Executive Business Coach Chuck Boyce’s Blog: Attitude is Everything

In my recent article, “Time to Go Out on Your Own?”, I offered some hard questions that anyone who wanted to become a business owner should ask themselves before they go out on their own.   As a small business coach, I know what a difference entering the entrepreneur world can make to your personal and professional life – and it’s best to be as prepared as you can before you do it.

Once you have decided that it is time to start your own business, however, you’ll soon realize that you need to also change your overall day-to-day mindset.  Being someone else’s employee means you spend a lot of time reacting to what you’re being told to do – but being an entrepreneur means you have to make things happen.

Here are a few mental notes to make on how to keep your brain ahead of the game:

• Give yourself deadlines

When you’re on nobody’s clock but your own, it’s easy to let things drift.  Make sure you put important projects on a schedule and that you meet that schedule.

• Act like you’re running a business

You might say, “Act like I’m running a business?  But I am running a business!”   That doesn’t mean you’re actually thinking like the head of a company.  Create to-do lists and goals that will take you to the next step.   Surround yourself with other entrepreneurs, not other employees from your former business life.    Brainstorm with them in mastermind groups.  And speaking of mastermind groups…

• Don’t be afraid to ask for help

My advice on starting a business always includes this tip.  If you’re new to running a business, there are a thousand things you don’t even know you don’t know – and the way to find those things out is to ask others who have been there.  Blindly moving forward without seeking advice is like driving at night with the headlights off – sooner or later (and probably sooner), you’re going to run into something that’s going to stop you cold.

Becoming an entrepreneur can be equal parts exhilaration and anxiety.  With the right attitude, you can make it more of the former than the latter!

“Independent Executive” Chuck Boyce is an expert small business coach who can help you get the most out of your business.  For more information on how you achieve your business goals, go to www.breakingfreeblog.com.

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