Entrepreneurship 101: Got Grit? You’d Better Have It; If You Are Going To Succeed
Hello All,
I am a podcast junkie, I have 3–4 podcasts on rotation at all times. This past week I have listened to the Freakanomics podcast quite a bit, this month is self-improvement month & the podcasts have been great.
One of them that stood out to me the most was the episode on Grit as it’s the single largest reason I am still in practice as a Massage Therapist after 15 years.
Before I go on with the rest of the post, let’s set the table & give us the definition of grit. Here is the definition from Merriam-Webster.
Grit (noun): firmness of mind or spirit :unyielding courage in the face of hardship or danger.
Also here is the link to the Wikipedia definition of grit as a personality trait.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grit_(personality_trait)
One of the big take aways from the podcast is that grit can be learned. Because of my background in martial arts I’m very interested in things that are not “God given” but can be learned & improved on.
In Jiu Jitsu I can’t do anything to change the raw physical talents my opponent has; I cannot change his height, size, strength etc. Sure I can get stronger but that is an attribute that will eventually go away, but being technical doesn’t go away.
Being a technical in Jiu Jitsu requires grit. It’s hard to come back the next day after the bigger, stronger guy smashes you or the girl with more experience out techniques you by a ton.
In business developing grit is a much more daunting task. It comes with lots of risk & some very scary situations.
Here is a little of my story as a Massage Therapist & business owner.
When I began practicing massage in ‘00 I didn’t know how to break into the industry & I was practicing in a very conservative community. It was very challenging due to being a 24 year old male therapist. I often had very negative reactions from potential clients; which made it very difficult to make a decent living, I would watch female therapists fill their schedules & make a killing in tips.
I was broke for a long time.
I was broke for a long time; in ‘02 I made $17,000 & in ‘03 I made $19,000. I didn’t have a cell phone, cable, take vacations, have health insurance or buy new clothes.
I also didn’t have a lot of help from family/friends & or a spouse who was the bread winner. In fact my wife at the time made less than I did. I can remember many times where I had eviction notices at home and at my office. I wanted to quit many, many times; but I didn’t have much to fall back on. I have a GED & my massage training, giving up meant I would have had to go back to a 9–5 I didn’t like & was not passionate about.
At the end of ‘03 my business partner/wife & I decided to open our own practice & that came with a loss of clients due to leaving the place where we were contractors. So back down the pay scale we went. The only thing that got me through was this intense desire to master my craft & my down right stubbornness to succeed.
‘07 was a pretty gut wrenching year as well; my then wife informed me she wanted a divorce. It came out of no where & it also meant the end of our business partnership. I was pretty wrecked & let my clients dwindle down to next to nothing. Back down the pay scale I slid & back into rough times financially. This time it was a little easier to climb out of but it was still a hard climb. Not only was I going through a rough time personally, Michigan was going through one of the worst economic time since the Great Depression.
What I did get out of those really rough times was grit. I learned to hustle, sell & produce a service that has people coming to me from hours away along with referring their friends & family. I have a resolve, and arrogance that I can survive the roughest of times.
Many people attempt to start a business or be an “entrepreneur”, it’s funny how sexy it has become. Gary Vaynerchuck often talks about how weird it is to hear young people desiring to become one. Also the current mantra of our society is that everything is puppy dogs & ice cream & everyone is killing it.
That’s absolute bull shit.
Business is tough; I don’t care what economic climate we are in. You have to find a product, service, idea you 1,000,000% believe in & then have the guts, back bone & determination to stick out when things get rough. You also have to have the desire to test the market, fail, change & adapt.
If you are at a place where you are struggling in your business or embarking on a new business venture; embrace the tough times. It’s the markets way of testing to see if you can hang. If you cannot, don’t chalk it up as a failure; but as an opportunity to learn where your strengths & weaknesses are. Do an honest inventory & adapt, it’s the only thing you can do.
Action steps:
- If you have not listened to the podcast about grit do so.
- If you have; take the grit test to see where you sit on the “grit scale”.
- Once you take the test do an honest inventory of your strengths & weaknesses. Figure out what you can change & what you need help with. Learn to recognize what actually makes you $$$ what is a waste of your time. Refer out the time wasting stuff to people who are good at it.
One last thought on this topic from a guy who in my opinion had lots of grit, David Bowie.
If you found this post to be helpful; could you please do me two favors?
- Could you please click on the little green heart? It will help to expand my reach & could possibly give someone who is a rough situation a little hope and grit.
- Pass this post onto a friend who could use a little grit at the moment. We all need a kick in the pants from time to time.
Thanks 👍
Practice Makes Improvement 😊
Shawn Kitzman has been practicing Movement Therapies since 1992. He began his Massage Practice in 2000 and is currently working on a book focused on helping Massage Therapists get out of their rut and put the Passion back into their practice. When he is not spending time with his family, getting thrown in Jiu Jitsu, providing solutions for injured athletes in his practice he can be reached at shawnsynergymt@gmail.com.
