Most Founders Are the Biggest Risk to Their Own Business

0:00Alex Chisnall:What stops founders from building something meaningful isn't the lack of ideas, it's the fear of getting started. I'm Alex Chisnall and this is Screw It Just Do It, the podcast for people who are ready to stop waiting, take action and make things happen. One of the reasons people lose focus on their health and their personal standards is they put themselves as an afterthought. I think the truth is having coached so many people the last two decades, you notice a lot of patterns. The first thing that comes to mind having coached so many people is they're using outdated systems. As you evolve into your 30s, 40s and 50s, building a business, scaling a business for many, exiting a business.

0:37Then on top of that, you've got relationships, many are parents. There's a lot of balls to juggle. They don't have a system that helps manage their health, family and business without overwhelm. Across all seasons, so many people are in different locations. They've got different set of challenges at different seasons of the year and they don't know how to adapt.

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1:30Alex Chisnall:So Kirk, most entrepreneurs obsess over growth and revenue but ignore one thing that actually drives performance, their health. Why do you think so many founders get that so wrong?

1:44Great question to kick us off. I think the truth is having coached so many people the last two decades, you notice a lot of patterns.

1:55And the first thing that comes to mind having coached so many people is they're using outdated systems. And as you evolve into your 30s, 40s and 50s, building a business, scaling a business for many, exiting a business. Then on top of that, you've got relationships, many are parents. There's a lot of balls to juggle. And one of the reasons people lose focus on their health and their personal standards is they put themselves as an afterthought. But alongside that, they don't have a system that helps manage their health, family and business without overwhelm. Across all seasons, which we can speak about with Built to Last.

2:38Because it's okay having a system that project manages you maybe for a few months. but Alex you're an entrepreneur I'm an entrepreneur how many weeks months and seasons of the year are the same and how many from my experience so many people are in different locations they've got different set of challenges at different seasons of the year and they don't know how to adapt yeah then on top of that you've got seasons of life when you become a parent which I have in the last year requires a different identity shift and you've got someone else to think about everything yourself and then when you start a business don't forget it's just you you might be doing all the different roles then you start hiring more people to lead more people who need you at your best and then because of that you can often put yourself as an afterthought or you don't know how to adapt and like i just said people are using outdated systems that might have worked in their teens and 20s when they weren't at the level they are in business only have themselves to think about so we can unpack exactly what i do with my my built to last tribe because there's a ton of value outside of the generic garbage that most people are used to listening to yeah and i'll

3:45Alex Chisnall:we'll dive into that because i've been down that route myself and you know i came to that realization that you know if i keep getting ill because i'm you know burning the candle at both ends who the hell can i actually serve if i can't even help myself at the end of the day right but um before we get there i would love to like find out um your real screw it just do it moment so when you decided to like fully commit to this path, you know, with Built to Last and building your whole career around health and performance. So maybe tell me about that. Was there a specific moment or a series of moments that ultimately got you to kind of commit to going all in on this?

4:23Well, what comes to mind first of all is me winning the men's health competition in 2010. I was on the front cover of men's health. They used to do the cover model competition back in the day.

4:35Alex Chisnall:I remember that they used to have the plumbers, the carpenters and I was fortunate enough to win that in 2010 Alex but prior to that I was stuck in a job that I didn't like and wasn't aligned to my values or certainly didn't give me purpose and that was as a plumber so for five or six years even though I had the body, showed confidence front end, I was terribly miserable doing a job that someone could have paid me an awful lot of money and I still wouldn't have been happy but the reason I went into that job is my original dream was to be a professional footballer which was making me happy was meeting my needs overnight when I got released by Gary McAllister at the age of 20 I chose a safe option of becoming a plumber because Alex everyone says if you're a plumber you're always needed you'll always be able to pay your bills plumbers make good money with a great respect to plumbers because a lot of people who probably love that and do make a lot of money, I wasn't passionate about it.

