Family First, Business Second: Justin Breen Is Taking the BS Out of Entrepreneurship

Justin Breen is the founder and CEO of BrEpic Communications, a PR firm designed to solve archaic problems in its own field. A master journalist and highly successful entrepreneur, he makes a point of being a father first, and a business person, second.

Justin and I are friends through Strategic Coach so it was great to sit down with him, and really dig deep into where he came from, and what drives him. Family is Justin’s most treasured part of life, going all the way back to his childhood. His father was a WWII hero. Justin found his diary after his death, only to discover that their writing styles were exactly the same. 

He believes everyone should strive to discover their passions and talents, but more importantly, that the people who find theirs are obligated to put them to use. 

A master journalist with twenty years of experience, now, he runs a PR firm of his own. Justin considers himself a journalist once more. It’s just a different form of journalism. Now, he gets to choose the people he works with. Now, he isn’t beholden to covering negative news, a concept he’s never been a fan of.

We talk about the need (or lack thereof) for business knowledge when becoming an entrepreneur, the basics of spreading a message, and the importance of living with purpose and intent – both for ourselves and for others.

What Brett asks:

• [02:15] Tell me about your early days.
• [04:15] What was having an older dad like?
• [06:40] Tell me what you were like as a kid.
• [08:20] What interested you in childhood?
• [17:40] What took you into journalism?
• [24:00] Explain what it is, exactly, that you do today.
• [25:20] What makes you unique in PR?
• [35:00] Tell us about your new venture.
• [40:40] Talk about being a dad and your family life.

Lessons for intentional living:

• Justin identified family as the most important thing in the world to him. He values it above all else. There’s a beautiful simplicity in this approach and it’s one we can all take a clear lesson from. What is the most important thing to you in the world? The thing that you’ll want to look back on and feel like you dedicated your life to? Really take the time to identify this for yourself, and then make sure you give it the attention that it deserves.
• Justin sees it as a tragedy when people have a talent or a passion, and they don’t find the time to do it. In a perfect world, this is what we’d all do professionally. It’s easy to find reasons not to, but you really owe it to yourself to pursue making that a reality for yourself. 

Resources:

• BrEpic Communications
• Justin on LinkedIn
• Justin on Twitter