Keys To Build a Billion Dollar Brand

26 May Keys To Build a Billion Dollar Brand

Posted at 16:12h in Blog, Entrepreneur Tips, Interviews by Brian Smith

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What a thrill ride talking about how a billion dollar brand is built was on Mark Sephton’s BRAINZ podcast. He gave a great surfing story that is a great analogy to building a business. Mark relayed, that “When a surfer awaits a great wave to catch him/her. And if you catch it right it brings you to shore. If you catch it wrong it will bury you.” As an avid surfer, I totally agree, every surfer will get bogged at one time or many times. But that’s part of getting the board out and going again. That’s exactly what an entrepreneur needs to do, is get back up after a setback and go at it again with a new lesson, strategy and insight.

Why I sold UGG in 1995?

Every entrepreneur needs to know the right time to sell their business. There were three reasons why I sold. First, it was the right time for the UGG brand came in 1995 after we received 18 million dollars in sales and we realized we couldn’t deliver. And we knew that the pre-season orders were going to be over 25 million and we weren’t capitalized. I didn’t know what to do, but in this recent interview (video below), I share the story of synchronicity of how the right sale.

The second reason I sold had to do with knowing myself. I am good at the startup phase, where it’s chaotic and unpredictable. When we grew and became more corporate the dynamics of business include meetings, multiple people to make decisions, and being a part of meeting after meeting. This is something I don’t enjoy.

The third reason it was perfect to sell UGG was my own experience level. It’s one thing to start a successful business but there is a whole different skill set required to take a brand worldwide. An entrepreneur must know when to expand into a corporate infrastructure. If you’re not experienced in running a worldwide brand, then bring in or sell to those who are. There will always be drawbacks and hurdles to overcome in the process but the right team will get the ship on course.

You need to know how to birth a brand, raise it like your own child and then hand her off to a new life after walking her down the aisle. This process of birthing and raising a brand is covered in my book, “The Birth of a Brand“.

You can hear how the handoff of the UGG brand went in detail in the interview below.

How to Birth A Brand

My best advice is to start. Because once you start down a path, the universe will conspire to work with you. The resources will show up. They won’t show up if you don’t start and follow through. If you know you have a good product proven to be liked by your market and there is a strong market, then hang in there. As I describe in the podcast, I had to try many ways to get the UGG brand known and valued. There is a trigger that the niche will respond to. You need to find it and appropriately present it. I had to learn this the hard way. But once you get the marketing and advertising in sync, your brand will take off.

How To Take Criticism About Your Business

Every good entrepreneur learns to pivot. You’ll hit walls as long as you are open to learning from them you’ll find the solutions. As I’ve said before, the most disappointing disappointments nearly always become your greatest blessings. This is how you’re going to grow and expand.

Buy Brian’s book, “The Birth of a Brand” here