Lessons from Cirque du Soleil for the Circus of Entrepreneurship

I’ve been an athlete my entire life, and until recently, I had a traditional outlook on fitness. Lift some weights, do some sit-ups, maybe go for a jog, do P90X — as long as you’re moving your body and staying in shape, you’re taking care of yourself. But that was before I saw Cirque du Soleil. Those acrobats perform superhuman feats you won’t find on any school fitness test, and after watching them dazzle the crowd, I realized I was just barely scratching the surface with my athleticism. Joining the Circus OK, I didn’t actually joi Cirque du Soleil. But when I see someone do something amazing, I’m the kind of guy who needs to figure out how to do it myself. So two weeks later, I began circus training under the tutelage of several Cirque du Soleil performers. I quickly learned that nobody works harder than these athletes — and through the frustration, pain, and exhaustion, I realized the life of an aspiring circus performer isn’t so different from the life of an up-and-coming entrepreneur. The beginning of the journey was rough, and after my first training session, one of my mentors, an Olympic gymnastics coach, said in his Eastern European accent, “As comparing to most people in America, you are fit and strong, but as comparing to vhat you vant, you are fat and veak. You must go through hell so you can get to purgatory.” I thought, “Geez, heaven isn’t even in the equation at this point.” I immediately knew he was the guy I wanted to whip me into shape, so I moved to Vegas to pursue this impossible goal. During the first year of conditioning, I had to throw my previous ideas about athletic training out the window. I was now doing exercises I never knew existed while pulling muscles I didn’t know I had. I lost more than 20 pounds in six weeks. My coach wouldn’t let me eat much because gymnastics would destroy my joints if I wasn’t lighter. He said he had to “reconstitute” my muscles to take them from weightlifting bulk to functional acrobatics. My body hurt 24/7, and I questioned my sanity again and again. Is all the time and energy I’m putting toward this dream really worth it? Will I ever actually be able to float though the air with ease? Many entrepreneurs go though a similar struggle. They enter the process starry-eyed, motivated to do whatever it takes to launch a successful venture. But they quickly learn that being an entrepreneur means working yourself to exhaustion and going through trials and tribulations. Ultimately, those who persevere though the initial pain build a strong foundation and succeed in the long run. How to Survive the Circus of Entrepreneurship I’m not a world-class acrobat, but I’ve come a long way. Over the past few years, I’ve identified three mantras that also apply to entrepreneurship: 1. Visualize success. During my training, there was one exercise I struggled with the most: getting a running start and jumping over a tall fence. For a month, I failed over and over again. My frustration reached a boiling point while my coach, an African-French parkour master, repeated, “Come on, man! You’re such a baby!” When I caught myself heading down the wrong mental path, I took a step back and visualized the fence as a representation of an obstacle in my life. Then, I visualized myself sprinting up to it and easily clearing it. It took me a few more tries, but visualizing success before tackling the task provided me with a confidence boost. And seeing the symbolism in this fence helped me realize the key role visualization can play in conquering the other physical and mental struggles in my life. You, as an entrepreneur, need a clear vision when launching a business. You need to know where you want to go and be able to see yourself getting there. 2. Fully commit. When I was struggling with back handsprings, I realized, “If I commit 100 percent, I land on my hands, but if it’s 95 percent, I land on my head.” This became somewhat of a mantra for me. Circus performers need to fully commit to every stunt they perform. If they don’t, they put their lives in danger. Startups are constantly doing backflips and corkscrews. Taking risks is a part of the game, and if you pull punches on something that requires 100 percent buy-in, you’re putting your entire company’s well-being at risk. 3. Find comfort in discomfort. Acrobats perform death-defying aerial stunts every day, and even those who work for big productions like Cirque du Soleil earn a modest living. The ones who work for smaller productions (or are searching for a gig) typically aren’t paid very well. The physical, mental, and financial demands of circus life are far from comfortable. While most entrepreneurs aren’t putting their lives on the line every day, it may take years for them to make any money off of their startups. Those years are extremely uncomfortable and uncertain, and it can be tempting to scrap it all and find guaranteed income elsewhere. The ones who are comfortable with taking big risks, however, are the ones who find the most success and feel the most fulfilled in the end. Through practice and persistence, I’ve developed the knowledge that I can and will find a way through any challenge with ease and grace — and this mentality has spread into my life as an entrepreneur. When you embrace the early discomfort, set lofty goals, and commit yourself 100 percent to succeeding in business, you’ll make it over the fence and onto the big stage, and you’ll be doing backflips when you look at your bank statements.