Personal Finance Defined

From selling decorative hangers at the age of seven to starring in a TV show aired in 160 countries, the Property Brothers always knew they wanted to be their own bosses. Twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott built an empire at HGTV with shows like The Property Brothers, which first aired in 2011, and continue to expand their legacy with their newest series, Don’t Hate Your House with the Property Brothers.

Although Drew and Jonathan are household names now, they didn’t reach their level of success by starting as experts. Like every entrepreneur, their careers were defined by their willingness to learn and grow as business owners. A major lesson they learned on their entrepreneurial journey is the power of integrity. Drew said it’s the most important component for growing your business and reputation.

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“You don’t need to know everything,” he says. “It’s much better for you to just say, ‘Honestly, you know what? I don’t know the answer to that, but I’m going to do everything I can to find you the answer.’ They will respect you a lot more for that. That’s going to help your business grow because you’re building it based on integrity.”

Jonathan also suggests that by embracing integrity, business owners can recognize it in potential business partners and, even more importantly, detect inauthentic relationships.

“If you ever come across somebody who thinks they can do all these miraculous things that seem unrealistic, I guarantee you it’s unrealistic,” he says. “The number of times we’ve had people either give us advice who have no place giving advice or people who’ve tried to come in with an incredible miracle of an idea, and it turned out it was not authentic… Trust your gut with these partners.”

Trust in your partnerships is crucial when building a brand of any size, but when your business ambitions or intuition are questioned, sometimes the right move is to trust your vision.

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This lesson became increasingly relevant when the brothers wanted to explore merchandising the Property Brothers brand, which they didn’t own at the time. When they proposed the idea to the network, they were rejected. Rather than being discouraged, the brothers decided to trust their guts and the vision they had for their brand.

They asked production to put it in writing that they weren’t on board with the merchandising plans and set out to build their brand independently. Through their own efforts, the brothers grew the retail side of the business to $100 million. When production saw the success and requested half of the profits, the Scotts showed them the document stating they had rejected the idea. Shortly after, the pair acquired the rights to Property Brothers.

This is just one example of why the most successful business owners are those who build a team that stands behind their vision. For Drew and Jonathan, family is their North Star, their own and others. They want to help families live in safe, happy, healthy and affordable homes. This business mission guides their every move, including endeavors outside of television.

The more families Drew and Jonathan met, the more they realized the importance of home health. A lightbulb moment led the pair to create the Healthy Home Innovation Fund (HHIF) to invest in startups focused on developing technology to make homes healthier for families.

“Whether it’s how to decarbonize the home to make it healthier, air quality within the home, how you transact to buy, sell, renovate — any aspect of home that can be improved for people, that’s where we’re going to invest,” Drew says.

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Deciding where to invest time, energy and capital is one of the most important and toughest decisions for business owners — but Drew has a quick math tip for owners to check if they’re investing the right amount of resources to drive profitability.

“There are certain categories where it can use up 80% of your team’s time, but it only brings in 20% or less of the revenue,” he says. “Is it really worth it? Instead, lean in on those areas that have better margins or that have less stress for the team.”

They underscored the weight of one business area that truly moves the needle in any industry: marketing. Jonathan says that in real estate, beating the competition and earning consumer trust is paramount, and marketing allows business owners to do both.

“Everything in life comes down to marketing,” he says. “It doesn’t matter if it’s your dating life. It doesn’t matter if it’s your business. Everything comes down to marketing. Nobody is going to make you a success. You have to work on that yourself. We were always focused on long-term strategy and integrity. Once you lose the consumer’s trust, you cannot get it back.”

Although marketing is one building block for trust, the brothers also recommend listening to customer feedback. Not only do reviews and feedback forums allow customers to feel heard, but Jonathan also says they offer ways for the business to innovate.

“Feedback has been important to us from the beginning,” he says. “We actually dove into social media very early on because we felt that was a great way to have direct contact with the consumer. We get about half a million messages a week each on social media from fans. Some of the innovations in our products have actually come from suggestions.”

Although some companies do a review at the end of the year to consider such suggestions, the Property Brothers will implement changes as soon as the next day.

Inspiration can come from anywhere, but never underestimate the power of customer feedback to spark that golden idea. Like all entrepreneurs, the Scotts took a chance on their vision, and they built an empire out of it. All they had to do was follow their North Star.

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Season after season, the Scotts have followed these fundamental rules of entrepreneurship:

Marketing moves the needle. If you need an extra hand to write content or handle social media, the brothers recommend hiring a contractor or college student with marketing experience. Either way, marketing is key to building a successful brand.
Feedback is a gift. Leveraging customer feedback can elevate your business and take it to the next level with innovative suggestions you might not have thought of yourself.
Honesty is the best policy. Admit when you don’t know the answer, but make an effort to find it for the customer. This will build a reputation for integrity.
Choose the realistic business partner, not the salesman. Business partners often draw up grand ideas that might not be realistic. Ground yourself and ask if what’s being promised is too good to be true because, more often than not, it is.
Focus your time on business areas that generate the most revenue. If one area drives 80% of revenue, time spent on that should be proportional. Inversely, if something only drives 10-20%, assess if the time invested is well spent there.

Listen to the episode below to hear directly from Drew and Jonathan, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Pandora.