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Building Doors is a podcast about Inspiring Leaders who have created their own opportunities and are thought leaders, industry advocates and change makers in their field. This podcast gives you the resources, insights and steps to stop waiting for opportunities and start building your doors for success. Listen to this podcast to gain the resources, career tips and hands-on advice on how you can gain clarity and build doors in your own life and career.
Welcome to the Building Doors podcast, Brandon. I'm really excited to get you on. I have done a mastermind with you recently and you were the first person that made me realize the power of video. So I'm so keen to go through and get everyone to learn a little bit more about you. And yeah, how you rose to the success that you've got today.
So let's start by giving a bit of an intro about you, all great things. BrAndon T Adams is a two time Emmy award winning producer, TV host, media expert, investor, and advisor. He's the founder of Accelerant Media Group, which promotes commercials, social media content, and TV shows. Brandon is best known for his work as the host and executive producer of the Emmy award winning show, Success in Your City, which is a show on a mission to redefine the meaning of success.
The show is also accompanied by the number one best selling book, The Road to Success, How to Achieve Success in Business, Life and Love, which was written by Brandon and his wife, Samantha Rosson. Brandon and Samantha went on to create Rise and Record, an event that is about sharing your story through video content and helping others get their message seen throughout the videos.
Brandt Adams owns an advisory and marketing agency with his business partner, Kevin Harrington, an original shark from the hit TV show, shark Tank. Their company helps scale companies to nine and 10 figures. They currently manage a portfolio of companies with a combined value of over 750 million that will soon be worth over $1 billion in value.
Brandon's expertise in business growth has led to successful campaigns across diverse industries such as tech, telehealth, marketing, blockchain, entertainment and film, franchising, and consumer products. Over the past 10 years, Brandon has used his background And expertise in digital marketing, video marketing, and crowdfunding to raise over 90 million collaboratively for various companies.
And he's launched some of the biggest campaigns in history, working with companies such as XPRIZE, the Napoleon Hill Foundation, Kevin Harrington Enterprises, Think and Grow Rich The Legacy, Jeff Hoffman, the serial entrepreneur behind Priceline, Wicked Tuna, The Drip Bar, and more. One of the things I love about Brandon and his video content is the moment you search him across the internet, you will find engaging video assets and are quickly able to build that know and trust connection with his work.
The tricky part with Brandon was pinning just one topic to cover in the podcast. And so instead, we're going to explore today the success he has built across different endeavors and really lock in some of those underlying themes that we can all apply in our own lives. Thank you so much for being a guest on the podcast.
Wow. What an amazing career.
Wow. I was, there's a lot. I go down memory lane, I think about all that you share and I'm like, man, there was a lot of battle scars.
There's just so much that you've accomplished. And I think. What I really wanted to focus on today is I guess looking at the pivotal moments through that journey, because there's been a lot that you've covered, but what would some of the pivotal moments that took you in those different directions as, rise and record the work that you've been doing there and entrepreneur and all from the ice fields, tell us.
So I think I look at it this way. I've made a lot of pivots in my career, so I'd go after something. Achieve, and then sometimes maybe it wouldn't work, but I would make a little pivot. And so I look at pivots in my life. So starting in the ice business, delivering packaged ice for a living. The pivot for me in that business was, I was really inspired by a guy named Napoleon Hill.
I read the book, think and go rich. And it changed how I thought made me realize that anything's possible. I could more things. I could be the best in the ice business, whatever that was. And that led me down a path of thinking, how could I make more money? How could I expand my thought in the ice business?
At that time, I invented a product called Arctic Stick to cool and flavor drinks. And so I'm going after this endeavor. While on the pursuit of that, it led me to other things. So it led me to marketing. I was pitching led me to crowdfunding, fundraising, and then eventually video production. So in that process, we talk about the pivot is I saw the opportunity to become an expert in a niche.
And this time. Crowdfunding. And so I became the expert. I started a company back then called keys of the crowd. Now Excel or media group. And so pivot, that was a new change in my life. And then where the real kind of aha moment came for me, where things change is where I saw the power of film, video content and storytelling.
And I saw how. So a video helped raise money for our product endeavors. We did some of the biggest book launches we did launch for films, TV shows, products, you name it. And I saw that the video asset was a key component. So once I realized that I said, okay, let's start Excel, our media group, let's start creating more content.
Let's help other people with their content. And then I started doing my own video content as well. So I was doing TV shows, I've been part of films and everything else. And then, okay. If I can build the Brandon T Adams brand, but also I can use my knowledge and expertise to help build other brands. I can start building out my portfolio and my wealth by taking equity in these different companies and then also building my brand and making money in the process.
