Success Story with Scott Clary

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Jeremy Harbour is the founder of Unity Group and The Harbour Club, a British entrepreneur who left school at 15 and has since bought more than 100 companies. Over 30 years he has been involved in more than 300 acquisitions, taken companies public, and generated over $500 million in exits, with investments in 12 countries. He is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Go Do Deals and was invited to advise at the British Houses of Parliament on business and enterprise. In 2009 he started The Harbour Club, which teaches people how to buy a business with no cash upfront. The idea began in the late 1990s, when he bought a competitor of his telecom company without any cash or a bank behind him.

➡️ Show Links

https://www.instagram.com/harbour.jeremy/

https://x.com/JeremyJHarbour

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyharbour/ 

➡️ Podcast Sponsors

Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/  

Huel - https://huel.com/scott (Code: scott)

NetSuite - https://netsuite.com/scottclary/ 

Framer - https://framer.com/design (Code: SuccessStory)

LinkedIn Ads - https://linkedin.com/scottclary 

Cohesity - https://www.cohesity.com/datacloud 

Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/

Monarch - https://www.monarch.com/ (Code: success)

Cash App - https://cash.app/ (Code: cashapp10)

MyFitnessPal - https://podcasts.myfitnesspal.com (Code: SCOTT)

Life at the Speed of Play - https://getmarksbook.com/success 

Noom - https://noom.com 

➡️ Talking Points

00:00 – Intro

04:11 – How He Fell Into Acquisitions

08:37 – His First Acquisition

12:38 – How to Fix a Struggling Business

13:37 – Buy What You Understand

15:36 – The Right Business to Buy

16:57 – Buy a Business With No Money

24:02 – How to Find Great Deals

26:54 – Sponsor Break

29:58 – Managing 100 Companies

33:21 – Taking Companies Public

36:54 – The Legal Arbitrage

37:53 – The Acquisition Ladder

41:02 – How to Buy a Competitor

42:42 – The Biggest Acquisition Mistakes

47:40 – Where to Find Your First Deal

50:25 – Born Entrepreneurial

50:48 – The Biggest Bet He Made

51:50 – The Real Risk Is Regret

53:01 – Sponsor Break

56:45 – What Drives Him Now

59:26 – Success Changes Everything

1:00:36 – Advice for His Younger Self

1:05:51 – Facing Your Mortality

1:06:26 – Revenue Isn’t Wealth

1:09:22 – Why You Need to Sell

1:10:42 – Where to Find Jeremy

1:12:24 – Advice for His Kids

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Brandon Willington is the founder and CEO of Where U?, a marketing education company, and was named Young Entrepreneur of the Year in marketing in Australia in 2025. He climbed out of $300,000 in debt to reach eight figures, with revenue reported at $2 million a month and a 25% profit margin. Where U? teaches founders to run their own marketing instead of paying an agency, using three ideas (clicks, conversion, close) and ten principles. 

➡️ Show Links

https://www.instagram.com/brandon.lyads/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-willington/ 

➡️ Podcast Sponsors

Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/  

Huel - https://huel.com/scott (Code: scott)

NetSuite - https://netsuite.com/scottclary/ 

Framer - https://framer.com/design (Code: SuccessStory)

LinkedIn Ads - https://linkedin.com/scottclary 

Cohesity - https://www.cohesity.com/datacloud 

Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/

Monarch - https://www.monarch.com/ (Code: success)

Cash App - https://cash.app/ (Code: cashapp10)

MyFitnessPal - https://podcasts.myfitnesspal.com (Code: SCOTT)

Life at the Speed of Play - https://getmarksbook.com/success 

Noom - https://noom.com 

➡️ Talking Points

00:00 – Intro

04:22 – Why He Chases Attention

05:44 – The Power of Polarizing Marketing

09:14 – When Attention Became a Strategy

11:24 – Building Big From Perth

17:26 – Why Entrepreneurs Need to Travel

19:01 – Reinventing Your Identity

28:37 – How to Outgrow Your Old Self

30:29 – The Goal Framework That Changed Him

31:47 – The $330K Debt Crisis

34:53 – Sponsor Break

38:18 – When an Investor Backs Out

42:31 – Staying Calm in Chaos

45:00 – How Not to Quit

47:22 – Why Most Agencies Fail

53:37 – Why Founders Must Learn Marketing

56:27 – How to Run Your First Ads

59:41 – The Lies Agencies Tell

1:02:33 – Sponsor Break

1:06:18 – How to Measure What Works

1:08:10 – What Kind of Advertiser Are You?

