#51. How To Develop A Winning Founder Mindset
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“When you grow your mindset, you grow your company.”
- Renée Warren
Hey you wild women!
In this episode of Into The Wild, We Wild Women founder, Renée Warren will take you through the steps you need to develop a winning founder’s mindset.
Originally recorded as a Facebook Live and re-purposed here just for Into The Wild listeners, this episode will leave you with some clear and actionable steps you can take in your business to help lay the foundation for growth. There is even an exercise at the end of the podcast that will help you uncover some of your own mindset blocks that could be preventing you from moving forward in your business.
One in nine companies achieve a modest level of sustainable and profitable growth, even though all companies want growth. Most issues are internal issues, controllable to you, the founder, and not really much to do with outside factors. For example, blaming the pandemic for losing business which made you close your doors because YOU DID NOTHING about it, which is your fault. You can look at the situation as though it happened TO you or FOR you. It’s up to you to decide.
This idea is tracked back to what Chris Zook calls the Growth Paradox where he explains that growth creates complexity and that complexity becomes the silent killer within your company.
You want to achieve a founder's mindset which is the power of the internal health of a company (or just you the owner) to maintain its energy so that you can maintain creativity, innovation and consistency.
Here’s what I know: when you grow your mindset, you grow your company.
In this episode, you will learn:
Why ‘knowing your why’ and believing in your mission is critical to staying on track
How to set clear goals to support your mission and how to develop a plan to achieve your goals
How to create habits that work for you
Why blocking out the noise of competitors, distractions, and haters is so important
How ABC (Always Be Curious) is a key factor in your success
How to shift your mindset around failure
Why believing that you can improve can keep you motivated and make you a better leader and founder
How hiring a coach or mentor can be the key to unlocking profit and potential in your business
Let’s dive in!
1 - Know Your Why and Believe In Your Mission
First things first, you’ve got to know your why.
If you don’t know who you’re serving or why you’re doing it, you won’t have anything exciting to wake up to. (Example of why I burned out.)
Many entrepreneurs go into business because they want to be an ‘entrepreneur’ or founder but are clueless about what’s driving them in the first place. And no, simply “being successful” isn’t enough. Instead, you need to really dial in on your big-picture motivating factors and identify the reasons behind what you’re doing. Is your why a passion to help other entrepreneurs succeed? Is it finding a way to make 10k per month, so that you can finally send your kids to that great school? Is it because your technology can make a huge impact? Whatever it is, grab onto that dream and keep it central to your actions. Then you can start getting specific with those plans.
Your why is more important then your how. There are many ways you can achieve your mission, but you can’t get anywhere until that purpose of yours is clearly defined.
Passion will ignite your dream. It will also create motivation and helps you push through adversity, keeping you going on those days when everything seems to be a slog.
2 - Set Clear Goals
Once you’ve got your why, you need to set clear goals that support your mission.
Start by creating a realistic target and sharing your goals with your friends, colleagues, or the internet. Putting your goals into writing can create a tangible representation to keep you focused on succeeding. When you share your goals and put them out there into the universe, you become accountable.
Also, keep in mind that goal setting and planning are inexplicably intertwined. Success in the entrepreneurial journey really is less about a destination and more about the journey itself. Your goals and the process to reach them need to be one and the same.
A simple goal on its own matters, but it’s not enough to carry you on to success. As entrepreneurs, we tend to be very skilled at thinking big, but it’s the ability to translate those big-picture goals into smaller, practical details that will ultimately enable you to find success.
3 - Create Habits That Work For You
Now, it’s time to translate those goals into daily actions that’ll help you to create the life and business that you’re looking to build.
It’s easy to look at successful people and assume that talent got those folks to where they’re at, but talent only accounts for part of the story. Habits, the accumulation of actions over a given period of time, are what sets successful people apart.
For an inspirational look at success-building habits, look no further than Beyoncé herself. Queen Bey has found a way to succeed, not just in the music industry but in business and life as well. But plenty of musicians are extremely talented, so what separates Beyoncé from other extremely talented artists out there? Yes, she has a talented team to help and millions of dollars at her disposal, but it wasn’t always that way.
Habits are what got her there. Beyoncé didn’t just wake up one morning a rockstar (#iwokeuplikethis); instead, she set out to make her goals happen by putting into daily practice what was needed to reach them. She practiced the habits of a superstar and eventually became one.
Look to form habits that will help you to reach your goals. Identify things that you need to do daily, weekly to help you reach your full potential. Then make those actions a part of your everyday routine.
Want to get in shape? Commit 15 minutes a day to a high-intensity workout.
Want to be fearless? Do one thing every day that scares you.
Want to find success in your startup? Create a monthly, and then weekly plan; highlighting exactly which tasks you need to focus on every day.
And so on.
In business, I call these ‘Focus Forward’ tasks. Ask yourself what are the three things and only three things that will move the needle? Delete, delegate or delay the rest.
4 - Block Out the Noise
Competitors: Competitors are merely signals of market validation. You should look, but don’t obsess. Shiny object syndrome is kryptonite for the entrepreneur –we’re easily distracted, and that’s what weakens us.
