Mindset is the most integral component to starting a business; it’s the single most important foundation on which you will build your entire company. Without it, the rest is futile. To be an entrepreneur, business owner, CEO, founder, manager (and all of the other roles that come with starting and owning a business), you’re going to need to shift gears into business mode. BIG TIME.
Having the right mindset is the number one attribute required for every business owner. So, what is the right mindset and how do you get it?
1.2A SELF-BELIEF
Before we can dive into the modules that follow, let’s evaluate whether your self-belief is strong enough to hold you up through the lifetime of your business.
It’s time to eliminate any negative self-talk and limiting beliefs – they simply don’t do you any favours. They limit your actions, outputs, successes and self-confidence.
Self-belief is not about arrogance. It’s about the level of self-confidence that means you KNOW are capable of achieving astonishing and inspiring things; that you are going to create great change in this world.
TO BE A BUSINESS OWNER, YOU NEED AN ALMOST-DELUSIONAL SENSE OF SELF-WORTH.
How to cultivate this level of self-worth? Practice daily mantras – out loud. Examples of these may be:
- I trust that my idea and my passion will actualise into an effective business
- I know that I have the power to change people’s lives
- I believe my work is valuable and important
- I am unique and no one has said exactly what I need to say
- I want to make my mark on the world and leave a legacy
- I celebrate the wins and learns from the falls
- If I ever feel disconnected to my business, I return to a heart of service and tap into my WHY.
1.2B THE ‘WHY’ BEHIND THE ‘WHAT’
1.2C GOAL SETTING
LET’S DO THIS: Break your goals down by category – ie, environmental goals, giveback goals, income goals, reward goals, personal goals, family goals. Attach all of your goals to a bigger goal so you can always define and remember what you are working towards. This will also provide clarity for if/when you drift away from your path.
Then create a spreadsheet of your lifetime up until end-of-life, and map out the years ahead, so you can understand and ENJOY the journey.
1.2D TENACITY
1.2E IS IT POSSIBLE TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET?
Until the 1960s, researchers believed that changes in the brain were only possible during infancy and childhood. Until that time, it was considered that the brain’s physical structure was permanent by early adulthood. However, modern research now shows that the brain is ‘plastic’, meaning it creates new neural pathways and alters existing ones throughout our entire existence. As long as you’re alive, your brain is developing. It’s enlightening to know that we have the capacity to learn and grow for the rest of our lives. It’s never too late to start.
Still, there are widespread beliefs that certain qualities are ‘set in stone’; that we cannot change who we are. Interestingly, the people who have these limiting beliefs tend to be less successful than those who don’t. These are the people that use phrases like ‘being a natural’ or ‘being born to do that’ or ‘their freakish ability’. The reality is, these ideas dismiss years of hard work, dedication, practice and sacrifice.
Every business owner started off as a rookie and had to learn the ropes. Every talent and skill – whether it is finance, education, sports, music or enterprise – can be learned.
If you want to be the best, you need to dedicate yourself to one thing more than any other. If you want to live a life that less than 5% of the population get to live, then it makes sense to dedicate yourself to achieving this at a level much higher than 95% of people.
You have to have the mentality that success is INEVITABLE; that you already ARE successful and you’re on a trajectory. Understanding this concept is the very first step to improving your mindset.
So, is it possible to change a negative, stagnant mindset? Heck yes.
1.2F HOW TO SWITCH MINDSETS
1.2G YOUR LANGUAGE IS YOUR REALITY
Your words have more power than you know. What follows “I am…” will come looking for you.
What does this look like for you? For example: I am a successful business owner. I am kind. I am generous. I am an authority on the subject of business. I am an author.
Choose your words thoughtfully, and be careful to think before you speak. Slowly, you will begin to change the patterns in your language that you’ve always fallen back on.
FROM
I hope
I’ll try
I can’t
I think
I wish
TO
I will
I can
I can
I know
I am
Can you see if you choose words that are positive, empowering and purposeful, you will approach the task at hand with a growth mindset?
From there, your positive mindset will be infectious and those around you (family, friends, colleagues, staff members, clients, suppliers) will start to adopt the same mindset.
I want to be really honest with you here; this takes time and repetitive action to rewire your thinking. It can often take years to reframe these old habits.
As with anything, it takes real practice. It doesn’t happen overnight. It can take months to tap into that part of the brain that says, “Oh heck yes, I absolutely can.”
The mind is incredibly powerful. While you may not have control over certain events, crises, activities or other people, the one thing you DO have control over is your mindset. And that is a monumentally empowering notion. Once you really grasp that, and I mean really understand the power you have within you, there is no turning back. Are you ready to change your mind?
