127 Influence, Impact, and Legacy: Inside the Mind of Music Legend Scooter Braun

"We chase the dollar but we don't understand what the dollar is for." - Scooter Braun If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video and show notes at www.lewishowes.com/127. Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 127 with Scooter Braun.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast today. Very excited about this episode. We've got the one and only Scooter Braun on the show. He came in the studio here in Los Angeles. And for those that don't know who Scooter is, he is one of the entertainment industry's biggest power brokers, one of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, Billboard's 40 Under 40 Headliner, and one of Fast Company's 100 most creative people in business. He is the founder of the SB Projects, a company at the intersection of music, film, television, technology, brands, culture, and social good.

• 1:12Lewis Howes?

  And some of his clients today that he manages are, of course, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Carly Rae Jepsen, Cody Simpson, Tori Kelly, Psy, Dan and Shay, Martin Garrix, Rixton, and many other powerhouses. Now I'm excited to introduce you guys to Scooter, for those that don't know him. And we talk about a lot today. We first cover how he got into promoting clubs early on in his career in Atlanta. And we also go into how he got to know Usher and connect him with Justin Bieber early on. The big lessons he learned early in developing artists, how family has shaped him and why it's so valuable,

• 1:52Lewis Howes?

  how to build powerful teams, and how to get the best performance out of everyone that surrounds you. Who his mentors currently are, why we should focus on innovation over creation, why he decided that every investment he makes needs to have a charitable component, his advice to young people, and what shifted for him when he found out he was going to be a father. Super pumped and excited to dive into this interview with Scooter Braun. So let's go ahead and jump in right now with the one and only Scooter Braun.

• 2:30Lewis Howes?

  All right. Welcome back to the School of Greatness Podcast. We got my man Scooter Braun in the studio. What's up, brother?

• 2:36Scooter Braun?

  It's good to see you, man. I'm really, really excited. We've talked about doing this for a while.

• 2:40Lewis Howes?

  For a while, yeah. We, uh, we originally connected through your brother, Adam, who we're, uh, I'm friends with.

• 2:45Scooter Braun?

  You're wearing the T-shirt.

• 2:46Lewis Howes?

  Wearing the T-shirt, got to represent, support.

• 2:48Scooter Braun?

  Pencil's a promise. I like it.

• 2:49Lewis Howes?

  And we, uh, when we met at South Bay, I actually met you a couple of years ago at the gala for like a brief second. You probably don't remember and then.

• 2:55Scooter Braun?

  I don't remember you. You, you did not make a mark. No, I'm kidding. I remember.

• 2:58Lewis Howes?

  And then we met at the gala, we met in South Bay. We played some basketball.

• 3:02Scooter Braun?

  We had a good time.

• 3:03Lewis Howes?

  It was a good time. Yeah.

• 3:04Scooter Braun?

  We went out on that court. We got busy.

• 3:05Lewis Howes?

  It was fun, man.

• 3:06Scooter Braun?

  On that Texas court.

• 3:07Lewis Howes?

  It was fun. I, I got some random facts, uh, common facts about us to start the show. It's common facts. One is we both played basketball, football and swimming growing up.

• 3:17Scooter Braun?

  Yes, we did.

• 3:18Lewis Howes?

  You were a swimmer as well?

• 3:19Scooter Braun?

  Yes, I was.

• 3:20Lewis Howes?

  How many years?

• 3:21Scooter Braun?

  Uh, for years on the Greenwich Dolphin. In fact, John Waters, I just couldn't beat him and that's probably what discouraged me from continuing to swim. And then he was like an alternate in the Olympics. So I probably should have kept swimming.

• 3:31Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 3:32Scooter Braun?

  Yeah.

• 3:32Lewis Howes?

  Okay, crazy. So you played football too?

• 3:35Scooter Braun?

  I played football until ninth grade and then I got serious about basketball and realized I wasn't that big. So.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 3:40Scooter Braun?

  But I was, I was all about, uh, you know, hitting people as a middle schooler.

• 3:45Lewis Howes?

  Okay, cool. So those are the common facts. We also both played college basketball.

• 3:50Scooter Braun?

  That is true.

• 3:50Lewis Howes?

  You played at Emory.

• 3:52Scooter Braun?

  Yeah. Well, I, for the time I was there, kind of, yeah.

• 3:55Lewis Howes?

  You were there for two years, right?

• 3:56Scooter Braun?

  Well, kinda not even.

• 3:58Lewis Howes?

  And then, uh, we also both played sports at Emory because I did a decathlon at Emory.

• 4:02Scooter Braun?

  You did?

• 4:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I competed there one time. It was a beautiful campus, actually.

• 4:06Scooter Braun?

  Yes, it was. I actually, I was there a lot and they thought I was a student.

• 4:09Lewis Howes?

  But you weren't a student.

• 4:10Scooter Braun?

  I'd already dropped out by then.

• 4:11Lewis Howes?

  How old were you when you dropped out? Nineteen or twenty?

• 4:12Scooter Braun?

  I was nineteen.

• 4:13Lewis Howes?

  That's incredible. Uh, we both used to promote events.

• 4:17Scooter Braun?

  Yes.

• 4:18Lewis Howes?

  You're an event promoter in college?

• 4:19Scooter Braun?

  Yes, that I was for a long time. I was a party promoter and event promoter for, until I was probably 25.

• 4:25Lewis Howes?

  Okay, very cool. I used to promote, uh, like these LinkedIn networking events when I first started back in 2005.

• 4:29Scooter Braun?

  So you were trying to like do the nice things, like bring people together?

• 4:32Lewis Howes?

  Not like drunk and like.

• 4:33Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I was the drunk. I was the drunk and like Sierra, seeing you one, two step. And like, you know.

• 4:39Lewis Howes?

  Trying to get out the bottles and.

• 4:40Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, no, I wasn't. I was selling them. I had no interest in drinking them. I was selling them.

• 4:45Lewis Howes?

  Did you drink ever when you were doing the parties?

• 4:47Scooter Braun?

  Not when I, when I worked, I never drank.

• 4:48Lewis Howes?

  You never drank? Gotcha.

• 4:49Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I, I mean, if certain cases, I might do a shot here and there with a couple buddies.

• 4:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 4:53Scooter Braun?

  But I was about the business.

• 4:54Lewis Howes?

  But Jay-Z's like, hey, let's do a shot. You're not gonna shy away.

• 4:57Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I wouldn't shy away from, from Jay-Z, but it was, but it was Atlanta. So it was more like Jeezy. It was like, you know, he was like, hello, man. I'm the snowman. Take a shot with me.

• 5:08Lewis Howes?

  We are, we both, um, sit on the board of pencil promise.

• 5:11Scooter Braun?

  Yes, we do.

• 5:12Lewis Howes?

  And we both believe in the hustle and the grind.

• 5:15Scooter Braun?

  We do. We do. We actually do. But the real thing, uh, and we're not talking about the Terrence Howard movie.

• 5:20Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 5:21Scooter Braun?

  It's a little bit different. Hustle and Flow, we're about hustle and grind. That's our movie.

• 5:26Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 5:26Scooter Braun?

  You're Terrence Howard.

• 5:28Lewis Howes?

  Terrence Howard?

• 5:28Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I feel like you're the Terrence Howard in this group.

• 5:30Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 5:31Scooter Braun?

  I'm just the chick.

• 5:34Lewis Howes?

  Now, what I'm curious about, I've been doing a lot of research about you. Obviously, I've heard about you from your brother, but as I've been preparing for this, I'm curious to know what your actual dream was as a kid, because I know about your family and I've met your family and your parents are incredible, but what was like, was your dream to be, I'm gonna drop out of school and promote these parties with celebrities? Like, what did you actually want?

• 5:53Scooter Braun?

  When I was a kid, I just wanted, I mean, no one told me that a five foot 11 Jew wasn't highly likely to make it to the NBA.

• 6:00Lewis Howes?

  They didn't?

• 6:01Scooter Braun?

  No, so I was watching like.

• 6:02Lewis Howes?

  They gave you hope?

• 6:02Scooter Braun?

  I was watching Mark Price and John Stockton.

• 6:05Lewis Howes?

  I have a chance.

• 6:06Scooter Braun?

  Every, every like six foot white guard the NBA had to offer. I was the kid who would go on like NBA, you know, live and create my player. And he just had a ridiculous jumper and had more hops than I'll ever have.

• 6:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 6:20Scooter Braun?

  Um, but that was like my dream. And then I read, uh, it was one summer I read, uh, one of Phil Jackson's books and then I was like, well, maybe.

• 6:26Lewis Howes?

  Hoops?

• 6:27Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, and then I was.

• 6:27Lewis Howes?

  Great book, man.

• 6:28Scooter Braun?

  Uh, you know, I was, I was kinda like, I wanna be a coach. And then, um, and then I thought maybe be a lawyer, maybe be a politician, cause I was uh, class president in my high school. So I thought going to politics, I did the whole boy state thing.

• 6:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 6:42Scooter Braun?

  And then, you know, I wanted to be in entertainment there for a little while. My brother was always the guy with the five year plan. I was kinda like, we'll just see what tomorrow brings, but I'm gonna keep working.

• 6:51Lewis Howes?

  Adam does everything planned out, it seems like.

• 6:53Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I'm the opposite. And uh, what happened was I ended up in Atlanta, started throwing parties, never been to a nightclub before college, threw parties because um, after selling fake IDs, it was a legal way to make money. I like how your cameraman just made a face like, oh my God, he said it out loud. It's okay, I don't do that anymore. And it was very short-lived. So um, but yeah.

• 7:13Lewis Howes?

