0093: Interview With A Rights Holder: Epic Life’s Justin Breen

Raw transcript:

I suggest that before you watch or
listen to this podcast episode that you
go look up Colby
k-o-l-b-e uh maybe strengths finders and
maybe you look up uh the word epic get a
real clear idea of what the definition
of that word is you maybe want to
familiarize yourself with Culver’s menu
the the burger place
uh but we’re going to be talking with
Justin Breen who has written a book
called epic life and I was fortunate
enough to be the audiobook narrator
we’re going to talk about what it’s like
to be an entrepreneur uh what it’s like
to have a family life as well of a
business life and we’ll do that in this
episode of the vo Heroes podcast
Justin Breen is a very simple man he’s a
very interesting man
uh he uh I feel like I got to know you
during the or at least a part of you
during the narration of your book epic
life and it isn’t just epic life it’s
epic life how to build collaborative
global companies while putting your
loved ones first and when I saw that I
thought okay another use of the word
epic because I was looking at everything
that you do your company being brepik
and and uh you just the Epic seems to be
an interesting and important word for
you why is that
um one I’m very grateful to to be on
your show
um I know you don’t interview a lot of
folks
um so thank I really appreciate that and
um thank you for
for reading the the audible of the book
um
uh you know I’m good at writing and was
in broadcasting for a long time but your
voice is far superior that’s mine and
I’ve learned that if I’m not truly
exceptional at something then
don’t do it and or have someone else is
much better do it for me so thank you
um
and uh you know the word epic it’s it’s
kind of funny because like you know as a
journalist would always just try to get
it in a headline or in the text of a
story I just always thought it was a
funny word
um
and people spend you know millions of
dollars with branding and coming up with
a name for a company so like
when I started the first company a
little over five years ago after job
salary was cut in half and couldn’t find
a job with
zero business background and my wife
surprised me for 40th birthday
um uh up on the way up to Wisconsin
I’m like I’ll just call a company brevik
because BR first two letters the last
name and just like saying epic so
you know multiple epic books and
prepping Network for epic PR repix
scholarship replic founders award for
epic youth baseball team it’s kind of
funny I just think it’s funny
so you’re just kind of like trying to
morph the word for the rest of the world
from epic
that’s right all right why not I mean
why not do that
when you uh you you mentioned your other
book uh the other book is called epic
business right
um when you wrote that book was there
something in you that said I gotta check
this box this is something I need to do
I need to write a book or was it there’s
a whole lot of information inside of me
and I think a book is the best way to
get it out I mean some some business
people have this you know this punch
list that they have in terms of
what they need to do to consider
themselves or to have others consider
them to be successful and I’m wondering
if there was anything there because
you’re a Dan Sullivan guy I know Dan
really well oh you do I have plenty of
friends who are part of strategic
coaching and okay uh I just you know
he’s just he’s epic for sure called me
what’s your Colby uh I am I don’t
actually I’m more of a strengths finder
Guy what’s your what are your top five
strengths finders top five strengths are
uh teacher learner
ideator maximizer yep and I forget my
fifth one but let me let me tell you a
quick story about this my girlfriend is
actually a certified coach for uh
strengths finder for Clifton and when we
first started dating guess what she made
me do did Clifton strings finders yeah
and and she said she she admitted to me
later on she said listen
I love your strengths if I didn’t love
your strengths I don’t think we’d be
dating
and I’m like wow okay well thank you
Clifton thank you uh you know uh that
anyway
um so
was it just a or not just but was it a
punch list item for you or was it
something that you just had inside you
that you needed to get out now yeah
that’s a that’s a good question from uh
futuristic maximizer ideator so that’s a
good one the um so my strength finders
um there’s 34 of them
uh I’m 32 out of 34 in ideation almost
dead last
and top three are activator maximizer
achiever
so achiever is my fifth one yeah right
so most of the people might yeah no
problem yeah I know the answers before
so most of the people I talk to are
ideator and or futurists so they’re off
in ideal land and but they have a mix of
activator maximizer retriever in it so
