Kasten Spethmann, What Entrepreneurs can learn from Athletes – InnovaBuzz 535
Kasten Spethmann, Your Startup Life
Our guest in this episode is Kasten Spethmann, of Your Startup Life. Kasten is a retired professional windsurfer, a recovering Venture Capitalist, a non-conforming, near death surviving, adventure seeking, lifelong learning, nomad entrepreneur that now coaches founders (with a focus on athletes that want to become entrepreneurs), with tactical advice, tough love and experiential insight with the hope that she inspires others to break societal expectations, stop sacrificing their true identity/calling and live by their own rules as they build exceptional businesses.
In our conversation Kasten talked to me about
- Why athletes make good entrepreneurs and what entrepreneurs can learn from athletes.
- Why it’s important to differentiate between what you do and who you are.
- Building a career or business around your dream life.
Maxine Cunningham in episode 306 introduced us to Kasten.
Listen to the podcast to find out more.
Listen to the Podcast
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Show Notes from this episode with Kasten Spethmann, Your Startup Life
Key points and takeaways from this episode include:
- Raising capital can be the scariest part of owning a business, but it doesn’t need to be . Also it’s not always necessary, as there are alternative ways to quickly get to revenue through a variety of creative means.
- Be very firm with your goals and flexible with how you get there.
- When you have an idea, first find out if there is a market for it.
- If you have a unique product, system or process, it’s worth patenting. Get a good patent attorney to guide you through the patent process. Ideally keep it “patent pending” for as long as possible to protect the information.
- An idea is nothing without execution. The way you execute an idea may well be unique.
- No one else can duplicate your business and its many elements – products, services, processes, people, culture, connections.
- Athletes make very good entrepreneurs because they understand long term goal setting, they understand sacrificing to reach their goal and they are good at bouncing back from adversity and setbacks.
- Being an entrepreneur is like surfing – most of your time is spent paddling, waiting for just the right wave. Then you are up for 10 seconds and it’s over, and you go do it all again.
- Differentiate between what you are doing and who you are. Each thing that you are doing can be a separate chapter of your life and you can always write the next chapter.
- Be really clear about what motivates you – write down the best things about your dream situation and then explore all the options that can give you that motivation.
- Covid showed the world that many entrepreneurs can work remotely, location independently and get the work done.
- If you are really motivated to do something, you’ll figure it out.
The Buzz – Our Innovation Round
Here are Kasten’s answers to the questions of our innovation round. Listen to the conversation to get the full scoop.
- #1 thing to be more innovative – Question things that have become the status quo. E.g. Who said that? When was it said? Does it still hold true today? Does it fit for me?
- Best thing for new ideas – Have insatiable curiosity. Try something new even though you might be bad at it.
- Favourite tool for innovation – Listen to podcasts. Let my brain wander. Listen to music.
- Keep project/client on track – Write things down in the morning – four things you want to accomplish that day. Have an accountability buddy.
- Differentiate – Be true to who you are, don’t worry about other people’s opinions or the competition. Decide what you want from your product and build that.
Action
Take a blank piece of paper and at the top, write “I want my life to look like…..” and describe that in as much detail as possible. Work out how you want your life to be and pick a career that fits that lifestyle.
Reach Out
You can reach out and thank Kasten through her website.
Suggested Guest
Kasten suggested we have a conversation with Pamplin School of Business Professor and President of Crafting a Strategy, Sam Holloway on a future InnovaBuzz Podcast episode.
Links
- Website – Kasten Spethmann
- Website – Your Startup Life
- Instagram -@kastenspethmann
- Twitter – @yourstartuplife
Cool Things About Kasten
- She was a professional windsurfer, travelling to many countries to compete.
- She spends half her year in Portland, Oregon, USA and the other half in Baja California, Mexico
I’ve noticed that when people experiment with art, sports or hobbies they are totally ok with practicing, trying new things, starting out as a newbie and sticking with it until they acquire and hone their skills. But when it comes to leadership or entrepreneurship they have zero tolerance for their learning curve. It’s not so much about being willing to fail as much as it is about being willing to experiment, try, learn, and evolve. Thank you Kasten for reminding us to embrace being bad at something, knowing we can get better with practice. “Suck at something new!”
I also really appreciate the reminder to stay firm in your goals and be flexible on how you achieve them!
Yes, exactly, Christy. The frustration of not knowing, making a mistake, looking silly often weighs more heavily than the curiosity to learn! Time to put ego aside.