Discipline & Resilience: How Successful Entrepreneurs Weather the Storm

Entrepreneurship is a non-linear journey filled with unexpected challenges and moments of doubt, but those who persevere develop resilience and expertise that can't be gained any other way.

• Entrepreneurship is never straightforward—it involves cycles of feeling ready to give up before finding the strength to continue
• Having mentors who can talk you "off the edge" during difficult times is crucial for entrepreneurial success
• The Rocky Balboa philosophy applies to business: "It's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward"
• Balancing family responsibilities with the financial uncertainty of entrepreneurship requires careful communication and planning
• Self-discipline distinguishes successful entrepreneurs—doing what needs to be done even when motivation is lacking
• Business ownership requires wearing multiple hats beyond your core expertise—from marketing to client relations to financial management
• The Invite-A-Vet Foundation supports veterans dealing with mental health challenges and deserves community support

Clay Hicks

• Tel: +1 937-671-6238
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claytonrhicks/
• Website: https://www.h7network.com/
• Email: claytonrhicks@gmail.com

Please support the Invite-A-Vet Foundation at invitavetfoundation.org as this month's featured non-profit organization, or find a veteran-supporting charity in your local area.

Join us as we support the Invite A Vet Foundation this month!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Friends from Wild Places
• 0:35 Entrepreneurship is Never Linear
• 3:20 Navigating Family and Business Uncertainty
• 6:25 Discipline: Key to Entrepreneurial Success
• 10:20 Supporting Veterans with Invite-A-Vet Foundation
• 14:48 Word Association Game Finale

Transcript

Voiceover: 0:03

Tales from the wild, stories from the heart. A journey into the mind and soul of fired up business professionals, where they share their vision for the future and hear from a different non-profit organization every month as they create awareness of their goals and their needs. Dive into a world of untamed passion as we join our host, Shireen Botha, for this month's episode of Friends from Wild Places.

Shireen Botha: 0:35

You know it's amazing. We go through some hard. You know, being a business owner and entrepreneur is never linear. I think anybody can actually say that it doesn't matter where you are. But since we're talking about entrepreneurs and business owners, it's not straightforward, linear. It's all over the place. And I've got to be honest. I mean, there's many times where I've come to my edge and going oh, I'm done, I'm giving up, I'm not going to be able to do this, I'm going to fall flat on my face, I'm going to lose everything. I'm just going to give up now, before it gets any worse.

Shireen Botha: 1:13

And thankful for those mentors. You've got to have one or two very special mentors that are older and wiser than you, that will be able to talk you off that edge and encourage you to keep on going. And so, if I can be that encouraging voice to you, it's not linear. There's gonna be ups and downs. You're going to feel like you want to give up. You are going to feel like you can't do it. The imposter syndrome is another one of those. But you can. You can. You just gotta keep on pushing forward. And it might not. I mean, you don't know your next step, but you just gotta keep on pushing forward, knowing that you can't actually see what's gonna happen. Um, but yeah, it's hard times only make us better and stronger and more experienced entrepreneurs and business owners. So, yeah, I think it's the best thing.

Clay Hicks: 2:12

Can I give you a quote? Can I just share this one quote with you real quick, and I'm sorry, tanya. So Rocky, okay, I'm a huge Rocky fan, huge Rocky fan. I got to see a statue when I was in Philly two months ago, anyway. So Rocky says it's not about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. And there are going to be times when you are on your knees and you better get up. You better get up somehow some way. You better find that will to get up. Go ahead, tanya, sorry.

Tanya Scotece: 2:53

Well, on that note, Clay. So it's interesting, I have I'm a dog lover four leggeds. Okay, Like are my vibe, and my first dog was Rocky, a little Shih Tzu, and we had a little partner for him and it was Adriana. So Rocky and Adrian, so, yeah, Benny Bate back in the day. So just had to share that that you mentioned that.

Tanya Scotece: 3:14

I just wanted just to you know, how you mentioned in the beginning that you know family is very important to you, right? Your wife, your children. So how, as an entrepreneur, do you I don't want to use the word handle, but that's the one I'm coming up with right now Like, how does a family that's maybe like, depending on you looking to you, vibe with you with the uncertainties of business? You know what I mean, Cause it's like, it's not like, for example, you know, let's say, your wife, I don't know your wife, but let's just use your wife as an example. So you know you are married and you know she, she looks to you. Or you know, like, whatever you're bringing to the table monetarily, abundance, wise. But an entrepreneur is not guaranteed. It fluctuates, right, there's times it's up, it's down, it's left, it right. So how does one ride or navigate? Let me use that word navigate with you. I mean because you mentioned it's very important to have your five people right initially. So how do you like manage, how do you work, life balance in your work?