  How did you make those? Did you have a printer?

• 7:14Scooter Braun?

  You know what it was? I actually, I didn't make them. I didn't make them. There was a buddy of mine who made them, and he made great fake New York IDs, but he just had a really, really bad way of selling them. He was a bad salesman.

• 7:25Lewis Howes?

  You were great at like saying, hey, I can get you in this club.

• 7:27Scooter Braun?

  Well, not even that. I just said, there's a way to do this where you're not gonna get caught, and we can make more money. You just have to be smarter. And I would tell you, but then college kids would start doing this, and I'd probably get in trouble and be liable for them going to jail. So I'm gonna just say, don't make fake IDs. I did it, it was like a two-month thing. He broke one of my rules of what I said, look, if you ever break these rules, I'm out. And he broke it, and he said, what are you crazy, everything else? And I said, no, I'm out. I told you, don't break these rules. And I quit cold turkey.

• 7:56Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 7:56Scooter Braun?

  And then um, went by a nightclub, um, called Chaos in Atlanta. And I said, you know, let me, can I bring some people here next Thursday night, and you give you some money? And my first party was a paradox and then chaos, uh, chaos and paradox. And um, they gave me like eight hundred dollars cash. Knowing what I know now, they probably owed me eight grand.

• 8:14Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 8:14Scooter Braun?

  But that was the first eight hundred dollars legally I'd ever made.

• 8:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 8:18Scooter Braun?

  You know, in that short amount of time. And I just bugged out, cause my summer job coaching basketball was like sixteen hundred for the whole summer.

• 8:24Lewis Howes?

  Like every day grinding?

• 8:25Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, and plus taxes. You know, so uh, so you know, I just.

• 8:30Lewis Howes?

  She made eight, half as much in the whole, in one night.

• 8:33Scooter Braun?

  One night, and I bugged out. And then I started learning the business of promoting, funny enough, from a guy named Alex Skidowan, who was uh, there were no, I was the only white boy at Alex's parties.

• 8:42Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 8:42Scooter Braun?

  But Alex taught me about a cut line. He taught me about how to create the hype, and kind of the secondary market of Atlanta, like how to promote. And then I went to Miami and ended up promoting parties for a long time.

• 8:52Lewis Howes?

  And how many people did you get at your first promotion, your first gig? I read somewhere 800, but I don't know.

• 8:57Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, probably about 800 to 1,000.

• 8:58Lewis Howes?

  Now, how did you get that many people at your first time when you're a 19 year old white punk?

• 9:03Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, freshman, freshman in college.

• 9:05Lewis Howes?

  Who believed in you and trusted you?

• 9:06Scooter Braun?

  Well, my first party was all the college kids. And what it was, but no freshmen were pulling like that. What I did was I realized everybody wants to go where the freshman girls go.

• 9:16Lewis Howes?

  Oh.

• 9:16Scooter Braun?

  At a college party. And I had a high school sweetheart at the time, so the girls didn't feel threatened. I could dance a little bit, so they knew, you know, they'd have a good time with me on that dance floor. And I got three really cute, awesome girls. And I went to Kinko's and I made my own flyers.

• 9:31Lewis Howes?

  Shut up.

• 9:32Scooter Braun?

  And we flyer the campus and I told these girls, I could give you free drinks if you get people there. And sure enough, 800 people came and I was like, I'm pretty good at this. Let's, let's keep trying.

• 9:41Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:42Scooter Braun?

  So, uh, one thing led to another and then I became a very big party promoter.

• 9:47Lewis Howes?

  So you did that for a couple of years, right? And then you-

• 9:48Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, probably for about six years.

• 9:51Lewis Howes?

  Six years?

• 9:51Scooter Braun?

  Oh, yeah. I was a party promoter until I was like 25.

• 9:53Lewis Howes?

  And you dropped out of college right after, about a year after, after you started, I'm assuming?

• 9:56Scooter Braun?

  I started, it got really big. And then, um, I started working with a, a young, a young rapper with his manager Shotgun, his other manager Jeff. His name was Ludacris. And he had a song called Throw Them Bows and I started working that song. And that was my first exposure to the music business. And then there was another guy named Jermaine Dupri, who, um, he, he, you know, he came to my parties, he loved them. And then he said, I gotta meet with you. And I'll never forget, Jermaine's like not the tallest individual.

• 10:20Lewis Howes?

  He's short, right?

• 10:21Scooter Braun?

  He's probably like 5'4". I don't even know how tall he is. He'll say 5'6".

• 10:23Lewis Howes?

  So you're almost eye level.

• 10:25Scooter Braun?

  Oh, nice try. 5'11". Um, look, I love how tall people always like to talk shit. You know, they, they love talking shit. Um, all right, so-

• 10:34Lewis Howes?

  Short people are usually smarter, so we have to have something.

• 10:37Scooter Braun?

  It's okay, we are. Um, but I'm like, I'm like more than average, all right? He's, he's just a huge human being. Um, so what happened was Jermaine was, took me to, I'll never forget, took me downstairs to this nightclub and he wanted to talk alone. And he got on this stool and he's so short that his feet were dangling. And he's like, man, I'm gonna get you living in mansions and these parties aren't gonna be there. Come work for me at So So Def. And I said, okay. And I went and worked for So So Def for three years and dropped out of school. And I still remember when he gave me like my So So Def puffy jacket, like it's kind of like a starter jacket, but it had So So Def and a scooter on it. I thought I was the coolest guy in the whole world. Cause I was like, money ain't a thing. But uh, but yeah, that was a really great ride. I learned a lot from Jermaine, super grateful.

• 11:21Scooter Braun?

  And then, you know, I've had certain people who've given me chances throughout my career.

• 11:25Lewis Howes?

  Right, right, right. So were you already three to five years in the promotion business when he approached you? Or was that earlier on?

• 11:32Scooter Braun?

  No, no, I was a big promoter when he approached me. Yeah, I was a big college party promoter.

• 11:35Lewis Howes?

  Everyone knew that you could.

• 11:37Scooter Braun?

  We were, we were the biggest revenue wise college promotion company in the US.

• 11:41Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 11:41Scooter Braun?

  And so we were doing really well. I'm like, that's my seat.

• 11:43Lewis Howes?

  It's all good.

• 11:44Scooter Braun?

  Where's that sound coming from? And I was like, oh, that's me.

• 11:46Lewis Howes?

  It's all good. That's cool. So you made a name for yourself and he was like, okay, this guy can consistently bring in.

• 11:52Scooter Braun?

  Yeah. He used to call me his Lior to his Russell Simmons. So I had a little Lior, white puff. I had a lot of cool little nicknames back then.

• 12:00Lewis Howes?

  So what did you start doing for him? So you learned a lot in this promotional business. It sounds like you learned a lot, just like guerrilla marketing, basically, and being creative. What did you learn while at the next level? And what were you doing specifically for him? Was it more marketing artists and?

• 12:14Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, it was, it was marketing artists. It was building outside campaigns. I was the vice president of marketing at Sosa Dev Records. I was 20 years old.

• 12:21Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 12:22Scooter Braun?

  And we went on this crazy run where when I signed on with Jermaine, he didn't even have distribution yet. He signed on new distribution and then we did Jaquan, Tipsy, we did Anthony Hamilton. We did Young Bloods and then we did, um, we did Usher Confessions. Jermaine executive produced that. And that's how me and Usher became close because we were in the studio every night. In fact, Confessions Part One almost didn't happen because I was trying to get them to come to the nightclub with me.

• 12:45Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 12:45Scooter Braun?

  And they kicked me out of the studio.

• 12:47Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 12:48Scooter Braun?

  Smart move, guys. Um, but yeah, I didn't, I was still learning. And while I was doing that, I was trying to create my own artists. So I was spending all my money on the side.

• 12:55Lewis Howes?

  This is Usher or is this?

• 12:56Scooter Braun?

  No, this was, this was early on. These were, um, acts that people don't know about because it was while I was still learning. You know, so I had this act OD and that fell apart because they robbed a bunch of banks in Atlanta.

• 13:07Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 13:08Scooter Braun?

  FBI shut them down. Um, and they got caught because our mixtape I paid for to put out, they were posing. And the FBI finally identified them from our mixtape that we flooded Atlanta with. And then I had this artist, Kato, who was part of OD, who I was very close with. Um, and I just financed everything for a long time. I mean, I paid for the mixes, the masters, the housing. I mean, it was just like, I was understanding how to develop an artist and I learned a lot from that experience because I failed.

• 13:33Lewis Howes?

  What were some of the big lessons you learned or anything with that?

• 13:36Scooter Braun?

  Well, I learned how to make records, first of all. I mean, I learned the mixing, the mastering. I learned the radio promotion side independently because I was working record independently. I learned, you know, how to trust my gut at the right time. And I, and I hear all the time of like, oh, everything you sign, you know, blows up. But I, I had a lot of failures before Asher Roth happened.

• 13:57Scooter Braun?

  And Asher was kind of a new beginning for me because it was the first time I did it without Sosodex and my back was against the wall. I had, it was all my money. I had no income coming in. I refused to do parties.

• 14:06Lewis Howes?

  You had everything to lose, basically?

• 14:07Scooter Braun?

