Who is Louis Skupien?
Hey! My name is Louis. I’m the owner and founder of Anvil Tactical Airsoft, the Talk4 Podcast, XPAND ECOM and Fightz On. I am also a professional tennis player. I love entrepreneurship, inventing and innovating. I have created a product that has sold world wide. I am always actively working on new projects and businesses. Let me tell you how I got to where I am, I hope you will find it intriguing and interesting.
As an only child, since I was very young I got used to my own company and doing things by myself, experimenting, tinkering and trying to excel at the things that caught my interest, and then mastering new things. At 4 years old I picked up the tennis racket and realised I wanted above anything else to become a professional tennis player and athlete. I worked very hard and slowly I started to withdraw from school and the “normal” systems and spent every opportunity playing tennis and perfecting my craft. I became extremely good and got noticed by several high influence people in the tennis world, and then my journey began.
I managed to secure a sponsorship and made the decision with my family to become home educated and pursue my ambitions in tennis. Looking back on it, I have massive respect for my parents who put aside the opinions of others and the supposed security of following the same system everyone else was being sent through. In my opinion, at age 12 when I withdrew from school to pursue the tennis full time, this was when I first became an entrepreneur.
For a long time I trained extremely hard in different academies with different coaches but I was always backed mostly by my parents, who sacrificed their time and energy to teach me as best they could and learn how to optimise my performance with little to basic knowledge of the subject before tennis came in to their lives. At age 13 I became much more independent as I boarded at an academy and began cooking for myself, taking full responsibility and taking a lead role in my training. I won the national championships, I played at Wimbledon as a demonstration of junior tennis, represented England and won the Four Nations championships, won international ITF (International Tennis Federation) tournaments and traveled the world whilst playing the sport I love. During that period of travel I picked up the passion for it and I’m truly grateful for it.
However some great things have downsides. Not everyone accepted or approved of what I was doing, ie not going through the normal school system. At this point I was still young and easily influenced by the opinions of others, and the words hurt. Looking back on it now, although I didn’t fully realise it or know why what I was doing was right, it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.
During my tennis as I got older, I started to play around with ideas that could bring a financial profit to myself in my free time to help towards funding my tennis. My first venture was sneaker reselling, it’s a very difficult business, but I made my first few scraps and I started to get the feel for what’s right and wrong in a world that was very new ground to me.
I then went on to start my first proper business in another sport I had taken a particular shine to, Airsoft. The military simulation sport that somewhat resembles paintball. I began selling simple items at first, then more complex products. Soon after, I built my own website and named my company Anvil Tactical Airsoft, which now is a renowned and trusted name in the Airsoft community. After some time, I developed my own winning products and innovated several impressive designs that got me deep into the business market. My contacts and reputation grew, ideas flowed, collaborations happened and I picked up insane amounts of knowledge, experience, ideas and business sav through my own experience of trial and error, what works, what resonates and what people actually want. This all further solidified my belief, not just in myself, but that breaking free from the norm opened up a world of possibilities through creativity and imagination, that would probably never have happened if I trudged through the normal school system.
Through entrepreneurship I continually worked on my mental game. Tennis taught me patience, dealing with losses, how it feels to win, dealing with rivals, the importance of contacts, professionalism, planning, goals and so much more. Beyond that, the mindset to always keep growing and learning. I did a lot of self improvement with a clarity and workaholic mindset that I felt I just had to share. So I started making my own quotes and posts on Instagram and Snapchat that helped motivate people and give little bits of advice, I love doing it.
Later on I also founded the TALK4 podcast and sent my first invitations to prolific personalities, to which a few I got a yes from and recorded my first episodes. Now, we are at episode 50+ episodes and have spoken with World Champions, Business Owners, Public Speakers, Navy Seals, Authors, Founders, Top Gun pilots, musicians, actors and much more.
I am never going to stop hustling, and I can’t wait to watch other businesses and people grow alongside me and my team.
Thank you for hearing my story!
I am Louis Skupien