#392 Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship: How Elona Lopari Aligns Vision, Purpose, and Profit

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Mehmet: Hello and welcome back to a new episode of the CTO Show with Mehmet. Today I'm very pleased joining me, Elona Lopari. Elona, the way I love to do it is I keep it to my guests to introduce themselves, so tell us a little bit more about you, your experience, and what you [00:01:00] are currently up to. So the floor is yours.

Elona: Thank you so much, Mehmet. Uh, I appreciate you having me on your podcast today. Um, what I do today is I help entrepreneurs and sales scale a purpose driven company that aligns purpose with profits so they can do more good in the world. Um, and, um, how did I get here? My background, I come from a corporate world, 13 years, um, climb the, Pretty much the latter in a retail fortune 500 retail industry company all the way to the C suite level until I realized that that was all there is.

Elona: I wasn't happy. I was unfulfilled and I started looking for something else. And that's kind of where entrepreneurship showed up for me. Um, and I took the leap and I have not looked back. I've now been an entrepreneur for five years. And follow my purpose and mission. And really, the biggest thing that wakes me up in the morning is to ensure that I get to multiply the purpose and profits of companies, especially when they have a great service.

Elona: I specialize in the service space that really adds value to humanity [00:02:00] and makes this world a better place.

Mehmet: That's great. And again, thank you for, you know. Time with me today. So, um, you know, whenever I have a guest who did this sleep from, you know, corporate world to, to entrepreneurship and, you know, you, you just mentioned some of the motives I would say for you.

Mehmet: Um, but you must also have noticed something common between people who struggle actually not necessarily to leave their secure jobs, but sometimes to start, you know, any business. And what I'm wondering is how much, in your opinion, working on personal development, like trying to, um, get to know what's happening beyond us, like, as we say, um, going and trying to think outside of the box and think from different perspectives.

Mehmet: So how, [00:03:00] you know, doing all these things affect such decision? Coming from like Fortune 500, you know, um, you know, corporate the world to, to, to the entrepreneurship. So I'm, I'm really curious about, you know, not only the motives, also the motors that, that like usually drive for you and what you could be like also an inspiration for.

Mehmet: People who would be listening to us today.

Elona: Yeah, I love your question because I really feel that question is very personal for everybody in their journey, depending on kind of where you are. For me, it really became very natural or obvious. So to speak, I kept hearing an inner voice, which is now I know was my intuition that kind of told me that this is the end for this time.

Elona: type of path and season in your life and there's something new opening up. Obviously that came with lots of anxiety, lots of uncertainty, lots of trial and error, lots of staying, you know, where I was for much longer because I didn't know how to take those next steps. I didn't know how to move beyond my comfort [00:04:00] zone, move outside of something that I knew.

Elona: For over a decade, and I had defined a lot of my identity around the work that I was doing. So, um, some of the beginning steps that I took to kind of slowly piece those puzzle pieces together was just expose myself to other people that I felt really inspired by and connected, uh, with which were entrepreneurs.

Elona: Um, and the more I kind of lean into things that I, I really enjoyed exploring, the more I started to find the right mentors, the right people that were in my spaces, the spaces, the coaching and consulting space called me. Um, just like piecing a lot of those information together and just investing in myself.

Elona: been part of many programs I felt were going to be r to my transformation, esp I remember for the first very uncomfortable. Uh, s so many, you know, fear b [00:05:00] But I think the one thing that kept me very kind of staying in the journey was that every time I would ask myself, is this the right path for me? I always get a yes.

Elona: So, and it was very clear to me at all times. So that's kind of what led me and, and kept me really, um, grounded, I should say, however much you could feel grounded when you, I felt like I was always in the air because there's so much going on in the certainty that I hadn't really wasn't used to. I feel like my foundation was shaken.

Elona: Um, but I try to stay grounded with meditation practices and a lot of other practices that helped me, you know, connect with self and figure out some of the things that were holding me back so that I could overcome that, those two years, beginning two years, I realized now that a two year period is really a, a good timeframe for like a big change in your life.

Elona: Um, because it will take time to, You know, go through the emotional experience, [00:06:00] the physical experience, all the things that I had to learn, the education, the gaps in skills, the gaps in education, all of these things. Even though I feel like a lot of my experience obviously was all stepping stones to what I'm doing today.

Elona: Nothing is ever wasted. However, When you go into a new thing, there's always new opportunities for exploration.

