Entrepreneurial Mindset: what it is and how to master it
Entrepreneurs are like a different species. They’re innovators. They’re tenacious. They’re ambitious and passionate – think Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, and Kayla Itsines.
These modern-day magicians think, act, and view the world differently from most; often transforming radical ideas into brands that change how we live.
What if we told you the entrepreneurial way of thinking could be applied to the world outside start-ups? What if you could apply this soft skill to your career?
That’s right folks - you don’t have to be a budding business owner to tap into the power of an entrepreneurial mindset!
Whether you’re keen to level up your career in a large organisation, step into leadership, or work towards a new goal, developing an entrepreneurial mindset can dramatically improve your work, life and relationships.
Ready to master the entrepreneurial mindset? Let’s go.
What is an entrepreneurial mindset?
An entrepreneurial mindset is a way of thinking that enables you to overcome challenges, be decisive, and adapt easily. It involves a constant commitment to improving your skills, learning from mistakes, and acting on your ideas.
Imagine what that kind of thinking could do for your career!
Another way to think of the entrepreneurial mindset is as skillset that blends some of the top soft skills: critical thinking, problem solving, and resilience. These soft skills are the foundation of entrepreneurial thinking.
Five essential parts to an entrepreneurial mindset include:
1. Decisiveness
Entrepreneurs must make decisions to succeed. Without decisiveness, there can be no progress.
Being decisive doesn’t mean entrepreneurs don’t have self-doubt. It means they can analyse a situation and options, and make quick decisions. Entrepreneurs know that spending too much time reviewing options in the pursuit of ‘excellence’ results in analysis paralysis.
Winston Churchill said it best: “Perfection is the enemy of progress.”
Becoming more decisive takes practice. Start by making small decisions fast – choose where to go for lunch, or make a call on where and when a meeting should be. Then work up to more significant decisions.
2. Embracing failure
Everyone fails. But the people who fail fastest, succeed.
Entrepreneurs look at failure differently. They don’t fear failure but learn from it and recognise it as a part of their growth and journey to success.
As billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson said, “What I’ve learnt throughout my life is that every success is built upon a thousand failures (or ‘opportunities to learn,’ as I like to think of them). Whenever doubt creeps in, I remind myself that dreams aren’t linear.”
Another way to think about this is resilience. This is one of the top soft skills for career success — the ability to ‘stay the course’ when times are tough, and to take setbacks in your stride.
Resilience helps you learn how to overcome obstacles, and how to cope with unexpected outcomes.
When in doubt, remember what Naomi Simson, founder of RedBalloon, said: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
3. Face your fears
Like failure, fear is inevitable in your professional and personal life. But an entrepreneurial mindset means having the courage to face those fears and persist in spite of them.
Melanie Perkins, Aussie co-founder of Canva, said in an interview, “We could go the easy route, or we can go the route that’s terrifying. It’s the terrifying route that usually pays off in the end.”
Think of a time you’ve been afraid at work. Maybe you had to take the lead in a project for the first time, take your first step into people management, or you had to present in front of your peers.
Getting outside of your comfort zone helps you grow. It often pushes you to work harder, and enlightens you on how to be the best you can be in that situation. But you don’t have to do it alone – find a mentor, colleague or leader you trust to help you.
4. Growth-oriented
There are two main types of mindset: fixed and growth.
With a fixed mindset, you believe you can’t change much because ‘you are who you are’.
The entrepreneur mindset is the opposite – it’s growth-oriented.
Entrepreneurs believe they can grow as a human and develop new skills, both hard and soft skills. They think that, with effort and persistence, they can shape themselves into who they want to be.
If you want to accomplish big things in life, you need to be willing to learn from others. Thinking like an entrepreneur means seeking out people who have been where you are trying to go, and having the humility to accept their skills leadership and guidance.
Humility is freedom from pride or arrogance, and it’s essential to an entrepreneurial mindset.
David “Jim” Penman, the man behind the wildly successful Jim’s Group franchise, said, “We never know everything, we’re never good enough. You have to have a sense of humility - people who fail in business aren’t the ones who are stupid or lacking in education, it’s the ones who are too stubborn to say they’ve made a mistake.”
5. Self-awareness
Have you noticed how entrepreneurs always seem able to talk about themselves with such clarity? They’re acutely aware of their strengths and their failures, what they do and don’t know.
Great entrepreneurs are incredibly self-aware. It’s one of their top soft skills. They know what they’re good at, they can leverage their strengths, and surround themselves with people who have complementary strengths.
Self-awareness is a powerful thing. Once you become familiar with your strengths, it becomes easier and easier to build on what you know, and to start using those strengths to do extraordinary things.
The good news? Starting your self-awareness journey and developing this soft skill is as simple as taking a quiz.
Our favourite is the VIA Character Strengths Survey – download Hodie and complete your Character Strengths Survey to reveal your superpowers.
Master the entrepreneurial mindset for lifelong growth
Inspired? You should be! An entrepreneurial mindset can open the door to incredible opportunities in your work, relationships and life.
You can’t develop an entrepreneurial mindset overnight. But by understanding the entrepreneurial way of thinking, you can start applying it to different situations and watch the magic happen!
To start developing your human skills today, simply download the Hodie app, or explore Maxme’s menu of human skills programs for organisations or schools.
Prefer to talk through your options? Contact us at any time.
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