Parallel Entrepreneur with Mark Cleveland

What if running multiple businesses isn't a failure to focus, but a different way of operating altogether?

Dr. Tobias Kutzewski has spent years studying entrepreneurs who build and manage multiple ventures simultaneously. His research followed 21 entrepreneurs over time, examining how they allocate resources, respond to uncertainty, recognize opportunities, build teams, and decide when to explore something new while continuing to operate what they already have.

In this episode of The Parallel Entrepreneur, Mark Cleveland sits down with Tobias to compare that research with Mark's own experience of building multiple companies throughout his career.

They explore strategic optionality, the ability to prepare for and seize opportunities you cannot necessarily predict, and what happened when Tobias's research collided with the enormous uncertainty of COVID-19.

The conversation also gets into one of the biggest assumptions surrounding entrepreneurship: that focus must mean doing one thing.

In this episode:
• What separates parallel entrepreneurs from serial entrepreneurs
• Why Tobias began studying founders running multiple companies
• What "strategic optionality" means in practice
• How successful founders divide their time, capital, and attention
• Why knowing what you don't know is a critical leadership skill
• The role of trust and talent when managing several ventures
• What Tobias observed when COVID-19 disrupted the entrepreneurs he was studying
• Why some founders become more opportunistic during uncertainty
• Mark's "pause, pivot or pursue" decision during the pandemic
• Whether resilience can be developed
• Why the economic impact of parallel entrepreneurship may be larger than we currently know
• Why younger generations may increasingly become parallel entrepreneurs

If you've ever been told you need to choose one business, one idea, or one path, this conversation offers another perspective.

About Dr. Tobias Kutzewski
Dr. Tobias Kutzewski is an interim finance director and freelance lecturer at the School of Business & Economics at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He earned his PhD in entrepreneurship researching how parallel entrepreneurs initiate, develop, and coordinate multiple ventures over time. He is also the co-author of Strategic Optionality: Pathways Through Disruptive Uncertainty.
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𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘀𝘁
Mark Cleveland is an entrepreneur, investor, and advisor who works at the intersection of multiple ventures. As the voice behind The Parallel Entrepreneur, he explores how founders build aligned businesses, strong teams, and sustainable momentum without forcing themselves into a single path.
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Learn more about The Parallel Entrepreneur and our growing community at https://parallelentrepreneur.com/

𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀 & 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀:

Connect with Dr. Tobias Kutzewski:

Strategic Optionality: Pathways Through Disruptive Uncertainty — Surja Datta & Tobias Kutzewski

Explore Tobias's research at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Unlocking Strategic Innovation: Competitive Success in a Disruptive Environment — Surja Datta, Sandeep Roy & Tobias Kutzewski:

Follow The Parallel Entrepreneur on LinkedIn

Learn more about Mark Cleveland:

Happy Overall

Chapters:
00:00 Are you already a parallel entrepreneur?
01:59 What is strategic optionality?
04:20 Recognizing vs. seizing opportunity
07:20 Why Tobias began studying parallel entrepreneurs
11:28 Parallel vs. serial entrepreneurship
14:37 How Mark manages attention across multiple companies
18:54 Finding and deploying the right talent
21:26 Businesses at different stages of maturity
22:27 Different types of parallel entrepreneurs
25:09 Happy Overall
26:16 Is entrepreneurship a game?
29:44 When the rules suddenly change
32:05 Mark's businesses during COVID-19
33:36 Pause, pivot or pursue?
35:25 How entrepreneurs make decisions under pressure
38:17 Studying entrepreneurs through COVID-19
41:37 Preparing for black swan events
43:15 What makes some entrepreneurs more resilient?
48:16 Mark's approach: observe, accept, act
51:13 "Why on earth do you do more than one thing?"
53:56 The economic impact of parallel entrepreneurs
57:48 How big is parallel entrepreneurship?
1:00:55 The next generation of parallel entrepreneurs

What is Parallel Entrepreneur with Mark Cleveland?

Mark explores the minds of visionary entrepreneurs who refuse to limit themselves to a single venture to learn how these trailblazers manage risks, innovate across industries, and turn ideas into impact.

Whether you’re scaling your first business or juggling several, this podcast is your ultimate guide to thriving as a parallel entrepreneur.