So long story short. By pursuing different things, I saw opportunities and I pivoted. I saw, wow, the power of telling a story, wow, the power of video. And then I doubled down, tripled down, went all in and then it got me to where I'm at today. So now I'll have. Multiple things. You shared all the things like I have investment in a large group of companies.
I do events. I do things that I love and it goes around. Okay. How can I build my wealth? How can I add value to people? But also how can I do things? I really love to around educating and teaching, creating video content, putting on events. So it is all. Ties together in some way. It seems very complicated.
People like all you so many things, but really I have two main lanes of what I do. One is I help scale companies through capital, video marketing and connections. The other side is I educate and empower people through my events, through my content, through my education, and that ultimately helps people, but it also brings over here.
They both supplement each other because it brings more investment opportunities. Gotcha.
So if you're looking at a video as an asset for a business, what do you think are some of the blockers people have about getting out there and creating videos, promoting their
businesses? So a couple of things. One is let me first ask you, you said, I encourage you to do your first video, was it?
Yes. Yes. So why didn't you do video before?
I think there's something vulnerable about putting video out there. And for me, there's that element of needing for it to be perfect and constantly getting stuck in your head and going. It, you are exposing, if you put a video out there, you exposing yourself to criticism as well.
And I think for me, what held me back is it wasn't something a lot of people were doing at that time in my industry and recruitment, and it was a bit different. And I think was just that vulnerability piece
that kind of helped me. So what you just said is exactly what I was about to say in a different way.
So you're right. Don't know what to say. They scared shitless to get on the camera. They don't know how I'm going to look. They're afraid what other people will think of them. And then also they want it to be just perfect. Honestly, like real authentic and just off the cuff kind of content.
Sometimes it performs better than the high production stuff. So creating video content is really sharing your story, getting in front of the camera and putting out content and really building a brand. What is a brand? It's what people consistently see, it's branded in their brain. So for me, I'm sharing who I am, what I do for a living.
I'm sharing how I help people and I'm repeating it and I'm doing it every single day. Eventually I'm branding it into people's brains and eventually they're like, Oh. I'm going to go to Brandon for that, or they're going to tell their friends. And then they're going to refer their friends to come to me to follow me, check out my stuff, eventually lead some more clients.
But again, going back to why do people not create content? They don't know what to say. They're afraid of what people think. And they think, oh, it's not going to be good enough.
Yeah. And when you look at companies, so I see so much synergy in what you do, and we work with companies a lot of the time on employee value proposition, or why would someone want to work for your business?
And then a lot of the time we see companies, particularly in the construction and engineering space, which is where we do a lot of work, where all you're seeing is the projects that they do, there's no lens. into what it's like to work for that business. So when you're focusing on video content for companies and growing businesses, what are the, some of the different facets that you look at or that you think they should be putting out there about their brand to get and stay in consumers minds?
So there's two sides of how I look at content. There's a personal brand and personal story around who you are. Then there's the business side of, okay, what you do to help people. People buy from people they like, trust and know. And you look at some of the biggest commercials, even like what Apple would do.
They're drawing emotion. Some of it's not even talking about Apple. It's showing a story. And it's showing somebody living their life at the end, it shows Apple because Apple products make your life better. They, and so it's like, how can you in any company tell a story of the company, who's behind the company, who's involved, what do they stand for?
What are their belief systems and what do they do to help people make their lives better? And so that's your content. Now, a personal brand. And I'm talking about content. I'm literally sharing inside my life. I'm showing for one. I run, I go to the gym inside my life. What am I doing? I'm connecting with people and showing I have a hard work ethic.
I like to exercise, but also there's other people to exercise. They're going to connect with me on another level. What am I also doing? I'm sharing when I'm with my niece and nephew with my wife showing that I'm a husband showing that I have a niece and nephew. Thank you. I'm building commonality with my audience now, business side.
What am I doing right here as we're doing this podcast right now? I'm doing my team is getting behind the scenes when I'm going and speaking on stage. I'm showing behind the scenes when I'm meeting with big companies and we're doing investment dinner or we're doing a meeting. I'm showing behind the scenes because it's one thing to say what you do, but it's another thing to actually show it.
Yeah, because when you show it, you build that connection, which ultimately leads to More opportunity, more deal flow, more, heck, they might refer something they might, it might not even, it might be your next best friend. Because I've had experiences where people reached out from video and it led to a solid relationship.
So you just don't know what it could lead to. I want
to talk about your book because one of the things I said to you before we started is it's, to me a lot of it as well signifies The quality of our relationships and obviously you wrote the book with your wife and, the two of you were going on this journey to define success.
