As a new business owner, cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset can be challenging, especially in the online space where the comparison game never ends. If you aren’t new to running a business, you know that the entrepreneurship journey is filled with ups and downs. When you are at your lowest, the easy choice is to walk away from everything and give up. But, you built your business for a reason, and your dreams are worth pursuing.
Read this blog post for my top four tips for managing your entrepreneurial mindset!
TIP #1: Create a Mindset Mantra
You may not have a strong business mindset when you’re just starting as an entrepreneur. Creating a “mindset mantra” can help you stay focused on your goals and business. A mindset mantra is something you can say to yourself several times a day (or hour, depending on how tough your day is!!) or write down and hang up in a prominent place.
Keeping your mantra close by and at the forefront of your mind will help you to think with an entrepreneurial mindset when things in business are complicated. It can be easy to fall back on old habits or mindsets, and repeating your mindset mantra is one way that you can work on retraining your brain to think like an entrepreneur.
Like the idea of a mindset mantra, but don’t know how to come up with one?
Don’t downgrade your dream just to fit your reality, upgrade your conviction to match your destiny.
Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great.
The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.
The secret of success is to do the common things uncommonly well.
Source: Medium (@meteor2sky)
Check out this Medium article 50 Powerful Mantras for your Entrepreneurial Success with tons to choose from. I love “The person who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones” because it reminds me that I don’t always have to make “big moves” to succeed in my business.
TIP #TWO: Consume Media that Supports Your Mindset Goals
Developing an entrepreneurial mindset is challenging. Surrounding yourself with media that supports your business mindset will help you keep your eyes on the prize. This isn’t to say that you should only watch Shark Tank and listen to educational podcasts – there’s room for Selling Sunset AND business podcasts!
I have found that when I choose a few books or podcasts to consume that support my entrepreneurial mindset, I am more likely to work creatively to solve problems in my business. I’m gaining insights from other entrepreneurs’ points of view. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” The saying is especially true in business. I need those other perspectives in order to push myself out of my entrepreneurial comfort zone.
My favorite business podcast is BecomingCEO – Online Marketing, Sales Strategy and Mindset Tips for Christian Female Entrepreneurs! By Kay Hillman. BecomingCEO is a weekly podcast for female entrepreneurs with real tips from Kay Hillman, who has successfully run multiple businesses for years. She’s also my business coach and always dropping gems (love you boo)! Making the time to listen to this business podcast always puts me in the right frame of mind for tackling whatever is next on my to-do list. If you’re looking for more than one podcast, check out this list of 17 business podcasts.
The books The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and Habits and The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to be and Embrace Who You Are were so helpful for me in developing my entrepreneurial mindset. No entrepreneur truly does it all on their own. We all have help from someone, even if that someone is the author of a book that really changed us. I encourage you to find a book to help you foster your entrepreneurial mindset.
TIP #3: Keep a Growth Mindset
A business growth mindset is essential, especially when approaching challenges or problems. Harvard Business Review says:
“Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart, and they put more energy into learning.”
Part of being an entrepreneur is overcoming challenges and setbacks. A growth mindset is essential to accomplishing both those things. Without a growth mindset, it would be impossible to be a successful entrepreneur. An entrepreneurial mindset means embracing lots of ideas, working creatively, and working hard to grow something from nothing. With a growth mindset, a belief that yes you CAN and yes you WILL, the stumbling blocks of business won’t affect your faith in your business or yourself.
Not sure how to move towards a growth mindset? This list of 13 tips from BetterUp can help get you in the right headspace. I love their idea that you need to change your perspective on failure to possess a growth mindset.
TIP #4: Remain Curious
The last and probably best tip for you to develop your entrepreneurial mindset is to remain curious. Curiosity allows you to take risks, put yourself out there, and think of solutions to problems that seem insurmountable.
You will never become stagnant when you keep curiosity as a focal point of your business mindset. It can be easy to get stuck in a rut or just to keep doing what we’ve always done. Still, part of being an entrepreneur is lassoing that determination and curiosity that drove us to start our businesses in the first place.
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I hope you found these four tips for developing your entrepreneurial mindset helpful. I’d love to hear about your favorite business books or podcasts. Comment below with your recent read (or listen!), and I’ll add it to my list.
And, if you’re working hard on your business mindset and don’t quite have the time to keep your blog or sales page up to date, check out my Services to see how I can help you tell your brand story!