Ultra Endurance Athlete On: How to Develop Mental Toughness 🧠💪| Founders Club ft. Brad Weimert

Apr 9, 2019

In endurance races, you are called on to push past the pain, to push past what you think your body is capable of and achieve on a new level. Being an entrepreneur is no different. It requires mental toughness to face the challenges as they come, setting the bar higher and higher as you build a business that surpasses other’s expectations—and maybe even goes beyond what YOU thought possible for yourself.

Brad Weimert is an entrepreneur and adventurer based in Austin, Texas. He founded Easy Pay Direct in 2009 to help small business owners process online payments, and the digital financial services firm has since become known as the best tool on the market for high-level eCommerce. Brad is also an endurance athlete: He crossed the country by bicycle in 2007, giving speeches to at-risk youth along the way, and in October of 2017, he completed the 29029|Everesting challenge TWICE in the allotted 36 hours.

Today on the podcast, Brad joins Oliver to share the experience of climbing the vertical distance of Mt. Everest two times in three days. He discusses the commitment he made to himself before the climb and describes how he prepared physically for Everesting with just seven weeks to train. Brad walks us through the most challenging stretch of the race, the moment he wanted to quit, and the remarkable final stretch when he nearly doubled his pace! Listen in for Brad’s insight on the most important lessons he learned from the climb and learn how this special breed of mental toughness translates to his business life.

Key Takeaways

[2:31] What inspired Brad to climb the vertical distance of Everest twice in 36 hours

• Challenged by organizer of 29029|Everesting
• Mathematically possible if control variables
• Previously completed endurance races

[8:35] Brad’s confidence level going into the climb

• Committed to push entire 36 hours
• Decision that getting hurt was okay

[9:40] The most challenging stretch of the climb

• Shooting pain in right knee at lap 18
• Full-blown delirium at lap 22 (dehydration + malnourishment)
• Goal not to avoid pain but to work through

[13:44] The moment of truth when Brad wanted to quit

• Eight hours and ten laps to go, math no longer worked
• Shift pace from one lap/hour to ≈ 30 min/lap
• Mantra became ‘maybe one more’

[20:23] Brad’s nutrition and sleep during the climb

• Tried to sleep for six hours after lap 24 (mountain closed overnight)
• Started crushing food and water on way down to refuel

[23:16] Brad’s experience in the final stretch of the climb

• Push to finish strong on 3rd and 2nd to last laps
• Plant flags at top of mountain upon completion

[29:20] Brad’s top lessons learned from the Everesting experience

• Chance of people learning from you highest when best version of self
• Don’t rely on two or three data points, try again for different result

[31:59] How Brad’s Everesting (x2) translates to business

• Build muscle to push past desire to quit
• Power in having control over self to maintain focus
• Conditioning moves baseline (self-imposed limits)

[38:58] Brad’s upcoming Unplugged Fiji adventure trip

• Open to 40 entrepreneurs for five-day event
• Build relationships through unique experiences

[42:19] How Brad went viral with the ‘worst job post ever’

• Ad for personal assistant copied by someone in Australia
• People outraged and post tracked back to Brad’s site

Connect with Brad

Brad’s Website

Brad on Facebook

Easy Pay Direct

Unplugged Fiji

Everesting x2

Connect with Oliver

Big Block Realty

Oliver on Facebook

Oliver on LinkedIn

Resources

Jesse Itzler

29029 | Everesting

Explore Austin

Brad’s ‘Worst Job Ad Ever’ Response

Traffic & Conversion Summit