Finding Your Summit

Ta'u Pupu'a is one of nine siblings. His family originally from the Kingdom of Tonga emigrated to Salt Lake City. Ta'u at 6'5", earned a full-ride scholarship to play defensive line for the local Weber State University football team. His football career continued to provide promise. In 1995 he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns (soon to be the Baltimore Ravens). Unfortuantely, that's as far as he got.

During his time with the NFL, Ta’u broke the arch in his foot, effectively ending his football career as quickly as it began. Ta’u was forced to consider a different future for himself, so he moved to New York City in a leap of faith. A lucky encounter with a Polynesian opera singer led him to try out for Juilliard, and thus his new career as an internationally renowned opera tenor was born. Ta’u’s story is one of overcoming adversity and starting over again, this time stronger than ever.

Randy Hetrick is the Founder and CEO of successful fitness company, TRX. He is a former U.S. Navy Seal who served for 14 years on both Seal Team 1 and the legendary Seal Team 6. Growing up, Randy was a competitive wrestler and rower, which he says are “grinder sports that no one gives a damn about”. Interestingly, statistics show that athletes with backgrounds in these two sports have the highest chance for completing BUD/S, which has an 85% drop rate. During one of his foreign deployments with the SEALS, Randy came up with a fitness contraption that would later turn into the TRX. Not only was Randy foreign deployed, but during this time he obtained a Masters in National Security Affairs & lobbied for the Special Ops Command in D.C. He then went on to obtain his MBA from Stanford Business School which led him to turn his fledgeling fitness product into a full-blown company that now does over $50M in annual revenue.
 
Summary:
On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, former Navy SEAL & successful fitness entrepreneur Randy Hetrick talks about his mostly classified military service and subsequent transition into the entrepreneur world. Randy shares the ups and downs of product development manufacturing, enjoying the trek as you reach new summits and pivoting your business when your primary plan doesn’t work out as expected. He takes us on the TRX life journey: inventing the TRX in the field as a SEAL, investing all of his savings to purchase his initial inventory, turning down a huge deal with Costco, raising private equity capital (which he calls the biggest mistake of his life) and now preparing to launch a subscription service for 300,000 trainers. He discusses the rise of “functional training” and the emphasis on “small tools, big movements”. Listen in as Randy discusses encountering and overcoming the “false summits” that we all face in life. Randy’s incredible story reminds all of us that big ideas do, in fact, come in small, unassuming packages and are usually born out of necessity!
 
What you will learn:
Randy talks about how he came up with the initial idea for the TRX training system while being foreign deployed for months without workout gear but still having the need to train. He was able to perform functional training by pulling himself up against gravity using a jiu-jitsu belt with a knot on the end thrown over a door. He later added an additional handle and began doing curls, rows, presses, flys, etc. TRX was born!

Randy shares about how his product was launched into a business at Stanford. He would hook up his straps to a squat rack and crush workouts at the Athletic Training Center. When the different head coaches began asking him to make TRX straps for each of their teams, he realized there was a broad market for the product. With this realization, he decided to launch the product into a full-blown business after graduating.
Randy gives his top advice for entrepreneurs: come from a rich family & never quit! He believes there is rarely a summit in life; instead, there are usually false summits. What comes after a false summit is a downhill slope. You have to go down into the abyss to get to the next summit.
Randy discusses “the biggest mistake of my life”: raising private equity money in 2012. Based on his experience, raising institutional capital is usually not a great idea. Looking back, He would've trimmed sales and grown at the pace the business could grow at. Once you take institutional capital, no growth is ever enough, and you are trapped with those investors. The only way to get them out is by raising more private equity which continues the cycle.


Links to Additional Resources:


Violets are Blue - Natural Skincare [Sponsor]


Laird Superfood - Code: Markp20 [Sponsor]

