(DOUG JESSOP – JESSOP’S JOURNAL) Everyone loves a great success story. In this episode of Jessop’s Journal we sit down with two very successful entrepreneurs and find out what makes them tick.
To me, “successful” people are those that are willing to do powerful, positive and inspirational things that others are not. Think about that for a minute and then hit the play button to watch the full episode of this week’s Jessop’s Journal that aired Sunday morning at 10 on ABC4 TV.
Here is the full 30-minute “Artists” episode that will aired Sunday morning at 10 on ABC4 TV. Jessop’s Journal is a collection of “Powerful, Positive & Inspirational Stories” that airs on ABC4 Utah and worldwide at JessopsJournal.com
In this episode of Jessop’s Journal we are talking about “Success” —
I love to celebrate the entrepreneurial spirit.
Our first guest has a powerful story of taking an idea to help kids have fewer ear infections to now being a company having a global impact.
Our Musical Guest, the Red Dirt Girls entertains us with a positive message of sifting the wheat from the tares with their song ”the good pieces”
Brandon Fugal has an inspirational story of how he started digging ditches to now being a major part of building the business landscape
As a sidebar, Brandon Fugal shares one of his prized possessions in this week’s feature of Objects with stories are Treasures Remembered.
But first, Nate Jones…
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Nate Jones is risk taker. He’s been a deep sea diver welding oil derricks. He’s doned the diving suit to repair nuclear power plant cooling tanks. He’s piloted a MiG fighter jet.
That risk taking also translates to things he’s passionate about. Namely the health of children. For over twenty years, Nate has been the founder and president of a nasal hygiene company called “Xlear.”
The funky spelling comes from the “X factor” in the main ingredient in all of their products, Xylitol.
Nate’s father was a family physician that realized that Xylitol not only helped prevent cavities and could prevent ear infections when used as a nasal spray for children.
According to Nate; “XLEAR is not a drug. It is a hygiene tool. It doesn’t kill. It washes away. It’s what it does. It helps thin out your mucus . Cleans it out so the cilia can move faster. It helps speed up the mucous clearance cycle . Trapping more bacteria, viruses, pollen, dander, irritants, dust, smoke.”
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This episode’s musical guest is The Red Dirt Girls with their song, “The Good Pieces”
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If you drive up and down Interstate 15 chances are that you’ve seen the name “Brandon Fugal” on a number of signs outside big beautiful buildings. Why? Brandon put it this way; “I have the privilege of representing hundreds of high-profile projects across the entire Wasatch Front, in fact I think I have projects in 25 municipalities right now.”
“At age 13, my father received a book on Father’s Day, called Iacocca, which was the great autobiography of the automotive Lee Iacocca. I picked up that book that weekend and out of curiosity I started reading it and I ended up reading it cover to cover and it changed my whole world view.”
I came to find out that Brandon was a version of TV character that Michael J. Fox played. “As a Junior in High School I had my own subscription to the Wall Street Journal and Business Week and was just obsessed with business. I found from a young age, as I was entering the tail end of my senior year of high school, that commercial real estate was an ideal career path that would afford me to work with the captains of industry, the entrepreneurs, the people that I was reading about.”
What was Brandon’s first job? “At age 15, I was put out on a crew digging ditches telephone lines and later gas lines. At the age of 18, one week out of high school, I jumped into commercial real estate with a focus on office brokerage and corporate requirements that have carried me through to this day.”
What is your definition of an entrepreneur? Brandon’s answered; “My definition of an entrepreneur is anyone who really looks at bringing a product or service to market and is trying to come up with a better mousetrap, a better way to serve the community and mankind.”
Everyone starts from small beginnings. Every great business started in someone’s garage, in someone’s basement or on the back of a napkin.
I asked Brandon for an example of a company that started from small beginnings. He replied with a smile; “I was contacted back in the mid/late 90’s by the operating executive of a company called Ancestry. He said we publish a periodical for genealogist all over the world and we are looking to establish an online web presence that is really going to propel our business to the next level. We have just a handful of us in the old WordPerfect publishing space behind the Orem post office but we except some growth in the future and need some help with that. Would you be willing to sit down with us and help us with our growth strategy as we look at taking the leap from two-thousand square feet to needing a larger space. DOUG – How many square feet do you think they are in now? BRANDON – Well their headquarters that I put them in just a couple of years ago is two hundred thousand square feet in Lehi, Utah. It was funny to see their growth from two thousand square feet to hundreds of thousands of square feet and being one of the most successful online enterprises and websites in history has been really gratifying.”
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Everyone has story. Objects with stories are “Treasures Remembered.”
The first printing of the King James Bible was done in 1611. Come to find out that after a number of these Bibles were printed that a mistake was made in the book of Ruth, mistakenly identifying her as “he”. The printer had to reset the type and started printed this incredible book once again. Why do we know this obscure fact? Because one of those rare “he” 1st edition Bibles exist and is now owned by Brandon Fugal.
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Everyone has a story. I strongly feel that “stories have power”. Chances are that if you are going through something, that someone else probably has as well. The shared experiences we humans have can help each other. That my friend makes the point that stories “help us understand each other.”
You don’t have to agree with everyone, but in my opinion, if people would take more time getting to knowing more about others and where they are coming from, we just might find out that we have more similarities than differences.
Jessop’s Journal is something special when it comes to broadcast news. I have the honor of being able to do longer in-depth interviews that you don’t normally see with people from all walks of life. A big shout out goes to my collaborator, Ed Wilets, who does a great job as my videographer/editor for all my stories. Your feedback is always welcome at DJessop@abc4.com
It’s my honor to be able to share, Jessop’s Journal, a 30-minute collection of Powerful, Positive and Inspirational Stories every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on ABC4 to all of Utah along with parts of Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona. Jessop’s Journal is also available worldwide at JessopsJournal.com.
With another entry into Jessop’s Journal, I’m Doug Jessop.
Jessop’s Journal is a copyrighted production of Fedora Incorporated and made possible by the generous support of XLEAR, Tatt2Away, Millcreek Gardens and LIFE Never Boring.
