Is it possible to put your family first and succeed in business? Chicago journalist and entrepreneur Justin Breen says the answer is, “Yes, and why would anyone not put their family first?”
Breen used a 50% pay cut as a journalist as inspiration to create a new kind of global PR company called BrEpic. He reached out to 5,000 companies to get his first five clients; the rest is history.
As a journalist, Breen says PR companies annoyed him for 20 years, so he created a firm that not only doesn’t annoy journalists…it creates content they can actually use.
Breen is the author of two books. “Epic Business: 30 Secrets to Build Your Business Exponentially and Give You the Freedom to Live the Life You Want” was published in 2020.
His newest book, “Epic Life: How to Build Collaborative Global Companies While Putting Your Loved Ones First,” features a foreword from Dr. Peter Diamandis and has been the No. 1 overall book for sales on Amazon Kindle. It also recently made the Wall Street Journal and USA Today Bestseller lists.
Breen’s latest venture is BrEpic Network, an exclusive platform that connects top-level entrepreneurs. He calls it LinkedIn “without the B.S. “
In a brutally honest interview with host Mark Wright, Breen describes how the best qualities in his parents prepared him for life as an entrepreneur. His dad always said, “The cream rises to the top,” and Justin is living that philosophy as a dad, a husband, and a rainmaker for the world’s top entrepreneurs.
Resources from the episode:
- Learn more about Justin Breen and the work he does here.
- Read about Breen’s newest book, “Epic Life: How to Build Collaborative Global Companies While Putting Your Loved Ones First,” and get a copy here.
- Find out more about Breen’s first book “Epic Business: 30 Secrets to Build Your Business Exponentially and Give You the Freedom to Live the Life You Want,” here.
- Want to see if the BrEpic Network is right for you? Get more information here.
- Connect with Justin Breen on LinkedIn.
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Transcript
The following transcript is not certified. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. The information contained within this document is for general information purposes only.
Speakers: Justin Breen and Mark Wright
JUSTIN BREEN 00:00
The purpose of my life is to be a connecting superhero for every visionary who shares their stories with the world. So, I never get tired of it. It’s really fun, very lucrative, endlessly gratifying, and it allows me to spend as much time as I want with my family, which is even better than that cuz I know what it’s like not to have a dad around me.
MARK WRIGHT 00:25
This is the BEATS WORKING show. We’re on a mission to redeem work. The word, the place, and the way. I’m your host, Mark Wright. Join us at winning the game of work. Welcome to BEATS WORKING. So, here’s a question I think we’ve all struggled with. Is it possible to put your family first and succeed in business? My guest today is Chicago journalist and entrepreneur, Justin Breen. He says the answer is yes, and why would anyone not put their family first. In 2017, Justin Breen used a 50% pay cut as a journalist, as inspiration to create a new kind of global PR company. He calls BrEpic Communications. He reached out to 5,000 companies to get his first five clients, and the rest is history. As a journalist, Breen says PR companies annoyed him for 20 years, so he created a firm that not only didn’t annoy journalists, it created content they can actually use. Justin Breen is the author of two books. The first one came out in 2020. It’s called Epic Business 30 Secrets to Build Your Business Exponentially and Give you the Freedom to Live the Life you Want. His newest book is Epic Life, How to Build Collaborative Global Companies While Putting Your Loved Ones First. His latest venture is an exclusive platform that connects top level entrepreneurs called BrEpic Network. He says it’s like LinkedIn. Without the bs, and I have to tell you, this was a no bs interview. It is brutally honest as Justin pulls back the curtain on what it truly means to be an entrepreneur, and I think that’s what I appreciated most about our conversation is Justin’s no nonsense approach to what it takes to be successful at work, and especially at home. Well, Justin Breen, welcome to the BEATS WORKING Podcast. It’s really cool to have you here.
JUSTIN BREEN 02:26
It’s nice to talk to a entrepreneur who happens to be a journalist.
MARK WRIGHT 02:30
That’s awesome. I love it. So, Justin, as I was thinking about talking with you today, there are three main reasons that I was super excited to talk with you today. First, is you are a former journalist who not only figured out how to reinvent yourself, you’ve figured out a way to reimagine an entire industry. I don’t know if the PR industry knows that you’ve reimagined them. Number two, you’re a dad first and an entrepreneur second. I love that. I think we need more of that in our country, and the other thing that I find super intriguing, Justin, is that you are unafraid to say this, my time and services are extremely valuable, and if you want to pay me that, great, let’s work together but you’re not afraid to, to just say, I’m valuable and I want to e explore that. So, man, welcome to the podcast. We’ve got a lot to cover in, in a little hour.
JUSTIN BREEN 03:17
Thank you.
MARK WRIGHT 03:20
So let’s, yeah, let’s start out, man. I would love to know a little bit more about your 20 year career as a journalist, because I know that was the impetus of you starting your own, your own PR company but take me back. How did you get into journalism in the beginning?
JUSTIN BREEN 03:33
Well, uh, I still am a journalist. Uh, I’m just an entrepreneur. I, I mean, people, people like us are usually aliens within our own family, community, and verticals. The only people that understand us are top entrepreneurs on planet. So, when I was a journalist surrounded by journalists, they had no idea what I was talking about, and I didn’t know why they were covering negative news or I don’t, I never understood any of that stuff, and then I’ve been this person my whole life, uh, and was just born with a story at the highest level and then have always been able to connect people, and then before this, you asked me to fix my microphone, and that’s for me. I, I mean, things a monkey can do, a child can do, I don’t know how to do them, but. In terms of simplifying someone’s story and connecting geniuses to geniuses, it’s like breathing for me. Um, so what I’ve found is the only people that understand what I’m talking about are the top entrepreneurs on the planet. So, I just hang out with them and then connect them. It’s, which is a lot of fun. That doesn’t answer any of your question, but that’s what my brain did with it.
MARK WRIGHT 04:35
So, what kind of a journalist were you? Was it print? Uh, what was it?
