My entrepreneurial journey has greatly aided in transforming my passion for Sports Trading into a professional activity. I’ve always been somewhat an unconventional entrepreneur, rather “American” in my visions and reasoning, which aren’t easily applied to the context of Italian micro-entrepreneurship.
I don’t consider myself a “great” entrepreneur, by any stretch. My companies are more modest realities Yet, for me, being an entrepreneur is a matter of approach, not just outcomes.
What entrepreneurial vision means to me
Investment and Vision are for me the first two defining factors of an entrepreneurial approach, indispensable characteristics for my approach to being a Sports Trader.
Investing, as in any business
Starting a business venture without initial capital is impossible, just as embarking on a career in sport trading is unfeasible without a starting budget. And by that, I mean an initial budget completely at risk, similar to investing social capital in this type of activity. As in the business world, the first capital must come from the entrepreneur’s personal assets, who, before seeking external funding, must prove the viability and profitability of their idea. Most Italian companies haven’t understood this aspect yet, then they wonder why their financing requests are denied .
From the investment budget to the vision
The concept of vision is also important to me, paralleling the entrepreneurial world and Sport Trading.
An entrepreneur invests to build something significant, for themselves and the community, increasing their well-being, achieving financial freedom, developing services useful to others, and contributing to the creation of jobs and market exchanges (suppliers, professionals, consultants). They know, when they invest in starting their business, that such vision will require sacrifice and time, but they cannot and must not give up on their vision.
Similarly, those venturing into the professional path of Sport Trading, to justify the degree of risk, the time, the money invested, and the efforts to grow in this challenging field must, in my opinion, have exceptional goals, both individual and collective.
Regarding collective interest, in entrepreneurship it’s evident, but as for Sport Trading, being a purely individual financial activity, the connection is certainly less direct.
The purpose of the project
In every sector, however, the same rule always applies to me: to receive and achieve, it’s also fundamental to “give,” and I can’t think of performing at my full potential solely for individual purposes, or worse, to accumulate wealth for its own sake.
What I’ve always observed is that linking one’s performance ambitions to a larger goal, such as a project with collective purposes, is much more rewarding and stimulating, and I’m convinced it positively affects the overall setup of the psychological approach to this activity.
My way of identifying a collective purpose is very simple, as well as directly connected to doing business: a large portion of my profitability is directly channeled into my companies, which allows me to accelerate existing development projects, support new experiments, and hire new staff.
From this perspective, my relationship between Business-Investments differs from the ordinary. Usually, the economic resources allocated to the entrepreneur’s investments come from the profits of their companies; in my case, it’s not necessarily so. It also happens that entrepreneurial investments are financed by personal availability, and the return on investments flows into the company: to which, therefore, new resources are attributed without taking any away. All thanks to my activity in Sport Trading.
Trading to create and develop a Business is definitely one of my goals.
The role of the entrepreneur
Approaching the world of Sports Trading as a business activity brings me other advantages, such as developing the right detachment.
This aspect is certainly the result of a rather unconventional conception of the entrepreneurial role, especially in overcoming the image of entrepreneurs perpetually immersed in their own company, centralizers, and totally identified with the company itself, and the old and now obsolete concept of the “owner” as father and master.
I have always started and managed my businesses with a different conception because I am madly in love with my personal freedom and could never confine myself within a single reality.
The entrepreneur is the one who invests in a project, in a mission, he is the one who sets the guidelines and in small companies, not having yet the entire first managerial line available, can participate in the definition of the strategic line.
The entrepreneur is not his company
But the company is the company and the entrepreneur is the entrepreneur, they are two distinct and different entities. The entrepreneur’s role is to provide economic support and direction with the aim of growing their company.
The company maintains financial and managerial independence from its founder, surviving even in their absence. This independence allows for the delegation of responsibilities to managerial figures and the potential transfer of corporate shares without affecting the company’s daily operations.
This separation of roles has also been very helpful to me when, for example, I take on a managerial role but am not the entrepreneur, or perhaps not the only one.
This detachment has also aided me in my Sport Trading activity, where it is essential not to equate one’s personal identity with a professional activity, which by definition can go well or poorly, affecting the initial capital but not the person themselves.
Having the right perspective helps me develop and maintain the right balance, always crucial in this type of activity.
The importance of the annual balance sheet
Another important similarity between Doing Business and Sports Trading is the representation of results through the annual balance sheet.
The annual balance sheet is very important because no company measures its well-being through daily turnover.
Similarly, Sport Trading activity is independent from the single movement of the day, and like any business activity, will measure its performance over much longer periods (months, quarters, year).
Thus, the value of the annual balance sheet holds absolute centrality for me, not only for the performance itself but also for the decisions themselves.
The long-term vision
Thinking like an entrepreneur helps me maintain a long-term vision in this case. With less reasoning and less observation of the data, there is a risk, on the contrary, of remaining anchored to a short-term vision.
This applies both to Entrepreneurship and Sport Trading, which are actually worlds rich in affinities and similarities.
As far as I’m concerned, the differences between the two disappeared in 2021, the year that marked the transition from individual management to corporate management.
I no longer carried out my Sport Trading activity for personal purposes but as part of a broader corporate development project.
This mental shift allowed me to maintain the right detachment and manage higher volumes and numbers simultaneously.
And not only that, but the level of performance also increased thanks to a sense of responsibility motivated by a development project, which, thanks to a concrete entrepreneurial base, was then developed in other areas as well.
Being the manager not only of my wealth but of a corporate asset has been a source of motivation and performance for me.
Gradually raising the motivational level is indeed another fundamental point in configuring the right mindset of a Sport Trader.
Davide Renna is an Entrepreneur and Sport Trading Expert, dedicated to driving financial growth and innovation.
