S2Ep150: Sports Lessons Applied To Business

Speaker A: I still remember the day early in my, uh, entrepreneurial career. It was a day I got my butt kicked. Nothing went right. I lost a client. I was trying to figure out where the next revenue dollar was going to come from. And I can remember that night going to bed, just beat up mentally and emotionally. But I was excited to get up and do it again. And when that happened, I'm like, I think I have what it takes here. Allen has started and grown several multimillion dollar. His mission is to help you do the same. Welcome to the business growth Pod. Building the future, one entrepreneur at a time.

Speaker B: Hey everyone, and welcome to the business growth pod. I'm your host, Alan Draper. Thank you so much for joining us today. I know how valuable your time is. So sports provide these valuable lessons beyond the field of play. With countless examples of, of athletes receiving these lifelong benefits, both personally and professionally on teamwork, handling, winning and losing, and much more. Andy Neary's career in sports lasted longer than most. Andy pitched in college at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and spent a season with the Milwaukee brewers rookie squad in Helena, Montana. Since retiring from baseball, Andy has channeled that competitive spirit in, in completing two Ironman triathlons and applied those lessons learned playing America's pastime in founding Complete Game Consulting, where he helps insurance professionals grow. And Andy joins us today. Thank you so much for joining us, Andy. Glad to have you.

Speaker A: Yeah, you bet. Alan, I gotta tell you, man, when you said, uh, two time ironman, it still makes me cringe. Cause I did three of them and unfortunately the last one didn't finish. A hernia prevented me from finishing.

Speaker B: Oh, wow. Was it prior to the, the event or did it prior to.

Speaker A: But it didn't rear its ugly head until the day of. Yeah. Wow. Uh, in the middle of the marathon. Yeah, that, that might be another story for another podcast.

Speaker B: You know, I'm actually really interested in that story. I. Are you familiar with James Lawrence, the Iron Cowboy?

Speaker A: Oh, yeah, the Iron Cowboy.

Speaker B: Yeah, I talk about him a lot. I don't know why. Like, I, I mean I read his, I read his book. I've met him. He's, he's spoken to, uh, one of my companies before. I mean, I, I say I don't know why. Um, his, his story's, you know, crazy. So just to fill in the listener, uh, James Lawrence. And this is not to like, say that what you have accomplished is, is anything short of, uh, impressive. He's just, uh, free. And he did 50 Ironman triathlons in 50 days in 50 different states. That's kind of where he. And now he's done a lot more since then. But think about that. So he started in Hawaii. So that day he did it in Hawaii. Then he flew to California. And then he goes, you know, through it with an RV across the United States, ends up doing 50 Iron man athlons and 50 to 50 states with all these hurdles. The book's really cool because he talks about his experience and there's so much to liken it, like any, you know, sports endeavor to business. And so I. One of the questions that I asked him, which is a question that I'm going to get to for you, I said, hey, when do you know if trying to overcome your trials and your hurdles is good for you or bad for you? Like, when is it? When pushing, you know, can you push too hard? Basically, can you push too hard where it's like you're creating damage in either a social aspect of your life or with your kids or with your wife or with your spouse or with your business partners, where it's like, okay, now I'm going the opposite direction. So is there that point? And how do we know when we're getting there?

