UGG´s Founder Reveals – From Surfer Bum to Successful Entrepreneur, with Brian Smith

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We have a lot of great guests on Hardcore MBA, and many of our listeners will already have heard of at least some of them through reading blogs about entrepreneurship and business. But it’s rare for us to get the founder of a brand which is a true household name. Brian Smith is exactly that, having kickstarted the trend for Ugg boots in North America. His story is one of perseverance and refusing to let the size of a task get you down.

During the podcast, Brian and I discuss:

• How Brian and his business partner pushed through the early, difficult years of selling boots out of the back of a van.
• The importance of adapting a marketing plan to accommodate different markets across the country.
• And how to stay relaxed even during the high-pressure moments we experience as businesspeople.

Brian tells me, “the best way of preparing yourself to run a business and deal with the different stages of business growth would probably be to go to college. But here’s the catch – if you go to college, you probably won’t become an entrepreneur, because you’ll understand so clearly how difficult it is. If I’d sat down and looked at the obstacles I was obviously going to face in making Ugg boots as big as they are today, I probably would have given up on the spot. To be a great entrepreneur, you need to have a certain amount of ignorance about that kind of thing.”

Brian has been collecting together the many lessons he’s learned during his time as an entrepreneur and business owner, and the results can be found in his book The Birth of a Brand, his YouTube channel, and on his website. He’s finishing off a new book as we speak, so keep your eyes open for that in the coming months.