Hey Dave,
I don’t have a question just thought I would put in my two cents on how much I appreciate what you’ve created. I’m a young dude currently trying to start my own gym by myself and all the stress I’ve had to deal with is incredible!! I can’t imagine how you handle your huge enterprise without going ballistic! Being able to balance your business, family, and training is beyond me. Just thought you should no that I feel your a great role model for people in the strength and conditioning field. Putting your family before business is rarely done nowadays and its cool to know some great people still cherish whats really important. I can tell by reading your logs and the fact that you actually take the time to post logs! That your passionate about what you do and your a loving father which kicks ass! Once again thank you for creating Elitefts your changing lives for the better!
- Seth
Seth,
Thank you for the comments and congrats on joining world of The Small Business Owner.
You are now part of a small group of that…
- Have an 85% chance of failing in the first year.
- Take a giant financial risk.
- If you fail, you get to put that on your resume. Oh – more than likely you will also lose everything you own and destroy your credit.
- Have an increased suicide rate.
- Will have to be able to adapt to change quickly in a very uncertain environment with increased liabilities.
- Will at times feel completely isolated and alone and will have no idea who you can trust.
- Responsible for not only your own actions, but also those of each and every person you hire or enlist as volunteers.
- Are now 100% liable and will get verbal and legal actions that will keep you awake many nights. The odds are also very good that you will get sued at least once.
- Have fewer opportunities for vacations and days off.
- Vacations actually become what are known as “working vacations”. You just work less from a remote location.
- You will never have to use the “vacation message or away from the office” email responder again.
- Can’t call in sick.
- Get to do less of the technical work you really enjoy in favor of more strategic work to grow the business.
- Your income (if any) will never be steady or secure.
- As soon as you earn your first dollar you become a sell out. The more you grow the bigger the “sell out” you will become.
- The saying you can’t please everyone becomes more than words on a page but a reality you face everyday.
- If you don’t please “them” you are a Dick. If they don’t please you, you’re also a Dick.
- The fear of failure NEVER goes away. Years ago it used to be said most successful small business were only 2 months away from failure. In today’s economic environment I would say this is now 2-4 weeks.
- Will need to motivate yourself. Even when motivated you need to make sure the work you do counts and will have impact – otherwise it’s just waste of time.
- No sick pay, vacation pay or holiday pay.
- Get to pay all the added payroll expenses on yourself (this is always a great one).
- Your business goes everywhere you do and is in your head 24/7. Leaving work just doesn’t happen.
- Automatically make 10 times what you really do. The truth is you might not be making a dime, but to everyone else you are a business owner – thus you now make well over 250K per year.
- “Business is Business” is what you will be told after you get slammed by others, but when you do the slamming it was all “personal.”
- When you do give back it will never count because it wasn’t given to them.
- Get to discover who your real friends are. The first clue will be they’ll be the first ones to pay your dues and WON’T let you have it any other way. Associates will ask for a discount and the real assholes will just feel entitled to get everything for free.
- Will spend many nights not able to sleep trying to figure out how to pay the bills and/or make payroll.
- People who feel they know better than you, offer great advice, point out how you’re wrong in what your doing and know they could do better – Yet have zero vested interest in the company.
- You are always the last to get paid and then have to decide if it’s better to take the money or reinvest it back into the company for future growth.
- You learn VERY quickly the difference between gross income and net profit.
- The 40-hour workweek quickly becomes a thing of the past, but that number may better represent how much over time you put in.
- If you do begin to succeed, you get the added bonus of family members, friends and associates hating you for any and all reasons you can think of. You will also attract critics at an alarming rate.
I’m sure if I really thought about this I could triple this list, and if I made a couple phone calls I know I could get this over 100 items. Just yesterday I was speaking to a friend of mine who owns a business (that was just threatened legal action – AGAIN) and said we needed to write a book on the 101 reasons why owning a business sucks. His replay was that there’s no way we could narrow it down that much.
I guess my point is that it’s very hard to deal with all the BS and keep balance. I’d go as far as to say it can’t be done. With this in mind, I put my family first (it was not always that way and I almost paid a huge price for it) completely knowing it would cause other problems down the line. Owning a business and putting your family first does and will come at a price, (loss of income, friends, free time, slower growth, etc) but at the same time if you don’t, that also comes at a price (stressful home life or no home life at all).
It’s really a matter of deciding what matters most and knowing there are pros and cons of every decision you make…then dealing with them as they come.