Speaker A: That's an awesome question. Because I don't share this a lot with my journey in Ironman, but what Iron Cowboy did is, yeah, absolutely insane. And, uh, the ability to push his body like that, I mean, you talk about pushing it beyond what it probably even realizes it it's capable of doing, but I'll be honest, Alan. When I got into the world of Ironman racing, there were a lot of other areas in my life that were not going well. I didn't. I didn't have a job I liked. I was single, hanging around people I probably shouldn't have been hanging around with. And I think I went into that because I'm like, here I'm good at something. And it gives me that validation. And so I started competing, was pretty competitive in the tri, on the triathlon space. And then I kept going up and up and up, um, into the Ironman space. And the first two Ironmans, the first one I did, my goal is to finish. Second one I wanted to try to get a certain time. And then the third one, the one I didn't finish due to the hernia, I actually hired a coach. My goal is to get to Hawaii. But here's what was interesting about that. Last year I had a job, a career I liked at that point. Uh, I had a beautiful woman in my life who I'm still with today. And all Of a sudden that desire that I needed, this was not where it was. And I trained. But did I train where I needed to train to win or compete or qualify for Hawaii? Probably not. And you know, fast forward to the day of Ironman Wisconsin. Here I am racing and this is kind of a funny story. All summer I've been dealing with this hernia, but it's just one of those sports hernias that kind of come and go, you know, it wasn't severe. I'd feel it after a long bike ride and stuff like that. But so I get off the bike at Ironman Wisconsin and I'm, I'm on point with the time I need to get the time I think I need to qualify. And so I get off the bike, I start running and about halfway back. So the Ironman uh, race in Wisconsin is two 13.1 mile running loops. So I'm headed back for my first loop. Finished my first loop and I'm coming past the state capitol. It's a really cool scene. And all of a sudden it pops and I'm like, uh, so I turn around, come back to do my second loop and I see my family, I see Amy and I just pull over on the sidewalk and I lay down. I'm like, I just need to rest here for a second. And ironically standing next to him was a doctor. And so she's like, hey, what's wrong? I said, well I've been dealing with this hernia, uh, and this is the funny story. She said, she looks up at Amy and she says, do you mind if I check? And she said if you want to stick your hand down those sweaty shorts, do what you got to do. So, so she put it back in place. I get up and I keep running three more miles. It popped and I'm like, I, there's no way I can run another 10 miles like this. The damage, the long term damage, I could potentially do. That mixed with. I was at a point in my life, Alan, where I was pretty happy I dropped out. I just didn't want to, didn't want to potentially create that long term damage at the end of the day. It was one day. Did I finish the race? No. But like I said, I was thinking long term. And I'm like, I'm not here to win or finish some race to create

Speaker B: the long term damage and to put this in context. So, so help me with this for the listener. So the, the Ironman is uh, it starts with a how many mile swim?

Speaker A: Two point, uh, 2.4 mile swim.

Speaker B: So that's where you start the 2.4 mile swim. And then you get on your bike, right?

Speaker A: Bike for 112.

Speaker B: You bike for 112, and then you finish with a marathon.

Speaker A: Then you got a marathon.

Speaker B: You did the swim, you did the, you did the entire bike. And you were more than halfway done with the marathon, and you made this decision. Entrepreneurs were built different, and we think differently. Um, one thing that has, um, kind of haunted, you know, in both a good and bad way. If you can haunt in a good way. My entire career has been knowing when to say when. And the reason why I struggle with it, Andy, is because outside people saying all sorts of stuff about me, I don't care that much. Um, it's what I don't want to think about myself. And, uh, one of the things that I am not is a quitter. Now, there's this concept in accounting that's called cutting your losses. A lot of us are familiar with it. Very few people are good at it. I have tried with companies that I have lost hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for. And I'm like, I'm not a quitter.

Speaker A: I'm going to keep going.

Speaker B: But you learned this, like, really valuable lesson that I think I'm on the cusp of, but I don't know if I've turned the corner of. And that is there's this point where continuing is worse for you than quitting. It's even hard for me to just say that. So what was it in that moment for you? What was it? You're in that moment, you're 10 miles, which 10 miles for me is a lifetime.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: But for you, you're doing this all the time. This is your third Ironman. In that moment for you, what, what's going through your head about, uh, you know, whether you're going to finish.

Speaker A: Paint the picture, Alan. Not only is a swim a 2.4 mile swim, imagine they used to do it this way. They don't anymore, but they would have about 50 professionals. The Pro, pro triathletes would go off first. But then imagine 2,000 athletes and a mass swim start. Everybody starting at the same time. It, it was literally a war zone in the water for a half a mile. You were swimming, but you were trying to avoid a foot kicking you in the nose. You were literally pushing people aside. They realize you can't do that anymore. But that was how those swims used to be. But to your point, you know what you just made me think of, I've been an Entrepreneur now for five years and I've had success. But it took me a long time to become an entrepreneur. I started age 41. And I look back, my last Ironman was in 2012. And I think about that moment of saying, I'm done in that race. I, uh, have to be honest with you, man, if I had been trying, if I had tried to be an entrepreneur at that point in my life, I don't think I was at the point where I would stay focused and keep going. And you talk about knowing when to cut your losses. I think at that point in my life, if I'm being really honest with, with your listeners, I was somebody who had always had a big, lofty goal. But I'll. But the second I felt like I was off track or I wasn't going to achieve that specific level of that goal, I was more apt to be like, what's the purpose? I'm done. I quit today. Much different story. Like, if I were to do that race over again today and be probably faced with the same situation, I would probably just try to keep going, even if it meant I have to walk the rest of the way.

