Why Entrepreneurs Need Community

On the last day of our LQ Blueprint Immersion, I pointed something out to the group.

We had been sitting in a circle, talking about the things that hold us back. By the end, everyone was leaning forward. Nobody planned it. It happened because people stopped performing and started telling the truth.

Kyle Vander Linden noticed it too. To him, it showed we were not just getting closer physically. We were getting closer spiritually.

Kyle is a member of the LQ Blueprint Founding Cohort. He came in like a lot of driven entrepreneurs do. He had a good life, and he knew it. He also knew there were places he was holding himself back and could not fully see them yet.

Before I share what changed for him, I want to tell you why this program exists.

Why LQ Blueprint Exists

I have spent years around high-performing leaders. Many of them have done everything right. They built the business, hit the numbers and earned a life that looks great from the outside. And many of them, when they are honest, feel scattered on the inside.

They have hit the ceiling of what performance alone can produce. They do not need another tactic or another strategy session. They need to look at the parts of their lives that success has allowed them to ignore.

In The Kairos Code, I write about the unlived life: the gap between the person you are and the person God created you to be. Every one of us carries chains that keep that gap open. Some came from our past, some we picked up along the way, and some we built ourselves. Left alone, we pass them to the people we love most.

LQ Blueprint exists to close that gap.

It is a year-long journey with a small cohort of leaders, built around the Five Bridges of Kairos: Spiritual, Internal, Relationships, Environment and Legacy. The first course helps you identify your chains and confront your unlived life. The next helps you write a new story. Along the way, I work with each member on the bridge that needs the most attention, and we measure the growth with the LQ Assessment at the start, middle and end of the year.

The work happens in two places. Much of it happens in the ordinary weeks, through cohort sessions and the honest conversations that follow them. Some of the most important moments happen in person, when we bring the group together at Five Bridges Farm and give people the space to go deeper than they ever could on a video call.

We keep the cohort small on purpose. This work requires trust, and trust takes time.

It is for founders, operators and executives who know there is more for them, at home and in their work, and are ready to do the work to get there. It is for leaders who want to lead their families as well as they lead their businesses, and who want to leave something behind that matters more than what they built.

Kyle is exactly who we built it for.

He Named His Chains

Kyle did the work from the beginning.

“Probably my biggest chain is what I put my identity around in life, and making sure that’s adjusted to my goals in life and what matters to me most.”

He named others too: his relationship with money, worrying about tomorrow instead of focusing on today’s problem, and a lack of empathy that too often landed on the people who mattered most, especially his wife.

“The more I focus on my chains, the more I identify them.”

He Rethought His Relationship With Money

One of Kyle’s biggest breakthroughs came from a question Karl posed during the program:

“Are you working for your money, or is your money working for you?”

“Money is a big driver in life, but at times it’s been too much of a focus in my life.”

He started looking at the unlived life and what he will leave behind. “We’re not going to take anything with us when we die. It’s more of what we leave behind,” and that is not about what he gives people on the outside, but “what I can help build on the inside for them.”

He Slowed Down

Kyle learned to use his wise mind: slowing down, being present and paying attention to which emotions spike and what questions the work makes him ask himself.

“I want to analyze my decisions, but I need to make them and move on.”

He Found His People

When we asked Kyle what he got at the Immersion that he could not get from home, he talked about the connection.

“We’re all different people, but our problems can be so common, especially in the entrepreneurship world. We’re familiar with the same struggles, the same roller coaster. Some people are further along in the journey, but we’re all in the journey together.”

I saw the value of that again a few days later at another great event with about 40 entrepreneurs. It was a fantastic experience, and the moment I will remember most was a late-night conversation with a few guys over cigars. Great experiences are easy to find. Relationships you can go deep in are rare. That is what LQ Blueprint is built to create.

He Took It Home

The deepest part of Kyle’s testimonial had nothing to do with business.

“I got three young kids and a wonderful wife, and it’s how I can ideally not pass them my chains. You know, they’re gonna get their own, but I don’t want to give them mine.”

Then he gave himself a gut check:

“You can say how much you love someone, but are you showing them on a daily basis?”

That is why we do this. A better leader who is more present at home and intentional about the legacy he leaves.

Your Next Step

If you read or watched Kyle’s story and saw yourself in it, I would love to talk.

We are building the next LQ Blueprint cohort now. You can apply here, and I will personally review your application: https://www.lqblueprint.com/apply/

If you are not ready to apply yet, take the free LQ Assessment and see where your Five Bridges stand today: https://www.joshkosnick.com/assessment

Inspire & Impact,

Josh