Thriving is greater than surviving

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Aw yeah, welcome, welcome, welcome.

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Welcome to the Parents Making Profits
Show, the world's number one podcast for

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parents who are entrepreneurs helping them
be the best parentpreneurs they can be.

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I'm James Oliver Jr., co -founder of the
World's Cutest Twins, husband to an

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amazing wife, founder of the Parentpreneur
Foundation and CEO of Kabila, which

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connects Overlook founders to capital, co
-founders and community.

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And I'm the author of the book, The More
You Hustle, The Luckier You Get.

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You can be a successful parentpreneur
available

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Amazon, what's up y 'all?

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Turn the mic back on today, got something
I wanna talk about, because you know I

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always got something to say.

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Got a lot of strong opinions, loosely
held.

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I can't take credit for that saying, I got
that one from my tech stars, Austin

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managing director, Amos Schwartzfarb.

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That's for my man Amos.

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What up Amos?

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So look, today's episode is titled, Is
Thriving Greater Than Surviving?

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No, it's not that is thriving greater than
surviving.

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The title is thriving is greater than
surviving.

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Sorry about that.

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You know what I'm talking about.

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So look, I think this is important because
I'm connected to a lot of early stage

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founders in my Kabila and parentpreneur
foundation communities.

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And I don't know if people would admit it
openly, but it feels like folks, know, are

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especially early stage entrepreneurs are
just surviving, like only surviving

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You know, we were put, I believe we were
put on this planet to thrive, not simply

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survive.

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But look, I get it, you know, being an
entrepreneur is hard, especially in the

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early stages, which is where honestly most
of my founder connections lie.

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But I want to explore some ways today to
help you thrive despite the challenges of

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being an entrepreneur.

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All right, cool.

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Cool.

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So for inspiration, I went to a Forbes,
sorry about

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knocking my mic around, I apologize for
that.

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For inspiration, I went to a Forbes
article titled, How to Thrive, Seven Ways

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to Create Happiness in the Future of Work
by Dr.

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Tracy Brower.

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And I'm gonna walk through the seven
suggestions that Dr.

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Brower offers and I hope you get inspired
to thrive, not merely survive, if that is

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an issue for you.

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I'm also gonna offer an additional
suggestion that is not.

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on Dr.

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Brower's list.

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So Dr.

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Brower defines thriving because I think
it's important to define what is thriving.

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In the context of this article, thriving
is a combination of happiness,

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accomplishment, and growth.

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That feels good to me.

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I'm going rock with that.

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Hopefully, you guys agree that that's a
reasonable definition for thriving.

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So let's get right into these seven ways.

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Here are the seven ways.

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to thrive, according to Dr.

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Brower.

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Number one, perspective and approach.

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And she says, quote, having a positive
perspective and an optimistic stance

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matter to thriving.

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Look to the future and stay expecting
about what is to come, unquote.

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That word positive there reminds me of the
last episode where we explored toxic

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positivity and asked if it really is
toxic.

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I think you'll find that episode
interesting.

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So go back and check it out.

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was the one right before this.

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but overall, I really liked the
suggestion.

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I'm interested in expectation part of it
because I was listening to my guy, you

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know, pastor Amos Johnson from the church
for entrepreneurs.

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Recently, you hear me talk about him from
time to time.

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And, he talked about in order to have
faith, you have to have an expectation of

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the thing come in the past.

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So this was a revelation for me.

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So I can agree with this first point of
perspective and approach with an air of

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expectation.

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Love to get your thoughts about that.

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Number two, passion and learning.

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Dr.

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Brauer says, quote, thriving is also based
on development.

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So embrace your passions and interests.

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Know your talents, develop them, and grow
in new directions as well.

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Find what motivates you and keep the focus
on learning.

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progressing and advancing your skills and
abilities." End quote.

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Okay, I love this.

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I would add, what are you obsessed with?

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What thing can't you stop thinking about?

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Obsession matters more than passion for
entrepreneurs, I think, because passion is

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based on emotion and is fleeting.

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My friend, investor Brad Feld, told me he
invests in entrepreneurs who are not

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passionate, but obsessed with solving a
problem.

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because obsessed people are less likely to
quit so quickly when things get hard.

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And as we all know, because we're all
entrepreneurs listening to this, right?

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Things will get hard.

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You can bet that, right?

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So number three, you have a bigger
picture.

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This means being connected to something
larger than yourself.

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This is usually spiritual or religious in
nature for most people, but it could be a

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cause you care deeply about, I think.

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And so, you know, what is that for you?

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Ask yourself, what is that for you?

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Is it religion?

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Is it faith, spirituality?

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Is it some causes you care about deeply?

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you know, gives you, what are you
connected to that is larger than yourself?

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Number four, relationships.

