Lean Startups and Bartering Relationships (Part 3)

C) Build A Business That Will Offer Value

You cannot get rich, unless you offer people something of value.

People are attracted to things that they value, thus, they will treat it as valuable. 

How will your business benefit another?

Conduct two measurements before you embark on your business: Do a SWOT analysis, and a Cost-to-Benefit (CBA) analysis. These will give you a fair indication of what to prepare for. 

If you are investing into a business, avoid parasitic processes where you have to 'work' for somebody else's pot of gold. If you do, ensure you are higher up in the process. You can build your team, but ascertain that those you 'lead' will benefit just as much in their near-future. Avoid annoyingly-obligatory sales processes, i.e. selling to friends and family, and the  familiar. 

If it is a skills-based business, ascertain your skills, experience and wisdom. Identify your Unique Selling Points (UPSs) and uniqueness. Clarify this question: What makes you different that we should consider engaging you? Avoid the lowest-price trap (reflecting poor marketing competency).

More to follow. Best of planning and preparation!

Lean Startups & Bartering Relationships (Part2)

In a continuing series on business startups and entrepreneurial ventures, we discuss the relevance of Relationships.

B) Bartering Your Way To Results

Bartering may seem like 'old school', yet it is one of the backbones of business success. The 'Law of Exchange' is as old as trading, sales, and reciprocity. 

One of the considerations of bartering is that it can be informal, and kept 'off the books'. Because, it is an 'exchange' of service-for-service, or product-for-product, or service-for-product, or product-for-service, you can be flexible with how you calculate your 'costs'. You can barter your editing services for a new business website for advice on accounting and submitting tax forms. You can barter a workshop on business writing for a participant's spot in a business seminar. You can trade your coaching services as a personal-trainer for accommodation in a residential-apartment overseas (when you are on vacation or a business trip). Write an feature article for a website, and in turn enjoy shared readership.  

Tied in to this process of bartering, is the Law of Reciprocity (as observed by Robert Cialdini, Ph.D.). You can reap massive benefits by leveraging on professional and personal relationships (more on this later). This may also pave the way for co-branding, partnering, co-sponsorship, and alliances.

Leadership Lessons: Bartering is about exchanging, and not taking advantage of anyone. You can trade products, services, and even opportunities to maximise progress of your business and vocation. Consider how you barter sensibly and with sensitivity. Sometimes, paying for the service or product is much 'cleaner' and without attachments and encumbrances.

Starting A Business

How do you start a business? How do you go about doing this?

I had pondered over this about 15 years ago. Before that, I had no business acumen and savvy, other than running other people’s business as a paid staff. I sold club memberships, advertisement space, and sports equipment. I enjoyed these opportunities for it fostered a confidence for creating business relationships. I learnt earlier on, that commercial enterprises relied on educating others in the process and to be a beacon of optimism and hopefulness. 

There are some useful guidelines on how to engage in the process of starting your company. I will elaborate on these more in future.

1)    What are you passionate about?

2)    Do you think you can turn your passion into a business?

3)    What is the market for your expertise?

4)    How long do you intent to stay in business?

5)    How will your business benefit others? Who will it benefit most?

6)    How will you build your credibility in business?

7)    Which relationships will you need to establish immediately?

8)    Who can you learn from, regarding business and on this type of business?

9)    Which success stories can you emulate?

10) Which will be the indicators of your success and what will be your expected timelines?

Leadership Lessons: Lead with your dreams. Your dreams are your visions. Back them up with action.

Entrepreneurs As Marathoners

If art imitates life, then, does life imitate art?

Many active sportspeople, especially those in endurance sports, seem to also be highly-driven people in their professions and vocations. They demonstrate qualities and values that are mirrors of national and professional athletes.

A business project may be viewed and treated as a race. When developing the business, the entrepreneur or businessperson plans and executes the plan, with timing and precision. Little is left to chance, if one is to ascertain success. Values engaged include endurance, persistence, determination, innovation, passion, diligence and discernment. These values help sustain your business, for they support your motivation, providing the energy to reach your goals.

Be in business for the long run. Be a marathoner. Keep going.