Tell me about your relationship journey as a couple and how that helps inspire your success and helps propel you forward in your
life. Yeah, so our journey, our relationship. Is just like a business relationship and journey in life. We've been together now. It's crazy saying this a decade.
And we, October 13th is our five year anniversary. And so five years married and we've had ups and downs we've had. There's anybody that's been in marriage long enough. And if they tell you that they never thought about calling it quits, they're full of shit because it's been times like, I, can we continue to do this?
So we're fighting, things are working, especially with the life I live because I'm constantly working. I'm traveling, but I'm extremely focused. And sometimes I, the way I am as a person, sometimes I lose focus of what is important. My wife, because I'm so deep into a project. But over time you really get this bond where you understand each other.
And going into, I'll give you the example, the TV show and where we're at today. So 2017, we were not even engaged yet. And I said, why don't we travel the country and find the true meaning of success and film a TV series on it. That was a big, getting my wife on board for that because I had just done a TV show and do it.
It's a, she didn't care about being in front of the camera or anything. And so we ended up doing it. Travel the country. When we went out for this mission, we didn't think it was going to be as hard as we thought it would. We were funding the show. We casting production, everything we were doing the whole thing.
And and then add to it, traveling around the country, living in a hotel room, and then add this. Two months into the whole project, I almost went bankrupt and buying out a business partner, going through all this stuff. And so that is a struggle. And we had just gotten engaged. So like we're starting this whole, like we're engaged.
We're getting married later that year. We're trying to do a show, trying to run businesses. So many things came up. And so we go through that year. We ended up getting married. We never like didn't call it quits at one point. I thought we were going to call it quits, got married, and then I'll throw this in there, got married, did the show.
We had just won some Emmys and stuff. And then I almost went bankrupt again because literally. What I was doing is I'd put everything I had into a show into my business, everything. I had a few things go wrong. And for people listening, there's been down this road. Things can happen really quick. And I lost everything.
The bank took everything on my land repossessed my vehicle debt collectors. We didn't have enough money for food. Like my wife was depressed and I felt like a piece of shit because here I am. I took her on the stream of vision. I said, we're going to do this together. And she lost even hoping me.
And when she lost hope in me, I'm like, I felt like nothing, every morning, like visualizes every morning I'd wake up and I know that I'm going to get 20 calls from debt collectors today. I had to put my phone and do not disturb. I have no money. I'm three weeks late on my rent. My father is no longer talking to me because of certain reasons.
I, what happened with in the whole debt situation? And I don't know what I'm going to do, but I have to show up. I have to create videos. I have to go on camera and I have to keep pushing forward. And I'm a half a million in debt, by the way. And I chose not to go bankrupt. And I said, I have to figure out what I'm going to do.
And so I'd wake up early knowing that my wife is depressed. I would go to the gym. I would crush my negative thoughts into the gym. I'd wake up. I would do my work and go through the day, wake up and do it again. And so for about. Eight months of that timeframe, it was the hardest thing for me when I felt like there was no hope, but I kept pushing forward.
I listened to things. I went to friends like James Whitaker was a good friend that I went to. I went to other mentors and I just said, Hey, like here, I was real. I would call them up and say, Hey, I'm not asking for money. I want guidance. I'm broke. I just sold my guitar. I sold things off my walls. I have no fucking money.
I feel like a complete failure. I feel like I failed my wife, everybody around me. What do I do? And those little like moments of them giving me insight, gave me just a little bit of inspiration. And what happened is I kept pushing forward. My whole theme is never give up. And so I kept pushing forward.
And then as I kept pushing through those tough days, all of a sudden a deal would come. Okay. I got some money opportunity would come. Got some money and then I started accelerating more and then what really changed for me is I was pushing, and I got more into consulting for equity and I got into doing different programs and trainings and I went from like having nothing to having multi, multimillion dollar business and going to a different level of growth.
And I share that story because, and I don't even know what the original question you had for me, I think is relationships. Is if you never quit, you will achieve your success. And in a relationship, my wife and I are very happily married. I love her dearly. I'd do anything for her. She makes me a stronger and better person.
And everything we went through now rise and record the event we do together. Yeah. The reason for that, why is it called rise and record is rise up and share your story and record video content and getting through the TV show and everything we've done. We found when we share our story. And moments like I just shared with you, we, we help people get through their own obstacles.
There's probably people listening right now that might be going through the same shit that I went through. So it helps them. But also you look at from a story standpoint, people buy into your story and when you can put more content out around your story, you can grow your business, you can help more people.
