Being an entrepreneur is a rollercoaster journey. You will need lots of grit to grind your way to success. Knowing business strategies and tactics are good, but half of the battle in being an entrepreneur happens in mind.
The key is to think differently than the regular person. Here are seven core mindsets that every entrepreneur should internalize.
The growth mindset
The growth mindset is critical for an entrepreneur. It allows you to continually evolve and improve in anything you set out to do. In the beginning, everything is difficult, but with a growth mindset, you as an entrepreneur can learn practically anything that he sets out to learn.
Not a sales kind of person? Are you an introvert? You can do sales and marketing if you put your mind to it and believe that you have the capability to sell. You might not be effective at the start but with a growth mindset, you will savor the small wins and the little improvement you achieve daily, and then you can use it to boost your confidence further.
The learner mindset
An entrepreneur should be a student. They know that ignorance is not bliss. Aside from learning from books, online courses and workshops, and conferences, they know that learning can come from interactions with people. When you go meet people, you learn something from them. When you have coffee with your mentor, you get to learn his insights and how you might apply it in your context. The truth is that learning is everywhere, even in the mistakes that you will make, you have to extract the learning from it so that you benefit from your mistake.
So take the time to learn daily. You do not have to specialize solely in your niche. You can even learn other subjects and topics and see how the learning you get from it can be used to your context.
The bias to action mindset
Entrepreneurs have a bias to action. While there is merit to thinking carefully first before doing something, we become susceptible to overthinking. Sometimes intuition can be your best mentor. So, it is good to act on your intuition and get to work. Action trumps everything because everyone has ideas. It is the work mindset that differentiates the winners from those who just wants to win in life and business.
The strengths mindset
By now, you should know already your strengths. You can use tests like Strengthsfinder to know what you are good at so you can leverage them.
Life is too short to spend time on improving your weaknesses. The only time you should work on your weakness is if it is clearly blocking your success. So instead, build on your strengths. Get better and better at what you are good at until you reach your potential.
The strengths mindset is important for entrepreneurs because it allows you to create a team that complements you. Find people who are great at something you are not good at. In this way, you build a business that generates synergy.
The mensch mindset
A mensch is a person of integrity and honor. A mensch is someone who does the right thing and helps people with no strings attached. A mensch mindset will allow you to build strong relationships with people because you will have their interest at heart always.
If you internalize this mindset, you will have genuine friendships and business associates because they know you are someone that can be trusted and they will go to you because they know you are generous with your help.
So don’t see the world in a transaction manner, i.e. what can I get from this person? Always look to bring value to others. What can you do to help someone? If you found something useful online, share it with them.
If your customer can benefit from a product a competitor provides, do it. That is the mensch way, always seeking to help and give value to the lives of people you touch.
The abundance mindset
An abundance mindset is important for you to internalize. Yes, Economics tells us there is scarcity in the world. However, the truth is, there is enough for everyone.
To apply this mindset means to be grateful for the things you have and enjoy. It means sharing your surplus to others. It means giving freely information and help that can make a difference in others.
We should not be keeping things to ourselves. Share your learnings and insights to the world as an entrepreneur. Know that what you give will eventually return to you tenfold.
So operate on the mindset that there is enough for everyone. Compete less and do more partnerships instead when you run your business. Look for synergy and build win-win relationships instead of dragging them down with your negativity and transaction driven mindset.
The hustle mindset
At the end of the day, the only things you control as an entrepreneur is your hustle and attitude. Hustle will beat natural talent in the long run. Hustle incorporates the other mindsets. You cannot hustle if you do not internalize the previous mindsets discussed.
Hustling means giving your best and not letting bad times get to you. It means to push yourself to the highest criteria possible. It means challenging yourself to give your 101% in life.
You can never predict if you will be successful in business or not. Hustle, however, boosts your chances of success tremendously. So learn to hustle.
As an educator entrepreneur, he also runs The Filipino Teacher, a valuable resource for teachers.
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