The #1 Thing an Entrepreneur Can’t Do? Underestimate the Importance of Mindset

Running a business takes a lot of skills. Organization, accounting, creativity, expertise, persistence… the list goes on. 

But even if you have all of those skills in spades, you’ll never make it in the long run without a strong, positive mindset.

When it comes to long term business success, mindset is everything. 

It’s also one of the most overlooked and undervalued entrepreneurial skills that can have a serious impact on your business growth and revenue, so let’s take a deeper look at the power of mindset!

Are you surrounded by positivity or negativity?

This last summer, I found myself questioning everything I’m doing in my business and not feeling motivated at all. I didn’t enjoy my work and I was struggling to complete basic tasks. 

It all felt baffling and confusing, until I realized what was happening.

My mindset had gradually shifted from the strong, positive mindset I work hard to cultivate in my daily life to a negative, fixed mindset that told me I wasn’t good enough and never would be. 

Has this ever happened to you?

Mindset issues can wreck your confidence and wreak havoc on your productivity and overall success. 

When you find yourself struggling with your mindset like I was this summer, I’ve found there are two ways of dealing with it: 

The first is to practice daily mindset habits that keep your positive, growth-focused mindset intact no matter what’s happening around you.

The other is to intentionally surround yourself with positive, supportive people as much as possible.

Whether you want to pay attention to your mindset or not – it will influence and impact your ability to show up. 

This reminds me of Ecclesiastes 11:4

“If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done.”

This is exactly why your mindset is so important. 

In business, there will never be perfect conditions. My perfect summer at the lake was actually one of the most challenging seasons. 

Without a strong mindset, I wouldn’t have been able to regroup, realize what was going on, and take actions to protect my work from the intense negativity I was stuck in. 

When you underestimate the importance of mindset

What happens when you don’t take time to cultivate a positive, growth mindset?

You can find yourself struggling with:

• Indecision or analysis paralysis

• Comparing yourself to other business owners

• Getting trapped in neverending imposter syndrome

• Being afraid to take risks or invest in your business

• Playing small or choosing not to grow

All of these will keep you from seeing the results and success you dream of and work hard for.

There’s also a painful experience that most entrepreneurs experience when they don’t prioritize their mindset: believing you’re not enough.

A strong mindset helps you see mistakes and errors as learning opportunities, but a weak or results-focused mindset leaves you viewing every mistake or error as a personal flaw or problem with your skills and experience.

Here’s the truth: Every single entrepreneur will fail. And fail, and fail, and fail. It happens a LOT. 

And if you believe that your mistakes and failure mean you’re not smart enough, talented enough, or skilled enough to run your business, before long you will throw in the towel.

I hate seeing wonderfully gifted entrepreneurs close up shop because their mindset told them they weren’t good enough.

The truth is that if you have a business idea on your heart and the skills in your head, you are meant to do this. And you CAN do this. You just need a strong mindset to see you through. (and I also highly recommend a belief in God that He gave you those dreams and skills so what are you gonna do with them?)

 “Blessed is she who believes that what the Lord has promised will be fulfilled.

”Luke 1:45

If you find yourself struggling to believe that you’re worthy of success, remember one of my all-time favorite verses from Jeremiah 29:11 – “ ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

You owe it to yourself to have a mindset that believes in what you’re promised. 

How can I tell if I’m overlooking the importance of mindset?

If you’re asking the question about prioritizing your mindset enough, you’re already ahead of most people! 

Here are some specific things you can look out for that may be an indicator you’re in need of working on your mindset:

• You tend to find something or someone to blame everytime something goes wrong in your business

• You restructure your offers or switch up your target audience every time you’re not seeing the results you want

• It feels like everyone else has what you want 

• You never feel motivated or excited to work on your business (no one feels like this all the time, but you should have periods or seasons of excitement and focused motivation!)

• Everyone else in your life is telling you to quit your business or get a “real” job

• You have a very “all or nothing” approach to sales

If you realize you’re not curating the positive, strong mindset you need to be successful, it’s never too late to turn things around.