Do You Bring An Employee Mindset Into Your Entrepreneurial Playground?

GROWTH MINDSET TIP FOR THIS WEEK

Hi there! Glad you're back!

Hope you had a great Easter break???

The Power of Intentional Decisions

We all know that person who, no matter what he/she is asked, always answers with:?

“I don’t care” or “It doesn’t matter”. Maybe you?are?that person.?

I certainly know a lot of people who seem to be indifferent about many things in life, and I cannot hold it against them.?Making decisions is taken out of our hands in many situations.

The algorithm decides which content to serve on our newsfeeds.?

The teacher?tells?us what we should write about in our homework.?

All these small situations?make us accustomed to being indecisive until we believe?not taking decisions can even?prevent us from choosing the wrong thing.?

Yet, the opposite is true. Not deciding on something is a decision itself, with an insecure outcome.?

Like?William James once said,?

"There is no more miserable human being than one in whom nothing is habitual but indecision".?

If you take a close look at your life, you will notice that big waves of happiness always happen after big decisions.?

For you can only be truly happy and successful,?if you form your life on your terms, according to your dreams. That happens through active decisions!?

If you want to achieve your dreams,?ban "It doesn't matter" and "I don't care" from your vocabulary.?

Don't use them, no matter how small and unimportant a choice might seem.?Instead, listen to yourself for the tiniest hint, and ALWAYS make a decision.?

And watch the magic happen.

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BUSINESS GROWTH TIP FOR THIS WEEK

Do You?Bring an Employee Mindset into Your Entrepreneurial Playground?

When transitioning from corporate into self-employment, we tend to bring certain belief systems with us.?Unfortunately, they are not a good fit for making it in the entrepreneur's world.

I realized I was still working?with an employee mindset after?twelve months of building a business.?Do you know what I'm talking about?

The three most common signs of an employee mindset?that minimizes your growth?are:

1. You Freak in Months with Low Income
2. You Measure Productivity in Hours?
3. You Rely On Payment Per Hour?

Let's quickly look at each of?them in more detail.

You Freak in Months with Low Income

As an employee, you think in terms of MRR. You want a steady monthly income.?As an entrepreneur, it doesn't work this way.

Low-income months are normal, yet they freak many fresh solopreneurs out. When they experience one or two months with lower revenue, they question everything they've done so far. They freak out.

Don't. Instead, look at your revenue?on an annual or maybe quarterly level and try to achieve that. It's not the monthly income?goal you must meet, but the annual one.?

Most likely, your MRR will be great if you divide your annual income by months.?

Entrepreneurs focus on maximizing annual revenue, thereby?spreading income (and expenses) throughout the year.

You Measure Productivity in Hours

In a 9-to-5, you're supposed to work 40 hours a week. As self-employed, you don't.

Many first-time founders measure their productivity by the hours they worked each week. However, this is a sure route to overworking.

Plus, didn't you choose to leave the corporate world precisely because you?wanted?more freedom?

Don't try to hit some number of worked hours each week.?Instead, measure your productivity by your results or by the targets you set yourself for this week or month.?

If it took you shorter to achieve them?- you're a rockstar! Go get some you-time instead.

You Choose Payment Per Hour

When I started my business, my mind was filled with the hourly rates of other people's jobs.?

The marketing executive, who charges €250 per hour. The accountant, who is paid €450. I even knew the rates my former company was invoicing our clients for my work.?

So, it came naturally to me that I would use the pay-per-hour method to generate income when I started as a PR freelancer.?

Even though this might be a good route to start with,?I wouldn’t recommend sticking to pay-per-hour for too long because:

1. you tend to focus on working a lot instead of clever
2. you get only paid if you work, which invites overworking
3. the client might want to check your timesheet

Instead,?switch to being paid per?result (e.g.: a blog post or PR project)?rather than your time.?

This is much more scalable and nobody (neither you nor your client) is tempted to overassess the hours worked.

If you recognized yourself in any of these habits, leave your employee mindset at the front door for good.?You're an entrepreneur now - think like one!

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“The best way to predict the future is to create it!"

– Peter Drucker

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TOOLS, BOOKS & RESOURCES

???I came across this?article by Forbes, talking about how today's business people should choose to increase their uncertainty tolerance over their resilience. We shouldn't try to block uncertainty from our lives, but welcome it with open arms because?being better at managing uncertainty not only reduces stress but also makes us better opportunity chasers.?

????How to Cold Email Effectively?by Neville Medhora ?& Sam Parr.

How can you get companies like?Pandora, NerdWallet, and Imgur to speak at your conference? By using a great cold email template.?

This article is a how-to guide telling you exactly how both entrepreneurs landed their dream conference speakers?and which email template?they used. It also includes email examples to ask someone to go on your podcast or check if a company is hiring a freelance writer.

Currently Reading:?The?New Hardselling?by Martin Limbek (German).

Up next:?The Minimalist Entrepreneur?by?Sahil Lavingia.

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That’s it for this week.

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Your time is precious, thank you for devoting a part of it to reading?Talking Growth.

I wish you a wonderful, productive week?& stay motivated!

Nina