Who am I: My name is Colin Stuckert.
I own The Training Box, a juice bar, BoxProducts.com, and this blog.
I travel, read, and write.
I study Stoicism, Business, Nutrition, Fitness, and Effectiveness.
I’m a CrossFitter and I eat gluten-free-mostly-Paleo.
Name: Colin Robert Stuckert
Born: May 18, 1985 – Fort Myers, FL
Height: 5’10″
Weight: ~155
Hobbies: Fitness, Food, Travel, Business
Education: High school, 2 years college – NO degree
Profession: Entrepreneur, Helping those that want to be helped
“Every man is the builder of a temple called his body.” -Henry David Thoreau
My Story: I never did well in school, and since 7th grade I’ve always resisted authority (anyone telling me what to do pretty much). I never liked to follow and I’ve always challenged conventional thought. I used to be a mega-worrier (I know some of you can relate here). I would worry about my future, money, this, that, and everything else in between. I used to think that unless I became a professional athlete I would have to work in an office 40 hours a week doing ‘office’ work. I had no clue what people did in offices but I figured it was probably similar to school (and I hated school).
While going to college, and trying to become something, I stumbled upon poker. I took a $8,000 Chase Student loan and used it to play online poker. I eventually did well enough to justify dropping out of college (in my mind). I was now a “professional poker player.” It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was in the trap of trading time for money and I had created a job for myself. To further compound the problem, this was a job in which you could go to work and lose money; losing days were a regular aspect of this profession. It became exactly like any other stressful job, a grind, and I knew I needed to do something else.
While looking for something else, and still playing poker part-time, I was introduced to a franchise opportunity by my sister. I took the idea with a grain of salt and mostly through my sister’s encouragement did I do further research. Eventually, I took every penny I had (and some I didn’t) and purchased a turn-key franchise inside a large gym in the southwest Florida area. This was right in the middle of the recession mid-2008. Through a ton of hard work I managed to become profitable my first month in business and have acquired positive cashflow every month since then. I opened a business when others were afraid too. I liked the concept, I had the money, and I wasn’t risk-averse.
I did what most won’t do or are too afraid to do: Act
Business is problem solving. Learn to embrace it or it will destroy you
After working in my new business every day for 6 months I started the delegation process and started to relinquishing control bit by bit. I automated as much of the business as I could to a point where I could feel comfortable leaving it in the hands of my employees the majority of the time.
I learned about operations, management, and employees throughout this process. I learned about delegation, how businesses work, how they don’t, and how to improve by getting your hands dirty. I read a ton of books during this time and this helped round out my self-taught education.
I believe a business should be self-sufficient. If a business relies on you than you are just another employee right? Of course there are many benefits to being your own boss but ultimately If you want to enjoy life and not have to work all the time you will need to delegate and trust your employees.
This is my goal with building businesses, eventually they will take care of me. This is investing 101. The goal is to produce enough income from your investments to be able to live from the income of these investments. More business owners should think like investors and less like managers. Recommended reading: Rich Dad Poor Dad
They key is to create operations and setup protocol to take back your time and remove the need for your involvement.
An owner should not have to work ‘in’ his business, he should work ‘on’ his business. A very important distinction. Recommend reading: E-Myth
Gym Owner – aka 1500 sq ft of light industrial space
Fast-forward 8 months into the operation of my first business and I sign a lease for a light industrial space 6 miles down the road from my juice bar. I am starting a CrossFit gym with 2 partners. The story from here becomes long, dramatic, and life-changing. Everything they tell you about partners is true. Be careful. They are difficult.
Communicate and listen to your partners, employees, and customers. Leave your ego at the door. Iterate and avoid complacency.
The Juice bar is self-sufficient at the time of this writing – 2012 – and produces monthly cash-flow while allowing me the time to focus on other ventures. The CrossFit gym is a growing work in progress, but it is work that I thoroughly enjoy, and allows me the flexibility to set my own schedule. Eventually it will be self-sufficient and will run and grow itself, and this is the ultimate goal.
Business is hard. Can you do it? Umm freaking Absolutely
Think about the most work you’ve ever done, starting a business is more than that. You must be willing to do work without pay for longer than you could ever imagine. Think how long you could go without pay….it’s longer than that.
It takes a tremendous amount of leveraging time and money to build an asset like a business. When you build an asset and it produces income on it’s own you have truly invested. Work thousands of hours for ZERO pay, invest money you do and do not have, and you will truly understand what REAL INVESTING is: The investment of the soul.
To succeed in business I truly believe that every entrepreneur must have the willingness to invest his soul into his business. That is why they always tell you to follow your passions in all the books. It better be something you feel strongly about because it will suck the life out of you, and the only way you will survive is if you feel strongly enough (or stubborn enough) that you will not give up under any circumstances. It better be more than a hobby because it will be tested to the limit.
It’s very hard yes, but worth it, and the alternative is not an option in my book: working for someone else
I am lucky to be a avid reader and self-studier. I have learned a ton through reading and doing and still continue to learn on a daily basis. This has been my biggest strength as an entrepreneur. I have plans to live in exotic places in the future and manage my businesses and projects via laptop and iphone. I am also an aspiring writer and chef. Regardless of any tangible success I may reach in my life I know that my only true assets are my mind and body. Your mind and body are your best tools for achieving success as well as lifelong happiness This is why I make my health my number one priority and will never sacrifice it to get ahead. Ever.
My philosophy regarding time and getting stuff done is:
If you sleep 8 hours a day on average you have 16 hours left to live life. 2 hours for eating and random stuff, and 14 hours to work, play, and grow. You can do ANYTHING with that much time.
My philosophy regarding work:
Learn to delegate, motivate, and lead others. Learn to focus on one thing at a time and crush it! Above all, never stop learning and growing. Become a student of life.
My Philosophy regarding health:
Your health is your only true asset in this world and if you aren’t investing in it on a daily basis you are wasting away, dying. I believe in thriving not just surviving. You should train your mind and body regularly in many modalities. Like a tool, it should be sharpened to a razor sharp edge.
The road less traveled and I wouldn’t have it any other way
Striving to be elite in anything is difficult. You have to take a different path, the road less traveled. Your friends and family won’t understand. Don’t allow social pressures to ever dictate your life or its direction…Trust me on that.
You have one shot at this life and everyday on this planent you are growing or you are squandering the most precious resource of all, time. There is no in between. Do or do not, but you better be prepared to accept the consequences of the ‘do not’ if that is what you choose.
You will read this and maybe you will think to yourself, “cool” or “hell ya!” But unless you are of the minority, you will do nothing. The .0001% will act. They will buy a book, scribble notes on a piece of paper, or go get something DONE!
Most motivational books, speakers, or workshops miss this simple point: ACTION. They speak to that inner desire for success but they don’t give you step 1 or step 2. That is why the ones who are successful all posses the same trait. They get stuff done. They do, work, tweak, iterate. They seek perfection daily knowing they will never reach it. It is not the destination, but the journey.
Do you feel that itch? Go get something done. Go RIGHT NOW and take an action step. Once you start making it your life to take action steps, success will follow…I absolutely guarantee it.
Contact me here if you are ready to take action
