Chip Gaines: ‘Stupid stuff’ is key to success
HGTV star says he learned it’s OK to ‘just go for it’
Chip Gaines gets down to business in his new book, Capital Gaines: The Smart Things I’ve Learned From Doing Stupid Stuff (Thomas Nelson) out Oct. 17. His successes are well-known, both as co-host with his wife, Joanna, for HGTV’s Fixer Upper and as coauthor of their book, The Magnolia Story, which debuted at No. 2 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list and has sold more than 1.3 million copies.
But successes don’t come without some failure, and Gaines opens up about his own personal ups and downs as a “serial entrepreneur,” in his book.
USA TODAY checked in with Gaines to discuss the book and future plans:
Q Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff is a book on your success as an entrepreneur. How important would you say “doing stupid stuff ” is to your success?
A It’s all about perspective with things you consider “stupid.” For example, I wouldn’t have learned some of the hard lessons without having made a few dumb mistakes first. But instead of letting myself drown in a failure, I’ve never given up. I think it’s important for any entrepreneur to learn early on that failure is just another opportunity for a comeback.
Q Do you ever really get to a point where you stop doing stupid stuff ?
A No way! I’m constantly giving myself room to fail, and some would say I tend to take a riskier approach on things than most people would. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. Either way I just go for it. And, you know, I figure it out along the way. But I’ll admit, as I get older I do tend to shy away from the riskier things that may land me in the ER. Bones don’t heal as quickly as they once did.
Q How was the experience of writing this book different from writing your and Joanna’s The Magnolia Story?
A The Magnolia Story is really about how Jo and I started this thing and the transformation of the Magnolia brand from the beginning of our marriage until Fixer Upper took off. But this book I wanted to write for people who find themselves in a place where they’re scared to take a chance and make the jump — whatever that looks like in their own lives. Folks who are just looking for someone, somewhere to tell them they can do it — they can work hard and chase their dreams. I hope this book offers some insight into how I went about things that might be helpful to people.
Q Who is the person you would want to read this book? Basically, who did you write it for?
A Pretty much myself 20 years ago. I would have loved to have read a book like this when I was in my early 20s, when I could have used someone to show me or tell me to just go for it — knowing that it was OK to fail as long as I learned from my mistakes, kept my head up and went after it.
Q The chapter you are releasing features you on a harrowing journey to Mexico to learn to speak Spanish fluently. Do you speak fluently now?
A Don’t I wish. Though I will admit that I’ve picked up quite a bit of it just in conversation over the years. It’s still on my bucket list!
Q Are you at work now on any new projects? Anything you can share?
A Jo and I are entrepreneurs at heart — we love having our hands in a lot of different things, and we are always thinking up new projects. Our restaurant, Magnolia Table, is currently under construction. This place is something of an iconic restaurant here in Waco that closed down not too long ago, and we are excited about the opportunity to bring it back to life, so to speak.
We also just launched our second vacation rental, Hillcrest Estate. This was a fun one because this is a historical home that Jo and I have admired for a while now, so for us to be able to fix it up and give Waco visitors a place to enjoy and feel at home in, is something we’re proud of and really excited about.