How to Think Link an Entrepreneur
By Barbara J. Winter
When Jason
left his corporate job to start his own business, he was
happy to leave supervisors, cubicles, and tedious
meetings behind. What he didn’t know was that he also
needed to abandon his Employee Mindset and start
thinking like an entrepreneur. As Paul Hawken,
co-founder of Smith & Hawken points out, “Owning a
business and working for one are as different as chalk
and cheese.”
Every year
hundreds of thousands of Americans make the same
decision that Jason did to go out on their own.
Frequently, the biggest challenge facing them is
learning to think entrepreneurially. Leaving behind the
corporate or employment mindset and replacing it with an
innovative attitude is not an overnight transition for
most of us. In many ways, it’s like studying a foreign
language and requires repeated exposure.What are some
ways to build an EQ (Entrepreneurial Quotient)? Here are
a few basics:
*
Train with a pro.
In the movie Million Dollar Baby, we are
told that in order to be trained a boxer must first
unlearn everything they think they know about boxing.
Familiar, habitual ways of doing things need to be
eliminated before new techniques are introduced. It’s
not so different from the training program needed in
order to create a successful enterprise. For many
entrepreneurs, this means unlearning everything they
learned about business in the corporate world—or from
uninformed sources. Successful entrepreneurs make the
best models and mentors.
* Work for
love and money.
The old notion that we can do work we love and starve or
work for money and be miserable doesn’t have much appeal
to the enterprising person. Today’s entrepreneur is
working for more than a paycheck, but also wants a
business to provide financial rewards. The idea that we
can be poor, but happy or rich, but miserable is harder
to unlearn than most people realize.
* Be an
enthusiastic lifelong learner.
The enterprising person does their homework. They dig
deeply into subjects that interest them. They don’t get
sent to workshops; they enroll themselves knowing that
an investment in knowledge pays the best dividends, as
Ben Franklin pointed out.
* Be
opportunity-minded.
Developing opportunity awareness is the best way to
build entrepreneurial muscle. To be enterprising is to
keep your eyes open and your mind active. Opportunities
are often overlooked because they come disguised as
problems to be solved. Entrepreneurs know that no matter
whether their business markets products or services,
they’re really in the problem-solving business. Finding
solutions is an important part of the entrepreneurial
adventure and the starting point for spotting new
opportunities.
* Take
responsibility and initiative.
New entrepreneurs, conditioned to waiting for approval
before taking action, need to adopt the slogan, “If it
is to be, it’s up to me.”
As a result,
the enterprising person doesn’t wait for things to
improve or change before mobilizing the resources and
assets that they have. While entrepreneurs need
patience, they don’t wait around before getting started.
* Create
meaningful alliances.
The savvy entrepreneur focuses on relationship building
with clients, customers and collaborators. Even those
who remain a one- person operation may find themselves
working on joint projects with other self-employed
folks. Equally important are friendships with other
entrepreneurs who can be a source of ideas and
encouragement.
* Believe in
business based on values.
More and more businesses are being started today by
people with a social conscience. Enterprise becomes a
vehicle for expressing their values and ideals. As a
result, small businessowners often are actively engaged
not just in building their business, but in making a
contribution to their community and causes that they
care about. This is not a new motivation, of course.
John Hancock said, “The more people who own little
businesses of their own the safer our country will be
for the people who have a stake in their country and
their community are its best citizens.”
* Cultivate
entrepreneurial assets.
Creativity, self-discovery, inspiration and a sense of
adventure can be enhanced by putting them to work in
ways both practical and bold.
Peter
Drucker described it nicely when he said, “Innovation is
more than a new method. It is a new view of the
universe, as one of risk rather than of chance or of
certainty. It is a new view of our role in the universe:
we create order by taking risks. And this means that
innovation, rather than being an assertion of human
power, is an acceptance of human responsibility.”
•••••••••••••
Barbara J. Winter is a Minneapolis-based writer, speaker
and entrepreneur who is also the co-founder of the Dreambuilders Community. She is the author of the best
selling Making a Living Without a Job. Her
latest book is Jumpstart Your Entrepreneurial
Spirit. You can learn more at
www.barbarawinter.com.
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