I was born with spinal muscular atrophy. I have used an electric wheelchair my entire life and require 24/7 assistance from a personal team of eight. I also run SCP, a large independent merch company with hundreds of employees in the entertainment industry. I grew this from a post-college side hustle in the music industry and a disability lifestyle brand to a profitable company serving the likes of Billie Eilish, Markiplier, Khalifa Kush, Peanuts, Ultimate Ears, Keith Urban, and Freddie Gibbs. And I’m about to launch a second company that harnesses the power of Web3.
As a leader, I’ve had to face certain facts from the get-go: what I can and can’t do, what I must do to survive and thrive. These facts pushed me to grow fast and early, in ways many other leaders in different situations may not face until later in their careers. Yet my experience reflects what all of us must go through at some point on our journey. We have to embrace limitations, then buck them, learning to delegate and keep focused on what we need to survive.
At some point, we all have to reckon with our everyday personal limits, which can lead us to acceptance, delegation, and a will to survive. These qualities and forces can guide anyone who wants to be a better, more vulnerable, more passionate leader.
Acceptance
This may not strike you as a leadership quality at first glance. We’re told we need to grind, to fight for our dreams, and shoot for the stars. Yet from my first days as a disabled adult living independently, I was forced to adapt to having strangers as caregivers helping me with all of my most personal needs. This was a huge step in accepting myself and facing my vulnerabilities.
Acceptance isn’t a destination. It’s a continuous journey as bigger challenges present themselves. I had phases growing up where I didn’t like myself and it made me more judgmental of others. When I attended the University of Illinois and lived among individuals facing similar challenges, it allowed me to start loving myself and in turn, be more accepting of others.
When my sister, one of my inspirations and closest friends, passed away in January of 2009, it was a huge wake-up call for me. She had the same disability that I have, yet she was a champion of overcoming challenges and inspired me to want to live my life to the fullest. Her passing forced me to realize that life is short and to embrace who I am. It ultimately led to the confidence and strength that let me become a successful entrepreneur in the face of adversity.
My journey of self-acceptance paid dividends: I began feeling more comfortable putting myself out there. Acceptance to me is being fully self-aware. We need to reach toward acceptance in an effort to evolve. Then we can capitalize on whatever situation we’re in. I struggle with those who make excuses and play the victim card rather than focusing on improving their shortcomings. People should focus on what they can control rather than blaming outside circumstances.
Delegation
Delegation is understanding your role and how you can then equip someone else to do these tasks, so you can eventually replace yourself and grow into a larger role. It becomes necessary for any leader at some point, but the sooner you master it, the better.
I learned to delegate for the first time when I hired my first caregivers in college. I was forced to live on a strict schedule and coordinate with a team to make sure my days went smoothly.
Despite this early experience, at SCP, delegation didn’t come easy. I struggled to give up control, eventually working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2017, I broke my leg while putting on my pants, and the company was at a standstill. This was another wake-up call that I must plan for anything.
In response, we dove into delegation. Now, we hire ahead so there is someone to delegate to. We make sure to cross-train and cross-delegate, so that no one person can send the company grinding to a halt. I challenge all my leaders to question what they’re doing and if they could delegate day-to-day tasks, to ask themselves daily, “Why is this in my inbox?”
Part of delegation means documentation. At my companies, we prioritize training and documentation of our processes over rapid growth and disruption. Building out strong job descriptions and job roles and auditing this every three to six months is a major lesson I learned. When you know everyone’s roles, you can more easily shift tasks from one person to another.
Survival
My whole life has been about survival. Living with a severe disability and being in and out of hospitals my entire childhood, I faced life and death challenges and watched many childhood friends pass away at young ages. From a very early on, I wanted to survive. I wanted to be able to take care of myself, afford a strong support system, and stay healthy. This pushed me to be a hardcore bootstrapper and value self-reliance. I had to succeed because that meant survival.
Yet to survive, you need help. I have turned to positive virtual mentors and world-building games, as well as IRL coaches and therapists, over the years. With their guidance, I have learned to stay calm under pressure, and this has rubbed off on my staff.
One of my hobbies is high-stakes poker with professionals, and this has helped me handle pressure in insanely high-stress personal and business situations. Master your own stress and keep your existential perspective, and those around you will, too.
Challenges all the way up
My disability expedited my learning as a leader, but we are all going to face challenges at one time or another. Whether you’re able bodied or disabled, CEO or entry level, you will face challenges, big and small, exciting and depressing. No matter what you’ve mastered, if you’re trying to move forward and grow, the challenges never stop. The better a leader you become; the more complex the challenges that will come your way. In fact, the people around you will need you as the leader to help them face their own challenges.
There is no final destination, just more and more practice and learning. We all need to work together and learn to delegate and to accept what we must do and what we can’t do alone. We all need to work as if our lives depend on it. My disability is a regular reminder of this fact. But this is a reality we’ll all contend with sooner or later, if we want to be successful and happy. The challenges will never stop, until you do.
Stevie Hopkins is the CEO of SCP.
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