Hello, and welcome to the Limitless Entrepreneur Podcast. I’m your host, Nicole Laino. And it’s just you and me today, we’re going to do a little solo episode, we’re going to talk about a topic that has been on my mind for a while, it has been popping up in my world, I’ve been getting all of these little pings. And my my manifesting generator sacral has been going off about this topic, because I’ve been given all these moments and things to respond to. It has been popping up where I’m like, okay, I get it, I’m getting the message universe, this is something I should talk about, on the show with my audience overall. And it’s something that I hope opens you up, especially if you are, you’re an entrepreneur, I’m guessing if you’re listening to this show. And if you’re not where you want to be. Now, that can mean a much bunch of things, it can mean that you are at 200,000, you want to be at 500,000, that can mean that you are at 50,000, and you want to be at 100,000. And or it could mean that you have the money that you want, but you don’t have the freedom that you want. It could mean that you built a business, but now you’re looking at it and you don’t really love it and you’re trying to figure out what’s next. That something is sitting in you that doesn’t feel right, it doesn’t feel aligned in some way. You’re not achieving what you want, or you’re not experiencing what you want in your business.  And I hope that this, this sheds some light and gives you a new perspective, that can really shift things quickly and powerfully if you’re willing to do it. So the first thing that I want to say is, I want you to stop trying to be an entrepreneur, stop trying to be an entrepreneur. I know that can seem funny coming from the host of a show called The Limitless Entrepreneur. But hear me out. If you fall into the category of, and I talked to a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs who fall into this category, where they’re thinking about money, they’re thinking about engagement metrics, and sales scripts, and funnels, and all of this stuff. And you can feel your guts kind of kind of constricting, you can feel your body language change, you can feel like you’re breaking out in hives, you’re feeling like, like, this just isn’t me, I don’t want to do this stuff, this isn’t what I want. Which ultimately, when you’re doing that, and you’re pushing, and you’re pushing and pushing, you either have the money to completely invest in all of those specialists to help you with all of those different things. But let’s be frank, you need a very healthy income in your business, a very healthy revenue to be able to absorb those costs. And you know, we still want to pay ourselves, we still want to end up where we have the financial freedom, like, okay, we got some freedom, but now I don’t really have the financial freedom because all of my money goes out to paying other people.  So if you fall into that category where that doesn’t float your boat, it doesn’t make you feel good. There’s the entrepreneur who sees and is drawn to all of that stuff. They’re drawn to the funnels, they’re drawn to the sales scripts, they’re drawn to–it’s the entrepreneur, when we hear the word entrepreneur, think about that from like a more traditional aspect. The venture capitalist, the  startup founders, like I came from that world. So it’s a very different vibe. But there is there is a commonality between this and what we’re going to be talking about, but I want to, I want to emphasize this side of things, the very strict–and feel like the direction that you want to go in and it might actually cause you to hit the brakes on your business. It might cause you to not be able to show up fully. Okay?  Now if you fall into that category, if you fall into that category of not digging that side of things, not loving all of the, like when I say the word funnels and engagement metrics and tell me what, you know, lay out your sales script for me, or talk to me about how you’re building out this 16 Step funnel with your Facebook ads people. Like I mean, you’re talking about more of the technical side of things. Now we break that down. I’m not I’m not throwing any of that away. But I want you understand there’s actually, there’s two sides to entrepreneurship. There’s two sides to an entrepreneur, there’s that side which gets glorified because it’s very, it’s very easy to tie that stuff to to the to the revenue. So with the testimonials that you’re reading, all of the stuff that you see online where they’re like, I made X amount of dollars using this strategy. And there’s usually a technical component to that, let me tell you my process, let me tell you the step by step process that this strategy lays out for how you can get to X amount of dollars per month, or in a launch, or in a year. It’s very easy to tie that back, because our logical mind can make sense of it, they go, oh, they did this thing, then at the end of it, they ended up with this amount of money. So the thing must have been the catalyst for that. That must have been the driver for the income.  