Meet Our Chairman and Founder
ActionCOACH CEO Brad Sugars
Brad Sugars’ business career began when he was seven years old and he decided to lease his Christmas presents to his brothers.
After earning a degree in accounting from Queensland University in Brisbane, he became a "serial entrepreneur," owning or running more than 30 different businesses, including a magazine, a pizza wholesaler, and a women's retail boutique - using a series of systemized tools to grow sales and profit in each one.
After teaching his marketing techniques to Robert Kiyosak's students in Hawaii, Brad developed his own seminar company and expanded his one-on-one coaching practice to include virtually every industry and business category.
The result was Action International, one of the first "business coaching" companies in the world focused exclusively on business education, team building and profit growth.
Expansion into Asia prompted Brad to franchise Action International allowing the company to taking advantage of a number of rapid growth opportunities. Action then built a network of offices in the United States, Canada and Europe.
After a rebrand in 2006 to the current ActionCOACH identity, the company also added South Africa to its list of global franchise offices.
Today, ActionCOACH is ranked as the world's leading international business coaching franchise, with more than 1000 offices in 26 countries.
A best-selling author of 14 highly acclaimed business books including four international best-sellers, Brad has taught nearly a half-million people worldwide how to create business, real estate and financial success.
He currently resides in Las Vegas with his wife, Jen, and two children.
Entrepreneur magazine
ActionCoach, LAS VEGAS
Projected 2007 Sales: $220 million
Description: Executive business coaching
Driven to Succeed: When other I5-year-old boys were obsessing about video games and girls, Australia-born Brad Sugars was dreaming up business ideas. By the time he was he had 22, he had owned more businesses than most 50-year-olds and was educating business owners about how to run their companies.
Street Smarts: Although the path to success was fairly short for the trained accountant, Sugars absorbed a wealth of business know-how. At 22, he founded ActionCoach, his business coaching franchise company, but Sugars didn't settle for just one entrepreneurial venture. "Over the years [since I started ActionCoach], I've owned and operated pretty much everything, from magazine publishing to insurance to dog-food businesses," says Sugars. "And now it's good because I coach in what I do, not what I theoretically believe." As it turns out, business coaching is the perfect endeavor for Sugars: It combines his love of deal making with his adventurous entrepreneurial spirit.
Staff Smarts: Quality employees with a range of expertise are his company's most valuable assets. Says Sugars, "You have to make sure you have not just good people around you, but great people." It was Sugars' aptitude for finding skilled employees that helped him franchise his business. After being trained by ActionCoach, his employees had the skills and knowledge to take on clients of their own, so Sugars decided that if he wanted to keep his brand strong and meet his goals for expansion' franchising was the way to go.
Global Expansion: In the 14 years since Sugars started ActionCoach (formerly known as Action International), the company has expanded to 24 countries and more than 1,500 coaches. Essential to its success is ActionCoach's mission of helping other businesses. Sugars, who is also one of Entrepreneur.com's experts, says, "I love a business where you can make a profit and help people at the same time."
Follow His Lead: Knowledgeable team members can help you grow your business to new heights.
