Justin Breen is Founder/CEO of BrEpic, a PR firm that writes compelling, newsworthy stories for its clients and pitches those stories to media across the country (to help amplify messaging).

BrEpic has worked with clients including Allstate, University of Illinois, Salvation Army, national IT firms, national hotel chains, financial planners, physicians, non-profits and many more.

• CEO Hack: Running six days a week outside, reading and prioritizing my family
• CEO Nugget: (1) Everything is going to be okay (2) Focus on what you're good at
• CEO Defined: Freedom and living the life you're supposed to be leading as a proffesional

Website: https://www.brepicllc.com/

Additional links; http://52dates52weeks.com/

FULL INTERVIEW

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:26

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I am CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Justin Breen of BrEpic.

Justin, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Justin Breen 0:38

Really, really happy to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:40

No problem super excited to have you on and what I want to do is read a little bit more about Justin so you can hear about all the awesome things that he's doing. And Justin is the founder and CEO of BrEpic, a PR firm that writes compelling newsworthy stories for its clients and pitches these stories to media across the country to help amplify messaging. BrEpic has worked with clients, including Allstate, the University of Illinois, the Salvation Army, national IT firms, national hotel chains, financial planners, physicians, non-profits, and many more. Justin, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Justin Breen 1:13

Oh, yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:14

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you to start your business?

Justin Breen 1:22

Wow. So my company was founded on April 16, 2017. So two years in, and it's been an amazing two-year journey. And coming up with the process of starting this company, I basically developed it based on how PR firms annoyed me and failed me for 20 years when I was a journalist. And I'm like, There's got to be a better model of doing this. And through several months of working with clients and developing my brand, I came up with this really great model. And it's been smooth sailing ever since it's been really just amazing to work with so many great clients.

Gresham Harkless 1:57

Nice, I absolutely love it. And I've always considered myself a journalist at heart. So it's great to hear another journalist that has been able to build a business around what it is that he's good at. And then what you've seen and things that can do better as well.

Justin Breen 2:11

Yeah, and it's a very simple model. And as I started this journey, I met with a ton of entrepreneurs, very high-level folks just to hear their stories, hear how they did it. And the single best bit of advice I got was from a really great guy who's super successful. And he's like, do what you do well, and do what you like to do. And so I focused my entire business based on that, in terms of writing these really cool stories that I did as a journalist. So it's the same type of thing with client information blended in. And then I really like pitching to media. So this is my really best skill set. And it's been super successful with all the clients I've had.

Gresham Harkless 2:51

Yeah, absolutely. And just like you, I've always felt like the story was something that really is truly compelling for whether you're a journalist, whether you're somebody sitting at home watching TV, whatever it is, it seems like the story is what kind of pulls people in and kind of humanizes brands and people.

Justin Breen 3:07

Yeah, so I meet with businesses, big and small, it doesn't really matter what type of vertical it is. Because as long as someone has a story, it doesn't matter. And people always ask me what my ideal client is, I'm like, Well, do you want to be in the news or not? So usually what happens during meetings and again, it doesn't matter what type of business it is or how big it is, but they talk about what's going on in the business and all these cool things, then go well, that's great. But guess what, nobody really cares. But if you can let me get a really good story out of you in terms of Let me ask questions, and then figure out, this is actually what the story is.

And then you blend some of the client information into it. That's what sells in terms of getting mainstream media to pick it up. And the beautiful thing is what I've discovered in the two years of having my own businesses, if you give media a good story, for the most part, other media doesn't care if other media does the story. They just want a really good story that they can share on their social media platforms and get a lot of shares and likes and what's been cool is that there's not necessarily so much competitiveness within Media anymore. They just want that really good story.

Gresham Harkless 4:18

Yeah, absolutely. It kind of seems like it's more cooperation. Coopetition as I usually like there.

Justin Breen 4:23

That's an interesting phrase. I haven't heard that yet. Again, coopetition, I like that.

Gresham Harkless 4:29

Yeah, it makes perfect sense because your competitor, so in some form or fashion, but you're always trying to work together because you have the same kind of common goal. So I definitely like that. And I love the fact too because I always say everybody's listening to WIIFM what's in it for me. So when you are thinking, a lot of us fall into the trap where we're creating something and we think it's great, and it might be great, but at the same time, you have to understand what the end user actually wants to read and hear about. So it's great to do that.

Justin Breen 4:59

Yeah, and so as a journalist, from a journalist perspective, you get 200 of these emails a day from these press releases and those are the two worst words in my dictionary. Like I don't even like saying it, but you get these emails with. It's just basically nonsense that serves the clients. And it's not really serving the media. And it's like PRBS. That's the way I describe it. And my firm is basically the opposite of that.