they’ll do because if you’re often ideal
in and you don’t do anything I’m that’s
not a good that’s one that’s torture too
that’s a pointless conversation so
the ideator futurists
who are uh will do something about it
now they’re very grateful for me because
they can’t simplify and then they can’t
they can’t because they’re all over the
place with ideas and I’m very low in
that
but if I hear a good idea like oh I’ll
do that activate maximize the choose so
that relates to your question because
for companies
um
for companies uh 30-month anniversary
the first one I published a list of 30
things that I’d learned from
30 of the top folks on planet
uh in the first 30 months so none of
those ideas came from me it was people
like you and so I posted that I think at
the time I had 40 000 followers on
social media
and uh so everyone’s like this is before
covet so they’re like oh that’s a good
idea why don’t you write a book on the
30 things
and they were printing it out bringing
it to meetings because it was in person
I’m like oh that’s a good idea I’ll do
that so I wrote a book that’s great yeah
right so it was actually inspired by
something that you did to build your
business
I mean I get I mean it was inspired by
here’s how uh I built the company with
zero business background that only
partners with top people on planet with
you know I still don’t know what an S
corp is because I don’t care about this
I’m not I don’t I don’t even know what a
business owner is I don’t care about any
of that stuff
yeah um so then the second book is like
here’s 30 more things I’ve learned and
then I talked to one to two people like
us every single most of my days talking
to top entrepreneurs on the planet so
not business owners no and not really
humans and
so I talked to one or two about people
like us every single week that have let
entrepreneur life destroy their family
life or they never had a family I’m like
well that’s a bad idea I’m not going to
do that so
um that’s what the new book’s about it’s
like you don’t have to destroy your
family or not have a family that or have
meaningful relationships to
you know have global companies you don’t
have to do that so that’s the point
we we uh we talk about work-life balance
we see all kinds of articles in the
usual suspect newsletters of work-life
balance and we see people uh struggling
to achieve whatever the right work-life
balance is for them right the last few
words of your title your subtitle is
putting your loved ones first right and
family seems to mean the world to you uh
you you put in a hierarchy what your
priorities are and family is right there
right what do you I see you posting uh
pictures of your kids at uh you know
little league and and you know your
insta is like you know just life with
hey look what my kids did and out of
them yeah and I’m wondering what you
have as your biggest goal for your kids
what would be a home run for you when
your kids grew up and they look back on
how they they wented their way through
life and your family what would be a
home run for you for them
I’m very grateful you asked that no
one’s ever asked that before
um and your girlfriend will appreciate
this my sons who are nine and eight have
done Clifton strengths Explorers so
that’s the strengths finders for kids so
my nine years that’s great yeah right
well talk is meaningless to me without
doing anything so activate maximize the
chief so
the nine-year-old by the way 2296 Colby
that’s full Maniac entrepreneur Pioneer
that’s a that’s a full maniac right
there uh Dan Sullivan’s a two two ten
four so my nine-year-old is somewhat
close to that so I don’t say that
lightly so his top three strength
explorers are competing achieving
confidence that’s a good one to be an
entrepreneur and then the eight-year-old
who’s a three two nine seven also full
Maniac entrepreneur uh pioneer he’s Aid
and his top three are achieving
competing relating so he’s like full
Maniac who can relate to people which is
interesting to me so those are their
strength explorers but
so
uh my father died when I was 13 as you
know he was a World War II hero whose
diary from Battle of hurricane force was
that’s pretty good pretty good
um
that’s my litmus test people either get
into a plane without a parachute after
it was shot down or they make an excuse
so I just don’t make excuses but
you know he died when I was 13 and so I
know what it’s like not to have the dad
around and I will never be that person
for my I will not I won’t I will be
there for my children so
the greatest part of being about
entrepreneurs that my kids get to see
that this world even exists most people
have no idea this world exists and
whatever they do with that is fine I
whatever they want to do with that is
fine but that’s the greatest gift I can
give them is one being a good dad but
