They Went From Selling Hangers as Kids to Starting a Retail Brand Worth $100 Million – Here's What the Property Brothers Learned About Entrepreneurship

From trading ornamental hangers astatine the property of 7 to starring successful a TV show aired successful 160 countries, the Property Brothers ever knew they wanted to beryllium their ain bosses. Twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott built an empire astatine HGTV pinch shows for illustration The Property Brothers, which first aired successful 2011, and proceed to grow their bequest pinch their newest series, Don't Hate Your House pinch the Property Brothers.

Although Drew and Jonathan are family names now, they didn't scope their level of occurrence by starting arsenic experts. Like each entrepreneur, their careers were defined by their willingness to study and turn arsenic business owners. A awesome instruction they learned connected their entrepreneurial journey is the powerfulness of integrity. Drew said it's the astir important constituent for increasing your business and reputation.

Related: He's Hosted 'This Old House' for 20 Years — These Are His Best Tips for Growing a Home Services Business

"You don't request to cognize everything," he says. "It's overmuch amended for you to conscionable say, 'Honestly, you cognize what? I don't cognize the reply to that, but I'm going to do everything I tin to find you the answer.' They will respect you a batch much for that. That's going to thief your business turn because you're building it based connected integrity."

Jonathan besides suggests that by embracing integrity, business owners tin admit it successful imaginable business partners and, moreover much importantly, observe inauthentic relationships.

"If you ever travel crossed personification who thinks they tin do each these miraculous things that look unrealistic, I guarantee you it's unrealistic," he says. "The number of times we've had group either springiness america proposal who person nary spot giving proposal aliases group who've tried to travel successful pinch an unthinkable occurrence of an idea, and it turned retired it was not authentic… Trust your gut pinch these partners."

Trust successful your partnerships is important erstwhile building a marque of immoderate size, but erstwhile your business ambitions aliases intuition are questioned, sometimes the correct move is to spot your vision.

Related: Here's How the Founder of PopUp Bagels Turned a Backyard Baking Project Into a Viral Sensation

This instruction became progressively applicable erstwhile the brothers wanted to research merchandising the Property Brothers brand, which they didn't ain astatine the time. When they projected the thought to the network, they were rejected. Rather than being discouraged, the brothers decided to spot their courage and the imagination they had for their brand.

They asked accumulation to put it successful penning that they weren't connected committee pinch the merchandising plans and group retired to build their marque independently. Through their ain efforts, the brothers grew the unit broadside of the business to $100 million. When accumulation saw the occurrence and requested half of the profits, the Scotts showed them the archive stating they had rejected the idea. Shortly after, the brace acquired the authorities to Property Brothers.

This is conscionable 1 illustration of why the astir successful business owners are those who build a squad that stands down their vision. For Drew and Jonathan, family is their North Star, their ain and others. They want to thief families unrecorded successful safe, happy, patient and affordable homes. This business mission guides their each move, including endeavors extracurricular of television.

The much families Drew and Jonathan met, the much they realized the value of location health. A lightbulb infinitesimal led the brace to create the Healthy Home Innovation Fund (HHIF) to put successful startups focused connected processing exertion to make homes healthier for families.

"Whether it's really to decarbonize the location to make it healthier, aerial value wrong the home, really you transact to buy, sell, renovate — immoderate facet of location that tin beryllium improved for people, that's wherever we're going to invest," Drew says.

Related: She Was Unhappy successful Her Job arsenic a Lawyer, So She Started a Business Serving a Comfort Food Staple — And Made Millions

Deciding wherever to put time, power and superior is 1 of the astir important and toughest decisions for business owners — but Drew has a speedy mathematics extremity for owners to cheque if they're investing the correct magnitude of resources to drive profitability.

"There are definite categories wherever it tin usage up 80% of your team's time, but it only brings successful 20% aliases little of the revenue," he says. "Is it really worthy it? Instead, thin successful connected those areas that person amended margins aliases that person little accent for the team."

They underscored the weight of 1 business area that genuinely moves the needle successful immoderate industry: marketing. Jonathan says that successful existent estate, beating the title and earning consumer trust is paramount, and trading allows business owners to do both.

"Everything successful life comes down to marketing," he says. "It doesn't matter if it's your making love life. It doesn't matter if it's your business. Everything comes down to marketing. Nobody is going to make you a success. You person to activity connected that yourself. We were ever focused connected semipermanent strategy and integrity. Once you suffer the consumer's trust, you cannot get it back."

Although trading is 1 building artifact for trust, the brothers besides urge listening to customer feedback. Not only do reviews and feedback forums let customers to consciousness heard, but Jonathan besides says they connection ways for the business to innovate.

"Feedback has been important to america from the beginning," he says. "We really dove into societal media very early connected because we felt that was a awesome measurement to person nonstop interaction pinch the consumer. We get astir half a cardinal messages a week each connected societal media from fans. Some of the innovations successful our products person really travel from suggestions."

Although immoderate companies do a reappraisal astatine the extremity of the twelvemonth to see specified suggestions, the Property Brothers will instrumentality changes arsenic soon arsenic the adjacent day.

Inspiration tin travel from anywhere, but ne'er underestimate the powerfulness of customer feedback to spark that aureate idea. Like each entrepreneurs, the Scotts took a chance connected their vision, and they built an empire retired of it. All they had to do was travel their North Star.

Related: He Left the Corporate World to Pursue His Passion for the Outdoors. 25 Years Later, His Business Is Thriving Thanks to These 4 Principles.

Season aft season, the Scotts person followed these basal rules of entrepreneurship:

• Marketing moves the needle. If you request an other manus to write content aliases grip societal media, the brothers urge hiring a contractor aliases assemblage student pinch trading experience. Either way, trading is cardinal to building a successful brand.
• Feedback is simply a gift. Leveraging customer feedback tin elevate your business and return it to the adjacent level pinch innovative suggestions you mightiness not person thought of yourself.
• Honesty is the champion policy. Admit erstwhile you don't cognize the answer, but make an effort to find it for the customer. This will build a estimation for integrity.
• Choose the realistic business partner, not the salesman. Business partners often tie up expansive ideas that mightiness not beryllium realistic. Ground yourself and inquire if what's being promised is excessively bully to beryllium existent because, much often than not, it is.
• Focus your clip connected business areas that make the astir revenue. If 1 area drives 80% of revenue, clip spent connected that should beryllium proportional. Inversely, if thing only drives 10-20%, measure if the clip invested is good spent there.

Listen to the section beneath to perceive straight from Drew and Jonathan, and subscribe to Behind the Review for much from caller business owners and reviewers each Thursday. Available connected Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora.

Editorial contributions by Erin Palmero and Kristi Lindahl