And now we’re not even going to go into how that’s usually a very out of context, sort of testimonial, when you hear those things, you’ll hear that someone made this amount of money in this amount of time using this strategy. Yeah, you didn’t hear all of the things that they did before. The years that they spent, the money they spent, all of that stuff. They don’t tell you that. They don’t tell you that. What’s also very interesting, I see the same people with the same testimonial on multiple coaches and different gurus’ websites, where it’s the same people saying that this person saved me. And they have this great result. But it’s like, oh, but I thought they were the one that saved you. It’s very interesting, because it’s an incestuous business that we’re in. So we can see a lot of the same things. But there’s two sides to the entrepreneur. So that is the technical side. That is the true like, textbook entrepreneur, Gordon Gekko, Wolf of Wall Street style entrepreneurship thing that we were thinking of. Definitely, bro marketing is the way that we kind of refer to it now, but certainly not exclusive to men. There are plenty of women out there that are geared that way. But there’s another side that we often discount, we often discount it. And that really means that there’s another side of this that is that is much more the creator, the innovator, the visionary, I like to look at it as the artist. Why? Because it gives you a totally different way of approaching it.  So if I told you to stop trying to be an entrepreneur, stop trying to be something you’re not. Stop trying to be something that feels bad to you. Because I have news for you, your subconscious, your central nervous system is not going to allow you to become something you don’t like, and you don’t enjoy. And even if you push through, you’ll get to the end of it and you’ll hate what you have created. So if you break out in hives, when I talk about that more traditional side, if you fall into that category, I want you to slip on the idea, slip on the jacket, slip on the skin, of what if I approached it like an artist? Now the problem with this for most people, and I’m going to turn that around in here. But most people if you think artists we automatically put starving in front of it. Well, if I’m an artist, and I’m not going to make any money, if I’m an artist, then it’s just it’s like it’s a life of pain. It’s creatively fulfilling, but in every other way it’s torture. And that is just ultimately not true. That is not true. That is a, it’s a cliche that we all know and grew up with. Certainly if you’re part of my 40-something plus bracket, that starving had to come before artist.  But I don’t want you to think about it that way. I want you to think about it more from the creative perspective. And they want you to come from it, and the other thing that can come out of thinking about being an artist some of you might automatically go into well, I’m not an artist, I’m not creative. Yes, you are. We’re all creative. And that’s why I want you to start, this is exactly why I’m telling you to start thinking of yourself as an artist. Because when you start thinking of yourself that way, you start to become it. You stop renouncing this creativity that’s in you because it doesn’t look like what we were told artists were. Just because you can’t paint doesn’t mean you aren’t a creator. Just because you haven’t written a movie, or performed in a play, or sang on stage in front of an audience full of people does not mean you are not an artist. That’s just a very traditional definition of it and way that we think of artists. Just because you’re not Lady Gaga doesn’t mean you’re not an artist.  You are a creative being. And when you nurture that side, and when you think about that as being a top priority in your business, that if you don’t naturally flow down the other side, then stop trying to force yourself down that more strategic side of business. Because here’s what will happen. If you start to embrace the artist, if you start to embrace the artist, and you start to nurture that side of yourself, and you start to make that part of your identity, that if you know that you want to be seen, that you feel like you want to express yourself, if you have that in you, that’s the artist calling out to you. And if you don’t chase the money, and if you’re not chasing the results, and you allow yourself to create. Trust that you are being led down that path for a reason.  When you are experiencing joy when you are experiencing flow, and if you’re following your human design strategy and authority, so if you are in the human design world, you know that your strategy and authority is telling you how to experience flow, it is telling you what the path of least resistance to abundance is for you. When you follow it, you will get there, but it’s about trust. And so if you are following that strategy and authority, while embracing the identity of the artist, while you are allowing yourself and realizing that your number one job is to be a creator of something. Are you a creator of experiences for people? Are you a creator of inspiration for people? Are you a creator of community for people? Are you a creator of knowledge and of exploration for people? Are you that path? Are you a guide? All of that has a much, a very artistic flavor to it. And by pushing yourself forcefully down the other path? How do I do it? What do I