two showing them that this
entrepreneurial world global thinking
world even exists yeah
Woody Allen often says uh you know nine
tenths of being a successful actor is
showing up hitting your mark and saying
your lines
and it feels like
you kind of embrace the notion that just
being present is maybe half maybe even
more of the battle with your kids there
are so many parents who are absent in
one way or another they may be
physically there right but yeah so
um what’s your metric for Success when
your kids go through a tough time or
when you go through a tough time what’s
your metric for Success when you take a
look at hey how do we handle that
by the way all of these questions that
I’m asking Justin are things that you’ll
get Clues on if you listen to the audio
version or read the Kindle or physical
version of uh epic life so I’m just
letting you know this is why I’m asking
these questions well I appreciate I
appreciate that follow through on that
really interesting
question so
um I only like you know most folks like
business entrepreneurs they you know
they’re 10xes that Revenue Office Space
employee account I don’t care about any
of that stuff my 10xing in life is only
two things one experiences in life with
my family if you have a good family life
you have a good life I have not met an
exception to that I’ve never met one
person that does not have a good family
life that hasn’t had a good life I if
you know somebody like that has a good
family life hasn’t had a good life I
would like to meet that person I don’t
think I will but and then the other one
is um Network on a global level when you
increase your network find a global
level it creates endless opportunities
for your network and yourself so those
are the only two 10xes that I care about
and
um when my family is struggling which is
very rare by the way
um they are high level achiever
competing six very I mean there’s a big
article
um
a local magazines do it just did a
bigger big cover story on my family
which it’s mostly about my family which
I’m grateful for but the headline of it
is no excuses the Breen family no excuse
so I thought that was a perfect headline
maybe that’ll be the third Epic no
excuses could be the third book that
doesn’t work well but but it would be
it’d be kind of funny but um
you know when there are struggles
they’re great learning experiences uh if
something happens at school
um we really talk to the kids about it
and like oh well what did you learn from
that what did you learn from that or
something happens outside of school you
didn’t win a game or maybe struggled in
something always always double down on
like so what could what could have been
done better or or how could you have
improved yourself in this or what did
you learn from this and so
um you know full disclosure I married a
stabilizing human thank God my wife’s a
pediatrician so I lean on her heavily
for those type of situations
thank God for her she’s the warmth
empathy rules lists calendar items uh
parenting
thank God thank God for that but so um
my litmus test is so I tell my kids
silly okay stupid nut uh misdemeanor
borderline okay felony nut okay so
that’s my parenting my wife’s a little a
little different felony bad borderline
mystery so but I’m serious about that
like so my father was you know he’s 61
when I was born survived World War II in
Korea and uh was an attorney in the
Nuremberg Nazi war crimes trial
um his best friend was assassinated
famous ganglion slang so my dad had been
through all of that
um and then by the time he was you know
he was an old man who was retired and he
was just grateful to be alive and so I
got this little kid who was an old man
with a little kid’s heart raising me so
I’m like that I’m like a old wisdom 45
year old body childish mindset child
like mindset of a five-year-old and
that’s regressing that’s getting four
years probably a four-year-old no that’s
all this keeps going lower but I I enjoy
that and then my kids my kids like it
too and then their friends do too
awesome we’re talking with Justin Breen
whose book epic life how to build
collaborative global companies while
putting your loved ones first is
available in paperback it’s available in
uh Kindle it’s available in uh audiobook
I was fortunate to do the narration of
it let me ask you about uh that whole
notion when you were writing the book
did you think about how it would land
differently for somebody listening to it
rather than somebody reading it
tremendous question
um
of all the questions I’m guessing you’ll
appreciate the input from from this one
the most because of how you serve folks
um and I think this is good knowledge so
there’s two things there’s two things
from this probably more but I’ll focus
on too so most of my days talking to the
world’s top entrepreneurs okay that