Clay Hicks: 4:17

well, yeah, that is a loaded question. Uh, you know, like, when I started, it was one way. How I do it now is a different way. So you have to find what works for you. But I want to stress that you have to find what works for you. And, and so I know that sounds logical, it sounds like, oh, okay, sure, of course. No, you have to really think through, like you, what, what is it going to take to make sure that you take care of your family, take care of whatever's, whatever you're responsible for first, and so, as long as you can live out that attitude, I believe it will obviously take care of itself.

Clay Hicks: 5:02

But if you are becoming an entrepreneur, there's this thing going on like, some people become entrepreneurs because they just want to be rich. That's great, good for you, good for you, you know, but I'm already rich, like so, so, like, come up with something. Why else are you doing it? You know, because oftentimes, if you know you've heard be the change you want to see or whatever. Right, that's an old quote. It makes sense still today, lives in all of us today. But the reality is, is they have to decide how they're going to do it. As well, come up with, like, with integrity around ways in which you will be able to take your fit, take care of your responsibilities with your partner. If you have one like, that has to be handled before you make that move, you know, and, and so you just can't make the move.

Clay Hicks: 5:58

Like when I made my move, I worked in a steel mill at the time, so I worked around that, so I worked at the steel mill work swing shift, I cut grass and stuff on my days off, time off, whatever, and I still work 60 hours a week. Did I see my family? No, but that was a time, it wasn't forever, and so that's really up to the person. Like, how bad do you really want it? Life is, you only live once. And I'm not saying like yo lo, go start your own business. I'm not saying that. So you know. Think about why you're starting the business first. Are you just doing it because you think all of us entrepreneurs are rich and all this stuff? Well, think about the risk that we've constantly taken every day, every week, to make sure that our staff are taken care of, and all that stuff. Are you ready for that? Right, right, that's what has to be thought through yeah, and you know what I?

Tanya Scotece: 6:56

I can only envision that. You know somebody let's just use the word like single, right, so, like you know, a single entrepreneur is different than a family. You know because, because it's also, and then you know sometimes the people closest to you. You know it's. It's harder right to see that. You know from afar. It's like you know people like, okay, well, clay's, harder right To see that. You know from afar. It's like you know people like, okay, well, clay's opening this business, that business. But when you're living it like that day to day it's. I only can envision again how it must be to kind of wide ride the waves, so to speak. Right, what ride the waves? And some of the waves are big and some are small, but it's, it's not it. You're not talking about a regular job in a regular family of X amount of dollars coming your way. You know eight to five. You know it's. It's gotta be just a whole different vibe.

Clay Hicks: 7:45

Yeah, Oftentimes people say, well, I want the financial freedom. Then when they go, they don't even know what to do every day. They don't know how to like do the business. Yet you know, and I prefer like discipline. You know, they say, you know any real successful person. They always share this one trait, which is discipline. It's super difficult to have self-discipline around something you're doing that you had to make, Not that you had a job that said, hey, Serene, you have to be here at 8 AM, not nine 30. No, you're the person that's setting the tone for all of it. And so I book into my days very specifically with meditation and mind, body, spirit things every single day.

Tanya Scotece: 8:35

I don't half-ass it, you do it even when you don't want to half-ass it. You do it even when you don't want to. So, yeah, no, it is, I think. And that discipline, you know that kind of I think, sets the stage or sets the tone. And you know, and it doesn't matter, you know, from my viewpoint, you know whatever marketing group or you know peoples, that people choose, that people choose to be around like whatever that looks like chamber groups, civic groups, fraternal organizations, business mindset groups, power groups, power teams, referral parties, whatever word you want to use.

Tanya Scotece: 9:08

In those capacities, my feeling is that we cannot be all of the above. So as business owners owners, I can envision to say you have an expertise, right? Let's say, for example, let me, shereen, I know fairly well as a virtual bookkeeper, so she knows the bookkeeping, she knows it. But then as a business owner, now you're responsible for managing your income, managing your marketing, managing advertising. All of a sudden, now you're supposed to be the expert in how to handle the business side, how to promote it, how to deliver it and how to respond to your clients. Right, so that not only that takes one area of a specific niche and that explodes. And I can only envision on your side for all the businesses that you have.