Mehmet: That's fantastic. You know, and it's very good. You mentioned some of these practices, um, you know, which might be very helpful for people, you know, who, because, you know, for me also, I always wondered like how they have succeeded to do it.

Mehmet: And we tend to think that it's just like happens overnight. And you just mentioned something very, I would say crucial for people to understand. So sometimes it's like good things needs time. So you mentioned like Like two years, right? So to just can't be calibrating yourself with that. And this is, you know, what you do today, I believe, you know, help CEOs and entrepreneurs [00:07:00] and, you know, under the umbrella of the life school to building legacy purpose driven companies, which is, you know, something for me, very important.

Mehmet: So I know you talk about Like the seven foundational pillars for building purpose driven companies. So can you walk us through these pillars and you know how they can contribute to the success for both the business and also to fulfilling this personal itch, I would call it, you know, to to keep the world a better place than when we found it.

Elona: Yeah, thank you for your question. I realized very early on that I'm one of my gifts is very strong in operations. And to me, even though I obviously understand there's other things in play to grow in a company, I still feel like it's fundamental. It's timeless principles, companies that we built, you know, years and years and history, you know, there's There's things that we can learn from history, [00:08:00] right?

Elona: And companies that have gone through the stages of growth of a physical company, which actually mirrors a lot of human growth phases. Um, so I've kind of just studied, you know, my field for many years. Now it's going to be 20 years because even obviously where I was working, I was in those leadership positions.

Elona: So I could see the bird's eye view. of how everything worked together, how a big corporation was able to, you know, put everything in harmony so that obviously the operations could work, the culture could be healthy, everybody working on their same vision, mission, values, and then you can grow and continue wherever you are in the future.

Elona: Phase of growth, uh, which is, again, I wanna mention the phases 'cause it's really very, uh, relatable to most of us, right? I mean, you are a newborn when you just are a startup and I know you have a lot of startups here. And then you go to a toddler stage, right? And then you become a pre-teen, then you go to teenager, then you go to young adult, then you go to mature adult, then you.

Elona: You start aging, right? And that's kind of [00:09:00] where companies need to innovate. So it mirrors a lot of the human, um, human evolution, uh, evolutionary process. And what I've also found is the fundamentals that make a company work. And these have to all work in harmony together. Otherwise you have one missing piece in the company and you can't move the owner outside the company.

Elona: So that company could become a well oiled machine, a simplified process or big entity that's independent from the people that are actually in it. So it's the branding, it's the marketing, uh, it's the sales, it's the systems that are required and the team. And these are the main fundamentals that I also utilize when I help companies scale.

Elona: And when you understand how to connect all these dots in the company, ensure that all of these are working together in harmony, that's where you can have a company that is going to be self led. It's going to be sufficient on its own, just like a It's going to be independent on its own, and then also it's going to generate cash flow, [00:10:00] which is such an important pain point or problem for a lot of companies, because that's, that's usually the, the main issue that we have as we scale, because we take money and we reinvest it back in the company.

Elona: And a lot of times there's a lot of misinformation around what should I, what problems should I solve at the different phases of growth? And every phase that you're in, uh, whether you're startup from, you know, uh, growing into young adult into mature, uh, company all the way to decline. You have to be focused on different things.

Elona: And I realized there was a lot of gap between like the big picture, which has always been one of my gifts. to take a look at the big picture and then map out the dots for companies to ensure that this is the right priorities to focus on right now that are going to move the further the vision and the mission of the company further faster.

Elona: Um, so that's kind of the way I look at it and my holistic approach to how I able to add value with my experience.

Mehmet: That's fantastic. [00:11:00] And it's good. You mentioned a couple of things here, Elona, because of course the goal of any business is to generate revenue. And this is regardless if they were VC funded or bootstrap businesses, whatever.

Mehmet: And some people, you know, they get stuck in thinking about, okay, so I'm, I'm, I'm on a purpose, right? But at the same time, you know, I need to have profit. my, my business and they can't live a dilemma of, you know, how I can balance. So I don't compromise my purpose. And, you know, my vision where things that I need to do to increase my.

Mehmet: revenues and, you know, the profit of the company. So from your experience, like how entrepreneurs can align, you know, these two together, the purpose with the profit [00:12:00] and revenues.

Elona: Well, thank you for your smart question. And the concern is very real, right? Because, uh, you know, Even when I kind of entered into a lot of this personal development space and understood how much there is a correlation between our human journey and the way that companies, our companies grow.

