Brian Smith is one of Australia’s most famous entrepreneurs who is best known for founding and launching the UGG® sheepskin boot brand in the USA.
In his late twenties, Brian Smith decided that a life in Public Accounting in Australia was not for him. He quit his job and went to California to look for a new business idea and to surf all the legendary breaks such as Malibu and Rincon he read about in surf magazines in his teens.
It wasn’t long before he noticed that there were no sheepskin boots in California, so he and a friend brought six pairs from Australia to test.
That was the genesis of “UGG” which Brian built into a national brand over the next seventeen years. In 1995 he sold UGG to the Deckers Corp in Santa Barbara for an eight figure sum.
The new team built upon the “casual comfort” theme and through style development, merchandising and great marketing, established UGG as an International fashion brand with sales now exceeding $1 Billion per year.
Since selling UGG, Brian has started several new companies and has mentored scores of entrepreneurs through various stages of their growth. He is passionate about encouraging people to take action on their ideas.
As a motivational speaker, his humorous, heart-felt style and hard-won business savvy is energizing CEOs, business owners and budding entrepreneurs across the country.
Speaking topics include:
The Three Gems of Perseverance
Brian Smith decided to quit the UGG business four times in the 17 years he spent building it. Learn the powerful philosophical truths that kept Brian “keeping on” to overcome seemingly impossible barriers and apparent defeat.
Accentuated by real life stories from the early days of UGG, Brian takes the audience on a trail of highs and lows, problems and solutions, that are applicable to every one of today’s businesses, and how exceptional customer service came back to save the company in its direst days.
You Can’t Give Birth to Adults – You are here in the Business Life-Cycle.
Every business that exists started with someone “Conceiving” the idea. The first action gave “Birth” to the business, and invariably the long period of “Infancy” set in. Brian describes how to get through this period until the business/service becomes a “Toddler” then progresses to “Youth,” a fairly easy stage of every business. But, if the business/ service is a good one, the “Teenage” period can be one of disruption and chaos until the administrators implement the controls that steer the ship to the safe harbor of “Maturity.”
The Third Island – The Breakout Factor
It takes vision for a corporation to get to the next level. It requires the skills of an “Intrapreneur” and you either have this skill or you don’t. If you have it, you have a set of problems how to present it, sell it, and get it implemented. If you don’t have the vision, you know who you are, but you also know you are the ones who can IMPLEMENT the vision that has been agreed upon.
Brian teaches how to find your visionary by airing the problems and questions facing the corporation and then team up to form an unstoppable alliance. The visionary always needs the support of those who don’t have the vision.
Brian Smith delivers unforgettable inspiration for sales, marketing and for the future of your company and provides breakthrough techniques for building a business.
*Brian travels from the USA.
