How to prepare yourself for big changes

Changes are very hard to make, especially big ones. The human mind naturally makes us create and stick to conditions of safety in all areas of our life.

Most people tend to feel safe when they stay within the boundaries of what they already know and have experienced before, within environments which are familiar to them. This is why many professionals end up staying in the same permanent job for years and even decades.

So, the first step to take before starting your new business is to acknowledge this and put some effort in to gain the right MINDSET to make the switch.

You don’t necessarily have to be a natural-born entrepreneur. You just need to stretch yourself out of your comfort zone and embrace change. How? 

💡 You can start doing so by raising your AWARENESS of the changes that will happen in your life when you start your new enterprise.

To do this, ask yourself these explorative questions:

• How will my new business affect my level of motivation at work?
• How will running my own business change my daily schedule?
• What changes will I need to make in my household and work spaces?
• What impact will my new business have on my social life?
• How will my business affect the people in my family unit?

💡 Then, double-check your own COMMITMENT to these changes.

Try and ask yourself these self-validating questions:

• What am I missing now – in my present life as an employee?
• What am I leaving behind by taking the leap?
• What will I gain in my life after I’ve made the switch?

This is just a start but, as they say, knowing is half the battle!

The 8 key aspects of entrepreneurial thinking

In the last 16 years, I’ve had a chance to work FOR entrepreneurs in my former marketing communications agencies and WITH entrepreneurs as an independent business coach. 

From this experience, I have learnt HOW entrepreneurs look at things and WHAT typical behaviours they display. 

Here are their 8 key common characteristics.

1- Absence of doubt

Entrepreneurs have a unique way of approaching new challenges. There is never a thought of ‘this can’t be done’. Of course, it can be done! The only question is ‘do I want to do it?’.

If someone has done it before, it’s as good as done before. If it’s something that has never been done before, rather than think of the reasons why, how, or when, an entrepreneur is more focused on the winning, fame, glory, and profit of being the FIRST to get it done.

2- Low concern for risk

The first trait above, also explains why entrepreneurs rarely consider the risks involved in a new enterprise they are starting. Risk is reserved for those mere mortals who don’t have their super-powers!

The ’How’ is really insignificant at that point. Their unshakeable self-confidence has carried them through all manner of barriers, problems, disasters, and victories before. It will carry them through their latest adventure too.

3- Hunger for new challenges

At no point does an entrepreneur attempt to ‘make money’. They will make money of course, but whether it’s enough or whether it’s quick enough may well be a deal-breaker, because entrepreneurs get bored easily.

They will walk away from great opportunities, because they have just ‘had enough’. Ask any entrepreneur if they’ve ever walked away from massive pay-days just because they were done with that opportunity. Most of them will have a list of occasions when it’s happened!

4- Unconventional thinking

Entrepreneurs are unconventional in the way they think and do things: they will change the way things are done, just because they can. They are adventurers, pioneers, and creative thinkers who have results as their primary goal.

Entrepreneurs are not just the ‘founders’ of a new company: they are the people who set out to solve a problem they spotted in their pre-existing world. They are often fuelled by a bigger sense of duty: they want to ‘make a difference’ using their own energy, skills, time, resources and structured business.

5- No notion of ‘hard’ work

Everything they do is an ‘adventure’ for them and they would describe their work as ‘fun’. The moment it begins to feel like ‘hard work’, they are gone. This is why they are the absolute best at starting anything, but probably the worst at staying with it: they don’t enjoy being caught up in the small details.

This is also why you’ll never find any real entrepreneur in an employee job situation. They don’t like being told what to do and, as much as they try, they struggle to conform to somebody else’s rules.

6- Present moment focus

Entrepreneurs have no fear and spend zero time thinking about yesterday. They know that TODAY is where it all happens, they will start early and finish late to get ahead of any schedule, timescale, or competitor.

No wonder they are often described by their close friends and family as ‘workaholics’ – a label they wouldn’t necessarily give themselves because their present enterprise is their primary motivation in life.

7- No interest in planning

It’s not that they aren’t able to plan, it’s just that planning more than a few steps ahead is pointless in their eyes. Rather than have any kind of detailed plan or blueprint to follow, they view business and even life itself as if they were driving down the motorway at night.

As they drive along, they trust they’ll be able to react and respond to everything that comes their way. Their ability to think on their feet, to change direction at will, and to let their intuition run free will take care of everything.

8- Fierce competitiveness

Entrepreneurs have an overwhelming desire to do what others will not, or cannot do. Just because they believe they can. They often have a real obsession about winning!

Of course, they can’t always win in their marketplace and even if they do, their ‘success formula’ will soon be replicated by existing or new competitors. So, the best entrepreneurs are always at work to learn from their failures and move on to their next competition!