Elona: Um, I had the same concerns. I'm like, well, great. I mean, I, I love that my purpose, I love why I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm very clear as to kind of why I do what I do and why it's important to me and why I feel like everything that happened to me kind of set me in this path to be able to, you know, now take what I know and be in service towards others.

Elona: So that's kind of what I realized is the key, but also aligning that with the material metrics, the pragmatist approach of, okay, so when I, for example, speak about, um, You know, training, you know, my team inside a company, everything that I'm training around every topic that you know, I'm training my team around [00:13:00] has a direct correlation to a metric, whether it's going to increase your employee engagement scores, whether it's going to increase your attention.

Elona: Whether it's going to increase your sales directly, whether it's going to, you know, help you save money with your bottom line. Everything that we do on more of a theory side, which seems like more of a woo woo like theory has, should have, I should say, and that's my job, aligning it for, for companies, right?

Elona: So should have a direct correlation to some of those results. that we traditionally are used to hearing about, you know, when it comes to the business world, right? The P. N. L. The bottom line, the cash flow, retention rates, um, engagement scores, all these things. So everything that you know, is is purposeful can absolutely be connected to that.

Elona: But let me just define what purpose means at least kind of what You have learned in my journey. It's really being clear as to what is the service beyond the [00:14:00] yourself and your company and the way that you're contributing towards a bigger cost is the reason why that's important to the company. Um, and also the third thing is ensuring that The daily operations or the, the day to day activities in the culture always align with those values and that vision and that mission.

Elona: And I know that that's the third one is the challenge because it's not a linear process. Uh, you're going to have days where sometimes you, your, your, uh, your purpose gets questioned because again, you might be in the fear mode mindset of, okay, I got to make this decision because I need to pay my payroll, for example, right?

Elona: So, I mean, I get it. Those are. the things that we deal with every day. But I think on, you know, when you want to problem solve and be conscious about your decision making when you look back and you make that, you know, big strategy or you kind of focus on the big map as to kind of where is your company heading.

Elona: It's very important to sit back and be conscious [00:15:00] about the decisions that we're making, especially the big decisions that obviously going to have a higher R. O. I. So that they all align with that. Because just like you said, Mehmet, it's so easy to just make a fear based decision because a lot of things in your in companies are not even under our control, right?

Elona: Our economy can affect us, advancements can affect us, new people in the market can affect us and all of that. So I think it's important to stay very loyal, which takes discipline, commitment, but also devotion. to the purpose of why you're the company exists. And it's a daily practice. It's not something that you just like do once and you're like, okay, exercise over.

Elona: Now we can move on to everything else. I think it's just being very conscious. And my latest book is on conscious leadership. I think being a conscious leader is really, really important, especially in the new world that we're going to be, we're heading, we're transitioning into and the way that we're all Understanding [00:16:00] how old systems no longer work.

Elona: You know, we're heading in with the new and technologies. It's obviously, uh, it's a major catalyst to a lot of the changes.

Mehmet: I 100 percent agree with you, especially on the steps. And actually, I like, you know, the way the answers are in line with the flow that I I planned for for today, because You know, on, on, you know, being conscious leader and, you know, understanding what's going around.

Mehmet: So what, one of the things which I think it's in the old book, right, is of course the business needs to grow, right? And when the business needs to grow, we need to hire more people. And one of the things which I discuss with many people here on the show and even outside the founder or the founders, right?

Mehmet: So they have A mission critically, in my opinion, is, you know, this vision, this passion, this purpose that you just described, right? So they need somehow to spread it within the organization. And one of the [00:17:00] things that I always wonder, and I ask people the same question again and again, just out of curiosity to see different point of views, I would say.

Mehmet: And really, because I am after this answer, because I know there's no one right answer to that. I will describe you in order what happened. So the founder is purpose driven. He or she, they are very, you know, passionate about what they do. They are, you know, on a mission to do X, Y and Z and at some stage they need to hire more people.

Mehmet: And when they hire these more people, so traditionally they go by the old book. I said, well, book. Okay, so this guy was fantastic in the previous company, he grew their revenue from, you know, 1 million ARR. I'm just making up the numbers and he took them to 50 million ARR. So let's hire this guy. And then they bring this guy and this guy start to, you know, I would say not follow the culture, the vision, and they bring their own playbooks into there.[00:18:00]

Mehmet: So how much here the founders of the entrepreneurs, they need to make sure that when they bring new blood into the, into the company, they need to make sure that this purpose, this, this, you know, big goal that they started the company because it doesn't fade. And why actually it fades in your opinion? I know it's a loaded question.

