entrepreneurship mindsets

Entrepreneurship

MindsetsBy Robin Low

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is taking the responsibility and risk of starting new businesses in response to identified opportunities.

An entrepreneur is a person who is willing and able to convert a new idea or invention into a

successful innovation or business.

Entrepreneurship is not about risk taking, it is about taking

actions.

Anyone can be an entrepreneur.

You do not need to be rich or smart

to be an entrepreneur. What drives

an entrepreneur and what

distinguishes them from an over-

achieving employee or salesperson?

Entrepreneurs have one thing in Entrepreneurs have one thing in

common common –– the desire to create. the desire to create. http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/so-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur/6535644

Taking control of your destiny

If you believe you will succeed

or if you will fail. You are right.

Not everyone who starts a

business is an entrepreneur. Some

do it out of desperation, or until

they get a real job. They might

become entrepreneurs one day,

but they must move their mindset

from 'I can't do that' to one of

'can do'.http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/so-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur/6535644

Entrepreneurs are dreamers. They start

trends. They want to create change and

growth. They believe in themselves. They

control their destiny.

http://www.lulu.com/product/ebook/so-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur/6535644

Entrepreneurs affect change.

Entrepreneurs directly affect the

environment they start their

business in. Entrepreneur do have

the choice to decide how they

would like to affect change.


Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.

-- Frank Zappa (1940 - 1993)

MotivationsMotivationsMotivationsMotivations

Rewards and motivation

• When you have a job that is mechanical

and takes no cognitive involvement, then

money motivates the best. If your job is

making widgets, then money is the best

motivator. However, with even the

smallest amount of cognitive involvement,

the middle and low rewarded actually do

better than the ones who are rewarded the

most. Studies of rewards were done at MIT, Carnegie Mellon and University of Chicago.

Overjustification Effect

• The researchers concluded that expected

rewards undermine intrinsic motivation in

previously enjoyable activities.

• Money motivates till a certain degree and

in some cases it actually demotivates.

• Money is a means, not a goal.

Maslow’s Triangle

Equity Theory

Not fully utilized (mentally)

Have you every felt that your job was far too easy, and you can do it with one armed tied behind your back? Do you feel bored and uninvolved? Do you find that your ideas and inputs are all ignored? At many times, when you are working for someone, you will eventually come to a point where you enter the “drone zone.” The resources you have seemed far greater than the difficulty of the task.


No all companies have bosses who can understand your limit and fully appreciate what you can contribute. Even if you are the boss, you may even place some self-limitations on yourself. Do not allow yourself to stay in this state. You need to be aware that often, you are in control of your own destiny. If you feel that you are comfortable, challenge yourself with a higher goal. Learn new things, and you can find yourself motivated and your learning will be rewarding and enjoyable.


You are responsible for your life. To be in total control, take full responsibility. Being an Entrepreneur allows you to be in control, and fully utilize what abilities you have. It can be very unthinkable what a person can achieve if he puts his mind into it.

Vision without action is a daydream

Action without vision is a nightmare

Japanese Proverb

So who wants to be an Entrepreneur?

Entrepreneur Mindsets• 1) I don't have it in me and I will never succeed.

(Resistant attitude towards success)• 2) "Let's learn more." (Passive attitude, may be

interested in starting a business, but does not take any action.)

• 3) "Let's give it a try." (Will do research, and learn more about Entrepreneurship, but give up as soon as he encounters the first barrier.)

• 4) "Where do I sign up? I'll give my 100%" (100% Commitment to changing their mindset, and thinking about starting their business. They will start thinking of ideas, find partners and capital and start something. If they fail, they will use it as a lesson and try again until they succeed.)

New Ideas pass through three periods:

1. It can’t be done.

2. It will fail, and really not worth doing.

3. I knew it was a good idea all along!

-- Arthur C. Clarke

Beliefs and Outcomes

You need to believe three things about your outcomes:

• It is possible to achieve

• You are able to achieve them

• You deserve to achieve them

PAW Process (Satsugaicat)

Possibility

• Very often, we mistake possibility for competence. We think something if not possible when really we do not know how to do it. As humans, we all do have physical limits, but we don’t usually know that these limits are.

• You cannot prove a negative, therefore you can never prove that you are incapable of anything, you can only say that you have not achieved it yet.