Gresham Harkless 5:26

Nice, nice. Now, would you consider that? I was gonna ask you for your secret sauce. And I know you've kind of touched on it a little bit. Is that what you consider your secret sauce?

Justin Breen 5:33

Yeah, I mean, people are hiring me for two reasons. And so if it's smaller businesses, it's the CEO directly, if it's larger companies, it's the PR component or the marketing component of that company, but they're hiring me for two reasons. One, my firm knows how to write a story that will actually get picked up in terms of here's something that's actually interesting, and that journalists and the general public will care about, and then two, they're hiring me for my connections to mainstream media in terms of I won't sign with someone unless they have a good marketable story. And then two, I won't send a story to a journalist in any market or at any place, unless I think it's useful to them, and I'm not going to burn those types of bridges. So it's basically a hired gun for the ideas in terms of what people care about. And then also my context.

Gresham Harkless 6:19

Awesome, awesome. I absolutely love that. And do you find that a lot of that is just because of how important relationships are and that you have to be able to build those long-term relationships? So you want to be able to make sure you're creating Win-Win situations.

Justin Breen 6:31

100%. Yeah, and so as a journalist, I developed tonnes of relationships that way. And then on social media as well, I have about 30,000 followers on social media. And it really, like you said, it's long-term relationships. And people, if I don't know them, they'll go to my Twitter handle and SEO, he has 10,500 followers. And he used to be a journalist for 20 years. And he's still at the College of Media, on the Alumni Board, and the journalism chair for the University of Illinois.

So this person actually knows what he's talking about, as opposed to, again, the typical PR vs, where it's someone who's never been a journalist. And they don't necessarily know what a good story is. And they're sending it sending out these blue plate, boilerplate type stories, or press releases that aren't useful to anyone. So it's really the opposite of what PR firms traditionally have done. And again, annoyed me when I was a journalist or all this time.

Gresham Harkless 7:24

Yeah, absolutely, I too have looked into my inbox and seen a tremendous amount of press releases. So I know exactly what you're feeling. I cringe sometimes when I see him just because I want to go through and want to help but it's just like so much. And it's usually just, me, me, me, and I, I, I, I so it's great to hear that you're putting a spin on that.

Justin Breen 7:42

And it's good to like, and you mentioned networking groups. That's been so important to me, but also like finding the net, the right networking group. So I'm in this group called Pro Advisors, which is in Chicago, in California, and it's expanding to other markets, but it's basically very high level, either an entrepreneur or top lawyers at firms or top financial advisors at firms and, and what I found is when you get to that level, it weeds out all the nonsense, it's people that like, just get it and they think to give first as opposed to what's in it for them. And that's the way I look at things too.

But so it's been a real blessing to find a group like that, because, one, it's obviously for client potential. But more importantly, it's people that really are my friends, it's something where I really appreciate, and enjoy spending time with them. And they're again, not in it for themselves. They're in it to help other people. And that's just so rewarding when my business is two years old, and you'd go through these groups it's just people trying to steal your ideas or take take take, and there's no end game for it. But then when you find the right group, it's really exciting because you find out that there are other people out there like you.

Gresham Harkless 8:54

Yeah, absolutely. And I think like you said when you find a group and environment where it's give first and everybody's given and creates such a strong energy, and just obviously referrals and opportunities as well. It's just such a great energy that is just so rare to be around that. When you find it, definitely you hold on to it.

Justin Breen 9:13

Well, and that's why I like talking to you, you've got this really cool network, you developed it essentially all on your own, and you built this platform. And now look why we're timing, we're in totally different states, different time zones. And yet here we are connected because of social media. And we both I think the same in terms of building a brand and building this really cool social media identity and all these followers and this amazing network, and it just pays that it never, it never stops paying off when you do that.

Gresham Harkless 9:42

I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an app or book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Justin Breen 9:52

Wow. So I run six days a week outside no matter the weather conditions, and that is one I have two very young children that gets me out of the house, too, it is also just a good way to just focus on what is going on with the day ahead. And that's been super helpful. I've also read a couple of books, I'm sure other folks have mentioned it during these interviews, but Traction and E Myth, which is really helped me prioritize in terms of where I want my company to go. And then also just figuring out long term kinds of things that but then also what I want to do, what are my priorities and what I knew it before, but I really figured out my priority is spending time with my wife and children, and everything else is based around that.

So what I have seen is a lot of very high-level entrepreneurs, they don't spend time with their families. And I don't see that for me is the right way of doing things. I'd rather have fewer clients that pay more than have way more clients and pay less. And then that takes away time from my family. So those books and those habits have really helped for sure.

