“The way you can tell who is truly a genius, or an expert, is that they know how much they have left to learn.” - Janelle Lara (5:40)

Janelle Lara

The Part-Time CEO

 

Serving simply and from a mindset of abundance is the highest and most successful state for an entrepreneur.

 

When smart people live and serve simply, magic happens.

 

In fact, the smartest among us, the experts and teachers, are the people who have committed themselves to being lifelong students. Instead of seeking answers to questions, they just learn how to ask better questions, and then pass their wisdom along to others.

 

Nic Peterson is one such person. A successful entrepreneur, Nic's primary role for his clients is, and ever has been, to trim away the mindset issues and layers of complexity in order to figure out the small percentage of work they actually should be doing.

“With complexity comes unreliability. The more  complex something is, the less reliable it is.” - Nic Peterson (18:43)

One of the most important parts of constructing a business this way is figuring out, as the entrepreneur, what do you want your life to look like? Not what your revenue goals are or your perfect bottom line, but what makes you happy? Do you want more time with your family, or the freedom to pursue a favorite hobby? Your work should ultimately give you the life you want, while allowing you to serve others joyously.

 

To that end, adopting a mindset of scarcity - or just failing to leave one behind - can lead to a lot of unnecessary complications. When you worry and strategize about casting your net wide instead of serving your people, your business becomes every complex, and therefore unreliable. Instead, cultivate the thing you love to do and do well, and wake up every day, happy to do it. Fall in love with the process, not with your idea of the results.

The people you surround yourself with will have an indelible effect on your growth and your journey. Be sure to choose wisely.

Finally, humans generally work best surrounded by other humans. Entrepreneurs thrive when they intentionally put themselves into a diverse environment of peers who provide both a challenge and a much-needed perspective check.

 

It is entirely natural to normalize the progress you make towards your goals. Think back: maybe there was a time when all you wanted was to work steadily and work hard, and make a decent amount of money. As you progressed to that point and beyond, it's very likely that you're still pushing and pushing to reach your goals - not realizing that you're miles away from where your first checkpoints were. This is exactly why we need good people around to say, “Look behind you, look where you've been”.

“You have to understand your strengths, build your business around that, and then just show up and do it.” - Nic Peterson (53:47)  

Janelle Lara refers to this state of ecstatic, perpetual drive as “blissful discontentment”. Stripping away the tactics, politics, and insecurities to function as a service provider in love with serving is simply the best way to do business.

 

How to get involved

• Follow @theparttimeceopodcast on Instagram for special, podcast related updates!

• For more resources, information on my coaching services, and a whole community of Part-Time CEOs, find me on Facebook at Janelle Lara, my website, or email me at [email protected].

 

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