PAW Process

Ability• Have you the put a limit on what you can

achieve? We often sell ourselves short by not believing we can do something. But beliefs are not facts – they are just our best guess about things at a certain point of time.

• Keep an open mind. Have one basic true belief: You have not reached the limit of what you are capable yet.

•• DON’T BOAST ABOUT YOUR DON’T BOAST ABOUT YOUR

SUPPOSED LIMITATIONSSUPPOSED LIMITATIONS

PAW ProcessAbility

• Do not ever announce to other people that you can’t do something, even if you think you can’t. People often own up much more readily about things that they are bad at than what they are good at. This is not modesty. Modesty mean not bragging about what you can do.

• Negative talk just places a self-imposed glass ceiling on what you are going to do. If you think like this, add the little word “yet” to the end. Though there may be good reasons why you may not get the goal, don’t make excuses in advance, then you have just set yourself up for failure.

PAW Process

Worthiness

• Many people may have a positive attitude, but the key towards achievement is a PAW Process. (Possibility, Ability and Worthiness)

• Do you deserve to achieve your goals?

• Only you can answer this question, but why not?

PAW Process

• If people are unwilling to try, but if you volunteered and accomplished, who deserves the success? It is not about ethics or morals when it comes to self-worthiness. Do not apologize for succeeding or winning. Notice any uncomfortable feelings, and they will point to obstacles and self-doubts.

• Just repeat the following for each goal:

‘This goal is possible’

‘I have the ability to achieve this goal’

‘I deserve to achieve this goal’

The power of beliefs

• Beliefs can make ordinary do great things, limiting beliefs can make talented people fail.

• Do you need a lot of talent to be an entrepreneur? Do entrepreneurs have superior resources that others lack? You know the answer to the above questions is no. Then many people often ask, how do ordinary people accomplish so much?

The power of beliefs

• Bill Gates, the richest man on earth did not graduate from Harvard University, yet he could be where he is now. The Wright brothers did not possess more engineering skills than all the engineers and inventors of their time. (They were bicycle repairmen.) Li Ka Shing was from a poor family and did not even finish formal education and yet he is the 11 richest man in the world. (Forbes Report Feb 2008).

Resolve

• Sometimes, people have such strong beliefs that they start to have their personal resolve – a determination that governs how they think, act and behave. Terry Fox, a teenager with cancer, managed to run the marathon with only one leg. His strength and determination allowed him to do what a lot of normal people would not even do – to complete the marathon.

Resolve

• In high level of competition, even in physical games. An athlete needs to be both physically prepared and mentally prepared. To be successful, and to be an entrepreneur, preparing your mind is very important as you need to have strong beliefs and determination before you can truly succeed.

Limiting beliefs

• In our lives, we are taught many things that are not true. We are taught never to challenge these beliefs and eventually make them part of our logic. To succeed, we sometimes have to break these mental barriers and myths that may limit us.

Exercise

• Draw a house

Case study 1:

• 4 minute mile. For hundreds of years, many have attempted this feat and all have fallen short. But on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran 1 mile in 3 minutes and 54 seconds. This was amazing but within a year, 37 other runners had broken his record. Within the next 3 years, 300 runners had repeated the same feat.

• What held these runners back were their limiting beliefs and it was not until someone had proven that it could be done, people do not perform to their fullest potential.

Case study 2

• In the American army, the new recruits were often called “Heroes” and “Champions” during the initial training. They were given a lot of positive feedback to make them believe that they can achieve more.

• And many did. People who could never do pull ups could do 6, and people who had never exercised could run 5 miles. Thing they would have never done without peer pressure and the reinforcements and encouragements given, changed their beliefs and unleashed their potential, making them do feats they have never thought possible.

“Whether of not you believe you can or you believe you can’t, either

way you are right!”

-- Henry FordHenry Ford.

You can often hear the following:

• “There will never be happiness in the relationship between a rich man and a poor girl.”

• “There is always bias towards the black man, and he’ll never be president!”

• “A woman driving a sports car is probably a mistress.”

• “Light travels in straight line.”

• “The world is flat.”

• “The atom is indivisible.”

A lot of these statements are not true, however people still believe in them, making it true for them.

Even famous and intelligent people have beliefs that are wrong

• “The earth is the center of the universe.” –Ptolemy, Egyptian Astronomer, 2nd Century.