Quick decisions can be reckless decisions,

but not if you are a pattern recogniser.

To each and every entrepreneur,

it had to be very clear and very specific

what their very own sweet spot is

at a very early stage.

We just gotta eliminate all the distractions.

Eliminate all the distractions.

I think you're eliminating points of insight.

In academic terms,

we do make a difference between heuristic

and causal decision-making.

Causal decision-making is the very structured way of,

well, setting a goal

and working towards a certain objective.

Heuristic decision-making is rather intuitive.

It's quicker; it's less formalised.

We're back with Dr. Tobias Kutzewski,

a leading academic authority globally

on the topic of parallel entrepreneurship.

And I want to

pull our attention a little bit toward leadership.

We've been talking about orchestration,

opportunity, uh,

mapping and the various different—and you'll

even admit it—it's a little bit academic.

And, um,

I'm kind of curious that our listener might be saying,

“Well, give me some specific examples.”

And I think that if you could do that,

that'd be helpful. Um,

maybe under the lens of leadership.

Like, where is it that this is about leadership,

and where is it that this is about

rapid decision-making

when you have a portfolio of companies

that you're trying to, um,

husband? Individual leadership skills,

I would say,

are probably the most important component, actually,

to understand what makes parallel entrepreneurs unique,

because I cannot recommend parallel or portfolio.

Entrepreneurship to everyone

I would say that this requires certain skills,

capabilities maybe resilience

uh probably more so than even to cope with ambiguity.

Being able to um

run multiple companies at the same time.

Requires a lot from people

I mean Mark

you know it yourself you did it in the past

you know how many situations that probably were

from your own experience where you said well.

Why on earth does everything come together now

at this moment in time?

And sometimes it can be uncomfortable,

and sometimes it can be very

very personal that you have to decide for yourself.

Which of the ventures deserves more resources

in terms of time capital uh human resources?

Attention,

and those dilemmas that might potentially arise

I in my view are something very personal

very specific and they require um

certain not only maturity in decision-making,

but I would say a certain level to cope with ambiguity

to cope with mutually exclusive decisions.

With conditions that are.

Neither perfect nor fully compress all variables,

and you have to figure out for yourself down the road,

what's actually well

the most feasible way to continue with,

and I'm personally actually quite

quite curious with you as a seasoned um

parallel entrepreneur yourself.

Have there been in the past

any moments where you thought?

I skip with at least a number of my ventures,

and I focus only on 1 maybe on 2

was there something like that for you usually

it came down to it's time to sell this business,

and so the focus of my attention would be moving toward.

I'm selling this one which

you're wrapping things up and systematizing,

and putting,

standard operating procedures in place every day,

but you have to look at the business differently,

when you're on that trajectory and um

it became a whole new set of decisions

based on that objective that change of objectives,

and then when that happened.

I had more time when it was,

when that moment was passed

I had more time to focus on something else

I definitely had a company that was on fire

at one point in time,

where I had to step off my attention

I was paying to Swiftwick,

and step on to

the attention that I was paying to Hobby Lobby actually.

Yeah, I

I had an embezzlement going on at

at that company,

which we discovered a very highly trusted controller uh

position that had a scheme going on

that was difficult to identify,

but eventually we did and I had to

had to address that um

it took a lot more time and attention at that moment,

but that would be an unusual circumstance.

Uh, back to ambiguity

back to things that you don't anticipate

um yeah

I've had to make those decisions to

to step off my personal gas pedal in one and

in one enterprise and focus on the other.

Um,

and I was glad to do it just seemed uh

you know in that case it was necessary

I had I had an officer in the company die and die while

uh you know being an important part

you know not be able to complete uh

this part of life's mission and

you know what the business.

Was doing was completely irrelevant compared to that,

but we all needed to make some adjustments and,

and capture and catch that that family um

yeah tough decisions um

wildly different circumstances

wildly different businesses

you're always under some form of pressure,

but let's just say you're in the swing of things,

and you got multiple companies?

Do you see that parallel

entrepreneurs make decisions faster

or make decisions differently

in academic terms

we do make a difference between heuristics

these general rules that we apply to

that mostly covers the well?