5:34So I was never going to make a lot of money. And even if I did, because it wasn't meeting my needs, I would have probably spent it on things I didn't need to fulfill the void. Yeah, yeah. So coming back to your original question, but it's important to my context is, after winning that men's health competition, that was the moment where

5:57I knew I had to be very, very brave with my next move about what I wanted to do. And I'm not too sure if it's a Tony Robbins quote, but forgive me if I've butchered this, but have you ever had that moment where that should do becomes a must do and you have a moment where your life can take a drastically different route if you stay doing what you're doing, but you're unfulfilled or you're brave enough to take a risk. And I just decided, I was mid twenties and I've been miserable for about five or six years living for the weekend in spite of being in shape and I needed to follow my passion, my purpose, which I knew deep down was always leading, influencing, making people healthier, more energized.

6:49But the obvious thing, even when I got released by Coventry at 20, would have maybe been to get into fitness and help people become healthier, maybe become a personal trainer, but it was too obvious back then. And it wasn't really seen as a career to help people get in shape back then. This was 25 years ago. So I retrained as a personal trainer alongside my plumbing job, you know, my lunch, I'll be studying like some open learning course. But then you get to the point, Alex, where, okay, you've got the qualification, but then you've got two choices. Do you stay in that job, which is nine to five guaranteed income, or do you take a chance?

7:27and I was at the stage Alex where I was that miserable with what I did I didn't give a shit you know my language I just thought I have to make a change and I basically quit my job with only the guarantee of five hours personal training in Coventry which isn't exactly an affluent city compared to say you're living in yeah yeah and the way I looked at Alex I thought as long as I can have enough money to pay my bills, eat food and have a roof over me, then I'll make it work and do what I needed to do. So I literally quit my job with five hours personal training. I didn't even have a car. I was using my plumbing work van from a company called Warmington's to get around for the first, well, get around prior to that.

8:16So when I decided to become a personal trainer, I didn't even have the money to buy a car because I've been sort of living week to week. And my friend lent me his cut-out work van, which I was very grateful for because I didn't know, Alex, if I was still going to have to do some plumbing jobs on the side

8:33Alex Chisnall:whilst building up our personal training business. Thankfully, I got busy quick, as you do when you follow your passion, your purpose, and you're proactive with what you're trying to do. Yeah, exactly. and uh it got busy quick became a big fish in a small pond in coventry pretty quickly i was brave enough to charge a decent amount back then compared to the other personal trainers if there was one bit of business advice i did get given by a friend of mine at the time was kurt don't charge the same as everyone else because you've been in shape for years albeit alex i had an experience of as a career but i knew how to get people in shape at a very basic level back then so I think I was double the cost of a lot of personal trainers but backed it up by getting some results and that's key isn't it as well though Kirk like getting the results right because you say most people whatever the business and I've made that mistake myself as well as that you know you pick that middle band of like you know 30, 35 pound or whatever if you're you know time for money and etc and it's like well how do you stand out amongst everybody else charging exactly the same.

9:45Alex Chisnall:So you either go, you know, one way or the other, don't you? You go like super volume, super low, or you go, you know, high the price and believe in the value that you can deliver, right? Yeah, absolutely. And I know we'll talk about that on the podcast, Alex, but even now we're built to last, I've got that same mentality. I don't believe that you can be the cheapest and the best. And we are a premium service, but we back that up with life-changing results where people don't need to ever invest again into that service. So I've always tried to be, how can I be top of the market, but then back it up by becoming so valuable that no one ever questions the value, certainly once you've worked with them.

10:24So yeah, things have evolved very quickly. Well, not very quickly, but they've evolved a lot since those personal trainer days in the bodybuilding gyms. But I had to get better, not just with my coaching philosophy and value, but also from a business standpoint, because you can be the greatest coach in the world, but if you don't understand business, which I didn't in my mid-20s, then no one knows about you. If you can't market, you can't sell, you can't build a team, you don't build systems. And as we can speak about, build a community that can scale and give you more fulfillment long-term. So yeah, that was the moment though, long-winded way of saying that.

