Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in sports and fitness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Mischa Harris, Co-Founder of Athlete Wellness Academy, located in Victoria, BC, Canada.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
We help volleyball players hit the ball harder and get rid of frustrating shoulder and back pain. Essentially we are the pitching coaches of the volleyball world.
We work with athletes as young as 12 and as old as they still want to play volleyball! Our athletes play for high school, club, college, university, provincial, national, and pro teams all over the world.
Tell us about yourself
As you can maybe tell from our name, Athlete Wellness Academy, health and wellness is a big part of why we do what we do. As volleyball players and coaches ourselves, we've been around thousands of players who struggle with shoulder and back pain their whole career, and it's really sad to see - because it's so preventable. So helping athletes get - and stay - healthy is our main priority. But the way we do that has some interesting side effects.
Our background is in movement science, blending the worlds of injury rehabilitation and strength & conditioning. So the way we help players overcome their nagging pain is by helping them move much better. This involves training in the gym, as well as technical training on the court. What we consistently see is that when athletes get more mobility, better control through big ranges of motion, and a more efficient technique, their body not only feels better because it's not compensating and getting broken down - they also hit WAY harder!! That's just what movement efficiency does.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
As a business, we are still young and figuring things out. Seeing how receptive people have been to a new approach to training the volleyball arm swing has been pretty amazing, and we've leaned into this to help simplify what we do.
When we work with someone one-on-one, we pull from decades of experience and get the results we get because we aren't rigid about following one specific way of doing things - we prefer problem-solving. Problem-solving, however, is a very difficult thing to explain to people until they're involved in the process!
So I'd say the gradual simplification that our business has gone through has been our biggest accomplishment - both in making it more sustainable for us and in getting the message to more athletes, thanks to a bit more clarity and focus.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
Without a doubt, wearing multiple hats. That's definitely part of what makes it fun, though! There are many things that my business partner and I have realized we aren't very good at and don't enjoy doing - so finding a way to make systems work for us, and our skillsets has been an ongoing project. Finding the right people to help at the right times has been infinitely helpful!
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Simplify whatever idea you have as much as possible - fight the urge to try and do everything!
- Treat everything as a work in progress - get it to the place where it's ready to test your assumptions, and then learn from what happens and adjust, and repeat. I don't think anyone gets it right on the first try!
- Grow a great team around you, people who know things that you don't and who you can ask questions frequently. Having someone who can see the big picture from the outside is a life-saver when you get lost in the details.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.athletewellnessacademy.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/athletewellnessacademy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/athletewellnessacademy/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/athlete-wellness-academy/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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