It’s one thing to go from bootstrapped to a billion-dollar brand…
It’s another thing to do it from one country to another… selling actual boots!
My latest guest on The Wisdom Of… Show Brian Smith’s infallible resilience and undaunting determination in the face of adversity makes his story one we can all step into and walk away wiser.
With an accounting degree, a dream, and just $500 of start-up money, he founded UGG Imports to bring sheepskin footwear to America. After seventeen years, as sales reached $15 million, he sold the business to Deckers Outdoor Corporation. With its resources, the “casual comfort” segment of the footwear industry came to life, and the UGG brand now garners more than a billion dollars in sales per year, year after year.
A passionate innovator and entrepreneur, Brian is one of the most renowned business leaders in the country today. Following his exit, he became a media guest on screen and stage, and today, he is one of the most sought-after speakers in the world. Brian brings a magical mix of real-world street smarts, kindness, compassion, and respect for the entrepreneurial drive—all of which (much like his boots to the wearer) fit businesses of any size.
Yet, the path from start-up scrappiness to the billion-dollar brand wasn’t warm and cozy like the boots he sold. Brian had to weather storms, outsmart competitors, and disrupt an entire industry along the way.
Here’s how he did it and the steps he took to transform UGG from an Australian staple into an American success.
Want more sage insights on how to step into your next level of entrepreneurial impact? Watch the full interview with Brian Smith now.
An Unlikely Beginning
The year was 1978.
After studying to become a chartered accountant for 10 years, Brian quit his job on the day he graduated.
The unlikely reason?
Lyrics from Pink Floyd’s iconic song, Time:
“You are young, and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then, one day, you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun.”
These lyrics didn’t just make him think about the time he had squandered—they compelled him to buy a plane ticket to America to find the next big thing.
A ticket that would start a journey over 40 years in the making.
He arrived in America with a dream: to find the next big thing and bring it back to Australia. Little did he know that he would do the opposite, turning an Australian staple into an American success story.
“1 in every 2 Australians have sheepskin footwear, but no Americans do.”
The realization of what he knew would become a million-dollar idea hit him hard, but he never could have anticipated just how hard that idea would be to bring to life…
The Strategy That Shifted Everything
Despite having a brilliant idea already proven in the Australian market, there was a problem…
Aussies knew the value of sheep-skin footwear, but Americans?… Not at all.
When he started out, Brian struggled to convey the value of the UGG boots to an uneducated market.
He got the samples and got shut out from all the major shoe stores, having to get his start in small surf shops around California.
Everything changed when he was visiting a store that had bought half a dozen pairs from him. This was when he witnessed the salesperson unable to convey the value of the UGG boot.
So, he came up with what he considered the cheapest and most effective marketing plan in the company’s history.
For every six pairs of UGG boots a store ordered, he would give a pair to the manager. This allowed the salespeople to stop selling the product and start selling the experience and enthusiasm they were having while wearing them.
This changed everything for UGG boots, and sales exploded revealing a profound piece of wisdom:
The people who will add the greatest value to your business need to be given the greatest value.
And these people aren’t just your customers. They could be salespeople (as they were for Brian), staff, or partners. In any case, meet them with value and your business will be met with value in return.
The Entrepreneurial Lifecycle
Our conversation then pivoted to a model of understanding the maturity of your business using the analogy of a human life, which Brian outlined for me, taken from his book, The Birth Of Business:
Conception: $0
When you first have the idea for the business that you want to bring to life
Birth: $1-$100k
When you make the first order or create the MVP (minimum viable product)
Infancy: $100k-$1MM
When the business is undeveloped and struggling (this is when most give up)
Toddler: $1-20MM
When growth is beginning to happen, and you start getting initial traction
Youth: $20-50MM
When you have regular customers and teams in place and things are clicking
Teenager: $50MM-$500M
When you start to expand globally (a risky time as it’s easy to chew up capital)
Adult: $500M-$1B+
When you emerge with a mature, seasoned, and often publicly traded brand
The true genius behind these stages is not found in their structure but in how intuitively they can be understood.
I challenge you to look at the categories above and ask yourself, “What age is my business, and what challenges am I experiencing at this stage of development?”
Finding your business and understanding its age in the lifecycle can give you hope that the challenges you’re facing right now are normal, especially when you’re in the tricky infant or teenage years.
Even further, it can help you understand how big you actually WANT to grow your company and when, as Brian did, you might want to sell.
Elephants & Mice
As we continued the conversation, we chatted about the unlikely lessons he had learned when Brian told me an incredible story.
“At the time, I felt like a failure because I couldn’t get into any of the big department stores. I could barely get a meeting with them.”
At one of these rare meetings up in Chicago with Montgomery Ward, a large mall, he had just given the best pitch he ever had when the owner turned to him and said…
“Brian. Why are you here?”
“I’d like to get an order for the Chicago stores,” he replied.
“Don’t you get it?” the owner responded. “We’re the elephants. We don’t move until the mice are running around under our feet.”
It immediately became clear to Brian why he had been struggling all that time. This piece of paradigm-shifting wisdom set a new plan in motion where he focused on generating buzz in smaller specialty stores first before approaching the larger ones.
By the time he had, it was even better… the larger stores were approaching him.
In your business, look for the mice that you can excite and generate a buzz with. Let them make the noise that will attract the giants… and lead to life-changing partnerships and deals.
Mantras to Move Markets
As we wrapped up our conversation, Brian shared a few key nuggets of wisdom that he has kept with him and deployed over the course of his legendary 40+ year entrepreneurial career.
Feast In Uncertainty: The uncertain times when you’re not sure what to do, you may one day look back on as the most fun. Savour these times and approach them with insatiable curiosity.
Fatten In Disappointment: When your best-laid plans go askew, embrace it as a good thing. Look for the lessons in the losses. Those “mistakes” may end up being blessings in disguise, so don’t let them slow you down.
Do What You’re The Best In The World At: On a 40-foot catamaran off the coast of Rottnest Island in Ireland, Richard MacFarlane, the founder of Windrush Surf Yauchts, gave him this revolutionary advice.
The market doesn’t know how to ask for what it doesn’t know it can have. Find what you’re the best at and create your market from there.Do It For The Long Haul: If you’re going to be in business, be ALL IN on business. It will be a long journey. Anticipate the trials and appreciate this truth, knowing that each step along the way will make you stronger.
The Wealth Is In The Work: Wealth is not a natural gift. It is earned through your hard work and by living out the belief that drove you to change the world. Don’t just hope for the extraordinary… make them happen.
These five mantras are vital for anyone serious about embracing the totality of the entrepreneurial journey in all its ups and downs.
When followed, they’ll help you guide your business through every season across any terrain or challenge with comfort and confidence…
…Much like a pair of UGGs.
It was such a pleasure to sit down with Brian Smith and walk through his inspiring story and the powerful insights he gleaned along his remarkable entrepreneurial journey.
Through his stories and wisdom, he shared timeless lessons we can all carry with us as we build iconic brands that help the world step into a better, brighter future.
If you enjoyed what you read, I encourage you to watch this episode.
Walk awhile in Brian’s indelible wisdom and the incredible lessons he learned scaling UGG from a promising idea into a billion-dollar industry-disrupting powerhouse.
Join the transformation and conversation…
Watch the full interview with Brian Smith on The Wisdom Of… Show
And don’t miss Simon Bowen’s transformative masterclass on unlocking your hidden genius. Your future self will thank you.