Speaker B: It's such an interesting point because entrepreneurs, the best entrepreneurs are the ones that know how to pivot and when to pivot. And, um, none of my businesses are today what they were in my mind before day one. That none of them, they're all different. I'm in different locations, um, my customer is a little different. And as an entrepreneur, what you have to do is you put your foot in the ground with some basic principles. These are my guiding principles. These are things that, um, you know, that these are non negotiable besides those things. And maybe your skill set, you want to work around your skill set. You, you don't change things and you especially don't do it every day with, you know, another problem entrepreneurs have is we're very easily distracted. I hear a hundred business ideas a day that I absolutely love. It's like, okay, I have to focus on this. And so as an entrepreneur, you have to know, like, hey, you know what? I started down this line, but I need to pivot here. And the greatest example in my mind is Amazon. Amazon was a bookstore when it started. It was a bookstore. And I know that Bezos had like loftier goals, but that's where it started. And look what it is now. Delivers groceries to my house.

Speaker A: Right?

Speaker B: Um, so I think, I think that's such a cool story, man. I think it's really cool. I think it's humbling and, and, and it's an interesting point that you say that now you, you would have finished that you would have, that you would have walked it. It's interesting how perspective changes things.

Speaker A: I use sports a lot, Alan, to teach me lessons about business. I'll give you another example. I was just doing a race last year called Hell on the Hill. And it's, it's run by an influencer that a lot of people might know, Jesse Itzler. And um, it's 13.1 mile race up and down a hill, 10th of a mile up, 10th of the mile down. You do that 65 times. And I, as I prepared for this race, it was funny because when I did the race, it was uh, September of last year. I literally applied like business lessons to the race because I was like, my only objective is to keep the same pace for the entirety of the race. So do not go out fast. Know that it's going to be a long race and just one lap at a time. And it's. When I look back at the race, which I, I think I ended up finishing on like in the top 15, top 20. I look back and what's funny is my splits for the first 50 to 52 of those 65 laps were almost identical. And then I had to deal with uh, my quad tightened up a little bit towards the end. But even when the quad tightened up, the version of me in 2022 at that time said I'm finishing this race one way or the other. I literally walked down the hill backwards to like comfort the uh, cramping in my quad. But I, there wasn't even a question of dropping out. Put me back in 2012. Had I done this race just like Ironman, there was a chance maybe I would have said I can't go on. And I think about that as a business lesson. Right. I see in the insurance industry, which is, is what the, the market I serve, you see so many people who try to go out on their own.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: And they only give it a year, give it a year and a half. And if it doesn't go the way they do, they'd scope, they go right back to selling for somebody else. And it's that ability to go, I don't care how I'm going to do this, I'm going to get there one way or the other. I think is so important for entrepreneurs.

Speaker B: I think that mentality that you had before Hell on the Hill, there's so many corollaries with business. You, you had a plan, right? You're like, hey, this is how I'm going to do it. I'm not going to come out of the gates. Like, I'm not going to sprint the first 1, 2, 3. Like, uh. And that's how a lot of entrepreneurs are. They're like, they, they have, they have what they call passion, or they have all this motivation, which I think is, is like, nonsense. I don't, I don't believe in that really. And it lasts a couple of proverbial laps, and then it, and then it's over. And then it's like, now what? You had a plan. You knew you were going to pace yourself. Um, you knew it was going to suck. That's something that's different in business today. We, with social media and with all these things, with all these great tools, there, there can be a lot of harm that's caused by them. One of those, one of those harms is people think business is easy. Go follow your passion. Go make, you know, turn your passion into money and, uh, all this stuff. And it's like, you know what? That's fine. You can do that. But then your passion becomes your work. Right? I'm a bug guy. Like, bugs weren't my passion, but I, I made my first several million dollars in the pest control industry, which is not very sexy. Um, but I think it's very, I think it's very cool that you had this perspective of, hey, um, this is, this is a long process, you know, and you tell these new, um, these new insurance agency owners, like, hey, when I start a business, it's like, I don't really come up for error until after year three. And then I kind of look around, I assume I'm going to lose money for several years, and then I kind of assess what's going on. I put my head down, I go to work. And that's just not common. What, you know, with, with what you've seen work. Andy, what, what's the mentality that somebody has to have in order to put that time in? Because it's funny, you. You put in those three years, you're like, lose money, lose a little less money, lose a lot less money. And then you turn the corner and then it, then it goes the opposite where it's like, okay, making a little money, making decent money, making a lot of money in business. What is it? How do you help people get there?