JUSTIN BREEN 04:39
Anything. Anything. The last job I had before, before starting this, I was at a new site called DNA Info Chicago, um, which was owned by Joe Ricketts, whose family owns the Cubs, and um, so we covered, it started in Manhattan, then I went to the five boroughs of New York City and then they expanded to, uh, Chicago. I was the third person hired there as a senior editor uh, and then just wrote about and covered cool people changing the world. They just all happened to live or had ties to the city of Chicago proper. Um, and then I was just constantly connecting them to other people like that. That was just what I was doing naturally. Uh, that was a great fit because, you know, journalism world as you know. Uh, rejection, rejection, rejection. So, I was rejected from every, basically every outlet paper in Chicago before, uh, uh, ending up at DNA Info. So it was a good learning experience for entrepreneurs.
MARK WRIGHT 05:40
So, I’d love to talk about how you started your PR company. Um, I guess the impetus you and I are, are sort of in the same boat, uh, a little over a year ago, uh, my, my managers came to me and handed me a one page separation agreement and said, uh, you’re done, and, uh, and so, uh, and you know, the company was preparing to sell to a hedge fund, and that’s kind of the way the industry is going. So I was, I was too expensive.
JUSTIN BREEN 06:04
Figure it out.
MARK WRIGHT 06:05
Yeah. Yeah. So, so they came to you and said, uh, here’s, here’s a 50% pay cut. Uh, and at that point you decided, uh, that’s, that’s not a great, uh, advancement for my career. So, is that when you decided I’m out and I’m, I’m gonna start my own company?
JUSTIN BREEN 06:20
Well, um, I’ll give you the, the timeline, um, because, uh, you’re a journalist and I know you’ll appreciate it, and then I’m guessing the audience will as well but so, February 10th, 2017 had had the meaning, uh, where they cut job salary in half, um, uh, tried to find a full-time job, uh, couldn’t find a job. Uh, April 16th, 2017, which was six days after my 40th birthday, uh, incorporated, uh, zero business background. I still don’t know what an S Corp is,I don’t care about any of that stuff. It’s boring to me. Um, so then, and then, so over the next six weeks while I was working full-time, at half the salary, uh, reached out to 5,000 people to find first five clients. So most people can’t, I mean, they’re not meant to do that. Um, and I got fifth client uh, June 1st, 2017, resigned June 2nd, and then June 5th, Robert Feeder, who’s now since retired, which is very interesting. He was the top media columnist in the midwest at the time. He did a start. I started my own firm, so that was the timeline of starting first company.
MARK WRIGHT 07:36
That’s awesome. Um, I love your entrepreneurial lens because all the great entrepreneurs have taken an annoyance or a problem, and they’ve used their expertise or their, their superpowers to turn that into a business idea. I love how you say, ha-ha my company is based on being annoyed by PR people for 20 years.
JUSTIN BREEN 07:57
Oh, I know you appreciate that. So, I, I, again, like I don’t even know what PR firms do other than annoyed journalists. Uh, I know, I mean, like, it’s funny, but I, it’s, so, um, I’m either spend my, here’s my entire day of Monday through Friday. Um, it’s either spending time with my family or talking to the world’s top entrepreneurs. So not humans, not business owners, not consultants, just pure visionaries, and then my brain, which I’m guessing is similar to yours, I hear blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and then simplify into an answer. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Simplify into a pattern, blah, blah, blah. Simplify, connect to another. So that’s what my brain does, and then don’t ask me to fix my microphone or look at the camera cuz I, I’m not care about that. So blah, blah, blah. Simplify. Okay? So, every answer I have will be a blah, blah, blah, uh, simplify, uh, answer. So, the formula for creating a successful global company is very simple. It’s surprisingly simple, but most people won’t reach out to 5,000 people to find first eye clients, cuz they don’t. They don’t, they’re not top entrepreneur on planet. Okay? So, here’s the formula. You see a problem, create solution, problem solve successful global companies. So, see a problem, create solution, prob it’s the same formula. So, all I hear from these people is they were annoyed by something. They saw a loophole, they created the solution to it. They didn’t complain or make an excuse, they just did it. They made the investment, wrote the check, solved it. Successful global company. So, I was a journalist for 20 years, created entire business model based on how pre firms annoyed me for 20 years, solved the problem. Successful global company. It’s the same formula. I mean the book Epic Life: How to Build Collaborative Global Companies While Putting Your Loved Ones First. I hear the same problem. Entrepreneur who’s torched their family or never had a family or never had anything meaningful of entrepreneur life. That’s a problem. Create a solution. Book Problem Solve Successful global Company. It’s the same. It’s the same formula.
MARK WRIGHT 09:56
So, let’s pull back the curtain a little bit for people who, uh, have not been former journalists. Uh, you know, a typical press release that we get from PR companies,
JUSTIN BREEN 10:05
We have to talk
MARK WRIGHT 10:06
Most of the time, it’s not a story.
JUSTIN BREEN 10:08
it’s never a, a story. Never.
MARK WRIGHT 10:10
Most of the time. But I, I want to, I want, but I want to contrast it with, with, with your model, which is completely, uh, a solution to this, but many times a day you’ll get a, a PR firm press release in your inbox, and, and they’re pitching you what they, they call, hey, this is a great story, you should come over and cover the fact that this restaurant is opening, and, and so, uh, 99.9% of the time, it’s not a story, and the thing that I don’t think most people understand, a lot of journalists work in the PR for, uh, world, but most of the people in PR graduated from colleges with degrees in public relations. The difference between a PR grad and a journalist with decades of experience is that you and I have spent decades looking at a sea of information. Deciding what’s relevant, and then figuring out how to tell that in a way that resonates with an audience. The PR folks pitch you this stuff as if it’s gold, and they’re like, how come, how come you didn’t want to cover that?
JUSTIN BREEN 11:08
Amazing. Shocking.
