3 Traits of Successful People

This is the long time coming second part of Brody Sweeneys speech. First part can be found here. In this part he discussed the elements that lead to success. In his mind there is only one thing that matters; it's not the processes your business use or the strategy or the plans. All those things are important, but the most vital element of a successful business is the person running it. He has come to this conclusion by looking at his own business. He has been intrigued why some O'Briens do well and some do poorly, and has come to the conclusion that the person in charge is the vital component because often a franchise that has failed in a certain location was then taken up by someone else and they managed to turn it into a profitable franchise and vice versa. Through his business life Brody has noticed 3 traits that all successful people share.


1. Personal Responsibility
2. Do Whatever It Takes
3. Have a Plan

Personal Responsibility

Brody has had many entrepreneurs take out franchises, some succeed and some don't. Brody noticed that all succesful people took personal responsibility for their business. For example if an employee had a problem, they addressed it as oppose to saying thats the employees problem and not mine. O'Briens often receive complaints from franchisees who are doing poorly saying that they have too many/few seats, pricing is too expensive/cheap or that their not backed up by sufficient marketing. O'Briens now have a system whereby prospective franchisees must work making sandwiches in an existing store before they open their own. This process makes it apparent who will be a success and who won't. The people who view this work as below them and don't treat it seriously almost always either end up failing or not getting the franchise.

Brody stated that if you run a business it is your responsibility to do something about it. "Only person who'll sort out my problems is me".

Do Whatever It Takes

This one I found very interesting and definitely something I've noticed in successful people I've met. They are realistically willing to do whatever it takes to make their business profitable. An example is a quote from the movie Boiler Room

"So now you know what's possible, let me tell you what's required. You are required to work your fucking ass off at this firm. We want winners here, not pikers. A piker walks at the bell. A piker asks how much vacation time you get in the first year. Vacation time? People come to work at this firm for one reason: to become filthy rich; that's it. We're not here to make friends; we're not saving the fucking manatees here, guys. You want vacation time, go teach third grade at a public school."

In the scene Ben Affleck is talking to a group of new stock brokers. If they want to really work for the firm, then they will have to do whatever it takes. It is the same with running your own business.

He also made another interesting point on this, saying that in the case of entrepreneurs, why take all the risk of setting up a company if your not prepared to do whatever it takes to make it a success? An anecdote he gave about this was in relation to marketing. When he first started O'Briens, he had very little money for a marketing campaign, so he used to drive out to motorways and put the O'Briens banner on overhead bridges. As he had no permission to do this they would eventually be taken down by the authorities. However they kept doing it and eventually realised that if they put the banners up on Friday nights and took them down on Sunday nights they would get a full 2 days advertising for free because the council weren't as active at the weekends.

O'Briens recently started doing home catering services for funerals/birthdays/communion etc. Now O'Briens have a general marketing campaign for this to gain awareness. But Brody informed each franchisee that the surest way to get orders and to get the word out was to go out looking for sales. He said it would take work and the stats showed you would need to knock on 20 doors just to get 3 appointments (show a sample of food and give price). And of those 3 appointments one might order. The home catering service though allowed O'Briens to create a new revenue stream at a time when traditional methods were falling. The response was interesting, the overall idea has been a success with a good take up of the service on their website. However many franchisees came back to Brody and said that their not getting any orders and that the marketing campaign wasn't good enough. Invariably in most cases where there were no sales it transpired that the managers had not gone out trying to sell the service. In locations where managers had taken it upon themselves to promote the service there had been a brisk uptake.

Have a Plan

Finally Brody stated that all successful people have a plan, and while it might change many times, having one is still crucial. When he started his business his plan was to have 1,000 O'Briens worldwide. 21 years later he has 300, and while he is still far off it, he still is aiming for it and is clear about what he wants to do. He stated that a business plan should not be just for a loan but should be a constant roadmap to help to get you to your end goal.


The example he gave to summarise these points was 3 time Golf Major Winner Padraig Harrington. After a bad round Harrington generally takes personal responsibility for his failings and doesn't blame the course or the conditions.

He is willing to do whatever it takes: In January he gets up every morning at 4AM and goes to the putting green....why?.....to ensure that no matter how tired he is that is still able to concentrate on his putting. This so that late in the season, when he has been playing golf non stop for 9 months, he will still be able to focus and putt well despite his tiredness.

And finally he has plans. A diet plan, fitness plan, training plan, tournaments plan, endorsement plan etc.



Me with Brody and my glasses!