Brandon Steiner tells how he invented the bagel when he was 14 years old. Well, actually, he tells the story of his paper route. He was making 8 cents per copy delivered, and business was not good with only 34 daily customers.
"What else could you do for them?" his mother asked.
That's when he decided to start bringing each customer a bagel with his morning paper. Within a month, he was making his deliveries in a cart because 250 papers were too much for his bike.
That's what led to the gig at the bagel store, making $1.50 an hour, from from 3:30 a.m. – really good dough for a kid in 1973. One morning, Steiner decided to sprinkle a little of this and a little of that on a bagel and voila . Without even a pause after finishing this story, Steiner adds, "You know, bagels are hard to digest, better stay away from them. It's a typical conversation with Steiner:priceless life lessons, a bit of this and a bit of that, with a somewhat unfamiliar direction. His mind is apparently in constant motion.
Steiner is an incredibly successful entrepreneur who has revolutionized the sports memorabilia industry, transforming a company that started in 1987 with "$4,000, a Mac computer and an intern" into Steiner Sports, specializing in helping companies that use the power of sport to grow their businesses. Steiner Sports has spent over 25 years building relationships with over 2,000 athletes, as well as major leagues and sports teams nationwide. Steiner Sports is also the leading producer of authentic hand-signed collectibles from sports heroes like Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Peyton Manning. Steiner traded countless baseballs and football helmets, signed jerseys, and even the indoor dirt of the old Yankee Stadium.
No matter how successful you are in life, there will be minor losses. The more successes, the more losses.
After identifying a need for professional athletes to have representation for corporate endorsements and appearances, he quickly grew his company into an industry leader representing the top sports stars in New York City. br />And as one might guess, there are a million stories to be had with Steiner's success. In his third book, Living on Purpose , which was published in late 2018, talks about hitting bottom after selling Steiner Sports to Omnicom Group for $25 million in 2000. The lowest point came after what should have been the lowest point. high.
“After putting in tireless effort and long hours to build a business, and frankly, an industry, for nearly two decades, I was emotionally bankrupt after I sold my business,” says Steiner . “To sustain this kind of race, I had to go to deep, dark places emotionally, and those decisions impacted me.
“But you need chaos before clarity. I went from “wow, I have status, I have all this money” to “what do I really have? Who am I? "I had to take a step back, I had to write down goals, listen to my friends, do some self-analysis. And it's not easy to get your ego crushed and feel sucked in. ”
Despite the sale, Steiner never stopped running the company that bears his name. Having made many connections with athletes while working in the restaurant and hospitality industry, Steiner saw a market for corporate appearances and speaking engagements. Soon after, the vision came from autographed, game-changing memorabilia.
All the success forced Steiner to change his mind.
"I've always been this competitive," says -he. “If I gave up a few points in Little League it felt like the game was over because I didn't throw a shutout. No matter how successful you are in life, there will be minor losses. The more successes, the more losses. You must be prepared to lose and learn from losses to move forward. Since his philosophical makeover, which really began after a Harvard Business School leadership seminar in 2002, one of his main foundations has been knowing that failure is part of success. It informs course corrections or even when to abandon course. Steiner says some of the smartest business people he knows are some of the best smokers who have ever seen.
“A lot of leaders fail,” he says. “They think it's a weakness and not a strength. They think they should keep fighting for that idea when it's obvious it just isn't working. Reinforce that as quickly as possible and move on to the next idea. The ego is the enemy. ”
Steiner turns 60 in June, but says he has absolutely no plans to slow down, from running his business, to spending more time with his wife and three children, to supporting his well-being. -loved alma mater, Syracuse, through its sports management department at Falk College, which he was instrumental in starting, and its sports teams. The Brooklyn kid, who now lives in Scarsdale, New York, has come a long way from selling newspapers and inventing bagels.
“This is pretty much where I wanted to be at this stage of my life," says Steiner. “My family is intact, my marriage has been functioning for 30 years, we have a functioning household, my children like me, I am healthy. It's a pretty happy place I am right now. I'd be silly not to think that. "