Making Your Entry

Drawing up initiatives is about taking the first steps. Every business or social process involves an entry strategy. How do you join? How will you get in? How will you get close to people of influence? You may not be able to entertain the idea of new connections until you enter into a relationship, and formalize it.

The desire to be fit involves an entry strategy, with multiple tactics:

1)    Questioning the importance of your wanting to get fit (to look younger, be more attractive to your partner, to fit into your wedding clothes, to feel more energetic)

2)    Joining a gym (paying the hefty joining fee, and monthly membership fees)

3)    Seeking and engaging a personal fitness coach

4)    Writing a list of races/activities to do (walk, run, biathlon, swim, triathlon, marathon)

5)    Signing up for these activities (e.g. Singapore Biathlon, Singapore Marathon, Yellow Ribbon Project Run, Army Half-Marathon, Gold Coast Marathon, half-Ironman)

6)    Showing up and completing your first workout

How do you gain entry into a club? Does it require a sponsor? Do you have the qualities the club is seeking? Do you possess the requisite professional qualifications in order to be considered for the public tender? How extensive is your track record? Some clubs make entry stringent, and value the exclusivity that comes with the commitment. ‘Membership by accomplishment’ may be the key to unlocking the door to possibilities. The timings for qualifying into the world’s oldest marathon – the Boston Marathon – makes it tough but a worthwhile challenge to the global ‘club’ of ‘finishers’. The international society for high-IQ individuals and geniuses, Mensa requires at least a 140-point score on their test. As the challenge becomes more physically demanding and risky, the smaller is the size of that club (e.g. Seven Summits finishers; those who climbed Mt. Everest, Four Desert Challenges).

In starting up a new business initiative, you will need to do the following:

1)    Register your business (under the correct category)

2)    Create a new business/corporate bank account

3)    Begin the process of seeking business (making pitches and presentations, drawing up proposals)

In change management, after all the consideration and preparation, you will have to take the plunge. Wade into the deep end, and assess your ability to stay afloat or swim. You are beyond the conceptualizing, and now into the exploration process.

Leadership Lessons: What are the entry requirements of your new business? How comfortable are you with ceremonies and social rituals? How do you earn inclusion into exclusive memberships? 

How To Start A New Business

I have heard this script before from retiring members of the working community: ‘I’ll probably start a business with the small amount of money I have.’ Is that a good idea? Could there be a better or best idea other than starting a new business – a high-risk proposition? When pursued further on which business they had thought of, the vague reply I get includes ‘I will probably go into the food business!’ or ‘Something similar to what I have been doing!’

There are also cases where a staff feels that they have had enough experience working with/for somebody that they decide to start a similar business with a team of partners. Some resourceful ones bank on their track record of competencies and leverage on it in their new venture. That sounds like a good start, yet is there more than meets the eye?

Is it clever or optimistic to start a business, when you have not had the experience? Can you harness the power of pure passion and channel it towards business? Doing business is also starting a new lifestyle on renewed focus, purpose, and sense of relevance.

Whatever your dreams and motivations are, here are some considerations before plunging into the deep waters of small business:

1)    What are your reasons for going into business?

2)    What is your passion?

3)    How ready are you to convert passion into a business? Your passion for a sport or hobby may cease to be that when you focus on the business side of things.

4)    Which are your core competencies related to business?

5)    How extensive is your network of connections in your business?

6)    How do you plan to leverage on the competencies and resourcefulness of your business partners?

7)    How savvy are you in sales, marketing and promotions?

8)    Who are your mentors in business, and how do you tap on their expertise?

9)    What are your entry and exit strategies?

10) How will manage the differing expectations of partners once you develop your business past its infancy?

11) How willing will you be to give this business up?

12) Which are your operating core values? How will you show fairness, integrity, trust, honesty and respect to customers, clients, contractors and colleagues?

These are questions that small and medium-sized business owners have to contend and grapple with, throughout their company’s existence. I wish you every success in your decision.