11:03Alex Chisnall:And what do you think? I don't know if you ever spent time thinking about it, but what would life look like if you hadn't have made the leap? and decided to ultimately screw it, just do it and build a business?

11:18It doesn't even bear thinking about Alex, honestly. We'll speak about the six pillars that we now coach people through in Built to Last, which I believe are essential to creating long-term behaviour change and shifting identity, etc. But what I will bring up now is the first pillar is purpose. the foundation the foundation for everything alex whether you're trying to build a great business build a body build a meaningful relationship family it is purpose there has to be meaning behind it and 25 26 year old kirk didn't have purpose and if i didn't make that decision to screw it and just do it as you've just said then i think i'd have been controlled by my life circumstances and environment rather than take control of my life circumstances i had to take responsibility yeah huge and if it fast forward to now alex there i don't believe there's that there's no way i would have attracted the quality of partner quality of friends, quality of clients, quality of network and above all else, my little princess Shiji who, you know, you're a father to a daughter is the greatest gift and arguably my greatest transformation to date, right?

12:46Alex Chisnall:Yeah, yeah, yeah, good chat. So to your point, Alex, if I wasn't brave enough to have the courage to take a chance even though I didn't know it was a guaranteed outcome that could have and no doubt would have changed the whole trajectory of not just my career aspirations but arguably and we speak about this too my emotional health long term and you know the future of my family or lack of family back then so I think it's that important I think if you listen to this and you are currently weighing up decisions whether it's in business or personal life, ask yourself which decision has more upside or positive or potential upside in creating a more hope for the future.

13:44Because I think one of the most disempowering things we can have, Alex, is a lack of hope for the future. That's when people fall into depression, suicide, and you need to have hope for the future. And I don't believe, even if you've got the six pack, got the money, got the car, got the watch, if you're not living with genuine purpose, you're not living in accordance to your values and you don't have genuine meaning behind what you do, you'll always buy things you don't need or show success, dare I say it, six-pack to people, to mask over the

14:23void that you're protecting of unhappiness. You have to... There's nothing worse than looking back. We're all going to die at some point and then go, I wish I did that. I wish I backed myself. I wish I took a chance.

14:40Alex Chisnall:yeah yeah yeah but it's that thing isn't it if you're not going to back yourself ultimately who else is going to back you right and and it might feel really challenging to do that and and maybe the younger you are as well like you say in your 20s thinking about that and you know and as you say you know hope for the future and you're kind of bombarded at the moment with with the opposite message right that you know with with you know wars going on in the world the last the last few years and prices fluctuating you know um what it costs to actually you know live um you know a decent life etc but um a lot of that's got to be mindset right and and looking at the glass half full not empty and believing in positive outcomes and being able to actually change the trajectory of your life like you've done like i've done like you know many people listening would have done and many of the people you've worked with i'm sure yeah no 100 like you've just said there's so much uncertainty in life and things out of our control but as we spoke about before we kick this off the one thing you absolutely can control is how you look after yourself your emotional mental and physical health the reality is we're all growing i'm not perfect or polished and that's why i wanted to share a little bit of backstory a few minutes ago and there's always room to grow but I think the worst thing you can do is is not be decisive with decision making if you know in your heart you don't feel anywhere near as complete as what you know you should and want to feel yeah because I've worked with so many people Alex who scale their businesses exit their businesses and there was one in particular I won't name his name he he sold his business for nearly 200 million worked his whole life for scaling that business but that came at the expense of his his physical health his emotional health and he provided lots of opportunity and and and wealth for people within his company and stuff like that but there was still a massive void of who am i whilst in pursuit of that and certainly when he exited the business so i think there's different pillars to life you've got your physical health you've got your business you've got family your relationship but i think the most important thing you have to master is the relationship with yourself and that is what i'm absolutely obsessed with because and it's coming back to your first question you can't give what you don't have so you can have the best business world you can be listening to this as an entrepreneur and have the best ai strategy and the best team but if you are the leader of the ship and the key decision maker if your cup is half full and you haven't got the energy and the vitality or the certainty that you are who you say you are that'll affect your decision making at some point or it will show up in an area that you value most and for many it's it's it's it's family and personal stuff like that and there's no guarantee with anything in life but whether you have to make tough decisions in business tough decisions in with family or tough decisions with friends which I believe you can merge and unmerge with, you're going to be far more likely to make the decisions aligned to what you know you want and is right for you if you feel more complete with who you are.

