Your mindset is crucial when starting a business, you can literally transform your business based on the thoughts you think. Without the proper mindset to withstand the ups and downs in business, you can trip yourself up over the successes and wins of others.
When you look at corporate companies or a branch of the service such as the Marine Corps, there is one thing that is of key importance regarding these entities.
Let’s take a look at the Marine Corps, before a man or a woman can begin the duties of their branch, they must first go through boot camp. The Marine Corps has one of the most strenuous boot camp requirements that many don’t make it through.
Discipline: when a new recruit enters into the service, they are given a regimented schedule to bring them into a place of endurance and perseverance.
This must be a trait of the entrepreneur because there will be many peaks and valleys you will go through your journey. There will be times when you want to throw and the towel and settle for that 9-5 job.
Discipline must apart of your mindset when making the decision to begin your entrepreneurial journey. There will be days where you will be excited and pumped, and there will be days where you will want to lay in bed and eat popcorn and watch Netflix.
There was a period in my life where my mindset was hindering my business progress, I had limiting beliefs and a scarcity mindset.
being your own boss means holding yourself accountable in meeting your business goals and objectives, you cannot allow your feelings or emotions to keep you from moving forward.
When you are a solopreneur you are the one doing all of the work, your work hrs are more than a typical 9-5 workday. You have to make a commitment to yourself that you will meet the goals you set no matter how you are feeling.
You have to become relentless in pursuit of making your dreams a reality and they start with hard work and commitment.
However, if there are mindset issues and limiting beliefs, you will sabotage your own growth.
A good practice to have is to begin working on your mindset, begin listening to podcasts that have positive affirmations this will assist you in looking at situations from various perspectives.
Don’t allow setbacks or disappointments to keep you from moving forward, everyone faces disappointments in life but the ones who plow through it are the ones who receive their just rewards.
Mindset: Picking back up with the Marine Corps, this service also makes sure to break the recruit’s thought process and retrain them to think along the lines of their value system as well as their code of conduct.
The recruit is put through various phases of testing to ensure that when they are finished their training they are well equipped to withstand the duties of their assignments.
So what does this have to do with entrepreneurship? When you begin your journey you must become mentally and emotionally prepared to encounter the struggle and hardship as well as setbacks, that come with the territory.
You must also be prepared that your friends and family may not support you on this journey.
You must not skip over the process of where you are to create insecurities and intimidation in you when other entrepreneurs are experiencing growth and success in their business, comparison is very dangerous and shows there is more development needed to become secure in who you are as an entrepreneur.
We hear so much about, know who your target audience is, show up regular and provide great value, and while all of this is of vital importance, what needs to be reiterated on a regular basis is are you prepared for the mental battle of entrepreneurship?
Do you have a plan in place when the going gets tough how will you navigate through it? Not everyone who has started on their journey finished well, some went back to a 9-5, some are building the business as they work, and some are still spinning their wheels because their mindset is not in alignment with their actions.
Proverbs 23:7 As a man thinks in his heart so is he. Whatever your current reality is, it has come directly from the thoughts you think. So how do you buildup your mindset to withstand the trials of being in business?
*Surround yourself around like-minded people.
*Join groups that support you on your journey.
*Read books on self-development.
*Journal.
I find it therapeutic to write down my experiences that I go through, this becomes a blueprint for me to reflect on, especially days that I may have been totally stressed out, but in the next entry, I see that I pushed through it and now I am on the other side of the problem.
Many people started out on this entrepreneurial journey to find out it wasn’t what they thought it would be, all the photoshopped pictures of women sipping coffee in pretty coffee houses with their MacBook among friends with smiles of laughter, or on a sandy beach with a cool drink in their hand and laptop on their lap.
I’m not saying this can’t become a reality, what I’m saying where are the photo’s showing you when they were up 4 am in the morning because their computer crashed or there are frustrated in a ball of tears because they are mentally exhausted because all the work they have done nothing is giving them that instant gratification.
I get it we don’t want to showcase those photos because it seems as though we’re coming across as failures instead of a human being going through the process of seeing their dreams come to fruition.
Entrepreneurship is not for the faint of heart, it will test who you really are, it will show forth your character and integrity, not everyone in business is a leader I’m sure you have experienced bosses who lack character and integrity, who handle problems like a 2yr old throwing tantrums.
You cannot make others believe your product or service is valuable if you don’t believe in yourself. Often times people want to see who you are before they buy into what you offer.
Begin to build up yourself, your first strategy should be learning how to handle who you are as an entrepreneur, especially when you feel as though everyone is winning and you are stuck feeling alone in the process
I am reminded is that the race is not given to the swift but to those who endure until the end. The only comparison that you and I should have in our lives is how much have we grown from our last attempt at something.
So the key thought I want to leave with you is when you change your thoughts you change your life and you transform your business
Michele Riley
