Entrepreneurial mindset: 12 Keys to stop thinking like an employee and start thinking like an entrepreneur

One of the most difficult challenges that every person who decides to undertake must face is to change their way of thinking and working.

Many people start their companies and manage them under the labour paradigms that have been implanted in their heads for years, making it difficult for them to achieve the results they expect.

You can’t build a successful business by thinking like an employee. In short, without the right mindset, you won’t do what needs to be done to get your business off the ground and take it to the next level.

And for this, we will explain what are the paradigms that you must break down to Undertake Successfully.

How to stop thinking like an employee and develop an entrepreneurial mindset

1. Stop working for hours and start working towards achieving goals and objectives

Working for hours leads us to make two big mistakes: first, it makes us fool ourselves into believing that by being busy, we are productive. And secondly, it makes us forget to manage our energy, a resource as important as time itself.

As an entrepreneur, you must develop your ability to work with focus, that is, learn to prioritize to discern between what is urgent and what is important, thus having the possibility of dedicating most of your time and energy to those activities that contribute the most to the achievement of the goals and objectives you have set for yourself.

Entrepreneurship is not about how many hours you work, but what results in you are getting. Forget that you have to work 8 hours a day from Monday to Friday and focus on setting goals and objectives that guide your actions.

2. Stop looking for comfort and security and seeks freedom and independence

If you want fast and secure money, you probably need a job. After 15 days, you will receive your first payment.

Entrepreneurship is a path full of uncertainty in which nothing is certain, but everything is possible. Many people start their companies looking for that apparent feeling of comfort and security that a job provides.

Still, the truth is that entrepreneurship is precisely about leaving our comfort zone and venturing to exceed our own limits.

When you are an entrepreneur, it means that your salary no longer depends on your boss, but on yourself. Won’t be easy at first, especially if you are very used to receiving your salary every month. Still, entrepreneurship gives you the freedom and independence to exploit your full potential.

“When you decide to start a business, it means that you have given up a stable income and other economic and social benefits that you can have when you work for others … On the other hand, it means that your income is not limited by anything, that you can manage in a more effective your time and you won’t have to ask other people for permission. “ – Jack Ma.

3. Stop working on what you have to do and start making your passions profitable

For many people, work is nothing more than a “necessary evil,” something they must do to survive.

An entrepreneur knows that his ability to work allows him to impact the world with his ideas, skills, passions and talents. For an entrepreneur, work is not a duty, but a tool to fulfill his life’s purpose.

At this point, it is important to highlight that, just as there are people who enjoy their jobs and do them with passion, there are also people who start businesses in industries that they are not passionate about and end up hating their own businesses.

This is why you must develop an entrepreneurial mindset that allows you to face all the challenges imposed by the business world before leaving your job to start a business.

Don’t start with the illusion that you will earn more by working less. Get started because you will have the opportunity to follow your passions, develop your projects and contribute to making this world a better place with your work.

“If you hate your job, you also hate much of the time you spend in this world.”

4. Stop looking for bosses and start looking for clients

When a person starts with an employee mentality, they will always look for more bosses than clients. What does this mean?

Traditional employment has 3 characteristics: subordination, hours and salary.

If you are going to undertake, you must be clear that your clients’ relationship should not be the same as with a boss.

There are many cases of people who quit their jobs and start as freelancers in search of increasing their income and having more freedom, but in the end, they end up working with clients who have their time at all times and even define how much they will be paid for their services.

Stop working for companies and people, and start working with companies and with people. It is a significant change in focus. Always make sure you have autonomy over your time and your work.

Be very specific about the characteristics of your business value proposition and focus, do not let the need to secure a client lead you to accept working conditions that put your integrity, your health or your reputation at risk, which are precious assets in this world of entrepreneurship.

5. Stop selling your time and focus on adding value

Closely linked to the previous point, because, as we have seen, business dynamics are very different from work dynamics, and clients are indifferent to the time you invest in creating and delivering your product or service; they are interested in adding value to their lives through your products and services.

Build a value proposition based on what you have to offer and what your potential customers want or need. The more value you bring to your customers, the higher the price they will be willing to pay.

6. Stop wearing yourself out with operational work and learn to delegate

One of the most powerful tools of successful entrepreneurs is their ability to delegate … But, delegating is not simply putting other people to do your work. There are 3 important keys to successfully delegating in your business:

Work with the best: Make sure you have trained, trusted people by your side who are truly committed to your business’s mission.

