Ep. 220 – Ronny Leber created entrepreneurship around what he loves doing and tells entrepre-neurs: “the only limit is your own imagination.”

Ronny Leber has been able to contribute to countless award winning events for over a decade. He has been on stage in front of more than 5 million people all over the world while working with some of the biggest brands in the world. Ronny loves to transform others by making them shine on stage and helping them to shape their own legacy. Besides working as a legacy coach Ronny is a multilingual tv & event-host and a keynote speaker.

Most passionate about

I have the opportunity and the privilege, to be a host, commentator, and moderator on TV, and I love it. I’m absolutely enjoying it and I’m very passionate about it.

Ronny’s career and story

I want to work at events that bring the whole world together.
It was back in 2008 when I had those thoughts. At the same time—as a coincidence, in a way—a professional soccer team from Vienna was looking for somebody to host the youth teams’ games, like, once a month on a Saturday afternoon. Through some friends who were working there, they asked me. I said, “Well, okay. Yeah, sure.” For me, that was not a job; it was like a hobby. I remember I got 70 euros—I got paid seven euros per game. Back in the day, I thought, ‘Wow I really got a good deal out of that.’
One year later—on the 25th of June, 2009, which was the day Michael Jackson died—I was at a party for my former sports university. I was working there and was a DJ. At 5:15 in the morning, I left. It was a long party. At the same time, a colleague of mine who worked for a professional ice hockey team in Vienna left as well.
Funny enough, the first-ever hockey game for that team that I saw live was in the stadium where I was the announcer. Then, suddenly, it was not just 100 or 150 people. I got the kids’ soccer games. It was like 1000 people there. That was the first time ever, back in 2009, when I thought, ‘Hey, this could be a career.’
I started taking classes in that direction. For over a year, I took classes in voice education, speakers’ education. I started to take singing lessons and acting lessons. I danced competitively. I did all kinds of things that I could do in terms of expanding my field and getting better at what I do.
I did the ice hockey for nine years. I quit because it was just so much time for me.

Best advice for entrepreneurs

I believe that every entrepreneur has something unique about them. Many entrepreneurs started because they love what they do and wanted to create a business out of it.
In the beginning, I was focused just on my craft. I was focused on loving what I do and doing it, and not on building the business.
You need to be able to measure the important things because what you cannot measure, you cannot manage.

The biggest, most critical failure with customers

The biggest failure that you can have with customers is not being prepared.
At the end of the day, you need to know their needs, wants, and desires.

Biggest success with customers

The biggest success for me was when I was able to host 120,000 people, which was, for me, one of the most incredible events that I’ve ever been a part of. That event was in 2019, and it was “INEOS 1:59 CHALLENGE.”
I feel really blessed that I work in a field where I feel that I have had many successes. I believe it’s also a mindset. You need to set yourself up for success. Basically, I think it’s believing in yourself and following the journey, always having a next step, knowing where you want to go and then just being hungry.

Ronny’s recommendation of a tool

Slack – which is a fantastic way to communicate with your team
Trello – A planning app where you can go from Idea to action in seconds

Ronny’s one key success factor

As I mentioned before, I think there is one single factor that is going to determine your success, and that is hunger.
It is also your responsibility to have all the fuel you need to have the hunger, to have the why. If you don’t have it, dig deeper.

Ronny’s Mountain

Since we believe that the best way for entrepreneurs to get fast, big, and sustainable success is by leading your (new) market category, and the entire entrepreneurial journey reminds me of mountaineering, I want to ask you: Is there a mountain you dream of climbing or a mountain you have already climbed?

First of all, I love mountains and I also love hiking. Thinking about the big wave metaphor, a mountain can be something really, really hard or it can be something a lot of fun. It’s about how to utilize it because every challenge in front of you, every mountain that you need to climb—it’s all about the way you look at it.
That’s the beautiful thing about being an entrepreneur; you can choose the mountain that you want to climb. Every step of the way, you’re going to have a different view. Sometimes it’s going to be stormy, sometimes it’s going to be rainy, sometimes it’s going to be icy or snowy, and sometimes it’s going to be sunny and beautiful. It’s just about appreciating every step and every part of the journey.