When I founded my business back in 2020, I knew I had to do something that encompassed my diverse interests, thirst for innovation, and relentless drive to explore new ideas. I needed to do something that didn’t put me in a box but instead, opened up the world for me to push forward with all of my goals in life. And I decided what better way to do so than to help other multi-passionate entrepreneurs like myself, do exactly that. And so RVPA was born. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of a journey. Through our ride-or-die agency retainers, memberships, free masterclasses, problem-solving calls and guest appearances. I’ve supported hundreds of multi-passionate entrepreneurs to gain clarity on their vision and find a path to achieving ultimate success (whatever that looks like for them) both in business and life.
What is a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur, and what does it mean to be one?
If you know me, then you know I was born to be a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur. I’ve always had big goals and visions, so constantly being met with the message “you can’t have it all” got tiring. I got so fed up with being told that finding harmony in the pursuit of all my passions wasn’t possible that I not only built myself a life where I get to live the lifestyle I’ve always dreamed of and push the needle forward on all my goals, passions, and big dreams every single day, but I also created a space in the industry for other like-minded entrepreneurs to gain high-level support in doing the same. And if you’re in my space, you’ve probably heard me use the term “multi-passionate entrepreneur” A LOT. But what is a multi-passionate entrepreneur, and what does it mean to be one? Today, we’re going to answer that question.
What is a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur?
By definition:
Multi-Passionates are people who have a wide range of interests and passions, often spanning multiple fields and industries. Entrepreneurs are people who can identify business opportunities and turn them into profitable ventures. Therefore a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur is somebody who can combine the two. Now this doesn’t mean that Multi-Passionate Entrepreneurs make profitable ventures out of all of their interests and passions all of the time. What it does mean, is that they are able to spot the business opportunities in one or more of their interests and explore these, whilst not losing their ability and motivation to explore and enjoy all other interests and passions they have in their life.
Key examples of some of the most prolific Multi-passionate Entrepreneurs in the industry right now include:
Richard Branson: We all know Richard Branson. Renowned for his audacious ventures, Branson founded the Virgin Group which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields spanning various industries including music, airlines, and even space travel. Whilst admittedly, a large proportion of his life has been consumed with building his empire. He now spends much of his time, kite surfing, playing tennis, hosting guests and simply enjoying his home in the British Virgin Islands. He is one of the OG’s when it comes to turning passions into profitable ventures whilst most importantly enjoying the process, saying “Entrepreneurship is about turning what excites you in life into capital, so that you can do more of it and move forward with it.” And “Fun is one of the most important – and underrated – ingredients in any successful venture.” Steven Bartlett: You have to have been living under a rock to miss the rise of Steven Bartlett. The likelihood is that even if you don’t know him by name, you will have seen a clip of him on social media. Founder of Social Chain, a leading global social media marketing agency. Steven Bartlett has gone on to build one of the most successful podcasts in the world – The Diary Of A CEO. But the achievements don’t stop there. Alongside building his podcasting empire Steven has formed his reputation as an accomplished investor in the health and wellness space making formidable relations with brands such as HUEL, Zoe, Whoop, and UNTIL. And becoming the youngest-ever investor on BBC’s Dragons’ Den in 2022. Steven Bartlett is on a mission to prove to the world that dreams can be made possible. Materialising his own childhood dreams by becoming a millionaire and playing on the pitch of Old Trafford Stadium by taking part in Soccer Aid for Unicef 2022 and 2023. Grace Beverley: A trailblazer in the fitness and sustainable fashion industries, Grace Beverley seamlessly blends her passions through her brands, TALA, Shreddy, and The Productivity Method. Having beaten the odds, securing 2 venture capital funding rounds for her business TALA, she is always using her platform and position as an established angel investor to fight to better the stats for women in business. As with any multi-passionate, Grace’s achievements don’t stop at the 3 successful businesses she has founded and her many investment ventures. She is also a podcast host, New York Times no.1 bestselling author, debate lover (even making an appearance at no.10), and so much more.
What does it mean to be a Multi-Passionate Entrepreneur?
While I believe that entrepreneurship can be chosen and the skills needed to succeed taught, I also believe that some things are just innate. Especially when it comes to Multi-Passionate entrepreneurship. As I mentioned before, I was born to be an entrepreneur. My grandparents were entrepreneurs, my mother and stepfather were entrepreneurs, and this entrepreneurial spirit runs in my veins. It has always been clear to me that pursuing multiple passions is not only possible but also incredibly fulfilling for me. And interestingly, as I’ve gotten older and worked on expanding my mind further I have come across multiple things that have reinforced to me that my multi-passionatism and entrepreneurial spirit aren’t necessarily fluke.
Human Design:
Take my human design for example. I’m not a “woo woo”, “it’s written in the stars”, “if I think about it hard enough it will happen” kind of person. I’ve always believed that our lives are built on the choices we make and that dreams without hard work will always remain just that… dreams. And I still very much believe that. But 2 years ago when I asked the team what they wanted to do for our annual Christmas celebration, they voted to get somebody in to read our human designs. I’m not going to lie, I was sceptical at first. It wasn’t something I would have typically chosen to do. But I was shook at how deeply I resonated with it.