do? What’s the next thing? What’s the next strategy? You are pushing that artist in the corner. And you’re missing out on all of the magic that you have to offer. It is what makes you unique. So when we’re asking, so how do I stand out online? How do I get those engagement metrics up? Yes, you could buy another course on Instagram that talks to you about how you can craft the perfect post. And you can engage for 10 minutes before you post and in 10 minutes after you post and you can do all of that, sure. But you’re still going to wonder how you stand out. Because it’s not going to work, you’ve probably done it, not gotten the results, gotten frustrated. And that’s why you’re here. That’s why you’re listening to this right now. So it isn’t about that. It’s about showing up as your true and authentic self, as the creator that you are offering something that’s different than everybody else. And the only thing that you have that’s different than everybody else, because the information that we’re that we have available to us is all the same. It’s you. You’re the only thing you have. And you’ve heard that before. You’ve heard that only you can offer what you have. It’s the truth. But how do you step into that? How do you access a level of authenticity, the level of courage needed to be that person out in public, to say what you’re really thinking, to express what you’re really feeling? And you might feel like you have been stuck on this.  Now the reason I want you to approach this as an artist and I want you to keep that that vision in your head, I want you to keep that that idea of what an artist means to you and that you are an artist I want you to embody that identity. I want you to embrace it. I want you to take it in. Be the artist. Why? Because if you are stuck right now with how do I express myself, how do I get my thoughts out? I have so much to say but I can’t say it. I want to say it right. I don’t know how to do it. I keep getting frozen when I go to put my words out there, my thoughts out there. Now there’s a whole level of intricacy that I can get into with your human design and your gene keys of developing your brand from a place of your unique genius. That’s a separate episode. And if you haven’t taken my master classes on that I highly recommend you do that. If you want some specifics about drilling into your unique genius so you can find your true artistry. But artists prioritize different things then those traditional entrepreneurs. Than the go getter, venture capitalist style entrepreneur. Why? Because their job is to open the flow of creativity. It’s to get to their core. And that is your main objective as well, if you’re embracing the artist. How do I put this out there in a way that will touch other people? I open myself up and I become vulnerable.  Real vulnerability is being truthful, is putting your heart out there, is putting something out there that is true to you. That’s what authenticity and vulnerability is really about. It’s not about putting something through a formulaic process. And then you know, like, oh, tell me a story that you know, made you cry. Not authentic. I mean, it might be. But that’s not what we’re talking about. It’s about speaking from the heart. So I remember reading, because we often think about artists as lazy and they’re not, they’re very committed to their craft, they are so jazzed by their craft, they are so driven by it, it’s almost like they couldn’t do anything else but it. So if you’ve been drawn to entrepreneurship, if you’ve been in this game for a while, if you built a business, if you’re just starting a business, but you’re like I’m so pulled in this direction, something is calling to you, the creator is calling to you. If it’s not the other things that I was mentioning in the beginning, then recognize that it’s this other stuff. It’s the call to expression. It’s the call to making an impact. It’s a call to putting your soul out there. And that can be scary stuff. It’s certainly scary for artists, they’re terrified of putting their work out there. That’s their heart, that’s their soul. But they do it. Because they know that it’s part of their calling. They’re so dedicated to it. And they also know another thing that I want to point out, because we think about artists is like it’s just this innate ability. And this is what stops a lot of entrepreneurs from embracing this artists side. And this was a big turning point for me too. Because, again, we think that like people, just painters just pick up paint brushes, and painted these beautiful landscapes or painted these beautiful portraits, and they just had this innate ability. And it’s true, they might have had some God given talent in there to work with. But inspiration is not the end, it’s the beginning. Talent is something that is cultivated and crafted. It is not just born.  