  Everything. I mean, literally, I, I will never forget, I'm actually moving into my new house with my wife now. And I looked around and I said, I can't believe we live here. Because I remember paying for pizza with change. You know, I remember I ordered this pizza and I realized I didn't have any money and I had to wait till the next party the following week. And I paid for pizza with change and then I was quit parties cold turkey because I said, if I have to throw a party again, I failed. So I, I had enough money when I signed Asher to, you know, live for about 13 months, my lifestyle, and then I was going to go broke. And I signed Asher and Justin within four months of each other and I put everything into them. I mean, housing, studio time, you know, paying for the tutor, paying for

• 14:47Scooter Braun?

  the, the furniture, paying, you know, everything. And I really believed in these guys and it makes it all worth it now because it was, you know, I couldn't, I was far away from home. I couldn't go home. I wasn't asking my dad for money since I was 18. And I had to make it for my, on my, my own. And the idea of failing wasn't an option.

• 15:06Lewis Howes?

  Did you ever think that one of them wanted, or both of them wouldn't be successful in their own way? Or that you wouldn't, they wouldn't work out or you would have to find another way to make money?

• 15:14Scooter Braun?

  No, I really, I really believed in both of them. When I found Asher, I knew exactly what it could be. What Asher also taught me though, is sometimes artists don't want to be as big as you want them to be. Asher was super happy being who he was. And I had this vision to make him the biggest artist in the world and you know, we had so much hype and he just, that wasn't what he wanted. And you know, he's one of my closest friends now, he's my brother for life and he just put out a video the other day, kind of chronicling the whole journey we've had together for himself. And um, it was really nice to see because you know, he just wanted to make music and enjoy his life and never really be famous and, you know, and he's achieved that and he's done very well for himself and he had the big hit, he had the number three album.

• 15:57Scooter Braun?

  And you know, he, I, it was a struggle for me. With Justin, Justin was like, make me the biggest. Let's go.

• 16:04Lewis Howes?

  Perfect.

• 16:04Scooter Braun?

  You know, and, and you know, he was very much like me. And um, and we, you know, grinded and he was a young man and you know, it was uh, it was a different thing, but, you know, when Asher made I Love College, it was in the basement of this house I was renting, this crap hole that like had rats everywhere, it was called the greenhouse. Cause the truth is, he was smoking so much weed down there. But that night, uh, he wasn't smoking weed, he never smoked when Justin was around. But he recorded I Love College and Justin actually was in the studio. He was with studio, it was like a little crap room in the basement, you know, my buddy was doing engineering. But we all kind of came up together and there's this really great picture of me, Asher and Justin on the front porch of that house.

• 16:46Scooter Braun?

  And no one knew Justin was, I mean, there's videos of Asher and me with Ludacris and everyone's hyped because Asher and Ludacris are in the same room. And they don't notice there's this little kid sitting behind us.

• 16:54Lewis Howes?

  Just chilling.

• 16:55Scooter Braun?

  Justin. Um, so.

• 16:57Lewis Howes?

  And he was 12 from this?

• 16:58Scooter Braun?

  He was at that time thirteen, fourteen.

• 17:00Lewis Howes?

  When you first had him move to Atlanta?

• 17:01Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, he was thirteen when I had him move, I found him when he was, the videos, he was twelve.

• 17:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:06Scooter Braun?

  But he uh, you know, just the whole adventure to kind of, you, you respect everything so much more and it also reminds you when you get money, that tomorrow isn't promised.

• 17:14Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:15Scooter Braun?

  And you value everything, you know, because you know what it's like to be a big promoter and have all kinds of money and then literally be paying for pizza with change because you spent it all trying to make it. You know, so um.

• 17:26Lewis Howes?

  And promoting also, you're trading your time for the one event. You're like promoting for one event, then you gotta make money at another event.

• 17:32Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, you're going party to party and yeah, it was um, it was the best learning experience. The Atlanta Hustle taught me so much. And kind of the uh, you know, when you're in a cash business and there aren't contracts, like your word is all you have.

• 17:45Lewis Howes?

  That's it.

• 17:46Scooter Braun?

  And you know, having that experience and, and being able to shake someone's hand and know that that's powerful and means something. It was a it was a very valuable lesson.

• 17:56Lewis Howes?

  Well, now, the money you had for this 12 or 13 months to bring under your two clients. I heard you brokered a deal with, was it Pontiac and Ludacris? Is that what happened? Now, what how did this come about?

• 18:08Scooter Braun?

  Well, I had it from the parties and that, but it was um, I was leaving SoSoDef. Jermaine and I were kind of agreeing that it was time to go separate ways. I was disagreeing with kind of certain marketing ideas. I had all these ideas for social media and I just was getting frustrated. You know, I wanted to sign different acts. And I and I got great advice, one from my dad, who said, look, if you work for someone, shut up and do what they want at the end of the day. Or do it on your own. And, you know, put up or shut up kind of thing. And then I saw Little John in a nightclub in London. And he said he worked for Jermaine for 12 years and he had this idea for Little John, but Jermaine was focused on what he was focused on. And he said he finally left and he said, don't take 12 years. If you have an idea that you believe in, go after your dream. And and I was like, yeah. No, that's not what happened, but that would have been awesome.

• 18:54Scooter Braun?

  But uh, but yeah, it was. It was an interesting time and that Pontiac deal. Ludacris had just got, you know, unfairly judged by O'Reilly. Who was kind of calling him gangster rap and anyone who's Ludacris knows that it's nothing like gangster rap.

• 19:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 19:09Scooter Braun?

  And he kind of lost all his endorsement deals. And I told Shaka, let me get you an endorsement deal. And he said, look, the agency is not getting us anything right now. If you can bring anything in, sure.

• 19:19Lewis Howes?

  And just brokered a standard 10 or 20% commission or whatever.

• 19:22Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I mean, what it was, yeah. And what what happened was um, he had a song called Two Miles an Hour. And I said, we can do a card deal with that. And I started looking and calling around and I I bought an Escalade, you know, a couple of years earlier. And the guy who I bought it from on the dealership, you know, I've become friends with. And he told me that, you know, the Pontiac, you know, was coming with campaigns and he had to ask around. So I called up the Pontiac and I said, I was a student writing for a student paper. And how do I do this? They said, we have an agency. Called the agency, I said the same lie. I finally got this woman on the phone, thinking she was going to do an interview to talk about how she decides the Pontiac campaigns. And I said, can I come see you in person? I did. And I pitched her Ludacris. She said she got a kick out of the fact that I got to her. And the movie Crash was coming out, which featured Ludacris. And she said, I'm not really interested in Ludacris. But I said, well, come see the movie.

• 20:07Scooter Braun?

  And she saw the movie and she was blown away by him. And and she took a chance on me and on Ludacris and we did the Pontiac Solstice deal. And here's the best part, they sent down for the video, they let us shoot our own video with Brian Barber directing, who was a big director and a friend of mine, he'd done all the OutKast stuff, a bunch of Ludacris videos. And they sent down the prototype of the Pontiac Solstice and said, look, you can't drive this on the regular streets, you have to just have it at the video shoot and have it, you know. But I couldn't afford at the time to pay for the shipping of the car from my house where they dropped it off on a flatbed and everything. I was trying to cut every corner.

• 20:47Lewis Howes?

  It's like five grand or whatever it's transferred.

• 20:49Scooter Braun?

  For people to understand, a prototype of a car is like a million dollars, even though it looks exactly like the regular car.

• 20:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:56Scooter Braun?

  When it's the first one, it's the pro. So I drove that thing.

• 20:58Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 20:59Scooter Braun?

  From my house down the highway to the video shoot.

• 21:02Lewis Howes?

  Driving like 50 miles an hour.

• 21:04Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, I just, I just drove it and I just said, you know, looking back now, it wasn't very smart or responsible. But that's what happens when you give a young kid.

• 21:14Lewis Howes?

  So this is brilliant, though. I love this story because.

• 21:16Scooter Braun?

  I drove it right onto that video shoot.

• 21:19Lewis Howes?

  I love this whole, your, your mindset behind getting the deal done and getting your foot in the door, because so many people wouldn't have that idea of like, let me act like I'm a journalist at a school and wanting to do a, a paper, a story around this company.

• 21:31Scooter Braun?

  It was deceitful, though. Like, I feel bad talking about it now, but you know what it was?

• 21:33Lewis Howes?

  I think it's.

• 21:34Scooter Braun?

  Atlanta, it was fake it till you make it.

• 21:35Lewis Howes?

  It's hustle, too.

• 21:36Scooter Braun?

  It was fake it till you make. You know what it was? It was the opening scene of Schindler's List. You know, I'm actually serious. My, my grandparents are Holocaust survivors, so I always had an interest. But that opening scene affected me in a different way than the rest of the movie, because the opening scene, Schindler spent all his money to his name to impress the German executives, so that he actually got the government contracts, because they thought he was something that he wasn't. And that's pretty much what I did with hip hop in Atlanta. I would spend all the money I made on my Thursday night parties with college kids on Tuesday night at Alex's party at the Velvet Room, where I was the only white boy with all the rappers and everything else, and they were amused. They let me in for free because they were amused that I was showing up.

• 22:09Lewis Howes?

  Right. Like, who's this white boy?

• 22:10Scooter Braun?

  Because back then, Atlanta was kind of segregated as far as how they party, but I was from the north.

• 22:14Lewis Howes?

  So you didn't care.

• 22:15Scooter Braun?

  So I didn't, I mean, I, you know, I got, my family's very diverse. I didn't see it. But they saw me like popping the bottle and hanging out with these girls, and the truth was, I wasn't drinking anything.

• 22:24Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 22:24Scooter Braun?

  But I was faking it till I make it. I'd send them bottles and they'd say, what are you doing? Oh, I want to come to your party. And then I started mixing things up and, you know, I grew my business and it was, it was a wild time.

• 22:36Lewis Howes?

  Now, I heard you talking about your family, and I know family is really important to you. And is it true you have family tattooed on your wrist?

• 22:42Scooter Braun?