18:03And I think a lot of people are living their life based on other people's values. They're stressed, they're overwhelmed, they're not healthy, they're emotionally reactive, let alone physically and healthy. And what is that costing you and where and how is that showing up in your life? And I'd say if any of those questions have triggered you, then it's probably a cue to look on the inside a little bit, pause, put pen to paper, have some thinking time for you and not just your business strategy and other people's agendas.

18:34Alex Chisnall:yeah no um and something you've you alluded to before kirk um you work with you know high performers for a couple of decades now um talk to me a little bit about the patterns that you consistently see and how entrepreneurs specifically like treat their health to kind of speaking to speaking to that audience clearly yeah The most common thing that people crave when they first join Built to Last that might be relatable to some of the listeners is structure.

19:16they have structure in their business structure for their meetings if I was to say to the majority of our members when they first join or to most entrepreneurs, can you show me your calendar I can almost guarantee in that diary is team meetings, sales meetings business meetings right but then when it's time for their health or themselves it's a complete afterthought there was there was no structure they're winging it and you're relying on hope and willpower which it simply doesn't last Alex you know I'm as disciplined as any in my field but am I motivated to train every week no do I naturally want to eat really healthy food every day no yeah especially when you feel like you've got to travel, you've got to dodge missiles and drones, which I've been to fight for a little bit.

20:16But the most common pattern initially is, if you can call it a pattern, is a lack of structure

20:28and emotionally reactive, which has a direct correlation on people's decision-making with their health and fitness. And what a lot of these guys have tried, Alex, is they've done the short-term quick fix approach with their health and fitness. For example, the six, the eight, the 12th transformations. Alex, it's a load of bullshit. They don't work. They don't work. Come on, we can talk even more about entrepreneurship, but entrepreneurship is positive chaos. And arguably stressful chaos sometimes, right? No, there's not many weeks or months that are the exact same. so um adaptability i feel is is key as an entrepreneur it's knowing how to adapt when things go wrong anyone can train well eat well um when we've got perfect conditions or you're putting a box for six to 12 weeks as part of that transformation but the truth is if your lifestyle logistically socially and emotionally is going to be different in different seasons that six the eight the 12 week transformations alex doesn't work because if i put you in a box for example, Alex, and go, right, for 12 weeks, shut off your social calendar, say no to all your business meetings, yeah, you might be able to eat like an absolute shark, get your steps and get your training sessions in for that period.

21:48But the moment you step out of that environment, if that system and that way of living isn't aligned to your actual lifestyle, you're going to fold and then the all-underthing mentality goes in.

22:00Alex Chisnall:It's so interesting you say that, and I was chatting about this the other day with with with somebody because I've been you know injured for 18 months um after like doing New York marathon and training for London twice and breaking down twice um and then for the last nine months um you know I've been fit I've been healthy and um but not where I wanted to get to right and I was chatting to somebody about it and I was like maybe I'll do maybe I'll do and I was like I remember I did 75 hard which you might have heard of I said I did it like two or three times. I said, every time I did it, I ended up like absolutely amazing.

22:35Alex Chisnall:I said, and they're like, why don't you do it again? I was like, well, the problem was every time I did it, literally the day after I finished it that weekend, I would literally be like wine gums, munchies, bottle of red wine, five beers, and it would all go to utter ratchet. And I was like, travel was like a big trigger for me, right? Going up to London and seeing clients all the time and coming back and it would just throw me a curveball. And I know this, you know, you would I heard this a gazillion times, but for me, it was just not sustainable, right? That was the worst. Just not sustainable.