https://www.trxtraining.com/

Trent Dilfer is a former NFL quarterback (14 years), Pro Bowler and winning quarterback of Super Bowl XXXV with the Baltimore Ravens. After retiring from the NFL, he spent 9 years as an ESPN Analyst. Trent is the Head Coach of Elite 11, a quarterback camp featuring 24 of the nation’s best high school quarterbacks. In January, Dilfer was named Head Football Coach of Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, TN.
Summary:
On this episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, former NFL QB & Super Bowl winner, Trent Dilfer, talks about family life, values and impact. Trent shares the non-negotiables (or big rocks) for him and his family: Faith, Internal Voice (calling) and Intentionality. He tells us about what carried him and his family through the loss of his 5 year old son and how he went from competitor to ally with rival quarterback Matt Hasselback. Listen in as Trent discusses how rewarding it is to develop quarterbacks that not only end up leading professional teams but go on to have a significant impact in their community as well. Trent isn’t shy to share his thoughts on what he loved and didn’t love about working as an ESPN Analyst for 9 years. Trent’s story reminds all of us that no matter how much personal or professional success you’ve had, you will never be more alive than when you are stepping outside of your comfort zone and following your calling!
What You Will Learn:
Trent talks about the emotions he and his family faced as they made the decision for him to leave the comfort of retirement to coach high school football. This journey helped him to realize that we are all designed to have an impact, not to merely be comfortable. Dilfer says, “For the first time in 10 years, we all feel really alive and that we are serving our purpose. This was a calling!”.
Trent shares the “Big Rocks” or non-negotiables for his family, and Faith is #1. He believes that we all have an internal voice and goes on to say, “The more I listen to it...the more productive, impactful and passionate I am about life.” Trent discusses turning to his faith for strength and hope when his 5 year old son died from a heart condition. He shares how he learned to handle conflict better and be more of a peacemaker through watching his son.
Trent believes that life was meant to be lived with others, and this can be found in the dynamics of his relationship with former Seattle teammate, Matt Hasselback. Even though they were competing fiercely for the starting QB job, Trent earned Matt's trust by being authentic and realizing there was something deeper on the line - a friendship. Trent served Matt by pushing him to be the best he could be. Later in life, when Trent went through tough seasons in his life, God used people like Matt Hasselback to help heal Trent.
Trent was selected as the Head Coach of Elite 11 QB Camp because he had the vision, passion and leadership skills necessary to lead the organization. He took it from a camp to a cult following and eventually to a community. Trent discusses the unique journey that Quarterbacks take because there is a great burden on them for leadership. Elite 11 QBs will not only go to the NFL but will have a significant impact in their community.
Trent discusses the polarizing dynamic of being an ESPN Analyst for 9 years. He loved the ability to see his family and stay involved in the game, but eventually, the network created everything to be political and dramatic. ESPN became like the big news networks, and his job wasn't fun anymore.
Links to Additional Resources:


Violets are Blue - Natural Skincare [Sponsor]


Laird Superfood - Code: Markp20 [Sponsor]

Blair Kellison, the CEO of Traditional Medicinals on living life with purpose after facing a career crisis. In 1995, Kellison, a former CPA with Ernst & Young and Brand Manager at Nestle, walked into 19th Street Natural Foods Co-Op in Los Angeles and his life was forever changed. He realized that just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean that you like it, so he took a 70% pay cut and went to work for a vegetarian food company that he believed in.

Garrett Madison of Madison Mountaineering is a world-class mountaineer and guide and also holds multiple high altitude mountaineering world records. His records include first person to summit Mt. Everest and Lhotse in less than 24 hours, the only person to climb Mt. Everest and Mt. Lhotse in a day 3 times, first person to guide a successful ascent of K2, first American to summit K2 more than once and he has personally led more climbers to summit Mt. Everest and K2 than anyone else. As an executive producer, Garrett Madison was awarded the 2017 Sports Emmy in Outstanding Digital Innovation for the resulting SI.com/Life VR production, Capturing Everest
Madison got hooked on mountaineering when he began ascending and summiting Mt. Rainier (Washington) as a teenager. In college, he decided to get a job as a mountain guide in order to keep spending time up in the mountains. He joined RMI as an apprentice mountain guide in 1999 worked there for 8 summer seasons. Madison transitioned to Alpine Ascents in 2007 and started guiding in Argentina (Aconcagua), Antarctica (Vinson) and eventually Everest. In 2014, he started his own guide service, Madison Mountaineering, and at the time of this podcast release, he is currently preparing to summit Everest for the 10th time.
On this intriguing episode of Finding Your Summit Podcast, mountaineer Garrett Madison shares his thoughts on what it takes to successfully ascend and summit the world’s tallest peaks from a guide’s perspective. He tells us about how his passion for mountaineering developed as a child and teenager while on hiking trips with his father. Garrett brings us through his journey of working with two of the most well-known guide companies for years before starting his own in 2014. Listen in as Garrett discusses preparation, hard work, achievement and mental toughness on the world’s tallest peaks. If you’re anything like me you’ll be on the edge of your seat for this podcast as Garrett’s story inspires us all to reach our summit!
What You Will Learn:
Garrett discusses his love for mountaineering and guiding. While on hiking trips as a child, he recalls always feeling led to scramble up to the highest ridgelines and get a 360-degree view from the summit. As a guide, he says, “It's hard but it's fun”. He discusses the feelings of helping a client reach the summit and what it means to him personally.
Garrett and I talk about the challenge and responsibility of guiding groups up Everest, K2 and other high altitude peaks. He says, “It's challenging when you sign up for a climbing group and you don't know everyone and know their level of preparation and training.” His goal as lead guide is to make expeditions safe and enjoyable.
Garrett recalls, firsthand, the deadly avalanche and wind blast on Mt. Everest in 2014 and 2015 respectively. He was on the mountain both years as these events occurred, and he discusses his involvement in rescue operations and planning new, safer routes up the mountain.
Garrett shares about his company’s strategic approach to guiding climbers to the summit of K2, the “Holy Grail of Mountaineering”. Garrett's approach to climbing K2 is Modernization. His company utilizes modern oxygen equipment and weather forecasting systems. He utilizes a complete team approach by flying in his climbing Sherpas from Everest to assist.
Garrett discusses the importance of mental toughness and hard work in mountaineering. He says, “You put in hard work & training, so for game-time, you're ready to go.” Garrett shares his Mentality: One day at a time. Moment by moment. Re-assess risk. Adapt.
Links to Additional Resources:

CAPTURING EVEREST / A GROUNDBREAKING EMMY AWARD WINNING VR EXPERIENCE

Daily posting from 2019 Everest Expedition