The Two Most Important Attributes

I thought that today I'd shift gears a little and talk about what I think it takes to be a successful fitness entrepreneur (or a successful anything, for that matter). While I believe that there are many attributes that go into being successful, in my mind there are two that stand out above the rest:

The Willingness To Take Action

The Ability To Persevere

Sure, having intelligence is important, but I know plenty of broke, smart people. Often, they are "too smart for their own good" and think they can always beat the system and never have to put in the sweat equity necessary to succeed.

Having knowledge is great too, but I've run into plenty of trainers and coaches that have every letter of the alphabet after their name and will swear up and down that they know as much as "that Cosgrove guy" but strangely enough, they don't own a tremendously successful facility, have a dozen products out and aren't in great demand to write and speak.

Having talent / potential is nice too. Some things come easy for people...good for them. But I recall back in my coaching days - I'd go recruiting and all the other coaches would be raving about this guys potential or drooling about the players time on the stopwatch. I never was too interested in all that...I wanted people who would perform. Ironically enough, my "performers" would almost always kick the shit out of their "potential." Holds true outside of sports just the same.

See, most people are unwilling to take real action. They're "security people." Unfortunately, opportunity and security are inversely proportionate. You know the deal...no risk, no reward.

It's no different than people saying that "they'll start eating right next week" - only next week turns into next month, then next year. Every successful achievement begins with a decision to take action. I can't tell you how many people I know that throw out good (or great) ideas for books, businesses or products - that stay just that - an idea. I know plenty of successful / wealthy people that I consider to be of average intelligence...but they took action and continue to take action.

I'll be the first to admit, there have been times that I've considered doing something, only to get distracted, get lazy or simply take the path of least resistance - do nothing. But every success that I've enjoyed has been a direct result of me making a decision and taking action.

The second part of this equation is having the ability to persevere. I promise you that if you launch your own business, take on a new project, embrace a new challenge...there will be stumbling blocks along the way. Construction will be delayed, visitors won't come flocking to your site like expected, a marketing campaign will bomb, a key employee will quit. You name it - it will happen. Oh well. That's part of the deal.

I know a guy that has come up with (at least) three separate business ideas, acted on them and laid the groundwork to get them started and invested a significant amount of time, energy and money to bring them to launch. Each time he has moved on to his next "great idea" without even recovering his initial investment in the previous venture. The thing is, any of these businesses could have been lucrative. They were all good ideas in niches that there was little or no competition. Each time I said to myself: "why didn't I think of that." But he (and my others) couldn't handle adversity. When the customers didn't trip over one another coming to his sites or businesses, he folded.

Let me tell you...I don't care how many great ideas he has - he'll NEVER have success with them until he's willing to "weather the storm."

So that's it - my two "secrets to success" that anyone can utilize to achieve their goals. Nothing profound, but most of the best "stuff" is simply common sense.