Fitness and aesthetics have been around forever (You’ve seen the movie 300. Those dudes were ripped!). Tons of information, good and bad, gets passed around the gym that helps people achieve their fitness goals. But, what people might not realize is that there are also entrepreneurial lessons to be learned as well.
#1: Perception is everything
Let’s be honest, we do what we do because it makes us look good. Seeing our hard work pay off makes us feel good. And we love the sense of accomplishment when we make progress.
Am I talking about fitness or business?
Exactly.
People who go through great lengths to care for their bodies are called vain, but people who do whatever it takes to create a successful company or brand are not called vain. They are called driven. They are called mavens. They are called entrepreneurs.
We are the generation that invented social media and get the majority of our news and information from it. We make dinner reservations based on Yelp reviews. We buy electronics based on Amazon comments and watch TV shows because of a friend’s Tweet. Imagine what kinds of decisions are being made because of your company’s public image.
Getting someone to tweet or update about your product or brand is the difference between a customer and a passerby. You should be monitoring what is being said about your company just as much as That Guy at the gym checks himself out in the mirror.
#2: Relentless work ethic
As most of America learns by February 1st, you can’t quit on fitness and hope for success. When you start to see the fruits of your labor, you should view that as the beginning of your journey. The same goes for building a brand, a product or service. You’ve got to do everything in your power to work toward the success that you want.
By “everything in your power” I am speaking literally. No one else is going to have the drive for success that you have.
#3: Never scale back
In fitness, we strive for gains: strength gains, size gains, muscle gains. Have you ever heard of someone who made it a goal to be able to lift less weight or run fewer miles by next month? No! There is no need to scale back in fitness and you should never do it in business either. Scaling back is essentially admitting to yourself ,your company and your customers that you aren’t able to accomplish the goals that you set out for yourself.
People don’t get into business to live paycheck to paycheck. That means there are big goals behind every struggling, and failed business. The difference between the company that is thriving and the on that is dying is the desire to make those goals a reality.
Arvin Lal is the 28-year-old CEO of SHREDZ Supplements, the fastest growing name in the health and fitness industry. Lal, the leader of the social media community known as #SHREDZArmy, is the first and only Indian American CEO in the supplement industry. SHREDZArmy has more than 15 million followers.
Image Credit: zelsh.com
