In both business and life, endurance, not speed, is of the utmost importance. Jesse Itzler's first book was rejected by 15 publishers before number 16 gave him a shot. 30 is how many years Jesse’s been running races without winning a single win. And 100 is roughly how many miles Jesse covered in his longest ultramarathon, races that taught him the one business lesson most entrepreneurs never learn: you don't have to be the fastest to finish first.
"I've never won anything in my life, not even close," Itzler tells me with a laugh during our recent conversation. "I'm back in the pack. In a marathon with 60,000 runners in New York, I came in like 57,000th place. But these ultra marathons aren't about being the best runner, they're all about will."
It's a philosophy that's carried the serial entrepreneur through an unlikely journey: from performing as rapper "Jesse Jaymes" (his single "Shake It Like a White Girl" hit #74 on Billboard in 1991) to co-founding Marquis Jet and selling it to Berkshire Hathaway, to leading ZICO Coconut Water's sale to Coca-Cola. Along the way, he became part-owner of the Atlanta Hawks and married Spanx founder Sara Blakely, creating one of entrepreneurship's most dynamic power couples.
Now in its 3rd year, Jesse is hosting the Runningman Festival, a unique fitness and wellness experience and conference designed to challenge, inspire and bring like-minded people together in Kingston Downs: Rome, Georgia in mid-September. Jesse is the definition of serial entrepreneur but what most people miss about his approach to business is that he's never actually trying to win the race everyone else is running.
I hope you get as much out of this conversation with Jesse as I did!
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