Episode #590 - The Benefits Of Being An Outsider with Justin Breen, Founder & CEO of BrEpic Network

Welcome to this edition of the million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

Your journalism, you know, it's one thing to say 20 year career in journalism. Part of that was writing.

Most of it was writing. Most.

Most of it was writing your own books or articles. Where would your articles go?

You know, everywhere.

What publications would be after those articles and you know, as a way of alerting people where you can find this kind of communication. What.

That's so interesting that you. So no one's ever. I've done hundreds of interviews. No one's ever asked that. Here's why it's interesting, because this, and this is how I learn in real time. Because I talk to a visionary and they make me think about where I come from. And when you know where you come from, then you know where you are. You know where you're going. Just like, you know, you with your cousin and then with my dad. Okay, so. So what would happen is regardless of the publication that I worked for, and the last one I was at was at a major site in downtown Chicago, it took 15 years of hard work to get to there, get to that. But what would happen is if you wrote an interesting story, it would get picked up by everywhere else. So like I learned, I learned during the story writing process of what actually could go, I guess, for lack of better term, viral. Like, what would be clicky. And so then. And then what would happen is like how I was connecting is like, mo. Definitely most journalists don't do this, but like a story that, that I wrote or even my co workers would write, it would get published on our site and then I would send that link to I guess our, what would be called competitors or other outlets because I knew they would, many times they would pick it up and then give us credit first. And so like, literally was doing what I'm doing with PR firm as a journalist. And I mean, no journalists do that. Journalism is like the most competitive cutthroat field on the planet. Like, it's the opposite of entrepreneurship. It's just like, kill the competition, put the other paper out of business. But I was never like that. It was all collaborative. Even then.

Yeah, Drudge.

I haven't heard that in a long time. Oh, he would always wear those hats. And then 60 Minutes did a big. What happened to him? What happened?

I think he's still out there. Yeah.

Wow.

But the thing is that as you, you know, when you, from the beginning you came up with this, you were obviously inspired by the word epic. You know, when we get ready to write books or name companies, you know, you save yourself so much time by coming up with the word that will cause people to click and like get it where you don't have to explain, explain, explain, explain. And so when you go in with epic as your lead word, that's not.

By accident, you know, that's hilarious. And I appreciate that. And I always think it's hilarious when again, I have zero, zero business background. I didn't know you had to pay taxes four times a year. That probably makes you cringe. But no, I didn't know any of that stuff because that's not why you go into journalism. So it's always funny to me when people spend like years and hundreds of thousands of dollars and you know, coming up with a name for their company or whatever. So like my wife surprised me with a trip to 40th birthday to this nice resort. It was a nice surprise thing. And then on the way up there, I'm like, oh, I'll just start a company and call it Brepic because br are the first two letters of last name. And then I like, I just like saying the word epic all the time. I just think it's a really great word. As a journalist would always try to get it into headlines or in the story and would like in conversation. It just constantly came up. And now, so now there's, you know, Brad Pick PR and Brepic Network and there's Brad Big youth baseball teams, Brepik scholarships. There will be a Brepic foundation. It's just, it's hilarious. I just think it's funny. And then like what, what has happened is, and then you brought it up masterfully. Here is like, people are like, oh, I thought I heard the word epic today and I, I thought of you. I'm like, really? All the time. I just think it's funny and it's a great word. It really is. And epic is a tale. It's a story. Like it literally is a story. So yeah.

And as you, as you talk to people, you know this thing you're interested in connecting and that's why you do it so well. And.

Thank you.

It was probably a vindication of sorts of for your career path and your, the things you believe in where that thing did. So the book did so well on Kindle because that just showed you're connecting in a really outstanding way in a super talk about super competitive. I remember when I put the book out, I had the publicist and, you know, you think your first book, you know, the most important book in the world, I want to make an impact. This is going to be, you know, the next. Next to the Bible, this is going to be the most bought book of all time. And then your PR person comes and says next week there's going to be another 20 or 30 books come out just like yours.

Right.

And so for you to fight through all of that and to get to where you've had the success you've had, recognized as a bestseller status and ranked number one on Kendall, that's got to give you vindication on the right track, your instincts in terms of connecting with people, because that's, that's proof positive you're connecting. And so what would you think, what would you think drove that? What do you think people picked up in the book that caused them to connect? Other than you're talking about yourself and you're talking, you know, you know, you're not trying to come from a academic thing. You're talking from the real world perspective.

World. Yeah. Higher education is the opposite of entrepreneurship for the most part. There are, I mean, education as a whole is the opposite of entrepreneurship.