MARK WRIGHT 11:09
So, yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so you decided to, to take a turn from that, you decided to give actual value. So, talk about, uh, just in more granular,
JUSTIN BREEN 11:19
It’s the same formula. See a problem, create it’s the, right. It’s the same formula, but I don’t. So, I’m a very simple person, uh, either spending time with my family or talking to the top visionaries on planet, and then I see the pattern and then I actually do something about it. Um, I, um, there’s 34 strength finders, 34 of them, Gallup, Clifton, StrengthFinders. I’m dead last in empathy, second to last, and included. So, uh, but for top visionaries, top entrepreneurs on planet, I have endless empathy, endless inclusion, endless because I understand what it takes without exception. Without exception to get to a certain level, there are no excuses. So, people make an excuse or ask, what do you cost or charge? I’m like, I don’t, or don’t think globally or wanna stay small or wanna just be a consultant. I, I don’t understand that. It’s confusing to me, and then when I was an entrepreneur who happened to be a journalist, I, I had, I did not understand political news or negative news or shootings. Like I don’t, it’s, or lengthy meetings. It was, I didn’t understand. So, like for 20 years they gave me weird jobs to do cuz they didn’t know what to do with me because, people like me are usually aliens within our own family, community and verticals. So, nobody understood what I was doing and they’re like, just go off and do whatever you wanna do. Um, and then saw the problem over and over and over hundreds of times a day for 20 years. And so, I’m like, oh, well, uh, this can be done this way. It’s pretty good solution, and then I knew it really was gonna work when PR firms laughed at me ha-ha-ha because they don’t know what they’re doing. So, I always know the real success is when a human laughs at me and they don’t know what I’m doing. I’m like, oh, then it’s gonna work cuz I don’t talk to humans, I just talk to the top entrepreneurs on the planet.
MARK WRIGHT 13:09
So, the reason that companies hire PR firms obviously, is they, they want the public to know about them. They want, they want them to know about their services and, and their story, and, but, and that’s what I’ve, when, when I’ve been approached by friends who own businesses, I, I’m like, okay, let’s sit down, let’s do a story audit, let’s talk about all the people within your company. What do they do at work? What do they do at home? What are their interests? Who is super interesting in your company?
JUSTIN BREEN 13:34
Yeah. I don’t care about, I only care about Yeah.
MARK WRIGHT 13:35
But in terms of identifying stories, yeah. Um, it, it, it’s helpful I think for companies to, to understand that sometimes this story, like, I’ll tell you a story. When I was working as a journalist, this, this picture of a McDonald’s worker, I think it was in Chicago, just went viral. Millions and millions of views. A man with special needs, uh, was having trouble eating. This McDonald’s employee came up and said, sir, do you need, do you need some help? Uh, eating? And uh, the guy said, yeah, so someone took a picture of this McDonald’s worker helping this man eat lunch, and, uh, it just blew up, and, and it’s just like, okay. There’s an example of what most companies don’t get is do good, be good, and people will find out about you, right?
JUSTIN BREEN 14:19
Yeah, I, I would agree with that. I just focus, uh, my energy on what the visionary is doing good, because without the visionary, there’s no employee without Ray Craft or Croft. There’s no McDonald’s. So, I just like to connect people like that to people like that.
MARK WRIGHT 14:34
Is anyone in the PR world doing, doing it right in your mind, or are they still just stuck in the old model? Kinda like journalism
JUSTIN BREEN 14:40
I won’t pay attention to that at all. Yeah. I don’t. I completely ignore that.
MARK WRIGHT 14:43
Well then give us an idea, Justin, if you would, about just when you do work with these visionaries and their companies, what does that process look like?
JUSTIN BREEN 14:50
Yeah, so at the highest level, there is no competition, only collaboration. So, company’s entire process is on the website. There’s no, cuz I’ve never knew what PR firms did. I, they, there’s never any answers to that. So, my company’s entire process is on the website. There’s no, so all my firm does is write stories, comes link on partner’s website. So, it looks like a story you see in the Seattle Times. Take that link, pitch it to media media’s interested, put ’em in touch with partner. That’s it. Um, I, I mean, so I haven’t done anything outbound in years. You just create value for highest performing people. They create value for you. Um, I found all this other stuff takes care of itself, but anyone could do, anyone could take that. I don’t, it doesn’t matter to me. Um, they don’t have my network and they don’t have the relationships or the mindset. So, it’s, I mean, it wouldn’t matter anyway, so I just, you know, I, I don’t mind having the solution out there because it’s, it helps everyone, and I know there’s so much opportunity out there. There’s endless abundance that doesn’t really matter.
MARK WRIGHT 16:03
You said that in 2018, I think it was, you made more money than you’d ever made in a year in your life, and you said you were miserable,
JUSTIN BREEN 16:10
Never more miserable.
MARK WRIGHT 16:11
Tell me about that.
JUSTIN BREEN 16:12
Well, um, ha-ha journalists, most journalists do not get into this for money. Some do, very few, but some do but as a journalist, for the most part, you’re getting into that cuz you like telling cool stories and connecting people and, you know, purpose and all that stuff, and, uh, so end of 2018 had made more money than I ever thought possible in one year cuz you don’t, you’re not in this for the money for the most part, and then I’m like, well, and I’d never been more miserable, so I’m like, uh, that doesn’t make any sense. That was a, an interesting experience, um, but endlessly grateful that, that I went through that because it, um, um, it was just a wonder. Everything to me is a learning experience. Everything. Um, and that’s where you truly learn is the really tough times, and again, that’s what separates entrepreneurs from humans is the entrepreneurs look at those experiences as valuable and then the, and then people who are not like that, they use it as negative. Further down the hole or an excuse entrepreneur, figure it out. Um, so yeah, it was a, it was a wonderful learning experience. Very difficult at the time, but I mean, this is what separates entrepreneurs from humans. Um, uh, and not silver spoons, not that’s a different, but entrepreneurs from business owners, humans, consultants, all I’ll do is talk to entrepreneurs. So, I haven’t met one of those folks. That hasn’t overcome at least one of the following four things. Uh, everyone I talk to is threes and fours. Now, um I haven’t talked to anyone less than three in the last two years. A couple years ago there was a two and that really surprised me, but, so here, here, here’s the four things that separates entrepreneurs from 99.9% of the world. So, one is bankruptcy or potential bankruptcy, two depression, three highest level of anxiety that you can imagine, four, likely and or possible traumatic experiences as a child or young adult. So, for humans, business owners, consultants, those are excuses. Entrepreneur at the highest level, you know, figure it out. That’s, that’s all it is. So, uh, you know, whenever I talk to an entrepreneur and they’re talking about all this great stuff that they’re up to, which is awesome, I always bring up those four things or ask about their family, and then I bring up those four things, and then a true entrepreneur is like, check, check, check, check or check, check, check, check or check. Mm, check, check. So, there’s no two is there,and then usually small business owners, consultants, humans are like one or two. Uh, that’s, that’s what it is.
