Success and Failure: My 13 Months at Virtus Performance
About 13 months ago I was genuinely questioning whether or not I could keep going.
I was unsure if I could handle the weight of expectations, the liabilities and added responsibility.
For the first time in a long time, I doubted myself and wondered whether it would have been easier to just throw in the towel.
When we had more bills to pay than money in the bank and when I didn’t pay myself for a few months, it certainly would have been easier to give up.
Paying a mortgage, trying to commit to VFL football, being a supportive coach, friend, family member and boyfriend, and suddenly running a business solo… It adds up.
But hey, a lot can happen in 13 months.
I thought I knew that I could work hard, but the last 13 months has shown me just how hard I can work.
The sleepless nights, crashing on the couch at work, consistent 16+ hour coaching days, and then fitting in the rest.
I’m sure at times, I wasn’t the greatest person to be around. But those initial few weeks and months taught me a lot about life and even more about who I am and what I can do.
You will always get out exactly how much you put in.
Hard work has a funny way of paying you back.
Action drives motivation.
Good s**t takes time.
These mantras quickly became second nature to me.
I realised that yes I was going to fail. Countless times. But each of these failures would ultimately shape me as a person, as a leader and shape Virtus as a business.
I learnt that my ability to trust in my staff, my ability to ask for help, to seek out guidance and assistance and to be vulnerable, was ultimately going to determine whether we could keep the doors open each month.
I had no safety net, no plan B, if we failed it was on me, it was my fault, no one else to blame. This is an incredibly liberating feeling and something that has now become an integral part of my daily life.
I am proud. Proud that I stood up faced the challenge head on and came out the other side a better person and hopefully with a business that is going to be around for a long time.
Most of all I’m proud of the people around me. I’m proud of my staff, of my family, my friends and my partner KP. I’m proud of all my clients, those who make up the Virtus Family. I’m proud of all of you. Because you remind me daily, why I do what I do. You all help me become the best version of myself because you let me help you become the best version of you.
There are too many people to thank but to those who stood by me, for those who were sounding boards for my problems, ideas and struggles, for those who gave me their time… Thank you.
Thank you to Jesse for starting the journey with me, and for making the hard decision to pull the pin.
To Team Virtus, (Cam, Katie, Mitch, Ashleigh, Greg, Brooke, Maddy, Maddi, Simonn, Annette, Jess, Anna, & Paige) you are an incredible group of people and I am so grateful to have you all by my side. You all genuinely care, sometimes too much, this is what makes you all so special.
Our mission of empowering long-term positive behavioural change through movement, performance and lifestyle becomes a little more achievable every time each one of you shows up for work.
I can’t wait to see what the next 13 months will bring.
Lachlan Wallace (CEO of Virtus Human Performance)
