Episode 71: Be Willing To Grind with Nate Lawrie, CEO, Brazyn Life

“If you’re going to start a business,

you have to be willing to grind.”

– Nate Lawrie

On this episode of The Pivotal Leader, Gina Trimarco interviewed Nate Lawrie, CEO, Brazyn Life. Nate played 8-years of professional football in both the National Football League (Buccaneers, Saints, Bengals) and United Football League (Sacramento Mountain Lions), before retiring after the 2011 season.

A self-described “NFL Grinder,” Lawrie fought through numerous injuries throughout his pro-career which led him to rethink many of the products he was using to take care of his body – wanting tools that were more convenient to use without compromising functionality.

In 2015 Nate launched a new business called Brazyn Life. Brazyn Life is dedicated to helping people achieve their fitness and health goals through innovative, high-quality, and travel-ready recovery and fitness tools.  Brazyn’s launch product is The Morph Collapsible Foam Roller, a premium foam roller that folds flat making it easy to use at home, the office, the gym, or on the road.

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Podcast Topics Include:

  • Service providers or professional athletes are their own product
  • How Nate developed, created and released his first product
  • The benefits of using of using a foam roller
  • Nate takes up through the process of how he went from just having an idea to creating a collapsible foam roller for mass production
  • The nuances of launching a successful Kickstarter campaign
  • Nate’s shares his experience on Shark Tank and the aftermath following the episode airing
  • The challenges of launching a new project; raising capital, taking risks and manufacturing of a physical product
  • Finding the right people for your team and also relying on a little bit of luck
  • How startup life can be extremely overwhelming, but yet so rewarding
  • Pulling from peer groups for support, valuable knowledge and guidance
  • Being an “NFL grinder” and how it’s applicable to starting a business

More About Gina Trimarco

More About Pivot10 Results

More About Nate Lawrie & Brazyn Life

Nate graduated from Yale University in 2004 with a degree in political science.  He has completed NFL-sponsored executive education programs at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, University of Pennsylvania – Wharton, Northwestern University – Kellogg and Babson College. Born in Indianapolis, IN, he now resides in Santa Barbara, CA with his wife and two young children.

 

The Pivotal Leader is a production of Pivot10 Results, a strategy and training company that helps businesses shift from people problems to performance results.

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About the author

Gina Trimarco is a native of Chicago and CEO/Founder of Pivot10 Results and Carolina Improv Company. She has 25+ years of experience in marketing, sales, operations and people training. Gina combines street smarts and improv comedy skills with her experience in the corporate and entrepreneurial worlds, which sets her apart from her competition.

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