Most instances that we that

that we come across and that work,

and causal decision-making

causal is the very structured way of well

setting a goal and working towards a

a certain objective

it's more common in let's say the more corporate

managerially inspired uh

companies whereas heuristics um

are more were frequently used in entrepreneurial firms.

You have a look on what you

what resources you have at the moment um,

and what can you do with it

how can you allocate them

how can you utilise them effectively,

and what to do with that one,

and in heuristic decision-making is rather yeah.

I would say intuitive.

It's it's quicker it's less formalised

compared with a more causal way of decision-making

that you encounter in um

in bigger corporates.

I would say that some of the entrepreneurs

that I was able to follow

actually had a pretty neatly organised head office.

Uh, a staff function with HR

units that were

doing the accounting and controlling organisation for

for the ventures and actually acted more like yeah

I would say a corporate head office or maybe uh

a staff unit in a private equity

or venture capital firm,

so very similar actually to a rather causal may way of

uh

organizing and deciding where to allocate for instance.

Capital but um

generally

most entrepreneurs relied on their gut feeling,

rules of thumb that worked quite good in most instances

maybe not always but at least they were

they're allowed entrepreneurs to make a quick decision

to not overly formalize,

and decide what other alternatives um

might come up with,

but to decide quickly into which direction to um

to venture yeah,

and I think that quick decisions.

Can be reckless decisions,

but not if you are a pattern recognizer and you

you are deeply involved in the business

you get feedback from the

millions of different sources,

and then you just make a decision

I think also at least in my experience?

We tend to stay committed to our mission

or committed to the outcome,

unreasonably so

in my case sometimes where you just keep on uh

you keep on keeping on um,

so I was curious if you had some experience where

multi venture founders are they wired the same.

Or are there

different types of people that are doing this

well personally

found very intriguing was the similarity across.

Basically, all entrepreneurs being.

Very yeah almost likable approachable

um great communicator

um you really saw that they were really eager

driven and,

and friendly to share their insights not only with me,

but you could clearly saw that

how they responded and reacted to

to other people so they were they.

It was really actually great to see,

because they had such a huge.

Diversity in people around

they were quite accustomed to that and enjoyed it a lot,

so I thought this mix actually of being um

able to rely on your own gut feeling,

but also being able to structure and organise

once that is necessary together with this approachable.

Very authentic way to

to well communicate or something for me

I found deeply intriguing with

with most people that I spoke then yeah

I think this was one of the common denominators

that I basically saw there

is the world moving toward more multi venture founders.

Or is this still a niche to be explored and studied

I wouldn't be surprised that in the future

that we would see more of this

this phenomenon more people developing uh

those skills

more people being able to utilise the technological

technological means and also

more people actually being willing to endeavour,

because we do not know how the future is unfolding,

and maybe even see the world.

Beauty of this uncertainty

to say well

I pick a few spots that I want to develop.

Maybe not all of them were I will be able to harvest,

but sooner or later some of them might

might prosper what's your view on that one

I mean you have the experience,

and you are connected with

numerous people in the field.

Do you see an increase in interest or is it?

How does it look like

I really believe the younger you are

the more likely you are to be a parallel entrepreneur

either right now or real soon

I think we all have heard the cliche

or I've heard it said to me wow

how do you manage the chaos?

I mean well

well what would happen if it's not chaos

what would happen if it's highly organised.

Uh, passion driven resource allocation made sense

what do you think that academia still misunderstands

about the people who are operating this way,

and where do you think that the practitioners

are getting out ahead of the research

well practitioners of course are something well.

Of a certain breed there well yes

it's it's great that you know something

it's great to well to form a new uh

new insights gain more knowledge about something,

but this always has to serve a certain goal.

It has to work you have to make well uh

either run your company more effectively or efficiently

being more innovative in what you do.

Easier able to adopt leadership

those kind of well elements of course are what

what practitioners are looking for in academic research,

and something that I would say

most academics are less able and less.

Willing actually to well

to develop or to suggest and to most academics

it's yeah

it's something practice journals or book publications.

Uh, that are dedicated to practitioners to managers

to business people to entrepreneurs.

Are not the highest ranking publications

you can come up with well,

but I would say these are the ones

that actually

make it worthwhile to actually do academic research,

because then you translate knowledge

into something that people are

hopefully able to use for their daily work for well?

