We haven’t always understood clearly what it means to be an entrepreneur…
Do you have to have billions of dollars to get started?
Do you have to be ruthless and stamp on lots of other people to get to the top?
Do you have to be super-human, super-smart and super-energetic?
Nah…
I recently read these eight traits of the Entrepreneurial Mindset (from this book) and thought they were pretty helpful.
1. Openness
Entrepreneurs are open to possibilities, to opportunities, to what could be.
They see problems others don't see and set about finding solutions
There’s a difference between coping and solving, and that’s why entrepreneurs are important. They’re open to the better way—not only pining for it, but also pinpointing it and producing it—as opposed to just managing the broken pieces of our present reality. Entrepreneurs look for the gaps, holes, and bumps of our everyday lives and create ways of filling and smoothing the path for the rest of us.
2. Ownership
Entrepreneurs do not wait around for somebody else to solve the problems they observe. True entrepreneurs are compelled to find solutions. Ownership means they take the initiative.
3. Grayscale Thinking
Right or wrong. Good or bad. Yes or no. True or false. These binary responses may be helpful if you’re an accountant or an electrician, but toggle-switch thinking is not going to solve problems if you’re an entrepreneur. Conventional thinking shuts down creative solutions.
By contrast, grayscale thinking is all about applying an experimental mindset. This leads to finding a new way around a problem because you had the mental flexibility to find answers that were not obvious. Grayscale thinking, also known as integrative thinking, is your superpower. Entrepreneurs see and make indirect connections, often from an adjacent industry, and then take the risk of giving it a try.
4. Risk Tolerance
Entrepreneurs push against the norm. They understand getting to the other side of a problem requires taking numerous risks. Everything from time and capital to their health and reputation might be on the line.
What’s more, failure—not just the risk of failure—is the one thing that all entrepreneurs have in common. “Failure is not an impediment to progress,” as The Economist points out, “but is almost inevitably a requirement for success.” The willingness to shoulder risk and endure failure is directly connected to your ability to succeed.
5. Resilience
Resilience is the ability to rebound from failure. As entrepreneurs, we have to get comfortable with failure. We need to be able to bounce back when failure comes, especially when hitting a string of roadblocks, naysayers, or noes when we desperately need a yes!
Resilience matters because when entrepreneurs fail we need them to try again. If you stick with being open to solving problems long enough, you’re going to have a substantial win. But only if you stay in the game.
6. Resourcefulness
Entrepreneurs are often scrappy, inventive types who find clever and unusual ways to overcome difficulties or make the most of opportunities. Unlike large corporations with big budgets, they have to identify and marshal whatever resources are on hand.
7. Patience
Patience is sticking with a problem long enough to solve it. Patience is the ability to say, “This is what it’s going to cost me now for the result I seek later—and I’ll do what it takes to get to the end of the road.” You remind yourself of your objective’s importance, while tapping into your desire to succeed.
Patience includes the ability to have a long-term vision you’re willing to invest in—even if it won’t pay off for another two, three, even ten, or more years. Take someone who wants to get into the wine business. The process takes an enormous amount of time before you have anything to sell. After testing the soil, the vintner plants young vines on his raw land. He waters, prunes, and protects the vineyard from disease and pests, season after season. After three long years, he’s ready for the first harvest. But the first glass of wine is still a long way off. The wine must ferment, which takes a month, and then the aging stage begins, which can last from ten to sixteen months for Chardonnay, and upward of two years for Cabernet Sauvignon. Only then can the winemaker bottle the wine and reap the fruits of his labor. There are no shortcuts. But with patience there is reward.
8. Belief
Believe in yourself. Identify limiting beliefs.
Believe in your solution. That belief will sustain you through the challenges of getting started.
Does this sound like you? Even just a little bit?
What’s stopping you from getting started?
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