10 Steps to Create a Successful Mindset as an Entrepreneur

"Positive Mindset as an Entrepreneur"

I spent eight years working as the PR spokesperson for a hospital where I thought I had to look the part – you know, dress for success.

Instead of having my own style, I always thought I had to dress the part.

I found emotional freedom when I opened my own business in 1998.

I could wear comfy jeans and T shirts and the best part was that my dogs could hang out with me while I worked.

This was my first taste of freedom.

I could call my own shots. I could work in my little 400 square foot studio next to our home and be there when my son came home from school.

I could take him to ball games and for the first time I had the flexibility to live the life I wanted to live.

As an entrepreneur, what is emotional freedom?

I like to say that I’m a “freedom fighter” because I want to help women find the emotional and financial freedom I’ve found as an entrepreneur.

To me emotional freedom includes the following:

  • Living out your desire to be home with your children when they’re young.
  • Creating your own work schedule.
  • Doing work that you’re passionate about that has heart + meaning.
  • Working with your people – your tribe – instead of the “company.”
  • Fulfilling your desire to have your own career and autonomy.
  • Enjoying the freedom to create a work schedule based on your natural work rhythms. I work best in the mornings and would pick up again if needed after dinner if I was on a deadline.

The biggest factor in your success is your mind.  Your mindset is the only thing blocking you from radical success.

Learning to pay close attention to your thoughts and beliefs is the key to becoming a successful entrepreneur. Click To Tweet

I encourage you to become the observer of your thoughts and learn to notice and not attach to the thoughts that will ruin your day.

Learning to observe your thoughts is how you’ll be able to manifest your entrepreneurial dreams and create the life you deserve.

Once you can discern the ego voice (little self) then you begin to notice and ask the question, who is doing the observing?

It’s your higher Self – what Carl Jung says is the true self.

When you master your thinking, have faith in yourself and take action despite fear then you can do anything.

The further along the path of authenticity you walk, the more money and clients you will attract.

The total you, as the sum total of all of your experiences in life and business, is the authentic you.

When anyone works and interacts with you, this is “the you” they want and need, not a fake, watered-down version or a version of what you think you “should” look like or be.

10 Steps to Create a Entrepreneurial Mindset for Success

1.  Be the best version of yourself at all times. Never compare yourself to anyone else because everybody else, including Oprah, is already taken. Use your divine gifts and talents to work your personal, unique magic in your business or career. If you look on the outside and imitate someone else, you’re cheating us by withholding your authentic self and your divine inner gifts.

Step into the sum total of who you are today even though your experience is varied. This is your total package, and we don’t want you to withhold any of your experience and wisdom from us.

We want you to be the real you. That’s a gift to us.

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
– Joseph Campbell

2.  When you observe the negative voices in your head, turn the channel around to the opposite station.  Just flip that negative thought; rewrite it so you hear the exact opposite.

These negative words stem from your inner critics – yes, it’s true we have a chorus of them.

Your inner critic is the result of all those critical voices you heard growing up: from your parents, siblings, peers, schoolteachers and especially middle school friends.

Inner critics are part of your ego’s plan to protect itself and you, from shame, rejection, and vulnerability. These critical voices aim to help you but the truth is they keep you playing small.

Here’s an example: If you heard the voice of a critic in your head saying, “Who do you think you are to do this?” just turn it around to, “Who are you not to do this?” You’ll notice your fear decrease.

3.  Use fear as your early warning system. It is warning you to pay attention, and it might be your soul calling. Again, the ego wants to protect itself and maintain its power. Interestingly, the closer you get to your destiny, the bigger your fears and the louder the inner critics will become.

Go to the edge of what you fear most and walk straight through the fire. Because on the other side lies your gold: freedom and peace.

4.  Tap into the power of manifestation to achieve your business dreams. If you can tap into your DESIRE — what you want to achieve in your life and business –and BELIEVE in your DREAM and take INSPIRED ACTION, you can manifest anything.

I have used this to manifest a half million dollars in profit in real estate and a mid six-figure boutique PR firm + my current six-figure business.

5.  Start each day with a dose of gratitude. Our highest calling is to serve in some capacity. This is the foundation of a spiritual entrepreneur’s business platform.

Weave in service and philanthropy into your business in some way. When you help others, you are sowing a seed and the Universe will work miracles to help you.

This is how you run a business not just focused on the money but on the higher good for you and the people you serve. This is the cardinal rule I have learned.

My higher calling is to serve women globally and empower them around money and starting their own business.

Women are the greatest undervalued resource in the world.

