Influencer Lysandro Inacio

Interview October 2020

Could you share with us some information of your family life?
I was born in Curaçao, I am 40 years old and I am happily married for 12 years now and we have 3 children. I have 2 sisters and my parents are still alive, and I have learned from them for sure, like things that I wouldn’t repeat.

Could you share something of your educational background?
I always tell people that I have a Bachelor in Perseverance and a Master’s in Determination and I know a little about engineering and a little bit about business. The reason why I use my character traits as my titles is because it is not what you become, but rather who you become through the process.

Okay, telling us this like that makes me curious, tell us more about that?
Well, it is not what but who we become. I went to Holland to study engineering, in a context where I was considered an immigrant and I felt the lack of acceptance and lack of understanding of where I came from. But through sheer perseverance, I got my degree and right after returned to Curacao. I was a loyal employee for some years, but then I became an entrepreneur by Faith.

Why do you explain your becoming of an entrepreneur like that?
I became an entrepreneur not because of a desire, but because it was the only option left on the table. It was still a big step into the unknown with courage and Faith. Since it was the only option, this triggered in me an interest to know more about business. I fell in love with the concept of “Entrepreneurship” and I started digging deeper in this subject and I decided to do a Masters in Business at the UoC, which was rather expensive. But I didn’t find what I was looking for and again through sheer determination, I finished the courses and earned my degree. At UoC they had a scientific approach towards Business, while I was looking to get to know more and I wanted to acquire wisdom. The professor they flew in from Holland to give this course, wasn’t an entrepreneur himself, he was offering theoretical concepts. As I said, I did earn my degree, although it wasn’t exactly what I was looking for.

So this is one of your strengths?
Yes, determination and perseverance, you will NEVER beat me in these traits.

What happened next?

What I was being taught was going against my own personal experiences. So I started asking myself some questions. Bare in mind that I studied in a context where there were some fellow students working in different sectors in our economy as employees and they were doing the same study at UoC. After some years, we are now in 2020, they are still working at the same employers. My conclusion was that “Entrepreneurship” isn’t something you teach, but it is something more than that. I became very curious to answer the question: “What is entrepreneurship?”

In 2015 after graduating from UoC, I started researching what makes people entrepreneurs as the traditional educational system isn’t able to offer the answer to this question? I started re-reading the Holy Bible. Suddenly, it hit me that: Everything I read in the Holy Bible was related to “Business”. I’ve read Genesis many times, but now I was getting a different understanding of it. I began seeing evidence that entrepreneurship was intrinsically linked to the existence of mankind. So to make a long story short, it is not a lack of knowledge or ideas, creativity nor inspiration, but lack of Faith and Courage that prevents people from becoming entrepreneurs. These are very intangible aspects, but basically entrepreneurship is very “spiritual” and that is why I started the Platform Spiritual Entrepreneurship. What I teach, I do from an entrepreneurial perspective. At the end of the day, having a great business concept is not enough, you still need to have the Courage and Faith to make things happen.

What was exactly the difference between what you were teaching and what you are teaching now?
I focus on the spiritual state as the foundation of a business. Using that as a starting point, I focus on purpose driven entrepreneurship. It is about connecting to whom you are and not what you are. If you can’t grasp this, it will be very difficult to progress as an entrepreneur.

We are living in a 21st century era where it is not what you know, but how you think that matters? What is your opinion on this?
Well, what I see is that we are becoming very knowledgeable and at a younger age, we have a lot of knowledge and information that is available at our fingertips. But although you may know a lot and will all due respect, if you have studied 6 years or more to become a physician, if I go to a doctor, I can google my question and get an answer and I will visit the doctor to validate what I have googled.

Having knowledge is no longer the competitive edge, it is about the application of knowledge, that is why I have used in one of my books the following sub-title: “Success is not a result of what you know but rather how you think” in my book ’50 Fundamental Principles for Entreprenerds’. If you want to change the future, you have to change how the future generations think. If you want to change the future, you have to change how the future generations think. Yes, indeed there will be lots of disruptive innovations underway in the 21st century, but principles don’t change and they always guarantee a specific outcome.

What is this principle that you teach?
If you change the way you think, the things you think of will change and so will your future. In my book 50 fundamental principles for entreprenerds, I have clearly explained the most important principles to my knowledge about entrepreneurship. With this book I want to influence the younger generations and hopefully change the way they think. As you know, principles will outlast time. If you understand the principles and embrace them, this will lead to predictable outcomes. But if you don’t understand them, strategies can lead you towards failure.

Why the focus on the younger generations?
Because they may be knowledgeable, but they often lack the right perspective on matters. After my degree in Business, I started the platform as this path is a “calling” for me. And as I started it I still need perseverance and determination, as it will sustain your growth and the achievement of your purpose in life.

