Do you have the mindset of an entrepreneur? If you would like to find out, this post is just for you.
It’s important to know which mindset you have, so you can follow the business path best suited to you and what you want to achieve.
Business owner does not equal entrepreneur
Just for clarity, it’s important to know that not all business owners are entrepreneurs. In my experience, the majority of small business owners are not. They have usually built themselves a job, rather than a business.
The entrepreneur mindset
There are lots of things, which combine to form an entrepreneurial mindset. However, maybe the single best way to determine if you have an entrepreneurial mindset or not, is to answer the following question as honestly as you can:
Is my hunger for success BIGGER than my fear of failure?
Entrepreneurs in business
If you are an entrepreneur, driven by a hunger for success, these may apply to you:
- You will do what’s required, even when it’s uncomfortable.
- You will prepare for success and expect success.
- You will take the necessary risks, rather than opt for the safety of doing nothing.
- You will embrace change and see it as the only way to grow.
Non entrepreneur business owners
If you are a non entrepreneur business owner, these may apply to you:
- You sometimes avoid doing what your business needs, if it falls outside your comfort zone. I call this, ‘doing 100% of the easy stuff‘.
- You run a ‘me too’ business. Most of the small businesses in any industry are extremely similar. Their owners fear standing out and seek the safety of following the flock.
- You find your working days are long, stressful and exhausting – rather than short, challenging and invigorating.
Right or wrong?
You may find it odd when I say that it doesn’t matter at all, which group you are in. Being an entrepreneur comes with no guarantee of success and being a non entrepreneur is certainly no guarantee of failure. I work with some non entrepreneur business owners, who earn a fortune doing work they love.
How?
- Non entrepreneurs who have built rewarding jobs that they love, have developed strategies that perfectly match their attitudes to risk and security.
- Those non entrepreneurs who make least progress are usually trying to follow a way of working, built for people with a totally different mindset. Most are unaware there’s an alternative.
The key is to determine if you are happy with your current mindset and the path you have taken. If not, you can change either, so that you achieve your business and lifestyle goals.