The Entrepreneur Mindset

“Is it going to work? Will I succeed? What if I humiliate myself? How do you become an entrepreneur? How do I leave my job to become an entrepreneur? What happens if _______ ?”

What happens if… oh those crazy 3 words. I have driven myself nuts over the “what happens if” scenarios - “what happens if I succeed, what happens if I fail, what happens if there is no business, what happens if no one buys my product, what happens if I have to fire someone”…and the list goes on.

8 years ago when I was making the jump from Research and Development Scientist to full time wedding planner, I also asked myself if this was going to work, questioned whether or not I would succeed and what would happen if I failed. I was so concerned about losing my “stable” income, my health insurance, my benefits without realizing that just because I was becoming an entrepreneur did not mean I would lose all those things.

With entrepreneurship, it is not a matter of if, but WHEN and my first step to altering this mindset is changing my what if scenarios to when I succeed, when I fail, when there is business vs. no business, when someone buys my product, when I have to fire someone. Working with this mindset allowed me to prepare for my future experiences and successes.

The “what if” scenarios I was so afraid of, are inevitable and part of being a business owner. Once I went through some of the worst case scenarios, I realized they were not as bad as I thought. I always assumed my first big “mess up” or financial loss would be a disaster, and it was, but I bounced back and continued to keep my companies net profitable even during a financial crisis.

I entered the “when” mindset when I became a full time entrepreneur after I stopped contemplating the ‘what ifs’ of leaving my full time job or the benefits of a comfortable income. As soon as you move your passion project from side hustle to full time, this mindset comes almost automatically.

If you are contemplating entrepreneurship, leaving your job, starting a business, I encourage you to start saying when, stop contemplating all your worse case scenarios and create a plan for your future success.