We’ve only recently started putting real effort into social media.
And if I’m honest, some days it feels less like sharing, and more like auditioning.
That feeling hit me again last week when my team suggested hooks like:
👉 “I’m not gatekeeping…” 👉 “Steal this idea…”
These hooks work. They get clicks. But they felt like performing for the crowd, not sharing what mattered.
That’s when the question came up for me: Am I playing for the stadium, or playing for the game?
​ 🧠Shift One: Playing for the stadium
I know what that feels like because I did it for years at Cloudscape.
I said yes to projects I knew wouldn’t work because saying no looked bad. Added endless customizations because clients clapped. Worked weekends to hit impossible deadlines because the applause felt good.
And on the outside, the stadium cheered. But on the inside, I was running on fumes. I wasn’t building a business. I was performing for an audience. ​
🧠Shift Two: Playing for the love of the game
The shift came when I started Elevated Entrepreneur and the Part-Time CEO community.
This time, it wasn’t about chasing applause. It was about asking: What would meaningful work look like if no one was watching?
For me, it meant:
Building a space where founders feel seen and supported.
Creating systems and sprints that actually free people, not trap them.
Writing and teaching lessons I’d stand by even if they never went viral.
And that changed everything. The work got lighter. And people connected more with what was real than with what was polished.
So when my team suggested those hooks, I got it. They work. But it was the reminder I needed: the real game isn’t about applause, it’s about what lasts.
​ Your Turn
In your business, in your content, in every decision:
Are you performing for applause? Or are you showing up for the love of the game? ​ One path keeps you heavy. The other makes the work lighter.
🧠Know a founder who needs to hear this? Forward this. It could be the push they need. ​​ ​
Basecamp is where I work with a small group of founders in person to reset the foundations of their business: Who they serve, what they sell, and how they build for freedom instead of hustle.
If you’ve been playing for the stadium and want to get back to playing for the game, start here.
Reply to this email and we’ll jump on a quick call to see if it’s a fit.
📌 Dhiren’s Pick of the Week
This week, my dear friend and coach Samir Geepee forwarded me a poem that got me emotional.
It was Kahlil Gibran’s On Children. ​It has nothing to do with business but everything to do with life.
A reminder that our kids don’t belong to us. They pass through us, but they are not ours to mold or own.
Here are the lines that hit me hardest:
“You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. ​ You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. ​ You may strive to be like them but seek not to make them like you, ​ For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday."
Sometimes the most powerful reminders aren’t about business at all. ​
​ ps: did someone forward this to you?​ ​ Join 200+ creative entrepreneurs getting sharper every week. Add your email so it can be delivered to your inbox every Thursday 👉 Part Time CEO Newsletter ​
​ Cheers,
The Part Time CEO Newsletter
Every Thursday, I send my best strategies & resources to elevate creative entrepreneurs from full-time founders to Part-Time CEOs