How to create a founder’s mindset
Shorten the feedback loop to make an impact faster.
If you wish to be inspired with platitudes of “living your dreams,” this article isn’t for you.
Instead, this is goes into what’s underneath the mindset of a Founder so you can control the cause and effect of your impact precisely and intelligently.
It’s about what it takes to create a company founder’s iconic mindset especially if you are transitioning from corporate leadership.
Create momentum and movement, from the highest part of you all the way to where it matters…on the ground through your business model, forecasts, and strategies.
Blow out of old constructs to build new ones by refining your mindset.
It’s a business, not a career
I’m always surprised that I have to say this: You are running a business but you are not the business.
At its essence, you are creating momentum for something that comes from you but is not you.
Do not carry your corporate mindset and title to your business. These were never your identity.
Here are some mindsets that I’ve found helpful to Founders.
The mindset of beginning
Everything starts with one step…a decision from the array of choices in front of you.
Decide what it is that you are here to do.
It is the hardest, scariest thing to do.
Suddenly, “beginning” moves from the arm’s distance of an organizational annual business plan to be implemented by someone else…
…to something deeply meaningful that’s close to your heart.
While it may seem natural to hide this first step until it’s perfect, I know of no such thing as perfection in business or life.
There’s only beginning. Do it smartly.
Do the heavy lifting now while you still have a job.
logistical, business entity, legal and financial infrastructure setup.
beta test your services or prototype your products while you have income flowing in.
get real-world feedback about what’s valuable, what works early.
save money so you have enough time and space until you create it on your own.
These have a steep learning curve and cost so do it while you have some income flow.
It’s nearly impossible to create something well when the desperation, pressure, and anxiety of survival are biting you.
Beginning is just that.
It is not perfection. It’s learning to be comfortable with adapting as you grow.
It’s not losing your shit with overwhelm. It’s mastering the balance of doing multiple things at the same time that move you closer to a focused end goal.
It’s not about staying stuck in your head. It’s about changing lives now, starting with yours.
The mindset of defining value
Knowing your personal values isn’t a nice-to-have, a “I’ll get to it when I have traction”.
Values form the foundation of the value you offer, mold your unique business model, fuel how you go to market, and inform what your branding presence is.
They
seed the ripple of the impact you will make in the world.
give meaning to what you do so your actions are on purpose, deliberate, and thought through that move you from Now to Next.
are the undercurrent of the value you offer and how you price it.
Without them, you’re bound to turn a wheel over and over randomly…limply wishing and hoping instead of committing with all that you are.
The luxury, complacency, and safety of the corporate harbor are relinquished the moment you hand in your ID badge and begin navigating into the deep sea of business ownership.
Your values become your anchor, compass, and guiding star.
The mindset of being relevant
Running a business is very different than working for one.
Your relevance shifts dramatically in these two contexts.
In one, you make a stand; in the other, it is created for you.
Your platform becomes the thing you stake your flag in so others can see how relevant you are to them.
It respects, not controls, people’s ability to decide if they align with you and want to stand with you.
What you stand for (or what you can’t stand) informs the essence of who you partner with for the logistical details (website, legal entity, etc.) so that you remain aligned within your start-up, stand-out phase.
You draw the straight line that prevents compromises (that have a way to come back with a bite, usually financially).
Do not parrot lazily the language of others unless you want them to tune them out.
Find your voice of relevance and use it in every aspect of your business.
The mindset of being significant
We can’t do business with you unless we know you’re open for business.
Be ready to stand up and be seen. Believe what you offer is so significant, you’d place your life on it.
Be ready to stand alone. Revisit your values when you need to know how vital this is.
It’s common for the confidence and competency in corporate life to suddenly slip away because the genuine part of yourself that makes your life significant was tucked away and hidden.
Find the common denominator of what you see as significant in humanity and weave that into your business.
Your significance to others elevates when you see them as significant.
Nobody cares as much as you do…yet
Ouch.
You are taking responsibility to either make what exists better OR create something new.