We were referred to you by O’dennis Daal as you are into coaching, business advisor, an inspirational speaker and author. Where does this interest come from for you to become an entrepreneur, where does your interest come from to be involved in inspiring people as you have made a career shift? Can you tell us more about this?
Well I started my career in IT when I was in Holland and when I left to come back to Curaçao, I worked as an employee in the IT- sector on different levels. After 2,5 years back in Curaçao, my own disruption came and I became an entrepreneur. After my graduation at the UoC in 2015, I would say in 2016, I really started my research on “Entrepreneurship”. My first book was titled: “Spiritual Entrepreneurship”, Cast the net on the right side”. The research and this book were the foundation of my understanding, my transformation and also my deeper understanding of the principles. Basically, all of us are entitled to attract more than just one transaction into our lives.

Where does your inspiration come from to write 4 books already? What are their titles?
I ask question, I always ask questions and then I start doing my research form that perspective and as I get the answers the book is written.

I have written 4 books:
1. Spiritual entrepreneurship, sub-tiltle “Cast the net at the right side”;
2. Antrepreneurship, the research ultimately leading to this book came form researching the question why the wisest man that ever lived King Solomon referred to “Ants” as a bench-mark for wisdom. King Salomon was able to build an unprecedented wealth in his Kingdom in the middle of the arren desert. Anyway in a location where it wasn’t supposed to be prosperous. Check proverb 6.6 “…Go to the ant ..”. This reference to an Ant is by far my favorite, because this was the way he influenced and created his Kingdom.
3. 21 reasons why God wants you to be in business.
4. 50 fundamental principles for entreprenerds.

Next year I will publish a revised edition of “21 reasons God wants you to be in business”. I will go deeper into these reasons. The sub tilte will be “The cost of Fruitfulness”.

Is this writing a calling?
I had no idea up until 2015, that my calling was to become an author, as I have dyslexia and one of my professors as I was finalizing my thesis, recommended me not to choose for a writing career.

So, I never considered writing being an option, until I got the sign from God that I have to write a book.

I was attending a John Maxwell conference in November 2015 at the Santa Barbara Beach Resort, when I clearly heard that “alien” voice telling me that I needed to write a book on “Entrepreneurship”. It was the same “alien” voice that 7 years prior to that moment, told me that I needed to become an entrepreneur. So I told this to my wife who was sitting next to me immediately, that I believe God just told me to write a book. She said that she knew this already, because days before that moment, God has told her the same. So now I had no choice, right? So I started writing books.

What is your BIG WHY or driving motivation to be whom you are right now?
I am a teacher, who loves to teach and preach. I am fascinated by the words of GOD. In my own personal and my professional growth, God plays a crucial and central role. I love to translate the word of God into practical wisdom, as I have often experienced that too much of the spiritual teachings are too abstract.

When do you consider that you have been successful in your personal and business/professional life, let us say 5 years from now?
On the first place, what I would like to say is that success is a short-lived emotion. I would like to measure my success by my fruits, and that is my family. I don’t have anything to prove to no one, the only thing I have to prove is that I practice what I preach & teach. If I do this at my home and family, it will stand out. My wife and my children are doing good and they lack nothing, as they are growing into who they are. As I grow, I will stand out more and my message will be more valuable, and this will result in more transactions. Inevitably, when you grow, you will become who you’re supposed to be. I am working on that kind of legacy. I am confident that whatever I set my mind on, I will achieve and this is not arrogance and it is not triggered by competition. I don’t have the need to impress others with material things or those kinds of things. I only have myself to prove.

What are the challenges that you are dealing with? And how are you dealing with these different challenges you confront?
This is an Interesting question. One of my biggest challenges I have is to attract the masculine audiences. Now up to 85 % of those who follow me as an author, teacher and speaker, are women. Now I’m working on some ideas on how to attract and impact the male audiences.

Why I think it is important?
There is a gap in personal and professional development between men and women and the pressure on their potential, that is often misinterpreted, which leads to them being stressed. Lots of men are not being focused and this leads to divorce, domestic violence and what have you more. I want to address this issue and within 2 to 3 years we will have some materials aimed at the male audiences. I am doing a lot of research on this subject matter and I will write a book on this theme.

How do you deal with it?
My determination and perseverance, that is how I deal with the challenges, tribulations and injustices.

Do you use your inner voice to evaluate when dilemma’s show up? How does that work for you?
Via the “alien voice”. God doesn’t communicate with me just like in the movies or so. No Thunder and Lightning. But if you study the word of God, anytime God communicates with people and thus with me, it didn’t make sense. Like when God talked to Gideon the Warrior, he was a coward. Mozes was told to negotiate with Pharaoh but he stuttered. The “alien voice” doesn’t match your own way of thinking, that is why we quickly disregard or ignore it. I listened to the “alien voice” just like when it told me to become an entrepreneur 12 years ago and when it told me to become an author against all odds 5 years ago.

When God instructed me to write, I cancelled some of my clients assignments and continued with 70 % less income, freeing up time and became an entrepreneur. We are so accustomed to staying “known”, but it requires to have Faith and Courage. When I started, I had no clue what to write and directed towards what kind of audiences. It basically takes Courage and Faith to believe in something that scares the hell out of you.