  Yep, right here.

• 22:43Lewis Howes?

  There you go. Now, how has family shaped you? And why is it so valuable to you?

• 22:49Scooter Braun?

  Uh, well, funny enough, today is the 35th anniversary of my parents.

• 22:52Lewis Howes?

  I saw your Instagram photo.

• 22:53Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, so.

• 22:54Lewis Howes?

  Congrats to Erv, big Erv.

• 22:55Scooter Braun?

  So I actually meant what I wrote. Um, I wrote that, uh, they showed me what real love is. You know, to have parents that really truly love each other and are good to each other. It's such a blessing because it's so rare in today's world.

• 23:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:08Scooter Braun?

  Um, and to witness that growing up and to have that love, you know, all the time. I always felt full, you know what I mean? I always felt safe in a way because you have that love from your family. And, you know, I'm a big person about studying happiness and trying to figure out how to become content in life. Even though I think life is a journey, it's ups and downs. You've just got to understand that, once you understand, it's kind of this, there's this idea in Kabbalah, um, where you have to rise where God is, where it's kind of enlightened. You know, he's looking over the valley. You're in this kind of tight ravine of like a thing, imagine a Grand Canyon, but really tight.

• 23:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:43Scooter Braun?

  So you can't see what's around the next corner. So it seems scary. But if you can rise above and kind of see where all the turns and where the ending is, you know, it's not nearly as scary. And that's kind of what life is. Like, once you start to realize it's going to be okay and you'll get through those turns. And there are ups and downs, but tomorrow will come. I think you get happier. And I think what family has taught me is there's always this steadiness. And I think if you can provide, you know, for your family, if you can be, you know, build a family, which I'm now doing with my wife, we're doing with our first child. You know, you do all this stuff, but what's it really worth? And I think the only real legacy in life is family and charity. You know, and when you asked me earlier, kind of if I had a five-year plan, I can tell you, and I'm sorry if I'm rambling, but.

• 24:23Lewis Howes?

  No, it's good.

• 24:24Scooter Braun?

  Um, for me, my perspective is I just wanted to leave a mark on the world. I wanted to leave something positive. Because I, because I don't, you know, I think you only get a short time on this planet. And what's it worth unless you can do something?

• 24:36Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 24:37Scooter Braun?

  You know, and I understand, one of my mentors said, no one's gonna remember you in a hundred years. No one's gonna remember me, no one's gonna remember you. But they'll feel our impact.

• 24:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 24:44Scooter Braun?

  And who might remember me is my children.

• 24:46Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 24:47Scooter Braun?

  You know, and um, so the idea of family, the idea of working your ass off to share it with someone else is what makes it worthwhile. So to me, it's everything. I mean, it's, you know, a- and I don't even think I comprehend what that means until I meet this kid in February. You know, because when I meet him, I hear every, it's.

• 25:06Lewis Howes?

  You don't know.

• 25:06Scooter Braun?

  When is this air?

• 25:07Lewis Howes?

  Uh, a few weeks.

• 25:08Scooter Braun?

  Okay, let's not say what.

• 25:09Lewis Howes?

  Okay. We'll wait.

• 25:12Scooter Braun?

  You know, wait, but uh, but yeah, it's uh, like I said, I'm rambling a little bit because there's so many thoughts I have about this.

• 25:18Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 25:18Scooter Braun?

  But um, but family is everything. And I think, you know, you look at a lot of third world countries. And a lot of people don't realize, I watched this documentary Happy the other day, which is really great.

• 25:27Lewis Howes?

  Documentary.

• 25:27Scooter Braun?

  And they talk about how our nation in the last fifty years has gone up fifty percent up in wealth. How we are richer than we were fifty years ago by fifty percent. But our happiness per capita has gone up less than one percent. And I think it's because we chase the dollar, but we don't understand what the dollar is for.

• 25:42Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 25:43Scooter Braun?

  And money is an amazing thing. It can be actually a complete release and an avenue to freedom.

• 25:48Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 25:49Scooter Braun?

  But it can also trap you at the same time, you get caught in the rat race. And I think family is that thing that you always need to know that comes first.

• 25:55Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 25:56Scooter Braun?

  Um, and if you do that, you're gonna live a happier life.

• 25:58Lewis Howes?

  So in your twenties, it sounds like you were chasing, building things in your life, making money, you know, hustling. Uh, it wasn't as much about building a family, obviously.

• 26:08Scooter Braun?

  I tattooed this on my wrist when I was twenty.

• 26:09Lewis Howes?

  Wow, interesting.

• 26:11Scooter Braun?

  No, actually, hold on, let me, no, I wasn't twenty, hold on, let me think. Was I twenty? It was, it was the day after Jay Williams had his motorcycle accident.

• 26:17Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wow.

• 26:18Scooter Braun?

  So it was June nineteenth or June twentieth that I uh, that I did it. Because Jay is one of my closest friends and I found out what happened to him. And I chickened out about getting a tattoo a couple of weeks earlier. And my mom, my mom had unfortunately got a little bit sick. She's okay now. And I, you know, I realize everything I'm saying now, and I'm actually glad because once again, this tattoo brings us back to it. I tattooed family on my wrist, my only tattoo. Because I said, I wanted in a visible place for the rest of my life, people will ask me about this tattoo, which you just did.

• 26:46Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 26:47Scooter Braun?

  And I will have to tell this story of why I got it, which is this simple, and it will remind me for the rest of my life. I was lost and I was chasing the dollar and I was chasing the money and what I, because I didn't really understand. I was just going for it.

• 26:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 26:59Scooter Braun?

  And what I realized was all I'm doing it for is this. So I'm going to tattoo it on my wrist. So for the rest of my life, I'll get asked this question. And for the rest of my life, I will be reminded of what's really important.

• 27:09Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Did something shift when in your mindset and your energy or any way of being when you realize that, uh, yeah, I was pregnant?

• 27:17Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, completely.

• 27:19Lewis Howes?

  What shifted for you?

• 27:19Scooter Braun?

  Um, you start to realize, and I, I think as a man, which I've been told by everyone, and I, and I think it's true. You don't really understand it till you see the child. It's not, it's not inside of me.

• 27:30Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 27:30Scooter Braun?

  Um, so I'm excited, but I'm not like, I can't, I can't comprehend until I think I meet them.

• 27:35Lewis Howes?

  It's gonna be crazy.

• 27:36Scooter Braun?

  And I'm really excited about that. But what you start to realize is, you know, you can live for other people. You can do charity. You can, you know, I, I, I manage, so I have to, uh, I, I'm helping people a lot. I'm helping that my, my job is to help people achieve their goals.

• 27:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 27:51Scooter Braun?

  Um, but I think what I realized when my wife got pregnant was for the first time in my life, my wife's an adult. She can fend for herself.

• 27:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 27:59Scooter Braun?

  Um, and if you know my wife, she can really fend for herself.

• 28:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:02Scooter Braun?

  Uh, when you become a father, you start to have this idea of, oh my God, my life is no longer mine. You know, for the rest of my life, there's never going to be a selfish decision again. I can't, you can't call me and say, yo, Scooter, we're going to Vegas. You want to come with us?

• 28:15Lewis Howes?

  I was going to play basketball.

• 28:16Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, like, yeah, every decision I make for the rest of my life, I have to consider how that affects

• 28:21Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 28:21Scooter Braun?

  Someone who depends on me.

• 28:22Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 28:23Scooter Braun?

  Like truly depends on me. And that has made me respect other fathers. And the moment she got pregnant, I started looking at friends of mine who are great businessmen who have kids. And I've worked my ass off, but I've been able to be selfish in my time.

• 28:36Lewis Howes?

  Give your own time.

• 28:36Scooter Braun?

  Yeah.

• 28:37Lewis Howes?

  No one to look out for.

• 28:38Scooter Braun?

  No one to look out for really, like every, even my wife's an adult, like

• 28:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 28:40Scooter Braun?

  I can do what I need to do to make it happen.

• 28:42Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 28:43Scooter Braun?

  And I look at some of these guys who have multiple kids, which I want. And they're at the kids' baseball game and they're here and then they're still handling all this business.

• 28:50Lewis Howes?

  And they're present too and

• 28:51Scooter Braun?

  Completely. I have so much respect. For them and I need to pull from their wisdom because I'm scared of how am I going to pull it off? But I have to pull it off. There's no other option. And I, you know, my buddy Charlie Walk has four kids and he is a workaholic like me. And I hit him the other day when I was thinking about this and I said, Charlie, I have so much respect for the fact that you work like this and have four kids.

• 29:16Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 29:16Scooter Braun?

  You know, and um, and I, you know, cause he's a present father.

• 29:20Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 29:20Scooter Braun?

  And I think that is the ultimate thing. That's why I look at people like Jeffrey Katzenberg and Richard Branson as role models in a, in a sense, because these are very successful businessmen, but they have great kids.

• 29:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 29:32Scooter Braun?

  Great kids who are adults and they love their father. And I think that's the ultimate test of success.

• 29:37Lewis Howes?

  If you would have had, uh, you know, been married when you're 23, 25 and had a child, then do you feel like you would be as successful in your business career and done as much now? Or do you feel like it would have shifted a lot of the sins you've made?

• 29:51Scooter Braun?

  I would love to say yes, because people say that when you have a kid, you grind even harder. That's what I've been told because.

• 29:58Lewis Howes?

  Gary Vee says that.

• 29:58Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, like you grind even harder, but I'd have to say no if I was really being honest with myself. Because I had to be present because my acts are so young. I had to be present for them at that age.

• 30:10Lewis Howes?

  They were like their kids almost.

• 30:11Scooter Braun?