Mehmet: It's me.

Elona: That's a very clear answer. I don't know. To me, that's very clear because leadership, I believe, is all about being diverse, um, and understanding other people's perspectives and understanding that people have experiences and gifts. That we don't have in our company. So the fact that somebody else comes from the outside with obviously their own experience and their own playbooks and their own ways that they are used to doing things, uh, that's a topic for conversation and open conversation.

Elona: Here's what we, you know, we value here. What do you value? What do you, can you bring to the table? I feel like it's always, uh, with, with team. [00:19:00] I think that's actually where we need to elevate because we kind of used to just managing people, right? Micromanaging people being like, you know, puppets like you got to do these job.

Elona: I mean, I worked in HR for many years, so everything is like you got to do this and that. And then we train robots. But that's no longer the need of the new world. We have AI for that. So now it's going to be more about open conversations. What can we, you bring to the table? Here's the main goal that we're both working towards.

Elona: What is it that you feel, you know, you can add as value. And then me on the other end, I come up with my own. So it feels like more of a collaborative agreement rather than Here's how we do things here in the register structure and anything that you were kind of bringing in from the outside. You know, it just doesn't work.

Elona: You have to learn our ways. I think that's a very rigid, small mindedness approach. I think that you will strive. By just opening up that conversation and [00:20:00] leveraging their experience, because I'm sure you can learn a lot as a leader as a CEO from other people's experience. And I feel like those are the smartest, the wisest, the more conscious leaders, um, where they understand how to honor other people and honor their experience and empower them to add their own value to the mix.

Elona: Because at the end of the day, We live well. We should understand that with humans, we're all very authentic, right? So somebody else can bring in another amazing set of tools, talents, skills, gifts that you don't even have in your company. And the fact that you stay so rigid to some of the things that you have, I think it's Almost like having clear boundaries, but not really rigid like structures within the company anymore.

Elona: I don't feel like that serves anyone. Uh, it's more like staying fluid with, you know, here's the boundaries. Here's what we value. What else is it that you can bring to the table? I'm, I've always been more of a fluid [00:21:00] approach type of person, a holistic approach where I see people as assets. And I always want to understand where they're coming from.

Elona: Listen to them attentively and then come up with solutions that work for both parties and set up win win situations and then do the follow ups and then continuously improve the process at the end of the day. I feel like I've seen that over and over in so many ways, and the companies that are most successful are the ones that know how to leverage and nurture their talents and are not so rigid.

Elona: In the, you know, policy procedures like all these old stuff that no longer works because I find that if humans feel valued and heard and seen, you don't need to micromanage a lot of the processes that we learned with old policy procedures or operating standards. Humans are self sufficient. They want to do well.

Elona: They want to add value. So let's create the structures and the spaces where they can do that. [00:22:00] And you'll see every other metric go crazy. Um, because they'll take accountability. They'll do all the things that we've been wanting our teams to always do. High accountability, performance, One of the two things that I was known for my company was building top talent and then turning low performance into high performance.

Elona: And I've done it on the same structures, meaning the open conversation, bringing people to the table. honoring people for their differences, value and diversity, all those things that I think I think are definitely very, very healthy to implement. And that's going to add to a very healthy culture overall and to the growth of a company at the end of the day.

Mehmet: Fantastic. You know, like this is exactly the answer I was looking for. Uh, you kept repeating it on a couple of times the old world and the new world. So what is what's happening? I mean, what's what is the drive for for For this change. Why things are [00:23:00] changing. Is it like because of the technology advancement?

Mehmet: Is it because Um, socially, you know, we humans, we reach a point which is not like the same that we were on a couple of years back. So I'm curious to understand from you your vision and how, from your perspective, this new world looks like, especially from entrepreneurship. Perspective.

Elona: I love that you mentioned that.

Elona: I think it's two factors. One is absolute absolute technology. But what did technology do? Education. I've always been a proponent to education. We have more information. We understand our human experience better. We understand there's so much more stuff at play. Education is out everywhere. So I really feel like the education piece is why we have reached here and we're able to now level up, you know, with, with other things that we understand are, are important, which maybe prior generations or me, like 20, 30 years ago, had no clue that these [00:24:00] things even, you know, we're here.

