CHAPTER 12

Mindset on Self-determination

Self-determination—The Intrinsic and Relentless Willpower to Find a Way to Make Things Happen

Self-determination starts on the inside. No one can give it to you, but it can be developed. Do you have a history of giving up quickly? Do you struggle with not finishing what you started? Do you get discouraged easily? If so, then it’s likely that you have not yet mastered self-determination.

Self-determination coupled with patience can be a powerful tool in your arsenal that you can pull out to help you stay the course when you are at a low point in your business and want to quit. It’s not uncommon to face low moments in life or business. If you can be patient with the process and muster up enough self-determination, you can get past the rocky points. You often hear about the glamorous side of business like the flexibility, working from home, taking personal time off whenever you want. Don’t be deceived by those social media photos of entrepreneurs on their private jets to Paris! No one likes to talk about the moments you want to throw in the towel. Some of those moments might include not making enough money, losing money, clients not paying invoices on time, business deals gone bad, bad business partnerships, difficult customers, fluctuating or unstable monthly income, and more.

The ability to keep going even when you don’t feel like it is not an easy task, especially if you’ve been knocked down and repeatedly discouraged. However, it is doable if your reason for continuing is greater than the pain you have to endure to reach your goals. Getting in the habit of pushing past your emotions or discomfort is what will develop the discipline needed to become self-determined. Internally, self-determined people have a strong foundation of internal strength that they draw from somewhere. For some, achieving a particular goal is self-gratifying or they have something to prove to themselves. For others, it could be drawing strength from something less self-serving, like faith, belief systems, spirituality, or from the satisfaction that the end result will contribute something great to this world.

In order to be self-determined, you must first be able to identify what drives you. For some, it’s getting out of poverty. For others, it could be getting others out of poverty. You might be inspired to solve a particular problem that changes the world. Perhaps you have a strong desire to influence the world with your gifts. Maybe you see something missing that is badly needed on this earth, for example, good, morally sound leadership, and you have a strong desire to fill that leadership void in order to make a difference.

Your passion and your gifts are a powerful duo that can reveal a lot about your inner workings. They are both very closely knit to your life’s purpose. When your purpose and your vocation align, you are then doing what you were born to do. Once you arrive at this point, being self-determined becomes much easier. Your purpose is what drives you and convinces you that have something to look forward to waking up for every day. It activates your life.

It is easier to persevere when the work that you do in your business is meaningful, fulfilling, and connected to your life’s purpose in some way. What naturally drives you is what intrinsically motivates you. Once you identify it and tap into it, it would be wise not to deviate from it. In more simple terms, do what you love. Do what comes natural to you. Do what you are gifted to do. To go against these things is like trying to swim upstream.

One of the things I am passionate about besides giving strategies that grow businesses is traveling. I discovered that it’s just good for my soul. So naturally, I wanted to design the work that I do in my companies around my love for traveling. When you own the company, you can make decisions that are personally fulfilling. If you go against your purpose, you will likely find it to be challenging to maintain lasting determination.

You won’t know how determined you are until you are put in situations that test your resilience. Like a muscle, each time you use your determination, it will get stronger. Throughout the course of running your business, you’ll have plenty of occasions to exercise it. Running a business has an unintended way of developing your personal character. As such, you will grow and your capacity to lead will also. This will in turn have a positive impact on your company. Your judgment and decision-making abilities will improve, and so will your single-mindedness, because determination also helps you to focus on the task at hand.

Entrepreneurs don’t wait around for others to motivate or inspire them. Their motivation is usually intrinsic, and, when necessary, they will proactively seek out what they need to propel themselves to the next level. This is one of the characteristics that make them so unique. Taking charge of their own success is a way of life.

Since self-determination is so closely tied to the inner workings of the mind, there are things that you can begin doing to strengthen your resolve and to become unwavering in your approach to business. Start with the present and forget about your past disappointments, discouragements, and defeats. Focus on what you can do today. Self-determined people take actions and hold themselves accountable. Make a promise to yourself and keep it.