• “There is no need for any computer to have more than 250k of RAM.” – Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft in the 1980s.

• “Heavier than air flying machines are impossible.” Lord Kelvin, President of Royal Society, 1895.

• “Man will never reach the moon, regardless of all future scientific advances.” Dr. Lee De Forest, Inventor of the Audion tube & the Father of Radio

What Limiting Beliefs do you have?

Do you believe in the following?

Limiting beliefs about identity and capability.

• I am too young? Too old? Not talented? Not smart enough? Not qualified enough? No luck for business? Lack the drive? Don’t have motivation? Lazy? Not a good speaker? Will never succeed in business? Not creative enough? Cannot manage people?

Limiting beliefs about money

• Money is difficult to earn? To be rich you must be already rich? Money will lead to problems? Impossible to access to money? Money is the root of all evil?

What Limiting Beliefs do you have?

Limiting beliefs about relationship & people

• Must socialize and drink before I can network? People cannot be trusted? Marriages never lead to happy endings? “Perfect partner” for life is a myth?

Limiting beliefs about my career or business

• Market is too saturated? My idea is already somewhere in the market? Business is tough? No one will trust my new idea? Hard to make money in a recession? No opportunities out there? I cannot expand my business? Its hard to get a job if I quit? My business have reached its growth limit?

Action

"The successful person places more attention on doing the right thing rather than doing

things right."

- Peter Druckerhttp://ezinearticles.com/?Action-For-Entrepreneurs&id=4159030

Action is the driving force that produces results. Are all entrepreneurs people with the most intelligence and the most knowledge? Definitely not! In fact, people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson all do not have college degrees, yet they have billion dollar empires. The reason behind their success - they were people who took ACTION.

Action

Consistent action is key. Even getting your MBA takes action. One cannot simply just "buy" an MBA from a recognized college. One would need to apply, and consistently complete projects and tests in order to work their way towards their MBA.

Action

When it comes to success, having knowledge is still important, and it can be gained through experience but the cheaper and faster alternative is through formal education. People who are able to combine knowledge with massive action, can achieve great things.

Action

The value of an idea

lies in the using of it.

-- Thomas Edison

Myths

Which ones are true?

• Startups are really hard.

• Startups shorten your life.

• Startups cost nothing.

• New businesses are started by 25 year old male fresh out of Ivy League

Myths

• All you need is passion and hardwork, and everything will fall into place.

• A good idea trumps all.

• A good plan on a napkin can attract funds anytime!

• All you need is a good business plan to get funds and run a successful business.

This is not reality!This is not reality!

Fact!

• Starting something significant does cost money. If not budgeted properly, your savings will run out.

– Hiring good people requires $$$

– Rent, electrical bill

– Marketing

– Taxes, Accounting, Book Keeping

Fact!

• Average Founder:

–40 year old

–Married with Family

–6 – 10 years of experience

–Educated with college degree

Fact!

• Sharing your ideas with the right people, who share with their friends, there is a chance that they may know someone who may fund you.

• Of course, a good idea helps, but finding the right type of people who will fund your type of business really matters.

Fact!

• You may wake up after not sleeping for weeks, and realize that you have spent all your time trying to solve a problem that you know the solution all along.

• Most of the time, your business does not turn up as planned. It is not how well you plan that matters, it is how you execute and react to issues on the ground.

Fact!

• Many people will reject your idea.

• Many people will like your idea because of you and not because its good.

• If you want to raise funds for your ideas, it will be rejected many times before you get a YES.

Fact!

• To succeed, you need to try and try again. Learn quickly, fail, analyze and restart.

• You need to find your product/market fit before you run out of money!

• Managing cashflow is more important than “looking cool”

Fact!• Startup world is not about Meritocracy.

• It is about HARDWORK, PASSION, PESERVERANCE and finding your path.

• There is always a way, sometimes, it is hard to find.

Fact!• You can start a revolution, do everything

right… And still die broke!

Do you still want to be an Entrepreneur?

Books to read

• Think and grow rich -- Napoleon Hill

• Richest Man in Babylon -- George S Clason by Hill

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad -- Robert T. Kiyosaki

• Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement -- Anthony Robbins

• How to Win Friends & Influence People --Dale Carnegie

• So... You Want to be an Entrepreneur? -- Robin Low

Entrepreneurship Mindsets

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