Controlling Reality to Grow a Successful Business

A Conversation with Vick Tipnes and Joseph Warren

Vick Tipnes is Founder and CEO of Blackstone Medical Serves, which has become one of the largest providers of Home Sleep Testing services in the country. Blackstone recently made the coveted Inc 5000 list in 2016 and was ranked 1276 out of 500 companies in the country based on its 345% growth.
 
I’m pumped for Vick’s success. It’s a big reason I invited him onto my show. But as you know, Startup Nation, I always ask about the struggles and difficulties entrepreneurs face. 
 
At one point in his Blackstone journey, Vic was out of money, a key investor backed out, his business partner backed out, and he couldn’t make payroll. That was his reality.

Here’s how he overcame that rough patch.
 
“I disagree with reality,” Vick says. “I’m senior to reality. Your viewpoints or your considerations are senior to mechanics, right?”
 
Woah, woah, woah. Vick is senior to reality? Sounds wildly egotistical or else completely removed from… well, reality. Turns out it’s neither of those. 
 
Vick explains, “What that means is that there could be something going on in the physical universe. It’s not "physically realistic" that you’re going to bend metal into a tube and put two flat pieces on the side of it and you’re going to fly it across the country. Is that realistic? Somebody had to say, “Hold on,” because your considerations are senior to mechanics. 'You know what? Maybe I can make this work maybe I can bend it the right way, create enough lift and enough drag, and understand the laws of the universe and say, I’ll make this happen.'”
 
Vick is saying that to make the first airplane, someone had to throw out all of their previous ideas about reality and how the world works.
 
Your reality (in business, family, passions, whatever) is based on two things. There’s the way the world is and there’s what you believe about the world. Yes, there are things we can’t change. You can’t fly an airplane by saying, “Today gravity doesn’t exist.” You can’t meet payroll by saying, “I’d like to add two zeros to the bank account.” But appearances don’t have the final say in how life can go. 
 
Vick brings his analogy back to his business struggles. “What you project and what you cause is always going to bend the physical universe to do what you want it to do. So yes, there were factors around me that were indicating that this is not going to go well. But there were also a lot of other factors indicating that it could go well. I was growing. Yes, I was still losing money, but the business was still moving in an upward direction. The signs were there, so there’s the half-empty, half-full glass thing.”

Vick’s business partner had suggested closing up shop. His partner’s doom and gloom was one reality. But Vick said, "No." Like understanding advanced physics to fly a plane, Vick understood the fundamental financial reality of his business. He was just about to turn a massive corner. He had to hold on.
 
And he did.
 
Vick is now running a successful, multimillion-dollar company. 
 
“It’s a decision,” Vick says, “Either you’re going to be a slave to the mechanics of things or you’re going to be senior to it.”

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Startup Nation, do you control the reality of your life or does life control you? Maybe it’s an unhealthy relationship. Maybe you’re struggling with addiction. Maybe struggles with your business are limiting your potential. 
 
Share your thoughts in the comments or shoot me an email. Or schedule a Spiritual Clarity Call with me. It’s a free coaching session. Click this link to learn more.
 
Check out Vick Tipnes’ interview on the First 100k Podcast for more wisdom nuggets and a helpful exercise to broaden your business perspective. 
 
You can visit his personal entrepreneur website at www.vicktipnes.net.