But you repeat that, that first phrase again.

Well, higher education is the opposite of entrepreneurship for the most part. I mean, it's.

And so people understand that. The right context. Would you elaborate on that?

Well, higher education, I mean, again, there are exceptions, but higher educations are people that haven't been in the, for the most part are people that haven't been in the real world. So they don't understand things, actually work, and they're deep thinkers as opposed to active thinkers. Those are. Yeah, and that's fine. I just, I mean, and then entrepreneurships, entrepreneurs at the highest level never bring up where they went to school ever. Never. I've never had. I mean, and most of the people I have. Let me, let me dovetail that. Most of the people I talk to have incredibly high iq. Incredible. However, many of them barely went to college if not, and didn't even graduate high school. Because that's not what, that's not what true intelligence in entrepreneur world actually is. I mean, all that matters in entrepreneur world is is results, actually doing something. And so, like, overthinking is. That's torture for me because I'm an activator. But active thinking is. That's great. Like, oh, think about it now. Do it. That's your, that's your. There's the light do it. There's your light. Do it.

So, okay, I'm going to give you a theory on that and let you comment it.

Okay.

And my take on it is that you know, with the professors, I mean they're, they, well mean a lot of them are well meaning and you know, they don't see what they don't see. But the thing is, what they don't see is there's a fine line between mediocrity and greatness. And when you get in and you don't do things, you have to push yourself to get over that line. I mean you don't fall backwards over into greatness, you know, and you know, and in training you should tell people, I don't know how good you're going to be, but you're not going to be good enough to get there with a half hearted effort, you know, so go ahead, don't jump in.

Okay. Yeah. So most people are playing not to lose and then entrepreneurs are playing to win. So of someone who's staying in an ivory tower institution is playing not to lose because they're protected by ivory tower institution. So that's playing not to lose and then someone like that who's giving you advice on how to, how not to lose as opposed to how that's why like it people ask me all the time, it's like, is there anything else you would have done differently, you know, in this journey? I'm like, well, not really. But the only thing is I guess I would have taken in college or high school an actual entrepreneur class taught by an actual entrepreneur, not a professor who's never really done anything. But even that, like I'm kind of glad I didn't have any business background because I mean that's why I wrote the second book and I guess to answer your question why it's done so well is I talked to one to two entrepreneurs at the highest level every single week that have entrepreneurial life destroy their family life or prevented them from having a family. And I'm like, yeah, so that's not good. And so being a journalist you don't get into that for employee count, revenue and all that stuff. So I'm a dad who happens to be an entrepreneur. So focus on family and network and all this other stuff takes care of itself. So the book is how to build collaborative global companies while putting your loved ones first. And I mean that's the message. I can't tell you how strongly I believe in that message one because you're a litmus test for the people you serve. But I spend most of my day talking to the world's top entrepreneurs and many of them have destroyed their families or never had a family and never had anything meaningful. And those are the most miserable people on earth because they have all this stuff and they don't know what to do with it and they have nothing of meaning behind it.

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And when you talk, and you're not talking about how to build a successful company and still keep your family together, you talk about how to build a global company. And so talk about why you were that specific in your book.

Another good question, and you're really getting me to think about this. So you're either born someone like this or you're not. I mean, I strongly feel people would choose to make as much money as you want, to spend as much time with your family as you want to do what you like to do and what you're good at. Think like this. But most people, they're not like that. So I've always thought at a global level. And then Covid just enhanced that. When Covid started, I think two days after it started, I'm like, this will be the greatest opportunity of all time for people with the right mindset. And that's what it, that's what it's been. But it's always been thinking that. It's always been thinking that. And again, I think because of my parents, just where I come from, got that full global wisdom, especially from my father who was in Europe, served in Europe World War II and then was in the Korean War as well. And there was a full global traveler. My brain just, it simplifies everything in a pattern. So the formula for creating a successful global company is very simple. It's very simple. Okay, so here it is. This is the whole thing is you see a problem, create, solution, problem solve successful global company. So see a problem, create, solution, problem solve, successful global company so with PR firm, created entire company based on how PR firms annoyed me for 20 years. Saw a problem created, solution, problem solve. Successful global company, it solves the problem. So it doesn't matter where the partner's located, doesn't matter what they do, unless it's politics because then I ignore it and it doesn't matter how big the company is, that's completely meaningless. It just solves the problem. So it works anywhere, any size, any industry. We just only partner with visionaries who want to change the world.

How did the PR companies and what about them?

What was the problem?

What is the genesis, the root? How does that play out? And why did you have such a problem?