Be intentional about referring to these goals until they are completed. Push yourself to accomplish these goals and seek help from someone if you need it. This is a large of part of developing your self-determination. You can discipline yourself to do almost anything that you fully commit yourself to do.

Final Words

Cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset is a necessary process to prepare your mind for the journey of working for yourself. It requires commitment to this process as you develop the type of thinking that will lead you to begin making the types of decisions that successful entrepreneurs make. Entrepreneurs don’t think like employees, which is what makes them so unique and a minority in this world. The 12 fundamental areas of an entrepreneur’s mindset were expounded upon with real examples of how I and other entrepreneurs applied entrepreneurial thinking to actions and business decisions and the outcomes of those decisions. The Mindset Exercises were designed for you to do the work that’s essential to develop the mental capacity to make the right decisions that will create and sustain a flourishing business venture.

If you have only worked for others as an employee and have had little to no exposure to business owners, this process of adjusting your thinking to become more entrepreneurial can be quite a paradigm shift because you will have to be unindoctrinated. If you are naturally wired to work for yourself, you will likely apply the concepts in this book with more ease. Everyone’s journey will be different. There are many variables that shape the way an individual thinks, and, as such, there will be a myriad of ways to achieve an entrepreneurial mindset.

I’ve cultivated my entrepreneurial mindset over the course of several years. I surrounded myself with more entrepreneurs and people who supported me and my dreams. I distanced myself from those who were on an opposite trajectory in life. I cut off small thinkers, stagnant people who had no curiosity about the world around them, dream snatchers, and haters. I immersed myself in books, articles, videos, webinars, and business conferences that were created by successful entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. I said “no” to opportunities and all distractions that would have caused me to deviate from my business goals. Conversely, I deliberately said “yes” to business opportunities that forced me to go well beyond my comfort zone and pushed me to grow my business and also develop personally. I was, and I am, laser-focused on living my life’s purpose and impacting the lives of others through my gifts, talents, skill sets, and abilities in the marketplace.

How quickly you make the mindset shift is contingent upon your willingness, the amount of experience you’ve had working for yourself, or being closely connected to other entrepreneurs. There is a possibility that you decide that entrepreneurship is not for you and that you are better off taking a different path. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone, although everyone can monetize their gifts or skill sets in some way if they choose. Choose the path that aligns with your purpose and your passion.

Questions to ponder: What did you learn about yourself? How will you apply the lessons that you have learned from what you’ve read? What implications does what you read have for your choice about whether or not to pursue entrepreneurship?

Your attitude and beliefs about these 12 fundamental areas in the context of entrepreneurship will determine how well you will be able to take on the challenges that you will encounter on your journey as an entrepreneur. If you are willing to do the work to cultivate your mind, it can be life-changing, not only for your business but also for your life in general. The results will be the development of a mental fortitude that cannot be shaken, a positive outlook in the midst of troubles, the resilience to see your dreams become a reality, and giving yourself permission to be your most authentic and best self regardless of the circumstances. This process is intended to challenge you and to draw out your potential and your best qualities as a leader and an entrepreneur.

Whatever the state of your current mindset, it became that way because it was cultivated over the course of several years. In general, people are not always aware of exactly what has shaped their way of thinking or how it happened because it happens little-by-little, day-by-day, year-by-year. Then, one day you realize that you have a whole set of beliefs that shape how you function in this world and how you view it. Subconsciously, your beliefs have already been developed and continue to shape who you think you are and what you believe you are capable of doing.

Cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset is no different than how your mind has already been cultivated to be the way it is today, except that the process is now intentional instead of subliminal. Now that you are attentive to how you can develop your mindset, you can apply these principles to help shape the way you think specifically as an entrepreneur. Your mind is the springboard to your success, so be purposeful and careful how you nurture it. Be willing to unlearn things that have caused you to believe things that are detrimental to your success.