And in my relationship, if I was going to have any advice and. My wife, my lap is sometimes I'm not always the best advice for this. I feel like I got things, communication, communicating to your partner. And also this is a simple one and I think it's necessary as one date night a week. One date night a week and we go on a date and we have our time together, even if things are shitty and that's important.
So that's the whole journey of it all.
I'm super curious to explore what. Being at the bottom of bottoms and having, and having to be back, backdated with rent and just being at the low of lows with your own personal journey. And then now, being successful and, being, having wealth and power and position, what did the journey from being right at the bottom to being, in, in the top, of where you can be career wise, what did that teach you about
success?
Thanks. So I am very grateful. I think any way that's achieved a massive amount of success or built anything, they've experienced exactly what I did, because if they didn't try hard enough. They didn't push hard enough and for every level there's another devil. There's more opportunity, more obstacles.
You look at like Elon Musk. Look what he, the things he did. I don't know. Most people don't know when he sold PayPal. He put everything he had into his other companies and he said either they work or not. If they don't, I have nothing. And I would say when I was in rock bottom, I remember telling myself, I'll tell you one specific moment that I'll never forget.
It was 2019 and I was, again I was making money. I'm making what some people say, decent money. It all went to debt because I was trying, I was too stubborn to file bankruptcy. And so I'll never forget. I was home in my town in Iowa. My wife is in Minnesota, cold winter, and she called me and said, Brandon I don't know where their vehicle went.
And she's I can't find the vehicle. And she's I swear it was there. And I was late on the vehicle. It got repossessed. And she was at work. She's embarrassed. Everybody's going to find out. And she had to get an Uber and go back to her place, 20 minute drive. And it's cold winter. And I just remember being home with my parents because I was back home.
And I felt like I couldn't do anything. I couldn't. It's four hours away. It was late at night. And in that moment, I blew up. I had a water in my hand. Fucking threw it down. I ran down to my bedroom where I grew up and I started screaming and bawling and said, I'll never fucking be like this again. This will never happen to me again because it was I felt like I was, I had nothing.
And the woman I loved. Believed in me and I failed her and I said, I'm going to be so fucking successful and wealthy And i'm going to make sure that i'd be the best I can be And I did I that was like it completely took my heart out and just crushed it in that moment But it got fuel for me to realize that I'm going to get through this.
And I did get through it. It, that was like the moment of defining for me. And I went on to make more money. I want to take more obstacles. When I say make money and I say this in a way, because I like to people to know what's possible. Like I have multiple companies. I have a large portfolio, someone, a minor shareholder, some of them, a majority shareholder every day I'm making money on stuff and building wealth.
I'm not doing anything now, I'm giving advice here and there and I'm very grateful for that. And I'm just to let people know what's possible. I had nothing, I lost everything and now I have a platform to help other people. I want to help them understand how to build wealth. I want to people around me, I want to help them grow and make a lot of money and grow personally in every area of their life.
And I want to create something that's legacy. And I share that story because I want people to know that I was rock bottom. And I don't say I'm on the top because I got a long ways to go, but I'm on a groove and a wave that's going upward. Glad to be here.
You mentioned something which I think is really important around the people that were there for you.
You mentioned James and I know that you've got a really close friendship with James. I love them. Yeah. Yeah. What did you learn about friendships as well and the community you create, because that's been something consistent throughout your theme. You've got Rise and Record, which you do with your wife as well.
And you did mention there reaching out to help and not being afraid to do that, do you, how important is that community?
It's so important. I look at, I go back to thinking rich. I, the, in that book, they talk about, there's a chapter in the six cents and Napoleon Hill had, he'd go to bed at night and he'd have this dream group of people.
Some people live, some people dead. And it was his mastermind. And so for me, I've always had my mastermind of people that I go to like for advice and in different realms, business finances, Health, all of it. And so I would go back to all the people I built relationships with and when you build relationships, the right people, those relationships will not let you fail.
And so I would call them up and I would just say, Hey, what do you think of this? Call James. I called you name it. I called him up. Then you find out to who weren't actually your true friends because when you need them, they weren't there. And it really, I think it was more just not coaching, but making you feel.
No, it's all right. And then they would share ops when they went through obstacles and just I don't know, somebody talked to like a therapist, you know what I mean? And I was grateful that I had built those connections early in my career, because if I didn't have those people, what do you do?
Some people are afraid to open up. And for a while I didn't talk to anybody because I didn't want them to know I was in this thing. But then I just started because I was like, I don't give a fuck. If I don't open up with Nothing's going to help me. No. It, I will say though, what I went through helped me in negotiation and sales skills beyond anything.