Many years ago when I was just starting my company a VERY successful, VERY rich and VERY happy CEO contracted me to do a private seminar for him. At the time he was worth over 20 million so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Long story short, he turned into a mentor for me and still is today. After the seminar we went out for dinner and I told him of my new two-month old son and how I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to keep everything in balance. I still remember what he told me as if it was yesterday. He said, “You don’t have to – having children will make you better at business.” I asked him what he meant and was told I would know in a few years.
It took me more than a few years and I may still not entirely know, but what I do know is I’ve become harder and less caring about certain things. I don’t worry about how things “seem” or how it will come across. I just don’t give a shit about the small things and really don’t care if it pisses anyone off anymore. I have better things to deal with and if it effects my family or takes emotional time away from them I will delegate it, fix it or get rid of it. I blow things off without a second thought that six years ago would’ve driven me insane and I’m sure to some I’m seen as a dick for doing so. But I’d rather be seen as a Dick to some if it allows me to be a Dad to others. This is a choice I’ve made that allows me to focus on the bigger issues that will help the company grow and my family life strong.
Looking over the list above doesn’t make having your own business look very attractive, but it’s the truth. It’s not a bunch of overblown BS we all read in the latest “top seller” book list. Like training, business take sweat, work, consistency and a never quit attitude. It’s easy to be motivated when things are good, but in my opinion motivation doesn’t matter, execution does. Motivation is temporary while execution is getting things done and always looking forward. Owning a business CAN be great and CAN provide a great life for you, but everything comes at a price.
When we train and compete, we know the risk of injury. We know we need to train even when we don’t want to. We know when to seek help and when to push on. We know when to rest and when to push harder. We know if it was easy everyone would squat X, bench X or look like X – but it’s not. It’s not easy – not at all. We know the risks and make our decisions based on what we feel will move us closer to the goal. Owing a business is the same thing except the risks are higher, the stress greater and the competition does not want you to succeed.
In powerlifting your competition many times (most of the time) want to see you do well, break PRs and bring your best game. If powerlifting was like business, your competition would be trying to kick your legs out from under you when you squat, your spotters would have their eyes closed and hands behind their backs and the judges would be taking bribes from lobbyists.
Business is competitive and brutal and nobody gives a shit!
BUT!
Despite all this madness and bullshit, you can still break records and stand tall, but you’ll have to shoulder a lot of weight to do so.
Having a business can be very rewarding in many ways and isn’t all darkness and BS. For example you have the opportunity for genuine accomplishment from idea to reality, complete decision making control and unrestricted creativity. Even with these it sure as hell isn’t the beautiful picture many authors and consultants try to paint. The truth wouldn’t gain clients or sell many books would it?
Don’t be one of those people who quit when things get hard. This is why there is a 85% small business failure rate. Be the type of person that becomes DRIVEN by the challenges listed above.
What you feel is hard today will be a joke later down the road. Life has it’s way of making things HARDER as we grow and become stronger.
Perhaps…this is how we get strong(er).
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Dave Tate is the founder and CEO of elitefts.com, staffed by experienced professionals dedicated to providing strength coaches, athletes and trainers with the highest-quality equipment, personalized service and extensive knowledge needed to advance their training programs.
View Dave Tate's Training Log 
Good stuff Dave! You touch on self-awareness at a deeper level in this article and it crosses many lines besides just owning a business. Thanks!
Great article!! You touch on some very true points!!
Great article. I am self employed in the oil industry so this really hits home for me.
Put family first. A good reminder for all of us, whether we are trying to start a business, running a business, or working for someone. Priorities need to be straight, and I struggle with this, but I’m getting better at it every day.
Dave, I love your no BS and brutal honesty. This might be one of the best and most realistic articles on articles I’ve ever read on small business. The one thing I’ve always admired with you is your williness to share what you feel without any major filters. This is rare in today’s world. While I’m sure these articles won’t drive the same traffic as those on how to get lean and jacked they will and are having major influence. Keep up the great work and I’m always amazed at how much you’re willing to share.
Dave, you’ve been inspiring me for years now. I downloaded Under The Bar probably a year ago and read the whole thing in one sitting. Keep killing it man.
