A New Era For ‘Mastermind Adventures’

The term wayfinding comes from a system of navigation used for thousands of years by Polynesians to make seemingly impossible long voyages across thousands of miles of open ocean using only the natural world as their guide. These wayfinders miraculously use only their own senses and knowledge passed by oral tradition from navigator to apprentice.

The Wayfinders is also the title of a fantastic book by my mentor Wade Davis - world-renowned anthropologist and one of the most fascinating humans alive. He’s made it his life’s work to study ancient cultures and their wisdom, and spread the word of why it matters in the modern world.

In rebranding my company Wayfinders (formerly ‘Mastermind Adventures’), I thought these were both apt metaphors/references for my company: much of the work I do with my international adventures is to expose participants to traditional cultures and their unique wisdom and worldview while creating an environment for them to go on their own journey of internal exploration, with the support of a loving community.

I’m inspired by the term because to me it symbolizes so much of what I aspire to: a deeper wisdom, courage to explore uncharted waters, persistance, a sense of belonging, and deep community (Polynesians are tied by deep community bonds, even when hundreds of kilometres apart).

There’s more to being an entrepreneur than scale

I’m interested in wayfinding because I’m tired of the dominant entrepreneurial narrative: that an entrepreneur’s purpose is simply to scale and scale. And hustle and scale. And then hustle some more.

I’ve been there, done that… watched the Vaynerchuk videos. And what I found is that pursuing scale for scale’s sake is ultimately deeply unfulfilling. And most of the time it’s an ego’s hungry quest for recognition and validation.

These days I’m far more inspired by asking bigger questions:

• If my purpose as an entrepreneur isn’t to scale, then what is it?

• What does it mean to live a good life?

• Can a company remain small (and profitable) forever?

• What does it mean to be human?

• How can I get more and more joy and fulfillment from being an entrepreneur?

JOIN ME ON THE WAYFINDING JOURNEY

If these questions inspire you too, I encourage you to join on this journey and join my Wayfinding weekly email for entrepreneurs.

For 2020, I’ll be writing one long-form article a week (released on Friday mornings) about wayfinding: finding meaning and fulfilment on the entrepreneurial journey, starting with my 4-part, 16-post Entrepreneurial Freedom series, a detailed account of the process and systems I used to almost completely remove myself from my last business and have it thrive without me.

Come join me on the wayfinding journey.

Enter your name and email below and I’ll send you an email every Friday with tips and tools to help you build a business that thrives without you, notifications about when I publish new posts in my 16–part Entrepreneurial Freedom series, and thoughts about how to get more joy and fulfilment out of your entrepreneurial journey.

Yours,

Mike Brcic, chief explorer
Wayfinders