07.22.07
Your Employee to Entrepreneur Transition
The biggest challenges employees have when trying to become entrepreneurs is willpower, a victim mentality, and self-discipline. They are so used to following orders that when it’s left to them to make things happen, they have so little self-control and they’re so weak that they quit at the drop of a hat. They want instructions and a big bad boss leaning over their shoulder and wielding a big stick, or they will find another excuse to give up, stop working, leave early, and rush off to the movies. They’re so used to making excuses that they now believe their own lies.
Want to know if you still have an employee mindset that is undermining your business progress? Are you always looking for a way to leave an event early, get a “day off”, arrive late, or even not show up at all (the sick relative lie)? Entrepreneurs will work through the night, if necessary, without complaining. Do you blame others for the things in your life that don’t work, or do you take responsibility and go about fixing them? Are you generally positive or negative? Do you deliver on time, and how easily do you quit? How often do you find yourself making excuses? Entrepreneurs take responsibility for their commitments, success, and failures.
Here’s the only way I have found to induct the birth of the new entrepreneur in your life. Play two roles: one is the role of the worst, nastiest boss you ever had, and one is the role of the employee / puppet / robot / slave. Take a good, hard look at what needs to be done, write down the instructions as would a scary boss, then give yourself the instructions and pretend that you will be summarily fired and embarrassed is you fail to deliver on time. Then, get to WORK. Take urgent, focused action until you have achieved the tasks on your list, then report back, ON TIME, to yourself / boss. This role-play might help you start to take responsibility and stop making weak excuses that nobody believes anyway.
Another way to observe your situation is to realize that the real entrepreneurs with whom you are working will only tolerate an employee mindset for a period of time, after which they will fire you from their presence and joint ventures. Real entrepreneurs don’t accept excuses, negativity, and the blame game for very long. Perhaps you should start to view them as your employers until you understand that there are no excuses and that the old employee mindset will not work in the real world of business. In fact, if you don’t shed that old mindset, you’ll end up back in a job – if you can get one, that is.
Let’s end on a positive note. Once you realize that you have created and are responsible for your present circumstances, it becomes abundantly clear that you can create any lifestyle you wish. Through the use of Joint Ventures, you have unlimited potential to make all your dreams come true. Entrepreneurs understand this.
Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com