*****

Looking forward to my track session (at 6.15am) with 14-time Ironman winner, Belinda Granger and her husband-training partner, Justin. Then, it is off to attend a Train-The-Trainer workshop. In spite of the predictions and predilections of a sliding global economy, it will be business as usual. We have to keep moving on order to engage the gears of the economy.

Tomorrow: Book Review on Innovation.

Leadership is Your Business!

Are you a leader?

Of course you are! As long as you attempt to influence a colleague, customer, contractor or client, you are leading. As reiterated many times, our conversations are where the opportunities for influence lie.

What is your business as a leader?

Leaders test themselves at times. Sometimes, they have to make the tough decisions. Other times, they have to brave the elements. When you pull out of a race due to injury or poor health, it is a smart thing to do. There is no failure if you made the attempt. There’s always another time to achieve your goals. 38-year-old Chris ‘Macca’ McCormack dropped out (suspected hamstring injury) after the ride in yesterday’s ITU race in London, and comments on the social media platform have been hurled at him, including his lack of youth. This twice-Ironman World Champion is not denying himself a chance to represent his country in the Olympic Games after being unfairly chopped off 12 years ago. Why deter him? Was what Ironman World Champion, Faris Al-Sultan said of Macca (visibly absent) during the press conference of the 2011 edition of the Aviva Singapore Ironman 70.3 ‘professional’? (Video courtesy of BPM Sports, a triathlon coaching company based in Singapore).

When we see participants of various conditions and physical sizes run a marathon, have you ever wondered to yourself: ‘Are you serious?’ If you do, you were probably a pedestrian and not a runner. Isn’t a dream a target to be aimed at? Is a goal something important to be achieved? As leaders, our purpose and business is to effectively guide people towards this dream, aspiration or ambition? We do this through our intelligence, empathy, sensitivity, sensibility, abilities and talents. To not use them, is to lose and waste them.

Leadership Lessons: Live to lead another day. Leading is led. Influence others in the way you walk, talk and express your self. Lead with you head, heart and hands. Mind your business as a leader. 

*****

Congratulations, Tee Boon Tiong on garnering the white tee (no pun intended) at Norseman 2011. He completed the challenging task (with strained ribs and a fractured finger) in about 20 hours. Don decided to call it in after a long swim and longer ride. These two boys were brave for they braced the cold and choppy swim, and chilly ride. I hope that this teaches us not to make deprecating remarks about long-distance triathlon, like ‘which is an easier Ironman?’ The truth is: there is none. Which is the extreme one?

At the MR25 Time Trial yesterday evening, I moved from the last to 6^th out of about 22 runners. I was in a phlegm-like difficulty at the last two kilometres of the trail run, sucking in air and embracing the suck. I missed my new ranking narrowly (by one second) and came home in 22:00, an improvement over my first cross-country trial in February. Fast-paced training is intense and painful and it stresses the major muscles of our body. The overall winner, from Holland, won by almost a kilometre's breath in about 19 minutes. I believe that is he is an elite age-grouper who has done Kona. A couple of Masters category runners filled out the upper percentile of faster runners. Such was the strength of field at this small but hungry gathering. My joyful personal thought about all the runners there: respect. I also met MR25 committee member, Mika Kume who placed 2nd at a recent 21K run, and was top-five at the Sundown 100K Ultramarathon. She and her MR25 committee organised the run, and marshaled us on. Thank you, MR25!

The Significance of Your Company Culture

Company culture is the spirit, attitude and character of its people put together. Although products or services are the backbone of business, the working culture of staff and its management matter. A happy staff is a productive staff.

America’s Continental Airlines moved from ‘worst to first’ after its CEO, Gordon Bethune re-invented the way his staff was treated, and how they treated their customers. Within one year, the ailing airline recovered from a loss of $100 million per year to a profit of $100 million. Bethune goes about his day thanking his staff, customers and even assisting with a bag or two at the baggage handling section. His management style is mainly by charisma and management by walking around (MBWA). Once embarrassed staff who removed their company badges when lunching, now wear their uniforms proudly and deliver top-notch customer service.

Singapore’s executive search and temp agency, Business Trends (now absorbed by Kelly Services) had staff ring a bell when they rang in a sale. Staff would recognize a colleague’s sales closure with high-fives!

