Last Updated on January 13, 2025
⭐ Are you a neurodivergent entrepreneur? ⭐
If so, perhaps you’d like to be a guest on my new podcast “The Neurodivergent Entrepreneur.”
I’m looking for two kinds of guests:
- Neurodivergent founders and business owners at any stage of business where you are making money. Help others by sharing the wisdom you’ve gained!
- Neurodivergent people who are struggling with creating a new business venture. Get a free coaching session in exchange for sharing an edited version on my show!
If you’re interested, sign up here. Or send this to someone you think might be a good fit.
The business of love
I’ve been thinking a lot about business lately, as I’ve been setting goals to grow my own business in 2025.
What even is a business?
It’s just one or more people getting together to create a product or service.
And then these people exchange this product or service with others who are willing to give them money for it.
So to have a successful business requires empathy.
You need to understand what people want.
And then find the overlap with what you’re wanting to create.
That way it is win-win!
The customer is happy and the people working the business are happy.
Business is all about relationships
I sometimes hear people saying they want to create a business because they don’t want to have a boss.
The thing is though, when you’re in business for yourself you still have customers.
So ultimately business is all about relationships.
In particular, the heart of business is creating wonderful relationships with everyone you work with.
And you know what makes for great relationships?
Sincerely caring about people!
What people don’t want is having an uncaring boss, a boss that punishes us for failing to be perfect.
And when we start our own businesses, sometimes we can internalize that.
Punishment Paradigm Business
It’s common for entrepreneurs to think they need to hustle, grind, and force their way to success.
Instead of having a demanding, uncaring boss forcing them to work long hours, they become their own uncaring boss.
This “hustle culture” is motivated by what I call The Punishment Paradigm.
It’s motivated by fear.
Yesterday I felt that myself.
I read a post on Facebook about how AI is replacing software developers, and companies like Salesforce and Meta aren’t hiring any engineers.
I’m not even a software engineer, but reading that made me scared.
Progress Paradigm Business
So I did some Pattern Interrupt Methods with the fear.
That helped me realize something important.
I was only feeling fear because I had this thought:
“I won’t be able to compete.”
But competition is just part of The Punishment Paradigm.
It’s thinking in terms of winners and losers, in dominating and controlling.
But that’s not what business is about, in my opinion!
My goal with everything I do in business is win-win.
Going for win-win means I’m not playing a competitive game at all!
I’m playing an “infinite game,” a game of collaboration, of co-creation.
To make more money, help more people.
The way I’m thinking about my new podcast is like that too.
I’m asking questions like, “How can I help the guests on my show reach more people, while also growing my own visibility?”
Because business is about relationships.
And relationships are about love.
What more can we create?
So rather than asking, “What jobs will AI replace?” we could be asking, “What more can we do together with the help of technologies like AI?”
And the answer to that is, “We could make the world a much better place for everyone!”
Or at least that’s the vision I’m going to keep putting out there.
We are living in an age of incredible abundance.
We don’t have to think in terms of win-lose scarcity anymore.
These new technologies help us manifest our intentions faster and faster.
So it’s more important than ever that we step out of fear and into love, over and over and over again, for the benefit of all.
Take care,
~Duff
(they/them)
