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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Transcript

Introduction to Friends from Wild Places

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 .

Entrepreneurship is Never Linear

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

Navigating Family and Business Uncertainty

Tanya Scotece 3:20

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

Discipline: Key to Entrepreneurial Success

Clay Hicks 6:25

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

Supporting Veterans with Invite-A-Vet Foundation

Tanya Scotece 10:20

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

Word Association Game Finale

Shireen Botha 14:48

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 .