It is never just one guy!
When we see a successful business or athlete, we only take in the finished product such as several gold medals or a thriving enterprise.
But underneath is the whole iceberg consisting of ( but not only)
1 Hard work.
No , there is no epiphany or breakthrough, there is just executing well for years and years. Early mornings, late nights and 80 hour weeks are the ingredients for any type of success. Why? You simply will not achieve mastery if you do not put the hours in.
It took Immanuel Kant 10 plus years to write the Critique of the Pure Reason and he was starting from a high level of philosophical knowledge.
2. Failures.
Nobody remembers the 1000s of attempts it took Thomas Edison to get it right. Be prepared to fail often and again and again.
3 Risks taken.
Anyone setting out to achieve something extraordinary is taking huge risks along the way compared to someone who pursues a more traditional career. inevitably you are gambling your finances, health and large swaths of time toward an uncertain outcome.
In the end you are hoping that your grand idea shapes up like a hockey stick, but you will spend years where your efforts are disproportionately higher than your rewards. Eugene Goldwasser spent 20 years working on the discovery of EPO. It did become a blockbuster drug eventually, but during these 20 years he made barely any money.
4. People that support you along the way
Yes, even Elon Musk is not doing it all by himself !
You need a stable home base and a great team if you want to have a remote chance of making it.
I wrote about my team in the past, now I shall shift the focus to the core clients, some of them having been with us since ( gulp ) 2006.
These clients have put up with me for more than decade , trained with us in many questionable gyms (Midcity on 49th Street, anyone?, supported us during the shutdown… the list goes on.
But only did they provide a revenue stream, they did so much more!
What really makes them great was their unwavering their moral support during the dark times, invaluable business insights ( think getting a free MBA), providing life coaching before it was a thing, shooting down some really dumb ideas I may have or may not have had and pushing me the actualize the not so stupid ideas.
JIm, Richard, Paul S, Marshall, Paul C,Tony, Marnie , Barbra and many others (feel free to drop hate mail if I did not mention you)
Thank you for your years of loyalty and support. I am honored to call you my friends!
Maik
P. S: Stay tuned for the grand opening of the gym, there will be donuts!!