Making decisions on their uncertainty for well

developing a skill set that might well

provide them with better capabilities to well

to run their companies yeah

this is the best part about this conversation for me

is that I hear from experience.

You address question decision action.

Structure

organization I hear you speaking to it,

from this

deep perspective of your own business background,

as well as from the study,

and uh

it's a joyful thing for me

I'm like alright

let's let's talk more about that cause um

I'm I'm curious about the idea that do you.

Find multi venture founders are filtering opportunities

like what separates a yes for them from a distraction.

Um, and I think I'm very aware of distractions,

and at the same time

those are sometimes the kernels of the discovery

the learning process to a opportunity,

so a lot of people will say

we just gotta eliminate all the distractions

eliminate all the distractions,

and I think you're eliminating points of

in points of insight uh,

when when that's your perspective,

but there is ultimately a decision.

A yes or a no

or a inaction decision that has to be made,

and I'm curious

what did you see the founders use as their filter

for that I think the most important thing is

for each and everyone that I came across

first was a very individual.

Um, understanding that they were specifically able to

contribute to a certain venture

a new idea um

either because they knew marketing

either because they knew uh

technology either because they knew how to um

make a startup into a scale up organisational

um leverage.

To each and every entrepreneur

it had to be very clear and very specific

what their very own sweet spot is at a very early stage,

and if there are great opportunities,

and nothing that well fits their own skill set

their own capabilities then um

it can be as good as potentially possible.

I would well

what I saw is people still neglected see it as a,

as well moist in

in their decision-making funnel.

Because they knew that they were not able to complement

the requirements

of a new venture with their own skill set,

and everyone was able of course

to also organise complementary skills.

Um, to introduce them to new business partners.

Um, to external financing

not every form of everything was financed by their

by their own well uh capital base or slack resources.

It was always necessary well

to also keep other keep other people uh

involved and attract new talent,

but in the core

it had to be fundamentally clear to each and everyone

before starting with something

that there has to be

some added value at a very individual level.

That those entrepreneurs were able to present with,

and this could be everything

actually

my friend Brandon shared a piece of advice recently.

Dress,

so that if someone dressed up as you for a costume

party everyone would know it was you.

Now, that's not entirely about clothing

that's about identity about showing up fully.

My wife Jenny and I are leaning in on this concept

both in our personal lives and now in a little startup

we call Happy Overall we're making overalls.

Each one is made to order as a wearable canvas for art.

Overalls that are comfortable

durable and expressive.

We're sourcing soft 100% cotton

we're partnering with designers,

and with local seamstresses,

who love the artistry of a well

crafted piece of clothing.

So, check out Happy Overall.com

to see pics and see if anything resonates with you,

fully you,

and it'll happen every time you reach for them,

if you want to be part of the first run

join our waitlist at Happy Overall.com.

What's

what's your skill set actually that you think well.

That makes you worth more to develop a venture

I think the answer for me is that I'm a super connector

I track talent

I recognise people who have talent.

I make sure I have all their contact information

I make sure that I'm

in a position to know how they're progressing

with their career uh,

because I'm a cheerleader for them first,

and I like to see people be successful and help them,

and then there might be a moment down the road,

and this has happened many times.

Three years five years

seven years later

I've got something that's really interesting,

and I know that person,

and I know what their skills might be,

and what their passions might be,

and I paid attention I just listen,

so I think my first superpower is listening.

My second superpower is connecting the dots

helping people get where they wanna go

um whether they're in my organization or not,

and not having any expectations from that

you just never know where those deposits are

coming back to you or where those people are.

Then taking that example that experience,

and making deposits in the equity relationships of

of the young uh

you know the young student

the young entrepreneur

the family member that needs some support,

and encouragement and good advice,

and everybody is paying it forward,

when it comes to business.

I think I'm decisive I think I'm

I think I make decisions,

and then I am not afraid to revisit those decisions,

and not in something that would drive me crazy

like a chaotic form where I'm deciding this,

and then the next minute I'm deciding that

or I've had some experience with partners.