Nothing's more like I had to negotiate with bankers and debt collectors and actually make it where I would get things in my favor. Otherwise, it wouldn't go so good. And so when you can negotiate with a banker or other people, there's always a way to get what you want. There's always a way and most people don't.
No, what I'm talking about when it comes to that kind of negotiate, Donald Trump's been through it.
Yeah, tell us about it. Tell us about the negotiation. Give us, if someone's listening, what are some things, because in business, even career, you're negotiating your salary reviews every.
single step where you might be starting a business, progressing in your career, whatever your goal may be, there is a form of negotiation you're going to hit. So what are some top tips on negotiating? So
first off, confidence is key. You have to really believe what you're doing, whether you're asking for more money in salary, you're charging more for what you do, or you're trying to get the banker to do something in your favor so you can get a loan or you can get out of your situation.
So confidence. And I would say when I'm talking to these debt collectors or bank or anything, I had a plan. Whether the plan was going to work or not, I was convincing on what my plan was. Hey, here's my situation. Here's where I'm at, but I know I can do this. And if I have at least four months of runway for this, I can help to get to this, which would be to pay a loan back to pay a monthly fee.
And you had to show the path. The beautiful thing that I had back then is I had. Very powerful relationships. Never ask them for money, by the way, never. And that, because that's where you ruin relationships. Never ask them for money, I ask them for wisdom. And I had relationships that were very influential.
When I spoke to these entities, they saw that, and then they had more faith on what I could do. I showed my track record of what was coming. Hey, here's what I have here's what I have here. Here's what I have coming in, and here's what I'm gonna do. A game plan to get out of this situation. And at that point, pay them back.
End. That's what I did. Confidence, have a game plan, and be very convincing on what your game plan is and how you're going to achieve it. Conf Okay, I want to really drill down. One more thing I want to share. Yeah? I once... I had a lady that would not let go of a debt and there was a lien on a thing, which allowed me not to sell a business.
And if she didn't release it, I was fucked. So like I couldn't sell the business. So my banker, no joke, said, you tell them if they don't release it, we're going to bankrupt you and they ain't going to get anything. Banker said that. Yeah. So I went. And this is the 22nd time I talked to that entity, that company, I won't say the name and he owed them money.
And 22nd time, I was four people up. They kept going higher and higher. And I just said in the realist, authentic voice, I said, here's the deal. I'm on your side. I'm in a really bad spot, obviously. And my banker said to tell you, or just said to me if you don't let this go, you're not going to get anything.
I want you. But I was acting as if I'm on their side, which I was. Is that one of them payback? I want you to get paid, but you have to release this. Otherwise, I can't sell the business and I'm dead in the water. They released it, sold the business. Got what I needed. Wow. Yes. I've never shared that story publicly.
Okay.
So how do you have, I'm fascinated by this innate confidence. How do you have the confidence to be able to, that you're on the brink of bankruptcy. You've had, you've been through the journey of having a car repossessed within, and obviously that was really emotional time for you.
How do you have that confidence and keep showing
up? Napoleon Hill says. Our brightest days are just beyond our darkest nights. And until I actually realized that and experienced for myself. I never really understood it. And so after I had a couple of really dark times, but also led to big successes, I know that I will be taken care of.
And if I keep going forward, I'll eventually get out of the, that there'll be light at the tunnel. It's like the three feet from gold story, literally you could be three feet from gold. Don't quit. And so that's one thing, but also the confidence to know that. I'm gonna do whatever it takes. I knew enough successful people that have been through obstacles like I had, and they made it through.
Why? They didn't quit. And so for me, that gave me confidence to know that if I just keep pushing forward, because one thing's for sure, if I didn't keep going forward, what's happened? You bankrupt. I'm done. You're done. But. If I keep going, eventually I'll figure the win. Now one thing that did give me a kick to the stomach, a realization is when one of my, somebody I looked up to said, Brandon, you may have to consider bankruptcy.
That hurt for me. So I didn't want to accept that. Which I never filed bankruptcy, but that, the fact that somebody looked up to said that to me made me realize, okay, I really got to figure this out because I had so many issues going on so many
things. Can I just say, I had no idea that this was your journey and I think it's so important to share because I knew a lot about your success and your businesses and James has always said, Brandon T Adams, he's just a gun.
sO driven. And then obviously when we were recording the podcast, it was a comment that was made as well. When Mike sat down, he's I love your work, man. You always keep pushing forward. I just did not realize how low you had got to get. to where you are today. And I think that it is an inspiration for people to really know, how far you've come as well.
So looking at the journey now and where you're at with the work that you do with businesses, have you had businesses that you've turned around that you're really proud of? Because you've been rock bottom and built a way forward, right? Have you had some examples of businesses where you've looked in the mirror of what you once were facing with maybe other businesses
and helped them?