  Yeah. And I had to be present for them and um, I, I don't think I would have been able to do the things I needed to do at the time I was building my business.

• 30:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 30:21Scooter Braun?

  Because now I, what, what took me six months before, I can do in a phone call because I've earned.

• 30:27Lewis Howes?

  You've got the leverage.

• 30:27Scooter Braun?

  It's time, you, you earn it. You earn equity in your relationships and time and the hard work you put in.

• 30:33Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 30:33Scooter Braun?

  But back then I, I had to earn it and uh, and I think that's actually why I wasn't ready to have a family back then. Cause I knew it wasn't the right time. But now I'd be a complete hypocrite if I wasn't a good dad at this point. Because if, if I can't give my kid the time he needs at this point in my life, then everything I worked for, you know, I'd be a hypocrite. Yeah. What's the point? So, but um, but at the same time, I have amazing artists and, and people that I work with. Because we're all like a family and they're so excited to meet my kid too. You know, and I think. My child will grow up in this fabric of these relationships like my artists are gonna be uncles and aunts to them.

• 31:10Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:11Scooter Braun?

  And we're gonna, we're gonna have a fun ride. It's gonna be, it's a fun life.

• 31:14Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. Yeah. What, um, you talked about mentors. Who are your, your mentors right now? And do you think it's really important that everyone has a mentor or coaches?

• 31:24Scooter Braun?

  You know what? I think sometimes people say they have one mentor. I've never had one mentor. If I had one mentor, it'd be my father. I think I've learned more from him on how to be a man.

• 31:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:34Scooter Braun?

  Um, and that has helped me more so in business than probably anything. So I'd say he's the ultimate mentor to me. But I have really great mentors in, um, in Jeffrey, Katzenberg, um, who I asked, how do you get a family like this? And he gave me really great advice. He pointed a picture of his wife and he said, get one like that. And, uh, and then, you know, great mentors and people like Lucy and Grange, who's the chairman of the Universal Music Group. I'm very close with, who's been an incredible mentor and friend.

• 32:00Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:01Scooter Braun?

  Um, and then, you know, I have people, uh, you know, just friends I draw from, but you know, I, I read a book about David Geffen when I was 19 and that really inspired me and made me wanna go into this business.

• 32:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 32:12Scooter Braun?

  And now David has become someone who's become a mentor to me.

• 32:15Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 32:15Scooter Braun?

  Um, and someone who I can draw from. And every single time I get advice from him, whether he's yelling at me or, you know, sharing stories, um, I'm just appreciative because to be able to meet the people that inspired you is a really beautiful and incredible thing.

• 32:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:31Scooter Braun?

  Um, and especially when they, um, they offer you the guidance that you always wanted from them.

• 32:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:37Scooter Braun?

  Um, so, you know, th- those kind of people, I'm, I'm eternally grateful.

• 32:41Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:41Scooter Braun?

  Um, because I draw from people, but sometimes I, my grandfather worked in a, you know, my grandmother worked in a sweatshop 15 years my dad grew up. And my grandpa was a refugee and kinda did odd jobs and, you know, and I know where I come from. And I think that my, I was always taught you treat the CEO and the janitor the same.

• 32:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:59Scooter Braun?

  And there's a lot of wisdom you can get from all kinds of people. And sometimes the best advice I've gotten from mentors is I'll be in a random country in a car with a driver.

• 33:07Lewis Howes?

  The cab drivers always have the best advice.

• 33:09Scooter Braun?

  Dude, and, and you, sometimes you'll talk to somebody and you'll just start sharing because they're a complete stranger.

• 33:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 33:14Scooter Braun?

  And they will give you a piece of wisdom.

• 33:16Lewis Howes?

  Little nugget, man.

• 33:16Scooter Braun?

  A little nugget.

• 33:17Lewis Howes?

  So good.

• 33:18Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, and, um.

• 33:19Lewis Howes?

  It clicks with you. You're like, what?

• 33:20Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, you never know, you know, it's, uh, it's the, it's the Plato quote that, um, made me, funny enough, my wife said, that's why I wanted to meet her. She tweeted it. I saw it. I wanted to meet her. But it's that idea that be kind, uh, for everyone you meet walks a hard journey.

• 33:34Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 33:35Scooter Braun?

  Um, you know, and you never, you never know where you're going to, you know, get that greatness from.

• 33:40Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 33:41Scooter Braun?

  Um, so.

• 33:42Lewis Howes?

  Good word.

• 33:43Scooter Braun?

  Yeah.

• 33:43Lewis Howes?

  That's a good word. Now, your dad, you said he taught you about what it means to be a man. What does it mean for you to be a man today?

• 33:50Scooter Braun?

  Good husband, good father. I think everything else is secondary. I think if, at the end of the day, if I die and people say, oh, you're so successful. Look at everything you achieved. And my kid and wife walk up there and they say I was a piece of shit.

• 34:01Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 34:01Scooter Braun?

  You're a failure. But if you, if I lose everything and they walk up there and they said he was a great father, a great husband, I think I'm a success.

• 34:09Lewis Howes?

  And what about for someone who's not a father or a husband yet? What's the definition of being a good man?

• 34:13Scooter Braun?

  Um, being a definition of a good man to me is, uh, look, it, life is not black and white. There's a lot of gray.

• 34:20Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:20Scooter Braun?

  Uh, but understand your end game, do things with integrity.

• 34:25Lewis Howes?

  Um.

• 34:25Scooter Braun?

  Incorporate giving back into things that you do because it will, I think it's really good karma.

• 34:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:31Scooter Braun?

  Uh, in our business, everything we do has to have a charitable component.

• 34:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 34:35Scooter Braun?

  And, uh, what is the idea of being a good man? I think the, I think the best way to be a good man is to simply live by the golden rule.

• 34:43Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 34:44Scooter Braun?

  You know, do unto others as you want done unto you.

• 34:46Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 34:47Scooter Braun?

  Um, if you just live by the golden rule, I think you'll, you'll be okay.

• 34:51Lewis Howes?

  Right. And when did you decide that you wanted to have a charity component to everything that you do? Cause I read this about you as well, that every investment you bring on, it's like, you've got to have something involved.

• 35:00Scooter Braun?

  You know, I think my mother instilled that in us when we were very young, even, uh, funny enough, it's Hanukkah. And, um, when I was a kid, Hanukkah was eight days, still is, hasn't changed. Um, but my mom always said, one day of presents, one day of charity. So we only got, we got four presents and we got four charities that we would choose as a family. And sometimes we would give money to the charity. Sometimes we would go to the soup kitchen and volunteer, but we always had to have four days of charity. That was something very important to my mom. So I, and you know, in my parties, every fourth party, I gave the money to charity.

• 35:31Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 35:31Scooter Braun?

  So I worked with a lot of like on campus charities and certain things like that because I always thought it made people feel, you know, oh, he's a piece of shit promoter, this, that and the other. But they'd feel good and say, okay, well, at least he's doing this.

• 35:42Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 35:43Scooter Braun?

  And when I started, um, putting that into our business and our artists and. Look, I'm really proud. I know Justin's gone through a lot of crap this year, but he's the number one Make-A-Wish giver in history of any musician ever, and he's only 20 years old.

• 35:55Lewis Howes?

  That's impressive.

• 35:56Scooter Braun?

  You know, so people can say what they want, but he has taken that idea of giving and dove in headfirst. And I see it with Ariana, I said, Martin Carricks. Listen, we went down to do Ultra. Every other DJ's partying their ass off. And these are all good guys. I'm not talking crap, but I asked Martin, I said, would you mind if we did something good in the community? Miami has a lot of very poor communities. Let's go to one of these community centers and teach kids how to DJ. And Martin went and did that. And he, at first was like, what are we doing? You know, he's a young kid. He'd never done anything like that before. And he said to me afterwards, he was like, that's the most fun I've ever had.

• 36:28Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 36:28Scooter Braun?

  And I think that a lot of people want to give, they're just not given the opportunity and they don't know how.

• 36:34Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. Yeah. I mean, I'm a big believer in giving and being of service, and I feel like that's a key to greatness.

• 36:40Scooter Braun?

  Hold on, let me, let me say something to your listeners. Real quick. I want you guys to understand, you listen to this man's podcast all the time, but I want to tell you why I actually know this man. Because he started to do well in his life and make some money. And the first thing he did is he reached out to my brother and said, I like this charity. I want to get involved. And every single year, he builds schools. Every single year, he gives back. So when you're listening, it goes right back to the beautiful, beautiful man sitting in front of me.

• 37:06Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, and there's a couple.

• 37:07Scooter Braun?

  There's a couple of pictures. Yeah, a couple of schools that he's built.

• 37:09Lewis Howes?

  I just built one last week.

• 37:11Scooter Braun?

  So, so what I'm saying is feel good about what you're listening to in this podcast every week. And the reason I came to do this is because this is someone who gets it, that understands that you, you get what you give. And, um, and, and I feel like you live the same way as I do, which is you are probably like me. We're both very selfish individuals. And let me say what I mean by that.

• 37:31Lewis Howes?

  I think I know where you're going.

• 37:33Scooter Braun?

  You like to feel good.

• 37:35Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 37:35Scooter Braun?

  And I think in our society, this is way off topic, so I'm sorry again. But in our society, I think, God, I'm talking a lot today. In our society, I think we, we get told it's okay for the CEO of a cigarette company to make millions of dollars. But the moment someone works in a nonprofit and makes more than a hundred grand, it's despicable.

• 37:53Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 37:54Scooter Braun?