MARK WRIGHT 18:56
Yeah. So, you lost your dad when, when you were 13, and, and, um, I mean, I’m guessing that’s why you say I’m a dad first. Right? I’m a dad first.
JUSTIN BREEN 19:06
Why? So, I appreciate you saying that. Like, it’s illogical to me again, see a problem. It’s illogical to me that anyone would not want to be a dad first. It’s illogical and, it’s a, but I mean, so people are like, cuz the epic life is like how to build collaborative global companies while putting your loved ones first, and they’re like, what? Really? That’s a good message. I go, how is message? How is that not, how is that not, but it’s a, it’s. It’s amazing to me that that’s the problem but, uh, that’s what it is because again, entrepreneurs, not humans, entrepreneurs, most damaged people, the most damaged the most of those four things with the, the best coping skills. So, they’re the highest IQ, highest EQ, most courage, most hustle, most guts. Uh, a regular human could not build a, a massive global company with those four things. They couldn’t, they couldn’t do it. They would join another company. Which they wouldn’t. So, I have endless empathy for that but then those coping skills are used to create all this stuff, and certainly not always, but many times at expensive family, anything meaningful, I’m like, well, that’s not, you don’t have to do that. You don’t, and, and then if you’re not a litmus test for people you serve, that’s hypocrisy. So, purpose of my life is to be connecting superhero for every visionary. So not only visionaries, not business owners, no, only visionaries. Who shares their stories with the world, not, not their, I don’t understand their world, people. So, I’m a visionary sharing my story with the world, and then I love to serve, uh, parents who happen to be entrepreneurs. So, I’m a dad who happens to be an entrepreneur. I mean, it, it’s just being a litmus test for the people you serve.
MARK WRIGHT 20:47
Justin, what amazes me about your story is that, well, it doesn’t amaze me now that I’m getting to, to see you know, how, how driven you are and how focused you are. If you were just an average journalist and you started your own company, I mean, hundreds and thousands of, of journalists have done that, but you went from no company to this blow torch of a company in, in just a, like a couple of years. Um, how did you get any pushback from companies like, oh, you haven’t done this for long?
JUSTIN BREEN 21:19
No, no, no.
MARK WRIGHT 21:20
What, what was that process like?
JUSTIN BREEN 21:21
Nope, nope, nope, nope, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No visionary would never ask that question. No, no, nope. That’s, so no, no, no. I reached out to 5,000. That’s a won’t, so my no, no, no. So, my father was 61 when I was born, shot down multiple times in combat in World War 2, many times without a parachute. Got back into a plane. No, no, no. You either can do that or no, no, no, no, no. One of my, one of our PR partners, his grandfather was decapitated in front of him in Burma. He went to Hong Kong with $10 in his pocket when he was a kid with his dad. They created two eight figure businesses, and then he hired a PR firm because, uh, uh, because, um, he created an at-home robot to help people with Alzheimer’s dementia that has like a pill dispenser and a drone on it. Uh, his mom has Alzheimer’s dementia, so he created solution for that. No. No. Did you push back? No, no, no. Ha-ha-ha that’s, that’s entrepreneur life. That’s, people can’t, that’s why most people can’t do this. No, no.
MARK WRIGHT 22:31
Um, you’ve joined some really high level strategic organizations. Um, Dan Sullivan’s organization. Um, entre. Are you a part of entrepreneur’s organizations?
JUSTIN BREEN 22:41
I was. I was, yeah. I was, I was on the board of Yale, Chicago for a.
MARK WRIGHT 22:45
Uhm tell me how, how did that, how did that help you grow your network and grow your business?
JUSTIN BREEN 22:52
Well, when you talk to people most of your life who don’t understand what you’re talking about, that’s probably not a good idea. So, um, in Strategic Coach and then, uh, um, uh, Abundance360, I finally found people who actually understood what I was talking about, and more importantly, can actually. Uh, actually learn from them. Uh, I like to be the dumbest person in the room, otherwise I’m in the wrong room. So, again, see a, a pattern, pattern. So, I just keep making bigger investments in smaller rooms, but the people in those rooms are making bigger impact that allows me to spend biggest investment, biggest check and smallest room, which is my family where I can make the most impact, and again, uh, litmus tests repeatedly you serve. So, if you. If you’re asking people to invest more and more in your company and you don’t invest more and more in yourself, then you’re not being a lit test for the people you serve. So, it always goes back to the same formulas for me but again, what separates entrepreneurs from everyone else is they don’t, entrepreneurs don’t make excuses. They just write the check. That’s it. There’s no, regardless of pushback or anything, you just, you just do it. Get back into a plane, period.
MARK WRIGHT 24:00
So, your book came out, uh, in the spring of 2020. Um,
JUSTIN BREEN 24:03
The first one. Epic Business. Yeah. You would like that one. Did you read that one?
MARK WRIGHT 24:08
I haven’t had a chance to read it yet.
JUSTIN BREEN 24:09
You would, you would like that one. You would really relate to that at a very, because you’re, when you start a business, it, one of the chapters in there, and sorry for interrupting, but one of the chapters is when you start a business, it takes two full years to really figure things out, and you’re one year into journey. Um, you would really. I wrote, I literally wrote that book to help people in your situation. Like literally, that’s why I wrote.
MARK WRIGHT 24:32
That’s one of the reasons that I was super excited to talk with you today, is that we literally have a generation of journalists who are having to try to figure out what’s next because the, the traditional journalism, as you know, is imploding right now, and there are no missionaries.
JUSTIN BREEN 24:45
I haven’t watched the news. I haven’t read a paper in years. I ignore that, because entrepreneurs ignore that world. They ignore, yeah. Shows like these are replacing them.