Founders usually touch on something people don’t even know they need in either case.
People need to know you before they care about what you care about.
Make it easy for them. Make it joyful for yourself.
Pull your vision out of your head and into reality.
The mindset of navigation
With an end destination in mind, there is no better map than one that honors how you’ll get there.
Infuse gratitude into how you sequence your resources as you monetize the path from Visibility to Influence to Scale. This ensures your dashboard stays green in:
time (how you define what is worthwhile),
money (how you give and receive it),
people (how you ally with your network, team, partners),
technology (how you mechanize)
visibility (how you engage and impress)
structure (how you process your business end to end).
Pen the course.
Cast your resources into the future (forecast) by starting at the desired outcome(s) then planning your work backward.
Track the interplay between your resources weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually.
Adopt flexibility to get help if you need it or end engagements that pull you off course without blame or shame (siphons to gratitude).
You are at the helm of a nimble boat now instead of a lumbering corporate container ship.
The mindset of consequence
When I was a consultant, I knew precisely the effectiveness, efficiency, and consequence of my work because I tracked my progress down to the quarter of an hour.
Every effort was on point to fulfill the desired outcome within the agreed-upon timeline.
Each conversation became focused and enhanced by my ability to read people’s resistance and guide them over their speedbumps.
These intangible variables, like changing someone’s life or mindset, are not always easily captured by data but point to how important ‘how” you do business is.
A substantial change will be coming to the financial system.
Become attuned now to how you create consequence in the new currency as the old one of domination, manipulation, and control runs in parallel.
Your mindset of integrity, honesty, and service at the root designates you as one of the new currency pathmakers for others to follow.
The mindset of richness
Here we go.
For most people, richness equals money.
It is widely believed it is the whole purpose of business whether you own it or work in someone else’s.
A lot of time and energy goes into making it. A lot of meaning is given to it. A lot of survival is tied to it. A lot of expectations weigh upon it. A lot of wishes are cast upon it. A lot of limitations are blamed for it. A lot of worth is identified in it. A lot of desperation clings to it. A lot of strife, competition, friction is attributed to it.
A lot of power is unquestionably given to it.
I have not met or worked with one person who has a straight story about it including me.
Formed by your values, what makes you rich, beyond and including money, is fast-tracked to you when you get straight and honest about the stories that money has to tell you.
You can grind your way towards it but if you do, how is this better than working for corporate?
Find the essence underneath what money does for you…NOW.
Most commonly, people seek the essence of fun, playfulness, variety, freedom, happiness, space/opportunity, time experiences, respect, recognition, health and exploration, and so on.
Few associate these with the essence of money. Why would it come to you easily then if there is no alignment with what you really want?
If you do not find the richness you seek in this present time, you will not have them when money comes to you.
And then you’ll ask, “What was the whole point? Was it really worth it?”
I have seen it far too often. Unwind that story now entangled with your dignity, relations, identity, esteem, and purpose so it can finally be liberated and aligned with you.
Be the same with it as you are without it flowing in.
Be prepared to turn away business that, in the long run, will cost you more than any profit achieved.
Stay in integrity as you pull the levers of people’s aspirations (or what they currently lack) by embodying it first yourself.
The mindset of reflectivity
How you see the world is how it sees you. It’s your filtered lens. Make it clean and clear by being clean and clear in your business.
This is the reflectivity of your brand, its experience of it found in how you relate and connect with others…at the heart.
Business is done person to person. If you are a B2B, remember that people comprise all businesses.
People are buying “you,” as inappropriate as that sounds.
You are the brand at its most iconic, eye-level that people relate to, value, and secretly aspire to.
You are not your business, as stated before, but you are the best PR, truest representation of it.
You are the hallmark of what you stand for. Make it easy for others to stand with you.
You know their gaps that wish to be filled and because of that, they trust you because you “know.”
This goes underneath any USP, artfully designed logo, tagline, etc. straight to the root of what makes brands iconic.
Have the confidence to amplify what you stand for in others. They will echo you in ways that can match or exceed paid advertising.