1.2H YOUR THOUGHTS ARE YOUR REALITY
The single most important factor influencing a person’s success – whether personal or professional – is mindset.
What you think about consistently has a direct impact on your behaviour, rather than the other way around. So, it’s important to get this fundamental ingredient right.
- If you think everything is expensive then, yes, it is.
- If you think you are always poor, then, yes, you are.
Whatever you think you are is what you are. While you are thinking that thought, there is no escaping that situation.
Edit your internal monologue. Anytime you hear negativity, hit the pause button, reword and reframe into a positive thought. With practice it will happen automatically. It’s like riding a bike. You must change mentally before you can change physically – not the reverse.
1.2I THE COMPANY YOU KEEP
1.2J FACING ADVERSITY
BUILD AN IDENTITY THAT IS ANTI-FRAGILE.
Adversity tests one’s mettle to the core. After facing an extreme hardship, a person may feel justified in succumbing to defeat. For them, it can feel like an easy road.
But the easy path is not always the right one.
The capacity to move through the fire, get knocked down (but not knocked out), is a true testament to the power of a resilient mindset.
- Learn from those around you.
- Learn from your mistakes.
Mistakes to entrepreneurs are a recipe for inspiration, innovation and actually gifts. So, embrace the mistake or hardship and turn it into an opportunity!
Let’s explore this further.
Your business has just lost a contract with a long-term client.
Glass half empty approach – you go into meltdown that the contract is lost and try to save the contract.
Glass half full approach – you immediately cease production of the non-profitable product. Instead, you place your effort into new products that provide high margin where you know there is high demand.
1.2K ALWAYS BE LEARNING
1.2L SERVICE
When you approach your day with the mindset of “how can I serve my community today” you come from a place of service and fulfillment.
When you give, you receive back ten-fold.
This is not about giving your products, skills or time away for free; these are all valuable assets.
When you are searching for your mentor, look at how they serve others. What can you learn from them? What are they doing for the wider community?
Most importantly, how can you provide value in this world, and improve the lives of others?
Service is an important driver. Once you tap into a level of service that becomes about helping others, you’ll find the energy to get up every day and do what you love you do, for years to come.
1.2M THE TRANSITION FROM EMPLOYEE TO EMPLOYER
1.2N SIMPLE YET ACTIONABLE DAILY STRATEGIES TO BEGIN CHANGING YOUR MINDSET
Feeling pumped but have no idea where to begin? Implement these simple daily strategies and start to notice the effects of a new mindset. The new you will be unstoppable.
Get into the habit of identifying when you’re out of the motivated/productive/positive state. Hear yourself so you can change yourself!
- Wake up with gratitude. Open the window, recite three things for which you are grateful. Awake, alive and healthy is a good start!
- Practice affirmations every single morning! The more positive thoughts you put out there, and say ALOUD, the more chance they have of actualising.
- Use that gratitude to encourage you to exercise. Keep your running shoes beside the bed to remind you to move (in any capacity!) every morning.
- Pay your bills or manage your finances every morning while your coffee machine is heating. Enjoy the process rather than fighting it. Be grateful to have electricity, water and other amenities that aren’t available to so billions of people.
- Embrace a cold shower every morning to help reframe your mindset.
- Each week, do something you’ve never done before – explore your limits, push the boundaries and get out of your comfort zone. This could be for work, leisure or exercise.
- Throughout each day, start looking for opportunities everywhere.
- Decide to spend a few years living like most people won’t, so you can spend your life living like most people can’t.
- Never stop learning – enrol in more courses, and if you’re in a job where you aren’t learning, then plan to move up or move on.
- Write you WHY on an A3 piece of paper and frame it so you never forget the goal you’re working towards.
- Keep a notepad beside your bed and write down your goals each evening. It’s important to leave it in an accessible place otherwise you’ll forget and give up on this important action.
- Enjoy a tea ritual every night – reflect on your day, or communicate with loved ones, without devices.
- Learn to meditate. Apps like Headspace can help if you have no idea where to start. Five minutes per evening will do the trick.
MY FUTURE IS IN MY HANDS (AND MY MINDSET)
It is quite simple: to run a business, you need to think like a business owner. It’s the business owner mindset that will help you navigate just about every obstacle that is placed before you. A business can only reach as far as the mind of its owner.
You need something that will help you navigate through the many challenges and obstacles of the modern-day business world. And that something is your secret weapon to a successful business: The Business Owner Mindset.