2017EPISODESManagement & SystemsSeptember

EPISODE#11

By September 7, 2017 September 29th, 2020 No Comments


Unleashing Entrepreneurial Creativity and Running 8 Successful Businesses, with Brian Burt

Entrepreneurial creativity is one of those things that isn’t right when the two words are split apart – like peanut butter and jelly – like Dean Holland and “beard.” Our guest on this episode is a guy who lives out what it means to be a creative entrepreneur. Brian Burt oozes entrepreneurialism. As the owner of 8 successful businesses he knows a thing or two about building and sustaining companies and on this episode of Just The Tips, Dean and I did our best to squeeze that information out of him. And he didn’t even cry – much. You’ve got to hear this guy’s entrepreneurial stories, they start way back from when he was a kid running a lemonade stand in his neighborhood.

This guy was born an entrepreneur. He actually franchised lemonade stands as a kid.

Brian Burt is somebody I knew was a great entrepreneur the first time I met him. But I didn’t know HOW great he is until he told us this story: When he was a kid, like a lot of us, he set up a pretty cool lemonade stand, complete with Paula Abdul songs blasting from a boombox. He did so well the first year he decided to franchise his ideas and approach to the kids in his neighborhood and wound up buying a car for his mom. No kidding. This guy was born to build businesses and on this episode, he gives us a peek into the mind of a business-building master. You’ll enjoy this one.

He got so good at ranking his auto glass website he was accused of monopolizing Google.

When Brian Burt first started his own auto glass business he was doing very well through door to door marketing. Then he heard about the internet and started exploring how he could use it to get even more business. That’s when he discovered how to rank his sites for top page exposure on Google. His competition didn’t like how much business he was getting so they threatened to sue him for monopolizing Google. Can you imagine? This guy’s entrepreneurial creativity knows no bounds, and in this conversation, he reveals how he does it, so be sure you listen.

If you want to unleash your entrepreneurial creativity, become a ruthless executer.

When Dean asked Brian Burt what he does to be so successful day to day as he runs his 8 businesses (Yes, I said 8) – he said he’s simply learned that his success is not at all about how many great ideas he has, it’s about how many of them he actually takes action on. In his words, you have to become a “ruthless executer” – putting action behind the things that will move your business forward. Of course, you have to learn how to do that with wisdom and effectiveness, but action is typically the missing part for aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs. You can hear how he applies it in Brian’s own words on this episode of Just The Tips.

Building a productivity snowball by ignoring Brian Tracy’s advice.

What’s a day in the life of a creative entrepreneur like? Brian Burt says he has to start out by getting the smaller things out of the way first. That enables him to create momentum – a productivity snowball is what he calls it – and it carries him on to the bigger, more important things and he’s really able to get important stuff done. That flies in the face of what Brian Tracy wrote in “Eat That Frog” – and he knows it. But he says Tracy’s approach simply doesn’t work for him and suspects that many other entrepreneurs are the same way. You can find out why he’s willing to buck conventional business advice and go his own way, and how it’s been so successful for him, on this episode.

Outline of This Episode

  • [2:16] Brian Burt: introducing the legend who franchised lemonade stands as a kid.
  • [7:30] Building an auto glass company and being sued for monopolization of Google.
  • [10:28] How Brian has faced the challenges of entrepreneurial ADD.
  • [15:15] Brian’s fundamental tips for how to start and sustain a successful business.
  • [17:28] A day in the life of a guy who owns and runs 8 companies.
  • [20:34] Learning to offload the minutia to unleash entrepreneurial creativity.
  • [24:34] Why Brian is making a focus on communities his retirement plan.

Resources & People Mentioned

Music for “Just The Tips” is titled, “Happy Happy Game Show” by Kevin MacLeod (http://incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

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