A leading Australian management consulting company’s working philosophy includes: ‘We will end up better mates at the end of each project.’

Elite Bicycles, based in Philadelphia and Singapore, is a boutique customized bike-fitting company. Their attention to details and personalized service is impeccable. A comprehensive bike fitting session takes about 3-4 hours, with initial focus on physical diagnostics, muscle strength testing, core stability exercises, limb measurements, and the actual fitting. Their strong and shared culture of attentiveness and patience to each client creates brand building and customer loyalty. Much of their business is based on positive word of mouth.

Your company’s culture is unique. It defines the way your business is run. It reflects on the products and services that we present for the benefit of our customers.

An unspoken culture of this website is ‘to share fully of our experiences’. I hope that you are enjoying and benefitting from each author’s wisdom and sharing. Enjoy building your business!

Reasons To Partner In Your Business

The future of business development and growth is in strategic partnerships and alliances. Collaboration is the operative word. No person is an island, so we have to build bridges across to another land mass. With active networking, we can build vital links to hearts and minds – if we are to promote and instill changes (for the better). Volunteers, retailers, customers, consultants, community members, family and friends – all these relationships involve partnering.

When I started my own small business 11 years ago, I realized early that I could not do it alone. I also learnt that my journey would be made more meaningful and worthwhile if I worked with others. I focused on work that would offer mutually beneficial outcomes. Business is about ‘busy-ness’ and the busier and involved you are, the better it would be in developing your value. When you engage with partners – and these can be short-term, project-based partnerships – you enhance your capability. Sharing is a value appreciated by many. Sharing involves the spirit of generosity.

How would you approach partnering in business?

1)    Build rapport with people around you. Be liked.

2)    Enhance existing relationships with others – keep building value with them.

3)    Never burn bridges – you never know who may engage or employ you one day.

4)    Do active networking – follow up with each contact, and create further connection.

5)    Not every social occasion is a business occasion. You don’t have to bring a box of cards to dinner. Enjoy the company.

6)    Seek partners with differing skills and expertise. Integrate diversity.

7)    Complement your partner by bringing your expertise to the relationship.

8)    As long as you don’t feel threatened by others, partner up.

9)    There is perceived and potential value to larger, partnership-based, projects that you can do.

10) Sharing of resources and co-branding. Synergistic effects can lead to added value and reduced expenses.

In recent months, I have been involved and engaged in new partnerships. It has been enriching thus far, and I expect we would earn our cumulative value in terms of new experiences, relationships and potential. Give, and take in your partnerships. Have ‘clever-rate’ with you, when you collaborate.

The Challenges of A Professional Athlete

It may sound cool and glamorous – being a professional athlete or sportsperson – but is it? Only the top-tier and second-tier athletes make a decent living; many others struggle. You enjoy the purse only when you win, or meet the stringent criteria of a series of races. There are little guarantees, and you cannot insure your sustained fitness or wellness. Yet, this profession attracts a few select ones, as it can be a calling, or something they have to do.

Having had a few days off to prepare for next week’s busy schedule, I attempted to train like a professional endurance athlete (since I am three weeks out to my next 226K race). As fun and flexible as the job title sounds, I learnt that it is tremendously hard work.

1)    You need to be disciplined in your ‘working’ day. Mild distractions need to be kept that way.

2)    A ‘rest day’ may include ‘active recovery’ where you have a lighter day of physical exertion. Naps and recovery are a necessary part of your working equation.

3)    You have meetings and other business commitments around your training sessions.

4)    Your value is determined by your performance: how many podium placing, and your overall ranking.

5)    If you are established, you may live on a retainer rate or sponsorship fees (sponsored products is not enough as you have bills to pay). New pros find it challenging in the start-up stage.

6)    You may supplement or enhance your income with personal or group coaching, as well as leading in training camps.

7)    Build your personal branding: presence and pleasance. You need to be liked by your fans or sponsors will be hesitant to collaborate with you.

8)    This is a profession and a business. You have to mind (mine) your own business (busyness).

