[INSPIRE 56] MIKE STEMPLE - HOW TO CUT THROUGH THE BS & CHASE YOUR DREAMS! | Entrepreneur & Runner | Spirituality | Self-Help

Today we have a very inspired entrepreneur, artist and athlete, who will be talking with us about overcoming hurdles, chasing your dreams, and doing what it takes to succeed. He should know, he’s built over 20 companies worth over 100 million dollars (combined).

His name is Mike Stemple, and I’m proud to call him my friend, and our first mentor, when we were getting our first company RunBare together, what feels like eons ago. Mike has a knack for cutting through the B.S. and getting at the core of what it takes to succeed. He’s done this with dozens of startups, while running ultra-endurance races, and in his own way, with his artwork as well. If you’ve ever driven i-25 through Denver, you’ve likely seen his Denver Bronco’s mural on a prominent building.

I think though, what impresses me most about Mike is his inability to quit, hear no, or get discouraged, no matter what. To make 20 million dollar companies, means being willing to fail, and fail a LOT, something Mike knows a lot about too. But he knows how to ride fear, or look past it, something I’m fascinated by.

Mike’s life hasn’t been all roses, he lost his hearing as a child and developed a speech problem. He damaged his brain in a car accident at 24 losing his medical and military career. He’s struggled with depression himself, and with severe illness, something I’ll let him tell you about.

But Mike has come back, time and time again, not just to build companies, but to inspire us all. At age 39 he became a sponsored athlete after running hundreds of miles across the desert sands in the Sahara. I guess that’s why he calls himself, a full-time inspirer.

Questions Include:

• What was life like for you as a kid?
• How did you become a serial entrepreneur?
• You’ve had numerous very serious health-challenges and really trying times. In retrospect, why do you think these happened?
• What’s your mission in life? How would you say it’s changed or evolved?
• How or why did you ever think, I’d like to become a sponsored athlete and run across the sahara?
• How do you get the idea to start a company?
• What have been some start ups we may be familiar with?
• I’ve recently heard the expression from numerous sources fail fast. What do you think of failure?
• Can You Talk About the Law of Attraction, The Secret, and Yoda
• You used to have a website Iamnotafraid.com, what do you mean by that?
• What’s the illness you’ve struggled with?
• Recently, you struggled through a pretty dark time. I think we ALL go through dark times, if we can recognize that, they often make us stronger. What did you go through and how did it change you?
  • What advice would you give for parents raising kids, or to empower kids these days?

Topics Include:

1. Lost hearing – learning how to communicate
   1. Learning it was okay to fail
   2. Learned failure will only happen if work hard and try but success will only happen if try
   3. Yoda – try or not try – disagrees, thinks all there is is the try
2. Fail and Fail Fast
   1. Rails against Yoda Quote, because greatest things in his life at moment thought failure was imminent – if believed it was absolute, that there was nothing beyond
      1. Law of Attraction & The Secret
   2. Ran Atacama Desert Crossing
      1. Didn’t want to play it safe
      2. Wanted to truly “live”

• Act to prove his health

1. Training became his full-time job
2. Separated shoulder on flight to Chile
3. Spiritually was vacant – didn’t go there with full respect of The Universe

• Spiritual experience – changed person

3. “I lived my whole life to become the person I am today – was it worth it?”
4. Flipped “worth” question around – was my life worth it to The Universe
   1. Realized lived so much about “me” was I worthy of my life?
5. Back from desert
6. Succeed more than you lose
7. Favorite moments
   1. 20 100 million dollar plus companies or “step children” to him
   2. Skinit
   3. Rich N Wraps (3M bought them)
   4. Odojo,
   5. Lesoro,
   6. Enriche
8. Courage vs. Bravery
   1. Courage exists in fear, bravery transcends it
   2. Like’s courage since has to be with fear
   3. Learns to separate the rational vs. the irrational fear.
9. How do you predict success?
   1. “Effectual Action”
      1. Premise #1 (bedrock of overcoming fear)
         1. Overcoming who are you?
         2. What do you know?
         3. Who do you know?
            1. Everything will come out mediocre if try to do it all yourself
         4. Passion is the box that holds the above 3 questions together

• Can’t do a “money idea”

1. Why “Wet T-Shirt In A Box” is a Million Dollar Idea, but NOT the right way to go.
2. MUST MEET YOUR CORE VALUES!
3. Passion idea is always best – must be something you totally believe in

• YOU must be YOUR avatar!!!
• Johnny Iveand Steve Jobs, biggest fans of their products

1. Can’t be about the money…world is littered with start-ups this way
   1. Has to be about your passion – if you’re not 100% a believer in it, you won’t have the strength for your company.
   2. Always refer to your company as if it’s an individual and a person.
2. Have to be very introspective
3. Premise #2 Acceptable loss – what am I willing to lose by doing this venture?

• Are you passionate about it???

1. Human condition – suffering will come to us
   1. Everyday given choice, free will, to chose, to dream, to aspire to be better
2. Live life, put it all at risk, put it to the edge and beyond, create with no ego

10. Have Courage
11. Believe your worthy of doing extraordinary things: Bill Gates, Mark Zuckenberg, Richard Branson…they are no different than us, we all have the right, we just need to go out and seize it.
12. Feed dreams and starve fears!!!

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