And I was reading an interview with that Stephen Sondheim the great Broadway composer and writer gave years ago, I don’t even know when it was, I wish I could find the interview, I was trying to find it. I couldn’t find it to pull the exact quote. But he basically talked about how it was this great comfort to him when he realized that art was a craft. That art was craft. That the inspiration comes, but at that point, that’s when the work starts. You have to craft the vision. It was given to you. The universe gives you this beautiful gift of an inspiration. And now it’s your job to take it and run with it. To craft it into your vision, to expand that inspiration into something and make it something real. The act of manifestation is active. That’s the aligned action. What are you doing with the inspiration that you’re given? So when I’m given all these pings throughout the day, and throughout the weeks, about the artist, the artist, be an artist be an artist. This has been something on my mind. It’s been something in my world. It’s been something that I have been working with for a while. And then I sat down to do this episode. And I was like, You got to talk about being an artist. This is my chance to make it into something. That thought isn’t going to make me money. That thought isn’t going to grow my audience. That thought in my head isn’t going to do a damn thing other than inspire me. But what is it inspiring me to do? Well, I got to do something with it. This is my chance. This is how I start to take aligned action on an inspiration I was given.  Now the other thing that artists prioritize is space. Now this, this is one of those things that I’m gonna quote somebody else, I was listening to Mick Jagger gave an interview on Howard Stern, which if you guys don’t know, I’m a huge Howard Stern fan. And if you think that that’s gross, well, you haven’t listened to him in a very long time. He’s one of the great interviewers ever, and I love him. That’s–I digress. But Mick Jagger was on his show. And they were talking about Howard whenever he has songwriters on, musicians on, he always asks about the songwriting process and what it’s like,  and how do you come up with the idea for a song, and how does it come to be? And he gave an answer that kind of encompasses these two concepts that I’m talking about. And I really wanted to share them here, I’m gonna just read it from the interview. So the initial inspiration, which is the most interesting in a way usually comes when you’re not trying to do something, the more relaxed you are, the more fun you’re having, and the more you’re just not trying, that’s when you get your initial inspiration about any of these creative activities. And then he said, and after that, then yes, you do have to sit down with your notebook, and you do have to craft it and finish it. But what he ends this section of the interview with saying is that it’s your state of mind being relaxed. It’s less about what you’re doing to write the song, to come up with the inspiration, it’s more about your frame of mind, it’s more about making it a priority to get your mind into a state of relaxation.  Now, I would go a step further to say that it’s actually your nervous system you want in a state of relaxation. Your central nervous system is what drives all of your actions, it’s what makes you able to take that inspiration and make it into something. It’s what allows you to actually be open enough to receive that inspiration. And then to have the patience and the trust to sit down and craft it into something beautiful. Because your central nervous system, if it is triggered, if it is thinking about all the things that you have to do, if you’re stuck in that other side, if you are valuing that traditional entrepreneur, metrics, funnels, strategy driven side of things, if you are more attached to that, and you value that more, even though it hasn’t worked, even though maybe it hasn’t made you happy, even though maybe you followed that strategy, and it either didn’t work money wise, or it didn’t turn out to give you the business that you were looking for, you still value it more than this artistic side. And what that is doing is when you get some inspiration, your central nervous system, your thought, what happens is your thought says, we don’t have time for this. We’ve got to get this done, we’ve got to get that done, how are we going to bring in clients, we’ve got to be engaging, we got to be doing all of this stuff. And you have triggered your central nervous system into, you’ve activated what we call the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the the fight, flight, or freeze mechanism. Or, as I like to say, the block to your genius. You cannot be a genius in this when you’re trying to survive. It doesn’t happen that way.  So what happens is you have this inspiration, you wonder why you can’t write. You wonder why you can’t get that, you can’t get your thoughts out about even who you are, your bio. Who you are, what you do. It trips, so many of us up. Why? Because we’re thinking about how we have to get it right. We’re thinking about all of the structure and strategy behind it. And we’re thinking about everything that we have been told. And that gets our central nervous system all worked up, because we’re thinking we’re not good enough. It’s not good enough. And we’re all twisted up in trying to get it right, trying to align with that other stuff, with the strategy side that you have just shut your artist down because you have locked it out literally, your central nervous system locks down creativity, because it’s like, now isn’t the time to get all exploratory, we need to survive. Because your central nervous system doesn’t know the difference between surviving like, you’re getting chased by the saber toothed tiger or surviving like, I got to get this out. I gotta get this email out. The two things are, they’re triggers for you no matter what. They’re triggering the same system in your body and in your brain. And it just locked all the doors and said artists, you’re out there. We don’t need you right now. This is war time.  