9)    Stay injury-free and fatigue-free; you cannot perform well when you are hurting, or over-committed with races.

10)You work on most weekends, as that’s where most races occur.

11)You need to be financially savvy, and plan your budget and expenses around your races. Every race is an investment, and these need to be planned far in advance.

12) Travelling to race is stressful, and you can live out of a suitcase and bike-case for wide stretches of time.

Thus, I have very high respect for professional athletes who live their dream profession. It is, undeniably, a very tough way to earn a living, yet it is driven by one’s passion, belief in their talent, and a desire to reach their potential. It is a shorter-term profession, which needs to be planned long term, and beyond.

Leadership Lessons: When was the last time you trained like a professional athlete? How do you schedule and prioritise your daily and weekly events?

Give yourself a tougher challenge by considering training twice a day – it is no different than students who do twice-daily, swim squad training. If you are coached, you may be experiencing such a commitment. You will sleep very well though. Sleep comes readily for those who train hard. 

Never Frown on the Small Business

A new business startup can be a hairy and hoary proposition. There are many indicators to consider, and there are countless variables that can jeopardize any creative attempts. You may have heard about painful and disappointing close downs of businesses that began with an optimistic premise. Animated conversations revolved about supporting a cause, a purpose – altruism and philanthropy as part of the company’s philosophy for business – however faded into obscurity and oblivion. The market seems intolerant of fly-by-night operations, and businesses that are built around hyperbole and multi-tiered promise of wealth and prosperity but require your 16-digit credit card number to proceed with your training kit.

Statistically, more than 90 percent of small businesses do not make it through the first year. It gets progressively harder to stay afloat in the subsequent, unless the new business-owner integrates strategic thinking, partnerships and alliances. Partnerships entrenched in shared assets and capital, invariably, end on a sour note with conflict over financial states and approach to business. Business built on a premise of failed promise, false evidence, falsified research, and a quagmire of confusion lead many down the path of the dismayed and disillusioned. Employment seems like a better choice than being your own boss.

Here are some considerations on how Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can rejuvenate and re-energise industries in an ailing economy. SMEs can still act local, and think global. As I bantered with a friend today, if you were to scale up your retail business would you build another branch, or increase your existing floor space? Each is a different decision with different outcomes and challenges.

Having said these, the SME is a testing ground of wits, creativity, courage, and true grit. When you are self-employed, and even employ others, your mindset takes an enormous shift towards the future, possibilities, relevance, and connectivity. Every ounce of skill, iota of experience, dollop of influence, and bushel of potential in the fibres of your body will be called into action.

Even when things don’t go your way, there should not be any shame. It takes a lot to marry the conditions of book-smart with street-smart. You learn to turn a win-lose situation into a win-learn situation. Leaders from adversity sprout!

Reading Resource: Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start.

Starting Your Business

You can also establish yourself as a leader by starting your own business. Leadership is about leading, and taking the lead for your dreams and aspirations. Entrepreneurs are leaders because they take the first plunge into a relative unknown, not a complete unknown (as this would be deemed ‘blindness’).

Here are my 10 tips thoughts on starting a small business, or Work at Home (WAH) business:

1)    Seek business coaches or mentors.

2)    Learn, unlearn and relearn.

3)    Define your business then refine your business.

4)    Mind/Mine your own business. Really.

5)    Give, share and be generous. The returns can be oddly rewarding.

6)    Stay busy. Business is ‘busy-ness’.

7)    Focus on your core competencies and your forte.

8)    Be clear, confident and committed.

9)    Support a cause as part of your business.

10) If you are not enjoying it, change your emphasis, or quit.

To incorporate online-based business methodology, I recommend reading these established business leaders. I will post more of my experiences if you find this useful.

Go forth – and build! Your customers will come.

Staying Afloat

This evening’s gentle swim session with two motivated members of my Ironman team yielded some reflections for me. As I swam, after a lengthy hiatus after my last foray into the 226km format and an ultra-marathon to boot, I was focused on staying afloat. I reminded myself to stay ‘long’, glide more, and stay near the surface of the water. I reflected on how unique a situation I was in: a body denser than water, staying buoyant and mobile.

