In this edition, Joe shares:
How near-collapse reveals the weak points
Why survival depends on relentless renegotiation
Strength is built before a crisis, not during
Joe here in Florida, recovering after last week’s epic Florida Spartan event where we did more burpees than I have for a long while. Hundreds of burpees got me thinking back to the moment I thought Spartan was gone for good.
In early 2020, we were flying. Our biggest global calendar of events to date, a new acquisition of Tough Mudder under our belt, big Championships planned, big sponsors onboard, and momentum everywhere.
Then the world snapped shut. Borders closed, cities emptied. With most of humanity locked indoors, heading to a Spartan event went from a feasible challenge to an impossible one - because in a single seventy-two-hour window, all global events closed down and ninety percent of our projected revenue evaporated. Not slowed. I mean gone.
You don’t forget a moment like that, and I was starkly reminded that you don’t rise to the level of your ambition in a crisis; you fall to the level of your preparation.
I wasn’t prepared for a global shutdown. But nobody was. But I was prepared for pain, and that was the difference.
In the first week, there were two options on the table: accept collapse or fight like hell. Bankruptcy would have been easier, and a lot of companies took that route. But I couldn’t stomach the idea of walking away from something that was much bigger than just a company. Spartan was a worldwide movement, a collective of people who say STFU when it gets hard. I didn’t even have a CHOICE but to continue.
So we did what we always do: we started by putting one foot in front of the other.
We went into survival mode, and not the corporate kind. Payroll cuts, my salary to zero. eighty-five percent furloughed. A stack of vendors calling every hour looking for answers. Prepaid tickets becoming liabilities overnight. And there I was, negotiating from a barn, a kitchen table, the front seat of my truck… anyone who would pick up the phone and talk, I talked to. Anyone who would give us more time, I took it. Anyone who said no, I called again.
Some partners stepped up, some disappeared, and some gave us concessions that kept the lights on. Others needed convincing, but we didn’t run. We renegotiated, rescheduled, rewrote terms, and found ways around walls that didn’t have doors.
Then came the second job: keeping the community alive.
Cash flow keeps a business alive, but connections keep a brand alive. So we kept delivering: Workouts, challenges, virtual events, and tons of content. We turned into a media house, doing anything we could to remind people that Spartan wasn’t retreating, even if the world was. You’d be amazed at what a daily workout can mean when everything else is falling apart.
But buried in the chaos was the most important realization of all: we were dangerously dependent on a single revenue pillar. That’s the lesson the collapse handed us: we had to diversify or die.
So we started building: digital training, corporate resilience programs, merch drops, supplements; everything in our DNA that could do with quality that gave us a margin and a future. Bit by bit, we built a bridge from the cliff we were hanging off to the mountain we needed to climb.
Most people misunderstand resilience. They think it’s a mindset, but it’s not. It’s a structure. It’s the systems you’ve built before the storm hits, the relationships you’ve earned when things were easy, and the standards you set when nobody’s watching. When the world tests you, you don’t suddenly become strong, but you instead reveal whether you actually were.
And that brings me to the real Hard Way lesson in all this:
Collapse is a teacher. If you pay attention, it will show you exactly where you were weak, and where you need to build.
Our weaknesses were exposed by COVID - with the biggest one our overreliance on live events with razor thin margins. Our limited digital infrastructure (many companies realized this during the pandemic). Basically, we were reminded that all the things you ignore when times are good become glaring when the world stops turning.
That’s true for companies, athletes, and families. And it’s definitely true for you.
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J. K. Rowling
Ask yourself:
Where are you relying on hope instead of structure?
Where is your life held up by a single point of failure?
Where would everything fall apart if one pillar snapped tomorrow?
Don’t wait for a pandemic to find out!
The Hard Way isn’t about suffering for suffering’s sake, but is instead about preparing for the storm before it comes. Building redundancy, skill, strength, and gathering people around you who will stay in the fight when others bail.
You Ask, Joe Answers
Q: “How do I stay disciplined when my schedule keeps getting blown up by work?” — Venessa C
A: "Pretending life will get “calm” is your mistake. I’ve never met a single Spartan whose life got easier; they just got better at handling it. Set one tough non-negotiable every day like a workout, cold shower, or a ten-minute hill. Once you have one pillar, add a second. Discipline is built one hard rep at a time." — Joe
Spartan survived because we refused to quit. We survived because the collapse forced us to rebuild stronger. And we survived because, when the mountain looked impossible, we kept climbing anyway.
Hurry up,
Joe
