Some people are business owners, and some business owners are entrepreneurs. But not all business owners are entrepreneurs. There are particular ways of thinking and acting that set entrepreneurs up for success. If your business isn’t growing as you had hoped, perhaps you need to kick hope to the curb by calling forth your inner entrepreneur to take your business to the next level!
Here are ten ways entrepreneurial thinking and acting you can take on to catapult your business to success.
1. Surround yourself With Winners
The people who you associate with will influence both your thoughts and actions. Ask yourself, are you always the leader? Entrepreneurs regularly meet with people who inspire them to be their best, give valuable business feedback, make introductions and encourage them to set a higher bar for their accomplishments. Entrepreneurs know they don’t have all the answers and they can’t do it alone, so they seek out mentorships and business coaching when they need it. If you don’t know what you don’t know, you can’t grow.
2. Look for opportunities
Entrepreneurs are curious and actively looking for opportunities to make things happen. When they run into barriers to meeting their goals, an entrepreneur will look for ways to get around or through them. On the other hand, business owner mentality can be somewhat complacent believing and acting on the old saw, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The issue with that attitude is that it is a recipe for entropy. In business, if you’re not moving forward, you are moving backward.
3. Take Risks
Entrepreneurs are not satisfied with the status quo. They’re always on the lookout for new ideas and will evaluate the options that may help them moving forward. “Let’s give this a try and see what happens” is a common thread in the entrepreneur’s mind. Some of the things they’ll try are not a sure bet. They may require learning a new skill or taking on new behaviors. But this doesn’t mean the entrepreneur takes risks lightly. He or she will take calculated risks with the potential costs carefully considered.
4. Engage in Positive Thinking
Entrepreneurs will recognize when people and situations are right for helping them grow their businesses. They weigh out the risks involved but tend to err on the side of possibility rather than impossibility. They will evaluate the results of what they did by what they accomplished, even if the accomplishments were a by-product, rather than a direct consequence of, a specific course of action.
5. Take Action
Successful entrepreneurs focus on developing action plans and determining steps needed to take to reach a goal. They find ways to build in accountability, track their progress and practice positive self-talk. There is a universal truth that says that nothing will happen until you make something happen. Understanding this may be one of the most important characteristics of success. And taking action early action rather than waiting for polished perfection will ensure that you will get valuable data for course correction that will ultimately lead to a successful outcome.
6. Be Decisive
Great entrepreneurs are not afraid to make decisions. When you’re starting a business or trying to grow a business, one of the most significant questions that they can ask and answer is, “What is the best and fastest way for my business to meet our goals. When you answer this an entrepreneurial mindset, you ask, “Will this action help me reach my goals?” If the answer is yes, then don’t delay, go ahead and do it. Monitor your progress. If you are not getting the results you were looking for, decide to change course immediately.
Entrepreneurs don’t fall into the trap of “throwing good money after bad.” This saying refers to the faulty logic of spending more time or money on something problematic in the hopes of fixing it or recouping the original investment. Those who assess and take swift action in business have a distinct advantage over those that endlessly obsess about their options. Obsessive worrying about the possibility of being taken advantage or making a wrong decision is the kiss of death for business success.
7. Be Results Oriented
The entrepreneurial mind is that of a problem-solver, relishing the challenge of figuring out tough issues and coming up with a viable solution. You do this by being results-driven, by continually checking the results of your actions and making conclusions as to whether or not a choice you made worked out as planned. If a particular course of action did not pan out, don’t judge it or yourself as having failed, instead, use the information to decide that you should not repeat taking that action, in the same way, in the future.
8. Find Internal Motivation
Starting and growing a business is rather relentless. Without a boss or manager looking over their shoulder, an entrepreneur must be self-motivated and make good decisions about their work habits. A successful entrepreneur needs to employ tricks for keeping motivated in a way that’s sustainable. Working too much or too little are both problematic. Finding reasonable work balance is important for the entrepreneur as well as their employees. It isn’t about what others do or think, what’s important is doing what you know is right for you and your business.
9. See the Big Picture and Work on the Details
This binary thinking pattern requires the entrepreneur to be a visionary as well as a detail person. You must be able to see and plan for the big picture of your business. At the same time, you must be able to understand the details so that you can make accurate decisions. Successfully mastering all of the other entrepreneurial thinking patterns will help this one fall naturally into place.
10. Stay Persistent
The path to success is a long and winding. Having your own business has many rewards, but it can be a slow, often draining and difficult path to take. Successful entrepreneurs look for ways to increase their odds for success. You need to seek and find a source for learning what you don’t know you don’t know. You have to have a clear vision of what your goal is and be persistent in doing whatever it takes to get there. You have to expect obstacles and keep moving despite them.
Which of these ten gems resonates with you in a way so that you can see how that one change could make a real difference to your success?
