I met up with an old friend for coffee last Saturday. Going in, I knew I would enjoy catching up with somebody I had not seen for a decade, but I did not expect I would walk away with two lessons in entrepreneurship.
The first is to never take anything for granted. If you have opposable thumbs, are in good health, and you’re living in the age where anything is just a click away, then be grateful and use your abundant resources to innovate and help others.
The second is that we must actively seek inspiration in every turn. As the CEO of a company, my job is to inspire and motivate my team. But, what most people don’t realize is that even inspirational people (aka: the cheerleaders) need to seek inspiration themselves. I lost track of that lesson when I got caught up with the hustle and bustle of growing my company.
It took just one guy to remind me of this, and I’m honored to share his story with you. My hope is that it inspires and motivates you in the same way it did me.
Joey’s Story
Joey is an old friend from college whom I lost touch with since. We reconnected earlier this year, and last week he reached out letting me know he would be visiting and wanted to meet for coffee, which turned into a highly profound three hour conversation about life and entrepreneurship.
Joey divulged that he suffered from a serious health condition that, at its worst, prevented him from walking or standing for more than a few minutes at a time and impaired his ability to read. And to make things worse, his condition is poorly understood with no FDA-approved treatment.
He had to do his own research into non-conventional treatments and spent over $200,000 trying different drugs and alternative cures, but without much success.
It wasn’t until the winter of 2011 when he had a breakthrough. Joey learned that some patients with similar conditions recovered shortly after camping in the desert. Without much to lose, Joey decided to give it a shot.
What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Within a month, Joey felt better and went from death’s door to hiking every day.
And as it turns out, his time at the desert paved the way for something more than him getting better. Joey told me that he owes his recovery to the patients who shared their experiences with him. This inspired him to start his own company, so he can provide others with the same opportunity given to him: the chance to connect with people with similar conditions to share and learn from each other.
That’s when HealClick was born. The company matches patients to those with similar conditions, so they can share the most relevant treatments and experiences. It serves as a knowledge base and support system that can help people learn more about their conditions and hopefully find ways to heal.
In addition, HealClick shares anonymous patient data to researchers so they can get clinical trials done and hopefully find cures for more conditions.
To make HealClick a reality, Joey sought advice and guidance from other entrepreneurs (myself included) and got insights about the ins and outs of starting a company. Because of his health, it is much more difficult for him to attend events, recruit talents and meet investors. But he managed to get it started, one phone call at a time.
Today, I’m happy to share that HealClick is launching in January, and Joey’s health is much better. He is well enough to endure the long hours of the startup life and he has managed to assemble a passionate team that will help him realize his vision.
Today, I’m happy to share that HealClick is launching in January, and Joey’s health is much better. He is well enough to endure the long hours of the startup life and he has managed to assemble a passionate team that will help him realize his vision.
Lessons Learned
Joey made me realize how lucky I am to be able to pursue something I believe in while in good health – something that I never thought of, and perhaps, took for granted. I also realized that a lot of us are in the same boat. Most of us are in great health and have more than enough resources to pursue our dreams but how many of us actually do it?
Joey’s story reminded me never to take things for granted. He renewed my appreciation for my health, my mind, and the people around me.
And as I looked at him in awe, it also hit me that I haven’t been that inspired in a while.
As CEO, I’m always looking for ways to do things faster, be more innovative, and be more productive, but I haven’t been actively looking for ways to be more inspired. Which is a shame, because inspiration can spark creativity, bring about passion, and enable people to do amazing things.
I fell into the trap of waiting for inspiration rather than proactively looking for it. It also dawned on me that I was thinking about inspiration all wrong. You don’t wait for inspiration; rather, it waits for you. It’s all around us, waiting to be discovered. It’s in old friends, it’s in the people we work with, and it could even be in mundane things we encounter every day. We just have to keep our eyes and minds open.
Upon realizing this, I vowed that I would stop awaiting inspiration—instead, I would seek it. And I’d like to invite you to do the same.
via forbes
No comments:
Post a Comment