They decide something,

but they are always looking over their shoulder

trying to figure out well

was this decision right or wrong,

and you're not really truly committed to it

you're not surfing the wave

you're wondering if the wave behind you was bigger

or not um

I find that

managing in the rearview mirror is not very helpful.

At all,

so I try to spend most of my time in the windshield and

uh paying attention to the

the moment of now,

there was a point in time where I used to wonder.

Where there is a tradition in America

that some of us old enough to remember

the company you retired at

was the company you started at,

and you got a gold watch,

and you had an entire career there,

and then then

it became this era,

where you had more short stint careers,

and you're climbing the ladder,

and you had to leave your organization,

and go somewhere else in order to get new skills?

Responsibilities or to advance.

Um,

and I had been presented more than once with why

why don't you just

continue in the transportation industry

or why don't you just continue in the software industry

or how about the satellite communications industry

you're an expert in textiles now

you're literally.

As close to a functioning expert in textiles

I am um

maybe as I as I care or need to be,

but gosh um

then I would I would start a different company

that was doing something completely different

that I was interested in short sea shipping.

It's not that I got bored,

and it's not that I knew everything

about that industry,

but the velocity of learning slowed down,

as I applied all my business expertise,

and then all my I gotta learn this and figure this out

uh practical hands on experience.

These are intense learning periods at a startup

or when you're trying to create another division

or another product in your company,

and I just really like the

the volume,

and intensity of learning something from scratch

brand new I also think that it tends to keep me from uh

I don't.

I don't enter that industry with a bunch of stale ideas

about what can or can't be done,

because I've not been in that industry before,

so I wind up getting lucky once or twice by having uh

no preconceived notions yeah

it's a beautiful characterization.

I would say because it's so much connects

the way you behave and you organise,

and what you do with how you are.

Well, how you generally see yourself as a persona,

and what intention and interests

you have to learn to develop yourself um

what we initially talked about

well those leadership skills

they are I would say essentially well

abilities to decide.

Even despite a lack of full knowledge of everything,

and an instant moment with the available information.

To continue to go on,

and I think that life essentially is a process

it's a constant flux of

of movement of a ongoing decision that you have to make

I've definitely seen companies that

were so rigid in their approach

this is the way we've done things.

That the entire culture of the company is cement,

and they're believing it too

this is the way it's done,

and they're brittle and inflexible and

you know that's a problem

great things can come out of very minor adjustments

uh if you do something for 100 years.

Um, and it's perfect

well yes

maybe you are still able to improve it slightly,

but do not fall short on the Assumption that

things are not changing and yes

some areas are indeed rather stable,

but most I would say are not,

so make for yourself.

Be for yourself flexible in deciding what's

what to adjust and what not to,

so tell me a story from these

one of these 21 entrepreneurs

something that you

think you can sanitize and share with the audience.

What was the funniest thing that you experienced

um while you were doing these studies,

an entrepreneur um

from a very humble background and he started with a

with a friend um

in uh social social care services

um built

uh his first company um

another one?

Another one was still well engaged and involved in

in all the prior ones,

and he saw this very much as a learning cycle,

because in the end

well when I spoke him after I think he was there 10 10

15 years ago.

Years in this in this trajectory and then he said well

I decided for myself to move into

into investments and seeing actually more not only as

um yeah

capital investments he was interested in,

but actually well smart capital,

so combined with business coaching.

Combined with his own guidance to well

actually develop companies

not only provide them with uh,

as angel investor with some some capital injection,

but with his knowledge that he had he gained and he uh

he's now uh also an external advisor to um

to a major bank here in the Netherlands and I was.

I thought well

this is actually quite fascinating to see

is that people see,

their knowledge base as stepping stones to work new

new levels new activities and um

he was very given his very humble um

background he was very open to be to be uh

approached by by others uh

seeking his assistance he never uh yeah.

There was no doubt that he was uh

willing to participate in my own research,

because Emilio said well.

Dude I'm

I'm fully yours and I

despite the fact that you had a very

full agenda for everything,

but come and share,

and let's talk about it and reflect on this one,

and I thought that this combination was uh

was for me at least uh

one of the most enjoyable.

You know

you talked there briefly about he had a full agenda

I live with a very full agenda,

I'm reflecting back

my wife said something to me last week

she said Mark.

