by It’s no secret that you can pretty much google anything you need to figure out your next step in business. With the internet at our fingertips, we have unlimited resources – free and paid – to learn just about anything we want in order to be successful.
I always say, “When we say we feel stuck where we are, it isn’t because we don’t know what to do, it’s because our business mindset is holding us back” and that’s exactly what this article is about.
Your business mindset
As an introverted business owner, I’ve had to do a lot of growth – and continue to do so. Including marketing my business, being comfortable with increasing my visibility and what I share.
At first, my mindset fought me every step of the way. I would procrastinate, self-sabotage and get obsessed with tweaking my website. I’d spend hours on a social media post and avoid pitching myself to the media or other publications.
In short, I was so nervous and afraid of showing up more, I kept my business a best-kept secret for years. It was only when I started to DIY my business mindset, that I began to have more and more success.
I started reaching my goals, got completely out of debt and now I have a consistent abundant monthly income.
Being an introvert in business
As an introvert, there may be aspects of your business that call on you to show up in ways that you’re not entirely comfortable with. It may be slowing you down from hitting your goals and reaching new levels of success.
For many of us, it can feel uneasy to share so much on social media. Stressful to ask people to invest in services or products. Or overwhelming to have a regular networking strategy where you start conversations cold turkey – even if you’re a natural at small talk.
No matter where you are in business, right now there might be something that you’re resisting doing. Either the next step you need to take, the post you need to publish, or the email you need to send.
The good news is when you work on your business mindset you can get yourself unstuck and take that next step to bigger things.
The 5-DIY questions
It starts by asking yourself a series of questions to get a better understanding of where your mindset is. Think of it like taking your mental and emotional temperature.
I recommend that you grab a piece of paper and something to write with. Don’t resist it – because that’s how you’ll get the most out of this exercise.
Question #1
What are your feelings about your business and the money you’re making right now? Good, bad, or ugly?
Jot down a few phrases or single words.
Question #2
Now flip it – what would you like to see happen for you with your business and money?
Think short term and long term goals, letting yourself dream big.
Question #3
When you sit down to take action on making that change become reality, what stops you?
Look at what habits and patterns come up to sabotage you.
Question #4
What does that bring up for you? When you look at that sabotage, what thoughts, feelings or beliefs come up?
We’re looking to find the WHY behind it happening for you.
Question #5
When you have what you want, what becomes possible for you and your business?
Switch from looking at the negative consequences to the positive outcomes.
This exercise is designed to help you hit pause on the collective mindsets that could be holding you back or slowing you down from taking that next step.
The next step
It’s perfectly normal to feel uncomfortable as you’re growing in business, but when that discomfort turns to fear, it becomes a problem. That problem then has the potential to keep you stuck and struggling.
By answering these 5 questions, you’ll recenter your thoughts and get connected back to your goals. You’ll uncover any hidden beliefs about what you want that could be creating negative habits and patterns in your life.
Once you’ve answered them, the next step is to create a new pattern that will support and motivate you to reach your goals.
A 5-minute morning
Think of your business mindset like your teeth – every day you need to brush and floss to keep them healthy and happy. If you skip a day, your teeth will create a negative and harmful environment that affects everything you do that day – until you brush them to fix it.
In the same way, you want to spend time every day working on your business mindset, so it stays healthy and doesn’t create problems for you to go back and solve.
Every morning, you’ll want to run through a series of DIY affirmations that transform your mindset and motivate you to reach the goals that you have. Use your answers to the 5-DIY questions to help get you started and let it build from there.
Your business mindset affirmation
My favourite way to create an affirmation is to approach it by stating the negative mindset or action and then follow it up with a positive affirmation of safety.
Your goal might be to increase your audience reach and convert 3 clients this month. You plan to do it by doubling your posts of customer-focused content and then sharing it every day.
However, you’ve uncovered some fear, worry and sabotage around it. So, you’ll want to address the negative mindset and reinforce that it’s the right next step for you.
How to set it up
It’d be something like this:
“Even though I feel stuck sabotaging my business and money and I worry about my marketing not working. I deeply and completely love and accept myself. I know it’s safe for me to make more offers and show up in all the ways I want to.”
It addresses all points in your business mindset: the sabotage, the fear, the acceptance and the goal.
By giving voice to the fear, you take away its power. Then by affirming that it’s something that you don’t need to stress about, you give yourself an opportunity to take action. Instead of being paralyzed in shame, frustration and self-anger.
Repeat your affirmation as many times as you need until you feel your body start to release the tension and stress from bringing it up – with repetition comes great results.
When to practice
The best time to work on your business mindset is first thing in the morning. For some of us, we’ll need to combine our DIY mindset with our morning shower, workout, breakfast, drive to work, etc.
If you have space and time, go ahead and create 5-minutes every morning where you just focus on your mindset and nothing else. But if you need to do a double task to get it done then that’s how it’ll work best for you. How it happens isn’t important, what’s important is that it happens and keeps your mindset healthy.
Your 5 ways to anchor
What are your goals for your business this month? Do you have a set amount of income you want, clients to work with or products to sell?
I ask because so many of us forget to set goals that are specific and incremental that will get us to the larger vision that we’re working towards. Whether your mind is naturally wired for details or big picture, it’s important to train yourself to see the steps leading up to the destination.
Your business mindset goals
As an introvert, you probably don’t need to shout to the rooftops your goals for your life and business. It’s quite possible that even writing them down for yourself feels a bit risky or exposing – I used to feel that way.
But the longer I was in business, the more I realized how easy it was to get caught up in the day to day tasks and forget my goals for that month. Weeks could go by of being ‘busy’ without actually moving forward.
Why anchoring works
That’s why when it comes to creating your business mindset, you need to make sure that your goals are readily readable, accessible and memorable.
It’s called ‘anchoring’ and it’s a way of keeping your goals on your mind. All so you can break through sabotaging behaviours and stay connected to the results instead of the fear.
How to anchor it
- Set up a phone alert to automatically pop up every day with your goals for you to read.
- Build a vision board – in-person or on Pinterest – of pictures of your goals.
- Get a candle and light it often that has a smell you associate with your goals.
- Set your computer password to your goals so you have to write it every day.
- Record your voice saying your goals out loud and listen to it every day.
Everyone has a different learning style and a way that resonates the most with them. If you want to really double down on helping yourself reach your goals, do all 5 anchors to infuse those new beliefs with multiple areas in your environment.
I believe in throwing everything at it when it comes to creating the best strategy to DIY your business mindset for success.
Creating your success
You’ll notice that it will become easy to work on your mindset when you spend a few minutes finding what you want, setting your goal reminders and then creating your affirmations.
Use the how-to’s above to answer those questions about your business mindset to set the stage to create more success. As an introvert, you have incredible introspective power and a unique way of showing up that the world needs.
You can show up exactly as you are and be, do and have all that you want in this life. It starts by creating the right business mindset, and giving yourself the opportunity to keep taking the next step forward and create more success in your life and business.