23:06Yeah, but that's my whole point. So like, whether someone works with me or not, and hopefully on this podcast and other media platforms, you know, my goal is to share some insights that people can actually use in the real world, or at least create more awareness that the reason, one of the reasons you might not have mastered consistency is you're trying to find this perfect solution and for every single week of every season and it doesn't work it really doesn't yeah so you know that's where you know we have to have a system that's complementary to your lifestyle and like the second pillar for example in built to last is structure for all seasons there are three things and this this will be particularly useful for anybody who just feels a little bit out of sync or what's that consistency the three things for me that that help give you structure for all seasons is number one is a lifestyle management plan.

23:56So basically, a plan that helps you manage health, business and family without overwhelm. So a little tip, even just for the listeners off that is, even on the most hectic, stressful, time-poor week, schedule first, non-negotiable family time. Because the reality is, myself included, most people, if I said, for most entrepreneurs, if I said, what is your why? They say they're kids. Yeah.

24:34Alex Chisnall:They say they're family. Okay. But a lot of people say that. And then I say, show me your calendar. And there is zero time. There's no family time. So, Alec, and again, look, I've not been perfect. But I tell you one thing. I don't renegotiate with a Friday afternoon with my daughter, irrelevant at work, just as a tip, right? But firstly, when you're planning your weeks, have family time you're not willing to negotiate with. Secondly, schedule your health, whether it's a walk, training session, Pilates, whatever. Schedule that like an appointment to yourself, just like an appointment in business.

25:12Thirdly, schedule your highest priority tasks at a time you're going to be most effective and you've got less distraction. So even if you had a bit of a chaotic week, but you can come out of every week going, I've spent time with my family, I've moved my body, and you know what? I've ticked off some highest leverage business tasks. At least you'll feel more accomplished. Whereas if, like many entrepreneurs do, and coming back to your point about what patterns we notice, most entrepreneurs are solely dominated by business. Even if you've made the money, got the deals, your P &L sheet is looking pretty that's it's soul destroying and you're not going to be too fulfilled if there's been no time for health, there's been no time for the people you love so that's the first one, the second one is have measurable KPIs yeah

26:07Alex Chisnall:if you haven't got any at the start most people have KPIs for their business I ask most of my entrepreneurs or most entrepreneurs listen to this, tell me what your head sales guys KPIs are they could probably tell you tell me what the targets of the business, what's the vision, blah blah blah now if I said okay what do you measure that looks after you your energy and your performance outside of business not many can say then the third thing I think this is arguably the most important if you want consistency year round. And this is, with the greatest respect to your 75 heart, Alex, I don't believe you were shown during that period what to do.

26:55Have a minimum set of non-negotiable standards that you are not willing to compromise on when it comes to your health. So what do I mean by that?

27:07Anybody can have high standards and a best case scenario when they don't have to travel. they've got minimal socials on and they've got a bit of a quieter work week you can get your steps in get your training session in go to bed between nine and ten like drink your water okay eat great food but that isn't realistic to the average entrepreneur i like you alex i'm traveling lots i've got a little girl i'm speaking lots and you're living out of airports and hotels so So it's those weeks when there's chaos, there's a curve ball, some of that's not part of the plan. How you handle those weeks for me will be the biggest determining factor in how healthy you are, how energized you feel and ultimately how confident you consistently show up as a leader in your business.

28:00There's a quote that I won't take credit for. I'm not too sure who said this, but you're the average of what you do, not what you do every now and then. And there's 52 weeks in a year. And the reality is your average level of energy, confidence, health, vitality, well-being will be directly correlated to your minimum set non-negotiable standards. It's a bit like a business, Alex, where they have a couple of months of exponential growth. They've made loads of sales, made loads of money. But then the months after that, they've just absolutely crashed because they've not maintained certain habits.