5 ways to get out of that “job” mentality when starting a business

Pamela Slim has a great post titled ‘5 ways to get out of "job" mentality when starting a business‘ which is recommended reading for anyone starting a business or anyone who has moved into their own business after being employed.  This distinction may seem a bit artificial but I have learned that it is important to remember that starting your own business doesn’t automatically wash away the legacy of being employed.

I have been running my own practice for over a year now and I often become aware of a lingering "job" mentality which I see as an important challenge to meet if I am to truly succeed as an entrepreneur.  Anyway, here are Pamela’s five ways to escape that mentality:

1. Start with "What kind of work am I meant to do?", not "What kind of business should I start?"
2. Forget about permanence.
3. Operate in a state of confident ignorance.
4. Blow away your traditional thoughts of salary expectations.
5. Be very open to firing yourself.

It is important to remember that being employed in a job brings with it a certain mentality.  As an employee become accustomed to security of the job (as much as we could have) and a sense of permanence that is only disrupted if we lose our jobs or if we change our jobs in some way.  Being an entrepreneur means removing the foundation of employment that has supported us for so long and the sense of security that support brought with it and learning to fly (and fall) with increasing frequency.  As Pamela puts it:

When you start your own business, it is tempting to look at it as you would an employee job.  You may believe that there is one definitive business that will bring you health, happiness, wealth, fame and a really hot babe by your side.  Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.
The process of becoming a true, serial, (good) crazy entrepreneur is to view the world as a series of experiments.  Instead of a subject matter expert, you want to become an expert in experimentation.  And you want to plan on failing, falling on your face a few times, if for nothing else than to have a great story to tell your adoring stockholders and fans when you finally ring the bell at the opening of the New York Stock Exchange.  Part of what makes Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad success so great is his self-admitted hubris and failure at his first start-up business.

So start working on those ways to escape that "job" mentality today and truly express yourself as the entrepreneur you know you are!

Tags: job, mindset, entrepreneur, rich dad, pamela slim