What is the entrepreneurial mind frame? The mindset, or state of mind of an entrepreneur is an important part of their success, or lack of it. The entrepreneurial mind frame is the ambition or worldview which the entrepreneur has. It all starts with belief, both in themselves and in whatever it is they are doing. Many successful entrepreneurs have overcome years of adversity, in order to create their perfect outcome, or follow through on something they have believed in.
Entrepreneurial Mind Frame
Look at James Dyson, inventor of the Dyson vacuum cleaner. His idea for the bagless vacuum cleaner came from the cyclone technology used at a saw mill. He saw the loss of suction of the traditional vacuum cleaner with the removable bag, and looked for a solution. He spent 5 years and created over 5000 prototypes of his vacuum cleaner. However, initially there was no interest in his idea when he launched the “G-force” cleaner in 1983.
No manufacturer of distributor would touch his product because of the vast market for vacuum replacement bags. So Dyson launched his product in Japan through catalogue sales. It won a design award in 1991. After no major manufacturers would pick up his invention, he launched his own manufacturing company in 1993. Given that his initial concept for the idea was in the late 70’s, you can see the entrepreneurial mind frame which he had.
His wife was an art teacher and was able to partly support him through her salary. Given the same circumstances though, how many people would have seen this through or just given up after so much adversity?
Great inventors throughout history have had this same die-hard entrepreneurial mind frame: The Wright Brothers, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison, for example, all persevered through uncertainty and adversity because they believed in something greater than their circumstances.
This vision and determination is what gives an entrepreneur the will to continue with their intention, when everyone else would have given up.
Entrepreneurial Mind Frame – Disposition To Entrepreneurialism
Not all entrepreneurs are inventors though. The entrepreneurial mind frame is a disposition of certain individuals to entrepreneurial activities. This might be because they don’t accept the status quo, or, they look towards more meaning in their working lives. Entrepreneurial types are often drawn to risk, opportunities and innovation, rather than accepting the traditional working values of the ‘herd’.
They can see the long term benefit of short term circumstances and often entrepreneurs will work diligently in conditions (which others wouldn’t accept) for years, because of their vision for the future. Great accomplishments often come with years of struggle and poverty. Entrepreneurs are able to accept this, based entirely on their belief in what they are doing for the future, a better life, or even a noble cause. In fact, the cause is often a driving factor for the entrepreneur rather than their own material needs or desires.
Entrepreneurial Mind Frame – Passion & ‘Why’
There were two teams competing for the first aerial flight – The Wright Brothers and Samuel Pierpont Langley. Samuel Pierpont had a massive advantage. He had friends who were wealthy and powerful and was able to secure a $50k grant from the War Department, which was a huge amount at the time. His friends included Andrew Carnegie and Alexander Graham Bell. He was able to create a team, afford the best talent, technology and materials. He was also a mathematics professor who had worked at Harvard.
Wilbur and Orville Wright on the other hand didn’t have money. They were operating out of a bicycle shop and their team didn’t have a college degree between them. They won the race and took flight in 1903. But how? Simon Sinek, in his book ‘Start With Why’ suggests the reason was their passion and ability to inspire those around them. Their vision was to develop a technology that would change the world. It was their ‘why’, writes Sinek, that let them to victory.
Entrepreneurial Mind Frame – Resilience
When questioned over his apparent failures of creating a lightbulb that worked, Thomas Edison’s reply was that he hadn’t failed at anything:
The Thomas A. Edison Papers of Rutgers University, (quoting Walter S. Mallory):Â ‘Isn’t it a shame that with the tremendous amount of work you have done you haven’t been able to get any results?’ Edison turned on me like a flash, and with a smile replied: ‘Results! Why, man, I have gotten lots of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work!‘”
Resilience is a mindset of the entrepreneurial which is vital for sustaining an often difficult passion or destination. In fact, resilience is often cited as the most important characteristic of an entrepreneur and a predictor of their success.
Without it, a would-be-entrepreneur is more likely to give up before they reach any purposeful goal. Entrepreneurs therefore look for small wins and consider adversity a necessary obstacle to success. Having the mindset that any short term failure is only ‘feedback’ to alter your trajectory is a useful and necessary mindset which taking on a large and time consuming project.
Many would of course give up, when short term success isn’t reached. Perhaps this explains why successful entrepreneurs only make up a small percentage of the global population – (nearly 13% starting up in the US according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor). However, this statistic will be much lower for successful entrepreneurs, since many who startup will fail and quit within the first 5 years.
Entrepreneurial Mind Frame – Focus & Attitude
Entrepreneurs think differently to most people:
- Look at the world differently
- Seek out opportunities, rather than immediate security.
- They often want something more than the status quo
- Need to do things differently to the norm.
- Are not afraid of taking risks and doing things a bit differently.
This does mean they have to develop themselves along with their businesses. Unless they do so, their limitations will hold back their business.
Most people have a certain level of fear which holds them back in life. For business owners and entrepreneurs, holding onto fears can be a major roadblock to success. See entrepreneurship development ebook free download. If you have a business, but are afraid to step outside your comfort zone, you could be preventing the growth of the business due to your lack of personal growth. This is particularly true when it comes to advertising a business.
If you’re new in business, your mindset might be very different to that of an entrepreneur. If you’re used to earning a set wage every month, you tend to stick to the boundaries within your means, or your personal limitations. This can be limiting if you want to grow your business with paid advertising, for example.
Entrepreneurial Mind Frame And Online Advertising
Shifting from being an employee to an entrepreneur is difficult. Partly because you are shifting roles and you will likely bring your old attitudes and behaviours with you to the new role. This can mean you’ll get stuck in your employee mindset.
As an employee, you get paid no matter what. Just as long as you do your job, and the position exists, you’ll continue to get paid. Entrepreneurial life is different.You need to actively grow your business. Starting out, this can be tough because you don’t know your new role and you don’t have an income yet.
Spending money on advertising your business, for example, can be counterintuitive, especially if you don’t have much budget. You’ll actively avoid anything which puts you outside your comfort zone. This, ironically, is the very thing you will have to do in entrepreneurial life.
Mindset Development For The Entrepreneur
Developing your mindset as an entrepreneur is incredibly important. Unless you can keep your motivation up and maintain a positive attitude, your chances of success are vastly diminished. Even then, you need to carefully craft your desired outcome, so you can concentrate on the right activities.
One of the best resources I have found for developing the mindset of an entrepreneur is Stuart Lichtman’s book on Cybernetic Transposition. In his book, Stuart describes his strategy which he calls the cybernetic transposition three step process. Lichtman worked as an MIT professor. He developed and successfully tested his strategy on test groups who successfully achieved their ‘impossible’ goals on their first attempt.
Aligning Purpose
Two of the main problems for people to carry through on their goals is belief and desire. By successfully crafting your goals with these two powerful attractive forces aligned, you have a far greater chance of success. If you don’t believe you can achieve a goal, your motivation to do the work is vastly reduced. If you don’t really want the goal you set for yourself, your chances of following through are vastly reduced also.
We often set ourself goals and achievements which we don’t want either through peer pressure or social pressure. Getting clear on what you really want is key because you’ll be continually motivated towards it, much like in the examples of entrepreneurs above. Even if there is some doubt in your motivation, chances are good that some old habit pattern will get in the way. This is because you have competing goals within your subconscious mind.
Stuart Lichtman’s book helps you to get clear and align all parts of your brain so your goals all line up perfectly. When we are congruent, and all parts of the brain are aligned with our goals, we can create far greater outcome than when our intentions are all running in different directions.
Entrepreneurial Mind frame – Looking For An Opportunity?
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