again entrepreneurs there’s fundamental
difference between entrepreneurs and
business owners and all that other stuff
so
um I was talking to one of those folks
uh the other day who specializes in um
assessments and mental health and things
like that 30 percent of entrepreneurs
thirty percent she’s telling me and
she’s got the credibility to have this
answer 30 are dyslexic 30 percent
wow yeah right that’s what I said I’m
like wow because I knew it was I knew it
was like so here’s entrepreneurs in four
levels one ADHD which is not a disorder
it’s time to genius two is minor
Asperger’s three is dyslexia and four is
incredibly high IQ so I see that I did
not think dyslexia was 30 percent
so book came out
book came out
um uh the the Kindle and hardcover soft
cover came out in August and then um
audible just came out
uh late September early October and a
lot of those 30 percent are
entrepreneurs whether they were dyslexic
or not they were waiting for the audible
they were waiting for that
so that’s good and I and my sons
um they’re not dyslexic but they my wife
reads to them and then I listen uh we
They Don’t Really stare at the book when
she reads they just hear what she says
so they’re auditory if that’s even the
word
if that’s the word uh their auditory
learners
so um audible is a crucial element
um to any book launch I mean it’s
crucial
um and then and then two
um
me reading my own book would not have
been the best use of the book so we
wanted to get
a scribe prescribe publishing we wanted
to get highly qualified
really nice sounding person to read the
book and that is you
when you were composing the book I you
know I always know right away as I’m
narrating a book
um the the skill level in both the
writer and the editor because uh the the
way it sounds is a big part of how it
reads when somebody even when somebody’s
reading the physical book itself because
they’re hearing the words in their head
to a degree
um we’re talking uh with Justin Breen
about his book epic life uh how did he
reach you I wanna I wanna know how did
that look to you then
I was good I was I was going to just say
that um you know when I first started
reading it the mechanism in the book of
you referring back to your dad’s diary
because that’s what happens in the book
you’ll see you’ll hear if you get the
audiobook uh passages
of his diary that he kept during World
War II yeah and the connection between
that and how you live your life now uh
was was really interesting to me
um it clearly was something that was uh
easy for me I always find that I make
fewer errors as I’m narrating the better
the book is written
and that’s not only when I’m doing
audiobook work that’s when I’m doing
stage work when I’m doing on camera work
when I’m doing other voice over work I
always find that it’s so much easier to
flow yeah when the stuff is well written
and so
thank you I wondered what it might have
been like for you uh when when I don’t
know how says first book I’ve uh uh done
for you and also uh one of the first few
books that I’ve done for scribe and I
don’t know exactly whether they share
with you the ongoing development of the
book through the process like if they
let you listen to the stuff before they
do uh error and QC
um but I do wonder I never really get a
chance to talk to the the authors of
books about the process okay and so did
they just present you with a finished
book or were you able to hear it as it
was being done okay good question
um so as background again like salt
I was a professional journalist and I
don’t say this lightly but writing a
book is very easy for me it’s not hard
um so that entire manuscript was written
in 16 days
um it was very easy there was almost no
editing at all
um
um no Ed almost none and any
recommendations which I’m I appreciate
that I said no to because I’m like I
know how to I mean that for me that’s
easy it’s not hard
and then you brought it up but like my
litmus test and like you know my dad’s
diary that’s one of the greatest things
ever written I mean that every passage
in that is uh uh it’s just it gets more
and more horrific dude you got who’s
ever listening to this or watching you
can listen to the book or read it to
appear but like
I’m a pretty good writer my dad was you
know to do that in a foxhole and you
know I mean it’s it’s just a remarkable
I mean Victor Frankel man search for
meaning that’s my favorite book that’s
number one my dad’s Diaries number two I
mean
world class that was a world-class
writer so it’s in my blood I guess
uh it’s in my blood
and so like
the the process of the audio aspect was
the manuscript was done and then they
sent me a couple clips from a certain
number of folks
a certain number of folks and I think in
your bio I think the word epic was in
your bio somewhere I’m pretty sure it
was
