043: Turning Trash into a $600M/Year Junk Removal Empire with Brian Scudamore

Brian Scudamore is a serial entrepreneur recognized for building 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, a junk removal company operating 2,000 trucks and generating $600M/year in revenue.

He is the founder and CEO of O2E Brands, an umbrella company that includes 1-800-GOT-JUNK?, WOW 1 DAY PAINTING, and Shack Shine. Since 1999, O2E has expanded to 254 franchise locations and employs nearly 500 people.

In this episode, Brian shares the story of dropping out of school to bootstrap a junk hauling company from the ground up. While it took him 8 years to hit the $1M mark, you’ll hear how he systematized the business and used the franchise model to scale to $600M/year in revenue. 

We also talked about his process for hiring high-quality people, the PR strategy he used to get the attention of major media outlets, and his tips for building a brand that people will never forget.

Key Takeaways with Brian Scudamore

• People don’t fail; systems do. Brian explains how he systematized his business and used the franchise model to scale 1-800-GOT-JUNK?.
• The interviewing process Brian used to hire nearly 500 people.
• How to create a vision that inspires amazing people to work for you.
• How Brian used storytelling to get free PR from major media outlets like The Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and more.
• The power of branding and how to measure its effectiveness.
• The parallels between running a family and running a business.
• Dropping out of college to continue growing his junk removal business.
• Why hitting the $1B mark may be easier than reaching $100M, $10M, or even $1M in revenue. 

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BAM! 💥