“It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and then tell them what to do.” – Steve Jobs.

Empower your team: If you choose the people on your team well, you must provide them with all the information and tools to do their job without inconvenience or limitations; otherwise, you will continue to be a barrier to your own business’s growth.

Standardize: Create formats, standards and protocols that serve as a reference for your team when carrying out their work, but avoid making the mistake of “bureaucratizing” the processes in your business.

It may be that at first, you have to do everything in your business, but little by little, you must identify those operational tasks that you can delegate so that you focus on the strategic part of your business. The challenge is to make your business work properly without the need for you to be physically there.

“One of the secrets of entrepreneurial success is not to do the work yourself, but to recognize the right person to do it.” – Andrew Carnegie.

7. Stop saving to spend and start saving to invest

Developing an entrepreneurial mindset also means you learn to invest. In the business world, you have to know how to make money and how to manage it and put it to work for you.

Something common is that small entrepreneurs spend the profits of their businesses as they are obtained, so it is difficult for them to expand and consolidate in the market. A successful entrepreneur knows that he must invest in it if he wants to see his business grow.

An entrepreneur-minded person will always put the needs of their business above personal luxuries.

“Without motivation, there is no sacrifice. Without sacrifice, there are no savings. Without savings, there is no investment. Without investment, there will be no growth.”

8. Stop being reactive and start being proactive

One of the main differences between being an employee and being an entrepreneur is that, generally, the employee always has a superior who is in charge of assigning functions and tasks, in addition to monitoring them; While the entrepreneur cannot wait to be told what to do, he must be proactive and self-disciplined.

Yes, it is true that even being employees, we must be proactive and self-disciplined, but this quality is especially important when one sets out to undertake because no matter how much you love what you do, there will be days when you do not want to do it.

There will be days when you will be lazy to open your business; there will be days when you will feel tired, there will be days when you will think that it is easier to look for a job that gives you a steady income; there will be days when you will not put up with your clients or your collaborators … and it is precisely on those days that you must remember why you started and why giving up is not an option for you.

If you need someone to order you into action, you will do better in a job. In business, you must be your own motivation.

9. Stop looking for culprits, assume your responsibility and focus on finding solutions

In a traditional job, our roles and responsibilities go up to a certain point. If a problem or unforeseen event occurs, the person responsible is usually sought. On the other hand, when you are an entrepreneur, everything that happens is your responsibility, regardless of who you have delegated certain work to.

It is common to find business people who rely on their collaborators to excuse themselves from their clients when they have not delivered an order correctly. They say things like: “It was my designer’s mistake,” “The person in charge was on break, and that’s why I couldn’t get his order on time,” “It was our accountant’s fault,” etc.

Is that the attitude of a successful entrepreneur?

When you breach a customer, your entire brand and your entire company are affected. It is your responsibility to have the right staff and the necessary resources to fulfill your value proposition.

Of course, problems and unforeseen events can occur. Still, it is worth more for a client to see a company committed and assuming its responsibility than to listen to an inefficient businessman blaming his own collaborators for what happened.

10. Stop being afraid of changes and start managing them

Work dynamics sometimes become routine, especially for those who hold operational positions, leading us to become reluctant to change. Surely you have seen people complaining within a company because they have to use new software, change their workplace or carry out a process differently.

Ideally, all the people within the organization are open to change and are constantly in the process of reinvention and evolution, but, without a doubt, the leaders of the organization should be the first to adopt this philosophy of life because probably You have also heard entrepreneurs say things like: ” Things have always been done like this, and they have worked,” “I don’t trust new systems,” etc.

As the leader of your business, you must always be one step ahead, willing to challenge the status quo and take advantage of the opportunities that come from the changes.

“When the rate of change outside exceeds the rate of change within the company, the end is near.” – Jack Welch

11. Focus on the value of things, not their price

According to Robert Kiyosaki, the stingy will never be rich because he focuses on things’ price, not their value. What do you mean by that? It means that just because something is cheap does not mean that it is worth the cost.

In the world of money, business and investing, you must learn to identify the value of things. Getting carried away by a “Low Price” is an emotional decision that can lose you a lot of money. Successful entrepreneurs buy value.

In my personal case, years ago, when starting a restaurant, the business failed for various reasons, among them that we took the place is because its price was low. Still, the location was not very strategic, so the flow of customers was little.

Lesson learned: just because something is cheap doesn’t mean it’s worth the cost.