um I’m almost I can look that up I can
look it up
um when I selected it you want me to try
and find this real quick it’ll be funny
because this is how I if you’re if
you’re if you’re telling me uh part of
your answer is uh when you saw that
you’re like oh this is a sign I gotta I
gotta at least consider this guy uh it
just will go into a very large uh vat of
really awesome Epic
incredibly
random but not so Random reasons why
people get booked it’s what I talk with
my clients about all the time God links
it’s godlinks uh okay here we go oh here
we go okay this is it this is it yeah
okay so David H Lawrence the 17th is
perfect the word epic is in his profile
perfect for me that’s literally what I
wrote oh that’s what you sent back to
scribe when you subscribe and share and
then uh Sophie May is my contact I love
it this is a fantastic match made in
heaven so that’s what so that was July
26 2022. yeah so that’s what I mean
I make my just now my wife is a doctor
would not make a decision like that she
might ask for a little little more a
little more but for me like I you know
that’s um one of the Chatters in the
book is called God Winks so that’s hot
man that’s that’s what that is got it
great so uh I I wanted to take a moment
to thank you so much for for doing so
for picking me and for allowing me to be
on this journey with you uh Justin Breen
I have one last question for you I I
urge you to answer this with alacrity
and with accuracy I don’t know what that
means I don’t know okay well you’ll
you’ll get it here we go Culver’s
concrete mixer or mini concrete mixer
which one is it for you
I’m almost assaulted you ask me that
question
why is that because Culver’s not on your
list
no because why would you get many of
anything I mean that’s an insulting like
I see all right there you go well I’ll
tell you why because
um so they haven’t put it on the can I
can I swear or somewhat sure I’m putting
on the damn uh the damn board yet but uh
Buffalo Wild Wings in Northbrook
Glenview area I did the the uh Blazing
Wings challenge with my sons my wife was
there too looking at very confused at
the whole situation and uh you know you
have five minutes to do that and I ate
it in like one one minute and like 52
seconds wow later was very confusing I’m
not very I’m not a very large human
um like five seven maybe 150. and I just
destroyed those wings they gave me a
little headband but they still haven’t
put my time up there that this has been
almost a year now they haven’t done it
um and I asked them every time
they haven’t done it but I have a
gigantic appetite huge like I can eat an
insane amount of food
um and getting a mini concrete mixer
that’s that’s completely ridiculous and
a waste of time all right everything and
you just pack we went to we went this is
this is not what you’re looking for
maybe but but this is my point
um we used to go to Dairy Queen uh for
the blizzards yeah and uh you know they
you know maybe get two or three things
mixed in there I would put like seven
different candy bars in there and it
looked like a brown it didn’t look good
but oh my God is that what did it taste
good oh God it just
it’s just an incredible like borderline
diabetic coma eating that but it’s a
it’s but it’s worth it it’s worth it
yeah yeah and you you very lightly touch
there on the end as to why I go mini
rather than fall if I could I would but
type two man I’m working well that’ll
work okay so that’s why I run six days a
week outside no matter the weather
conditions because uh then I can eat I
can just I can just go to town at at
dinner time but um but yeah uh so yeah
there was no uh not making fun of
diabetic coma but like it is that you
know those those concrete mixers it’s an
interesting last question for an
interview maybe I’ll start doing that
here’s the thing I was just in Madison
Wisconsin for a few days biggest Culvers
in the world I’m I’m telling you the
biggest my best friend in life lives
there and I hadn’t seen him in a year uh
and and would you know never been to his
home in Madison and don’t tell him but I
I wouldn’t have gone there if they
didn’t have Culvers so it was one of the
reasons I headed in that direction
yeah exactly Justin Breen thank you so
much for being with us the book is
called epic life uh we’ll put links in
the show notes for
um all the versions of the books it’s
out now just out uh it was so much fun
doing this project with you I really
appreciate it if you are liking what
you’re seeing here smash that like
button until it’s unrecognizable you can
subscribe to the channel uh notify uh
your friends of this uh forward it to
them uh my name is David H Lawrence 17th
I thank you so much for watching and
we’ll see you in the next episode of the
vo Heroes podcast

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