One of the most incredible things about success in this world is that there is no strict path to lead you there.
Just ask Brian Flannelly, who left school at 16 and commenced a steel fixing career. By the age of 22, Brian had travelled and worked all over the world, encountering situations his peers still at university could only imagine.
Brian found himself in Australia after a few years of travel and founded his own business at the fresh age of 24. “I started my business (Carrabay Reo) because I knew I had great value to add to my industry,” says Brian. “At the time I was radiant with confidence, so went for it.
Goals have always featured in Brian’s professional journey. “I read a book called “The Secret” and it was pretty much my initiation into self-belief and a strong mindset.” As well as wanting to start his own business, Brian had ambitions to buy his mother a house – something he achieved in 2015.
Highs and lows
Despite his self-belief, Brian experienced some challenging times as a business owner and at one stage reached the brink of liquidation.
“I pumped all my money into my very first contracted project and lost everything. It was $46k, and the builder went bust exactly on the 60th day when he was supposed to pay me. I was building up my cashflow the previous eight months to that project, working 80+ hours a week in a tunnel, only to lose it all on my very first contract job,” says Brian.
“To say I was devastated would be an understatement!”
Undeterred, Brian worked 15 hour days for a further 60 days on another project, with next to no labour helping him. “I got paid $70k after the first 60 days. It was like a million dollars to me at the time.”
Fortunately, Brian had some loyal people stay with him as he pulled his business out of a hole. In the 12 months following that event, his business turned over close to $2 million.
Joining Business Blueprint
In 2017, a relative of Brian’s recommended he go to 52 Ways, calling him to say it was the best business development workshop he had ever been to.
Taking the advice, Brian went along to Business Blueprint’s free one day workshop and signed up as a paid member by 11 am that day.
“I suppose I was uneducated academically and also in business. Four years ago, I could barely string an email together without using text lingo,” admits Brian.
“I had no idea about systemising, processes and procedures, and I had a lot to learn to say the least. I saw the value in Business Blueprint from day one and have never looked back since. Carrabay Reo didn’t even have a website, so I was in dire need of help!”
Transforming his business
Since joining Business Blueprint, Brian has built his company around a $3 million turnover per year with healthy profits.
“A complete revamp is another understatement. We had crazy paper systems in the early days to give an indicator of how bad it was. Since then, I have networked and worked with maybe 10 consultants who are apart of Business Blueprint to build the business to what it is now.”
Brian now has around 25 full-time staff and up to 35 with contractors, and he is set to launch a new manufacturing division to his business.
In his words, Business Blueprint has “genuinely changed my personal, and professional life, from the people I’ve met, the strategies I’ve implemented and sincerity from the BB team that continues to deliver great content and value to my business.”
“A big one recently is we signed a $1 million project with a tier one company for supply and install. This wasn’t forecasted to happen for another couple of years. So next financial year we have 25% of our average turnover locked in already.”
“It’s going to be a big year, and I’ve never felt as ready for anything in my life.”
Spreading the word
Brian tells anyone who will listen to join Business Blueprint and notes that even those who aren’t inspired to sign up still come to him for business advice.
To those who want to grow a business which delivers the lifestyle they love, Brian’s advice is simple: to, “Invest in yourself and your education”.
“I have personally learned that I was an overachiever in my mind and in reality would underachieve. I would get annoyed with myself when I couldn’t deliver a million projects when I wanted to. The fact of the matter is business is difficult, and we are not invincible. So what I feel works for me (and this is very recently figuring this out), is to set realistic goals, go easy on myself, be grateful as much as possible, bathe in the wins and remember: there is plenty of time.”
Summary
“I love the Tony Robbins quote ‘People overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10’. A little over 10 years I got pretty much got kicked out of school and left home. So I haven’t done bad to get to this point!”