  So our brightest and smartest people in the world, They can't work in in the giving. We call it nonprofit. My brother calls it for purpose. Cause why should you call it something that it isn't? You know, don't say the negative of something that's good. Say the positive. It's for purpose.

• 38:08Lewis Howes?

  It's not against war. It's for peace.

• 38:10Scooter Braun?

  A hundred percent. And I think when I say that we're selfish, it's because we should tell our kids, I'm gonna tell my kid this, that you should do things that make you feel good. And drugs aren't gonna make you feel good. That's short-lived, everything else, party and drink and all that stuff. You will never feel as good as when you're giving back.

• 38:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 38:26Scooter Braun?

  And it's okay to be selfish about that. It's okay to want to celebrate that. To say, you know what? There are the pictures of the schools I built when you walk into my house. You should feel good about that. You should be able to share that. And when people say you should only give and no one know. Look, I think you should do that 50% of the time, but the other 50%, you should be giving in a way people know so it inspires others to give.

• 38:45Lewis Howes?

  To give.

• 38:46Scooter Braun?

  And I think, you know, I get off on giving.

• 38:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 38:50Scooter Braun?

  So, you know, why not do that? It makes me feel good. If you have a problem with me feeling good about giving, go fuck yourself.

• 38:56Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. And what about, I mean, what about people that say they don't have any money to give? They're, you know, maybe.

• 39:01Scooter Braun?

  You can give your time. Be nice to a stranger. Open a door.

• 39:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 39:05Scooter Braun?

  Like, there are so many different ways to help somebody. You know, call a friend that you think, you know, unfortunately, I've lost two really close people to me to suicide. And I probably should have picked up that phone a week earlier. And you can't blame yourself or anything like that, but you call somebody that you care about, who might be going through a tough time and just speak to them. People need outlets. And there's so many different ways, you know, and things that you'll do that you don't, like years later, people have come up to me and said, hey, you did this. I don't even remember doing it. And the truth is, because it was just this little thing and, you know, I have those people in my life where I, I say to them, Steven Spielberg, I was 14 years old. I made this little documentary. Somehow someone gave it to him.

• 39:46Scooter Braun?

  It was a piece of crap 10-minute documentary, but he liked the subject and he wrote a letter to me.

• 39:52Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 39:52Scooter Braun?

  That changed my life. It was from Steven Spielberg. I was 14. It made me believe that I could do anything. And years later, I met Steven Spielberg and I told him, this is like a little nothing letter he wrote one day.

• 40:03Lewis Howes?

  But he probably forgot.

• 40:04Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, forgot. Like, who cares? You know? Funny enough, Steven Spielberg is, it was crazy. He actually remembered the subject.

• 40:09Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 40:09Scooter Braun?

  He couldn't believe that I was the kid when he remembered the subject. But that little letter that was nothing for him changed my entire life.

• 40:17Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 40:17Scooter Braun?

  So, you know, I think people, you always hear about people, you hear about big businessmen who kill themselves because they lost millions of dollars, right?

• 40:26Lewis Howes?

  But they had a billion dollars already.

• 40:28Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, but do you ever hear about anyone working in a soup kitchen? Like my buddy Sean Stevenson, you know, told me that.

• 40:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:34Scooter Braun?

  I heard him say that. I thought it was so brilliant. Because you never hear about people giving, experiencing severe depression.

• 40:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 40:40Scooter Braun?

  You know, and that's why I was talking earlier about third world countries. They're happier than us.

• 40:44Lewis Howes?

  So happy.

• 40:45Scooter Braun?

  Because they're giving to each other, they're experiencing things and, you know, we, we, we're the only creature on the planet that takes more than we need. Um, and that's fine. There's a lot of fun you can have with that. Trust me, you know, I enjoy art. I probably don't need every piece of art, but you know, I enjoy it.

• 41:00Lewis Howes?

  Heard you have a Mickey Mouse sculpture or something you got?

• 41:02Scooter Braun?

  I just love Mickey Mouse. I love Walt Disney. I saw it on your wall and I loved it. But yeah, I'll let you ask your questions now because I'm talking too much.

• 41:09Lewis Howes?

  No, it's good. I'm glad you're sharing.

• 41:11Scooter Braun?

  Are we doing okay, guys?

• 41:12Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 41:13Scooter Braun?

  Okay, cool.

• 41:13Lewis Howes?

  I'm glad you're, I'm glad you're sharing. I want to talk about, I mean, service for me is very important.

• 41:17Scooter Braun?

  Can I get a T-shirt too?

• 41:18Lewis Howes?

  I've got one laid out for you right behind you.

• 41:20Scooter Braun?

  Okay, I'll shut up now. I got my T-shirt. You're my free swag.

• 41:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. It's a great workout shirt to play basketball in. Talk about building relationships and building teams. You're a master at giving to people, adding value and building relationships. And do you believe that you can build something so big or build an empire without a powerful team? Or without empowering others around you and supporting a team?

• 41:45Scooter Braun?

  No, I think it was actually one of the hardest things for me because for the first, um, for the, sorry. For the first seven, eight years, I really built it, you know, on my own.

• 41:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 41:54Scooter Braun?

  Um, and then with Alison Kay, my first, she's my GM now. You know, she was the first person that ever came and worked with me and it was, you know, I didn't even have an office still three years ago. We built the whole thing like on laptops and cell phones and traveling around the world and hotels and buses and planes. But what I realize now is no one will ever do it exactly the way you want because no one is you.

• 42:15Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 42:16Scooter Braun?

  And that doesn't mean that you do it better. It means the way you want it, you're the only one who can do that because you're you. And what you need to be okay with in scaling is saying, you know what, they might drop the ball. Because when you drop the ball, you know it's you. It doesn't bother you as much. When someone else does, you go crazy. Yeah, but you, you gotta realize to, to, the only way to scale is to delegate and to empower others and to say, you know what? They're not going to do it exactly like me, but they're going to do exactly like them.

• 42:40Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 42:40Scooter Braun?

  And I have to be okay with that. And in fact, they might do it better than me in the long run. And I've been able to bring in some amazing people in my life and surround myself with people I think who are skilled in ways that I'm not.

• 42:52Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 42:53Scooter Braun?

  And we've been able to scale an incredible business because. They make things happen. Scott Manson, who works with me, um, he is responsible for Scorpion. You know, him and a guy named Danny Rose, but Scott found Walter. He believed in it. Uh, he got me to understand it. But it was his baby. And if it wasn't for Scott, I would not be executive producing a TV show right now. You know, it was.

• 43:17Lewis Howes?

  You have another one coming up, right?

• 43:18Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, we have, we have, we have a couple of others. Um, but, uh, but that's also because the people in the business who are scaling, I just, really smart cable people who believe in what we're doing. And I believe in them. And you know, sometimes they'll drop the ball. Sometimes I'll drop the ball. But you have to, you know, that's the same idea as when we played basketball. It's like, you know, sometimes you're going to make a great assist and a guy's going to miss that easy shot. And you're going to be frustrated because that was another assist for you on your stat line. But at the end of the day, it isn't about our stat line. It's about winning the game. And you cannot win a game on your own.

• 43:48Lewis Howes?

  Everyone, unless everyone wins.

• 43:50Scooter Braun?

  Unless you're Wilt Chamberlain.

• 43:53Lewis Howes?

  What is the best, or how do you empower your team to raise to the next level, to, get the most out of them? Uh, what are some things you do to let them know they are appreciated their scene?

• 44:04Scooter Braun?

  One, I think, uh, you have to, you have to empower them. You have to let them know that, people can't call you and go around them. Even if you agree, you have a private conversation and say, look, this is how I want you to deal with this. But you have to let people know that they're the end all be all. On that decision, on the thing that you've given them, the task you've given them, they're the ones who will decide how it's going to go down. You'll advise, you can take part, but it's their decision at the end because then.

• 44:30Lewis Howes?

  Give them ownership.

• 44:31Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, give them ownership. Make them bosses.

• 44:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:33Scooter Braun?

  Let them know that you will believe in anything that they dream of once. Maybe twice, but if it fails, then they start to have a reputation and then you got to reassess things. But if they say, look, you know, I, I know you're not really sure about this, but just give me a shot. That's how I got started. Someone, Steve Rifkin gave me a shot with Asher Roth. Didn't understand it at first. Everything else he gave me a shot and then we went on a great ride together. L A Reid gave us a shot, you know?

• 44:58Lewis Howes?

  Bieber, right?

• 44:58Scooter Braun?

  Yeah.

• 44:59Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 44:59Scooter Braun?

  Um, I mean, we built that kind of huge on, online anyway beforehand, but you know, it's, you, you have to give people that shot because you are in the position you are in because someone else gave you a shot.

• 45:10Lewis Howes?

  And how do you find the right people?

• 45:12Scooter Braun?

  The right people.

• 45:13Lewis Howes?

  How do you find people that are, you know, gonna make a difference, that are gonna step up and?

• 45:17Scooter Braun?

  Okay, so, so I'm a firm believer that it's more important to have positive energy around you than the smartest people. Now luckily I've been able to have, in my opinion, some of the smartest people around me.

• 45:26Lewis Howes?

  And positive.

• 45:27Scooter Braun?

  And positive, but that's actually more important. I learned that lesson the hard way because I had some negative in my life before. And you start to question yourself because negativity projects onto you. You start to look in the mirror and say, you know, am I really good person? Am I doing the right thing? And that isn't you. That's their bullshit feeding onto you.

• 45:42Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 45:42Scooter Braun?

  You know, there's this, um, this scientific study I read recently. Funny enough, our friend Sophia Bush put this online about the idea that the heart creates an eight, eight foot, um, pulse.

• 45:52Lewis Howes?

  Of energy.