Yeah. So I would say. Accelerate media group the company that we started six, seven years ago because in the middle of my seven year lifespan, I went through that and I had to completely like figure out how to keep going. And it was me personally, just basically putting everything on the line. That was one turnaround which that was interesting how it all came about, but I look at other companies.
Some of them, what happened is. I didn't shut them down. I just transitioned them. It goes back to pivots. Like for example, success in your city, success in your city was a TV show. We created a book out of it. We transitioned all that into rise and record. So basically what we took from the experience of success in your city, the show, the book and everything, we were doing some events.
We pivoted to something called rise and record. which was a sustainable and profitable business plan that also led to more opportunity in other areas of my investment companies. And so that was a pivot. So I think to answer that pivot more, and then also know when do I need to stop this, shut this down and transition to something else.
Do you find now, career wise, that you're, are you pivoting still regularly? Is that? Yeah. Because it seems to me that's a
consistent theme. For growth, you have to pivot or you have to trend, you have to change things. So what you did to get to here, is it going to, It won't get you to here. So I'm in that phase again now of, okay, growth and scale.
How do I delegate more, take away some of my time that was allocated here and put other things in, into place and do more of what I'm really meant to do because I have so many things. I have teams, I have all these different companies. My life is crazy. I'm in the Uber here. I had a call to jump on and I had five calls prior.
Yes. Like people talk about they don't have time. I woke up early. I did my run, my exercise, my calls, everything else. Podcast shows, meetings tonight. Like I've flown to cities just to do a couple of meetings, do some other stuff and fly out, go somewhere else. And so really being smart with your time and getting the right pieces in place.
And as you scale your companies and also the things you're working on, you have to figure out how to really be smart with your time, but also delegate. The key components to get things done. So you don't have to be in that actual position at that time.
So I love what you talked about with being smart in your time with your time, because I think a lot of founders, entrepreneurs, people that are scaling businesses, this is a huge struggle as well as.
handing over and knowing when to delegate because as you scale and you're constantly scaling, there's that consistent need to keep letting go of things that you might've owned before. So if you're looking at businesses that are scaling and that journey of letting go. How did you learn to be able to take, almost take that approach where your hands are on the wheel of some of these businesses and you're overseeing it.
So I'm doing it again right now. As we speak, I'm in the process of doing this. For one, get a really good operator. Get somebody that can do what you can't do. And what I mean by operator. They love the backend logistical things and they know how to put systems in place and they thrive off of that, but they don't for for me, they don't care to be in front of the camera.
They don't care to be out front. They don't want any of that. They don't want to do any of that. So what I love doing, I can do and what I hate doing, they can do. And so putting the right operator in place and what I, I guess what, where I've really understood how to scale is once you get so much demand and you're at a point where, you've tapped out, you realize, okay.
This is how much money I can make when it's just on me. Now I have to change the model to scale. So I have to change how much involvement is with me. So when that happens, I need to put things into place. So different team members that can take this task off, let them do it. Team member that can do this task and then I slowly step away and let the machine become its own thing that the ultimate thing, like everybody would say is, how can I step away from my business?
And it doesn't need me at all, and I can get paid. Without doing anything, this machine is there running it.
That's the holy grail for a lot of business owners. They want to be at that point, but they get stuck at a certain point when they're not getting past that ability to be able to put the right
people in place.
It's not easy. So here's the biggest, worst thing you should ever say. Nobody can do it as good as me. Okay. That may be true. But if you always have that mindset and say, I got to do it myself because nobody can do it like me, you will never scale. You might create a decent business. That's fine. But you're not going to scale a massive business.
So you have to put the right talent in place. Some people, they want to be the smartest guy in the room. I want to be the dumbest guy and I want to be around very smart people. And some people that like, I want to get the best deal and hire at the lowest price. I want to pay premium and I want to bring the best talent, which will help scale everything you're doing.
So thinking of it that way, another thing that I've done is there's this whole consulting for equity. And so it's something I've been doing now for a few years where I consult and I provide value in return for equity of companies and I get paid for my time. I'm scaling my wealth. Because I'm getting stock and equity in companies and I'm not having to put my own money in, but I'm providing my knowledge, my resources, my contacts to grow.
So I have dozens of companies that I'm a shareholder in some companies where I have so much equity in the company that other people put a million dollars worth in. I got the same amount, but I didn't pay anything. And so I'm providing my knowledge and resources and team resources to bring value to these companies and building out my wealth.
