Spartan Race and Entrepreneurship

Some people may relate entrepreneurship to a marathon whereas some may relate it to a triathlon. Personally, I associate entrepreneurship closely to burden races like the Spartan Race. It is not that I’m looking down on other sports but simply, I have it in my mind every time I partake a Spartan Race.
Spartan Race is a series of obstacle races of varying distance and difficulty ranging from 3 miles to marathon distances. For those who may not know much about Spartan Race, you can google it, Ok?
– To complete a race, you have got to get yourself into a river and mud. Do not expect to complete the race without getting yourself wet and dirty. Many entrepreneurs have this thinking when they’re starting their business. “I should hire a salesman to find sales, an operations guy to manage the operation, an administrative staff to manage the office, and my job is to set strategy, network and manage people”. I won’t disagree with that thought but the question is, do you have that budget now? Do you think you are able to manage your business without knowing the details? As a business owner, don’t you need to know your customers and suppliers? Are complains not relevant to you? Let’s be practical, if you can’t get your hand dirty, you are not serious in your business.
– In Spartan Race, there are a few types of Burden Carry, e.g Sand Bag (25lbs to 45lbs depending whether you are in men or women category). It’s not super heavy for you to lift it but when you need to carry this for the next 200-300m, that is no joke… In running our own business, we tend to finance the business using our own money, thinking that” my money is the Company’s money and Company’s money is my money.” In a short period of time you might not feel the burden, but try whether can you to do this for the next 2-3 years? You probably can’t survive before your business busts.
– During the race, you’ll likely lose count on the distance you have run and you always find it shocking when you see the signboard indicating a mileage that’s way shorter than your expectation. Similar to our entrepreneurship journey, we always think that we have done enough on our end but why are we not getting what we expected? Eg: we have offered our best price but why are the customers not happy? we have treated our employees so well but why do they still leave us? Besides the luck, I will say “your best is not good enough pal……”
– In Spartan Race, you are required to complete the movement in every station and if you can’t do it, you need to perform 30 burpees as a punishment. However, if you notice carefully, many athletes that’ve signed up for Open category (ie. not competitive category) don’t really follow. What they care for are the finisher medals and tee shirts – taking pictures and posting on their social media accounts. Likewise in business, you will notice many young entrepreneurs are very active in sharing their progress and success in social media. They’re always very proud to announce their new ventures and share their “Success stories” by giving talks and even called themselves “Serials Entrepreneurs”……… That reminds me of a saying, “empty vessels make the most noise”.
– Before the race, some may have already set a very high target. They wanna complete the race in the shortest time possible and some may even plan to sign up for the next few races in advance. However after the race, some may realise that this is way too difficult for them and they are not ready to pursue the next race, therefore they quit. Similar to the time when we started our businesses. We dreamt of the achievements and rewards when we started, but along the way, we face many challenges and obstacles, some are bearable but some are big enough to stop your business. For some who had failed, they may take a short break, save more money before they return to their entrepreneurship but the majority will quit and never return.
These are just my thoughts and I find it really interesting whenever I’m in a Spartan Race. Do share with me if you encounter the similarity of entrepreneurship in any other sports.