• 45:53Scooter Braun?

  Of energy.

• 45:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 45:54Scooter Braun?

  And, you know, the brain creates, I think, five feet pulse, but the heart actually is eight feet.

• 45:59Lewis Howes?

  And you can feel it.

• 46:00Scooter Braun?

  You can, so when, when someone walks in a room and you say, wow, that person walked in a room and I felt their energy, that's actually a real thing. So when someone has negative energy, it's going to bring you down.

• 46:10Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 46:10Scooter Braun?

  So I think it's more important to get loyal people, people that love you, people to surround yourself and they'll say, you asked me how you create a good team. They say, don't mix business with pleasure. I absolutely think the opposite. I think that's BS. I think if someone cares about you and when it's 11 o'clock at night and they need to spend an extra hour in the office to get it done, they're gonna stay because they care about you.

• 46:32Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 46:33Scooter Braun?

  Because they know you give a shit about them. And I think that is how you create a really good business because in today's world, you got, like, you're gonna have to make tough decisions. You're gonna have to be a boss. You're not their best friend. But if you believe in someone, they'll believe in you.

• 46:47Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Interesting. What about your daily rituals? Do you have any that are like, you feel like everyone should be following?

• 46:53Scooter Braun?

  I take a piss. I take a piss every morning.

• 46:56Lewis Howes?

  To build positive habits, I mean.

• 46:58Scooter Braun?

  It's a positive habit. You gotta pee in the morning. It's very important. You gotta clean out. You know what's funny? I put that Steve Jobs, um, my buddy John Chu gave me a poster of, uh, Steve Jobs. Great guy, actually introduced me to my wife, great director. We've done a couple of projects together now.

• 47:13Lewis Howes?

  We played Cards Against Man at your wife's house before you were engaged.

• 47:16Scooter Braun?

  Yeah.

• 47:16Lewis Howes?

  With John.

• 47:17Scooter Braun?

  He's a just great guy. He gave me a poster for a housewarming gift for my last house of Steve Jobs' speech. You know.

• 47:25Lewis Howes?

  The commencement speech?

• 47:26Scooter Braun?

  No, no, no.

• 47:26Lewis Howes?

  I don't know that one.

• 47:27Scooter Braun?

  The famous speech from the commercial.

• 47:29Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 47:29Scooter Braun?

  And that John knows by heart, you know, about, uh, about the type of people in the world.

• 47:34Lewis Howes?

  Yes, the movers, the shakers or something like that.

• 47:36Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, it's, you know, the, um, God, I'm going blank, I'm having a brain fart right now. I usually know it, but it's, it's this idea that, uh, that the dreamers in this world.

• 47:45Lewis Howes?

  Misfits, right?

• 47:45Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, the misfits, the dreamers that, you know, they're the ones who achieve. You know, it's this idea that nothing, kind of the way I like to put it, um, is, uh, and I've heard it from other friends is, you know, nothing, um, reasonable ever becomes great. It's the unreasonable things that become great, you know, it's stepping out of that status quo. And, you know, I think that is part of my ritual, I actually put it up in my, above my toilet. Cause I say I pee every morning, cause I do pee every morning.

• 48:13Lewis Howes?

  That's perfect.

• 48:13Scooter Braun?

  So I actually put that poster up above my toilet and in my new house, I told them, you have to install this above the toilet. And, um, you know, when I go to pee every morning, I, I just read it one more time and I remind myself, okay, let's go out in the world and, and do cool shit.

• 48:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I, I watched your interview with, uh, Sean Stevenson and you talked about, you said, never be realistic. You have the, you have to be unrealistic, unrealistic to achieve something great. And I think you stole that from Will Smith.

• 48:36Scooter Braun?

  I did. And a couple of other people, but yeah.

• 48:38Lewis Howes?

  A couple of people said the same thing, but that's cool.

• 48:40Scooter Braun?

  I steal a lot of things, man.

• 48:43Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 48:44Scooter Braun?

  No, look, I think, I think the most great ideas have already been thought. Cause we've been here a long time and we say them in different ways, but, um, that's okay. We have to draw from the wisdom of the past. And I think too many times we try to create, create, create and, and what you should do is innovate. You know, it's, it's all been kind of laid out for us, just innovate and create the new idea off of something great.

• 49:05Lewis Howes?

  Recreate the idea in some way, otherwise.

• 49:06Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, it's, you know, how many songs, if someone created the guitar and then we've created so much beautiful music off the guitar.

• 49:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 49:12Scooter Braun?

  So, um, you know, it's innovate with what you're given.

• 49:16Lewis Howes?

  I like that. Couple of questions left for you, cause I know you gotta move houses. What are you most grateful for recently, Scooter?

• 49:22Scooter Braun?

  Oh, my family. Yeah, I mean, I'm starting a family. That's an easy, easy answer. It's a wild feeling to know that three years ago, I didn't know if this would ever happen to me. Because I think someone probably like yourself as well. If you say to us, hey, I have a mission for you and there's point zero zero zero one percent chance you'll achieve it. I will smile and say, where do I sign up? Because the idea, because the idea that it's so hard, but there is an answer is exciting for me. And I know I'm going to figure it out. Because that's actually a task that you're telling me it's achievable. It's just hard. Okay, I think I can do that.

• 49:54Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 49:55Scooter Braun?

  Falling in love, finding the right person, starting a family, that there is no point zero zero one. It is either happens to you or it doesn't. And that's something very frustrating for someone like me. Because I want to go and create my own destiny.

• 50:08Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 50:08Scooter Braun?

  But that isn't, you know, it's either given to you or it isn't. And I think that if you live well and you're a good person, you'll find that. And I was very blessed to have found, I actually told my wife on our first date, I was going to marry her.

• 50:19Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's ballsy.

• 50:21Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, she actually, she asked me, what's the scariest thing about yourself? You don't want me to know. And about 10 minutes earlier, I had this feeling about her and I said, you're going to think I'm crazy, but I think you're it. And now we're having a child together, we're madly in love. And I will say the most grateful thing in my life is to have beautiful friends and family in my life. I, you know, I used to hate my birthdays because when they came, I felt like I hadn't achieved everything that I wanted. And I think my 30th birthday and every birthday since, my buddy Kenny's in the room and he's been with me since like the ATL days.

• 50:48Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 50:49Scooter Braun?

  You know, every birthday I look around the room and I see all those friends and the people in my life and my family. And I'm just so grateful. So, um, so yeah, friends and family.

• 50:59Lewis Howes?

  I love it. What is something small you've done that maybe no one really knows about that you're really proud of? It could be a personal or business related, something small that you've done that you haven't talked about or hasn't been, you know, blown up by Bieber, but you're like, I'm really proud of this moment.

• 51:13Scooter Braun?

  You know, the thing I would like to say, I'm proud because no one knows and I'd want to keep it that way.

• 51:19Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 51:20Scooter Braun?

  So I'll tell you one that makes me proud, but it isn't that the thing. Because the things that usually make me really proud that no one knows, I take pride in the fact that no one knows.

• 51:28Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 51:29Scooter Braun?

  And I'll go to my grave with them. Maybe I'll tell my kids.

• 51:32Lewis Howes?

  Something that only a few people know.

• 51:34Scooter Braun?

  You know, look, I actually, here's something that, you know, I don't, maybe, I don't know. It's not really what you're expecting, but I really enjoy the achievements of others at this point. When, you know, my artists achieve something for the first time, I get a real joy out of that. I get a joy out of seeing my younger managers get their first platinum plaque. Because I, I got that a long time ago and that first time, I'll never get back, but I get to live it through them. So, you know, I think the, the little things that I get joy out of don't seem like they should be that significant. But I get serious, serious joy out of them because they aren't mine. But I get to relive that moment through someone else's joy.

• 52:19Scooter Braun?

  So, yeah, I.

• 52:21Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. What are the three biggest moments in your business career that gave you the most excitement over the last 10, 12 years?

• 52:29Scooter Braun?

  Once again, a lot of those are things I can't talk about.

• 52:32Lewis Howes?

  Let me say the game changers.

• 52:34Scooter Braun?

  You know, like I'm saying, some of those game changers are deals that you pull off where, you know, it's out of confidentiality to your clients. You can never tell anybody, but it's, it's that, that chess game of getting it done that's so exciting.

• 52:46Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 52:46Scooter Braun?

  Look, I think a game changer for me that I can talk about was getting Asher's record deal and publishing deal. That was a game changer for my business, helped finance everything else and getting to pull that off. And it was the first deal for my own company. That was huge. Getting, uh, when Justin, when they're chanting his name, his first time he played the Garden during the Z100 show. And he hadn't been on stage and every, between every actor changing Justin, Justin, and like, everybody just wanted him on stage.

• 53:10Lewis Howes?

  So there were lots of other acts before him.

• 53:11Scooter Braun?

  Oh, yeah. John Mayer ended his set early because he goes, I know what you guys want.

• 53:15Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 53:16Scooter Braun?

  Yeah, it was pretty wild and it was funny. He was funny about it. But, um, but I remember that because my mom, who I never graduated college and it broke her heart, leaned over to me and said, tonight's my graduation.

• 53:26Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 53:27Scooter Braun?

  And, and it meant a lot to me because it finally, my mom understood that I was achieving something and I was going to be okay. And Justin, you know, that experience with Justin gave me that. And I told Justin about it. I was like, I'm eternally grateful for you because you gave me that opportunity to have that moment with my mother. And then another big game changer in business, I mean, there have been a lot of them.

• 53:49Lewis Howes?

  It seems like every day you've got a big hit now, a big game changer.

• 53:52Scooter Braun?

