It’s the 4th quarter of 2019! Some of you are prepared, you saw it coming and planned accordingly. For most entrepreneurs and small business owners, you are behind the eight ball. You see the end of the year coming and you are a bit panicked. The end of the year means the beginning of the new year. A new year means planning, strategizing and preparing for what you want to accomplish. That planning needs to start now.
If thinking about this stresses you out and makes you feel panicked, take a deep breath and calm down. You can still finish the year strong and plan well for the new year. You’ve got the tools, the know-how and have a network of people to help you.
There you go. You have just been empowered. You have the permission to make the end of 2019 strong for your business along with the confidence that you can kill it in 2020.
To be empowered, based on the dictionary definition is:
give (someone) the authority or power to do something.
make (someone) stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.
Others can empower you but you can empower yourself, by being stronger and more confident in claiming your own success and realizing you have the power to do it. This is already within you. You only need to open the toolbox and use the tools. Your Empowered Toolbox includes the following:
Abundant Thinking
“Over the years, I have noticed that there are two kinds of thinking. One kind leads to success, joy, and fulfillment. The other leads to failure, fear, and discontent.” - Michael Hyatt
Best-selling author Michael Hyatt believes that for people to be successful they need to be abundant thinkers. Characteristics of abundant thinkers include:
There is more where that came from.
Want to share ideas, knowledge, contacts, etc.
Can easily build relationships through trust.
Embrace competition.
Deliver more than expected.
Are optimistic.
Think big and take risks.
Are confident and appreciative.
Plain and simple, your abundant thinking tool is the foundation to the success of all the other tools in your toolbox. This is a complex tool that is tied to mindset. The thoughts that travel throughout your brain can make or break the way all the tools in your empowered toolbox work. If you want joy, success and fulfillment as an entrepreneur, utilize abundant thinking.
If you struggle to get this tool working, seek help. There are thousands of high-quality, trained coaches that focus on mastering mindset right at your fingertips. Ask friends or colleagues for a referral, tap into LinkedIn, Google it, or send our team an email and we will refer you to one of our trusted advisors; connect@ensemblecoworking.com.
Learn as You Go
There is no way to know everything you need to know about what you are trying to accomplish in your business from one month to the next. Heck, even one day to the next. As a baby, you needed to learn to crawl before you could walk, before you could run, jump or swing on a swing. You cannot fly without trying to fly, trying different things to help you fly. Some will work, some won’t. To learn what will work, you will need to learn what doesn’t.
As an entrepreneur, it’s a constant process of learning new things, testing them in your business, pivoting, learning something new, trying that, realizing that didn’t work, and so on and so on. The process repeats. You will constantly be learning as you go.
If you think you are done learning, you are done. Period. The business world is ever changing and even more so today. Learning as you go is a part of an entrepreneur’s journey but it is also a incredible tool in your toolbox that empowers you.
When you attack a challenge in your business that requires research, reading, training or teaches you a valuable lesson, you are empowering yourself as an entrepreneur. Learning is empowerment. It will give you more confidence to make better decisions when the next challenge arises.
What do you need to learn or what do you want to learn? This is at your fingertips also. The internet has made any topic you need to learn about accessible in the tap of the keyboard. Jump in. It’s all right there waiting for you.
Be a Problem Solver
The strength of this tool for you as an entrepreneur cannot be emphasized enough. The problem solver tool must be used all the time. Business is a one big puzzle to be solved. In fact, on a daily basis, you will face multiple problems that need solutions.
You solve problems for your clients. That’s why you went into business in the first place. You have a solution to one or more pain points of your customers. You know how to solve problems for others. That comes natural. Use those same skills on your business.
This is about critical thinking. It’s easy when a problem arises, to turn to a coworker, colleague, or boss and seek their help. Sometimes that is even necessary. More often than not, you have the answer within you. Stop and take the time to analyze the problem. Reverse the steps that caused the problem and you will find the issue or the root. Then take a different path. Critically think about what you are trying to accomplish and you will solve the problem. Don’t give up either. There are always more than one way to get something done. Keep trying, and remember to learn ar you go.
Critical thinking does not come natural to everyone. But that’s all right. You can learn critical thinking skills. In an article written on College Info Geek, the author simplifies critical thinking into this definition:
Critical thinking is just deliberately and systematically processing information so that you can make better decisions and generally understand things better.
He further explains ways to critically think about information include:
Conceptualizing
Analyzing
Synthesizing
Evaluating
That information can come from sources such as:
Observation
Experience
Reflection
Reasoning
Communication
And all this is meant to guide:
Beliefs
Action
Critical thinking is about being a problem solver. To solve problems, you need to think deliberately. When the problem arises, stop and think deliberately.
Initiate Action
As empowered entrepreneurs, you don’t wait around for permission to from others to do something. You take action. This ties into being a problem solver. When a challenge arises, you take action. When an opportunity arises, you take action. When you have an idea, take action.
To act on a new idea, you first need to believe in yourself, have the confidence to proceed with learning what you need to know to make it happen. Then you take what you have learned and try to fly with it. You then assess, reflect, reason, evaluate what happened (critical thinking and problem solving), in order to take further action.
Action needs to be now, not later. Don’t over think an opportunity. You know the saying you snooze you lose. Don’t wait until you have all the I’s dotted or the T’s crossed because you can miss out. As an empowered entrepreneur, you will sometimes need learn as you go when you take initial action. You don’t always have time to wait to learn all the things you don’t know that you don’t know.
Go. Jump. Take action. Don’t wait for anyone else to tell you that your idea is good. Trust yourself. Trust your gut. You know all too often what to do. There is a little voice in your head that wants approval from someone else, to get a head nod from others BUT you know what you need to do. It’s all right inside you.
You are empowered. You have the tools. Use them. Empower yourself and take action today!
Ensemble is a collaborative business community and coworking space in Fort Worth, Texas. We offer busy entrepreneurs, small businesses and remote workers a warm and welcoming place to be productive, to connect and collaborate while being part of a community.