Developing an Entrepreneurial mindset Part Five

entrepreneurial mindset

In American culture, we often try to lump people into various groups according to their money and finances, such as the “rich and famous” or the “poor and mistreated.” If observe the media, you'll see that it seems to either idolize wealth or look down on it. There are television shows geared toward winning millions, and others aimed at tearing apart those who have millions!

There are also many common expressions around the pursuit of money and wealth, such as, “It takes money to make money.” There are many ads that “promote” money, like, “No interest until June, 2020,” or, “No Credit? No problem! We love credit challenges”...sure, at 25% interest!

See if you can fill in the blanks here. “Money is the root of all

                      ,” or, “It's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get into   .”

Some people have a deep-seated belief that if they made a lot of money, something bad will happen. I often hear clients say things like, “If I make a lot of money, I might lose it,” or, “What will my friends and family think if I make more money than them?”

Many obstacles stand in the way of our making money, but I think fear is one of the largest ones, for it prevents us from taking action. The mind's primary job is survival, so it will try to protect us, even if it's actually hurting us or holding us captive in our comfort zones. Our financial comfort zones are in direct proportion to our beliefs about money. So, when it comes to overcoming fear, it's important to focus on our goals and what we are trying to achieve. Try to see fear as a great motivator.

I think Mark Twain coined fear well when he said, “I have been afraid of many horrible things happening in my life, some of which actually came true.” At the end of the day, fear is what we make of it. The late, great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to use an acronym for fear: False Evidence Appearing Real!

It isn't necessary to rid yourself of fear to succeed—it’s just important to learn how to make fear work for you. One key is learning how to act in spite of fear; this skill can only be mastered through practice.

The first step toward moving out of fear and into success is knowing what it is that you want and then making the decision to go out and get it. After that, train your mindset to be able to receive. As you practice these three steps, you will start to see wealth come your way.

Self-doubt will be a challenge for you throughout this process. For example, I had a client who was incredibly afraid of running out of money (regardless of his large amount of assets). One day, he just gotten out of chemo therapy. He looked like he'd been through a fight. I brought up an offer for the sale of one of his rental properties that was $10,000 less than what he was asking. He didn't want to yield and accept, even though he had plenty of equity in the property and it was a really clean offer. I told him that the buyers really wanted to buy the house, but they didn’t have enough money to go any higher.

I told him the house was causing a lot of stress in his life and he really needed to focus on getting better. Yet, he asked me, “How could you be so cruel to push a sick man into a sale?” I told him, “I care about your wellbeing and the difference in the price won't make an impact in your finances. But continuing to own the house could negatively impact your health.” Even though he was mad, he accepted the offer. We both learned a lesson that day.

Remember this: the difference between “poor” and “broke” is that broke is a state of your bank account, whereas poor is a state of mind. There are many people with large bank accounts who feel poor mentally. I also happen to know a lot of people who have very little money yet carry with them the influence of the rich. If we don’t develop the discipline of happiness and success while we are still building our wealth, we probably won’t have happiness and the feeling of success later, either. When you begin to develop an entrepreneur's mindset, it’s important that you continue to re-access your beliefs and make sure that they match up with your goals.

Everyone defines financial independence differently. Some people might need $10 million before they would say they are “financially free.” For others, that freedom point might be one million dollars. One of my favorite definitions of financial independence is that “financial independence is when your passive income pays for your desired standard of living or lifestyle.” We all have different goals and desires, so we need to continually take a personal inventory of our values and the lifestyles we want to live. We can then build a financial foundation that will support it.

 

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