Business owners have a lot of responsibilities and a lot riding on their day-to-day decision-making. Unfortunately, one of the things that can often get in the way of a business person’s progress is their own mindset. Attitude plays such an important role in small business success and not taking your business seriously enough or treating it with enough priority can quickly lead to failure.
Here are five mindsets you need to ensure you have ingrained in order to ensure you don’t become your own worst enemy in business.
1. Stop Waiting for Everything to be Perfect
In business, as in life, things are never perfect. You will always have employee issues, money issues and other specific things that keep work challenging. Remember, if it was easy, anyone could do it. Deal with each problem as it comes, like a leader.
These imperfections, and the way you handle them are what can set your business apart. Whereas waiting until everything is just right before taking action can seriously hold you back.
2. You Are Not An Employee or Hobbyist
This is your full time job and everything is your responsibility. When there are failures, these are on you. The sooner you realise that you have to take responsibility for the failure or success of your business, the more successful you can become.
It’s important to learn as much as you can about how to manage your business and then continue learning. When you shift your mindset to that of a business owner, you will behave differently, and you will become more of a leader.
3. Don’t Let Time Manage You
There are likely a lot of things on your plate, and there are also likely a lot of unexpected issues that crop up each day. It’s important to take charge of your time.
Prioritise to ensure that your “must dos” get done each day. Take a look at your tasks, and determine those you can delegate. Once you have your tasks narrowed down for the day, be sure to focus and give yourself uninterrupted time to complete each of them. Use your calendar to schedule tasks for yourself, as well as appointments, to help keep you on track.
It’s amazing how quickly time can pass when you choose to “just spend a few minutes on Facebook” (or browsing the ‘net). You can always allocate time for these sorts of tasks, but don’t let them creep in to your productive time.
4. Be Responsible
As a business owner, you cannot play the blame game. Take responsibility for the successes and the failures of your business. When you begin to feel truly responsible, you will begin to proactively work to change the things that hold back your business.
5. Associate with Positive People
There will always be people who see things negatively and who want to convince you that you can’t do what you’ve set out to do. Sometimes it’s out of jealousy, but often it’s out of concern. They’re scared you may make a mistake and are trying to protect you.Along the way, you will also find people who are more interested in whining than in working.
Stay away from these people where possible and, instead, spend more time with people who are positive.
Whether you want to admit it or not, the company you keep affects your mindset.
Spending your time around positive people will help you to keep a positive outlook on your business.
If one of the nay-sayers in your life is someone you are very close to, such as your spouse, it’s important to address this problem head on. Talk to the person about how their negativity affects you, and ask them to make it a point to keep it to themselves. Make sure they understand that their support is important to you.
Being a business owner is an exciting and challenging career, and can be especially rewarding. Take charge of your business by taking charge of your mindset, and watch your success explode!