Speaker A: Yeah, it's two things that. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, Alan, so I love having this conversation. The whole finite game versus infinite game has been Such a big influence on me. So when you think about the finite game, right, it's a game that has rules, players and a score. There's a beginning, there's an end, and at the end, you look at the score, somebody wins and somebody loses. If you're an entrepreneur already going in it with the mentality of playing the finite game, odds are you're going to lose because you're not going to keep going. The infinite game, you know, as they say, the rules are just to keep the game going. When I realized that, I still remember the day early in my entrepreneurial career, it was a day I got my butt kicked. Nothing went right. I lost a client. I was trying to figure out where the next revenue dollar was going to come from. And I can remember that night going to bed, just beat up mentally and emotionally. But I was excited to get up and do it again tomorrow. And when that happened, I'm like, I think I have what it takes here. Because if my goal, if my job is just to get up and keep the game going and make pivots and changes along the way, but my job is just to keep the game going. I think I'm going to have success. And that's what happened is playing that infinite game. That's number one, if you're going to be an entrepreneur and be successful, you have got to be in it for the long haul. And number two, and I can speak from experience here, if you're going to scale your business, you cannot be a people pleaser. People pleasing is in my genes. It's something that's held me back in the past and where I saw it hurt my business early on is people pleasing shows itself through things like chasing opportunities you shouldn't. A lot of people are going to come at you saying, I got this idea, I got this idea. And you get so excited because you want to make them happy, because you want to please people. You bring on clients you shouldn't because you want to please people. The more you have the ability to say no, the faster your business is going to scale. And that's something we have really lasered in on here at Complete Game Consulting. If an opportunity, a task, an investment doesn't fall into a very few specific categories, it's a no. Mhm. And to me, the more you say no, the more your business is going to.

Speaker B: I think this is an incredible point and it's something that I'm really working on. So every year I create this kind of motto or slogan that I have, um, for the year that I review regularly and I make sure that kind of, that's where my heart is. And my motto for 2024 is going to be, um, in order for me to get to these exceptional and incredible yeses, I'm going to have to say no to a lot of good things. Something like that. I think I said it a little better than that, but that's the idea, is that there's, um, some, some of, you know, they say, right, that the greatest enemy of great is good. And um, when you're an entrepreneur, there's so much to that where you just get distracted. I talked about it before where we just, we're idea people, we love, like, just talking about, we're visionaries. What, hey, what could we make out of this? And. But you've got to put your head down and you've got to grind and you've got to say no to something that might be a little sexier at the moment, might be a more appealing idea. And when you're really grinding, like when you were in the middle of, you know, that last Ironman, uh, it's like anything was probably more appealing than finishing that, right? It's like I. Sitting on a couch, sitting on the curb, anything. And that's how it is with business. You're all excited in the beginning, you get into the nuts and the bolts, life hits you in the face. You have a partner quit on you, you have a client yell at you, whatever, just like, man, I would rather be anywhere but here. And the people that are, um, the most successful quickly realize that there's no better place for them to be. As you're working with, um, younger type entrepreneurs, what are some of the struggles that you're seeing in addition to this idea of like, hey, you've really got to put in the time, um, what are some other things that those early entrepreneurs, the people that are going from working for somebody to hanging their own shingle, what are they facing? What are some things that you help them with that you help, uh, talk through them with?

