Transcription
Entrepreneurship is the new 9-to-5 trap. So, today I'm talking to you entrepreneurs out there. You guys who are thinking about building a business, have been building a business, or have been working for yourself for a while.
Yesterday, I had several guidance calls with other entrepreneurs, and they're all echoing the same sentiment. And one young man in particular really stuck out to me in my mind, and his story might sound a lot like yours, cuz it sounds a lot like mine. And that is that this young man is a coach. He's a course creator. He helps other men become the strongest version of themselves. He is a guide. He is a leader. He is an entrepreneur who has built his business with dignity and pride.
But there's a shift that has happened most recently in his life, but I tend to think that this is worldwide. Like it's not just happening to him, but it's happening to guys like you and I. And that is moving from building out of fear into building with faith; going from hustling to honoring and recognizing that our power is in our presence, not in our performance. This has everything to do with the shift from doing to being.
And it looks a lot like this. In the old world, the old way of doing things or even what maybe prompted you to be an entrepreneur, it was all about grinding and going and hustling and getting and grabbing and manipulating, right? Doing the things that you had to do to close the deal, make the sale. And all the while your bank account might be stacking, your pride might be exploding, but your heart is getting crushed. Meaning the very reason why you went into the business that you went into has been forgotten. And in place of connections is accounting. In the place of doing work that serves, you find yourself doing work for the sake of activity. Doing stuff out of angst instead of out of peace.
This shift from doing to being, like I said, I think is happening across the globe. But I think it's just most evident in the conscious entrepreneur, meaning the person that God has called to serve. But the service has sort of taken back seat to the pursuit of greater results, higher income, more scaling, if you will, cuz that's the key word of the old way, scaling. How can I leverage more? And we've gotten to a point right now where leveraging has just gotten so stupid that the AI slop that's creating that people are using to create content and write articles and emails has just gotten so benile and bland and boring that people are hungry for more presence.
So, let me tell you a little bit about this man's story, and maybe you can relate. Like I said, he's been building and doing great, but he hit a roadblock and an integrity shift that needed to take place in order to build his business. He did things like running a lot of flashy ads, using manipulative tactics, writing copy that's designed to sell rather than designed to connect. And if a deal wasn't made every single day, if a sale wasn't made on the hour, if his bank account wasn't increasing consistently, he felt afraid, like maybe he's not doing enough, so maybe he's got to work even harder. So he found himself working from not just a 9-to-5 paradigm—that even that looks kind of pleasing—to working almost 24 hours a day. From the time he wakes up, he's looking at his screen, and he's not going to bed until after midnight. And even though things are moving, they're not moving fast enough. And then there's a crash. And I can tell you I know what that crash feels like because I felt that crash about a year ago. That crash that is about your inner being knowing your higher calling shouting and telling you to slow down, like this isn't the route. It's almost like God is shouting to the world right now and letting us all remember who we are and why we're doing what we're doing and allowing us the space to move back to being.
So he recognized this, and in that recognition he said, "That's it. I'm done. No more hustling, son. No more manipulating. No more trying to get something where I haven't put in my best. No more scaling is what I'm talking about." And he says, "I want to do work that I'm proud of even though I'm making less dough. I want to work one-on-one, monoe mono, with men in the flesh, not online groups, not uh Zoom rooms filled with a dozen dudes that are all trying to vie for your attention. No more funnels and copy and sending out emails that are designed just to get a click and manipulate, but really speaking to people from my heart so that we can deeply relate."
And in that shift from the old paradigm to the new, he discovers that although the heart is pleased, the mind is totally confused. Like the old way was working, even though it went against my integrity. The new way feels right, but damn, I'm not stacking like I used to. What do I do?
And I love speaking to this guy. And like I said, I spoke to several entrepreneurs yesterday that all echoed the same exact sentiment. But I'm thinking of one guy in particular because his story sounds a lot like mine. And you guys know, you've watched me, you followed me, many of you, for decades here on YouTube. And you watch me go from fledgling entrepreneur in my dirty warehouse gym to exploding and having millions of followers and then kind of losing my mind. And it's been kind of unfolding for several years like a so-called crisis, you might say, in my life; an identity crisis, if you will. But it's like this struggle, this fight between two sides. And this is what he was feeling and what I've been experiencing over the past several years. But I tend to think that I'm a little ahead of my time usually, and I don't trust myself until I can see it on the outside. And I'm starting to see it now. And I'm realizing that my going crazy, my flipping the script and not really understanding what it is that I have been called to do and doing things that didn't actually feel so cool, it's all about an awakening and a global awakening. But it's going to require a lot of sacrifice, too.
So those things that he knows work but maybe don't feel so right needed to be set to the side. And instead of operating out of hustle and fear, he now has to move slowly with faith. Slow success is what I think we're being called to. Slow success, simple success, aligned success, operating from truth and allowing our presence to be the value, not just what we can do.
And if you're an entrepreneur, if you're a coach, if you're a course creator, you're a guide, you're a consultant, and you know I'm talking to you too. Our value isn't in our doing. Our value is in our being. Our power is not in our performance. Our power is in our presence. And that requires a lot of letting go and trusting. Trusting that that still small voice God deep within is not just calling you to a life of sacrifice, but he's asking you to be more fully aligned with your truth. And although maybe the income won't be as high, maybe the popularity and the scaling online won't be so high, the depth, the wisdom, the truth, the understanding, the transfer of spiritual food—that's the real value, dude—showing up every day with the same message, beating the same drum, and reminding those that follow you and reminding those that you've been called to serve that it's not about going faster. It's not about doing more. In fact, it's about stripping away, doing less, and achieving more depth rather than it being a race at the end of the day.
So, this message is for all you out there who look at entrepreneurship and think that it's cool, but don't realize that we're being called to something much deeper. Dude, it's a transfer of love. But that can only happen if it starts inside you. And if you're beating yourself up, wondering if you're being lazy, then you're totally confused because the way that you love yourself has everything to do with the way that you're going to love the others, from a place of peace and honor and truth.
I'll leave you with this, dudes. In today's gospel reading, Jesus says, "My peace I give you. My peace I leave you. I leave you, but not the peace of this world." My peace I give you. My peace I leave you, but not the peace of this world. What does he mean by that? Jesus Christ is offering us an opportunity to step back and to look at the big picture and the truth and not be so focused on the tree that we can't see the forest, thinking that our value is in the next dollar exchange. The peace of the world is about hustle and grind and feeling safe with money in the bank and knowing where the next client's going to come from. But the peace of Christ is in knowing that you're living in full integrity. And that with that cosmic perspective, by stepping back and looking at the truth, you begin to realize that it's not even about you. It's about what God wants to do through you. The peace of the world was about what you can get, what you can do, how you perform, how people choose to admire you. But the peace of Christ is a peace on the inside that says, God, not by my will, but by thine. You guide me to what's true. Amen.