WHO WE ARE

ABOUT SPENCER HARRISON

About Spencer Harrison At an early age, I realized real quick, if I wanted something; I had to go out to get it. My parents divorced when I was 6 years old. Both my mom and dad worked a lot. We lived primarily with mom who was working two and sometimes three jobs at a time to pay the bills. That left my brother and I at home to take care of ourselves most of the time. Growing up, we didn’t have much money, so I started working at age 11, which is when I signed my first contract with my grandfather. I had to pick grapes for ten cents a bucket in the summer to pay him back the seven hundred dollars I borrowed to go on my 8th grade trip to Washington DC. When we decided to start playing sports, we had to ride the city bus home, feed ourselves, and get completely ready for whatever sport we were playing before my mom would race home and grab us to take us to practice. This all taught me responsibility and discipline at an early age.

During my middle school years, sports were everything to me! Around 7th grade I started hanging around the wrong crowd and developed some bad habits like drinking and smoking. Despite those bad habits, I never let it get in the way of my passion for sports, which was the one thing that kept me from completely going off the rails. My early life felt disconnected from purpose and always made me curious why the struggles for me and others would happen. Why did my dad struggle to be in my life? Why was I tempted by things I knew to be negative, but still had a pull on my mind? It felt like I was always wandering through a forest with no path. It was complicated to find my way.

In high school, things took a turn for the worse. During my sophomore year, it was discovered that I needed to have a couple major surgeries to fix my left leg issues caused by a dirt bike accident when I was six. Those surgeries led to me having to give up sports entirely. I had invested everything into sports and now I didn’t have that. My dreams of becoming a pro athlete were crushed and I felt like I lost my identity. Reconciling that my sports days were over, I turned to weightlifting as an outlet but continued down the path of an undisciplined life, partying and drinking all through high school. At 17, I got a DUI and instead of looking in the mirror and having some self accountability, I blamed everyone and everything else for my circumstances. My life was a mess; I was indulging in these vices to mask my pain of not being able to play sports and not having the discipline to get my life in order. Even though I knew the choices I was making were sending me down a path of darkness and hedonism, I was too weak minded to change course.

After barely graduating high school, I moved from Northern California to Laramie Wyoming to attend WYOTech. My lack of responsibility continued and I fell deeper into a life of partying and self-focus. I wanted to continue with my weightlifting, which remained a passion, but I couldn’t make any significant progress or gain in my physique or capabilities. I was out of shape, overweight and not taking care of myself – physically or mentally. Fortunately for me, one thing that remained constant was my motivation to get to the gym. Despite my lack of growth and my frustrations about my own life, I continued to show up – the first true seeds in my life of discipline that demonstrated that something was there in the pursuit of consistency. Yet, in the back of my mind I kept thinking, “What’s holding you back?”

Every day I read and was inspired by bodybuilding magazines and always had an interest in the sport. I remember the exact moment when my mind changed. I was sitting in class, reading the magazine Muscular Development, instead of paying attention to the instructor, and I realized that if I wanted to be a bodybuilder, I needed to get rid of the things in my life that were holding me back. I told myself “I WILL BECOME A BODYBUILDER” and set out to achieve that goal.

I went back to my apartment after school and threw away all the alcohol and chewing tobacco. I turned my focus to weight training, nutrition and a holistic approach to my health and wellbeing. I parted ways with the vices that were holding me back. At age 19, I competed in my first bodybuilding show and went on to compete in 12 shows over the next 10 years. Life beyond my bodybuilding days certainly wasn’t without its challenges, like going through a divorce or my daughter being born while living in another state, but here’s what I have realized in the course of my time on earth: Nothing changes if nothing changes. I don’t have a long testimony about a hard life with an “ah ha” moment that changed my destiny forever. What I learned through my time in the gym and through the interactions I have had in business is that when you keep working at something with dedication and focus on the destination, you suddenly arrive where you want to be. It suddenly happens all at once, over the work and discipline of a life of consistency. My life isn’t perfect, and it certainly isn’t free of bumps or troubles. But what discipline has taught me is that each day is a new chance to sharpen my skills, hone my focus, and anneal my character in the directions I want to go.

Today, fitness and sports still play a major role in my life. Though my competitive body building days are behind me, I’ve shifted my focus to coaching youth basketball and tackle football. The chance to work with young men in their formative years and not only coach them but be a positive male influence on their lives is such a blessing. I want young men to understand that purpose in life comes from hard work, consistency and the ability to contribute to something bigger than yourself. Social Media and glorified celebrities have a major influence in today’s world, however this is not reality, there is no such thing as overnight success. Everyone has the ability to create a “rich life” maximizing themselves to their full potential physically, mentally and personally. My hope is that I can help men navigate the negative pressures that culture forces on them and lead them to a life of greatness.

I want people to avoid the pitfalls I found my way into in my youth. I want them to have a full life that heads steady in a good direction. My hope is that through my coaching and accountability program, people can find the same richness and reward that I have found in my full life. I look forward to helping you create a life of discipline.

In addition to my daughter, I’m the proud father of two amazing boys and live in Northern Colorado with my wife Ashley. Since 2014, we’ve purchased several struggling convenience stores, Laundromats, and carwashes and turned them into successful and thriving operations. I also serve as the Vice President on the board of the American Legacy Academy in Windsor and also a member of their Building Advisory Committee.