1:15:44 – Do All Businesses Need Ads?

1:18:47 – Are Emerging Ad Platforms Worth It?

1:19:52 – Money Gives You Options

1:23:40 – The Identity Crisis of Success

1:25:01 – Why Founders Struggle to Delegate

1:27:03 – The Power of Subtraction

1:38:10 – Comfort Will Keep You Small

1:39:31 – The Enemy Is Your Ego

1:40:28 – Advice for His Future Kids

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In this "Lessons" episode, Darren Lee, founder of Voics, shares how years of failed ventures, financial setbacks, and early mistakes ultimately became the foundation for his entrepreneurial success. Drawing from his experiences building businesses in events, e-commerce, and technology, Darren explains why cash flow, authority, and influence are critical to building a sustainable business, how repeated experimentation can reveal what truly works, and why patience and learning can be more valuable than rushing to build. He also explores how the lessons from his past failures eventually gave him the experience, credibility, and insight to build Voics into a business where success now comes more naturally.

➡️ Show Links

https://successstorypodcast.com  

YouTube: https://youtu.be/U5E6o5bxmHQ 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/darren-lee-ceo-and-founder-of-voics-building/id1484783544 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5VO36YXtQ9h39bLLnOzQ0z 

➡️ Watch the Podcast on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/c/scottdclary

➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory  

In this "Lessons" episode, Lara Acosta, personal brand strategist and creator of the SLAY Framework, shares her approach to building a standout personal brand and turning expertise into opportunities. She explains why breaking patterns is essential for creating memorable content, how genuine connection can outperform traditional cold selling, and why taking a more human approach to networking can lead to unexpected opportunities. Lara also explores the importance of protecting momentum, compounding small wins, and refusing to let conventional timelines dictate the pace of growth, offering practical insights for creators and entrepreneurs looking to build an audience, grow their business, and turn what they already know into a brand people value.

➡️ Show Links

https://successstorypodcast.com  

YouTube: https://youtu.be/DW6vgfHASuA 

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lara-acosta-viral-content-creator-personal-brand-strategist/id1484783544 

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6xwE52Z9vxoF1XgsKoc2qj 

➡️ Watch the Podcast on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/c/scottdclary

➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com
➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory
Ben Meer is the founder of System Sunday, a newsletter that has grown to more than 250,000 subscribers and anchors a combined social media following of over 2 million people. Forbes has dubbed him "The Systems Guy," and he recently signed a major book deal with Pan Macmillan for How to Be Good at Life. He holds an MBA from Cornell and now works as an executive coach to founders, CEOs, and authors, after starting System Sunday on the side while still working full-time as a management consultant at Ernst & Young. He left that career behind to build System Sunday into what it is today, turning the same systems-thinking frameworks he used in corporate consulting into tools for everyday productivity, health, and money.
➡️ Show Links
https://www.instagram.com/benmeer/ 
https://x.com/SystemSunday 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmeer 
➡️ Podcast Sponsors
Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/  
Huel - https://huel.com/scott (Code: scott)
NetSuite - https://netsuite.com/scottclary/ 
Framer - https://framer.com/design (Code: SuccessStory)
LinkedIn Ads - https://linkedin.com/scottclary 
Cohesity - https://www.cohesity.com/datacloud 
Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/
Monarch - https://www.monarch.com/ (Code: success)
Cash App - https://cash.app/ (Code: cashapp10)
MyFitnessPal - https://podcasts.myfitnesspal.com (Code: SCOTT)
Life at the Speed of Play - https://getmarksbook.com/success 
Noom - https://noom.com 
➡️ Talking Points
00:00 – Intro
04:30 – Why We’re Bad at Life
08:04 – The Morning Routine Trap
11:38 – Why Optimization Fails
13:16 – Escape Productivity Hell
24:05 – Stop Relying on Memory
27:42 – How Systems Changed His Life
30:18 – Sponsor Break
33:43 – The Whiteboard Escape
39:20 – Why You Never Take Action
41:51 – When to Bet on Yourself
44:57 – The Slow Path to Growth
46:23 – Habits vs. Systems
49:06 – The Systems That Change Lives
52:21 – Treat the Root Cause
59:18 – Sponsor Break
1:03:02 – What Are You Willing to Sacrifice?
1:11:36 – The DRIVE Method
1:16:46 – When Your System Falls Apart
1:18:50 – Ambition Without Burnout
1:23:32 – Stop Blaming Yourself
1:25:21 – Where to Find Ben
1:26:05 – The Best Productivity Tools
1:27:18 – Advice to His 20-Year-Old Self