Doug C. Brown is a business consultant and author. He is the CEO of Business Success Factors, a company that specializes in business sales, business expansion, and training. Through his company, Douglas provides consulting services to business owners and CEOs to help them increase revenue and acquire large accounts using systems that have positively increased sales.

Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like? Did you have any particular experiences/stories that shaped your adult life?

I grew up in a small city in Massachusetts. My family was entrepreneurial, and I started working for my father’s business at the age of three and learned the power of leverage and how to build a business. I also learned how to build a business on my back, which shaped my early business experiences. I’ve had to unlearn certain business practices because of this and replace them with better practices, which has afforded me the knowledge of how to scale a business.

What is something you wish you would’ve realized earlier in your life?

That I should not have discounted my own abilities. I did not place high value on what I thought was smart and that everyone should do, such as massive prospecting, and therefore, missed out on the fact that not everyone understands how to do this. If I understood this earlier, I would have been able to teach more people this concept. This could have revolutionized their business growth.

What are bad recommendations you hear in your profession or area of expertise?

That sales is a numbers game. The reality is that successful selling and sales revenue growth is the optimization of numbers – this gives us a more leveraged and favorable outcome. Another bad recommendation is to build something before you test the market’s acceptance and the viability of one’s idea. Doing so prevents someone from running down the wrong path enthusiastically for a long period of time.

Tell me about one of the darker periods you’ve experienced in life. How did you come out of it and what did you learn from it?

In 2020, I went through a divorce after twenty-seven years of marriage. It was difficult emotionally and disruptive to my family and business. I recovered by reading a lot on the subject matter of separation as well as talking to many people who have been through it. Fortunately, I have the support of my children and others who care about me. It taught me to get out of relationships early when they are not serving.

What is one thing that you do that you feel has been the biggest contributor to your success so far?

I truly care about the people who I serve, whether it be selling for them, consulting for them, or advising them on how to grow the revenue in their company. As a business owner of multiple companies, I understand the complexities of running a business and being in the different positions of stress that many of my clients have gone through. The most gratifying outcomes are when I help my clients make adjustments and they grow because of it.

What is your morning routine?

I’m not an early riser and have never liked mornings ? I’m usually awake by 8:15 am and I do a quick meditation, some HIIT training, and a review of what’s needed for the day. By 9:00 am, I’m in my office.

What habit or behavior you have pursued for a few years has most improved your life?

Consistent personal development and growth training. Our businesses and lives are a reflection of how we feel about ourselves and the emotional patterns we run that govern our actions. It is easy to forget and get complacent in our own growth, especially when business is rapidly growing or sliding. It’s really important for people to maintain their emotional state and focus on asking good questions to bring forth great outcomes.

What are your strategies for being productive and using your time most efficiently?

Hire good people and let them take care of the things that I’m not good at and nor do I want to be good at. Business and life truly are a team sport if we want consistent success.

What book(s) have influenced your life the most? Why?

The book Inner Voice by Russ Whitney has had the most profound impact on my business and life, as it gave me the realization that our business decisions are guided by our personal emotional state and patterns that we have operated by throughout our lives. When we know this, we can change how we react to our emotional habitual patterns, and we can have different outcomes in business and life.

Do you have any quotes you live by or think of often?

The quote by Mahatma Gandhi, “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body.”. Our decisions, which are guided by our thought process, are the initiators of our actions. Our decisions and actions lead to our outcomes – good or bad.