Weathering the Storm

⛈️❄️Weathering the Storm⛈️❄️
May 29, 2025

On Day 13 of 100, it snowed.

James Lawrence, the Iron Cowboy, several year prior had completed 50 triathlons in 50 days in 50 different states.

He had decided he needed a real challenge and thought "why not do 100 full length triathlons in 100 days (totalling 14,000 combined miles). He and his team coined it "Conquer 100".

James lives in Utah and decided to stay put for the Conquer 100. He would swim at a local pool, then bike the same 112 mile route and then run the same 26.2 mile loop thru a local park. 

The only time he full team could commit to 100 straight days was Mar-June, and the weather wasn't going to cooperate in late winter/early spring.

With all the pounding his body was taking on a daily basis, it was beginning to break down: blisters, cramps, shin-splints, to name just a few of the challenges he was going to knowingly face.

And on Day 13, with a broken body, James woke up to a gray sky and falling snow. His daughter, standing beside him at the window, smiled and said, “This too shall pass.”

He grinned, because in his mind "the bad will pass soon, so few things are worth getting worked up about. No way will snow for the next 87 days."

I paused after reading those few pages. It was a wake-up call about having perspective about anything and everything that happens in business and in life.

Last week, as Memorial Day was coming, Iverson dumped on me too!

Iverson turned into a storm — the kind that rears its ugly face two days before closing and rips a deal apart at the seams. The kind of storm that makes you question the miles you’ve run and the hours you’ve poured into making it to the finish line.

✅I bought the place.

✅I renovated it.

✅I lined up the buyer.

✅I got past the appraisal.

All signs pointed to a smooth closing—until a sudden issue with the association knocked the property off the Fannie Mae eligibility list. The deal collapsed like a tent in the wind.

I was frustrated.

Angry.

Tempted to cue up the old song with verses that spoke blame, disappointment, resentment.

The soundtrack of a victim.

But then I remembered what Lawrence did on Day 13—legs cramping during his morning swim, a snowstorm pounding him and his bike for seven relentless hours and another 5 hours as he completed the marathon portion.

He didn’t curse the cold. He didn’t get stuck in the darkness.

He wrote:

“...Instead, you have to turn on a new song. You must pull in music you enjoy. The new song takes its rightful place in your brain, pushing out the old. The positive replaces the negative. The darkness flees when light approaches.”

The positive replaces the negative. The darkness flees when light approaches.

I realized it was time to get the old track out of my head and turn on a new track.

I needed to do more than just gather the roof repair timeline from the property manager

New Track: OFFER SELLER FINANCING -- By offering seller financing, I become the bank and can offer the next buyer excellent terms that will work for both of us. Their payment will be more than I'm paying on my current note, and it buys me/us time to get the association of the naughty list and back into eligibilty.

These aren’t just strategies—they’re music. They’re energy.

And I’ve been here before.

In my Spartan races—especially in New Jersey and Montana —I’ve battled literal storms, freezing temperatures, mud, bruises, and surprise obstacles. I’ve watched people quit, but I’ve never let myself stop. I know what it means to hurt, adapt, and keep moving.

So yeah, the snow fell last week. And yeah, it messed up my plans.

But this too shall pass.

And the song I’m playing now? It’s better, clearer, stronger.

What song are you playing now??