Distractions: Focus on one thing, and work towards your goals daily. Don’t let what others are doing detract from your ability to really dial in and add value to your business. Building a business requires discipline, which means investing your time and efforts in the right things at the right time.
Haters. No matter how great your customer service is or how successful your business becomes, you will always have your fair share of critics. Don’t take negative feedback personally. Block out the negativity and keep pushing forward.
Schedule everything. Put it into your calendar.
5 - ABC: Always Be Curious
Kids ask why, why, why all damn day for one simple reason: they want to know things. This curiosity, while it can be a bit much for us parents sometimes, is a crucial part of their development.
But why should this curiosity end? Adulthood is no reason to stop the quest for answers. A great entrepreneur is perpetually curious and strives to see things, events, and opinions from different perspectives. They question why things are how they are, and are motivated to test out different scenarios to find something that works better than anything that’s been done before. Instead of playing by the rules, learn them, so that you can find a way to improve them. Create your own game and a rule set that works for you. Read new books, polish up some new skills, and never turn down the opportunity to learn something new. You never know when it will come in handy. Always cultivate that sense of curiosity. It’s a habit that should never die.
6 - Rethink Failure
In my podcast Into the Wild, I end up asking most guests a similar question: “What would you say is one of your biggest business failures?” The most popular response I’ve received by far is a variant of the following: “I’ve never failed. I’ve only had expensive lessons.”
This view of failure is something that nearly every successful business owner has. You see, a winning entrepreneur understands the likelihood of failure and sees it exactly for what it is: just one, temporary setback on the road to success. In fact, these setbacks often end up being pivotal to our ultimate success. Failure often highlights opportunities to be seized.
Remember Thomas Edison in his quest to develop a functional lightbulb: “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
I love how Nellie Akalp, Founder and CEO of CorpNet puts it.
“True success comes from a pile of failures and learning from them. As a result, you’ll be able to make the right choices. I’m not a perfect person. I have made mistakes – as an entrepreneur, as a small business owner, as a human being – and will probably make a ton more. As a result, I’ll learn from them and become even more successful. You need to build the same success mindset.”
7 - Believe You Can Improve
Haters hate, investors say no, your customers ask for refunds, your onboarding is crap and people drop off like the speed of lightning.
If you grade yourself in your startup and you fail -- how about you change that grade to ‘not yet’. Reward yourself for the progress you’ve made (enjoy the process because it’s all about the journey). Believe that you can become a better founder, leader and impact maker.
You are not the person you were 5 years ago, a month ago or even a day ago. Failure is a lesson, commitment is a discipline, curiosity is the fuel to your engine (which is your why), good habits are the building blocks to success.
If you are constantly improving yourself, your methods, and your mindset, then you are well on your way to building a solid founder mindset.
And lastly....
8 - Get a F*cking Mentor or Coach
If you don’t have one yet, then finding a good mentor should be at the top of your to-do list.
And no, I’m not just saying this as a business coach, but because I myself have benefited tremendously from coaching and outside help over the years.
In fact, I don’t know a single great entrepreneur who got to where they’re at today, without the help of a mentor, coach, advisor, or someone pushing them.
Back when I had my PR agency, I hired an agency coach. He wasn’t cheap, but within the first month of working with him, his $25k price tag ended up paying for itself. Professional sports teams don’t win championships without a good coach either. Mentors and coaches are invaluable for showing you things that you’ve overlooked yourself (easier to do than you might think) and of course, for helping to keep you accountable. While it can be uncomfortable to have someone point out your mistakes, keeping an open mind, and being willing to change is crucial for growth.
Like I touched on above, sheer talent isn’t enough to achieve the things you want in the business world. It’s crucial, of course, and will get you started, but talent alone is rarely enough to carry you on through the growth stages and ultimate success. Partnering with a mentor and coach provides you with the additional support and accountability that you need to take your business ideas from the concept stages on to a successful company.
At the end of the day, we are what we allow ourselves to be. By opening up your mind to the concept of finding success, and then putting into practice those things that you’d like to become, you’ll be able to cultivate a winning mindset and allow yourself to operate from a place of abundance, rather than scarcity. In turn, your business will be able to grow to reach its full potential as well. Be. Do. Have. It’s the best way.
You have a goal. A plan. And the drive. Now is the time to put them into action.
Exercise
I want you now to dive deeper. This exercise will help find the underlying ‘issues’ in your mindset.
Four different steps with four different questions: The framework is like a pyramid - the top is success, then behaviors, then thinking, then mindset.
1. Success
What is a goal that you have for your business that by accomplishing this goal you will feel fulfilled and successful?
2. Behaviors
What are you currently doing or not doing that is preventing that from happening?
3. Thinking
What are your fears, beliefs or assumptions that are contributing to those behaviors?
The external factors in your environment are rarely ever the reason why you think and behave a certain way. You can change your situation and still have the same thoughts. This is where the mindset comes in...
4. Mindset
How is your mindset contributing to your fears and beliefs? Focus on the real problem and not the first problem.