6.  When overwhelm, stress and frustration hit, these are signals to pay attention to your thoughts that drive your emotions.  Then notice the physical sensations in your body.

Your body never lies. It is talking to you constantly and when you notice these negative emotions, STOP, DROP, and OBSERVE.

Ask yourself, what was I thinking or believing?

If you can grab ahold of the steering wheel of your life (your mind and thoughts) you can create the life and business of your wildest dreams.

Stop, drop (into yourself) and observe what you were thinking. Then breathe and ask your inner critic to sit down and have tea. Don’t resist your thoughts or fears because it will only make them grow. Resisting them gives them more power.

Just quietly bring yourself back to the present moment and breath. Remind yourself it’s only a thought, it’s not real, and that you need to be living in the present moment.

7.  Be willing to suck! If you aren’t willing to fail, you will never take the risks that you need to play a bigger game in your life or business.

My philosophy is that of Hank Aaron: The more balls I hit, the more I will strike out, yet the more opportunities I have to hit a home run.

In the dot.com bust days of 2001, I lost $96k from a client who declared bankruptcy. That didn’t stop me, and I never missed a beat. Into the void of that client stepped a large client (Microsoft). They called and asked me to work with them and another PR firm at that time.

8.  Break open to the real you! Everything that’s happened in your life – all the adversity and “hell and back” experiences – are there to help break you open to who you are meant to be in this lifetime.

The choice is yours alone: whether to become a victim or be empowered by these experiences. These “hell and back” moments are the dragons you must slay on your Shero’s Journey.

There’s ALWAYS a gift in it for you but sometimes it takes years to figure out what that gift is.

You can only connect the dots in your life by looking backwards.

Look for the important life lessons, and if your defining moments and lessons learned were negative and caused self-hate and shame, question them.

Because they are LIES. Any story that causes a negative emotion (shame, anger, sadness, depression, anxiety, and more) is a lie.  And remember, when one door closes, it is just a sign that you are moving forward on your path. So be willing to move forward and open that next door.

9.  You must get quiet inside to listen to your soul’s callings. Notice what you yearn and long for in starting or growing your business. What’s the dream?

Give yourself time to do absolutely nothing and just be. Start to go for walks in nature and notice if your soul is at peace in nature. Start a yoga or meditation practice to nurture inner calm. I resisted this for years but now I’m committed to a morning practice daily.

I started with Yoga Nidra and then added a regular yoga practice, and my life noticeably changed for the better!  This year I completed a 270 hour Kundalini Yoga teacher training.  Now I meditate and chant mantras.

10.  You are the sum total of the five people with whom you associate in life and business. Are you hanging out with negative nellies, complainers, and victims?

Remember what Joel Olstein says, “What you say after the words ‘I am’ will come looking for you.”

You are the story you tell.

Notice what you say to people when they ask how you are or how your business is doing. You will live that out! Stop saying anything negative and put a positive spin on everything you utter. The words that drop from your lips make up your request to the Universe. Be careful what you ask for!

Spend time with women who want you to succeed and will share with you their secrets to success. You want to find women who are willing to help you move up and stretch far beyond your wildest dreams. Find a small mastermind circle of women or a like-minded friend to support you and lift you up when you can’t do that yourself. You may have to let go of those people who don’t have your best interest at heart or are jealous of you. It’s part of your soul’s revolution in business and life.

How are you working with your mind to create a positive mindset? What resonated from this article for you?

If you liked this article, please share it with a friend or comment.  I want to hear from you.

Photo credits: Grant Knight Creative Commons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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  1. Fabulous Sherold. I LOVE this.

    As someone who has been running her own show since 2007, I have first-hand experience that what you say is true. I am still working towards better mastery (if there is such a thing) of each of these elements, but you’ve done a wonderful job of summarizing what goes into a successful entrepreneurial life.

    The only thing I would add is to always be reassessing where you are and what you’re doing. Too often, we get stuck in a rut of “what we’ve always done” or – worse – “what everyone else does.” Even as independent business owners or freelancers, we can fall into that trap and wind up missing amazing opportunities to do different kinds of work in different kinds of ways. It’s something I’m working on right now! 🙂

    Thanks for the great insights.

    1. Hi Jamie – I am so glad you added that. You have been at this long enough to know that we evolve and it’s a journey isn’t it? It is so true that we are where we are for a reason and that we need to appreciate the present moment in time in our business. If we don’t that will cause stress. And staying with our game is key – doing what only you love and not what someone else is doing is so important. Thank you for writing. It’s always wonderful to hear from you.

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