MARK WRIGHT 24:55
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Um, cuz it’s actually relevant and it’s not 20 seconds long, so, um, that’s right. What I would love is, um, I’m hoping that some journalists or or former, you know, recently former journalists are listening to this. So, because you are such a great example of someone who, um, has pivoted in a way that isn’t, is just exponential, and, uh, so I would love for you to talk to that, to that journalist out there who’s,
JUSTIN BREEN 25:21
There’s nothing, no, no, nope. There’s nothing I can say to that that person, you’re either born like this or you’re not. No, no, no, no. There’s nothing I can say to that person. No, because you, you’re, if people, you’re either, you’re either born like this to do this or not, they don’t need to be inspired by someone like me. They’re either someone.
MARK WRIGHT 25:41
Ah, got it.
JUSTIN BREEN 25:42
No, they don’t. That’s No, that’s, um, so I guess what I will say, if, if it’s someone who’s talking to people and they don’t underst, if no one else understands what they’re talking about, then they’re probably an alien that should not be in, I hate using the word should, but should not be in typical world, but no, no, no. Like, like I have, I have zero business background. I, I don’t, I didn’t know you had to pay taxes four times a year or anything like that. I mean, there’s, there’s nothing to like, um, did you read up on my parents? Did I, did you read up about them? Besides my dad?
MARK WRIGHT 26:26
Uh, I’ve, I listened to, uh, a podcast that went into your, your mom’s background was, she was a nurse, you said she was just super tenacious and that’s where you got part of your, personally yeah.
JUSTIN BREEN 26:40
Thank you for, right. So, I, yeah, I just don’t wanna repeat things that you might already know, but so my dad was 61 when I was born. My mom was 27 and then was just born with a story. My, my father, uh uh, um, he kept his, uh, diary, um, of him fighting in the battle, the hurricane forest toward the end of World War 2. I found it after he died. I write exactly like he does. Uh, man search for meaning is number one, Victor Frankl, if anyone hasn’t read that, uh, I don’t know why any, I mean, but that’s number one, and then my dad’s diary is pretty close to that in terms of the horrors and horrificness of like what he survived. Uh, some of the excerpts from that are in, in the newer, newer book, epic life but, um, okay, so, and then he became attorney in Nazi war crime, Nuremberg Trials. Um, and, okay, so, and then when he was in his late fifties, a drunk driver hit him. Uh, a drunk driver killed dad broke every bone in his body, but survived cuz you don’t figure it out, and then my mom was his nurse. Uh, my dad woke up, he thought he was dead. He thought my mom was an angel but it was my mom. Um, and then she wanted him to date her mom because they were the same age, but my mom or my dad wanted a family cuz he had survived literally. I mean, he was so, he was born in 1916, so he survived World War I, the spanish flu, the depression, World War 2. Uh, came from nothing, him and his three brothers came from nothing, nothing. Um, uh, became attorney in Nazi war crime, Nurnberg Trials, president insurance company. Uh, my dad’s best friend was killed in a famous mafia hit, and then one of my first memories is he tried to hide us, uh, hide us cuz he thought he was gonna get killed next. Um, and then, um, and so he survived all, all of that, and then, then he had all this wisdom and love, so he wanted to start a family. Um, and then so he wanted to date my mom instead, and then my mom is the ultimate survive and thrive. No excu, I mean the ult not an entrepreneur. Um, uh, but the highest level of like what she’s overcome. Most people, well, no, everyone, even the top entrepreneurs, I don’t think they could have handled. So that’s, and then I’m a, you know, a combination of that. Really want to think about it but so genetically I can, I mean, genetically in blood, literally. Uh, and then, and then my dad, every day that he was alive would say the cream rises to the top. So, I got just enough of that until age 13 to understand kind of what he meant, but now I really understand it.
MARK WRIGHT 29:25
Yeah. Did he ever talk, I know that generation mostly didn’t ever talk about their war experiences. Did he ever talk about that with you when he was alive?
JUSTIN BREEN 29:35
So, mark, that’s the best question you’ve asked. I really like that question. I really like it. So, he did not talk about him fighting, and that’s why that diary is so valuable to me for so many reasons, and I’m so grateful for it. If ever a little bit of an excuse pops into my head, I’ll go down and read that diary cause it just gets worse and worse and worse. Uh uh, can I tell you this one story real quick with one of the diaries?
MARK WRIGHT 30:11
Oh, absolutely.
JUSTIN BREEN 30:12
Oh, and that, oh, wait, wait, I’m gonna backtrack. Hold on. So, the, what he did talk about, what he did talk about is training, and my favorite story of that, which, uh, and then I’ll get back to the diary, but, so in fourth grade, I don’t know my dad was dropping something off in school. I remember this and, and, uh, I told my teacher, I’m like, oh yeah, my dad was in World War 2 and she, you know, that’s a confusing thing to say to, uh, in fourth grade and that should be your grandfather. So, so she’s like, oh, can you talk to the kids? So, I’m like, dad, dad, tell him the story about the rattlesnake. Tell ’em the story about the rattlesnake. He said, these are human children, right? They’re scared. So, so he, so he goes, oh yeah, yeah. He was training in, um, Colorado, I can’t remember what the camp, they just, um, they just made it a national, like, um, one of those national things now where they, uh, like they dedicated it or something. I can’t remember what it was called.
MARK WRIGHT 31:06
Like a monument or something?
JUSTIN BREEN 31:07
Yeah, like a monument thing. Yeah, camp something and was called but anyway, so he was in a sleeping in a tent, sleeping in a tent, you know, in a rattle state, crawl right across his neck. While he was, he woke up rest and I crawled across and he just sat there and let it sled out there. So I’m like, tell, tell ’em that, and so he told them that and they were so, and then, and then, um, and then, uh, so I took my kids. My sons are, uh, 10 and eight and they’re little versions of me with my wife’s empathy. My wife’s a pediatrician, so the opposite of me. Thank God, and, uh, so I took them to a movie called Cocaine Bear, and we were, we were laughing, we were laughing our asses off. And then my 10 year old friend who’s also 10, we brought him and he is crying and covering, you know, cuz it’s human child, and then, so we had to leave. So that was my, that was my childhood. We would, you know, my dad took me to Robocop and Platoon and, you know, so then the kids, my friends would cry, and he’d be like, what are you, what are you doing? So, okay, so that was that, and then the diary entry, Christmas day in 1945. So, Christmas Day, Christmas Day, 1945, and um, excuse me, I think maybe it was 1944. I’ll have to look that up. Actually I’ll find it in the book. But anyway, it was Christmas day, so he was, he was watching, he was on the ground, and he was watching three, uh, three American planes. Christmas day, 1944. I got it right here. Okay. So, he was watching a dog fight between, Uh, three American planes in one Nazi plane. The Nazi plane, uh, shot down the first two American planes. The the third American plane, uh, shot the, the Nazi plane. The Nazi pilot jumps out of the plane and his parachute did not open, and my dad and his friends watched this, and he watched the body and goes, bam, bam. Body explodes. This is Christmas day, Christmas Day, and, and then they go over to the body and they looked at the papers. One of them could read German and then, uh, um, the pilot was 17 on his first mission. Yeah. So that’s entrepreneur life. You can’t, if you can’t do that, then don’t, do not become an entrepreneur. You can become a small business owner or an employer or consultant. Do not become an entrepreneur.
