Lesson I learned from Floyd Mayweather

I have just been watching a program about Floyd Mayweather – for the benefit of the uninitiated, Floyd is a boxer who went from winning bronze in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics to earning £100m in May this year after winning a fight against eight-division world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao in Los Angeles. Whether you like him or not, he’s a very determined guy.

It great watching sports programs – there is a lot for us entrepreneurs to learn about the discipline of a sports person and about what it takes to be massively successful. And there was one bit in particular which rang very true with me.

He said, “Never cry, never complain, just work”.

This really spoke to me and gave me a royal kick up the arse, because to be frank I have been feeling a bit sorry for myself this week. I am tired and overwhelmed by the sheer weight of what we need to do. There has been some not so nice legal stuff plus a depot failure, and it all began to seem a bit much. And my advisors and support network have been very light on the ground of late – which means I need to dig deep into my own resources to get stuck in again.

But – and here’s the thing – what is the point of moaning about stuff? What is the point of complaining about stuff? It isn’t going to change it. Our happy-clappy chatty society doesn’t encourage enough stiff upper lip and a ‘f***ing well get on with it’ attitude – and this is the key problem. Because a LOT of people playing at running their own business just don’t have what it takes.

If you look at what traits it take for you to be successful entrepreneur, believe you me, needing a shoulder to cry on ain’t going to be one of them. Self-reliance, on the other hand, really will be. If you need constant reassurance, constant pick me ups and constant consoling then I hate to say it – either you need to sort your head out or get out of the game.

Obviously Mayweather adds to that a few other gems I thought I’d share. He’s not frightened to say he is ‘fighting for the money’ – and this is important, because money is a crystal clear focus – but it’s also for his ‘legacy’ and ‘to make history’. And he also said – and this is a corker – ‘everything is a process, everything takes time’, which as we all know is boring and so very true. Again in this world of internet startups we think everyone can have a great idea and make billions in three years, you can lose weight overnight, you can run a marathon with no training – well to achieve real success, like Mayweather, it may take 20-30 years to reach this summit of his career with that all-important persistent consistency.

So are you up for the fight of your life, building your business? Do you have what it takes? Are you practicing persistent consistency? Or are you going to be knocked out in the first round? It’s really worth thinking about, now isn’t it. No big ‘how-tos’ in this Vlog – just a call for you to take a long hard look and see if you’ve got what it takes.

Now do you? See you next week.