Speaker A: I come from the insurance industry. So you see a lot of people go out on their own from the angle of, okay, I've been selling for somebody else for a while, I'm having success, but I'm not happy anymore sharing my revenue, so I'm going to go start my own. So I earn the revenue. And there's a big difference between selling insurance and being a business operator. And I'm sure that's the case with anything, any, any industry. And if you're going to be a Good business operator, which means you know how to scale your business. You. You need to, uh, know how to get out of the way and hire people. The thing I preach the most, Alan, it's. It's funny, if you look behind me, if you can see all three of these. Uh-huh. Pieces of artwork, there's a reason they're on the wall. Because it's what I often end up talking to people about the most. It's consistency, persistency, and patience. Are you willing to show up every day and do the boring stuff off the field when no one is watching to have success? You know, everybody wants to be Tom Brady and LeBron James. They don't see the work they put in off the field to do it. Are you willing to keep doing it when everybody else quits? And, uh, are you willing to enjoy the process because it's one day at a time. You have to be patient. I am. I. I have never been an overnight success in anything. It's. I am that person who shows up every day, little by little, getting better, and ultimately I come out successful. But I'm not somebody you'll read about in the headlines that went from starting, um, a startup to a multi million dollar business in 18 months. But it's about enjoying the process. I see a lot of people struggle with this. They go into entrepreneurship for the freedom and the finances, and they have the finite finish line in mind. Yeah, but they're not enjoying the process. To me, if there's one secret I see from the people I work with that are the most successful, they just love playing the game.

Speaker B: It's funny that you mentioned that's why people get into business because of freedom and finances. Because usually. And it's funny, especially to me, because that's what I was thinking. I was working for a large firm in Phoenix, quit. And I'm like, yeah, man, I want more control over my time and my finances. And I lost both. You know, it's like that was the opposite of what happened, uh, in the beginning. In the beginning, I had less time and less money. Now we're like a decade removed, and it's like this, you know, the story is what it is. So I, you know, I want to close here. You. You talk about this consistency and being persistent, patience and patient. This is, man, if, if any, I don't care what your business idea is. You apply those principles, you will succeed. Um, when I look for a new business partner, a lot of people are like, well, what's their skill set? Uh, you know, what's their Experience, how much money are they bringing to the table? What's their startup experience, whatever. There's one thing that takes up 80% of my decision and then everything else falls into the bottom 20. And that one thing is, is this the type of individual that's going to wake up the day after we absolutely get punched in the face and it's going to be just like day one. You just start over, you just figure it out and you maintain it. I don't believe it's motivation. I think it's something more inherent than that, more intrinsic than that. But um, I love those points. And Andy, dude, this has been awesome. I love having chats about this type of thing. The theory, the, the, you know, these things, the theoretical, the, you know, the principles that guide us in business. Um, because these are the things that make those people successful. A lot of times entrepreneurs like Alan. Yeah. But you know, what should my first business be? It's like, don't worry about that. Go listen to this podcast. Listen to that. You get that stuff right, you get your head right. Doesn't matter what industry you go into, you'll be successful. Where can people find out more about what you're doing and how you can help them?

Speaker A: Andy? Yeah, great question. Definitely. Uh, find me on LinkedIn. We're on all the socials, but LinkedIn is where you're going to find me the most. You can go check us out@completegameconsulting.com if I could share this. I have a free training out there on completegameplaybook.com if you want to go grab that. It's about how to build your ideal prospect and the marketing message for that prospect. But I'll finish by saying this, Alan, if I can. What I loved about what you just said at the end, we were talking about sports offline, right?

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: I look at what we do when we help people build a marketing message like an athlete. Demographics are important in marketing, but that's just height, weight and speed of an athlete, Right. There's a lot of kids in football these days that get recruited based on height, weight and speed. Psychographics are where the gold is. That's how is this athlete going to show up in the fourth quarter with a game online.

Speaker B: Mhm.

Speaker A: I think that's where recruiting in sports is missing out right now it's all about the statistics on paper and not about what's going on in between the in the ears. Same is true for, for entrepreneurship and the people you're bringing on your team. Who are these people? I love that you said that because it's so true today.

Speaker B: Yep. Absolutely, man. Well, Andy, thanks so much. It's been a pleasure. Wish, uh, you nothing but success in your future, my man.

Speaker A: You bet. Thank you for having me on.