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Entrepreneurs are different. They see a world of possibilities within ordinary circumstances.  

Have you ever wondered how major brands get their start? You’d be shocked to find out that many have very humble beginnings. 

Take Apple, for example. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak created Apple in a suburban garage in Los Altos.

Jobs didn’t know how to write a single line of code yet found a way to make the personal computer sexy.  

While others saw two kids tinkering away in suburbia, they saw history in the making. 

How are major brands born? That was the topic of the latest interview on the Inner Edison Podcast with Ed Parcaut. 

We sat down with Brian Smith — the man responsible for bringing Ugg boots to America.

Brian Smith’s book Birth of a Brand explains how Ugg got its start; however, you can hear an abridged version on our latest podcast.

Moving to Cali, Surfing, and the Birth of a Brand

In 1979, Brian had just graduated with a degree in accounting only to realize he wasn’t interested in accounting at all.

He was interested in starting a business. However, after months of soul searching, he realized that most brands were coming out of California. 

With that realization, he left Perth, Australia, and moved to Santa Monica, California. Focused more on surfing than anything else, he headed to Malibu in search of waves but found a market he wasn’t expecting.

Many surfers often brought sheep-skinned boots back from surfing expeditions in Australia, but no one desired them beyond the surfing community.

While others saw a simple surfing fashion trend, Brian saw an opportunity. Knowing that Perth’s climate closely resembled California, he knew that sheep-skinned boots could be just as popular in America as they were in Australia. 

That was the beginning of an idea that would birth the brand UGGS. 

Forging a New Path

With $500, Brian contacted a manufacturer in Perth, Australia, and talked them into being a distributor. With six sample pairs, his business partner, Doug, visited over 150 shoe retailers only to come back with business cards and no orders. 

The simple answer: they thought they were crazy for trying to sell sheep-skinned boots in sunny California. 

Brian knew that surfers loved sheep-skinned boots because he saw many surfers in Malibu wearing them. 

His next logical choice: try to sell UGGS to surf shops. 

This experience was much different. All the surf shops loved their idea and saw the potential in it. With that market research, Brian and Doug raised $20,000 in capital. 

They went back to the surf shops only to realize that surf shops weren’t interested. In the first year, they sold only 28 pairs.

An Important Lesson 

Destitute, he started selling boots out of his van at Malibu surfing sessions. That created a wave of surfers looking for them in shops.

As buzz started to form at shops, he started advertising. He paid models to wear UGGS on the beach, but sales didn’t come. So he got better models, yet, sales were small. 

It wasn’t until he spoke to a surf shop owner that he realized his advertising was missing a key ingredient — surfers. 

So he found two young surfers about to become pros and put them in his ads. As a result, his sales grew ten times. 

It was an important lesson: you must create emotion with your target audience.

Losing UGGS, Starting Over, and Selling the Brand 

As sales grew, Brian needed larger backers. He found his match in three investors from Anaheim. They agreed to front the money and handled all of the operations while he handled sales. 

Brian didn’t know it then, but he had just given away 75% of his company in an equal four-way 25% split. It was a harsh lesson in business. 

He had two choices: wallow in self-pity, or sell his ass off! He chose the latter. 

He went out on the road and made connections with retailers across the country. At the end of the month, he received a check for $5,000 from commissions. It was more money than he had ever made since he started the brand. 

Commissions grew higher each month. Over the next three years, one partner bought out the other two, now owning 75% of the company to Brian’s 25%. Then he received word that the significant owning partner died. 

He agreed to work for free, except commissions for one year, and keep UGGS in business. At the same time, he became aware of a competitor named Thunderware. Brian had learned that his manufacturer had funded a new distributor. His company was in danger of going out of business. 

With $250,000 in sales ordered after a trade show, he had no manufacturer to make them, with the exception of one manufacturer who had recently backed out — all hope seemed lost. But, as luck would have it, the manufacturer decided to get back in, and UGGS was back! 

Brian finally had the money to buy out the other 75% of the company, and the rest was history. Seventeen years later, he sold the company to Deckers Outdoor Corporation for $15 million.

If you’re looking to learn more about UGGS’s trajectory as a brand, check out Brian’s book, The Birth of a Brand.

For more great interviews about entrepreneurism and more, please check out the Inner Edison Podcast with Ed Parcaut.