Todd Vande Hei, President & CEO of Stark

Being an entrepreneur might sound like a glamorous and lucrative career, but the reality is that entrepreneurship is more of a roller coaster ride. If you aren’t expecting the ups and downs, then you aren’t prepared for the experience. Listen to this episode with Todd Vande Hei, the CEO of Stark.

Understanding the Roller Coaster

Some entrepreneurs admit that the roller coaster’s downs are enough to make them want to give up. Rather than focusing on the individual ups and downs, it’s important to recognize that the roller coaster itself wouldn’t exist without them. It’s the idea that you have to see the project through to the end, just like you would on a real roller coaster. You can’t jump out midway, simply because you’re uncomfortable. You would have to stay all throughout the roller coaster experience to see results in the end.

It’s important for entrepreneurs to understand that these ups and downs are part of the process to become successful and enjoy the ride. Because you cannot be enjoying or have a variety of experiences if the tracks you are going through are all up, it has to be up and down. Some would say that you cannot appreciate when you are up when you didn’t experience the down.

The Entrepreneur Within You

An entrepreneur is not a person, but a personality, the kind that has the potential to live inside of each and every person on the face of the earth; dreamers. The entrepreneur inside of you, of me, of your friends, of your relatives of every shape, size, and dimension, no matter what they do for a living, no matter how old or how shy, no matter where they live or what their education may or may not be, the entrepreneur in each and every human being is the dreamer who sees life as it could be, not as it is. It's a dreamer who sees mountains where only flat land exists; who sees great buildings and cities and countries arise with enormous energy where no buildings or cities or countries live as of yet; who sees the sweet juice of opportunity around every corner, in every nook, and cranny, in every square or rounded inch of misery.

One of the ways to see if entrepreneurship is for you is to see if you have the love of the process to create solutions. If you love problem solving, then you can be an entrepreneur. Of course, there are many aspects to learn in running your own business but when you have a passion for creating and innovating, you have an edge.

Use Problems As An Opportunity To Innovate

We already know on some level that problems are the constant roadblocks of life. You always have had problems and you always will, even if and when you get to the next level of whatever you're seeking. The secret to happiness: stop seeing problems as roadblocks and start seeing them as stepping stones. They're the building blocks to a better life and a better you. They create better worlds. Entrepreneurs enjoy that feeling of solving problems and the process itself.

One of the other ways to innovate is if you feel that you can’t do it yourself, hire someone to innovate for you. It is one of the secrets to success– knowing that you can hire someone better than you. It really takes courage and humility as a business owner to hire your weakness so you can do other things that need to be done.

The Company, Stark

Listen to Todd’s entrepreneurship journey and the story behind creating a company called Stark. Stark is a fully-integrated team of specialists helping you look amazing, move more freely & think more clearly. They primarily serve CEO's and other business leaders, professionals & veteran pro athletes with training, nutrition, chiropractic care, A.R.T., IV therapy, and hormone replacement therapy. Learn more about Stark through their website: https://starklife.us/

Summary

Sometimes your future doesn't pan out as you expected and sometimes you're surprised to learn that the unexpected is exactly what you needed. Many entrepreneurs aspire to success without accepting that they need to experience the hard things before they will prosper. But it’s important to know that all we have experienced is there for a reason, and it is for our advantage in the future.