So what would happen if you embrace the artist? What if you clear out your central nervous system where you have started to align and value your creative process more than the other stuff? Just for a bit, because what you’re after is not saying we’re never going to do the strategy, no. The strategy is going to make a whole lot more sense. It will stop being so complicated, it will become so clear what your steps are. When you embrace the part that your soul is actually calling you out to activate. Then you’re embodying who you’re supposed to be, then people start responding to you differently. And you can stop looking at the very, I don’t know if you’ve ever noticed, but when we talk about audience growth and engagement on posts and doing all of these things, nobody system really works all that well. To do these things, most of the people who are teaching this have run ads, and they have done other things to get their word out there. It can be going on podcasts, it can be, but that is not strategic based. That is you based. You got on that show, you were who you were, people responded to what you said, and the way you said it, and who you were being. And they followed you online. And they went to your Instagram, and they went to your email list, and they downloaded that freebie that you said at the end. That is much more about you embracing who you are, where you can freely speak about what your topic is on these shows. It’s who you’re being. And being a great guest. And being someone who can freely speak about this topic very fluently. And from a place of true authenticity that I actually connect with people. You’re launching who your being, is way more important than all of the other strategy, the strategy you get down once, and then you find other people who can help you deliver that strategy. The one thing as you get, and for those of you who are more at the beginning of your business, or you’re trying to get to that six figure mark, it’s, the more money you make, the less strategy will matter. And the more the artist will matter. The you will matter. Your operating system, how you operate, who you are being how you expand people, is going to be the most important thing as you get into those higher and higher levels. It is what will cause the level ups, it’s not going to be the strategy. There’s going to be things you can invest in, that will change. And that is a wonderful place to be. But it’s not going to be how do I increase this, or how do I increase that? That will be something someone else takes care of for you. You’re going to be thinking about how can I expand my world? How can I expand my impact? And that’s going to come from this, this embracing the artist, from giving your mind space to play. To be relaxed enough to take in that inspiration of the next idea, of the next level, and truly be able to craft that into something new, and craft that into something that you bring into your world.  So I’d love to know, how you responded to this episode, what your thoughts are? How are you going to embody the artist? And if you’re interested in finding out how your human design can help you and assist you in embracing your artistic side,f finding exactly what is the right balance for you. What is the energy that is present in you and strongest in you? What are part of your gifts, that maybe you’re living in a low frequency of, or maybe you are denying, or maybe you’re giving power away to the things that are not your strength and what we call the the low frequency not self themes, those can keep you very, very stuck? If you’re interested in finding out more how your human design can assist you in this journey, please go to the website, NicoleLaino.me. You can book a human design reading with me one on one, or you can join us in our group where we are diving into all things human design all the time. Our Limitless Entrepreneur group program, where you can get all of the strategic business building tools that you need to grow your business, and also the energetic tools which will help you clear out and clear your central nervous system so that you’re able to hold what you call in and your human design. So you’re able to really align on a path that is true to you. That allows you to step into the artist, to step into being a creator, and allow all the other things to fall together and fall into place. So I hope you found this episode useful. I hope that it was what you needed. I hope that it it activated you in some way, as I hope all of these episodes do. Particularly these solo episodes where it’s just you and me. And remember, you are only limited by the limitations that you accept. And when you stop accepting those limitations, that is when you become limitless. So go out there and be limitless everyone. I’ll see you next time.