#71- How to Think Like an Entrepreneur - Even if You’re Not One

Show Notes

According to researchers, entrepreneurs tend to have a healthier, more positive approach to setbacks and overcoming challenges. So, co-hosts Lori Vajda and Nola Boea set out to identify the top 5 characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking. But, what if you’re not interested in starting your own business? No matter, these same skills can be beneficial regardless of the career or side business you’re pursuing.  ​

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In This Episode You’ll Learn 

• Why anyone, whether you’re an employee or an aspiring entrepreneur, can benefit from thinking like an entrepreneur. 
• What is an Entrepreneurial Mindset?
• How to overcome limiting beliefs that stop you from reaching your goals.
• The 5 foundational characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking.

Key points Nola and Lori are sharing in this episode:
(2:33:37) Defining the entrepreneurial mindset.   
(4:45:11)  How is the mindset of an entrepreneur different and why can everyone benefit from thinking like one? 
(5:54.88) You don't have to start a business to be considered an entrepreneurial thinker. 
(7:24.95) The top 5 foundational characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking anyone can develop and start using.

Resources 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Nola: Having doubts makes you human, knowing how to nip them in the bud can give you the confidence you need to keep going. So, whether you're starting a new chapter in your life, a new career change or a new business, adopting an entrepreneurial mindset can help you overcome obstacles on your road to success. Stay tuned listeners. As we explore ways, you can develop your entrepreneurial mindset because you don't have to be working as a CEO to think like one.
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[00:00:27] Announcer: You're listening to the Sticky Brand Lab Podcast, where time strapped professionals like you learn how to create a business you love in as little as three hours a week.

[00:00:39] Lori: Traditional career paths tend to follow a similar route: You apply for a position you get hired, and then you work your way up the ladder. But for entrepreneurs, there's no set path to follow. That's because entrepreneurship is more like a lifestyle choice than a career. So Nola, I think I made a pretty big statement here. And I'm going to make one more: Entrepreneurs tend to build their business around an idea. Yet, it's not the Big Idea that leads them to their success, but rather a unique mindset that sets them apart. Would you agree or would you disagree?

[00:01:17] Nola: You know, when you mentioned that, you're right. It's not just the one big idea. Everybody probably knows these, you know, well-known entrepreneurs because of their one big idea. But it's they've usually had many, many other ideas and initiatives and inventions and businesses before the general public got to know them. And that's because of their entrepreneurial mindset. So, what is this mindset you speak of, Lori, and even more importantly, do you think anyone can acquire it to create their definition of success?

[00:01:49] Lori: I actually do. I do think anyone can learn the traits and develop an entrepreneurial mindset. And I believe that you don't have to be an entrepreneur or even in the aspiring entrepreneur to benefit from thinking like one. However, while the traits and characteristics we're going to talk about today may sound simple, they're definitely not easy to apply. In fact, to me, they're more like developing a muscle. You have to continuously work on them in order to see the benefits.

[00:02:20] Nola: Yes, I agree. Especially if you're new to the entrepreneurial territory. If you're used to being in a routine, especially as a mainstream employee, something you do have to work on. So with that said, let's get started by first explaining what we mean by having an entrepreneurial mindset and why we think it's important. So Lori, how would you define an entrepreneurial mindset?

[00:02:42] Lori: For me, an entrepreneurial mindset is it's your values, it's your beliefs, it's your thought process, it's the ways that you view the world that to me, drive that entrepreneurial behavior. I think entrepreneurs firmly believe they have the ability to change their situation and the ability to live life on their terms. To me, that means their philosophy is to be a lifelong learner. And that includes being open to learning new information, new ways of doing things. It's about personal development, growth, adapting, and succeeding, and even failing.

[00:03:22] Nola: Yeah, you're absolutely right about that. The mindset of entrepreneurs really is totally different from the mindset of the traditional typical employee. For example, to earn more money, an employee might update their resume, look for a better paid job. Or go to school and get a certification so that they can plan for their promotion, which is a little bit about forging their own path, but it's still within that those limits. Whereas an entrepreneurial mindset would look for ways to really create opportunities for themselves, for their company. And this could be within the company they work for, but they're seeing outside the normal parameters. Or they would be looking for ways to create their own opportunities by starting a side business, or if they have been dabbling, they might see ways to grow it or to just diversify their income. The whole point is they, like you said, they're living life on their own terms. They're forging their own path.

[00:04:22] Lori: Yeah, I think what's important, and you kind of got to that in your explanation, is that you could be working in a progressive company that rewards intrapreneurship. So they encourage people to come up with new product ideas, new processes, even new territories, new divisions. And when you get that kind of freedom, you feel very supported within your company. So Nola, why do you think an entrepreneurial mindset is important?