Yeah, you're going to laugh. So any great entrepreneur, they see a problem or a loophole and then they create the solution, they solve it. So it's the same. That's all I hear, it's the same thing over and over. So I was annoyed by useless press release. As a journalist you receive useless press releases from hundreds of people every single day. Useless. And the press releases talk about what you do and nobody cares.

Right?

Well that's a problem. And yet people keep doing the same. That's annoying. So our firm, I mean, and by the way, the firm's entire process on the website, there's no, I never knew what, I never knew what PR firms do because they never put what they're doing on the website. So my firm's entire solutions on the site. But we create stories, they become links on clients website under news or blogs that look like a story. You see them, it's know land and journal, constitution, whatever that is. And then take that link pitch to media and then media is immediately interested. So and then it's intro, intro, intro. It just cuts through all this nonsense that most people are dealing with.

And how did you, how did you turn that into, how does the network side of it come in?

That's a, that's a great question. So the second company is a SaaS platform, it's LinkedIn without the BS. I like LinkedIn but most of LinkedIn is BS, so it's the same formula. So the problem with all these platforms, they let everyone in. People at the highest level don't have time for that. So we created a high price point invite only connectivity platform. So I can barely hold a pencil. So me creating a SaaS platform, that would not work. I would electrocute myself, die, have a nervous breakdown. So my partner, I'm in Chicago, my partner, I would describe him, his name is Mark Fujiwara. Most of his day is doing eight and nine figure deals. I would describe him. I'm happy to introduce you to him if you'd like, by the way. Sure. He is a, he's a visionary integrator. So he's full backstage. But he's a, he's a bigger visionary than I am. So he, I let, I, I talk about it and then I introduce people to him and then he does his magic with them and then I am an integrating visionary. So I'm full front stage. But I also can follow through, which is very, very rare for people like us. Usually people like us have teams of many, many, many, many, many people because there's no follow through. I have high quick start and high follow through. And so basically what it is is technology. For what? For what already doing with PR firm through media. It's just connections for anything. You want your movie script done, you want to sell your company for nine figures, you know, you want ten new coaching clients. Like that's literally all it is.

And how did you meet?

You said it's Mark, Mark Fujoir. Yeah, we met, we met virtually. We're both in an entrepreneur group called strategic coach 10x. I'm very confident saying it's one of the top entrepreneur groups in the world. Dan Sullivan is the co founder. Mark and I have met two times in person, once at the launch party and then my wife Sarah and I went to visit Mark and his wife Amy in San Francisco. A couple go for dinner. So we've done all of this virtually. Besides that.

I heard this a long time ago and it was really helpful. They said a lot of revolutions are. Most revolutions are one with just a few people at the center, you know, and once. It's a big thing, people listening to this right now. It's a big thing when you find those make or break people in your, in your life and so talk about how you and Mark came to. I'm trying to get myself centered in this, how you two came to gather.

Yes.

You found each other and all of that because it's a lot of times it's totally random.

Oh, I don't believe in randomness. No. I stopped believing in randomness a long time ago. Yeah. Things are okay.

Well, you could, you can correct me. So go ahead.

Oh, well, the, I mean the only proof, like the only proof of God that I need is that someone like my wife married me. Like that makes no sense. And I'm just like, all right, that's, that's God. Thank you for that one. Because she's Like a pediatrician. So warmth, empathy, rules, caring, order, calendar, items, list, and then I'm full maniac entrepreneur. So like, people meet my wife and they're like, they get confused. So that's the only proof that I need. And yeah, and with Mark, you know, one of the chapters is in the, in the new book is find your babs or have your babs find you. And most people have no idea what I'm talking about. But so in one of the entrepreneur groups I'm in Strategic coach. Dan Sullivan's the co founder and he's good at talking and talking in front of people, but actually running a business, that's. That wouldn't go well. So his wife slash co founder strategic coach is named Bab Smith. Dan without Babs is a bad situation, much like me without my wife and in real life is a bad situation. And then so I was talking to Dan, I'm like, oh, I need to find my Babs. Because Babs is the one that made Strategic Coach. And he's like, no, no, have, have your Babs find you. I'm like, oh, that's a good idea. I'll do that. Activate, maximize, achieve. So there's this tool called the impact filter and it's like you list all the things that you need to have in your partner and how it works out. So I started sending out to some of my friends, people I trusted, and one of them was Mark Fujiwara and he's the yin to my yang. And he's like, oh, that's a great idea. Let's do that. I'm like, okay, let's do it. So that's how we started our partnership. And then I call him Babs all the time, which he's like, oh, you're my babsmer.

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