And by the way, I'm not having to pay taxes in certain situations. So I'm delaying the tax event. I'm doing it down the road because one thing that I'll say is it's one thing to make money. How much are you taking home? Yes. In Australia, we pay, yeah. That hurts. That hurts
because in Australia we pay huge taxes.
So fundamental, you've spoken about getting up for a run and things like that. And those that might've seen behind the scenes will see it a day in your life. I'm super curious to explore that daily routine you've had, right? Right from the ice business and then right through to the career that you have now.
What are the daily things that you do that set you up for success
every day? So I'll give you an example. When I'm at my home place, when I'm traveling, I still have the kind of similar, but time is a little different because I might be up till midnight or whatever, but when I'm home, I like to go to bed by 9 30 p.
m. I'm exhausted. So I go to bed by 9 30. I wake up at 4 15 a. m. And then my first 4 15 till 6 6 15 is this. I wake up. I. I go and I pray. I look at I have it's a big black book that has the past decade of my journals and entries and thoughts. I look at that. I look at some of my goals. So I do that.
And then what I do is I actually I changed this a little bit. Two years ago, I started doing work because I used to not believe in doing that, but I, now I do. I do some very important work right away in the morning because my creativity, my energy is such a high level that I can crush things. And then by six 15, I go exercise.
So I love, this is my perfect, I'll do a 45 minute gym workout and then I'll go run a 5k and I feel great. So then by that's six 15 set by seven 30, I'm back at my place and protein shake shower. I get into my day and I normally will not start my car calls until 9 or 10 because I want the morning to be all about me and everything I'm doing.
And then throughout my day, my calendars, everything I book some days, like 15, 20 calls and so back to back. And so client calls, conversation on opportunities, podcast shows, you name it. And it is book back to back. And and then I got, some days I'll work up until 9 PM and some days maybe at 6 PM I'm done.
And then I'll spend three hours with my wife. So that's like the routine, but now I look at a week. Okay, that's a day now. What am I? Weeks look like Monday through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday for me. I believe in like putting in the most work ever because then you feel like you got so much momentum going in the rest of the week.
So Mondays and Tuesdays I stack my calls and Wednesdays. Thursdays and Fridays I keep more open. I still do calls Thursday, but sometimes I'm speaking at events. Fridays I try to do no calls. It's all me. It's all my own time. Creativity. Because if you get stuck in the hamster wheel of doing constant calls, you don't have time to think about, okay, what do I need to a high level for my business?
And then Saturday, Sunday, I'm still working. I'm doing some of my wife, but I'm looking at, okay, I work on things that are more looking at the massive goals. I'm working on tasks. I didn't get done during the week. And then Sunday I plan out my whole week. Yeah. So that's yeah. The whole grand scheme of things of how I look at my days, it's so
structured and well thought out as well, and there's very, it's very intentional, which I think people often just roll you have
to be intentional.
Yeah, you think about your calendar. I remember when I first started out in my early twenties, like I didn't have an encounter days, like hours go by, I get nothing done now. Like I'll set 30 minute increments. I'll even put time in of, Hey, I need to do this task. And then I'm just, I live by it.
Like I'll fast too. So I like, like yesterday, for example, I didn't eat until 6 p. m. So I go all day. I black coffee and I fast because I love food, but food is inconvenient sometimes because I have to go get food. I'm taking time out of my day. So I just don't eat. And that's just my own weird way of being efficient.
I think I, I love that quote that they say run the day or the day runs you. Yeah. And it's clear that I
make the day my bitch. Make
the day your bitch, people. You heard it here first. Look, Brandon, from all the work that you've been doing and over your career, looking back, what do you want your legacy to be for your life's
work?
Yeah. A legacy I'm 33. What I say now could change in five years and 10 years. I do know this. I want to be known for somebody that was really committed to what they were doing. And at this point in my life, it's committed to building wealth. It's committed to helping people share stories and building something that makes impact in people's lives and through other capital or helping them communicate their message or growing their company.
Because when you think about when we grow companies, yes, everybody makes more money, but. Provides more jobs, provides more impact for the world. All so many great things come from that. And so that's my main focus now. But if I look at my deathbed, I don't know where I'm going to be. I'm 33. Maybe I live 133.
I don't know if they upload me to the cloud, what happens, but I will say this. I want people to remember me as a guy. That was the hardest working guy that took action and made an impact on anybody's life that he came in contact with, whether it's a videos in person like this. And so when I'm doing something, I want to make that experience for somebody that they don't forget it.
And I want them to remember me by that because that's. I'm very committed to being the best I can be. Sometimes I struggle with never being enough and everything I do is not enough and I gotta be reminded like, Hey, I've done a lot. But it is one thing I struggle with, but I, again, it goes back to, I'm trying to just do the best I can do and be the best I can be for me.