[00:04:50] Nola: Well, it's important to be able to think act and view the world differently from most people. There are so many reasons why an entrepreneurial mindset matters. Having that unique way of thinking and viewing the world can help you progress through what other people might find is really as roadblocks. I mean, such as self-doubt or fear or anxiety that they don't experience those, but that mindset helps them push through. And because entrepreneurs tend to really believe that it's up to them to create their opportunities, this is the way of thinking that causes them to focus and that causes them to really identify and consider possibilities and causes them to take action.

[00:05:36] Lori: I think that last point is really important. Many people come up with great ideas. Few of that pool of people will have the wherewithal or even the courage to act on it. And there's a variety of reasons that somebody might not act on it, but that's what separates the characteristics of an entrepreneur from people who don't think like an entrepreneur. And it's why we thought it would be really important to identify those characteristics that could be applied, whether you're working in a company, you're an aspiring entrepreneur, or you’re developing your skillset in your own business. So these characteristics that we're about to list, there's five of them. There are definitely many more characteristics, but you and I really agree that these are foundational. And if you can do these foundational ones, you can build on top of that. So let's get started.

The first one. Which is, to me, the basis of the foundation, is intrinsic motivation. Meaning you're self-motivated, as opposed to looking to others to push you or hold you accountable, which tends to be along the lines of the traditional career path. You go to a company; they assign you things. You may have your own way of applying that, getting your work done in a timely fashion. All of the good things that are important to being a good employee, but when you're starting a business or you're taking an idea and implementing it, it's coming from inside. It feels like you're being pulled to do that.

[00:07:15] Nola: Yes, which is why even just the desire and willingness to serve others can really be a strong, intrinsic motivator. In fact, it's that type of motivation that makes it for easier selling, which was explained to us by executive coach Barbara Fonti in episode 22, where she talked about sales tips for solopreneurs who don't like to sell. It was all about being willing to serve.

[00:07:42] Lori: Yeah, she did a really great idea in reframing it that if people don't know that you have a product or a service in your own business, then they can't make a purchase from you. So it's your responsibility in serving to let them know.

[00:07:59] Nola: Absolutely. And it's that desire and willingness to serve others that helps you to do that and puts you in that mindset, that intrinsic desire to serve.

The second fundamental characteristic you should have to have an entrepreneurial mindset is the ability and willingness to fail and learn from it. I mean, failing typically has negative connotations, but the best entrepreneurs turn failure into something positive. Failing indicates that you've actually tried something which in itself can be a scary thing to do.

[00:08:34] Lori: Absolutely. No one wants to fail at something, but I think an entrepreneurial mindset doesn't personalize it. Or they move past personalizing it. They see it as that didn't work. And there could be a number of reasons, including some people have such a great idea, but they're ahead of the curve. They're the early adopters. And so it's just timing. And entrepreneurial mindset around failure doesn't make it personal, or they move past that feeling of dread quicker.

[00:09:07] Nola: Yes. And this particular topic reminds me of when we interviewed Igor Belagorudski. He's the CEO of Fast Co. And we talked to him in episode 40. And when he was first telling us about himself, I was not prepared to hear him start off with his series of failed companies, before he took all of those lessons learned and was applying them to his current company, which is taking off great.

[00:09:37] Lori: Yeah. You have to have a sense of courage, in my opinion, if you have multiple fails. Which comes to characteristic, number three. Feel the fear and do it anyway. From getting rejected again and again and again, to speaking in front of strangers or to try a new app or try a new process, try a new technology. You're not going to be good at things. But one of the things that happens when you're not good at things, is it, uh, forces you to confront your vulnerability. And it's the point of not letting the fear stop you. You're simply seeing it as a stepping stone. An opportunity to grow and develop and get closer to your success.

[00:10:20] Nola: You're absolutely right. When you feel the fear and do it anyway, and you move through it, more often than not, when you look back, you realize that the fear was actually more intimidating than the experience of moving through and making that action that you had to take.

[00:10:38] Lori: Yeah, even when it comes to procrastination, I'll look back and think, God, why did I wait so long? This went by much faster than I thought it would.

[00:10:47] Nola: So true. Well, the fourth characteristic of an entrepreneurial mindset is the growth mindset. So, someone with a fixed mindset believes that who they are is fairly permanent. They're not going to change or at least not very much. Whereas a person with a growth mindset sees curiosity as an important attribute. Being open and curious and being willing to learn. It's how they maintain a competitive edge. And being willing to seek out new people and new experiences is part of that growth mindset.

[00:11:22] Lori: Absolutely. One of the things that happens, especially as people get up farther and farther in their company, is they turn to the people coming up underneath them to be the subject matter experts or to learn the new process, the new technology, because they themselves feel like they've already learned. They're stuck in their ways. You, you probably see them or have been in a meeting with them where they'll say to you, we tried that. It didn't work.

