What Does Your Business Mindset Say About You?

It was about three and a half years ago when I first heard my mentor use the term ‘Business Mindset’ and it really made me sit up and listen.

She explained the difference between women who run their businesses successfully and those who have some intermittent success is simply down to their business mindset.

She described this as the difference between those who ‘play at having a business’ and those who go out there and really make it happen. It was the bit about those who ‘play’ at business that struck a chord with me. I resonated with that, I hadn’t taken things a seriously as I could’ve up until then, I had hoped that by coaching a few friends, they would refer me and my business would take off, I’d do a little bit of advertising (in all the wrong places I might add) and that would be sufficient. When my mentor talked about investing time, effort and money right from the start I knew I had to go back to basics, review my business plan, (at least I had that!) And start over like a professional and not an amateur.

So, what is the difference between a Business professional and a business amateur in this context? A business amateur wakes up in morning and thinks ‘Oh, I’m not feeling motivated, it’s a glorious day outside, I can’t be bothered to make those follow up calls today’. On the other hand a business professional will go to any length to do the things they need to do whether they feel like doing it or not. A professional will say ‘I am going to do one thing every single day to grow my business’.

Bear in mind that if that is the case, then over a course of one year - 365 days, imagine what a difference one small tiny step would impact on your business development. If your mindset isn’t right then you are only going to achieve limited success.

Every business decision you make today will affect your business tomorrow, next week, next month and in the future.

It’s so vitally important to get this mindset, this attitude in place right NOW.
Stephen Covey, author of ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, offers this advice, ‘Begin with the end in mind’. He advocates working backwards from where you want to be in order to make the choices that will lead you there.

Having a business mindset is about becoming more strategic in your thinking and getting clear on what it is you want to achieve before you invest in any business activity.

And if your mindset isn’t quite at the right place yet, what are you going to do to change it?