The Next Journey
Our trip to Israel marked the beginning of the next stage of my life. Over the past 22 years I have learned how to help people make more money. Teaching them how to find subject matter experts in areas of their business that they don’t understand and to create a plan that works for their life and their business. I believe at this point it is time for me to add a whole new skill set to my life. I don’t believe I need to stop helping people make more money, but I also want to help them find more meaning from their material success. I know that the more money I make, I don’t get any happier, but I like having the financial resources to do whatever I want. I am happiest when I do things for others, sometimes in ways that others can’t because of that financial success.
There are so many people in the US that have made a good living and have put significant money in the bank, but they feel the way I did a few years go. I can’t exactly explain the feeling, but its this feeling that something is missing, that there must be more to life than just making money. That feeling went away over the last few years when I began to gain clarity on my current purpose beyond making money and I started sharing it with others. Those people introduced me to others that were interested in the same things that I was, at a purpose level, and my world was transformed. I have begun to surround myself with others that have a shared common purpose and all of a sudden the world is a different place for me.
I spent a few years in the murk trying to help unsuccessful, socially minded people become more successful. That was painful for me because I’m not a detail-oriented person and I don’t do well with keeping others accountable. I’m best at the big picture stuff, focusing on the long-term plans and helping people find out what they really want. I started to focus on helping people that were already successful how powerful it was to be socially minded as well. In addition, I figured out in my business that I need to hand things off to others that have different skills than me, which changed my world even more. For me, it’s about finding the right resources and empowering them to execute. I am a touch and go entrepreneur who can establish businesses that employ others, but I should get out of the way once they start moving forward.
Over the past 20 years I have stayed involved way too long in my business and coaching engagements. I need to learn to let go and empower others to create their own future through what I can envision and create. In short, I’ve been acting as a business owner/operator when I should be acting as an entrepreneur and getting things started. It’s not about the running and operating businesses for me, it’s about bringing the idea to life and finding others that want to build it. It’s about taking risk and providing an opportunity for other smart, motivated execution types to make a living from the concepts. They will never take the risk, but they are amazing at getting things done!
I always thought that entrepreneurs were ego centric by opening lots of businesses, but I am realizing that’s not the case at all. Wilson Harrell, whom I met so many years ago when I first started with Let’s Talk Business, bragged about the 100 plus companies he had started. All I could think about was how egotistical he was. I am realizing that I missed the point that Wilson was making and only now realize the power of what he created. I’m not even sure it is about investing capital, but compensating people beyond sweat equity along the way will be better. I’m not in that position today, but that time will come.
It’s time to put my learning to use and spread my wings and become the person I was meant to be. So many people have told me that they will follow me to the end, but I need to be a better leader and surround myself with the right team. As I do that I also need to learn more about empowerment and engaging humbly. That brings me to a whole other post about heart vs head, which I will post tomorrow. I am realizing that for the first 51 years of my life, when I first meet people they meet my brain, now it’s time to lead with my heart. It’s my heart that they end up really liking and staying connected to. I look forward to the journey and feel at peace about all of these decisions I have made over the past few years. Many of the decisions have been painful, and some very expensive, but all of it adds up to the future and my commitment to leaving this planet infinitely better than I found it.
To a life well lived!
Larry Kesslin 