Turns out I’m a Manifesting Generator, which means that I’m predisposed to having multiple interests and handling multiple things at once. (Explaining my inherent capability to juggle various tasks and projects simultaneously.) A manifesting generator’s said purpose is to inspire, energise and produce through their unique gifts and work. (Literally why I show up every day). And we’re described as being incredibly efficient with our energy. (If you asked my friends to describe me in one word I wouldn’t be surprised if they responded with efficient, organised, a planner, no bullshit. I am often described as all of the above 🤣). And the accuracy of human design charts has only been further reinforced to me by since looking at those of friends and family.
(Learn more about Manifesting Generators, and learn your own human design for free)
What are the specific challenges Multi-Passionate Entrepreneurs face?
The needs and desires of any two multi-passionate Entrepreneurs are never the same, therefore the challenges each faces are unique to them. However, through my time spent as COO and right-hand woman to my many amazing clients and through navigating my own struggles along the way. I have pinpointed the specific challenges I see all multi-passionate Entrepreneurs face along their scaling journey. And in a bid to support you in making your scaling journey a little bit easier, I want to share these specific challenges with you. Along with some ways I have found to overcome them. In the hopes that when you’re faced with these challenges (or even if you’re facing them right now), you can be better equipped to spot and move past them to bigger and better things.
1. Wearing all the hats
The challenge:
- Being Marketer, Deliverer, Accountant, Lawyer, Tech VA, CEO, Visionary Leader and everything else your business needs all in one day is a common challenge for all founders. But it isn’t sustainable as you scale.
How to overcome it:
- If you are in a position to make a hire then obviously this can greatly aid in relieving you of some of the many responsibilities currently falling on your shoulders within the business (you can find more resources to support and guide you with hiring inside our digital shop). But we all know that this isn’t always possible quite yet. Therefore something I’ve found to support in overcoming the overwhelm of juggling the multiple roles demanded of you as a founder is thematic planning. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this term, this is the act of attaching a theme to a particular day or block of working within your week i.e. Mondays are focussed on Marketing, Tuesday’s delivery and so on. For both myself and the clients for whom we have implemented this, we’ve found it to greatly increase focus and productivity throughout any given week.
2. Being pulled from their zone of genius
The challenge:
- Not being able to focus on what you do best because you’re constantly being distracted by having to put out fires and handle emergencies.
How to overcome it:
- You need to build time into your schedule which is purely for being in your zone of genius and doing what you do best. For example, you can’t give full attention to the development project you’re working on if you’re constantly seeing notifications and messages coming through that there’s an issue cropped up somewhere else in the business. I know this one can be hard, I too have caved in the past to checking my notifications and just jumping on my laptop quickly to answer a few messages. But trust me, allowing yourself the undisturbed time in your business to innovate and do what you do best is so important. And it can be made so much easier by having the structure in place to support this.
3. Being the visionary leader
The challenge:
- When you are so stuck in the thick of the day-to-day and lacking the support you need, you’re unable to step back, look at the bigger vision, ground yourself in the mission and be the visionary leader your business needs.
How to overcome it:
- Take time out of working inside the day-to-day of the business to be the CEO. And by this, I don’t mean take a break or get your nails done. (Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with doing these things, but they’re not you being the CEO of your Company, they’re you taking time out for yourself as a human being). I mean time spent looking at a bird’s eye view of your business, pinpointing the major roadblocks and course correcting where necessary to make sure that every area is working harmoniously with the others and striving towards the same end goal.
- If you’re struggling to find the time, I suggest looking at what you can do to increase your capacity.
4. Letting go of control
The challenge:
- Relinquishing control as a founder (particularly in the first 5 years) is hard. You’ve worked so hard to get to the point of being ready to hire or outsource, but the thought of handing that kind of power in your business over to somebody else is terrifying. Inevitably the individual you’re looking to hire for the role does not know your business as well as you do and mistakes are going to happen whether it’s through miscommunications, lack of context, lack of experience etc. And it can be really easy to fall into the “I’ll just do it myself” mindset. But that doesn’t serve you or your team.
How to overcome it:
- Honestly, there is an element here of just having to way up the discomfort of handing over control with the ultimate goal to grow and scale your business. As I mentioned before there will inevitably be learnings and takeaways from this experience. But there are things you can do to make the process a bit easier for both you and the individual your handing the reigns to. And I think the most important is clear communication. Whether this be through specific specified channels, forms, or documentation it doesn’t really matter. Every company is different. The one thing that does matter is that it works for you.
5. “This or that” mindset
The challenge:
- I’ve seen the “this or that” mindset get so many business owners stuck in the mud right out of the gates because they’re so caught up on choosing between the things they desire that they end up making headway on none at all.
How to overcome it:
- First brain-dump all of your ideas, passions, things you’d like to pursue etc. Then list these things in priority order. And finally press go on the things at the top of your list that you ACTUALLY have the capacity to facilitate. You may need to accept that you can’t action every single thing on that list immediately, but this doesn’t mean that without the right support, you can’t do so in the future. (Here’s a decision matrix we developed to help you decide what to focus on right now).
Take the Next Step Towards Mastering Multi-Passionate Entrepreneurship
Overcoming these unique challenges as a multi-passionate entrepreneur requires dedication, strategic planning, and the right support systems. At RVPA, we specialise in helping you achieve clarity, balance, and success across all your ventures. Whether you’re struggling with wearing all the hats, staying in your zone of genius, or navigating the complexities of scaling your business, our comprehensive support services are designed to provide the guidance and resources you need. Join our community of like-minded multi-passionate entrepreneurs and let us help you turn your diverse interests into thriving, harmonious ventures. Visit our services page to learn more about our agency services and take the first step towards achieving your ultimate blended life.
