What We Can Learn from Australian Olympians Moving into Business

As we celebrate the 2024 Paris Olympics, we are reflecting back on how some of our own Aussie stars have branched out to start their own businesses. Many Australian Olympians have shown that the skills and mindset cultivated through sports can translate into successful business ventures. Here are some lessons we can learn from their journeys:

1. Commitment and Dedication

Olympians like Melissa Wu (the first Australian diver to compete in five Olympics) and Lydia Lassila (Australian skiing champion) seem to have demonstrated how their commitment to their sport can be paralleled in their business endeavours.

Wu, a five-time Olympian, co-owns three businesses, including HrdKAW Strength and Weightlifting Club and the Australian Diving Academy. Lassila, after suffering a knee injury, founded BodyICE, which produces heat and cool packs for athletes. Both athletes used their discipline and perseverance, as well as a few other skills and leverageable opportunities further detailed in this article from sports to build and manage successful businesses.

2. Goal Setting and Visualisation

Lydia Lassila in interviews has emphasised the importance of goal setting and visualisation, a technique used both in her sports career and business ventures. She has spoken about imagining her future self and business in detail, which helped her achieve success both on and off the slopes. This approach can be valuable for aspiring entrepreneurs in visualising their goals and creating a roadmap to achieve them.

Without knowing what you want to achieve and where you want to go, then creating and setting down a path of steps towards this, we suggest it becomes a lot harder, more expensive, time consuming and risker journey down the entrepreneur road.

3. Leveraging Personal Brand and Network

Many Australian Olympians, such as swimmers Michael Klim and Ian Thorpe, leveraged their fame and networks to kickstart their businesses. Klim founded the skincare company Milk & Co, which expanded internationally and included a range for babies and women. Thorpe, with his diverse ventures from underwear to performance coaching, utilised his personal brand to establish credibility and attract customers.

This we suggest is one of the big benefits of being an Olympian, but you have to time and manage it well. If you do too late then the impact will not be as big, if you don’t do your due diligence and then have the legal back up in what is the best way to do this and manage this, then you could be linked to a bad deal that hurts you on so many financial and personal levels short and long term.

It is also a good point to keep in mind that for those who are not Olympians you can yourself potentially leverage off an Olympian in a partnership, investor or sponsorship opportunity. But again, so much care must be taken and strongly recommend clear legal documents are in place otherwise this could be an expensive and painful experience for you both.

4. Adaptability and Resilience

The transition from sports to business requires adaptability and resilience. Olympians like swimmer Hayley Lewis, who tried multiple business ventures before finding success with her gift shop, Coming Up Roses, illustrate the importance of being adaptable and learning from failures. This resilience is crucial for any entrepreneur facing the inevitable challenges of running a business.

Do you do reviews? Whose is a part of those reviews? Do you adapt to ensure that you are heading on the journey you want to, and know when to jump off that path and maybe choose another?  This is where understanding your business, doing reviews and adapting as needed, often with the help of your expert business advisors, lawyers and accountants, can make a big difference.

5. Teamwork

Swimmer Eamon Sullivan, pole vaulter Steve Hooker, and hockey star Jamie Dwyer demonstrate the power of teamwork in business. They teamed up to open the Perth restaurant Bib and Tucker, combining their strengths and resources. This collaboration shows that teamwork, a core aspect of sports, is equally important in business.

Saying the above, this is also another good reminder for the importance of having carefully drafted shareholder and partnership agreements to set out parties expectations for each other, the financial and sweat equity to be invested initially and an ongoing basis, as well as what is to happen in the event of the unexpected or just a decision someone may need to make to exit (or potentially force another’s exit).

6. Experts & Coaches

Every Olympian has a coach and often a team of experts. Some have a few coaches and experts in their sporting life and their business life. You can definitely see the difference in success rates where the right coach/expert is/are in place and being used.

Getting the right coach/advisor who is not only an expert in their field, but is dedicated to understanding you, what you need to achieve your goals, helping to create that step by step plan and then passionate about working with you and creating the outcomes you both want is essential. So for entrepreneurs a good reminder to check who is on your coaching and expert team and do you have the right ones for achieving the business goals you want.

7. Leveraging off/finding the Synergies

Many Olympians have also brought their passion for health and wellbeing into their business ventures. For instance, Melissa Wu’s activewear label Havok Athletic and Lydia Lassila’s BodyICE both focus on promoting health and fitness. This alignment of personal values with business goals can create a more authentic and motivating business model that customers, employees, investors/business partners, suppliers and  the community can get behind.

Jumping Ahead

Dedication and commitment, goal setting with actionable plans, awareness and adaptability, understanding and leveraging off your strengths and opportunities, and getting the legal as well as business and accounting experts passionate about you and your business, are all some of the learnings here that can be used to help entrepreneurs.  So now let’s learn from this to navigate the challenges and opportunities of running and growing a business (or businesses), to turn our passions and strengths into successful ventures.

For expert advice on business and commercial law, from business start-ups, business sales, business purchases and business expansions, including franchising and licensing opportunities, contact us today for a free initial Discovery Call or check out our website with our business guides and checklists.

Please note that this is a general and brief update, it does not purport to be comprehensive legal advice of all information and/or relevant to your circumstances. Consequently, specific legal advice for each of your circumstances should be obtained first before taking or not taking any action with respect to this area.

Information for this article was sourced from Smart Company.