[00:11:50] Nola: Oh yeah, yeah. Oh, yes. Or why don't you go ahead and do that because you know, I'm not into that, that type of technology. Or I don't know that. Yeah. Well talk about growth mindset. I find that entrepreneurs that have, that tend to have their "what if" switch flipped on. Meaning, they're always thinking about like coming up to problems instead of seeing them as obstacles, they're thinking about how can we do it differently? What if it were done that way? I mean, that's part of that curiosity. Okay. That's not working. Hmm. I wonder why, what if we try this? What if we try that? So, they're not intimidated by that.

[00:12:30] Lori: Yeah, I did one of those personality tests before. And this particular personality test, the result described me as always wanting to build a better mouse trap. And it's so true. I have like web thinking. I see everything laid out in front of me. My brain does the assessment and figures out which path is going to get me closer to the goal. But the idea there is just that things can continuously improve. And as an entrepreneur, oftentimes, it's your idea that is the solution to the problem at hand.

[00:13:07] Nola: Ooh. I like that.

[00:13:08] Lori: Thank you. So our fifth and final characteristic is to be flexible. If you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you really recognize that things aren't going to go as planned. That things are going to take longer than you thought that they were to execute. That they won't get done in the way that you thought they would, or are you anticipated. And that's one of the philosophies that you and I share in helping people start their business. And one of the reasons that we wanted to provide our podcast as a service, is because often the idea that you have will evolve and change from its original concept or construct because you're getting feedback, you're figuring out what people really want from you. And you're fine tuning that. And if you invest everything in doing it perfectly right off the bat, and then you find that demand is different, you don't know what to do, or you can't adapt. And this reminds me of just, I have to throw this part in here. In Colorado, there was a bakery called Small Cakes. And I love mini cupcakes. One of the reasons is because I feel like you could eat too many cupcakes instead of one big cupcake. So I can kind of, it feels like I'm indulging more. Anyway, my husband went to go surprise me and get, uh, cupcakes. And he went into the bakery and asked about their mini cupcakes and they said, oh, you have to put that order in ahead of time. We don't carry mini cupcakes. And he said, but your store is called Small Cakes. And she said, yeah, you'd be surprised at how many people come in here on a weekly basis asking for mini cupcakes. And he shared a story about a bakery, we were living in Florida at the time and he shared a bakery there who said around 40% of their business was walk-in traffic. And many of those from the walk-in traffic wanted these mini cupcakes. So they kept a whole bunch of them on hand so that you could get them. So here was a woman who had the bakery who didn't adapt to the changes. She wasn't willing to be flexible because she had gotten very locked in. And yet that, if she had been flexible, could have made her even more money.

[00:15:28] Nola: That's a great example. And when I think about being flexible because things won't always go as planned, I think about when you come up against those kinds of roadblocks. It's like, okay, I planned it this way. What's wrong? And I go by the motto, "don't curse your inconvenience." Because sometimes those roadblocks are actually there to redirect you to a better path that you may never have gone down. Had you not bumped into that roadblock.

[00:15:56] Lori: Yeah. I don't know if you've heard of Randy Pausch, I think I'm saying his name right. He did The Last Lecture. He was a professor at Carnegie Mellon. And if you haven't watched his video, listeners, I highly, highly recommend it. And there's even a book there. But one of the things that he said, brick walls, aren't there to keep you out. They're there to challenge you to overcome them. Like tapping into your heart's desire. The brick wall is there to remind you this is something you want to achieve. Which is why we thought these characteristics were so important. And I came across this quote and I loved it, and I think it aligns with the characteristics as well. It's from bestselling author and entrepreneur, Hal Elrod, and his quote is, "your level of success will rarely exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become." And that's really what characteristics are all about.

[00:16:57] Nola: That's right. That is profound. It's really not always about what you do. It's really about who you are.

[00:17:04] Lori: Ooh, that was really good.

[00:17:06] Nola: Well, thank you so much for listening to this episode. We hope it makes all the difference in you getting started on your business so you can create your best and most exciting life. If you found the information shared here today, helpful let us know by posting here, where you're listening, or on our Facebook page.

[00:17:23] Lori: Not sure how to turn your idea into a profitable side business? Contact us at stickybrandlab.com/contact. We'd be happy to help you.

[00:17:32] Nola: Be sure to come back next Tuesday and every Tuesday for another informative, inspiring and motivating episode. And remember, action creates results. So tap into your desire to create a business and brand you love by taking 1% action every day. Small steps, big effects.

[OUT-TAKE]
Having doubts makes you human. Not knowing how to nip them in the bud can give you the confidence you need to keep going. Oh, shoot. It's not, not knowing Freudian slip, boy. Okay.