Have you ever read a book and immediately knew in the first five minutes, it would be a book that would completely change your mindset? That’s exactly what this book did for me. I first began my entrepreneur journey many years ago. I took a break from it when I went back to school to complete my Undergraduate and Graduate programs. I then reignited my entrepreneur journey all over again, six years ago, except this time around, I took it a lot more serious. I actually began working on intentional steps to grow my business.
One of the best things I did was get a Mentor. He has been instrumental in showing me exactly what I need to do, to not only grow my business, but how to also increase my income in the process. He showed me the exact formula and steps I needed to take, to begin matching my full-time income from my job, with the income from my business. He had already done the work which made it that much easier for him to show me exactly what I needed to do. It’s because of him that I’ve been introduced to countless personal development books and new ways to stretch and shape my thinking and my habits.
I never realized when I started my entrepreneurial journey, the type of personal development that I would gain. With the Mentor that I have and the business culture that he has created for us all, we have exactly what we need. Our business team culture has systems in place that is designed to help you succeed in your own lifestyle businesses. In this post I’m going to share with you 5 points from The Book That Shifted My Entrepreneur Mindset titled “The Top 10 Distinctions Between Entrepreneurs and Employees” by Keith Cameron Smith. This book calls out 10 Distinctions between Entrepreneurs and Employees but I’m going to touch on 5 of the 10 that stood out to me.
1. TRADITIONAL EDUCATION CAN ONLY TEACH YOU SO MUCH
Distinction 10: Entrepreneurs educate themselves more than they entertain themselves. Employees entertain themselves more than they educate themselves.
“The traditional school system in the corporate world teaches people to be employees, not entrepreneurs. The traditional school system is called The Status Quo. It trains and conditions people to think about money and success from a very limited perspective. It does this by telling them what they have to learn and requiring that they obey the rules without question. In the school of experience, entrepreneurs choose what they want to learn about and they can ask any question they choose to without fear of being reprimanded or disciplined.”
Keith Cameron Smith
Growing up, we were always taught to make good grades so we could get a good college education, which could then lead to a good job. Many of us, myself included went beyond an undergraduate degree and completed a graduate program. I’ve been on my full-time job for almost 14 years and I will say that I’ve read more personal development books and learned more about the study of people in the last six years as an entrepreneur, than I ever have in my job. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for my job because I’ve also learned quite a bit since I’ve been there, especially from a professional development perspective. The point I want to drive home is that you can’t let your self-education stop once you’re done with traditional education in school. You need to create a lifelong habit of learning new things, developing new habits, and adopting new ways of thinking.
2. IT’S OKAY TO FAIL AS LONG AS YOU FAIL FORWARD
Distinction 9: Entrepreneurs have an empowering perspective of failure. Employees see failure as bad.
“Successful entrepreneurs believe failure is inevitable and educational. The lessons that you can gain from failure are more precious and powerful, than anything you can learn from reading a book. Failure is feedback from the real world, and one of the first benefits you can gain from that feedback is the knowledge that you took action. If you’re not experiencing failure then you probably aren’t taking risks. Entrepreneurs must take responsibility for their failures. They can’t blame, complain, and justify if they are to learn from failure and use it to become better, stronger, and wiser. Entrepreneurs must seek and find the answers they need.”
Keith Cameron Smith
Failure, when looked at from a positive lens, is a good thing. It shows us what we need to work on. When we reflect on our failures, we can typically learn the lesson that particular failure was teaching us. Not reflecting on the lesson, is the perfect example of our refusal to fail forward. Instead, you might beat yourself up about the unfavorable outcome, or you might give up on whatever you were working toward altogether. If you take the time to dig deeper to understand why your progress took a negative turn, then you’ll be able to get a better understanding of how you can shift when you try it again, especially once you put the right adjustments to your process.
3. IT’S MORE BENEFICIAL TO EXCHANGE TIME TO BUILD WEALTH THAN FOR WAGES
Distinction 4: Entrepreneurs build wealth. Employees make money.