I think I am in agreeance with everyone else on this post in saying that we appreciate your insight and honesty in all of your endeavors. I have so much respect for a man that I have never met, just through the articles and ebooks you have written (especially Under The Bar). Have you thought of writing an Ebook on the basics behind opening a small business (for those small gym owners or whatever business who are just getting started). If you are able to show where you messed up or succeeded and maintain that brutal honesty in the text I think it would help alot of those out there getting ready to take that step. Thanks.
@ Tyler
I will be doing this (business basics) with my training log beginning this week. Every few years I act as if I fire myself and become the new hired CEO and look at every aspect of the business from this new direction (hopefully I’m more educated and have more experience). I start with the basic and work down to the finer details. It takes 4 to 6 months and is a very tedious process but is vital to do.
I will post the basics behind this process but will not get specific or list any of the details associated with elitefts for obvious reasons. If you are familiar with the e-myth, the 7 habits and the early work of Tony Robbins you will be able to see the logic behind some of the processes.
This article (from my log) is the first post in that direction.
As a side note to those who do read the logs and see we also post some of the entries as articles there are reasons for this.
1. For every one person who reads a log entry there are 487 who will read the article.
2. It makes the articles – entries easier to find.
3. The log page will be updated soon and we are not sure what we will do with the archives right now.
Others I can list at a later time but I’m running late…
Thank you for the post and best of luck in and out of the gym,
Dave Tate
Great Article! Owning a gymnastics training center in a financially depressed toledo ohio number 18 on this list is a grave reality. Talking to a lot of small business owners in nw ohio we are all 2-4 bad weeks away from financial hardship.
I gave it a try with my fathers Furniture Refinishing Business. He was, to say the least…lazy! I voluteered to work at the shop after the Army. I started making money and then he wants my oldest brother to join, “No!” Then the old man wanted more of my brothers to join, I said no as we didn’t have the money and older brother was being a dick. More bothers. “Hey brother, this customer wants her furniture for her party! Get it done!” “Fuck you! You can’t tell me what to do!” ??? “Get out of here and find another job!” Next day he is back. “What are you doing here I fired you!” “Dad told me to come back.”
The story is to long but after my father started shoving my brothers into the shop we never made a dime and they were always pissed at me for trying to manage a bit in the office. When I quite they called me and asked me to come back as the phone was driving them crazy. Up yours!
Being a business owner in an unrelated field, #26. is so damn true.
Dave just opened my 5th gym, and think Ive finally got this one right. Everything you said is true. Been at this for 20 years and will be till the day I die! You have inspired me… Thanks man
Nothing like working 100 hours per week without earning a dime. Your home life turns to crap, everybody is on your ass about something. You feel the gut-wrenching pain of failure constantly.
But, you are also free to do whatever the hell you want as far as running your business. Making decisions and implementing them in a single day is liberating, especially if you’re used to dealing with a lot of red tape and politics.
Success or failure depends purely on your performance. There is a reason that most people do not go down this road, but I personally never regret doing it, even when things look really bleak.
Good stuff. I’ve been *very* slowly starting my own business, in order to minimize risk (got a mortgage, a wife, and a kid), and I’ve been doing freelance work on my “off hours” for a long time. I’ve worked for a number of small companies and I’ve seen a lot of the things that can sink them.
Sadly, too many items on this list are not just business owners (small or large), they are for everyone, especially in our “new economy” (I am fairly sure that most of the current crisis will last for years). If/when my little company takes off, unless it goes huge, it’s just going to supplement my job’s income, because I really feel like I need to make my money, get zero debt and a nice stockpile, and get out of the game. The industry I’m it (IT) just chews people up and spits them out, and if you don’t spend much of the “Daddy/husband/friend time” keeping up, you find yourself unemployed and unemployable.
J.Ja
Agree with every thing you said. I’ve been self-employed for almost 20 years. When you’re self-employed you don’t have one boss, everyone that pays for you’re services becomes your boss.
Thanks Dave, as an expecting first time father I’m looking forwad to how having a child will affect my business. Mike
Great article. I have been running my gym for 10 years now and wouldn’t change a thing. Yes I work a lot but most days it is not work – it is me, doing what I love. Some days I would like to run away to a beach somewhere, but that feeling doesn’t last long. I would never go back to being employed by someone else. I love the freedom to create my business and provide what I hope is the best facility in our City.
Kurt – I love your comment. You are so right; everyone that pays for our services is, in a way, our boss. I think too many trainers feel they are more important than their customers.
I don’t think everyone is cut out to be a business owner though. There are some amazing trainers that are best suited to training and not trying to run a business and I think that is ok. It is important to know where your strengths lie.
