March is a big month for me—my 50th birthday! So, for the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing some of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned over the years. These insights span business, wellbeing, fitness, and life in general. To kick things off, I want to talk about a key lesson I learned from my very first business venture—one that still applies today.
The Birth of Surf Wave: My First Business
Before I launched my personal training business 13 years ago (which evolved into Bodyshot Performance and my speaking brand, Leanne Spencer), my entrepreneurial journey started much earlier—when I was about 13 or 14 years old. My oldest friend, Adam, my younger brother, and I set up a business called Surf Wave.
We built what was essentially a homemade snowboard designed for sand dunes. We took pieces of plywood, drilled in seatbelt straps as foot bindings, and tested them out on a local quarry, surfing down the sand. We even opened a business bank account with the Portman Building Society (are they still around? No idea!).
It wasn’t exactly a million-dollar IPO, but we made a bit of money, and more importantly, I learned a key lesson about business—one that has stuck with me ever since.
The Power of Taking Action
Here’s the thing: I wasn’t the one who originally came up with the idea. A school friend, John, had designed a similar product. But while he was still working on perfecting his, we jumped in and started making ours first. We took action. We got to market first. And that made all the difference.
That experience taught me something crucial: you don’t have to be the first to come up with an idea—you just have to be the first to make it happen.
Now this isn’t a lesson in plagiarism and I’m not saying you should rush things or cut corners, but often, we get so caught up in trying to perfect something that we never actually launch it. In business, in creative projects, in personal goals—perfectionism can be the enemy of progress.
Prolific Beats Perfect
This lesson still influences how I operate today. When it comes to creating content and keynotes, like Cadence, BOND, and SUSTAIN, I of course make sure my ideas are original, relatable and valuable—but I am always refining them.
Too many people sit on great ideas because they’re afraid they’re not ready yet. But here’s the truth: they may never feel ready. The best way to improve something is to put it out there, get feedback, and iterate.
So, whatever project, goal, or idea you’ve been sitting on—just get it done. Launch the website, start the book, record the podcast, pitch the idea. You can tweak and refine as you go, but if you don’t start, you’ll never get anywhere.
Just Get It Done
That’s my first big lesson from 50 years: don’t wait for perfect—just start. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing more insights that I’ve picked up along the way, from business to wellbeing to personal growth.
For now, I’ll leave you with this: What’s something you’ve been waiting to start? And what’s one small action you can take today to get the ball rolling?
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