They seem to be born with it and the world is their oyster. Whatever they set out to do, everything flourishes as if they have the Midas touch. They are business owners and more specifically, they have the entrepreneurial mindset – what it takes to make the dream work.
What does it mean by having an entrepreneurial mindset? It is a way of thinking that enables you to make decisions and overcome challenges even during crunch time as well as having the accountability to accept responsibility for your outcomes.
Never willing to settle in a comfort zone, there is the constant desire to improve your skills, learn from your mistakes and take action to turn your ideas into reality. Anyone who is willing to do all these can develop an entrepreneurial mindset.
#1 Vision and Mission
Business owners with the entrepreneurial mindset often see their business as their brainchild. A business is usually an extension of oneself and people who have run their own businesses will know it is nearly impossible to separate work life from personal feelings. Developing a vision and mission statement are core components to helping your brainchild grow into an unique individual that stands out from the crowd.
A vision is an overall and broad theme that will guide your business into achieving its current and future goals. Think about the reasons why the business is set up. To determine a vision for your business, you need a target audience and anticipate how you are seeing them benefit from what your business offers. This forms the goal off which you base your mission statement.
In a nutshell, a mission statement is about telling your brand’s story and starting with these questions will help. What do we do? How do we do it? Who do we do it for? What value are we giving? It is akin to writing a mini biography and when you tell a story, it connects with your audience.
#2 Business Agility
A business must always maintain agility in all circumstances. There are frequent changes in the industry and market so what is used today might not work tomorrow. Business agility is the ability of a business to respond quickly and effectively to customer demands, adapt rapidly to market changes internally and externally, lead change in a productive and cost-effective manner without compromising quality as well as making itself at a competitive advantage constantly.
Business agility is concerned with the adoption and evolution of values, behaviours and capabilities because these will enable businesses and individuals to be more adaptive, creative and resilient when dealing with unforeseen circumstances, complexity and change. The market is unpredictable and businesses that embrace agility will be able to deliver, remain customer-focused and competitive, maintaining their business turnover. This is one important key element of having an entrepreneurial mindset.
#3 Financial Acumen
This is an important skill for every entrepreneur and business. Financial acumen refers to the ability to see the financial effects and relationships of various aspects of the business. Having this skill will help to reduce considerable time and money when it comes to business management. Maintaining a healthy and adequate cash flow is possible.
In a business, there are many factors that contribute to the profit and loss statement. Overhead costs, taxes, pricing, loans, assets and cash flow etc. Products and services must be priced correctly to stay competitive, knowing the market prices helps you to negotiate better terms with suppliers and also makes customers feel you are truly the industry expert, the salaries and benefits of employees, buying, maintaining and depreciating assets.
#4 Connect The Dots
Making customers happy isn’t about lowering the price of your products and services or building a stunning website. Even if you do amazing work, the customer might not feel comfortable to give you a testimonial if you do not truly understand their needs. Flexibility must be adopted to embrace their preferences.
You will be surprised that small changes have a major impact on how customers perceive the quality of your service and seal the difference between loyalty and high churn rates so unless you have your customer in mind at every part of the sales cycle, chances are you will be dropping the ball.
#5 Service Excellence
It is the act of going beyond customer expectations and delivering an exceptional experience. Most organizations provide good customer service but they only go back to the ones that go beyond and above to provide service excellence. Customer service is at the frontline and usually the “face” of the business so it is important to note that customer service plays a very big role in defining that impression.
When you advocate service excellence, it can become a key differentiating factor on leveraging to get ahead of competition. Customers will be converted into long term loyal patrons and the business turnover will increase because they act as your ambassadors too. Great customer service can lead to viral word of mouth and it is a good way to build brand awareness as well as customer base. People sign up for a product or service but stay for the customer experience.
#6 Growth Mindset
Due to advancing technology, consumer behaviour is evolving at a rapid rate and having a growth aka entrepreneurial mindset is imperative to ensuring continued business turnover. Strong leadership, continual learning and innovation are key to thriving in business today. It is no longer something that is only for the C-suite or those in leadership roles. Rather, it needs to be fostered throughout an organisation to see real progress.
This needs to start at the top. Leaders should set an example but also allow all employees to take on leadership roles – giving individuals the independence and freedom to try things, fail, learn from their mistakes, focusing on capacity and potential. In a learning culture, understanding each other’s roles will lead to transparency, commitment and collaboration success.
More Tips On Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset
One of the most effective ways to develop an entrepreneurial mindset is to incorporate it into your daily life. Start by setting clear goals on a daily basis and practise decisiveness in minor decisions everyday.
Always remain curious and never be afraid of failure. Take failure positively as an avenue to try out something new to solve the problem. Address your failure and acknowledge your fears. This helps to increase your critical thinking and problem solving skills. When you set about your daily grind, these skills will be developed over time and build the entrepreneurial mindset.
Do you need to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, have greater financial acumen and business agility in your organization? Write to us at info@businessacademia.co
