Your mindset is a set of beliefs that shapes who you are, influences you, and creates your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours. I like to think of it as a sat nav for your personal and professional life.
With mindset, you are forever a work in progress, especially as a business owner. Your thoughts and beliefs become challenges in their own right. Creating a regular positive mindset exercise routine and adopting a daily practice can strengthen your will and drive.
When I walked Hadrian’s Wall, it was an 84 mile journey across the country from Newcastle to Bowness-on-Solway over six days. That’s on average 16 miles a day. What a journey! Along the way, we encountered many ups and downs, and I’m not only talking about the physical kind. Our walk leader called them PUDS – (pointless ups and downs), but actually they were never pointless. The views when we got to those hard and sometimes painful climbs were truly wonderful and well worth it!
My mindset was tested to the limit over those six days, and with a huge blood blister and a pulled thigh muscle on day 2, my mind began the unhelpful inner dialogue of ‘you won’t finish this walk’. There were 4 more days to go but I knew I needed to dig deep.
Despite the sadness I felt thinking I might fail, together with sheer exhaustion and pain, I knew I needed to believe in myself. My school bestie took the walk with me and without her by my side who knows if I would have had the will to carry on. Another lesson that we often need a coach or mentor to support us on our business journey.
Encountering ups and downs is part of running a business, but if you can apply a positive mindset, you’ll improve business sales and reap the benefits of your hard work and determination.
The Positive Mindset of a Business Owner
In her book, Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfil Your Potential, Dr Carol S. Dweck explains why it’s not just your abilities and talent that bring you success, but whether you approach them with a fixed or growth mindset.
Most business owners have one major thing in common: a growth mindset. What spurred you on to start your own business? What was the driving force that made you take that extra step from idea to reality? Chances are it was your mindset and a belief that you could succeed.
Now we all know that those feelings of achievement are as changeable as the British weather, and a challenging week can easily follow a great week, but having the right mindset helps you survive and keep going.
But what does ‘growth mindset’ actually mean?
Any business owner who understands they are starting from scratch and is happy to embrace any challenges, learn from their failures, work hard, and invest in their professional development are already living in the growth mindset zone.
How you use your positive mindset impacts the success of your business.
Let’s look at some of the possible mindset challenges you are faced with daily.
Dealing with Self-Doubt as a Business Owner
Self-doubt is a big test and one you will face at various stages of running and selling within your business. Have you ever heard yourself saying any of the following?
- I don’t sell as many courses as the other coaches
- I’m not qualified enough to do XYZ
- I don’t work well under pressure
- What if no one buys my products?
Understanding self-doubt is a fabulous starting point for dealing with it. Are you experiencing a moment of imposter syndrome, where you feel like a fraud, or are you being overly self-critical and sabotaging your own success? Anxiety and low self-esteem can cause you to dither over important decisions instead of being proactive. One thing is for sure – self-doubt is internal and driven by your mindset, so you are in charge!
Once you identify which self-doubt camp you fall into, you can make small changes and adopt a more positive mindset. You could try one of the following:
- Tell yourself that self-doubt is a habit not part of your DNA, and habits can be changed.
- Name your inner mind monkey, and talk to it as someone separate from yourself. A friend of mine calls hers a poisonous parrot by the name of Earl and will say, ‘oh, that’s just Earl talking nonsense again!’
- Use a CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) strategy and restructure your thoughts from a negative to a positive. For example, restructure the following, ‘I shouldn’t have said that to Mr Smith, he’ll probably never work with me again’ to ‘I’m glad I explained my feelings to Mr Smith, it’ll make our working relationship much better in the future.’
- Find your tribe! Surround yourself with positive and supportive people.
Taking Yourself Seriously as an Entrepreneur
Starting a business is a huge step. It takes time, effort, dedication, investment, and courage, but how many of you stay small and play it safe?
Your business deserves to thrive, and you deserve to reap the benefits of that. When creating your business plan, you no doubt set financial or sales target goals that align with your business values and vision whether this is to one day buy that dream house, or to have the freedom to go wherever, whenever.
It doesn’t matter how small your business is; when it comes to mindset it helps to start acting like the CEO of a global enterprise! Without customers, you have no business, so it’s vital to create products or services that match your clients’ needs and sell them – for a profit.
“If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.” – Anita Roddick, founder of The Body Shop
A lot of my Express 30 calls include chats around pricing and mindset. The fear of putting prices up can be overwhelming, but when you take into account the time you spend on each product or service and the years of training and experience you provide, then a simple shift in mindset can produce amazing results, and guess what it’s never really about price!
Be the business owner you deserve to be!
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou –
How to Apply a Positive Mindset in Your Business
You may have resonated with the examples above, and that’s okay. Most of us do. Recognising your negative mindset is half the battle, as it means you can make the necessary changes to turn things around.
How can you switch to a more positive frame of mind that will boost your sense of purpose and make a difference in your ROI?
I have a growth mindset because I review and refine my services to ensure I offer what my clients need. Adding new courses, webinars, and podcasts helps me actively use my positivity, and what I’m always learning for myself to support other business owners and build a strong community.
When I created my membership, it was using years of experience, learning, planning, and working out the best solution. My growth mindset at work! Not to mention the fun I had injecting my UHP® into the membership to make it unique! (Check out this podcast I just did with Trisha Lewis)
Another important way to apply a positive mindset to your business, and one of the main reasons I was able to launch my membership, is to take action steps. Creating a plan that evolves over time allows you to explore the opportunities available to you, but you won’t create a winning formula and good sales strategy without movement.
‘A goal without a plan is just a wish’ – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Open yourself up to the possibilities of self-belief, growth mindset, and positive action. Be fearless and remember you are in charge of everything that is mindset – you choose.
Next Steps
Joining the Sales Academy will help you understand the impact your mindset has on your business and offer solutions to turn the negatives into positives. It’s also the place to be if you want to fall in love with selling, and meet like-minded business owners. My article, 4 Reasons Why Joining a Membership Will Help Your Business Grow, gives you more information.
“Sales was always a cold, unwelcoming term to me…Encompassing conversations trying to persuade an unsuspecting individual that they needed my service. The Live it Love it Sell it – Sales Academy has been a real eye opener for me. I’m learning to love sales, I’m learning that sales is all about me and my love and passion for what I do. The content, lessons, lives and totally supportive community is worth every penny. Thank you Jules!” Andrea Raindsford – Founder of SEO Angel
Want to find out more? Schedule a virtual cuppa with me, and we can chat about the membership or my other coaching services.