Parallel Entrepreneur with Mark Cleveland

Mark Cleveland (00:01)
I'm Mark Cleveland, and I want to talk about something that lives at the heart of how I live, how I work. It's the idea of parallel. It's easy to think of parallel as things that run alongside one another, but never touch. Lines, tracks, lives. But what if we saw parallel not as separation, but as synergy? You see, I'm deeply committed to a project called The Parallel Entrepreneur.

It started as a lived experience, my own approach to entrepreneurship. And then years later, it became a passion project as a podcast. And then it grew into a network, a community of people who like me are building businesses, families, creative projects and lives with an attitude and superpowers that embrace everything all at once.

People who aren't trying to live one big, bold story in sequence or in series, but instead multiple stories unfolding in harmony. So a quick shout out to one member of the Parallel Entrepreneur Network, Caitlin McGregor. She's featured in episode 10. Caitlin is a multi-hyphenated founder, an explorer, a mom, a tech entrepreneur, a wife.

And for years, she thought that she had to check different aspects of herself at the door when she showed up as CEO. But when she stopped compartmentalizing and embraced the idea that all those aspects reinforced and feed one another, things changed. Her love as a wife and mother made her more empathetic as a leader. Her travel made her a better listener and more inquisitive. Her business gave her a platform to empower others. She didn't just choose one life. She aligned her parallel lives. And that alignment became power, but increasingly a sense of ease. You see, here's the thing that I've learned. Running multiple projects or wearing many hats isn't just about time management or hustle. It's not about spinning plates faster. It's about alignment.

And I used to think that the more I pushed, the more I'd achieve. But over time, something in me shifted. Maybe it was age, maybe it was grace, maybe it was love, probably all three. Anyway, I began to understand what there is in this kind of power that's not coming from speeding up, but in slowing down, turning in, turning into yourself and letting things flow alongside each other. So when I stopped trying to force everything into one lane and instead let the streams of my life run in parallel, something amazing happened. They started to feed each other. My business taught me how to be a better dad. My friends taught me how to lead. My mistakes taught me how to serve. My stillness gave birth to my creativity and my restraint gave me access to flow. Parallel doesn't mean disconnected. It means interconnected, in motion, together with space to breathe. There was a point not long ago, matter of fact, I'm still living some of it, where I had to let go of a project that I've been driving really hard. I thought it was "THE THING" -- but the moment that I paused and stepped back, space began to open up. And in that space, getting counsel from my fellow entrepreneurs and friends, I began to realize how we are not serial entrepreneurs starting and stopping one enterprise after another. We're actually unleashing potential everywhere through running multiple ventures at different stages of development all at once. And it's not a pivot that we do. It's paralleling.

Breakthrough isn't in doing more, it's in finding synergy. Now, did you hear the term that I used there? "PARALLELING." You might think I just made that word up. Yeah? It sounds like it, but in fact, I did not. It exists. It's in the dictionary and is not in use. But I love it and I'm resurrecting it because paralleling is what's happening all around us. It's what nature is doing, all the time. As the Tao Te Ching says, nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. It's a one apple focus versus a full tree of apples.

My wife Jenny wrote something for me recently. It's called a Bhavana, something I revisit often. She said, "Mark, when you pick up the paddles and let the canoe of your life course correct to move with the flow of the universe, that's when you find clarity. That's when you discover exactly how you do what you love." She reminded me that restraint, which sounds like the opposite of progress, is actually the gatekeeper of true momentum. And when we let go of urgency, we create space for the universe to meet us. That's when we move from effort to ease, from parallel paths to aligned purpose.

So before we move on, I want to offer you a moment. Just close your eyes if you're comfortable. Take a deep breath. Now, think of something in your life that feels meaningful, but maybe isn't getting your attention right now. It could be a creative project, a relationship, an idea that you've shelved. Just notice it.

What if instead of competing with your current path, it's actually meant to run alongside it? What would that feel like?

Let that parallel path show up, not as pressure, but as possibility. So let's talk about these possibilities of parallel projects, parallel processing, parallel dreams, and parallel lives. If you're like me, and I have a feeling that some of you are, then you've probably wrestled with this question. Am I doing too much? Should I just focus on one thing?

But what if your genius is not in choosing just one path? What if your gift is weaving the threads of your life into something new, something complex and gorgeous like a tapestry that could never be reduced to a single thread? You see, the world tells us to specialize, and I'm here to say some of us are meant to synthesize, to synchronize. So it's not about doing more.

It's about letting your various pursuits resonate with one another. Business and art, parenting and personal growth, friendship and impact. So when you start to live that way, something shifts. Instead of stress, there's spaciousness. Instead of burnout, there's energy. And instead of struggling, there's harmony. You don't have to compartmentalize anymore. You get to be fully you everywhere. And that is the real magic.

That's the power of living parallel, when who you are starts to show up in everything you do. You begin to realize the more you are you, the better. The divine expressing itself through you. The divine experiencing you and your desires, your wild, ambitious, tender, creative desires, they are all worth calling forth because they're not distractions. They're directions.

And when you pursue them with alignment, when your inner world and your outer work are running in parallel, then everything you build becomes infused with that same coherence. You become a conduit for ideas, for connection, for transformation. I've learned that success doesn't come from staying in one lane. It comes from daring to live all your lanes, all your loves, all at once, not in chaos, but in conscious parallel. And in doing so, you don't build businesses, you build bridges. You don't just grow your own life, you become the glue connecting others to theirs. You help yourself and others find their why. And you become a trailblazer, a harmonizer, a friend.

You live fully and you live freely. You are in alignment. So today I invite you to think about your life, not in sequence, but in parallel. Ask yourself, what wants to move forward alongside what I'm already doing? Where can I allow more flow, more synergy, more space for alignment?

Where can I release the urge to rush and trust the timing? Remember, you just actually can't get it wrong. Not when you're being yourself. Not when you're listening deeply. Not when you're in alignment with the truth of who you are and what you love.

So may your dreams run in parallel. May your work and your joy run in parallel. May your life unfold not in a line, but in a symphony. You don't have to arrive. You don't have to know how it all fits yet. You just have to stay curious, stay honest, stay aligned. The world was not made for linear paths. It was made for ecosystems, for constellations, for lives like yours and mine which are complex, beautiful, imperfect, and in motion. You are not a single thread. You are the whole weave, and it's okay if it feels messy.