  I think a big game changer in business for me, I'm trying, because there's been a lot of moments. There's been a lot of moments, but I can't really talk about a lot.

• 53:59Lewis Howes?

  Maybe something in the last couple of years.

• 54:00Scooter Braun?

  You know, was, was Steve Rifkin. Steve Rifkin, you know, I said Jermaine gave me an opportunity. No one would give me a record deal. L.A. gave me the record deal also because I was being, I was very successful with Asher at that point. So he wanted to be in business with me. But when I had Asher Roth, I was known as a young marketing guy. And people said, what do you know about A and R signing your own acts? And I was really one building acts at So So Def. People didn't know that. And Steve Rifkin literally took a shot on me that no one else would. I mean, I had so many friends in the industry. I had made so many people money and no one would give me a record deal. And Steve Rifkin did. And I.

• 54:35Lewis Howes?

  Why do you think he, what did he see in you that made him want to give you a chance?

• 54:39Scooter Braun?

  I talked earlier about sometimes you gotta give people a shot because you believe in them. Someone else gave you a shot. I think Steve saw that in me and he gave me that opportunity. And I, and I, and I want to say this because I want the whole world to know this. This is the kind of man Steve Rifkin is and why I will always, always say he's the shit and he is the man. Last year, I was planning right after New Year's to propose to my wife. And I was overseas and I got word that Steve Rifkin had had a heart attack. And now he's gotten much healthier and he's in a really good place. And when I found out he had already had the heart attack 10 days earlier, but I was overseas, I didn't know. So I called from my beautiful little villa overseas. I'm hanging out with my wife, loving my wife now, but my soon to be fiance at that point, loving my life. And I call this guy in a hospital to make sure he's okay.

• 55:24Scooter Braun?

  And he gets on the phone and goes, wow, I'm so glad you called. I've written an email to you seven times and erased it seven times. I said, what are you talking about? He goes, you know, at this point in my career, after Wu-Tang, after Big Pun, after all the things I've done, I feel like giving you a shot, being associated with you is one of the biggest things I've ever done in my career. And I said, Steve, that's very nice. You don't need to say that. He goes, no, you need to hear what I'm saying. He goes, Scooter, I have three beautiful children and I had a stroke. You know, I had a heart attack and I almost died. And I've been, I was in ICU and everything else. And he goes, all I kept thinking about when I thought about different things, I kept going back to you and saying, I don't want to ever see him in this hospital bed.

• 56:02Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 56:02Scooter Braun?

  And I never want to see him put himself into a place where he's not taking care of himself. And this happens to him. So Scooter, all of it isn't important if you don't take care of yourself and if you're not there for your kids. Because if I would have lost my life, my kids would have grown up without their father. And here I was, I get emotional, think about it. I'm enjoying with my beautiful, smart woman, a vacation. This guy's in a hospital bed, he's more worried about me.

• 56:24Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 56:25Scooter Braun?

  And that is a testament to the type of person he is. And I was shook that entire night. I couldn't sleep because I kept thinking about that. You know, I want to be that kind of man that thinks about others the way he thought about me. And I will, not only did he give me a chance, he's continued to believe in me. And I will, I will always, always be grateful and I will always be a friend of Steve Rifkin. Cause he's just a great man, a great father and a great friend.

• 56:50Lewis Howes?

  I love that. Couple of final things. First, I want to acknowledge you Scooter. You are, you're, you're playing such a big game in the world and your heart is so big. I don't think people know this much about you, but your heart is so big. You give and give and give, and I want to acknowledge you for the vision you have. You have incredible vision and you have a gift of seeing something before it's actually created. And then making it happen and doing whatever it takes. And I think if more people followed you and learned how you do this, they would all learn a lot about how to be successful in their own lives. So I just want to acknowledge you for showing up so big in the world every single day. For showing up for your family, for your brother, for your siblings, your parents and all your friends.

• 57:33Lewis Howes?

  Like I watch it from afar. I hear about it every now and then. You know, you just do so much for the world and I acknowledge you for that.

• 57:39Scooter Braun?

  Thanks, man. I appreciate that. Yeah. Thanks, man.

• 57:42Lewis Howes?

  What do you want your legacy to be when it's all said and done?

• 57:45Scooter Braun?

  Wow, that's a tough question. When it's all said and done, like I said, I hope they look back and say, I was a good dad and grandpa, I had some stuff, good husband. I hope people feel like what you just said, that would be a good legacy for me. Thing like, you know, the idea of why not, you know, you know, the worst thing in life that's going to happen to you when you try something is it doesn't work.

• 58:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:05Scooter Braun?

  So go after your dreams, especially when you're young. And I feel like until you have children, you can live for yourself and you can be as aggressive about your dreams as you want. Yeah. Be selfish about your dreams.

• 58:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:16Scooter Braun?

  And when you have a child, you have to understand now you're living for them and you have to be more conservative. But while you're young, all these young people who listen to you, cause I know they do. My advice to them is very simple. Go after it while it's just about you. Because the worst thing that's going to happen is you're going to fail. And guess what? You get to wake up tomorrow and start again.

• 58:32Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 58:33Scooter Braun?

  You know, and that's a lot better than most people are.

• 58:36Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 58:36Scooter Braun?

  Um, so, you know, I think I want my legacy to be something about positivity and just, you know, one of my mentors is right, most likely a hundred years from now, no one's going to remember my name. But I hope that I did enough in this world that they'll feel my impact.

• 58:50Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. That's powerful. That gave me chills. Um, final question. It's what I ask all my guests at the end.

• 58:55Scooter Braun?

  Yeah.

• 58:56Lewis Howes?

  What's your definition of greatness?

• 58:58Scooter Braun?

  You. No. You're like, I take it, cut off the internet. My definition of greatness is, um, so I posted something on my Instagram the other day. Did you read about the dogs?

• 59:10Lewis Howes?

  I'm sure.

• 59:10Scooter Braun?

  Okay, so it's this.

• 59:11Lewis Howes?

  Check it out.

• 59:12Scooter Braun?

  I'm trying to remember it, but it was something about, you know, that two dogs walk into this house and one comes out happy wagging its tail and the other one comes out growling and nasty. And this woman is really confused about they both walked into the same house, like, what the hell just happened? So she walks in and she sees the house is filled with mirrors. And she realized that one dog saw a reflection of himself filled with happiness and he came out happier because he saw a thousand happy dogs looking at him. And the other dog walked in and was miserable and saw a thousand angry dogs and it lifted his, you know, his anger and he walked off pissed off. And I think my definition of greatness is the idea of, of giving with positivity.

• 59:57Scooter Braun?

  And, you know, it's, it's not enough to just go out there and give, you gotta give in a way to the world that, you know, makes it better than where you left it. And, um, so the, my idea of being great is, you know, I work with somebody named Brad Haugen, who you know? Brad's a great guy.

• 1:00:14Lewis Howes?

  Great guy.

• 1:00:14Scooter Braun?

  You know, and, and he's a great father, great friend. And everyone who meets him, he just, he leaves them better off than when, where they were before he got there. Uh, and I think Brad's a great man in that respect. So my definition of being great is, is pushing your limits as far as they can possibly go and never stopping wanting to add positivity and then leaving a place better off than where you found it.

• 1:00:41Lewis Howes?

  Scooter Braun, thanks for coming on, my man. I appreciate you.

• 1:00:43Scooter Braun?

  Thank you, buddy. It was fun. I'm gonna go back and help my wife unpack.

• 1:00:55Scooter Braun?

  My name is Scooter Braun and a couple of years back, I had the pleasure of becoming friends with a guy named Lewis Howes. We went and played some basketball and I found out about his podcast, School of Greatness, and I became a listener. It's one of the best podcasts out there and it's truly inspirational hearing him talk to all these individuals. And I would say to anyone going out in the world trying to do something great, make the time, listen to School of Greatness, it's worth it. Lewis Howes, great guy, good friend.

• 1:01:21Lewis Howes?

  Thank you guys so much again for checking out this episode with Scooter Braun. Make sure to check out all the show notes back at lewishouse.com/127. Also, to see the full video interview, that'll be up with the show notes at lewishouse.com/127 as well. We'll have other links to connect with Scooter on social media, his website, all the different projects he's up to. We'll also have the link to the episode with Adam Braun, his brother, where I originally got introduced to Scooter. So you can learn more about that brotherly dynamic. Really appreciate Scooter for coming on and sharing his wisdom. Very busy guy, so big shout out and thanks to Scooter for coming on and opening up

• 1:02:04Lewis Howes?

  and letting us all know about how he's been so successful and what he's doing now. And I think a lot of entrepreneurs will be able to connect and it'll resonate with many of you who listen to this on a daily basis. So make sure to give him a shout out @ScooterBraun over on Twitter and Instagram and everywhere else online. Let him know what you thought about this show. Also, make sure to email a friend or two today about this episode. Again, lewishouse.com/127, or if you go over on iTunes, you can go there and share the episode directly from iTunes to a friend. You can email, you can tweet, you can Facebook share it. So go ahead and get the word out about this because Scooter is an extremely inspiring individual and I want to make sure to get his message out there.

• 1:02:47Lewis Howes?

  Thank you again, all of you, so much for what you're up to. I keep getting messages constantly from people who are listening to the show. We've got three episodes a week now, every Monday, every Wednesday, and now we've got five-minute Fridays to get you kicked off for the weekend. Got some big things planned ahead, so make sure to subscribe. Please leave a review and continue to share these episodes with your friends. You guys are the ones that make this so great. So thank you guys again so much for coming on. Big shout out and thanks to Scooter again for sharing his wisdom and opening up. And you guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.