Entrepreneurial Mindset - First Step to Strat Your Small Business

When deciding to start your own business, you have to first look at your motive.

Why do you want to start your own business? Are you doing it for the right reasons? For instance:
1. Are you fed up with being bossed around?
2. Have you just lost a job and can't find something to suite you?
3. Do you want to slow down on your workload and work at your own convenience?

If for any of the above you want to start your new business then forget about it! You better go now take a cold shower, freshen up and forget about committing a career suicide.

I'll explain the above statement and then I'll tell you what the right mindset is.

In response to point (1), there is nothing worse than being your own boss; you are never satisfied and you will always demand more and more from yourself. Think about it, you can cheat your boss with a lame excuse but can you do that to yourself? I didn't think so either! You will always know that you could have done better and you should have done better. A famous legal proverb goes by "a defendant who has himself for a lawyer has a fool for a client"; we are not far from it if you think that being your own boss will get you the easiest boss around!

As to point (2), you have to understand that when you decide to start your own business the first thing you should be good at is selling. Right from the beginning you will be selling your business idea to attract investment; you will be selling yourself as the right person for starting that business. You will be the first salesperson in your company selling your products and services. Now, if you are not able to sell the one product that you know best and you love and believe in the most, which is yourself then how do you plan to do any well in selling your new business idea, products or services. Don't plan starting a new business while you're holding a white flag in your hand; while you are down and feeling unable to get the job that will fit you. You would be putting yourself in a fatal, inevitable crash that is waiting to happen.

Lastly, for point (3), if you think that by working for yourself you can be flexible in setting your work times and taking more time off then think twice about it before you commit that mistake. While being the ultimate boss might seem like you would be able to decide on your working hours and your vacations; in reality, being so will deprive you from any moment of personal time. Starting your own business is a very demanding task that will have you on duty every minute of the time you are awake and most likely will haunt your dreams too. If you decide to start your own business then you must be ready for very long working hours, weekends included with very limited to no vacation time.

So what are the right reasons to start up a new business?

First and foremost, you need to have the entrepreneurial mindset:

• Have a vision; make sure that your business plan fits within your vision. Where do you see yourself in five years, 10 years or 15 years? What are steps that will take you there? These are things that you don't need to share with anyone else but it is very important that they are crystal clear to you; good way to do that is to write/draw them down on your vision board. Put it somewhere you can see it every day of your life preferably the first thing in the morning. This will help you maintain your course and gives you defined targets with milestones to achieve.

• Believe in yourself; the power of faith is so great and spread across all cultures since thousands of years till our day and can make miracles. If you have faith in yourself you can make others have faith in you and this is the key to success. Don't be afraid to believe in yourself even if it made you seem arrogant; people around you will admire your believe and will follow it and will give in to it even those that hate you for it will admire that characteristic in you.

• Passionate about your business; passion is a direct follower of the belief. You cannot keep your belief to yourself; you have to show it to the people around you; you have to make them feel it in you before you even utter a single word on the subject. The positive karma, the Chi, the energy, the charisma, or whatever other name you want to give it coming out of you need to be so great and full of passion. This energy will distinguish you from thousands of people around you and will be a critical competitive edge versus your competitors.

• You have to really want to do that beyond anything else in the world; realizing so far how much commitment and energy is going into setting up a new business, you'd better be sure that this is really what you want to do and that there is nothing else you would rather be doing during that period (the period covers the time from day one till achieving the vision). Regret could bring loads of negative energy that will drag you deep in the ground. Think carefully, meditate if you need to, consult with friends, family, people that have been in such a situation and make sure that you reach a decision that you would be able to live with and be happy with, while keeping your positive energy high at all time.

• Be positive; believe that you can achieve your goal and that you will achieve them. Leave no room for negativity or reluctance. Always look at the cup half full and drive yourself in a positive direction. Surround yourself with positive people; acquire habits that foster positive energy, positive feelings, and positive thinking. Following the law of attraction, likes attracts likes, positive attracts positive.

• Be energetic; maintain a healthy lifestyle. From what you have read so far you would probably have realized that you have embarked on a long, tiring, and very demanding journey; you need all the energy that you can get. Adapt a positive and healthy lifestyle. Start your day with a small workout to activate your blood circulation and keeps you fresh and puts your body in an active state ready to tackle the day's chores in a more dynamic attitude. Watch your diet, adapt a healthy diet (check with a dietitian for best diet), and eat small portions in multiple intervals; avoid a heavy lunch that will leave you lazy and sleepy the rest of the afternoon.

• Be persistent; work determinedly. Do like the Energizer ad "Never Say Die"… This is hard work and requires hard working individuals to handle it; you have to be that person. You have to come to work day in and day out and work beyond the working hours and even on weekends if needed. All the energy we talked about acquiring this is where you need to spend it. BE PASSIONATE, BE POSITIVE, BE ENERGETIC, BE PERSISTENT!

• Gain support of your household; this is very critical. You have to make sure before you embark on this journey that you have the support of your household members. This job will exhaust you mentally, physically, and financially (some times or for some time) and will keep you away from your family for a long time. It is very important that you and your household members all realize these factors and that you have the consent and support of these members before you go ahead; otherwise, the future problems that will fall of this new venture on your household could be detrimental. And a supporting household already puts on halfway on achieving your goal with all the positive energy that this will provide you.

Interesting links for related topics:


I really liked the testimony of Alicia Hodges in her interview with Travis Fitzwater on The Entrepreneurial Mindset, dated 19 Feb 2010 (30 minutes).


I also like to share with you this article, from Liam McCauley, on How to Adopt a Positive Entrepreneurial Mindset

What do you think!