For years I had flickers of thoughts about running my own business. They’d mostly get triggered when I saw all these women living their best digital nomad life on Instagram. You know the ones - happily working from wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted, doing whatever work they wanted. I’d look at them and be so envious.
‘Why could they have that lifestyle and not me?’
‘They're so lucky to have that life’.
‘I’ll never be able to do that, its too late for me’.
‘I'm too entrenched in the corporate world now. There’s no way I’ll ever be able to do that’.
And what happened? A big, fat nothing. I stayed where I was, miserable in my corporate job, not even allowing myself to even entertain the possibility of running my own business. And I'm talking for YEARS.
But the biggest Aha moment I had after I had my emotional breakdown and hired my first coach, was how my own negative mindset had created the situation I found myself in. I’d trapped myself in a mess of my own excuses.
So I resolved then and there to work on my negative mindset and the rest, as they say, is history. I went from signed off work with stress and anxiety to training to be a coach, to starting a side hustle, to running my own full time business in less than 3 years.
And now I know that the biggest secrets to being successful in business are nothing to do with strategy or marketing or Instagram followers. It's 100% all about MINDSET. Think of it as the first brick in your wall. If it's weak, than the whole thing will come falling down around you.
So before we dig into how to improve your mindset, let’s get clear on a few things:
What exactly is mindset & why is it so important in starting & running your own business?
It’s all our individual attitudes and beliefs, our way of thinking. That's why you may hear people referring to a positive or negative mindset. And its so important because your business is driven by you. If you have a positive, entrepreneurial (sometimes called a Growth mindset) your business is more likely to grow’. If you have a negative, fixed or ‘Employee’ mindset, it wont.
OK, so here are my 12 tips on how to develop an entrepreneur mindset & sky rocket your business
Give consistent time and effort to working on your business. Work hard and put in the hours, even if this means sacrifice. Dedicate yourself and try as hard as you can, giving everything your best effort.
Ask for help when you need it – don’t assume you can do things alone and must have all the expertise yourself. This could be a mentor, a coach or a networking group of other female founders.
Try new things and ways of doing things – be open to different approaches and change.
Learn how to receive constructive criticism. Seek out feedback on your performance and work - proactively ask for critique in an effort to find areas for improvement.
Reflect on mistakes objectively. Instead of beating yourself up and focusing on how badly you think you did, focus on what you learned and how you can use it to mprove instead.
Stop comparing yourself. Don’t get negatively preoccupied by the achievements of other people, benchmarking your success against them like I did. Just focus on your own growth and development and improving your abilities. The only person you should be comparing yourself to is you, yesterday.
Commit to constantly learning and set learning goals for yourself.
Celebrate your effort and all the small actions you take, not necessarily the end result.
As hard as it can be, try to view any challenges you face as opportunities.
Whilst it’s wise to anticipate risk, you need to develop the confidence to take calculated risks (like starting before you’re ready!)
Cultivate your resilience and prepare for dealing with difficult situations.
Practice gratitude for where you are now in your business journey and regularly reflect on what you’ve achieved and learnt.
But before you go racing off to start magically changing your mindset, remember these 3 things:
Going from an Employee mindset to an Entrepreneur mindset is a journey (I know, proper cheesy but hear me out). It’s not going to happen overnight and involves small, progressive shifts in your thinking, rather than giant steps.
We’re all a mixture of both mindsets and it’s rare for even the most ‘Entrepreneur’ amongst us to have that mindset all the time. So, don’t worry if you don’t feel like you’re 100% Entrepreneur in your outlook at all times. In fact, beating yourself up about that would be very un-Entrepreneur mindset!
The fact we’ve been in the corporate world for such a looooong time, so there’s years of mental conditioning to undo there. Beliefs and stories that we don't even know we’re carrying.So go easy on yourself.
And if you want help to get there faster, then my 121 coaching is for you. Together we bust through the shit-talking in your head that’s holding you back and develop a badass entrepreneurial mindset to help you get paying clients fast.
So if you're ready to finally get that business started so you can find that freedom and flexibility you're dreaming of, then let's talk.
Meet Lauren
Business Coach & Side Hustle Queen
Hi, I'm Lauren. I burnt out from the corporate world, hit rock bottom and used the experience to create my dream life. I now help passionate and ambitious women start and grow businesses. I'm living proof that you can - and deserve to - have it all.
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