Tanya Scotece: 9:57

Clay, how I don't want to use the word challenging. I don't think it's challenging, I think it's just, you know, it's a lot of balls in the air, right, it's a lot of like juggling, that's, you know. Yeah, I think it's, but it's fascinating. I just admire both of you for all these business, business, entrepreneurial spirits. So if anybody, I I still want to do something with the four-legged. So if anybody has any goals or they want to incorporate with mine, I'd love to collaborate more. Uh, at another time love that, love that.

Shireen Botha: 10:25

Yeah, thank you. I think this has been great, guys. Um, you know listeners, you know that we love supporting a non-profit every month. So this month we're going to be supporting invite a vet foundation, llcorg. That's invite a vet foundation LLCorg. And if you're already asking what on earth is that, well, clay's going to tell us a little bit about the organization and how we can help out.

Clay Hicks: 10:55

Invite a vet. That's right, so exciting. So so Marion is a close friend of mine, longtime member of the community, and her father was in the war and so she started. Now I don't want to take her story away at all, but just Marion is just an awesome human being and she's always donating back to veterans. It's extremely important to her to live that out, and so Marion and I, being close friends and obviously professionally work together, what she does is they actually do events all the time, and so they're always looking for raising funds around veteran support, and so I'm not. H7 as a whole is really getting behind veterans right now. So Invite-A-Vet is one of the other, one of the main nonprofits that we're working with to help raise funds. Many of our members are veterans, so it just makes sense and so backing the veterans lots. I mean another one. You know the mental health and for veterans is really, really awful, and you know they've given their lives for us to be able to, even for me to be an entrepreneur.

Clay Hicks: 12:16

I mean there had to be something happened long before I became that entrepreneur that our uh, our veterans and uh enlisted are constantly making happen ensure freedom for us. So beautiful.

Shireen Botha: 12:32

Yeah, true, I think that's very important. Listeners, I think you know, wherever you are in the world you have. You know, especially those countries that are at war. You've got veterans that are defending you. You've got veterans out there that are fighting for your country. I think it's so important to acknowledge what they're doing. They're putting their lives on the line for the country, whereas here we are carrying on with our life building businesses, building, you know, companies, working corporate world.

Shireen Botha: 13:04

I'm not saying that's a bad thing. We all have to pull our weight in society and be be good members of society. But let's take our minds off ourselves and realize, you know, that there are definitely people that are putting themselves 100% at risk, where within a blink of an eye they could be gone. And who's supporting them and who's helping them? Because we all know that mental health we've just had. I mean, you guys know, know we've just had an amazing guy on our show last month, uh, which you guys are going to please if you haven't gone to listen to um damian o'brien from the coffee foundation. He talks about how important it is, about mental health. We know that in today's world, mental health is so important. Now can you imagine the veterans on the front line, having to see some of the things that we don't see every day, but traumatizing what they have to deal with.

Shireen Botha: 14:08

Um, so please take some time out to really go and support this organization. We're going to go ahead and support InvitaVet Foundation, but wherever you are in the globe, if you want to find a foundation that is supporting your own veterans, we invite you to do so. But if you want to help us out, join friends from all places. We are definitely supporting Invita vet foundation llcorg this month. So that brings us to the end of the podcast, sadly, but true, um, and we like to always end the podcast with a little bit of a light-hearted game. So we're gonna play the association game. I don't word association I'm not sure if any of you played this game before, but basically my favorite games.

Clay Hicks: 15:01

So my favorite games I love.

Tanya Scotece: 15:03

Yeah, I love that I don't think I've ever played it before.

Clay Hicks: 15:08

No, I'm just. I love playing by association. It's how my brain works.

Tanya Scotece: 15:12

Okay, got it, got it. I've never played this game.

Shireen Botha: 15:17

Well, in a nutshell. So an example of a word association game is the first person, I'm happy to start the ball rolling, so the first person can say the word rain, and the next person will be clay. And clay has to think of a word that relates or associates with the name the word rain and so he might say umbrella. And then Tanya then has to think of a word that associates with the word umbrella and she might say beach. And we cannot repeat any words. So we have to continue this without repeating a word, and you obviously lose the game if you repeat a word or if we run out of words and we can't think of a word. So are you ready, guys? Yeah, okay. So since we're talking about entrepreneurs and business owners, I'm going to start with the word innovation. Clay, you're next uh Engineering.

Tanya Scotece: 16:26

Good one Tanya Okay, technology.

Shireen Botha: 16:38

Cell phone.