During tough economic times, how do you stay employable? How do you sustain your business? How do you stay current in your business?

Our density will determine whether we sink or swim during difficult times. If you are burdened by over-spending and ambitious budgets, you may sink in the depths of despair. If you are a dense person and refuse to consider suggestions and recommendations, you may fall under the weight of your ignorance and arrogance.

Swimming is an analogy we can adopt in our professional and personal lives. How do we swim with the sharks without being eaten alive, wrote Harvey Mackay about two decades ago. Swim or sink, so goes the cliché. Have you found yourself in the deep end of the pool? Have you plumbed the depths of your potential? Even the stock market talks about flotation. These are things worth considering.

As leaders, how do we navigate through rough waters? How do we stay steady and sane when the currents of change wash over us? How do you deal with the undercurrents of consequence, impact and cause/effect? How do you stay current in your general knowledge, skill sets, mindset and expertise in these turbulent times?


My coach, Fox is surfing in Sumatra over the past two weeks. He chose the location because of the challenge of the waves. I trust he is keeping well and look forward to chatting with him about his escapes with the wake and waves. He knows a few things about taking the hits from large waves!


Here is a very good resource by Kevin Koskella on swimming techniques and coaching. This a website for First-Time Triathletes with Kevin's swimming tips.

Amusing Weekend Musings and Amusement

I could not resist the use of alliteration: as quaint or quirky it may read. Nevertheless I have been logging in many silent minutes on Tom Robbin’s book of short essays Wild Ducks Flying Backwards; he complements the other two I am snacking on: ‘Norman Mailer’s The Spooky Art, and Stephen King On Writing. Inspiration, aspiration and perspiration are part of the investment in both art and business. And, business is both science and art.

I was watching James Sun (finalist on reality television series, The Apprentice) host a program on Channel News Asia called Sun Tze War on Business (9.30pm, Tuesday). In a nutshell, the battlefield of business involves the use of leadership, strategies/methods, terrain/marketplace, strengths/leverage points, and use of intelligence/information. That is why businesses need to define their business by their brand, branding, product and services, customized service experiences, sales management, and use of social media communication.

Here is a good article on the use of Social Media Tools 2.0, mainly the application of blogging in a corporate setting.

I wish Nigel Chua all the best in his next Ironman triathlon quest: Ironman Utah. He is a very good distance runner and triathlete. Do not let his grey hair fool you - it is his disguise! He will be the first of two Singaporeans to participate in this inaugural race.

The triathlete from the left is, probably, going to race in Utah. He has completed nine Ironman races; he also assisted last year as support crew for the first two Singaporeans to ever compete in Norseman. Who is he?

The deed is done! I signed up for the Singapore Passion Run 2010, a week before my inaugural 84km adidas Sundown Ultramarathon. I hope that my body holds up, as I have been taking it easier after my mild bout of flu two weeks ago. I am looking forward to running hard on my new K-Swiss running shoes; its inner supports should help correct my low heel arch. Here is a shot of my condition two weeks after Ironman New Zealand. I was manning an 'illegal' water-station, of which I had loads of fun encouraging the Singapore 70.3 participants on - including the brilliant Craig Alexander (reigning 2-time Ironman triathlon world champion). Photographs courtesy of Triathlon Family Singapore friends: Julius, Craig and Yong Feng.

New Quips on the Blog

New blogs by amateur triathletes surface everyday without restraint or record. I am happy for my predictable and persevering company. The richness of these writers’ stories, plus the insights and wisdom integrated into them, make them highly readable even for the merely curious or digitally-pedestrian.

I am not such a stickler for structure or style, as I am for heart. The heart of the matter is, it takes guts to write and courage to share it with the world. Most blogs have their shade and hues of narcissism, idiosyncracy, self-aggrandizement, criticism and critiques. My favourite blogs are conversational, non-judgemental, and often insightful. I learn more from my frequent interactions with the writer. I feel connected to their experiences, observations and interpretations. I don’t necessarily agree with them all the time, yet they make me ponder over my opinion. I feel that my time is well spent reading their thoughtful content.

