This weekend I had the privilege of participating in The Small Business School Challenge as part of a team at UW. Going into this competition, my main focus was to do whatever I could to help a small business that had been impacted by COVID-19. The goal was not necessarily to win….well that was until I met my client, Coach Shaun Blair of Air Blair Athletics.
In the startup world, we often talk about an entrepreneurial mindset and the concept of “pivoting.” It’s much easier to pivot when you have millions of dollars in runway than it is when your livelihood depends on being able to successfully pivot. Coach Blair taught me that this weekend.
Imagine you’re an athlete whose top goal is to be the best at your craft. Once your athletic career is over, you start looking for ways to fill that competitive void and to pay it forward to a younger generation. Coaching becomes your next calling. You then decide that you want to build a business around this passion for helping kids. You dive head first into this business and it becomes a success.
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic rocks the world and California and the rest of the world shuts down. You then have to decide if you’re going to give up or keep going. You decide to pivot your business and find new ways to keep it going by holding classes outside. Summer then rolls in with 100+ degree temperatures so that’s no longer a viable option. You shift your classes to evenings when the weather is more bearable. Then the fires start in California and the air quality is so bad that people can’t go outside. You then start working with local community facilities to hold classes inside.
While life is throwing these punches at you, you’re still finding new ways to help kids.
Not only that, but you’ve started to build up your website and your marketing capabilities. You decide going back to the pre-COVID status quo isn’t enough for you and you’ve found a way to expand the business with the goal of eventually owning your own facility.
This is an entrepreneurial mindset. This is the story of Coach Blair.
Coach Blair fired me up and made me want to win this competition, just like any good coach would. Unfortunately we didn’t win, but my life is changed for the better because I had the opportunity to work with him.
