The entrepreneur’s mindset is so simple, most people overlook it.
Yet, it can be summed up as: A commitment to doing whatever it takes to bring your idea to life.
With that mindset in check, entrepreneurs are empowered to respond to events like this…
✔️ Obstacles – No problem
✔️ Making hard decisions – Let’s do it right now
✔️ Failure after failure – That’s Ok, it’s a small price for long-term success
It’s this mindset that lets entrepreneurs be more decisive, accept responsibility and show up to face insurmountable odds.
Because the reality is, only those who consistently show up have a chance at wild success, over those more skilled, talented or intelligent. The more you keep showing up, the easier it gets because of two little-known forces called entropy and attrition.
Entropy
The more difficult and chaotic a situation, the more people leave to find something comfortable.
Attrition
The longer an endeavour takes, the more people get worn down and drop out.
Being an entrepreneur IS chaotic, and it takes a lot of effort over an extended period of time.
That’s why the two reservoirs of strength every entrepreneur leans on, without question, is commitment and resilience.
And there’s a good reason for this… Those who are committed to their goal and draw on their resilience to kick through obstacles eventually succeed because…
Everyone else gives up, drops out or checks out of the race. The journey to success is hard – especially for those who overlook the importance of developing their mindset.
Remember how Steven Bradbury won the Olympic gold medal? He just consistently and steadily kept going… as everyone else dropped out of the race.
He wasn’t the best skater. And some would say he won on a fluke. However, his ability to hold steady, not give in to haste, and keep his eye on the goal (not on the competitors) was what led to his famous win.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWt3jNhsv4
Here are some practical ways you can cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset today.
Everything you do either makes money or costs money.
Entrepreneurs are best placed when they spend most of their time bringing new money into the business.
All the tasks that involve managing current clients should be delegated to a group of highly capable and well-trained staff.
Fellow entrepreneur, write this on your mirror so you see it every morning before you attack your day…
My focus ISN’T to run my business. But to GROW it.
That’s why a key practise is learning how to hire great staff, delegate operational tasks and service clients – so you can get as much as possible off your plate.
Here’s a way to think about your time…
5% of your time should focus on keeping essential processes running like a well-oiled engine.
15% of your time should focus on making sure your clients are getting a high level of service.
And 80% of your time should be spent on bringing in new clients.
One of the biggest struggles entrepreneurs have is letting go of the day-to-day tasks in their business. It’s hard to completely trust others to take care of things at a high level. Yet, successful entrepreneurs trust people first and evaluate them later. You can’t grow your business when you are stuck working inside it.
That’s why in the early stages, most entrepreneurs adopt an attitude of “hire slow and fire fast.” Getting the right people is crucial. And once you have them, you have to let go and let them do their job.
The 80/20 principle is a pretty big deal. It’s something of a universal law that’s found in every part of life.
The law states, in everything we do, 80% of our results come from 20% of our causes.
Here’s what the 80/20 principle says about your business:
80% of your revenue will come from 20% of customers
80% of your productivity will come from 20% of all your strategies
80% of your happiness come from 20% of your activities
So, now that we know only a few things cause the vast majority of results, we want to make sure we find the 20% of causes – and only focus on that.
At its essence, the 80/20 rule helps us work on the important stuff, and not sweat the small stuff.
As Stephen Covey said, “put first things first.” And abiding by the 80/20 law helps you stay in absolute productivity mode.
You’ll never feel like you know enough. The trap so many people fall into is getting bogged down in too much information and never executing their plans.
It’s true, you need to do your homework. But, at some stage, the only way to find out if something will work is to just do it.
Check off your goals with the ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’ approach:
Ready – You’ve done all your research and preparation.
Fire – Just do it and launch the damn thing.
Aim – It won’t be perfect, but you’ll have so much more valuable information from executing. Now, you can pivot, tweak and amend your approach based on your real-life experience.
Nothing ever goes smoothly in business and entrepreneurship. That's why being ‘agile’ is such a cliché – because it works.
So the next time you’re pondering what to do next, or wading through information paralysis… there’s a good chance you need to launch the idea you’ve been sitting on.
Don’t overthink it, just take action, see what happens, and allow yourself to course-correct as new information comes to light.
Entrepreneurs create products and services that make people’s lives better.
During your entrepreneurial journey, you’ll need to pause and look at all the value you’re creating.
When you look at all the positive things your business is creating for customers, you get something money can’t buy…
Confidence in yourself and belief in your cause.
It’s near impossible to keep pushing ahead without this basic human need.
You need that confidence and belief to fend off the familiar foe – impostor syndrome. The sad thing about imposter syndrome is you can be doing incredible things, and still feel like you haven’t made any progress.
Imposter syndrome will rear its head many times in your journey. So instead of waiting for it to show up and derail you, armour yourself with reality!
Look at how far you’ve come, what you’ve achieved, and how your business is helping people improve their lives.
Every successful entrepreneur has a mentor in the background who provides:
Emotional connection and support
Fresh perspectives on life and business
New ideas to grow your revenue
Wisdom from real-life wins and failures
Access opportunities from your mentor’s personal network
There’s no reason to stumble along your journey and make costly mistakes that were completely avoidable.
A mentor will often say something that completely blows open new possibilities and inspires new ideas. They often help you avoid the constant pitfalls of business to reach success faster.
Want to learn from successful entrepreneurs?
Join our community of like-minded professionals and entrepreneurs to get to one-on-one sessions with expert mentors, access our in-depth courses to up-skill and join our tribe of like-minded professionals to grow a powerful network for life.
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