Clay Hicks: 16:42

Email.

Tanya Scotece: 16:44

Communication.

Clay Hicks: 16:50

Email communication email. I already said email. Oh Jesus, I for sure thought you wouldn't be the one that messed up. I thought that would be me like continually convinced itself.

Shireen Botha: 17:06

No one has said email convinced itself oh my gosh, that's insane, that went too quickly, can't stand it well, we have time for another one. I think that would only took two or three minutes okay, let's do like a quick one, uh, an easier one, a more light-hearted one. What about? Since some of us are going into winter, let's start with the word winter Go Clay, snow Sled, christmas, santa, coffee, fireplace, wood Presents, birthday, birthday.

Clay Hicks: 18:02

Balloons.

Tanya Scotece: 18:04

Hats.

Shireen Botha: 18:10

Dress, hats.

Clay Hicks: 18:13

Dress.

Tanya Scotece: 18:16

Prom.

Shireen Botha: 18:20

Limousine Driver's license.

Tanya Scotece: 18:27

Fly.

Shireen Botha: 18:30

Plane Plane Customs.

Tanya Scotece: 18:39

Computer.

Shireen Botha: 18:46

Password Email Email.

Clay Hicks: 18:51

Second game right. Second game email. Second game right.

Tanya Scotece: 18:54

Second game password I have never played that game in my life. That's a fun game, fun game I'm gonna play it more. That's a good game yeah, that is a good game. That is a good game, it's fun, yeah yeah, I love it.

Shireen Botha: 19:16

I mean, um, but I am likely the person that always messes it up. So, thank you, clay, I was like dead serious scared that I was gonna mess this one up again. Um, it's like that other game. What's that other game? Two, two truths and a lie. Was it two lies and a truth?

Shireen Botha: 19:37

I can't play it yeah, yeah, I can't play it. I always mess it up. I don't know how, but I always mess it up and it's just yeah anyway. But yeah, we've come to the part of the podcast where we just get to share with the listeners where they can reach out. So sometimes our listeners maybe relate to one of us and they just want to ask us some questions or whatever the case may be. So, clay, if you don't mind sharing with the listeners where they can find you?

Clay Hicks: 20:10

I would recommend that you find me on LinkedIn. It is under Clay Hicks. I am in Ohio, dayton, ohio, and then, of course, I am on Facebook. For those of you who might be listening there on Facebook, same thing, clay Hicks, and you can also reach us through our website, h7 Network. For those of you who might be uh listening there on facebook uh, same thing, clay hicks, and you can also uh reach us through our website, h7networkcom.

Shireen Botha: 20:35

So thank you, tanya what about yourself?

Tanya Scotece: 20:40

okay so you could find me on linkedin. I think it's a home away from home. I live there. So under Tanya Scotece and um wear three distinct hats, kind of like a tri-legged stool. So I am the program coordinator of the mortuary department at Miami Dade College. So if anybody has an interest in becoming a funeral director, embalmer, changing career, new career, feel free to reach out. I also hold space for our senior community. I am a senior placement specialist, matching people with communities who can no longer live alone, perhaps due to one of the dementias, perhaps Parkinson's, anything that presents challenges for day-to-day living. So I place for assisted living, memory care, and in Florida we actually have the little casitas, so we are a free placement agency. I also serve as an expert witness for litigation cases involving funeral and cemetery cases. So those are my three areas of expertise and definitely linkedin is my hub. And how about you shireen?

Shireen Botha: 21:43

thank you, Tanya. I appreciate that. Yeah, you can also find me on LinkedIn Shireen Botha, my business, Shireen's bookkeeping services also on LinkedIn, amongst other platforms. But yeah, I think, listeners, if you appreciate us, we are looking for sponsors. So if you have any ideas for us where we can find some sponsors to sponsor friends from long places, we want to try a different journey for our podcast. But, more importantly, if you like us, if you want to comment, uh, subscribe, tell us what you think. Please go ahead. Find us either on youtube if you want to see our funny faces and hear us, or if you just want to hear us. We're on all the platforms, streaming platforms. You just have to search for brains from from Wild Places. Otherwise, you can go to our website, friendsfromwildplaces. buzzsprout. com. That's friendsfromwildplaces. buzzsprout. com. Please go ahead and subscribe if you can. But other than that, thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next time, guys, and remember you got this and stay wild. Bye, guys.

Voiceover: 22:50

You've been listening to Friends from Wild Places with Shireen Botha. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast from the links to catch every episode and unleash your passion.