MARK WRIGHT 33:28
Man, so your dad went through, went through a lot.
JUSTIN BREEN 33:31
That was one. That was Christmas day, 1944. Ha-ha-ha
MARK WRIGHT 33:34
Wow, like, here’s, here’s a day, a day.
JUSTIN BREEN 33:37
That’s one day.
MARK WRIGHT 33:38
in your life.
JUSTIN BREEN 33:39
Yeah. I just opened it the other day. Uh, cuz I, you know, it’s just endless. It just gets worse. So, he was in a plane and like bullets were flying through the plane and one just missed him, and like, and then his, his friend got shot in the foot. There was another one where, uh, the, uh, he, his, the plane, he was with a plane and his friend, and then the, the engine stopped, and they had no parachute so that they just free landed it on a field and then, uh, and then uh, he got outta the plane. He is like, whatever, and then, uh, well, I don’t think he was like, whatever, but he got out of the plane and then his friend jumped out on the ground, jumped outta the plane and just started crying hysterically. Like he just had had enough. That one really got to me. That really got to me. It, it that, so my empathy kicks in there. I feel that very strongly. It almost makes me stop talking about.
MARK WRIGHT 34:36
Do you think your dad, um, it sounds like your dad had just a real, a really genuine appreciation for life.
JUSTIN BREEN 34:43
So much love, so much wisdom, and then I got the best of that. Yeah. Just enough of it. Just enough.
MARK WRIGHT 34:50
Well, um, Justin, tell me about a typical day now. I’d love to know just what, what’s a typical day like, because it sounds like it’s, it’s really cool.
JUSTIN BREEN 34:59
So, a typical day, Monday through Friday, the weekends, I, it’s just our sons are both incredible athletes and so we just do stuff with them but Monday through Friday, uh, I’m very, very simple. It’s either spending time with my family or talking to the world stop entrepreneurs and connecting them. That’s it. Either in person or.
MARK WRIGHT 35:26
That sounds like every day you are, like you said before, I mean to say that you like being the dumbest guy in the room is, I think a, a pretty amazing statement because I would say a lot of business leaders would love to think that they are the smartest person in the room.
JUSTIN BREEN 35:43
Ugh Those are business leaders. Not, no, no. Those are business.
MARK WRIGHT 35:47
No, no, not right. But just typical, typical corporate business leaders.
JUSTIN BREEN 35:50
I don’t talk to those people. That’s boring to me.
MARK WRIGHT 35:56
So, what excites you most, Justin? What’s, what’s
JUSTIN BREEN 35:59
That’s it. No, no, no. Thank you but no, my family and doing this, that’s it. The purpose of my life is to be a connecting superhero for every visionary who shares their stories with the world. So, I never get tired of it. It’s really fun, very lucrative, endlessly gratifying, and it allows me to spend as much time as I want with my family, which is even better than that. I know what it’s like not to have a dad around.
MARK WRIGHT 36:28
I’d like to ask you a little bit more about Strategic Coach. I’ve met several people now who’ve been part of Strategic Coach and to a person they are all just, um, super high achievers, super inspirational. When you first joined that organization, what, what, what did you learn about it that, that was interesting or opened your eyes?
JUSTIN BREEN 36:48
So, there’s a funny story behind that before I even joined it. Um, cuz again, same formula. You keep making bigger investments to be in smaller rooms. Um, uh, so I was in like a $250 a year networking group, which, you know, I, it’s an investment. I didn’t know what, I didn’t know what this world was yet. So I was in one of those rooms and I had a lunch with a guy. Um, and I was talking like this. He’s like, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but the owner of my company does. I’m like, uh, could you introduce me? And so, uh, he did, and then that person’s name is Gary Claybin. He’s like Rain Man, uh, with numbers in the financial world. He graduated first in his Army Rangers graduating class. He’s most at peace when he is driving 200 miles an hour. Um, and, uh, he’s a coach and strategic coach, uh, and a member, and he’s like, oh, you gotta get out of this. You gotta join the $10,000 a year room. I’m like, okay. So, I joined that. Um, now I’m in the, I would say at, at that level, maybe 10% understood what I was talking about. Now I’m in the 25-carrier level, um, 80%. I can really learn from and then Abundance 360, uh, it’s Peter Diamandis group. Uh, I’m definitely the dumbest person in that room, which is, that’s, those are the smartest, most futuristic, craziest, highest achievers, Atlanta.
MARK WRIGHT 38:37
So, was it just being surrounded by those people? I mean, obviously like that’s, that’s the environment. It’s why,
JUSTIN BREEN 38:41
Why would you surround yourself with people that don’t understand what you’re talking about? I mean, that’s just what I,
MARK WRIGHT 38:49
It’s a no-brainer,
JUSTIN BREEN 38:51
Right. Um, it’s logic, but most people, they overthink things and they make excuses and they talk themselves out of something. I’m not like that, and then if a, if someone who’s a higher level of intelligence or wisdom is like, do that, I’m like, okay, I just do it. I don’t overthink anything.
MARK WRIGHT 39:10
I was inspired when I, I saw that you, uh, you like to start your day focusing on what you’re grateful for, and you said something so simply profound. You said, when you’re constantly grateful, it’s hard not to be grateful, and I thought that was such a beautiful statement.
JUSTIN BREEN 39:26
Thank you.