Elona: So I think obviously, you know, higher forces are working in our favor, but. Just like, you know, human evolutionary process of the way that, you know, humans have evolved throughout years that comes the point where every generation wants to improve, right? So every generation wants to get to the new level on.

Elona: That happens sometimes, you know, fast, and sometimes it takes years to go through this. So I think yeah. All the changes in technology have brought on upon education. And when you teach a man how to fish, they can fish for life. So the more information there is out there, the more people sharing their experiences.

Elona: I mean, the power of technology, the fact that we can do this together here. Somebody else can get access to this information. They can connect their own dots in their journey. And this, I think, is the biggest reason of the catalyst of the change between the transition of the old world into the new world is education.

Elona: People have more information and more information [00:25:00] opens up more awareness and more awareness opens up New levels of insight, new levels of insight, open up creativity, new levels of creativity, open up intuition, right? And we understand that we're limitless as humans. But all these come with understanding how, you know, our human experience works and what other factors are at play.

Elona: Sometimes I look at life like a game. Right. It's like almost like a game. There's no reality. It's all the physical perception because I love neuroscience. So I have my master's in it. Um, but when you look at how all these components work together, I think we just, you know, as little humans, we're very tiny dots, you know, and when you understand there's a big whole world out there and, uh, so much, um, happening.

Elona: You really do realize that you are probably just living your life, taking it too seriously. Um, so the more we understand, the more information we have, the more we can take conscious, make conscious decisions. Because at the end of the day, [00:26:00] the results we have, the lives we have, what we're seeking, which is fulfillment, happiness, right?

Elona: Connection. That's really all there is. When it comes down to the bottom of the timeless stuff, it's really around, um, you know, understanding is that we're some of our decisions, but obviously when you make a decision some, you know, um, unconsciously or when you're sleeping, I call it now, right? Because now there was like people sleeping and people that are awake.

Elona: Um, you get those results in your life and that becomes the sum of your life. So I think it's education all the way that has made how that has caused the catalyst of the transition.

Mehmet: Absolutely. And you know, I like, uh, you know, the philosophical aspect, if I might use this term to what you said, because Um, it's not maybe seem like, okay, of course, there are people who think like it's simulation and all this and because we mentioned like a game, but it's really, you know, when I sometime, um, [00:27:00] you know, reflect on the fact that just like 50 years ago, let's say, uh, people could not do something similar to what we do currently, like, you know, we live different continents and we're speaking in real time, which is like, And we see each other.

Mehmet: So this is like, you know, kind of a science fiction. If we encounter now someone who used to live maybe in the fifties in the last century, right? So they say, no, what are you talking about? Like this cannot be true, right? So plus the other thing is awareness, which you mentioned. And this awareness, which, you know, hopefully this is my hope, and it's my purpose, actually, is to use this education that exactly the, you know, I like the expression about, you know, education and how it can change us for the better and for the good things.

Mehmet: And then you mentioned the Something about connecting the dots and you know, just the [00:28:00] term itself. It always hooks me, but I know you talk usually about connecting the dots backward. So what do you mean by connecting the dots backward? So what is that exactly?

Elona: Yeah. Um, thank you for asking that. It's the name of my first book.

Elona: It's Connecting Dads Backwards. It came to me through, obviously, a moment of inspiration, and I realized that in order for us to build for the future, which is the visions that we have for where we, you know, what we, what we want in our lives, right? The purpose behind the reasons why we do things, the only way, obviously, for us to operate under that and take inspired action is the present moment, because the future is not here yet.

Elona: Um, so. We have the present moment. But then, in order for us to gain insight and learn the lessons that we need to learn and to make more conscious decisions, we also have to look at our past, uh, and we have to combine all three when we make it, when we kind of want to have a bird's eye view to kind of, you know, our life as a blueprint overall, [00:29:00] so to speak, or even any area of our lives, because there's a lot of knowledge and information through, you know, what we've been doing, Our past, our origins, wherever we come from, our families, right, are the people that we hang out with history.

Elona: There is so much information and patterns that we could be learning from that we could use in the present moment that will help us become more effective. Conscious beings and humans in the way that we make decisions that I feel like unless you understand how to do the dots backwards, you're just still have a very limited view of kind of where you are.

