Solopreneurs are naturally competitive, we have to be. We also have to be mentally tough to endure the ever-changing landscape of running a successful business. One terrific way to sharpen our mental endurance is through physical activity.

No one knows this better than our guest for today’s show, Joe De Sena. Joe is the founder and visionary of Spartan Race. His company was doing it before anyone else and he shares with us where the idea came from, what is background is in the fitness world and how he stays ahead of the pack on the 229th episode of The Solopreneur Hour.

More About This Show

Joe De Sena grew up a hustler thanks to his entrepreneurial father and his neighborhood. His dad had great success when Joe was a kid, and he also lost it all. Joe had gotten a taste of what it’s like to have it all so when his family lost it, he worked his tail off to get it back. For over a decade he worked 20 hours a day running a pool servicing business.

His clients were numerous, around 750, but they weren’t your average neighbors. Joe grew up in the organized crime capitol of the world. The kids in Joe’s neck of the woods cheered for armored car thieves and bank robbers – not sports teams. They didn’t know any better, it’s just how their neighborhood was.

The upside to his neighborhood was the hustler environment: everyone was a hustler, whatever their industry. Joe used those skills and eventually went to work on Wall Street. Soon he found himself with a strong need to relieve stress and get fit again. So he decided to run an ultra marathon! He wanted to test his physical body as well as his mental capacity. That was just the beginning of his journey to creating Spartan Race.

The Finer Details of This Show Include:

* Is there a correlation between succeeding in athletics and succeeding in life?

* What did he learn from quitting a race?

* How does he know if he’s got a good idea?

* His kids have run the New York and the Boston marathons: true or false?

* What’s the cookie/marshmallow test and how does it apply to solopreneurs?

* And so, so much more!

On today’s episode we talk about where the idea for the Spartan Race came from and how Joe evolved it into a business as well as a podcast. We also chat about how he’s raising his children and creating a strong mental mindset for all four of them, whatever they choose to do with their lives.

The Spartan Race is something Joe had been doing for 15 years before he ever created the official version of the race. It was brand when he brought it to the marketplace. Today it’s been cloned by countless others but Joe believes his company has been the most successful because they have a mission and a why that fuels everything they do. And it certainly is working: this year alone they will have 1 million participants in their races everywhere!

And the Spartan Up podcast is also popular. It’s an idea Joe had when he was promoting the Spartan Up book. He did multiple interviews on various podcasts to spread the word about his book and his company. Soon people were telling him they loved hearing him on those shows and a light bulb went off for Joe! He knew they had to do their own podcast.

He knew nothing about podcasts but he knew they had to go for it so, in true Joe fashion, they went full force. They recorded on location over the course of three months. And they did 150 episodes in those three months! No half measures for Joe and his crew, it was full speed ahead.