MARK WRIGHT 39:27
Um, so how, what does, does that look like? Do you journal or what does that look like when you get up in the morning in terms of just gratitude?
JUSTIN BREEN 39:34
Yeah. Thank you for saying that. My wife taught me how to say thank you. I was just talking to somebody today. Um, I met him through Strategic Coach. Uh, he’s a full ADHD, total visionary. Says, I was telling him, oh, my wife taught me how to say thank you, and he’s like, my wife taught me how to say you’re welcome. I’m like, oh, hey, I met someone. It was, it was hilarious. It was AD meets minor asper. It was, it was hilarious but then, um, yeah, so the first thing I do every day is, uh, a grateful journal to my wife. So, if you think the opposite personality is me, that would be my wife. Um, love warmth, pediatrician rules. She just took her Gallup Clifton Strength Finders, and I was like, I almost got disgusted with this. Her number one strength is harmony, like harmony? Harmony? What the hell is I’m, I’m 31 out of 34 in harmony, so she’s harmony, relator, achiever, harmony, relator, uh, I’m just looking at her like harmony, harmony. I
MARK WRIGHT 40:41
I love it.
JUSTIN BREEN 40:42
I know, right? And then she needs
MARK WRIGHT 40:44
those, those doctors, but I love it. Those doctors that you, oh man when you go in to see the doctor and they’re just like treating you like you’re a machine, it’s like, wow, thank you but when you meet somebody who really gets, yeah,
JUSTIN BREEN 40:58
Unless you’re a visionary, then I’ve been, then my empathy comes in full but, um, but harmony and, uh, but it’s fascinating because she’s like the glue for the family. She’s just the glue people meet my wife and they’re like, and then they meet me, they get very confused. But then, so the most important thing for her in Enneagram or unconscious motivator, she’s a two. So that’s to be needed and appreciated. So, the most important thing for her is for someone to say thank you for it. Thank you, thank you. Thank like anything, any meaning. Like I don’t care at all if anyone. I don’t even think about it except with her. So, the first thing I do every day is a grateful journal to her. What I’m grateful for to her. I never even send it to her. It’s just to get me in the habit of staying thank you and then, okay, so then, then, uh, then talking to the world’s, oh, you ask about a typical day. Okay. So that’s the first thing I do. So then talking to top entrepreneurs, basically all of them are very grateful. Why? Cuz gratitude attracts gratitude and repels arrogance and people make excuses. It, it just does. Um, uh, cuz right mindset attracts right network and creates right opportunity. Wrong mindset creates, wrong network, creates no opportunity. Same, same formula, but okay, so then you’re just constantly filled up with gratitude for, with people like that, and then end the day, uh, I’ll, I’ll include this in that with a grateful journal on LinkedIn, Monday through Friday, what I’m grateful for that day and it’s like a commercial for other people, and then as you said, which I appreciate when you’re constantly grateful. Uh, it’s hard to be ungrateful and then it attracts gratitude and repels arrogance. It repels it very strongly. I’ve seen that fascinatingly in real time through for many, many years now.
MARK WRIGHT 42:44
That’s cool. You mentioned LinkedIn, so let’s talk about your new venture. You describe it as, uh, LinkedIn without the BS.
JUSTIN BREEN 42:51
Yes, yes.
MARK WRIGHT 42:53
Every time I’m on LinkedIn, all I, all I get are these messages from LinkedIn. You should consider signing back up for premium and it’s like that’s their main goal is to try to get me to subscribe to their premium service but what’s the BS about, uh, LinkedIn that, that caused you? Again,
JUSTIN BREEN 43:09
You just said it.
MARK WRIGHT 43:10
Kind of a pain point that said, I want to create something better.
JUSTIN BREEN 43:12
You just said the that, okay. Well, there’s two pain points and again, see, probably create solution pro. Uh, so my partner for, for this company, he’s competition one, maximizer two, empathy three, I’m, I’m dead last. So he is like collaborative empathy, but he’s a true visionary. Things much bigger than I do, and, and so he’ll take it to wherever, wherever it goes but again, same formula. See a problem. I like LinkedIn, but most of its BS, and then again, all I do is talk to the top entrepreneurs. So, I hear the same problem. They need to meet the right person. They need to find the investor. They need a, a new type of employee. They need a Hollywood script director for the film they’re working on. So, all this is is technology for what I’m already doing. It’s just technology, it’s just a platform for that with a partner who has incredible empathy and he is a bigger visionary than I am. So that’s that, and then he does eight and nine figure deals all day. That’s not my, that’s not my world, that’s not journalism world is doing eight and nine figure deals. I don’t think it is. But um, so that’s, that’s fun and then again, you create the solution and then you just, you solve it, and it will be a successful global company cuz it’s just a hundred x 10 x of what already doing through PR.
MARK WRIGHT 44:29
Yeah. That’s awesome. So, it’s a subscription based, uh, platform.
JUSTIN BREEN 44:32
Nice point invite only connectivity platform.
MARK WRIGHT 44:35
Yeah. That’s awesome. Um, talk about the new book you’re working on a new book.
JUSTIN BREEN 44:41
Well, the new one just, it came out, uh, the Epic Life book. Yeah. That just came out.
MARK WRIGHT 44:46
Oh. Uh, so that’s. Tell me about that one then, cuz we, we talked first about the one that came out in 2020. The epic life is, uh,
JUSTIN BREEN 44:55
That’s one word. Peter Diamandis. Uh, so, okay, so I’ll slow down. Epic Business um, Chris Foster will never split the difference. Wrote the forward for that. Very grateful for that. Um, I, I, you know, side note, I do recommend that you read, you would appreciate Epic Business. I think that would be a really helpful, um, tool for you personally, and folks in the audience, but for you personally here, Hey, there’s my empathy, right? Woohoo. Okay. So then, um, and includer and then Epic Life.
MARK WRIGHT 45:24
Thank you.
JUSTIN BREEN 45:27
You’re welcome. Learned how to do that, and then, uh, and then, uh, epic life, uh, where Peter, Dr. Peter Di Monte at the four, that’s how to build collaborative global companies while, while putting your loved ones first.