So you are being guided?
Yes, but everything is guided. Like the book “21 reasons to be in business”, when we had the lock-down because of COVID, at first I was like “What is this?”. Then came this insight that it might be a very interesting time, so I wrote the subtitle “Even in a crisis”. The most successful businessman in the bible, achieved this in his biggest crisis. I love to do what I do, there is nothing I would rather do more. When I get a download from Heaven and I get a whole new perspective, when I meet you, you have to tolerate me, as I will share this download with you with a lot of enthusiasm.

How are you trying also to keep up with your personal knowledge and skills levels?
I am pushing my limits constantly. I was so committed to do something I had never done before and just be doing this, I stay in a constant loop of ever growing upwards moving self discovery. Of late I participated in a Master Class for young professionals and the speakers were the best of the best in their respective authority like Sidney Genovea, Pastor Raimy Juliet, Caryl Monte, Yitza Davelaar, Naomi Cyntje, Clyrette Bonifasio and Sydelle Ricardo. She is by far the best in communication. By being part of these kinds of settings I learn a lot and that is one of the ways I always keep stretching my limits. But what keeps me really growing is asking uncommon questions to myself.

What are your strengths?
Determination and perseverance, these are my titles combined with courage and faith.

Do you have hobbies or interests that you are also passionate about?
I love to work out, almost every day. I like reading, I like asking uncommon questions.

If you as Lysandro would meet a stranger in the bus (let say in Mexico or the US) and they would ask you to introduce yourself what would you answer?
My name Lysandro, I will give you the right perspective on entrepreneurship so that you too, can advance purposefully in business.

How would you describe Lysandro Inacio in one word or one sentence?
Determination and perseverance are my titles combined with courage and faith.

Whom are the persons that have inspired you the most in your career?
My pastor Raimy Juliet, he made me very curious to understand his Faith. Sidney Genoveva (We call him Tio Sidney) because of his acquired wisdom, his eloquence, perspectives and comprehensiveness, he is slow to speak and quick to understand and he is wise with words.

What is a trait that is still work in progress?
Communication, that is something that is still work on.

What was a defining moment in your life?
My encounter with Christ back when I was in Holland before I came back to Curacao. It is a long story, but the short version is, I met Christ in a place where one would least expect. It was in a disco called “Sinners” in Amsterdam. A girl approached me and asked me if I knew Jezus. From there on, the seed was planted.

Where do you want to be 15 to 20 years from now with your career?
I don’t consider what I am doing as a career because purpose doesn’t have an expiration date. I want to be happily married and be able to look back on a meaningful and influential journey with millions of people appreciating me. That would be great.

What would you want your Loved Ones, family, friends and others to say about you let’s say 20 years from now?
Look at the manifestation of James 1:5: “ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”  Furthermore I want my Faith and Courage to inspire them in their own personal processes.

What makes you stay optimistic about the future of Curaçao as we are in the middle of a worldwide pandemic, recession and in the middle of growing environmental challenges because of the global warming consquences?
If King Sololom could have prospered in the desert, then we are in a “strategically” better starting position to prosper as a nation.
And in one of the session of Forti Habri, a forum where they invite representatives of the society to meet with Ministers, I asked the Minister of Economic Affairs what does he thinks of the statement that: “…The poorest condition known to mankind is, failing to understand the importance of honesty, integrity and hard work…”.
I didn’t get a clear answer, they tried to answer it, but it wasn’t convincing and then they cut me off this topic. I believe that these three elements are the cornerstone for economic growth, so if we embrace them as a nation, the best is yet to come! If we don’t……Well, you get the point!

More info:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/spiritualentr/

One of the 250 Influencers of Curaçao 
Lysandro Inacio is a driven speaker, teacher, author, researcher and founder of the Spiritual Leadership Platform. He is passionate about “Entrepreneurship” and he is now living his purpose to enable the next generations to be entrepreneurial as: “Every one of us is entitled to attract multiple transactions in our lives”. His aspiration to influence millions with his books, is well thought of as, although a native from Curaçao, his books are published in English. Combined with his speaking assignments, his teachings, his determination and perseverance, he is confident that sooner or later he will achieve this goal. He got his calling to become an entrepreneur 12 years ago and his calling to become an author 5 years ago, but according to him: “Everything is being guided, but we neglect the signs as we are challenged to do the unusual”. His curiosity has led him to continuously ask the uncommon questions, research them and write about them, and by doing this he is constantly improving his knowledge and inspiring those who follow him. He firmly believes that knowledge is not relevant to be entrepreneurial or the creation of wealth, he believes it is all about having the right perspective. As a father and a husband, Lysandro says that his actions talk more than words. He is now focusing on addressing the personal development gap between men and women. With his upcoming program ELEVATE he wants to address the biggest obstacle that keeps men from becoming who they really are! For all these reasons, we love and deeply respect Lysandro and consider him one of the 250 Influencers in our society, representing the business sector (entrepreneurship).