Producers' Pick | Guy Raz: How Entrepreneurs Build Success

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Every single we heard you want us to invest this much money for a minority share of a business that does not have a single franchise thanks but no laughed out of the room. Roz and I today show was staying at home mom went from selling homemade chicken salad to friends and neighbors to building one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in America because it salad. Check that part of the pie NPR podcast how I built how I built this with Guy. Roz got a book out called how I built this, it's better so it's out in paperback. The young expected pastoral success for the world's most inspiring entrepreneurs guy is also founder and CEO of builder productions guy welcome. Congratulations on the success what prompted this idea.

Brent, thanks so much for having me.

You know what property idea was my love for entrepreneurship. It is it's it's an incredible story of American ingenuity of of people who really oftentimes came from nothing and built built these incredible businesses and brands we just heard Stacy Brown story of building chicken salad chick. She was a single mom with three kids in Auburn, Alabama, and she built an empire because she knew how to make great chicken salad, and it's an incredible story and it's a story we hear again and again I want to amplify the story that was really the beginning of the show so you want to bring that you want to bring those out when we how'd you get inspired by a newer ship. Are you an entrepreneur to I guess and start yeah and I am indeed I I've got to media companies, and you know what what really inspires me and I think a lot of people listening can relate to. I think you could probably like this to brightness. The idea throughout our lives that people say no that can't be done, not possible, you don't hear that throughout our lives and our careers and it can be really discouraging ride. I'm sure you heard that throughout your career.

People said no you can't do this, you can't be that you can't do it and somehow people push through that you know and and what I wanted to do was show that all of these entrepreneurs that we admire people who started businesses like pods are raising canes of the Leatherman night. You know, Tim Leatherman. They heard no throughout their career throughout their lives may still persisted and pushed and managed to create things that have changed our culture change our country and persistence I guess is one of the key attributes bullet list into some of the stories about the crater of LinkedIn.

Oh, it's incredible. I mean, Rita Hoffman, you know, he was part of the so-called tape all Mafia people people help Mafia, and he came up with this idea to connect people around business around the things they do and eventually sold to Microsoft for billions of dollars.

It's one of the most influential of social media sites in the world and something I'm sure you use. I use and millions of people use every day to connect the color got a soccer play. New Zealand is on the national team and notices some unused would and he goes and he starts a company called all birds which is one of the fastest growing shoe brands in the US. He wanted to create the world's most comfortable shoe and he did it using wool merino wool from sheep New Zealand and went on to to build this company without publicly traded and and I don't know if you warned them, but incredibly comfortable shoes. Just an idea to follow through and you have to have the patient's exactly it. It's so much of of what we the stories we tell him the show are stories we know intuitively you know you think about it a company like like spanks the undergarment, Sarah Blakely, a young woman living in Atlanta selling fax machines, door to door, but has this idea to transform to create this transformative brand women's undergarments. You know she's going door-to-door. Try to get manufacturers to make her prototype everyone saying you know how you take on the big guys. Eventually she does that she comes up with a prototype and you know, long story short spanks is a multibillion dollar company that Sarah Blakely owns outright that she started in her apartment and up in Atlanta, Georgia right and of course I think she should also manage the Dow or the Atlanta Hawks correct husband and the owner box access to lean on him is also a very creative guy so so guidance houses are podcasts on on PBS will NPR choose me on NPR. What led you to that and that idea first before Amazon jumped in. Will you mention on Amazon, as is our distributor and we work with Amazon, you know, look, I am an audio guy first affects where I started. And that's right came from and we really I really wanted to figure out a way to connect with people around the shared experience shared view and belief around building and entrepreneurship. Something that I think really connects people all across the board all across the country and that that was really the Genesis of that, you know, this idea that so many people that we know that that did you know that you know are trying to build something, whether it's a it's a small store and shop a fire at the brick-and-mortar store in your calendar work. It's a bigger idea that could scale and I wanted to create a space where people can feel inspired to to do that and to think about it.

And to think big and started one euro jobs and you were 25 you were in the year 2000, you are Berlin working in Berlin to covering the Balkans correct in the war they never seem to hand over their know I started out as a reporter no back back when I was younger and I was overseas for seven years I covered Iraq and Afghanistan. I was based in Jerusalem, you many Fox news reporters when I was out there and some great reporters like Jennifer Griffin. I was in Jerusalem with her and it was a different time in my life. You know I love that excitement now course, dad with kids and and and and doing doing very different type type of work, but but that was a really important part of my sort of early career and learning about yell habit. Build a career out of what I was doing when you see what's going on around the world are you glad you're not covering let's say in the Ukraine right now. Are you glad you're not in Berlin right now. Brian, I have so much respect for the courage of the reporters, Fox reporters about CNN and times all the reporters out there are doing really courageous work to bring us the story of what's happening. That's a very dangerous work. It's very stressful work, but it's really important work and I really admire what they're doing so much right but you glad to be reflecting on. I am absolutely so yes it was. If you would teach a class right now and entrepreneurship and some of the foundation of success that you use besides the totals things normally I get persistence, determination, you have to have a vision but not every Joe some great entrepreneurs who have products that just don't resonate his did you notice that when people talk about those failures were they necessary to find the product or the service work hundred percent hundred percent mean, think about a company like black you know lots of people using slack in the workplace. Now that started out of the computer game company Stewart Butterfield wanted to make a massive multiplayer online game and he did it was called glitch and it failed. Nobody used it but in the process of building glitch. They also built an internal communication system that they used among them among themselves. The people at glitch and one day somebody said hey you know this is kind of cool we might see if we can turn this into something else and glitch became slack which is now up. You know, multibillion dollar company that was that. That really was never intended to be a communications tool so sometimes you have to oftentimes you have to fail in order to understand what you're really going after and and and oftentimes that's revealed through the process of failure is people to surprise you with the journey. When you get the chance to talk to him for a couple hours for her Brian.