Elona: However, I believe that obviously innovation and creativity and the limitless potential also lives in the future, right? So it's almost like a An art of kind of connecting all those three dots between your past, your president, your future, and then always working in this dance in life and, and this flow, um, [00:30:00] so that you're always again, going into your future, honoring the vision that you have, honoring your intuition and all these things that you learn along the journey when, you know, we all equipped with a lot of that information, um, but then making those conscious decisions from the inspired action in the present moment.

Elona: But never forget to go back to the future and realize how to the past and kind of understand the patterns so that you again become a more conscious decision maker in the present moment, which again, taking intentional steps in the present moment will lead you to that future vision. So it's almost like a process that works in harmony with each other.

Mehmet: This reminds me very much of the very famous speech of Steve Jobs when, when, you know, he delivered the, uh, the commencement at Stanford University and he was mentioning about like connecting the dots right when when he was young and the reason you know this You know when when [00:31:00] what you just mentioned also as well about the future So because it's about embracing that whenever something happens and especially entrepreneurs You just meant you just mentioned it, you know also During the introduction.

Mehmet: So it's not an easy path, right? So so it's something which can have challenges, obstacles. So I think if we accept that sometimes if things happen, it happens for a reason. I know I'm going a little bit philosophical again here. Um, but it's kind of part of the process. And then once you understand that, you know, this can come back to you in the future.

Mehmet: So, you know, the complete perspective changes. And this is, you know what I want to, to, you know, link to something people, I'm not sure if We miss it sometimes or do we forget it sometimes the intersection, you know, between, of course, you [00:32:00] know, what we just talked about, like the purpose, but from business perspective and our own success.

Mehmet: So We might, we might have a very successful business, but still, you know, some people, they say, you know what, I feel like I'm still having something missing. I need to do something more. And I'm not happy, you know, with all the, you know, the revenues are very good. Everything is fine. It was my mission. It was my vision, but I want to achieve something.

Mehmet: Extra. So what do you think is the reason for that? Sometime that happened? And is it like something which is a little bit more related to again some I would say missing to take care of self? Uh, while putting all the energy in the business, what's your take on that?

Elona: I think your soul is calling for a [00:33:00] change.

Elona: Every time we feel like there's something more, that means it means that we've already fulfilled that cycle. We already learned the lessons. We've grown. In that what if it's the business, the channel for that, then that's what it is, uh, for me, it was my career for somebody else could be their health for someone else can be their relationships where other people can be, uh, their wealth.

Elona: So I think it's, uh, it's natural process. There's a beginning into an end to certain phrase phases of growth. Growth is not like ever eternal, right? I mean, in different areas. So when a cycle closes, that means that you are ready for the new thing, which is why we feel that those inner conflicts. And we, we judge ourselves.

Elona: We're like, well, why I'm such a, I mean, that's what I did to myself. Like I was successful for a year. I'm like, I have the American dream. That's why I moved there to the U S by the way, I'm from Albania. I moved here at 15 years old, the oldest child with my parents. So, [00:34:00] That was my, the American dream was my, uh, my North star that I was supposed to be chasing.

Elona: So I think, you know, it's, you feel it like I now know to predict the stages of growth, even internally, personally. When there's the old cycle that already reached the certain level, it closes and you feel like there's something more, you feel unfulfilled, you feel unhappy. This is one part, and the other one is go within and figure out what are some, but this information leads you to go within.

Elona: So I think we need that on the outside. outside. Some people do get it from the inside. Most people is from the outside because it's easier to kind of have outside circumstances dictate our growth. Unfortunately, I think it's going to flip. But right now, where are they here? Um, so kind of have that realization and then go within and figure out.

Elona: Okay, so what could be now my next phase that I want to go after in the case of entrepreneurship? Maybe, you know, [00:35:00] you're no longer happy with where you are with your company. Maybe you want to grow it. Maybe you want to diversify. Maybe you want to go public. Maybe you want to transfer it out to other people, right?

Elona: There's so many options. Maybe right now you're feeling called to travel. Maybe right now you're feeling called to explore yourself because maybe you have put so much energy into your baby, which is your company. And that has already served its purpose for that stage of phase of life that you dedicated your time and energy to it, whether it's 10 years, five years, 20 years, 30 years.

Elona: It doesn't matter. I think we all have our own individual timelines in life. It's not what society thinks it should be. So I think we have to listen to that. And that's just a great insight to something new is on the horizon and embrace it. Don't push it away because it's gonna stay there and it's gonna haunt you until you listen to it.

