We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Julien Bournival a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Julien, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I believe most people never start a business because they are waiting for the perfect idea. They are taught they need to find something they are passionate about or that it needs to be revolutionary. From my perspective, this is wishful thinking. You’d be better off learning how to play the hand you’ve been dealt than waiting for the perfect one. At least that’s what I did.

I was a kid that didn’t fit into society. I had been kicked out of seven different high schools and knew I didn’t want to do manual labour or go to college and university. None of these paths seemed to lead to where I was envisioning myself. It led me to become disillusioned and I started to do stupid shit with stupid people.

At 25 I was working at BlockBuster and had spent more nights in police custody than I can count on my fingers. It was not until one night in a cell that I realized something: Life is like a game of Monopoly.

If you don’t know the rules of the game, you’ll end up losing, in jail, and thinking the game is rigged. That’s what was happening to me. It was then that I realized I needed to learn the game, play the game, win the game, and empower my friends to do so as well.

By trial and error, I ended up selling HVAC door to door. For me, that was a cheat code. I was in complete control of my income. If I wanted to earn more, I just needed to knock on additional doors. I was selling high-ticket items which meant I could make a good commission. I could build a team, and in doing so, it allowed me to become an intrapreneur and leverage team effort to build my business inside a business. It was like a huge epiphany.

I rapidly became one of the best salesmen at the company. I wanted to teach what I learned so I leveled up and became a team leader and regional director. However, I inevitably ended up parting ways with the company I was working for. They were shortsighted and didn’t want to build a proper brand and business. Internally, they were not willing to invest in their people, and it was evident in the culture. The employees had no training, no tools, nothing. Externally, they weren’t interested in taking care of their customers either. They wanted to make a big buck without properly serving the clients.

That’s when I decided to build my own business. Not because that was the perfect opportunity, but out of necessity. Not because of the glamour they sell today about entrepreneurship, but because I said to myself that if I couldn’t find the right environment, I had to build it.

I didn’t wait for the perfect opportunity. Door-to-door was the only opportunity I had. I decided the best thing I could do was to squeeze the juice out of it. Once again, you get to play the hands you’ve been dealt, not the one you wished you had.

I’m not passionate about home improvement and energy efficiency. I’m passionate about how we go about it. I’m passionate about helping people and building freedom for myself and those around me.

I’m devoted to serving people like I wish people would’ve served me, and that’s why and how my company is about everything. That’s why I became a franchisor in the home improvement business.

I wanted to show the way and extend a hand to younger generations by providing them the opportunity I wish I had when I was their age. I also believe that a decentralized approach is the best way to go about customer satisfaction in a service business.

Now we not only recruit door knockers, we build young entrepreneurs into capable contractors and future community leaders.

That’s how I think we’re gonna help change the world for the better.

And this fires me up 10x more than the perfect and revolutionary idea.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Im a regular dude, I have no super power, no incredible IQ. Im just someone who refuses to quit

Thats actually my super power. Remind everyone that if I was able to do it, anyone can do it. Thats why I dont accept any excuses from anyone.

I started in my industry by trials and error and I started my business out of necessity

What sets us apart is how we go about our business

Everything is based on the golden rule of serving people like you wish you’d be served

Thats why we decided to build a franchise model. You got all the advantages of the big business and the small business.

We train people and give them the opportunity we wished we had

We also serve our customers in a more standardized way than a local business but we’re are closer to our customers than a national brand because we’re locally operated.

But nothing makes me more proud than knowing that through our business we’re enabling hundreds of people to live a wonderful life through a career with endless opportunities. We’re building future communities leaders and that is what makes me proud.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Have a clear vision and a shared set of value.

Thats an easy one, most business book will tell you that

They will also tell you that you should evangelize your people and that you should use every opportunity to keep on reminding them of these two.

And if course it’s important. People need to be aligned over where we’re going, what we’re trying to achieve and how will we go about it.

What most people will never tell you is the importance of the authenticity tho.

Authenticity is the highest frequency there is. There is tremendous power in knowing who you are and being unapologetic about it.

The same power is true for an organization. You can talk about it how you want, but thats the type of thing that will only catch on if thats really guiding everything you’re doing. If not, no one will believe it. It will look like a marketing gimmick and everybody will think that you’re full of shit.

Vision and value are the bedrock principles of any culture. But it has to be caught not taught.

It has to be who you are. It has to start with you, it has ti be your true north

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Books definitely changed my life. The first book I ever read was “how to win friends and influence people. Thats when I realized how messed up my communication was. I made some adjustment and the quality of my life drastically improved.

Nowadays I read one book a week in average. I read about everything. Politics, economics, history, philosophy, business, mindset, neuroscience, health, nutrition etc…

But here’s the thing. Books are worthless if you don’t apply the knowledge. Knowledge is not power. Its potential power. Applied knowledge is power. You need to implement things at the speed of instruction. If you can implement fast dont mind trying to read a book per week. You’ll end up being more confused than anything

If you are starting up on you journey I would advise to read on selling and influence. Its the master of all skills. If you know how to influence yourself you know how to influence anyone.

Theres internal influence. How you communicate with yourself. Thats mindset

Theres external influence. How you communicate with other. Thats selling

If you want to live a great life you need to be a master at internal and external communication. The quality of your life is in direct correlation to the quality of your communication. If you can influence yourself and others you will never have what you want and you will live a miserable life.

Once you’re a master a communication, you need to learn about leadership and management. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it wasn’t done by a single dude either. Everything thats worthy doing in this life needs to be accomplished by a team

Once you know how to lead and manage people you need to know how to scale. Thats when you need to learn how to create a culture. Culture eat strategy for breakfast. Thats how you attract top talent and create an environment that will pressure everyone in being great.

At one point you cant put the pressure personally, it has to come systematically from the environment. Pressure is good, thats what transforms a rock into a diamond. And peer pressure is the best kind of pressure. Feedback are never received the same way when it comes from your peers instead of your boss. When it comes from your boss you roll up your eyes. When it comes from your peers, you want to make them proud.

Culture is what creates that pressure. Its the rules and law that governs the behavioral norms.

If you create the right culture you’ll attract the right people that will build the business

Remember.. you dont build a business, you build the people that build the business. The smart way to go about it is to build the environment that build the people.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jukienbournival.com / globalservicesresidentiels.com globalresidentialservices.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julien_bournival?igsh=MWk4bXE1MXg5a2R0Mw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063847740013&mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: Julien Bournival

Image Credits
Julien Bournival