From Setback to Stage: How a Year of Change Built My New Purpose

This was one of those weeks where every single struggle over the last year finally felt worth it. It’s been a hell of a year for a lot of reasons, but we’re going to hit the rewind button to last summer. It taught me a few life lessons that I’d love to share with you all for your respective journeys.

365 days ago, I thought I had built my company, Overtime Solutions (OS), into something extremely impactful for student-athletes across the nation. I saw the value. Those around me saw the value. It almost seemed like a no-brainer for NCAA programs to work with me because I met their needs on paper.

Why was I so confident? Because I had specifically built an entire curriculum based on a new legislative requirement that would have gone into effect on August 1, 2024. The “Student Athlete Core Guarantees” was the blueprint the NCAA set in early 2023. For the first half of 2024, I simply created an entire ecosystem of offerings to partner with universities on.

A perfectly logical transaction, in my opinion.
University “X” needs services 1, 2, and 3.
OS can provide services 1, 2, and 3.

After months of speaking with athletic departments across the country through the spring, the idea was cemented. This was a must-have for many D1 schools because the programs they have in place are often subpar and don’t truly prepare the student-athlete for life after college. Every single school I spoke to told me they’d love to work with me somehow when the time came.

The clock strikes 12:01 AM on August 1, 2024. The emails fly out with Quidditch-like speed, landing in inboxes across the country like Hogwarts acceptance letters. I envisioned waking up to an inbox full of responses knocking down my door to work with me to meet the new requirements. Not just because they had to, but more so because I had a really good product. Cue the personal expectations.

A week passes and I had a whopping zero responses… crickets.

I didn’t mention it much then, but it was really embarrassing. I had been grinding. Making content, hosting events, etc. Really pushing to show value to my target demographic and not a single one of them responded. Sigh.

However, I kept following up with people. I treat my business the same way I treated scoring the basketball. Shoot, follow your shot, get the rebound, score the basket. Even the best shooters still miss over half of their attempts from the floor. Why would I treat this any different?

A month passes and I finally get 2 responses in early September. One from a large Big 10 school and another from a large clothing brand. However, they were two totally different projects. One I was extremely familiar with and the other was a foreign concept.

The Big Ten school wanted the curriculum I had created in order to better prep their student-athletes for life during and after college. The clothing brand wanted a sports-themed leadership development workshop. This was fascinating because I had never publicly mentioned the words “leadership development” as a core OS offering. But this particular opportunity was too good to pass up, so I started building.

As most of you know, my life changed considerably last September due to injury. And because of the timing, I missed out on both opportunities because I was lying in a hospital bed for 21 hours a day. But as I focused on my recovery, I couldn’t stop thinking about how fun and fulfilling it was to build that leadership development workshop.

Fast forward to March. I knew that I had gone through hell with my recovery and had a story to tell, but didn’t know how to tell it. After some hesitation via sticker shock, I joined a personal brand course called Archimedes. It was a huge, 12-week bet on myself that needed to be done in order to rebuild my confidence and learn the art of storytelling.

This isn’t a plug for Archimedes, but I will say I’ve met some of the best people doing some of the coolest things across the world. Shoutout to my guy, Phil, who is a subscriber to this very newsletter!

As we get into May, I had become more comfortable with myself, my content, and new vision for OS. It was no longer about only helping student-athletes; it was about helping everyone out there in need of support in a time of transition. This was my new personal purpose and direction for the business.

I spent all of May and June just building my content ecosystem. I had become a considerably better storyteller and now it was time to showcase it to the world. Podcast appearance after podcast appearance, I started filling up my Google search page with videos of me speaking to anyone and everyone who would have me as a guest. Most days, I was my own guest and just spoke to the camera for practice. Either way, I just kept showing up.

At the end of June, I was contacted by the Big West Conference about an opportunity to work with them on a project. They wanted me to come to their annual SAAC (Student-Athlete Advisory Committee) summit and facilitate a leadership development workshop for emerging leaders and staff. I didn’t reply with this, but I definitely screamed “HELL YEA” at the top of my lungs.

The date was set. July 23, 2025. Nearly a year after my initial confidence, I approached this opportunity with a different mindset. This time, I showed up without expectations or pressure. No fantasies of fanfare or red carpets. Just a commitment to deliver value and create an authentic experience for those attending. It was about the work, not the applause.

Nearly a year later, after many lessons learned the hard way, things started to fall into place. This time, I moved forward with humility and focus, knowing the journey is never as straightforward as it seems.

Last Wednesday, I went to Irvine, CA and delivered the workshop to 27 student-athletes and conference staff members! They were engaged, lively, and most importantly, sponges for the lessons being shared with them. At the conclusion of the day, I was fortunate enough to have several attendees come up and tell me how much they genuinely enjoyed the learning process.

Talk about fulfillment.

As I walked out of the building and into my car to head home, one thing was evident… this is the life for me.

As I write this on Sunday afternoon, I feel overjoyed and grateful for two reasons:

• I have the most supportive community that’s helped me through the darkest chapter of my life. You all being a part of my newsletter community truly means a lot.
• I finally have direction fueled by purpose. I want to use my 2024 as a blueprint to help people work through their life transitions, big or small.

We all have ideas of how we want life to go. Dreams of having whatever comes with our individual ideas of “success” in this lifetime. It’s natural to have expectations and even more likely to try to bend the universe to our will so we can have what we think we want.

I’m here to tell you that isn’t the case. Sometimes, life will chew you up, spit you out, and decide to come back for seconds. Each obstacle will undoubtedly change you… and it should. If you’re the same person month after month, year after year, you’re likely choosing the easy way out.

Transitions should bring change. And change is never easy. The last year has brought change to my life, my body, and my business. With that being said, the uncomfortable moments are the ones that prepared me for the stages that I now speak on.

I’m excited to announce that I’m now offering leadership workshops and coaching sessions for organizations and individuals ready to embrace change and grow stronger.

If you know a team or group who could benefit, or if you’re interested in working together, hit reply or book a session here: https://calendly.com/ceversley

See y’all next Sunday! Thanks for your time and have a great week 🏁