MARK WRIGHT 45:40
So, you are surrounded by visionaries. You’re a visionary. Um, I, 60 Minutes recently did a, almost an entire episode on, uh, artificial intelligence and how it’s going to, to change, change the world. Man, that’s exciting. Give me your perspective on AI, and how do you think it’s gonna change life?
JUSTIN BREEN 46:00
That’s such a good question, and again, Abundance360, those are the top AI people on the planet. Um, and that’s, that’s who’s in that, okay. So, and then I’m a very simple person. So, all the new technology and flying cars, like the, the people in that are building flying cars with the capital to do it like there was a flying car at, at the thing. Um, okay. So, with AI and all this other stuff, it’s great. I’m very thankful for it. Microchips get smaller and smaller. Great. Very thankful for it. I mean, we’re talking on Zoom. It’s amazing. I was talking to Ray Kurzweil in the Metaverse, Ray Kurzweil’s, the top futurist in the in the world. I talking to him in meta, in the Metaverse, met somebody there, sent them my Calendly link, and then we met in Zoom. So think about that even a year. I mean it’s, but okay, that’s our world. Okay. So, with all that technology, great. There are two things that will never change, never change, because I’m a simplifier and I see how things are. So, one is the power of real human relationships. We are a world of real human relationships. Two is the power of storytelling. So, Bible hieroglyphics, smoke signals, the Constitution, libraries. We are a world of storytellers. So, AI and all this other stuff will make the power of human, real, human relationships better, and the power of storytelling better. That is all they are to me.
MARK WRIGHT 47:35
That’s cool. One of our earlier guests on the podcast created a documentary called Finding Joe all about, uh, Joseph Campbell and the Hero’s Journey, and I mean, that’s, we’re hardwired for stories, aren’t we? Yeah.
JUSTIN BREEN 47:48
We’re hardwired, we’re, that’s, that’s how we communicate. So, anything that can make that communication better and creates better human relationships. I mean, so meeting a human in the metaverse connecting through Calendly and then on Zoom that makes a human relationship better. We are talking on Streamy Yard after an intro, via email, uh, from a LinkedIn, uh, connection, and then I met, uh, Dan Rogers who started this company through another connection of someone I met through email and then on Facebook. So, like it’s, there’s no, it’s just a different way of doing this. That’s all it is, and then a true visionary will see the gap or problem or way to fix it and then create a solution for it.
MARK WRIGHT 48:33
And, you know, we saw with the pandemic, um, just really showed how valuable these platforms can be instead of seeing it as a a, that’s the upside, I guess, of, of the pandemic as we saw so much more of what’s possible technologically, right?
JUSTIN BREEN 48:48
Oh, it just fast tracked what was already going on. Just most people didn’t see it. Um, so the, um, uh, well before Covid, uh, I was saying there will be more companies like the first one where it’s very high price point, very low overhead. You just do what you like to do and what you’re good at, and you don’t need to worry about a million employees, and, you know, having a big office and then,and then Covid fast tracked that, but regardless of whether Covid had happened, things like that were going to happen. It just fast tracked it, and then the day after Covid, the day after Covid really shut things down. I’m like, this will be the greatest opportunity of all time for people with the right mindset, and that’s what it’s been.
MARK WRIGHT 49:28
when, uh, you talked about when people laugh, laughed at you, laugh at you. Um, Howard Schultz. Howard Schultz, when he was trying to raise money to take Starbucks from maybe a dozen stores. To what it is today. He, he, he had hundreds of meetings, trying to raise money, pe and, and, and people were laughing at him like he would come home at the end of the day, and people would, would’ve laughed. They would laughed in his face. They said people are not gonna pay $2 for cup of coffee.
JUSTIN BREEN 49:55
When humans laugh in your face, that’s when you know it’s gonna work.
MARK WRIGHT 50:01
Is there a poignant moment or a story when you just realized I’m on the right track here.
JUSTIN BREEN 50:06
when someone, oh, oh my God. What a great question. Okay, so, okay. This is hilarious and true, which is even better. So, I was at, and these are nice people. Okay. They’re nice, they’re good people. So, um, I was at maybe five months in, I was at a, and this is after the Robert Feeder article came out, and, you know, and then, so I went to a small PR consultant meeting or something. It was, it was nice, and then I just sat there and we went around the table and then, and then I, I literally told them exactly what my company was doing. Like literally like, here’s what it is. I’m just like, here, you can take this. Do whatever you want with it. Everyone laughed, everyone. I’m like, okay. So, I just, I just left and I’m like, well, I know this is doing well. It’s gonna be perfect, and then, and then, uh, and then I stopped watching the news years ago. I mean, I haven’t, unless it accidentally comes through, I don’t, I just completely ignore mainstream media.
MARK WRIGHT 51:19
Well, we, we need to start to wrap things up, Justin. This has been, this has been fantastic. What’s next for you? I know this new platform you’re building, but just, uh, give us a little bit of your inspiration, um, because I, I just love to hear how you have turned what could have been, uh, something bad into just an amazing new chapter of life.
JUSTIN BREEN 51:41
That’s what life is. I mean, that’s what it, um, Earl Nightingale, he’s the OG. He’s the OG of the great thinkers where it was recorded and uh, I think it’s called the Strangest Secret. My favorite quote from that is, success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal. Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal, and you become what you think about, you become what you think about. So for me, a worthy ideal is to be connecting superhero for every visionary who shares their stories with the world. So progressive realization of. If that were the ideal and then spending time with my family, there’s nothing else from me and I found the rest of this stuff just kind of takes care of itself.
MARK WRIGHT 52:31
That’s cool.
JUSTIN BREEN 52:32
Thanks.
MARK WRIGHT 52:33
Well, this has been fun. Thank you. Thank you so much Justin. Thanks for taking the time man. I know that uh, your time is valuable, and I appreciate you.
JUSTIN BREEN 52:41
Great interview. Really appreciate it.
MARK WRIGHT 52:44
I’m Mark Wright. Thanks for listening to BEATS WORKING, part of the WorkP2P family. New episodes drop every Monday, and if you’ve enjoyed the conversation, subscribe, rate, and review this podcast. Special thanks to show producer and web editor Tamar Medford. In the coming weeks, you’ll hear from our Contributors Corner and Sidekick Sessions. Join us next week for another episode of BEATS WORKING. Where we are winning the game of work.