You have more tabs open in your

in the computer of your mind than anybody I've ever met,

and she likened it to like,

and I right now I have in on front of my screens here

I have 30 or 40 open tabs and it can get worse.

I also have systems that I use for this

I my AI brain

you know things that I've

I've developed to be a resource for me and,

and they just help me cinch things down

finish things up

get it to a point where the next decision can be made.

Or the goal is achieved so I'm

I'm thinking about the nature of being goal oriented,

but I'm not just going after goals

I'm aggressively pursuing the things I'm curious about.

I'm feeling what I'm not good at,

and deciding to try to get out of my comfort zone,

and go do more of that

until I'm no longer uncomfortable with it,

and so I use discomfort as a windsock,

and I'll lean into the wind.

And then it's coming from this direction,

and I'm feeling ill prepared.

Uh, like I don't know enough,

and I'm going to just go

lean in that direction and pursue that curiosity

until I discover that

there's really nothing to worry about

or there's

there's really an opportunity here or there's not right

we have to discover and determine that

there's not opportunity there.

Um, yeah

I'm I'm I'm.

I'm sitting with this idea that uh

finishing what you start is a superpower.

Um,

being able to track.

Multiple

human contributions and system contributions to

a thing that is organised,

as a business.

Being able to be organised

we talk about it in the

in terms of business leadership always

we talk about successful delegation,

and we talk about recruiting and talent.

But I think you cannot hold on to every little detail,

as a parallel entrepreneur

it forces you to fully delegate and

operate in your superpowers,

and that is

I'm getting as much out of this conversation

I hope as as our

our listeners are because I'm.

I'm feeling like oh wow.

Being forced to completely delegate because that

it is necessary,

in order that I can continue to pursue my curiosities.

I think that is a part of why organizations

come up and get born and live and survive

in my wake I think

there wasn't a single

entrepreneur that I spoke with in my uh

in my sample.

That did not

fundamentally acknowledge and point to the necessity,

to rely trust on other people,

and being willing to delegate a responsibility.

Still share responsibility

of course being finally the last one who is well

accountable for things going into a wrong direction,

but sharing the

the great moments together with your team,

and being willing to support them

delegating authority moving.

Maybe a little bit to the rear side,

and letting others move forward.

Their attitude toward obstacles is also different.

They don't run up against an impossibility

I see,

so many people get up against a block and just stop.

Most of the time

talking themselves out of something that they began,

as a journey a business a

a vision and just talking themselves out of it

I actually think we talk ourselves out

of great opportunities more than we get close to them,

and in my own experience.

I've seen parallel entrepreneurs tend to be

more capable of,

and more flexible in their approach to growth,

where it's not just organic growth,

and they're busting Teaster trying to get

you know this 10

20% 30% whatever the

whatever the organic growth number looks like,

and yet now.

They think about mergers,

and acquisitions as a methodology of growth

do you see that in your research

we saw in multiple instances where indeed

mergers and acquisitions so as strategic investments

either in related or unrelated companies.

Um, was something that people actively pursued,

and saw this as a what it's frequently called a lateral

a growth strategy so not only growing in terms of um

the core business company to

to well

to form a conglomerate so to speak,

but more also as a way to well.

To strategically invest in certain areas where

financial resources

slack resources were available and more important um,

and a certain intellectual interest,

and fit with one's own capabilities

makes sense to actually pursue a strategic investment,

so I think it had to meet more than one requirement.

To be an active uh

acquisition strategy

mergers and acquisitions are growth.

Through finding synergies in the acquired entity

that has been combined with

or that consumes your entity,

and you still have a part to play in it

it does sort of give you the one benchmark for,

when you start a company and sell a company.

That value that you created

you're being prepaid for the next several years

of potential that

that you created,

and brought to a point that then became acquired

or became the acquirer,

and those are some of the benchmarks for how we view

whether we were successful or not,

and I tend to look at

success from a lot of different lenses.

Not just a financial exit but

you know how did I impact my community

how did I how did I grow.

Years later some wonderful employee

or team member might contact me,

and talk about the lessons that they Learned

in this window of time that they're just now uh

feeling as accessible to them like hmm,

and I Learned this and I'd

I'd like to attribute that to you and thank you.