“It’s a common (and terrible) belief that money is not important. What’s even more common is that people who hold that belief tend to be broke. If you don’t value reading, then you probably don’t have a library. If you don’t value friendship, then you probably don’t have any friends. If you don’t value money, then you aren’t likely to have any. We do not accumulate things that we do not value. Building wealth is the key to financial freedom, and this small shift in thinking toward “building wealth” instead of just “making money” can make a huge difference in your actions and the results you produce. Put and keep your focus on building wealth more than making money.”
Keith Cameron Smith
Building wealth takes time, however it is worth all the time it takes. You will make mistakes and you will have some failures but in the end, you will also have some lessons. Remember, as long as you’re failing forward, you’re still winning, especially in this case because you’re winning toward wealth. Get you a financial planner or talk to someone at your bank that can get you on the right track financially and in touch with the right people that can help you.
4. DON’T LOOK BACK, YOU’RE NOT GOING THAT WAY
Distinction 2: Entrepreneurs look into the future. Employees look into the past.
“Vision makes things happen. All great entrepreneurs have vision. Vision is power. It’s what attracts wisdom. It guides your life, and taking daily action toward your vision is the surest and fastest way to make it happen. Entrepreneurs make things happen because they have vision for the future. Employees watch things happen because they spend too much time in the past.”
Keith Cameron Smith
You just walked into a new year and you, or someone you know, thought about what they wanted to accomplish in 2020. Some people may refer to them as resolutions, whereas others refer to them as “goals.” Whatever the case, the percentage of people that laid out goals or resolutions, has drastically declined before January even passes.
As the New York Post points out, according to research conducted by Strava, they’ve discovered that, January 12th, is the fateful day of New Year’s resolutions. That is the date most people reported failing their resolution.
Why do you think that is? It’s because of their lack of vision. Creating the goal or resolution sounds real good at first, until it’s time to actually put in the work consistently to make it happen. Then what happens is, they throw in the towel because it was harder than they thought, and just like they’ve done in the past, they quit all over again. It’s become a repeating cycle. They were more concerned with how hard it was and they let the reminders of their previous attempts and failures keep them from moving forward.
When you have vision, you’re not letting anything nor anyone stand in the way of doing what you set out to do. Sure, life is going to happen, but your vision will be so strong that you will still fight through whatever life throws at you because you know how important it is for you to get it done. Staying focused on your future will cancel out any surprises your past may try to distract you with.
“The surest way to waste your life is to live it without a vision.”
Keith Cameron Smith
5. DO YOU OPERATE IN FAITH OR FEAR
Distinction 1: Entrepreneurs take risks because of faith. Employees play it safe because of fear.
“Many employees have taken opportunity out of their lives because they have more fear than faith. Successful entrepreneurs have strong faith, which allows them to find opportunities and take risks. Most people have little faith in themselves, and that’s why they remain employees. Many employees say they would like to own their own business, but their fears keep them from taking the necessary risks.” – Keith Cameron Smith
Operating in fear has stopped so many people dead in their tracks. The thing is, many people don’t dream big enough, and in some cases, they don’t dream at all because fear has made them believe their dreams aren’t possible. What is one thing that you want to do deep down in your heart? Now, grab a piece of paper and a pen, and write down what is stopping you from doing that thing deep down in your heart. Is it finances, lack of opportunity, nonsupport, health challenges, lack of direction, or something else? Whatever it is, if you’ve already dreamed about it, it’s possible. You have one of the most valuable tools already at your fingertips and that is the internet. You can use it to get loads of free information to figure out your first step. You can even visit your local library for help with what you should be researching to get started. If you use social media, you can even find the information you need there. Don’t waste another day in fear of what can’t be done, especially since the seed has already been planted in your heart. All you have to do is, operate in faith, put in the work, and it will grow beyond your wildest dreams.
It is my hope that you found value in this post, and are now able to gain a better perspective on how valuable your mindset and personal development is. If you found value, spread the love by sharing this post!
Are you ready to start your own journey as an entrepreneur but not sure if it’s right for you? I’ve put together a free guide just for you. You can grab my Home Based Business Decision Guide here. I guarantee you’ll walk away with an answer after reading through the guide!
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