to the rink and they have to change shoes. And so these moms had to sit in these 40 degree rinks watching and it was a perfect market to switch over and I started sponsoring pro hockey players and that’s what got it kicked off. So when I sold the company, the new company Decker’s Corp took it on and that’s when they started to realize that they had to build a men’s market. And Tom Brady was a natural. Describe a moment when you felt like giving up I should have given up after selling those 28 pairs that first year. But I couldn’t because I had $15,000 and 480 pairs left in the warehouse. So I couldn’t give up and started selling in swap meets.Believe it or not, the biggest sales came from opening up the van at Malibu beach. HUGE SUCCESS Just starting is the most success I’ve had. Superpower The reason why Ugg and everything exists is the result of my tenacity. It took me 10 years to graduate as an accountant for a 4 year course. I refused to give up. And then when I quit and got into the Ugg business, there were so many times, so many disasters when I could have just stopped. But I just had this tenacity that now I believe in it. I don’t care how hard it is right now, I think I can overcome this obstacle. Kryptonite Every person has an element of this. It’s doubting your self worth. Overcoming that negativity and lack of self-worth and identity. That’s always been my biggest Achilles heel. IF YOU CAN HAVE ANY SUPERPOWER… Capacity for unselfish love. If you can take every action of your day as a loving action, as long as I have that knowing that I’m doing the best I can and the best for everybody, then you end up being not so affected by all the pricks out there that get in your face and sometimes you just begin avoiding them. RECOMMENDED BOOKS http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1582705356/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1582705356&linkCode=as2&tag=stalifhac-20&linkId=RGEFYV2ZAEZHHCD3 ()...
On episode #305, Brian Smith, founder of the iconic UGG boots, shares lessons learned in creating a strong brand. Also, learn how to have a big exit from your company by selling it for the maximum amount that it is worth. Are you stressed in your company? Learn how to relieve your stress in just 60 seconds. Finally, keep up with the big changes that are coming down the line for domain names and find out what your business needs to do to take advantage of it all. Brian Smith was born in Australia, studied at the UCLA Graduate School of Management, and with $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. www.briansmithspeaker.com Bo Burlingham is an editor at Inc Magazine and the author of Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big and his new book Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top. www.boburlingham.com Jenny C. Evans is the founder and CEO of PowerHouse Performance, the author of The Resilency Revolution, a speaker, and on-air expert on resiliency, stress, exercise physiology, nutrition, and health. http://ph-performance.com/Stuart Fuller is director of commercial operations and communications at NetNames and specializes in the issues affecting brands online. http://www.netnames.com/Sponsored by Sage and Nextiva.