Posted Under: Entrepreneurship, Our Heroes

Today under the “Our Heroes” series we are speaking with Ryan Colby who eagerly tells us about turning his “entrepreneurial goal” into an “entrepreneurial reality”. Ryan, once an IT services expert, slowly shed the weight of employment within the technology sector and formed Get Lean In 12. Read more to find out how Ryan’s heading to success while turning America lean, one person at a time… 

DD: Who are you and what kind of corporate job were you at?

RC: My name is Ryan Colby.  In 2006, I graduated with a BA in Computer Networking from Champlain College in Burlington, VT.  From 2006 to 2009 I worked in the IT field for two companies – a mid-sized construction company in South Burlington, VT and a small, IT service provider in Ann Arbor, MI.

DD: What made you leave the job? When did you realize that you wanted to be an entrepreneur & why?

RC:  After working in the IT field for 3 years, and working in many other part-time jobs throughout school, I realized that I wanted to be my own boss.  Now, I just didn’t decide one day that I wanted to start a business and immediately quit my job.  The process of turning my “entrepreneur goal” into my “entrepreneur reality” involved multiple stages and took some time.  The process really began when I first met my business partner, Shaun Hadsall.

Shaun was one of my clients for whom I provided IT services in Ann Arbor. Shaun owned a successful local personal training studio and occasionally needed help with his company’s technology needs.  Over time, Shaun and I built a professional relationship to the point where he called me one day and asked if I wanted to help him with a new business venture.  So, we met later that week at a local Panera Bread and he explained that he wanted to start an Internet-based business selling weight loss products.  I told him I would give it a shot and we spent the next year and half learning as much as we could from the “Internet Gurus” that are very successful online – guys like Mike Dillard, Frank Kern and John Reese.

DD: What did you do to break the corporate jail? How did you prepare yourself for the employee to entrepreneur transition?

RC: During this year and half period, which I like to call “The Grand Experiment”, I worked full-time in my IT job while working with Shaun on the side.  Shaun and I had very little success during this period in regards to customers or revenue (we didn’t make our first dollar during this time), but this time was EXTREMELY IMPORTANT for both of us because we learned a lot!  I look back on the past two years and I’m amazed at how much both of us have learned about the Internet Marketing business – even when we didn’t make a dime.

So, after awhile, we were getting to the point where we knew we needed to either make our first dollar, or move in a different direction.  Amazingly, around this time Shaun’s wife, Karen, found a couple of fat loss books that preached the same principles that Shaun had been teaching to his personal training clients for years.  We had a look at her website and determined that her Internet presence could be greatly improved.  Shaun called the author, Wendy Chant, and asked her if she wanted to partner with us.  Wendy was immediately interested in working with us and our company, Get Lean In 12, was born.

As we continued to build our relationship with Wendy, she confided in us that she was fighting Stage 4 Cancer and the outlook didn’t look very good.  Her main concern was that her message was going to pass with her so we promised that Get Lean In 12 would be used to continue her message, no matter what happened.

In October 2009, Wendy and her newest book were going to be featured in First For Women Magazine.  While Wendy was valiantly fighting Cancer, Shaun and I used her First For Women Magazine article as a “springboard” for Get Lean In 12.  We knew that her website was going to be mentioned in the article so we redirected it to our new Get Lean In 12 website.  As customers started to find our website, Get Lean In 12 officially launched on October 5th and we finally made our first dollar.  Over the next month, we worked though technical and customer support issues that were new to us, but we learned a lot by “throwing ourselves into the fire”.

Sadly, Wendy passed away on November 19th and left her message in our hands.  Through the winter and holiday season, Shaun and I continued to slowly work on Get Lean In 12 as he was in the process of selling his personal training studio and I was still working full-time in my IT Consultant position.  It was during this time that my “entrepreneurial instinct” was getting stronger and stronger. Shaun and I both knew that Get Lean In 12 was not going to grow the way we wanted until I was working full-time on the business.  As my IT Consultant job was becoming more and more demanding, it was becoming harder and harder to work on Get Lean In 12 during weeknights and weekends.  Finally, it just hit me one day – I needed to just “take the jump” and “fire my boss”.

I should mention that I made this life-changing decision based on calculated risk. I definitely don’t have savings that would cover my bills for years and years, but I can live comfortably AND frugally for awhile while we build our company.  In addition, the pressure of not having a guaranteed income from a 9-to-5 job is one of the factors that currently drives me to work harder and smarter on Get Lean In 12.

DD: What are your top tips for employees who want to be entrepreneurs but are hung up on something?

RC: For anyone thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, I would say to them: “Tell yourself that anything is possible”.  I know that it sounds very cliche, but in a lot of ways, it’s true.  People are usually their own worst enemies because they tell themselves they can’t do something before they even try to do it.  I would much rather try and fail, than not try and know that I’ll be miserable in my “career” the rest of my life.

My second piece of advice for an inspiring entrepreneur would be to read, read and read more.  Before, in-between and after working on my business each day, I make time to read books written by business people who are already successful.  I find that reading books by these successful individuals puts me in the right “entrepreneurial mindset” when I go about working on my own business.  If you’re new to reading books like this, I would recommend “No B.S. Business Success in The New Economy”, by Dan Kennedy (I’m reading it now…) Nevertheless, whether you decide to become an entrepreneur or not, find what makes you happy and do it as quickly as you can.

DD: How are you now? Are you still in the same business and how do you feel?

RC: Right now, I feel great about my decision to become an entrepreneur the way that I did.  I would be lying if I said there isn’t stress involved with the unknowns of starting a new business, but I would much rather pioneer my own path and be my own boss instead of working in a 9-to-5 job that I don’t like in exchange for a guaranteed paycheck.

DD: That was Ryan Colby founder of Get Lean In 12. I agree with Ryan’s emphasis on the importance of reading books by successful businessmen. This is a practical resource to gain insight into the world of entrepreneurs and as Ryan says, it “puts one in the right entrepreneurial mindset”.  So folks put on your reading glasses and settle into a good book and you will gain the most out of a lazy Sunday afternoon!

Success to all!