High Performance, High Purpose: Inside The Mind of an Inventor
High Performance, High Purpose: Inside The Mind of an Inventor
How can business owners use multiple businesses to support each other?
A great decision I made, which might apply to others with multiple businesses, was not giving up my commercial real estate firm. That turned out to be a smart move because it allowed me to diversify across different industries. When one industry suffers—like Silver Defender, which is back in startup mode—my other business can fund and support it, keeping it alive. Without that second business, I might have given up. Being able to wait it out and focus on organic growth has worked well for me.
What should business owners do to build a mission-driven team?
It all comes down to having the right people working for you. It’s crucial to focus on quality over quantity. Having a team you can trust to handle things when you're not there is incredibly important. Your team needs to share your vision for where the company is headed. If someone is just there for a paycheck and treating the job like a nine-to-five, it’s not going to work. You need people on your team who believe in the overall mission.
What are the challenges of shifting a narrow product positioning to a broader one?
When we launched Silver Defender in 2020, I jumped on the pandemic bandwagon because our product killed COVID and protected people from it. So, we marketed everything around COVID and put up signs saying the product kills COVID. At the time, that’s where the demand was.
Now, I have to backtrack. We need to update all of our distributors and change their marketing materials because they still have the old COVID-focused messaging on their websites. It’s a lot of work because we work with very large national and international distributors, and the process to change things is slow.
In hindsight, it wasn’t the best decision to position the product so narrowly, but as a startup, we saw a demand and went all in.
Why is daily exercise important for business owners' discipline and mental strength?
One thing that has definitely shaped who I am and where I am today is working out. I know it may sound overrated to some, but I wake up every morning and go to the gym without hesitation—there's no negotiation. I might take Sundays off from the gym, but I’ll still do something like a hike. So, I never take a full day off. I believe it sets the tone for the day and gives you discipline.
We all know people who rely on drinking or prescription drugs to feel better, but I feel like working out is such a natural way to improve both your physical and mental health. Working out every day is what keeps me going and helps me feel strong. I’ve been doing it for the past 15 to 20 years, consistently.
How can business owners make workouts non-negotiable for better productivity?
Every morning, like yesterday, I was pulling up to the gym, and for a moment, I wanted to turn around because I didn’t feel like working out. But I talked myself out of it, reminding myself, "You're already here, you're going in." I always say, you never regret a workout, but you always regret not working out. Once I’m in the gym, which is an hour-long boot camp class with a trainer, there’s no leaving. The hardest part is just getting there.
You have to make working out non-negotiable. It needs to be the first thing you do in the morning. When people tell me they don’t have time, I say, "Wake up an hour earlier." There’s always time. It’s all about your mindset.
*This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.*
