156: The Nationwide Leader in Athlete Development. How Michael Waters built… Phase 1 Sports.

Background on Michael Waters of Phase 1 Sports:

Michael Waters is the founder of Phase 1 Sports in Las Vegas, Nevada. He built a name in the sports industry by combining exceptional skills in performance training and his leadership, which has played a major role in the success of hundreds of athletes.

As the owner of Phase 1 Sports in Las Vegas, Nevada, he has created a system that has proven to be successful for athletes, entrepreneurs, and anyone else that has set out to accomplish goals and maximize their potential. He attributes his success to finding the balance between his passion for sports and desire to learn everything there is to know about business.

He was named Nevada Microenterprise Initiative Business Person of the Year, is an active participant in several school partnership programs and mentoring projects, is an active partner with Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and is a board member of a number of charities helping young athletes.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

[3:05] Michael Waters played football as a running back in UNLV back in 1999. This experience set him up to be stronger and more driven on his entrepreneurial journey.
[4:57] Michael gives his perspective on why some people discourage others to do something or to start a business.
[6:51] One of Michael’s pet peeves is asking people what they are doing right now to start their business and he gets a vague response.
[10:44] Phase 1 Sports basically focuses on athlete development program. Their clients vary from young high school athletes to professional athletes.
[15:06] They have several programs that focus on certain skills of the individual. Currently, there are NBA players training with Phase 1 Sports.
[17:17] Developing the mindset to help kids in his neighborhood get into sports and get a scholarship is a huge motivational factor for Michael to start Phase 1 Sports.
[19:45] Michael was working as a sales rep at Sprint PCS when he started Phase 1.
[22:01] Back in the early days, Michael would meet the young athletes in a field or park and train them for one and a half hours for 20 bucks.
[23:55] In the fourth year of Phase 1 Sports, Michael considered scaling up the business.
[31:10] As the company entered its fifth year, Michael was earning good money and he became contented with what’s happening to him and his business.
[35:41] His lack of business experience is the hardest thing that Michael has to overcome, especially in the early years of Phase 1 Sports.
[41:00] From a 4,000 square-foot facility, they expanded and opened up a 10,000 square-foot facility. And then they opened a new location in Hawaii. In the last few years they opened up a couple of new bigger facilities.
[44:40] When they transferred to the 20,000 square-foot facility, the business had many setbacks and Michael was losing money for 18 months.
[50:22] Looking back, there were a couple of things that Michael wanted to change in his business during the early stages.
[1:04:22] Michael had to bring in an investor and a partner when he decided to scale up to the 20,000 square-foot facility. This brings added pressure and competitiveness for Michael.
[1:09:48] Michael offers some valuable lessons, recommendations and advise that would be useful in running a business.

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Fabulous 4 Questions:

📖 📚 Favorite Book(s)? Good to Great by Jim Collins, Art of War by Sun Tzu, Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Investment into Amazon DSP (Delivery Service Partner) business opportunity! lol
🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? iPhone, iMovie, IG
💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? Content creation!

Key Point from the Interview:

“So many of us think that in order to start, I have to have A, B, C, D, E, F, G all lined up and then life is gonna be great and then I’m gonna start my business. It never works like that. If that’s what you’re waiting for, you’re gonna be waiting for a long time, and you’ll probably die with that same dream.”