Founder's Story - Scaling Success: How Adam Pisk’s Vision and Outsourcing Built Bruntwork | S2: E26

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Today's episode is brought to you by BiOptimizers, whom I LOVE their MAGNESIUM BREAKTHROUGH product that has helped me sleep better, stay focused, and feel all around healthier. Check out their products at http://bioptimizers.com/danrobbins use promo code FOUNDERS for 10% off any order. In the world of entrepreneurship, success stories often stem from challenges and pivots that lead to remarkable growth. Adam Pisk, the co-founder of Bruntwork, exemplifies this narrative through his journey of leveraging outsourcing and building a global team to drive business success. With a background in various industries and a keen eye for cost efficiencies, Adam’s entrepreneurial spirit was ignited by the realization of the benefits of outsourcing early on in his career. Bruntwork’s evolution during the challenging times of COVID-19 serves as a testament to the resilience and innovation of Adam and his team. Facing a halted marketplace business, they pivoted swiftly to offer digital solutions to businesses in need, eventually leading to significant growth and revenue. The ability to adapt to changing circumstances and identify new opportunities enabled Bruntwork to thrive in an uncertain business landscape, showcasing the power of strategic decision-making and seizing the moment.Our Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Founders Story, the podcast where trailblazing entrepreneurs share their extraordinary journeys, uncover the passion, grit, and vision that drive the world of business and innovation. Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Founders Story. Today, we have Adam Fisk, who is the co-founder of Bruntwork. A reason why I wanted him to be on the show today is because I think outsourcing and having a global team can be one of the best things for your business and something that I've been leveraging for over a decade. But Adam, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me, Dad. Appreciate it. And I know with Bruntwork, you've done some incredible things like $50 million in annual recurring revenue, even $5 million in monthly revenue. You've had some amazing milestones, but also some tough times. Before we go into all that, let's talk about you. What was the spark for you that said, this is the business I want to be in? So I've been outsourcing like you for a long time in different ways. I've had my own business. I became an entrepreneur at the age of 19 and went into a number of different industries. And I had design engineers offshore, etc.

I joined a tech company in 2014 in Australia. And the challenge that we had then was that the business idea was very good. The concept was good. But with the headcount cost in Australia and the wage rates we had to pay, we couldn't get the metrics to work. Our cost base to deliver the product was just too high to what people were willing to pay. And so what we did was we shifted the entire organization offshore, every single role. And that was quite a paradigm shift in 2014

where outsourcing existed, but people saw it as a call center type structure, not in terms of HR, finance, sales, customer support, data analytics, software development, every role being able to be shifted out offshore. And at the same time, every metric improving. So costs went down, efficiency, productivity went up, and that business then became profitable and continues to be profitable today. That's what got me into outsourcing, and that company still exists. There was a big pivot during COVID to how Bruntworks started,

but that's a different story. But that's how I got into it. Yeah, so let's dive into that. Because as we know, being part of a business, being an entrepreneur challenges arise and it's almost like it could be an every month thing something happens but what did you do when that that was a massive change i would imagine back you know covid a lot of people are impacted but what did you do what was the pivot what were the things that you said i need to make these changes now to save this business but what also then propel the business to success. Okay, so we will return to our show shortly. But first, let's talk about

today's sponsor, Magnesium Breakthrough by BioOptimizers. Did you know four out of five Americans don't get enough magnesium? Crucial for over 300 biochemical reactions in your body. Here are signs of magnesium deficiency, irritability, anxiety, insomnia, muscle cramps, high blood pressure, and even constipation. I know I suffer from a few of these, but many supplements don't work well because they use low quality magnesium. That's why Magnesium Breakthrough by BioOptimizers is recommended. Offering seven forms of absorbable magnesium. BioOptimizers stands by their products with a 365-day money-back guarantee.

That's insane. So make sure you visit biooptimizers.com, B-I-O-O-P-T-I-M-I-Z-E-R-S.com backslash Dan Robbins. That's biooptimizers.com backslash D-A-N-R-O-B-B-I-N-S for a special offer. And make sure you use the code founders, F-O-U-N-D-E-R-S, FOUNDERS, and you get your 10% off. So check out biooptimizers.com to learn more. And back to the show. Back to COVID, Bromwood didn't exist. Bromwood basically evolved out of another business we had, which was a marketplace business, which was involved in trades and services. And as you remember back in code

we're all trying to block out those dark days but in those dark days you couldn't do trades and services so that business that we had really just came to a complete halt and we had around 60 to 70 staff that were operating that business that then just couldn't operate back-end type staff and we were like well what can we do what are we going to do to save these jobs of these staff so the idea was um we scrambled to find friends that had businesses that we could use our existing staff to help their businesses and one of my co-founders had a good relationship with a large supermarket chain in Australia and when COVID hit they didn't have a good online delivery system for and there were more bricks and mortar supermarket chain and we pitched to them he pitched to them and said we can build you an online delivery