I think that you are you uncovered something that's important for people to recognize is just because someone appears, comes across confident doesn't mean that they don't have their own demons or their own narrative of, I'm not enough or things that they have to overcome to show up every day as well.
I've struggled with it my entire life and it comes to my childhood and a lot of things you look at. People, whatever drove them to be successful or do things in wrong ways, it all ties back to their adolescence when they were kids. And so for me, it was when I was a kid, I had a speech impediment and so I had a lisp and I got bullied and I had to go to special classes and I hated the fact that I wasn't like everybody else.
So what did I do? At that time, I practice and worked on perfected my speaking, which eventually did. But then how could I always seem like I'm worthy? How can I seem like I'm enough? And what I did is sports played rugby, played football, and then making money and then winning awards and all these things.
So I've always been driven. How can I. prove that I'm enough, prove enough to my wife, prove enough to my father, my family. And so I've gotten a lot better, but I would be lying if I said that I've completely overcome it because some mornings I feel like I'm not enough. I feel like I'm a piece of shit.
I feel like I, I have so much more to do. And as a good result, it drives me to do a lot, but a bad result. Sometimes I just struggle in my own mind and feeling like I'm worthy.
Thank you for sharing that because I think everyone's got their own perceptions or their own lens to the world that they're seeing every day and having to show up.
So I think, that some of those struggles that people have been through in their childhood, some of those, the way that they frame the world can be a double edged sword. What can also drive you can also.
Be a source of pain. And what you look at is, I've been through like, it's like a Tony Robinson steroids.
I've been through like MITT or some people call Landmark. Been through all those levels where they, the stuff you go through is crazy, but it actually is like a mirror of showing you who you are and some flaws of you. And until you like hit it head on and realize it, like there's some things in your life that probably aren't good.
And I realized I took some of the bad things out and then I took, okay, I know this, I acknowledge it, it's what drives me, but I need to make sure I'm spending, like caring about other people and not being so like vicious, like you're not, you need to do more of this, you got to treat them like humans.
And so I think we all should go through our own kind of like journey of figuring out what it is that is not good about us and what do we need to change? Yeah. And let people actually tell you. Be real with you and tell you dude ever notice you're a fucking asshole? HAve friends that'll actually tell you the truth, too.
Yeah you're an asshole or hey you ever realize you do this, and you don't realize that you're in this pattern until you have a mirror put in front of you that shows you, oh, man, that's ugly. I need to actually change that.
And it's an important part of your growth because if you don't, if you don't have the people around you that are going to tell you that, then you're just not going to be self, be able to be as self aware as you could be.
I always tell my wife to put me in check when she does. And my team, I say, as we're, you can't ever let all the money or the cameras or stage or any of that get to you because if it ever does, I tell the team, Hey, hold me accountable because if I'm acting like a dick or if I'm acting like I'm too good, like That's going to be the end of me.
And so I always work to be the underdog. I always work as, hey, I got a long ways to go.
I resonate with that. I have, my husband has this thing that he says, he goes, okay, enough. Because I can't switch off from work at night. A lot of the time the kids go to bed and I go into overdrive. I've got all these great ideas that I just want to kickstart.
And he'll let me go to a point and then he'll go, okay, enough. Just to help me switch my brain off. Hey.
Yeah. My wife does it in a different way. I think your husband says it in a nicer way.
I'll say what she says. Both have the same outcome, I think. Look, I'm going to move into the Rocket Round now, and it's a bit of light fun to learn a little bit more around you and what you enjoy.
Favorite book?
Thinking You're Rich by Napoleon Hill. I knew you were going to say that. I'm going to add a second one, it's Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. Ooh, awesome. It's a really good one. Favorite holiday destination? Ooh as of right now, I would say Cabo.
Nice, haven't been. Cats or dogs? Dogs.
Dogs. Coffee or wine?
Podcast you're listening to right
now? That's a tough one. Win the day with James Whitaker. Yes.
First podcast I listened to, love it. And what makes you feel like
your home? Cornfields in Iowa surrounded out of cabin and peace and disconnect. Love that. Yeah.
Thank you so much for coming on as a guest.
I really appreciate you being so honest and authentic about your journey. And is there a way that we can support, learn more about you and the programs
that you offer too? Yes. Follow me on social media. I'm at BrandonTAdamsEverywhere or BrandonTAdams. com. Our company is AccelerateMediaGroup. com, or if anybody wants to...
I meet my wife and I at an event around storytelling. We got Rise and Record, which is@riseandrecord.com. Awesome.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much