‘First, write with your heart. Then, with your head!’ ~ Finding Forrester.

I am pleased that there are, indeed, blogs that serve the abject purposes of educating, teaching and sharing. Sure, some blogs and websites are designed for commerce – bloggers want to promote products and sell them (since they may be actively pursuing passive income or own Work-At-Home businesses). Yet, there are many ways to create such impacting influence. Robert B. Cialdini, PhD proposed six such principles in his landmark book, Influence: Psychology of Persuasion.

As my confident friends, bloggers and writers will say: ‘The more, the merrier!’ Keep writing. Keep influencing.

Here are a few blogs worth your time: TRI 4 LIFE YOU, ME & TESKY TRIATHLON TRAINING DIARY

They posted today their cause and tribute to people - we matter because others matter, too.

[Title adapted from a famous boy band in the 1990’s with one original member, now a serious A-list actor.]

INTERVIEW WITH A SERIAL IRONMAN & ENTREPRENEUR - MITCH THROWER (Part 1)

A serial entrepreneur, Mitch is the co-founder of one of the fastest growing companies in the US -- The Active Network, Inc. which includes Active.com, a software, marketing and registration powerhouse. He also co-founded and served for seven years as CEO of The Active Europe Network, Ltd. which operates Active’s business model in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

His initiative and efforts to rapidly consolidate participatory sports registration software companies worldwide has, without any doubt, created the Ticketmaster of participatory sports. His entrepreneurial ideas and initiative have forever changed the global infrastructure of sports participation.

Thrower also serves as the New Media Officer, Strategist & Senior Correspondent for Competitor Group, Inc., (CGI), based in San Diego, California -- a platform media and race event company specializing in the endurance sports sector which includes marathons, cycling, and triathlons. The Company is comprised of several brands, including the Rock n Roll Marathon's nationwide, Triathlete Magazine, Inside Triathlon, Velo News and Competitor Publishing.

Directly tied to America's "Camelot," Mitch is the son of Lori Thrower who was one of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Executive assistants, and of the late Frederick Mitchell Thrower II, who created the Yule Log (a cultural staple in the 60's, a video of a burning fireplace that still airs during the Christmas holidays) when he was the President of WPIX-TV in New York (Channel 11).

Full name: Mitchell Thrower

Age: 41

Profession: Financier, Entrepreneur, Author, Philanthropist, Triathlete

Years in profession: 20

Cities of Residence: La Jolla, CA and New York City

Triathlon experience: 18 years and 18 Ironmans

Pet peeves: When people don't cut their nails before mass swim starts.

Hobbies: Writing, Triathlon, Adventure Travel, Teaching

Walk us through your active lifestyle. You’ve started, managed and invested in several successful businesses including Active.com and Triathlete Magazine, and you are an avid and competitive triathlete. How do you manage all these challenging and time-demanding passions?

I truly believe that the fountain of youth is movement. Not just with your body, but with your mind. Staying active keeps people young and minds sharp. I've been blessed to have been involved in putting some great companies and investment groups together. Jim Woodman and Scott Kyle and I all co-founded The Active Network, (www.active.com) which now has over 2,600 team members around the world and we'll likely do over 100 million transactions in the next year. Competitor Group has also been growing quite rapidly, adding events, magazine titles and soon a major interactive platform.

When things get challenging in and around the work tornado, it's always been a peaceful reprieve to be able to get out and run, bike or swim or go to the gym. And even though I am still involved in many of the ventures I've started, I don't run them per se.

I like to find CEOs and COOs who are far better skilled than I am at navigating the interpersonal land mines associated with managing hundreds of people and expectations. It's my first priority within the first few years of a new venture's launch to find someone who likes the stress of being the CEO more than I do.

Congratulations on last year's Ironman 70.3 performance where you qualified for the World Championship in Clearwater. Are you leaning towards the 70.3 format that is half of the standard Ironman distance?

