Get Yo Mind Right! Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
(Excerpt from my book "Her Hustle is Holy: How to Start a Business God's Way and Live Your Best Life!) Click here to purchase your copy!
I am Olivia Pope. I am a fixer without all the drama! Like Olivia, I am a passionate, purpose-driven, persistent, problem-solving planner and a collaborative, critical-thinking, confident creator.
When I walk into a room, I have this uncanny ability to assess what’s right and what’s wrong and how I can help fix it. My assessment doesn’t come from a critical eye but from a place of what’s wrong and how I can improve things. It’s so prevalent that I must often remind myself to sit down and mind my business! Yes, I’m that chick who meddles with good intentions, and it has gotten me into trouble a time or two. However, let me share a personal story of when this fixer mindset saved the day!
Many years ago, I attended my cousin’s wedding. The wedding was beautiful; however, when I arrived at the reception venue before the wedding party’s arrival, it was clear that some balls had been dropped by the wedding coordinator. It was a sunny, summery, 90-degree day, and I immediately noticed that there was nothing to drink. Nada. Food had been delivered, but it wasn’t enough to feed the amount of people who had begun arriving. It also sat on counters in the prep area, waiting to occupy sparsely decorated tables. Where are the decorations? Was more food and drink coming? There was no caterer or server in sight. The wheels in my head began spinning! How can I fix this?
Are successful entrepreneurs born, or are they made? This question has been pondered throughout the years, and the answer is likely both. I shared earlier that I knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur by age 14. Was it in my DNA? Likely. Was it the call on my life? Most definitely!
Inherently, I possessed many of the characteristics and traits necessary to succeed in business. Yet, I still had much to learn to become a successful entrepreneur.
While no one is born with all the characteristics and traits necessary to succeed in business, the good news is that you don’t have to be. These characteristics and traits are commonly referred to as the Entrepreneurial Mindset, and as with any skill, can be acquired, developed, and perfected. After all, Michael Jordan didn’t come out of the womb dribbling a basketball, now did he?
Y’all know the story. Michael did not make his varsity team as a sophomore but instead ended up on the junior varsity squad. Do you know what his mother allegedly told him? “Get in the gym and work harder!” You best believe it took a certain shift in Michael’s mindset to do just that; the results speak for themselves.
“If you quit once, it becomes a habit. Never quit!” ~ Michael Jordan
Your mindset is the set of inherent characteristics and qualities that drive you to succeed and help you achieve your goals, be it entrepreneurial, educational, personal, professional, or, like Michael, athletic goals. Your mindset determines how motivated you are to get your hustle on!
The mind is a powerful thing. Like a sponge, it can absorb every word, thought, action, and reaction – good or bad. Proverbs 23:7 tells us that, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. You are what you think; throughout your life experiences, much of what you have heard or absorbed about yourself is stinkin’ thinkin’. It takes concentrated work to remove all that garbage!
I recently read the book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which is one of my top 10 self-help books of all time. I’m late to the party, but better late than never! It emphatically states, “The object of this book is to help all who seek it learn the art of changing their minds from firm failure consciousness to success consciousness.” You can change your mindset!
To read more about how your mindset determines your entrepreneurial success and if and how I saved my cousin's wedding day, click here to purchase your copy of my book "Her Hustle is Holy: How to Start a Business God's Way and Live Your Best Life!"