Your reflectivity, based on your values, automatically becomes mutually beneficial.
Trust it to
allure the right people in a synergistic way that conserves your time and energy.
create an inflection point where people trust themselves enough to trust you.
Line up your brand so your opportunities and connections line up with you.
Honor your value
The mindset of generosity
Balance your prosperity by how you receive and share your riches.
There’s a difference between giving for free and endlessly baiting with free.
One grows wealth while the other cheapens it.
You train people to believe they cannot afford you if you habitually discount, and when you’re successful by proving your worth for free, they will never pay you.
Signal to the world that you believe in your own worth which is a reflection of how worthy you are to receive it.
The mindset of seamless trust
Show yourself in such a real way that people trust themselves to show up for you.
Don’t talk about authenticity, be it. (Your values will inform your true identity.)
Be consistent in your own thought to make it seamless.
The days of trusting hidden figures ended years ago so be the same online as you are offline.
People are overwhelmed by surprises, by the uncertainty and uncontrollability of life.
Be their relief by making it easy for them to know what to expect from you.
Infuse the essence of that type of delight in the seamless ease into all of your business’ touchpoints.
Remove caution signs to trust you.
Your business is about “them,” not you so if you are seeking fulfillment and significance, find it elsewhere (revisit your values). Do not place that burden on them.
The mindset of a sustainable internal ecosystem
It takes a lot of time and energy to start something.
Please note that I did not say “hard work” because words matter as blessings to enchant or curses to entrap.
People talk a lot about self-care in corporate but the reality is, you are going to be focused and working like a machine.
Build meaning into your day. Answer the question when doing anything, “So what? Why should I care? What’s this mean to me?”
Answering that will fasttrack the same answers your customers seek.
It is the battery, the propellant, that refills you every day with the resilience to keep going.
You may not find enough time to meditate or walk-in nature but if you bring your highest value into everything you do, you’ll be less likely to crash and burn or take lessons personally,
Be ready and steady.
The mindset of clarity
Clarity is not punishment especially when it comes from having to adjust.
Sharpshooters require precision and often achieve it by calculated, iterative adjustments. They call it MOA or Minute of Angle.
When you need to hit a target, build in space for the grace to micro-adjust without taking it as an affront.
There are so many changing dynamics in the world marketplace that affect the people who live in it.
To adapt Yoda’s words, there is no trying in business. There is only the all-in, skin-in-the-game of doing. Make it deeply meaningful and purposeful each step of the way so no matter what, you get more than what you put in.
Celebrate success as it happens instead of being surprised or disappointed in the end.
View “failures” as objective (not personal) MOAs and get the gold quickly by doing a SWOT. Learn what worked, what didn’t, and what minute adjustments are needed.
The echo chamber of support you enjoyed in corporate has morphed into the one you create for yourself.
Growth, success, and clarity is a process. It’s life in the context of business. Be grateful that you are living it fully.
The mindset of expecting the unexpected
Unlike corporate where the business year is fixed within a grind and drive context, be open to evolving naturally in your own way.
Jumping from one construct, especially if you spent your entire career in it, into another requires new learning and skills and applying what you know in unexpected ways.
Every one of my business clients realizes that their Founder’s journey is supposed to be fingerprint specific.
Every story about fear, scarcity, and triumph will come to visit. Let it open a door of curiosity instead.
There is magic in these openings.
So while being accountable and respectful for every aspect of it, expect to receive and learn in surprising ways.
Perhaps for the first time, you find yourself in YOUR roadmap and life.
There are no guidelines or signposts because you haven’t written yet.
Your personal development and mindset have now surpassed every single online course or book out there.
Get a coach or mentor to help you write it. I have found it is nearly impossible to do it alone.
Individual achievement is praised in corporate and you also know the value of teams.
Build yours.
Now, it’s time to go. I mean, for you to get started.
If you want the Founder’s Mindset or refine an aspect of it, reach out to me at joy@oneripple.net. I specialize in helping people jump to their next level of Vision, Impact, Purpose.