Gresham Harkless 11:00

Yeah, that makes sense. When you have that focus, and you understand why you're doing what you're doing, you're talking about your wife and your kids, you put everything in perspective, because it allows you the opportunity to be able to mold and build your business exactly how you want to create some of that. And more power to you for running as well. Especially, it's cool to say you're running when you're maybe in California or Florida. times all year. I know Chicago gets cold, so I wouldn't be running all yours. I appreciate you for doing that.

Justin Breen 11:25

Yeah, I think another thing too, is, and I kind of mentioned this earlier, but I meet with people all the time and it has nothing to do with getting them as clients, but I just meet with people because I really enjoy hearing their advice and hearing their stories. And I've mentioned that earlier a little bit. But the other really good piece of advice that was shared with me, when I first started was when you start a business, it really does take two years to figure it out in terms of what you want to do and where it's going and not getting comfortable, but just kind of like getting used to things. And again, my business is two years old as of April 16.

And it was 100% accurate because a year really isn't long enough. 18 months is not long enough, it really does take two years. And when you're first starting a business, you're like, oh my god, two years, that seems a long way away. But it wasn't it it does take time.

But it really does take that amount of time to get things going. And as a journalist, it's bang, right in two to three stories a day getting all these emails. But as a business owner, it's not like that it's a much slower, more methodical pace. And it has taken two years for me to get used to that. And now that I am, it's more exciting because I understand more how people work and how my business is going and all that kind of stuff. So again, just meeting with people and hearing what they have to say it's been super helpful in those things.

And I always thought there was something wrong with me. But really, I was just an entrepreneur the whole time. And in those companies in entrepreneur, where I'm basically an entrepreneur inside a corporate business. But now two years into this, I realized okay, I was actually just an entrepreneur. And this is really what I was meant to do the entire time. And there's nothing wrong with me at all. It's just I didn't fit into that mold.

Gresham Harkless 13:13

Exactly, yeah, sometimes it's just getting you in the right environment. And sometimes it takes time to do that. But I always say sometimes, when you're in one environment, and when you get to another even if you need to have that binary, so you need to have the environment you're not quote-unquote, supposed to be in to propel you into where you're supposed to be. So you appreciate it more, you're able to kind of blossom a lot more. So definitely appreciate that. And you might have already touched on this, but I want to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business?

Justin Breen 13:43

So wow, man, what would I tell myself two years ago, one, I would tell myself that everything's gonna be okay. I think when you start a business, there's like three phases. And again, this is from reading books, but you're in your three kinds of phase, you're like, it's totally mature, then it's adolescence, and then it's maturity, and I'm in the adolescent phase now. And in the first phase, you're just like, I'm just trying to survive. I reached out to 5000 people and businesses to get my first five clients. I mean, and so that's a different mindset.

Now, where I really know these are the people I really want to focus on who want to value what I do, who can afford what I do, who have a positive, forward-thinking mindset, those are the only people I really want to work with now. And I think if I would have told myself two years ago, what I know now again, I would have focused on what I'm really good at and what I like to do and then that this is going to take time and that things will be okay. And that my wife and my children are very healthy and very happy and that's the most important thing and all this other stuff is just kind of gravy.

Gresham Harkless 14:59

Now. I would ask you my favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO, and we're hoping to have different quote-unquote CEOs on the show. But Justin, I want to ask you, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Justin Breen 15:08

Wow, that's a really good question. And I'm actually going to start asking my clients that because a lot of them are small business CEOs that's a really good question. So I'm going to store that away in my brain but so what it means to me, I just met with someone very recently, a very high-level CEO who makes hundreds and millions of dollars a year he's a genius and he was telling me what it means to be an entrepreneur, you have all these freedoms that you typically wouldn't have, like, I can see my kids whenever I want to, I get to work with who I want to work with, I've made way more money doing this than I ever did in corporate. We can have these discussions now I don't have to answer to anybody. So what it really means to me is to have freedom.

And it also means that I can really live the life that I think I was supposed to be leading my whole time and whole life as a professional. And now I finally realized this is what I should be doing. So that's what it means to be a CEO for me is just this freedom and the excitement that this can be my life and you can really be happy and free doing

Gresham Harkless 16:18

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, we'll make sure to have those links in the show notes as well, just so that everybody can follow up with you. But I appreciate you again, Justin for your time, and your two years of phenomenal building your business and many more years. I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Justin Breen 16:31

Thanks so much. I really appreciate this opportunity.

Outro 16:34

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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