I will always love the full distance Ironman, but the 70.3 distance makes it possible to stay fit, achieve something amazing and still have a life. Triathlons of any distance are life-changing events. I think my finishes at 70.3 Hawaii and Kona in 2009, though, were more meaningful than all of the other years combined, which is a bold statement. But given the circumstances and what I had to overcome to get to the starting lines, I’ll stand by it. I was hoping to race Ironman Hawaii in 2008, but had to cancel because I ruptured my inner ear membrane and faced a long, often discouraging and painful recovery, so I'll never forget my journey back to the island.

Why the Ironman triathlon? What started you on that?

I discovered the sport of triathlon in 1990, in Westport, Connecticut, where I grew up. I remember the spark I felt when I bought a mountain bike for my first triathlon – the Milford Triathlon.

And for me, triathlon was an exhilarating dream, sparked by the emotions and sensations of swimming, riding a bike and running - the sensations that most of us share when we were kids and our pure spirits impelled us to be constantly in motion. That feeling didn’t evaporate when I put my bike away. Growing up, I've often had a recurring dream that I'm flying – impossible right? But not when I'm descending a big hill in Colorado or California on my bike and I can see the landscape move beneath me…the ground and the trees. I am, in that moment, flying.

Ironman's tag line is "Anything is Possible," but I have learned that your dreams may not happen the way you anticipate.

In my freshman year at St. Lawrence University, I slipped on the ice while running and sustained an injury that required several knee surgeries and prevented me from walking for several months. After I recovered, I started running and did pretty well in some local running races. Then I went to the pool. I couldn’t swim at all at first, so I focused on learning technique. Soon I was swimming, biking, and running to recover from my surgeries. Movement was a great gift that had been taken away, and now it was back. I was lucky in a way because it’s human nature to really appreciate things only when we’ve lost them. When I temporarily lost my capacity to be physically active and regained it, a triathlete was born. That experience presaged the journey I took healing from my ear injury.

Another very rich part of my attraction to this sport is the support I received from all the folks I met in the triathlon world. Triathletes are extraordinary. At my first race, I immediately knew this was a clan, a tribe I wanted to join and I soon discovered that my experience was no exception. I have never met anyone in triathlon who was not highly motivated, who did not fully embrace life. This sport attracts a very successful breed of folks.

When taking on these physical challenges, how do you maintain your balance of work, life and family?

Two-time Ironman Hawaii champion Scott Tinley said something that will stay with me forever: “You have eight hours in the day to work. So, if you work a solid eight hours, then there's another eight hours in the day for you to sleep, and rarely does anybody sleep a full eight hours. Then you still have eight hours for yourself.” So, he had this kind of 8-8-8 rule. Once I realized it was true, I became excited to think of all the possibilities this presented every day to a dedicated person. You just have to control the 8 hours which are yours and not get caught in the slippery slope of time-wasting detours.

How does an active physical lifestyle tie in to your work as an entrepreneur, businessman and leader?

I’m constantly on my feet, running around and multi-tasking on many business projects, which takes endurance. Making fitness one of my top priorities allows me to be healthy physically and mentally. For most people, fitness leads to better relationships, a better outlook on life and, ultimately, success. I love going on bike rides with industry folks, and meeting them at races, and other crossroads where endurance athletes meet. The foundation of all human relationships is common experience. So why not make that experience a healthy one?

What made you do Ironman? How many years did you train before you qualified for Kona?

I qualified the first year I tried to do Kona, in 1994, and I've qualified a few times after that. Every now and then I am honored to get one of the rare Willy Wonka's Golden Tickets because after writing hundreds of thousands of words about Ironman for the media over the last two decades, the WTC would sometimes invite me to come cover the event from the inside. I was the first photojournalist to photograph the Ironman from within the event in 1997, and I shot it again with a still digital camera in 2005. In 2007, I was also the first videographer to video the Ironman while doing the event. Ironman published these videos on Ironman.com's YouTube channel. Holding a camera, even with the safety strap for 10-12 hours is not as easy as it seems, but reading the comments from the inspired viewers made it all worth it. Inspiring and teaching others is one of the best feelings in the world.

Tell us more about your 18 Ironman finishes. What has inspired you to complete so many? ... (to be continued tomorrow).

Photo-credits: Triathlete magazine