Have you ever had a routine or habit that you were really good about until you weren’t? Take writing for instance. You write almost daily. No. You write daily. Then one day you don’t. You try to grasp it here and there, but overall, the mojo just isn’t there. You’ll think, “Nah, now’s not a […]

When I’m coaching digital agency owners, one thing I look for is a point of leverage. What I see most agency owners do (and I used to do it myself), is take an inventory of every skill they currently have – might have in the future, and have ever considered – and offer that as […]

I had three dollars in my bank account. I owed over a hundred thousand dollars to the IRS. I had to lay off my best friend. These are just some of the stories that have played out over my entrepreneurial journey. You could classify each as bad moments for me. High stress, low self-esteem, and very […]

You should probably do free work. Let me go a step further. You need to do free work. Yep, I said it. You should pour your blood, sweat, and tears into a project without direct financial compensation. “But Brent?! You’re the purveyor of high-value work for high-value pay?!!!” I know. Head explosion. Before you freak out […]

I love Lucky Charms. Not just a little bit. A lot a bit. The marshmallows are delicious. The sugary cat-crunchy-looking pieces are delicious. The rainbow milk is delicious. I am fully aware that sugar is the greatest evil to our bodies that ever existed. I don’t care. Lucky Charms creator John Holahan deserves the Nobel […]

At UGURUS, we practice the Entrepreneurial Operating System® (or EOS for short). This system has helped my team and myself operate our business with discipline. One of the habits our EOS® Implementer has helped me adapt and internalize is writing and delivering a quarterly Core Values Speech. Prior to EOS®, we had core values defined, and […]

Just about a year ago, I sold my car, became a one car family, and switched to a 10-speed as my primary means of transportation. I did this to deliberately challenge myself, create more happiness in my life, and add one building block to ultimately achieve financial independence. I have been pleasantly surprised by how effective […]

Back in 2014, I binge listened to about a half dozen audio books while repainting several rooms in our house. One of the books I read was Ryan Holiday‘s The Obstacle is the Way. The book brings to light the many influential and successful people that have made use of Stoicism – an ancient Greek […]

Before I started using EOS in my business, I had very little clarity on how my business was performing. At the end of the month, I’d tally up some numbers and figure out whether I turned a profit or not – but outside of that exercise I had little else to rely on. Maybe my […]

After getting motivated to increase my personal level of happiness and overall fulfillment in life (and achieve financial independence), I made a list of “sacred cows.” The list included a lot of things that I thought I couldn’t do without like Starbucks/togo coffee, regular meals out at restaurants, and a heap of hired domestic help. […]

When I was a young startup entrepreneur scraping by on mac and hot dogs, a friend of mine told me he paid himself $48,000 per year out of his business. I remember thinking, “Gosh… that is a lot of money. What in the world would I ever do with $4,000 per month? I would have […]

I’ve been operating my business on EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) for just about three years. It’s pretty common that I advocate for other entrepreneurs to look into the methodology by starting with the book Traction or Get a Grip. I actually read Get a Grip first – which I’m glad I did since it walks […]

At uGurus, I am in charge of validating new products and services. Part of this job is to also work with my team and business partner to decide when, if at all, we introduce new products into our main line. I’m the kind of guy that has twenty ideas before breakfast. Some of these ideas […]

One of the most important things I do for my company, uGurus, is to invent and validate products. Our core offering has started to take shape (and it only took 3 years!) around multi-week, Mentor-led business accelerator programs. My ultimate goal is to build an online business school that challenges the MBA status quo for […]

Making choices… Too much emphasis on “right” vs. “wrong” decisions. What is a *right* choice anyway? Plenty of my worst decisions have turned into blessings in disguise. So was that decision really wrong? Who will ever know. I know in the great game of entrepreneurship there are choices and there are outcomes. Sometimes we call […]

I’m sitting in the backseat on the way back from a short family vacation to Telluride, Colorado. My 15-month old son, Phoenix, is next to me passed out. His crazy-man hair half slicked down serious, half wild. I was on the fence about taking the time off to make the trip. My todo list felt […]

He just kept looking at me asking “how much do you think it would cost?!” To do all that… More than he could afford. But here I am, stuck in this conference room. Swindled into driving across town. Reviewing pages of technical documents. Listening to this guy blabber on for almost two hours. And then […]

Since I started uGurus, I have sent monthly(ish) updates to my investors. November 1 is three years. These updates have proved quite valuable as a retrospective. Little breadcrumbs into my thoughts, aspirations, and vision over this time. And while parts of what we do resemble what began several years ago… it’s a different business today […]