Have confidence: ‘Failure never crossed my mind’

I enjoyed the opinion piece that ran in the issue for July 11-17 [“What is the most important thing to know if you are starting a business in the sports industry?”]. As a 16-year vet of the sports industry and almost five-year entrepreneur who left the NBA front-office life and started Hands On Sports & Entertainment, I would pass on these items to add to your list.

1. Hope is not a strategy. You want to work at building your business and closing business every day, relentlessly. You are in control and ultimately responsible for your success.

2. “Burn the ships at the shore.” My best friend asked me when I first started this company how long I would give it until I declared it a failure and quit. I looked at him and honestly told him the idea of failure never crossed my mind. When Greek armies landed on foreign shores to invade, one of the first orders the commanders gave was to burn their ships to tell the soldiers that there was no choice but to win. No surrender.

3. Believe in your prices. Let your belief in your own self-worth dictate your prices, not the clients.
I have more, but I also learned, Don’t give away for free what you can charge for or you will go broke!