To be a business owner or entrepeneaur you have to have a go get em attitude. You have to be self disciplined and self motivated to succeed. I could never go back.
Well said Dave, spot on again. To run a business you have to focus and eleminate. We give our people a lot of rein, but we expect a lot. Hire great people, quit being an business owner and start being a CEO, and let them do the work. Systemize everything and never let anybody be too big for the company. Franchises sell systems, and that is the difference between a business that you run and a “company” that runs you! Good stuff as usual from Elite.
Well said Dave. I am in the midst of getting my training business off the ground. I’m scared, excited, nervous and about 100 other emotions I can’t think of right now. Thanks for posting this list. It’s the truth and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know it’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows but this is my baby, my chance to build something from scratch. I know there will be shitty times but the chance of having the really good times down the road is worth the risk! Thanks for all you do Dave.
This could not have come at a better time! I own a small gym and have been dealing with endless shit lately from trainers to clients and and have thought about shutting it down because I could go make a hell of a lot more money doing something else. I know I would regret that down the road and feel like a pussy for bailing. This really hits home and just fuels the fire to keep pushing doing what I love!
Dave- you are the man and you’re writing on business and life is better than the training stuff and that is hard to do! THANKS!!!
Dave,
I couldn’t agree with you more. I can say that all of what you said in the article is 100% accurate as it apples to me.
Thanks for always helping out a friend. Point 26 applies to you personally, you have always been one of the guys I can count on perosnally and professionally.
Thanks for everything.
Thanks for the brutal honesty Dave.
In my opinion, their only 2 main reasons to own a business 1) attempt to control time and money to do what YOU want to do–working for someone else will tie up one or both of the time and money factors
2) make a large difference in the world by solving tough problems (Seth Godin calls this “creating art”.
If you are not doing it for those reasons, I say get out now. If you just think it is cool to be president or CEO, get out now You will not last.
If you feel you can make a huge difference and solve tough problems, get in now, as we need all the help we can get. Know that you have to be passionate and driven.
Rock on
Mike T Nelson PhD(c)
As a business owner for the past 25 years, Powerlifter and Business Coach I can appreciate all of the comments. I still have two business coaches myself to help me keep focussed on two things:
1. Absolute Clarity of why I am in this business
2. Communicate with absolute clarity to everyone else why we are in business
As long as my mission, vision, values and culture are all in line then most of the BS falls away.
If I allow myself to lose focus of those – or if they are just some crap that some MBA said I should have and hang on the wall – then I can guarantee that my life becomes chaos in a real hurry.
There is nothing more exciting or terrifying than owning a business and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Good luck everyone – Lift Big.
Brian Birchmeier
Oh, you forgot that when (if?) you do become successful…that there are then legions of starving attorneys swarming around you looking to take it from you. Though that may fall under the “knowing who you can trust/know who your friends are” aspect.
Dave,
Great post. I have just set up a gym in the UK, while still working full time and starting a masters degree in S&C. I’m feeling the pressure to do everything to a high standard and spend time with family, so cutting the extra BS and prioritising is becomming so important. But I am motivated and loving getting things done and can’t wait to see how I can make things work in the future.
Cheers
Russell Jolley
Dave,
I run a business and you nailed it bro. Thanks for all that you do.
The first day of my “vacation” for this year and I really needed to read this. Just about every point was bang on about me and my business. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who experiences all of this.
Thanks for the post!
“I’d rather be seen as a Dick to some if it allows me to be a Dad to others. This is a choice I’ve made that allows me to focus on the bigger issues.”
Dave,
I practically jumped up and down when I read this. I love it. This industry especially is full of people who bastardize their values for profit, . You’re an inspiration, thanks for representing and not apologizing for it. You are building an empire! Thanks for all that you do.
Dave-This article was exactly what I have been needing to read. Im 22, have nearly 4 years of consistent (30+ hours/week) sports/personal training experience and have been really developing/progressing my plan for my own business. I have had countless people tell me its a horrible idea, that it isn’t going to work, that I am too young, that I have too little money, but this article, this spoke to me. Despite everything that was mentioned as why it sucks, I would still do it-I love this-Nothing is more rewarding then seeing someone’s reaction when they achieve their goals. I just wanted to thank you again for this-when I have established myself and am killing it here in South Jersey I will be sure to contact you and formally thank you.