And now what? The next steps that you can take to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset and to apply the 12 principles discussed in this book are up to you, but here are some suggestions:

• •Carefully review your answers to the Mindset Exercises and the Assessment and draw out any patterns you might observe about yourself. If you notice any weak areas in your thinking that appear more often than others, that is an indication that those areas need more of your attention to work on them for improvement. Those are the areas I suggest you tackle first and push yourself to do better.
• •If you have a vision for starting a business, write it down first. Then, think of other like-minded people with whom you can share your vision, such as a mentor, a trusted advisor, a business person, or potential business partners. This will put momentum behind what’s in your head and also solicit the professional opinions and help from people who can vet your business plans and encourage you to move forward. It’s a small step, but it shows intention.
• •Start building your network. Having access to the right people can help advance your business ideas. Connect with the entrepreneur hubs and ecosystems online, on campus, and in your community. If you have access to funders (venture capitalists, private investors, microlenders, grant organizations, etc.), startup competitions, business accelerators, incubators and innovations centers, community development programs, Small Business Development Centers, entrepreneur work spaces, and other local skills training organizations for entrepreneurs, then make use of these resources.
• •If you already have a business, identify any of the 12 areas in your thinking that have hindered you or your business and take deliberate actions to master these areas.

Warning! One thing is for certain. As you begin to think more entrepreneurially and do what successful entrepreneurs do, not everyone will be happy about your new change (but that’s really none of your business!) Just be aware that the world that entrepreneurs live in is one of its own and very different than the world in which nonentrepreneurs live. The drive, sacrifices, and time that it will take for you to succeed on this journey might alienate you from your current circle of friends and even well-meaning family members who might suggest that you should come back down to earth and get a regular job like everyone else. I’m not suggesting that you become reckless in following your dream and destroy your relationships along the way. However, you should just prepare yourself for the likelihood of changes in relationships. It’s a price that many, if not all, entrepreneurs have had to pay at some point on this journey.

There is also a much larger context in which this book fits. The world is moving more and more toward remote work, digital nomadic work and lifestyles, freelancing, online marketing, and remote startup companies. You should care about cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset regardless of whether you decide to run a Fortune 500 company or do freelance gigs to create an additional income stream. Even the global workforce is beginning to embrace technology, and the demands for flexible and work-from-home arrangements are increasing in almost every industry, with some companies moving towards a 100 percent virtual workforce. Therefore, employees are expected to think entrepreneurially by managing their own time or schedules, working independently, and having more autonomy over their work as they work from home. With an entrepreneurial mindset, you become an asset to an organization, whether it’s yours or someone else’s.

One implication is that you can take advantage of finding skilled contractors and employees from all over the world to work in your business. You have access to a global talent pool at your fingertips. At the time that I am writing this book, my companies are 100 percent virtual by my design. My teams and business partners are located in seven countries across four continents. This is proof that the world is now more conducive to entrepreneurship than ever. The barriers to entry are almost nonexistent, and technology has removed most geographical boundaries with the help of devices, apps, and the internet which can connect with almost anyone instantly. It’s important to take notice of these trends so that you can take advantage of this opportunity to allow your gifts and talents to reach the world and to prosper.

Many people are simply getting tired of trading hours for dollars in a conventional 9-to-5 job. Employers are providing less and less benefits and, in many cases, are offering no pensions or significant retirement contributions, especially in the United States. Employees’ wages are often stagnant, even with inflation and the increase in experience or skill sets gained over time. Work hours are frequently not flexible enough for those who have unpredictable family situations and for those who already have children or want to have children someday. Your personal time off and vacation hours as an employee are totally at the discretion of the employer. And as such, many are considering entrepreneurship as both a viable career and lifestyle change.

There could not be a better time to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset. During times of political upheaval and economic instability worldwide, knowing what value you can bring to the world apart from dependency on an employer will give you a great advantage in the midst of economic recessions and downturns. An entrepreneurial mindset creates an ability to monetize skill sets in any environment. It also activates your ability to continuously reinvent yourself whenever necessary, as well as create multiple streams of income that will give you financial stability. Using the tools in this book to cultivate your entrepreneurial mindset, your mind can become powerful and your opportunities limitless.