Elona: So that's what I've learned. I'm like, okay, I'm gonna obey.

Mehmet: Absolutely. You know, like, yeah, if [00:36:00] we feel like we need to change, we need to go ahead and do it. Like, uh, no matter what happens. I don't like some people, they, um, They get stuck in some kind of fear, I would say, or maybe they don't want, you know, to be in kind of uncertainty.

Mehmet: Um, and then they just pass it. But I've seen a lot of people who regret it, actually, you know, I talked to them like after a few years and say, Okay, you had this idea. You wanted to do it or you were doing this in your startup and you always told me you wanted to do like another thing and you never did it.

Mehmet: Oh, you know, like I get stuck. I didn't have time. So, you know, like all of us, I mean, at least I can speak about myself. Sometimes we do this, right? So we keep postponing things and just try to find any excuse. to do it. But yeah, to your point, if it's calling, it's calling and we need to obey it like 100 percent on this.

Mehmet: Um, really, I'm enjoying the conversation. [00:37:00] But if we want to, you know, like, kind of wrap it up and, you know, leave the audience today with some couple of advices that you want to give them, what would that be?

Elona: Yeah, I wanted to go deeper into the deathbed test. We all have heard about it, right? Oh, you know, what happens?

Elona: Do you want to, like, do you really want to have regrets when you're at that end of life, physical life? Because I believe obviously there's other types of lives. But anyway, in the physical life, the deathbed test, You know, it's always the regrets that haunt us the most, just like you said, right? So I think it's live our lives like that every day.

Elona: If something call is calling us, I know it's every process, new growth process starts with fear and uncomfortable feelings. But I think what happens is that the more you do it, the easier it gets. Because you just build momentum and resiliency and that becomes your value. My value before I ventured as an entrepreneur was [00:38:00] security and certainty.

Elona: God forbid that I had to do anything that was risky. But what happened through growth and evolution and all of that and putting myself purposely and sometimes not consciously through certain things, I realized that, okay, my new value is just in turn every day. I'm going to grow every day, growth, growth, growth, and that becomes your new value.

Elona: And that becomes easy because that you value that. So every time you stay stagnant, you're going to feel it. And you're like, Nope, this is not me. I'm going to continue to grow. So I think you just build. Uh, build it within yourself. Um, there are certain, obviously, decisions we make and sometimes when we get those insights, it's kind of scary 'cause it's like so new and out of the blue that we have no evidence in our lives that would back that up for a logical, logical left.

Elona: Brains like myself, uh, were like, oh, I don't know. Like I don't have any, you know, making decisions out of just straight logic and all of that. Um, [00:39:00] but I've learned that, yeah, to minimize the deathbed test, which is the least regret that we feel, I, I don't know if we can ever feel a hundred percent regret free.

Elona: Because I think as you were human, like I don't think that's ever going to be. But at least the big things in life, you, you don't want to have those regrets. So that would be my final message. Like live your life as if, you know, um, you have, uh, pretty much answered all your callings and when something is there, even though you're scared, just take a baby step towards it.

Elona: And you just never know, you know, what's the worst going to happen. You're going to learn something new by yourself because you always do. And I find that that's the biggest asset I have. Yeah. Because the more I learn about me, the more I know how to put that in use towards others. So, and myself, of course.

Elona: It's selfish and selfless. But I think it has to be selfish before it becomes selfless. I don't think it should go the other way around. That's why we have a lot of issues. Um, and, and that's kind of how you learn. So that would be [00:40:00] my final message. Just lean into the things that are calling you, the, the things that really light you up.

Elona: We hear a lot of, you know, cliche stuff all the time, like follow your light, follow your calling, follow the thing, but really follow it because you have it in your path the way you have it. I don't. I have a different thing. So we all gotta, you know, uh, pay attention to those dots. Speaking of that, there's dots always being thrown your way.

Elona: And when we're just living frantically. We just can't, we don't see them and we miss them and then they become rocks and then they become a bigger thing. And then outside circumstances start wheeling in because you're outside of your path. You've got to stay aligned in the path. And you know, that's kind of how you know that you're in the right direction because you feel at peace.

Elona: That's how I know now you feel at peace. You feel very good with kind of where you are. You feel grounded and that. is what I think most of us are looking for when we talk about [00:41:00] fulfillment, being realized in life, having success, happiness, money, all the things that we were fed to value very early on.