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Quote from Dr.

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Brower, another aspect of thriving is
social competence and the ability to build

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rapport and connect effectively with
others at work, in social or family.

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situations," end quote.

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This makes tons of sense, right?

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And I could admit publicly here that I
didn't really appreciate the importance of

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relationships until probably the last 10
years.

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And I think in hindsight, this was a big
mistake.

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And I'm led to wonder, how much further
ahead would I be if I appreciated

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relationships sooner?

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I guess you could say, well, there's no
point in focusing on that.

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because the only thing that matters is
right now and I agree with that and I am

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focused on relationships and I can see the
benefit of that.

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So I'm super thankful for that.

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I will say that I'm definitely gonna teach
my children, my twins who are 11 years old

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now, the importance of relationship
building today.

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Also, I read an article a while back, I
think it was in the Wall Street Journal,

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that talked about how middle -aged men,
because I'm a middle -aged man, yes, Gen X

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in the house, middle -aged men actually
lose relationships

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because they are focused on work and
family and fascinatingly enough, this is

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literally killing them.

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Like their health is terrible, like
strokes, et cetera, it's bad.

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So I'm super thankful that I'm making so
many great new relationships these days.

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Many of you out there listening, I would
count y 'all in that category.

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But mostly it's because of the work I do
in my parent -parent bond foundation in

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Kabila community, it's just

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connecting with some great humans who are
entrepreneurs and parentpreneurs, really,

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really great on similar journeys, really,
really awesome.

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Number five, resilience.

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So I actually disagree with the article
here as it defines resilience as

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adaptability.

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I think resilience is getting knocked out
and getting back up in its simplest form.

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So Dr.

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Brower gives examples of being flexible
and adaptable.

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when describing what resilience is.

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And to me, that's not resilience.

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That's flexibility and adaptability.

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Now I agree those two things are important
as is being knocked down and getting back

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up, which as I said, is resilience to me.

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Number six, embracing challenges.

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Dr.

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Brower describes it as facing difficulties
and responding to it.

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Like I 100 % agree with this.

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Like who out there would disagree with
that?

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Like raise your hand, send me a note.

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Let me know if you disagree with this.

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You know, I always say that a comfort zone
is a beautiful place, but nothing,

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absolutely nothing except probably weeds,
nothing ever grows there.

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So embrace the challenges and watch
yourself grow.

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Number seven, life is about the journey.

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Quote from Dr.

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Brower.

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When you create the conditions to thrive,
you keep moving, continually looking for

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ways to improve." End quote.

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I love this and 100 % co -sign it.

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I would, however, add an eighth way to
thrive, and that is to get the help of a

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great mental therapist.

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I've paid for over 400 mental therapy
sessions for founders in my communities

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and have seen firsthand the transformative
impact it has had on entrepreneurs.

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Getting a therapist will give you the
mental tools and resources to have the

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right perspective on situations, making
you more resilient, more self -aware, and

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even more empathetic of others, which will
help you develop deeper relationships with

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people, which will help you what?

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Thrive.

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So that's it.

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Seven ways to thrive with my eighth way
added for good measure.

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Do you agree?

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Disagree?

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Is it something you would add?

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or take away, like hit me up on LinkedIn,
let me know.

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I'll add my profile in the show notes.

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Please add a note to your connection
request that you heard me on the podcast.

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So now it's time for my favorite part of
the show, the dad joke.

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And like I always say, my kids, I play
this podcast for the kids, you know,

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they're real critical about the dad jokes.

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like that last one with James Bond.

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You know, my son liked it mostly because
it made reference to farts, you know, his

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kid likes the fart game, all that.

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Anyway, my wife was mad at me about the
joke, but you know, she still loves me.

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that right, Yes it is, of course.

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So here's the dad joke.

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What did the aliens say to the landscaper?

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What did the aliens say to the landscaper?

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Take me to your weeder.

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Yeah, she liked that, right?

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Yes, that's a good one, right?

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I love it.

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All right, man.

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So we are finna get out of here today.

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You know, we know you like the show
because you're still listening.

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So please subscribe, follow and rate it.

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Follow me on Twitter at James Oliver Jr.

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That's JamesOliverJR.

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Connect with me on LinkedIn.

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I'll put my profile in the show notes.

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If you send me a connection request,
please tell me you heard me on the

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podcast, because I am a bit of a LinkedIn
snob, and I'll just accept LinkedIn

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connection requests from people I don't
know, if there's not a good reason to do

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so, but I wanna hear from you.

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So send me a connection request, send a
note, heard you on the podcast, wanna riff

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about this, boom, you're in.

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I would love to talk to you and get your
thoughts about this.

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All so that's us for this week.

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We'll catch up with you next time.

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See ya later.