You know it's a real gratifying part of just living a

a contributor's life

I feel like it's not just about the money.

For any of the entrepreneurs that I speak to and,

and increasingly,

when they're tend to be more parallel entrepreneurs

I don't find that they're doing parallel

entrepreneurship for the money.

I find that they're doing it in order to completely

satisfy what it is that drives them internally

they found a formula that works,

they have some pattern recognition skill sets,

and some leadership skill sets that work,

and why not just start another company.

Why not where those those parallel portfolio

entrepreneurs that I spoke with um

I think sooner or later we always reach a point where

somebody made a joke about his

or her well

diversity of interests and that they found?

Well, um

an efficient way to keep themselves out of a pub or to

um well,

and an another entrepreneur confessed to me that well

he was just initiating new companies.

Even if it wasn't necessary at all uh

given his financial background.

Just because he did not want to annoy his wife

all day long and sitting at home or golf was too well

too boring to do seven days a week,

and should not be too much to do,

because two or three days a week was just perfect.

To him so there was this

always this play of what's,

what's a hobby uh

how much do I value my own um time

my my

my hobby interest my precious moments that I care for,

but always in combination of well.

It's also good for me to have something um

on my plate to do to figure out how it works

to learn to well

get my teeth into because otherwise yeah

my wife kicks me out because I get too annoying at home

or I start cleaning.

Who knows the

the backside of the bookshelves every second day,

and something like that

what was the pattern that you saw in the entrepreneurs

that you studied and how they dealt with stress?

Saw a number of uh

instances where people were very actively.

Uh, addressing the fact what they did for um

both physical as mental health.

And this could be everything

um ranging from um

frequent regular workouts

endurance sport uh

indeed yoga,

indeed people were always well,

driven by some things where they could.

Uh, physically

well

switch their mind off the brain and do something else

go swimming every day uh

in the morning first thing um

going for walks for business lunch

uh instead of well

taking taking a seat somewhere.

And I thought that this this was really intriguing,

because it's so much reveals with my own pattern

with what I also do just to yeah.

I always like to do each and every day something,

and I'm not an expert I'm not a full athlete and also,

but I do like to have a workout in the morning

I do like my running

I do like my yoga and those things do well.

Just have to happen without well

much much of an effort and,

and those portfolio entrepreneurs.

They each and every one

found something that they deeply cared for,

and it was I would say

practically impossible to imagine,

a good and healthy life to them

without those kind of physical moments of relaxing.

For me

it's getting up in the morning and going to hot yoga

it has to be the immovable object

then I start my day so

I just don't allow anything to start

until after this period of time,

and sometimes I find that they get involved in uh

competitive sports like cycling or triathlon.

Or something that requires some dedication,

and they may not try to be first place finishers

many of them do but I also find that they

that just is getting something on the calendar um

one of my guests Joe Desena recently said

you just gotta get something on the calendar,

and you always have a goal for that,

and for business person.

It might be the quarterly report

it might be the annual it might be the annual report

it might be L10 for your EOS operating companies

it could be something as simple as board meetings,

but they're always on the calendar,

and so are your physical your dead.

The dedication to your physical part of your body,

and this lived experience

I think and I think it can be quite complementary

I mean most people were very much aware to

to have social contacts besides their well

let's say commercial or more business related interests,

and each and every one addressed the fact that it was,

so important to talk with their spouses.

Family members children

not only about business related,

but also about just well.

Having good time together just well

to root and to settle down with all those well,

balls you have to juggle at a daily base,

but besides this mental mind.

Uh, fulfilling fulfilling activities

each and every one had something where well

physical attitudes were playing

having something physically engaging was was important

being able to have a sustainable level of energy.

Think requires certain kind of well care.

So, to speak yeah

a little self care goes a long way.

Well,

thank you for joining me on this extremely interesting

academic and,

and personal exploration of parallel entrepreneurship,

and the portfolio mindset of multipreneurs,

and helping us with our research

that's ongoing and being a resource for myself.

The team and everyone who's listening

Tobias this has been an honor to sit with you,

and I appreciate that

you're on the other side of the world

um and we're

we're working out uh

how we found this time and it's been beautiful

thank you so much for joining us Mark.

It was a huge pleasure to meet

thank you hey

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