12. Stop focusing on resources and start focusing on opportunities

The reason why most people say things like: “That can’t be done here,” “I would do it if I had money,” “If I were …”, “If I had …” etc. . it’s because they are focusing on resources, not opportunities.

An entrepreneur can see the tree, even when he only has the seed held in his hand. The entrepreneur focuses on the opportunity and asks: How can I do it?

Let me share a story with you to illustrate this point …

Andrew Carnegie was a known billionaire. At present, his fortune would be over three hundred billion dollars. The guy was embarking on a mega-project: constructing a bridge over the Mississippi River in the USA.

At that time, all the bridges that were built soon fell. People were suspicious of great works, but Carnegie believed his idea was possible. The acid test was not the people’s distrust, but the lack of resources to finance the work.

The work was already underway by then, but the loans that the young man had requested were insufficient. He was in debt and lacked the money to continue. Day and night, they knocked on his door or sent him letters demanding that he pay, yet nothing stopped him.

Carnegie hadn’t gone into debt to throw that money into the water; he was investing it.

When resources were lacking, and debt was pressing, Carnegie did not stop his project but gained momentum and gave it more speed.

Carnegie did not say:

“How scary, I’m in debt, I have the rope around my neck,”
“stop everything; I no longer have money,”
“We are going to stop the work, and no one wants to lend us.”

No, he didn’t say that.

He said: “we will continue; our goal is to build a bridge never seen before.”

Gentlemen Andrew Carnegie had his mind on the dream, not the shackles. All his energy was on the goal, not the money.

He put a plan in place and, in a matter of days, got more funding. Thus ended the work that catapulted him to massive success. As it did? He began to reason like a true marketer and sold the idea of ​​his project.

He identified investors and began sending persuasive letters in which he communicated the promise of an unimagined profit. One of his letters read:

“Dear Sir, our bridge is made of steel, and it is a construction never seen before. Due to its proven resistance, in the coming year’s steel will move the world, for which we encourage you to renew your belief and continue to bet on uniting the East with the West. Shortly, the most profitable market will be steel, and we must choose whether it will be ours, or it will be someone else’s. ”

Carnegie has shown that when there is a vision, there is capital; when there is a belief, there are ways. Remember: the dream is bigger than the problem, and the dreamer is stronger than the adversity.

I am not talking about you being unaware of your debts, but rather unaware of your fears. If we are sure of the business, we have to be sure of ourselves. The debt is not bigger than the businessman.

So belief above all, top speed, action and more action … remember: when the sowing is good, the harvest is good.

Tips for developing an entrepreneurial mindset

If you’re ready to take the next step and start working on your entrepreneurial mindset, here are some practical tips to help you get there:

Surround yourself with entrepreneur minded people:

They say that we are the average of the 5 people we spend time with the most, so make sure you are surrounded by people who inspire and challenge you.

Read:

Reading is like having conversations with people from whom you can learn many interesting things.

A particularly recommended book is “Entrepreneurship is a way of life: Development of Entrepreneurial Awareness.” In it, you will find valuable lessons, keys and tools to face life and business with an entrepreneurial attitude.

I also recommend “The 4-Hour Work Week” by Tim Ferris; “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki; “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill; and “Passion for Entrepreneurship” by Andy Freire.

They are excellent readings to break your paradigms and change the way you think and work. If you know of another interesting book on the subject, please recommend it in the comments.

Go out and sell:

A great way to develop various skills of great importance to entrepreneurs is to start selling. Suppose you have a product of your own, great. If you don’t have it, find someone else’s product and agree to receive a commission for each sale. The better your sales skills, the more business you will be.

Take action:

The best entrepreneurship course you can take is to take your idea and start executing it. No matter how many books you read or how many courses you take, you are wasting valuable time if you don’t take action. No matter how much advice they give you, there are lessons that you will only learn through falls and blows.

Conclusions

Even if you start a business, there may still be paradigms in your head that prevent you from becoming a successful entrepreneur you want to be. You must develop an entrepreneurial mindset that allows you to meet the challenges posed by the business world successfully.

On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with having a job; the wrong thing depends on it and developing a mentality of conformity that prevents us from reinventing ourselves and constantly growing. Remember: Look for clients, not bosses. Even being an employee, you can build an entrepreneurial mindset and add greater value to your companies.

What other key do you consider important to start thinking like an entrepreneur? What other interesting conclusion do you draw from this article? Leave your comments and contributions on the subject.