What Makes a Great Entrepreneur: Passion, People, and Persistence
I had the honor of speaking at Tackle What’s Next’s Athlete Entrepreneur Summit on October 21st, an event for athletes, sports executives, and corporations to learn more about how to successfully navigate the opportunities and challenges of athlete career transition.
I moderated the panel and led our conversation on what makes a great entrepreneur and the skills that transfer over to running your own business from athletics. You can see the replay of this panel on the Tackle What’s Next website. The panel included former athletes turned entrepreneurs:
Amanda McGrew (Founder of Playoff Dating App | Former NCAA DI Basketball Player)
Michael Willett (Founder of Walk-on Nation | Former NCAA Football Player), and
Steven Bumbry (Founder of Bee Well Living | Former MLB Baseball Player).
Here are a few of the takeaways and highlights from the summit.
The skills required to be a successful athlete are the same skills required to be a successful entrepreneur
Resilience was a key factor mentioned by all three panelists. More specifically, the way that you respond to the random events and setbacks in sports is the exact same skill needed to deal with the similar random events and setbacks that every entrepreneur has on a daily basis.
Adaptability was also mentioned as a key skill, and this is certainly true. I think there are two prats to this. First, you need to have the ability to adapt in the moment as certain things come up and arise that are unexpected or that you haven’t planned for. That is part of life and part of being an entrepreneur. And secondly, I believe the ability to adapt over time and even modify or pivot from the long-term vision of your life or business goal is just as crucial.
When I left coaching football in the Spring of 2016, I started my company with a focus of helping high school athletes navigate the college athletic recruiting process. Over time, my passion for this waned, but I still had passion to help and develop people similar to what I always already doing. This led me to adapt my vision for what I wanted to do and what my business stood for. Now as a speaker and leadership coach, I’m even more passionate about helping people, and know that the early experience was vital to what I’m doing now, and helped get me to this point.
The Importance of People
The people that surround you as an entrepreneur are incredibly important because they can lift you up or they can take from you. Michael Willett talked about the concept of givers vs. takers. Any person, whether or not you are an athlete or entrepreneur, need to be aware and realize what your gut instinct is about people, business deals or situations before putting trust into anyone or any situation.
We also discussed the importance of building a solid inner circle of people. Steven Bumbry highlighted why this is so important because the support system any entrepreneur builds is going to be crucial to their success. Yes, it’s great if the people in that inner circle have extensive experience, business expertise, or money to fund your venture. But that is actually secondary to the importance of having people that support you emotionally and help pick you up when you are down, and of course celebrate the wins with you after all your hard work and sacrifice.
Willett said, “It’s always about the village you create and the people you keep in your circle.” This is an unseen, yet crucial piece, to any entrepreneurs success in business.
Setting Yourself Up For Success
Entrepreneurship does not require you to quit your job or make it happen this year. All panelists referenced that entrepreneurs must be aware of the realities of their situation and adjust. McGrew was a PE teacher and coach while she was starting and building Playoff Dating App. Willett worked a full-time job during the pandemic while in-person speaking slowed down in 2020. I had a full-time job while I was building my speaking and consulting career on the side. These are not things to be ashamed of as an entrepreneur, but proud of.
The bottom line is any entrepreneur needs to put themselves in a position to manage risk while still having the ability to take risks. This is how you can set yourself up for success for the long haul.
Passion is Crucial for Success
Even if working a job you do not love, the passion for building a business and solving a problem can be so deep and meaningful, that it can help power you through the tough times. I love to share with people that I had a full-time job while building my business. I take great pride in that. I care so much about my vision and the work I want to do, that I will do whatever it takes, even working job that I despise with low pay, to put myself in a position to continue on my path to realizing my vision. People can sense that too. It’s genuine and, I believe, can be endearing to most, if not all, people. There is not one entrepreneur or businesswoman that has been successful that has not been there herself. Everyone can relate, and will also think more highly of you for it.
Closing Thoughts
Amanda McGrew also referenced Sara Blakely, who recently sold the company, Spanx, she built over the past 20 years, and how when they asked her how she became so successful, her simple response tells you everything you need to know. “I cared the most”. It is such a simple formula for success, but it’s incredibly powerful because it can dictate the way you do everything in your business. It may not be noticeable in year 2 or year 5 of the business. But over the long-term, if you can connect a simple, powerful core belief to your long-term vision such as Blakely did, you can be wildly successful at anything you do.
In the end, there is no one way to be an entrepreneur. Ideas for businesses or services can come from anywhere. What matters most is believing in a solution to a problem, and above all, the commitment, desire, and passion to overcome the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship and business to make it happen.
