 Recently, I had dinner with two close friends who, like me, are female entrepreneurs. Each of us is at a different stage of our business journey. One has a consulting business that’s been thriving for almost 10 years. She and her partners have scaled it to the point where they have predictable revenue, a small team, and are now contemplating their exit strategy. The other friend is in the early stages of building a co-working space. As we talked, I was struck by the stark contrast in how each friend viewed herself. The first friend clearly sees herself as a seasoned entrepreneur. She understands her place in the world, and every action she takes is aligned with building and scaling her business. The second friend, however, viewed herself as unemployed, despite the fact that her co-working space is generating enough revenue to pay employees and allow her to take a small draw for herself. Her rationale for considering herself unemployed? She wasn’t yet replacing her previous full-time salary. This conversation highlighted a common issue among entrepreneurs: the mental traps we set for ourselves. We often minimize our own successes, compare ourselves unfavorably to others, and fail to recognize the value we’re creating. We perceive ourselves as unemployed because we're only accountable to ourselves, even when there’s tangible evidence that our businesses are gaining momentum. Overcoming these mental barriers is crucial for personal and business growth. Here are five steps to help you shift your mindset and embrace your entrepreneurial journey. 1. Acknowledge Your Progress
2. Reframe Your Narrative
3. Set Personal Benchmarks
4. Seek External Input
5. Invest in Your Business
Taking Control of Your Mindset is Essential The mental traps we set for ourselves as entrepreneurs can be our biggest obstacles. By acknowledging your progress, reframing your narrative, setting personal benchmarks, seeking external validation, and investing in your business, you can break free from these barriers. Once you start viewing your business as a legitimate, valuable endeavor, you’ll find that your mindset—and your results—transform in powerful ways. In my own experience, treating my business with the seriousness it deserved led to significant growth. I quadrupled my client base, forged new partnerships, and created a more predictable pipeline. The key wasn’t just in my actions but in how I viewed myself as an entrepreneur—and that shift made all the difference.
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 As an entrepreneur, you know that strategic planning is crucial for your business. However, many people overlook the impact of their personal goals, professional goals, values, and priorities on their business's growth and scalability. Based on my experience working with startups and entrepreneurs in various industries, a clearly articulated personal strategic plan is the number one thing missing from the entrepreneurial journey, even though personal factors implicitly and explicitly drive a founder's decision-making. Knowing what you want for your personal life will affect how you scale your business and define success. Here are two reasons why: Not all entrepreneurs want to create a large company Contrary to popular belief, not all founders aspire to grow their business into a billion-dollar company. Many entrepreneurs want to build a business that allows them to lead a comfortable life. The definition of a comfortable life varies for each person, and these founders are clear that their personal goals are what they're optimizing for. For instance, some entrepreneurs don't want to manage people, so the scale of their business is limited to what they can handle alone. Others are willing to manage people but desire work-life balance to have time for themselves, their children, and/or aging parents. As a result, the scale of their business will be limited based on the time they can dedicate to it each week and their delegation skills. Not all entrepreneurs want to accept outside capital to grow their business For most businesses, a time comes when the founder must decide whether to take the company to the next level. This often involves deciding whether to fund growth organically or raise funds through debt or external investment. This decision will be influenced by the business owner's long-term goals and priorities and impacted by their values. For example:
By understanding one's personal goals, professional goals, values, and priorities, one can clearly articulate to themselves and others how and why they've made the decision not to scale. It also helps them recognize when they've achieved success based on their own definition of success. If you or someone you know would like help defining your personal strategic plan, please don't hesitate to reach out! |
AuthorHi, I’m Joanna! I'm a health tech executive with training as a clinical social worker and an MBA. My day job is leading customer success and product for a growing start-up focused on leveraging AI/ML to improve outcomes for oncology patients . My passion is coaching. I love to leverage my extensive training and experience in human behavior and business to help my clients define success and achieve it on their own terms! Categories |
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