I'm surprised every time I interview somebody I just interviewed Todd Graves the sound of raising canes the chicken restaurant.

The chicken finger restaurant and I mean this is a here's a guy from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who had no money he had he had no family connections you want to start a chicken finger restaurant right out of the gate. LSU he went to Alaska for a summer and worked on a salmon boat most dangerous jobs in the world right for three months almost died getting thrown off the boat he came back $50,000 which was the money he used to put down a down payment on a property that he then turned into raising canes, which is now the fastest growing fast food chain in the United States and on Fox News contributor transom.com daily newsletter. I'm inviting you to join a conversation every week just to bend on its podcast listen no Fox News podcasts.com notes. Also interesting is it, and you write in your intro. People go this pandemic.

Everyone most people to put their lives on hold and they had a chance to reflect know is this commute worth. It is this job worth it in my feeling fulfilled here, and I imagine a lot of them are an overall great place would we go to your podcasts, but a lot of people probably saying that you make a good living, but I do what I want it.

It's such an important question and what's been so interesting is that if you look at the number of people registering new businesses business licenses EIN. It was at a record and a 20 year high last year. I believe that the individual it will be even higher because that's precisely what people are asking is what I'm doing. Worth it and can I be doing something that is more fulfilling and can I take a risk and that's that to me is one of the most exciting outcomes of the pandemic right God to see this right right intended to do you get that job you get married to get a house, got some payments exceed no. 45 years. Although I do what I want to do was worth it. You also say that around 40 years old is when entrepreneurs really dig in for the most part that's what you have their success people's images know that that that whiz kid 21-year-old teenager that's that's silly with the stats I know exactly that first-time entrepreneur. The average age is 41 years old and actually when you really begin to hit your stride as an entrepreneur cannot happen until you're in your 50s, sometimes early 60s you know we did the story of Bob's red Mill. It's one of the biggest grain and yellow baking goods products in the country was started by Bob Moore when he was 57 years old. It's a an enormous company now and so this idea that that startups and and and and businesses can only be started when you're in your 20s and eating top Ramen and pizza is a complete mess that is the time to take risks for sure, but it's also time to learn and usually that learning begins to come together in their late 30s or early 40s when you have the confidence to really take the leap and try something new. This live notice on those you picked it up and tell me if those that some of the stats play out, usually doing to get rich doing to be successful. They want they want to make it work don't usually a lot of time. So, do you notice how much debt they might be going into because all they see is the goal is, is that correct. It's the journey in many cases to get to that success.

Hundred percent correct in the best evidence for that is when you talk to entrepreneur whose business was bought out virtually every single one. I've interviewed has gone on to start something new. So Max left shin.

He was one of the cook cofounders of PayPal, you know, he knew he walked away with $20 million. What did he do return Ronnie start a new company and he made more money from that and he turned around and started a new company is called a firm which is a publicly traded company. He doesn't even know how much money yesterday doesn't care because what matters to him is being part of something bigger and creating something that has purpose and that gives himself meaning and meaning to people who work with him and work around him and and when entrepreneurs you know what I'm in the in the rare occasions when a seller business and retire.

Many of them really know they start to get depressed because they miss that camaraderie they missed the people around them. They missed the exchange and that you know that creative tension that we you know those of us who are are are lucky enough to work run other people yet and so back to me is the number one yield the best evidence for why it's almost never about the money. It seems I did.

I read the whole book on soul night that monster book about you.yeah I talked about starting up Nike and having to deal with Japan income over the innovation and try to get people to stoop to wear his shoes and a major event and have the souls fall apart and then they gave loans only month-to-month. They could, like string it out so we had money had to come up with every month I'm reading this I'm getting stress reading it when I finally meet him and I'm seeing the size and IQ. This global brand and I said what I meant to how you did a month to month and he says I miss it. I loved it. I said you loved it. Not known if the business to work to be can be of the pay your bills. You have a family at home. You love videos all you so convincingly landlord not to charge and rent one week and month I go. I believe that but it's because it's not. It's in the building process writing. Think about your early part of your career where you were struggling before you are nationally known name you know before you before people you know you will take your call right when you were still early in your career as a part of that struggle and that grind that really does appeal to a psych course at the time it was hard, but it's also the in some ways, you know that struggle really bleeds creative thinking and it reads this passion that that we crave.

You know I think about roadblocks is game that every kid between the age of nine and 12 Place Mall, and you know, the founder of the company David bouzouki he created this game in 2004, but we really only started to hear about it in 2020 oh you know people think of of roadblocks is as overnight success story. But for many years a kind of hung out there and obscurity and and you think about this guy who hung on for 15 years, the pandemic hits and all of a sudden you know three quarters of children age 9 to 12 are playing roadblocks and I think today it's a market Is like $27 billion. It's in unbelievable story struggle.

I don't appreciate success even even to drill down even further.

I got graduates on the book in the series on the on the Amazon deal and ensure the best is yet to come. And I'm sure these entrepreneurs are lining up to get on the shelves as to continue their success and you'll unfortunately your phone bill is probably about nonstop people leaving message on your voicemail asking to get on because that's part of the mindset of the people wanted to meet again with helping out with the guys, how I built this. Thanks guy right.

Thank you. Fox News can't just subscribe and listen to the Tri-County federal prosecutor and four term US Congressman from South Carolina brings you a one-of-a-kind podcast subscriber list.com