In today’s installment of our Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight, we are thrilled to feature Tim Whitmire, the strategic mastermind behind CXN Advisory. Tim’s journey as an entrepreneur reflects a deep commitment to turning visionary strategies into actionable success. He leverages his unique role, much like a coxswain in crew, to steer leadership teams towards synchrony and efficiency, propelling growth-minded organizations to achieve their strategic goals with unprecedented momentum.
Hi, Tim! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
I work with the leaders and leadership teams of growth-minded organizations to align around and execute against essential strategic goals. The CXN in my business's name represents the "coxswain" in a crew boat, who helps the rowers in sync so they can move the boat through the water with the greatest possible momentum and power; when I'm doing my job and a leadership team is in sync, growth feels like a lot less of a challenge!
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
The first time a client repeated something back to me that I had first told them a couple of months earlier! That was when I knew my words were sinking in and I was saying things worth quoting.
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
My co-founding and stewardship of the free men's workout movement F3 Nation spoiled me in terms of working in a corporate setting; once we'd grown F3 to a national scale, I was destined to be what I call an "outdoor cat" -- I needed to be free to run my own business and pursue my passion for helping leaders maximize their impact!
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
It's small and simple, but Calendly has made a hugely positive impact in terms of my ability to manage my schedule and sync up with clients.
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
When I left my last corporate job in 2017, I embarked on a project to package F3 leadership lessons for the corporate audience. I launched with essentially no business plan or funding, and crashed within a year. It was only after that -- and with an assist from one of my best friends -- that I narrowed my focus to what I do now and pivoted to my current strategic advisory business model.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020 and we were all stuck in the house on Zoom, I called up everyone I had in my pipeline at that point and said, "Things are a mess right now, but let's get started with a weekly call. There's no charge for now; let me help you figure out a way forward through this and the money piece will sort itself out later." That was really the liftoff moment for me in this business.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
Be relational and not transactional. We started F3 with the goal of getting a free, peer-led workout model for men in front of as many people as possible, so we literally gave it away. When I had a serious stroke in the fall of 2022, it was my family and my F3 brothers who rode to my rescue and pushed me to a remarkable recovery. When we launched F3 in 2011, I had no way of knowing I was building the ark that would carry me to safety when the storm hit many years later; it's why I often joke that I am the world's most successful / least successful fitness entrepreneur!
Want to go deeper into Tim's work? Find his links right here:
- Connect with Tim on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-whitmire-7955145/
- Schedule a Call with Tim: https://www.cxnadvisory.com/call