Mehmet: Absolutely. I think this is very thought provoking, uh, I don't know. And especially the part about, uh, selfish and self selfless, right? That's what you call it. Um, Selfish

Elona: and selfless.

Mehmet: Selfless. Yeah. So the reason is because you know, I'm saying it's thought provoking because we need to stop and, you know, really think about this again.

Mehmet: The reason I'm saying this because I used to miss it, right? So because I was thinking, Oh, I should not be selfish. So, and you know, kind of this, uh, imposter syndrome. No, no, no. Like, you know, I don't know. I should, you know, like, you know, you start to have these fights inside you. And of course, but as you said, like you have these calling that you need to answer them.

Mehmet: And you know, as an inside, no, like it's, it's not [00:42:00] like selfish, selfish in the bad sense. Of course. It's like, You know, taking care of myself, right? You know, and being good so I can do good also to other people. So, and once you shift to that mentality, like good things start to happen. So absolutely. Before, you know, I asked you where people can get connected with you.

Mehmet: I know you do public speaking and keynote speaking also as well. Anything planned in this part of the world any soon?

Elona: Well, I have a summit coming up on. I'm speaking about visionary purpose driven leadership here in New York. Actually, it's a physical summit. Women entrepreneurs are going to be part of that.

Elona: So that's kind of my next engagement. Um, but yeah, I love to speak to me. That's my channel to share with what we just talked about. And that's exactly the definition of why I feel it's still to be selfish. So that could be selfless because we've seen the other way around and it doesn't work and you can't sustain it because you're going to build a lot of [00:43:00] resist, resist, um, resist, um, what is the right word?

Elona: Um, Resentment is the right word within yourself. And you just can't block that. You know, you can't give that to other people. So again, it's like the, you know, the face mask analogy of the planes, all of this self care, all this movements around self care and all of this, that's what it needs to be right.

Elona: Selfish. So you can be selfless. I think the problem becomes when he stays with selfish and it stays with the ego. That's where, you know, you're driven by the wrong thing. If you put that on the other end, you have nothing to worry about because now you're giving that back. So continue the process, get to selflessness, and then just keep rinsing, repeating a lot of the things that you feel like you want to share with others.

Elona: That's kind of, yeah, what I would have to say about that as well.

Mehmet: Fantastic. Where people can get, uh, you know, where they can find you.

Elona: My website is my best hub. I call it, it's my [00:44:00] home. Um, I host a lot of stuff there, a lot of free resources for your audience as well. If you'd like to check it out, it's at alonaparicoaching.

Elona: com. And I also love podcasts because of the speaking, because it's a great channel to do this heart to heart conversation, talk about people's experiences. And I have my own as well. It's called the life school masterclass show, which I would love to, uh, be honored to have you as a guest on as well. And I do the same thing there.

Elona: I just have open conversation around personal, professional experiences that we have gathered throughout life. And if there's something somebody could share and you could connect your own dot listening, that's great. I find that that would be the value of, um, just consuming the podcast as well. So I think those two would be great next steps to just continue the conversation.

Mehmet: That's great. Of course, I will make sure that I will put the links, uh, in the show notes. If they are listening to us on any of their favorite podcasting platforms, and if they are watching us on YouTube, they can find this in the description. [00:45:00] Really, I enjoyed the conversation. The time passed. I didn't feel it really.

Mehmet: Uh, because I like these kinds of, as you said, heart to heart conversations, kind of a mix between, um, talking business at the same time, talking humanity, talking a little bit, I would call it, uh, metaphysical things as well. I enjoy doing this all the time. So thank you for, you know, sharing your experience, sharing your thoughts and, you know, um, enlightening.

Mehmet: Fellow entrepreneurs and fellow founders on, you know, how they can find their purpose and how they can define it. So again, thank you very much Elona for your time. And this is how I end my episodes. Usually this is for the audience. If you just discovered this podcast by luck, thank you for passing by.

Mehmet: And thank you for doing so. If you don't mind, if you like this episode, Like us on all the podcasting platform, share it with your friends and you can subscribe also as well. And if you are one of the people who keep coming back, thank you for [00:46:00] doing so. I know that you always send me your messages, feedbacks, and comments.

Mehmet: I try to answer as fast as possible and please keep them coming. I read them all and I appreciate your feedback, whether you need me to enhance something. You want me to talk about something special. I would love to hear from you. Thank you very much for tuning in and we'll meet again very soon. Thank you.

Mehmet: Bye bye.