5 Mindset Changes You Must Make When Going From Employee to Entrepreneur As one prominent author wrote, "Entrepreneurs don't finish when we are tired. We finish when we are done."
By Sujan Patel Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Thousands of people dream of the day they can quit their jobs and escape the 9-to-5 life. In fact, Gallup found that 87 percent of the employees it surveyed worldwide did not see themselves as engaged.
Related: 7 Lessons to Starting a Business
But quitting your job and starting your own business is only half the battle. You need to prepare to be an entrepreneur. Besides getting your finances in order and having a plan in place, you also need to prepare your mind.
Your habits dictate your success, and if you're still stuck in that 9-to-5 mindset, your endeavors will fail. You must adopt an entrepreneurial mindset and start thinking the way the world's top leaders do.
Being an entrepreneur is very different than being an employee, and the way you envision it may be completely off base. Here are five changes you must make to your thinking in order to prepare yourself for the realities of being an entrepreneur.
1. Train your mind to think outside the box.
Once you leave your office job, you're no longer confined by corporate life. That means you need to open your mind to new possibilities -- possibilities that may not have been an option in your old life.
In an article for TIME magazine, Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, said, "People will always try to stop you doing the right thing if it is unconventional." In short, others may not see your vision, but you can't let that stop you. You need to be creative with your business, offer something new and be different to be successful.
2. Develop both short-term and long-term vision.
Albert Einstein once told the New York Times, "A new type of thinking is essential if mankind is to survive and move toward higher levels."
That new type of thinking needs to be focused on a strategic goal. You must have a vision for your company -- an idea of where you're going and how you'll get there. As an entrepreneur, you are the leader of your company, and your team members are looking to you to show them the path to success.
What's your plan? You should be able to see the big picture as well as all of the steps it will take to reach your main goal. Then, you must communicate that vision to those on your team and ensure they each understand their individual roles in the plan.
3. Let it all fall on your shoulders.
Becoming an entrepreneur can be scary. Your success is now completely dependent on the work that you do. You can no longer fall back on a salary or benefits.
Related: 6 Questions All New Entrepreneurs Should Ask Themselves When Starting a Business
As an employee, if you had a bad day at work, you were still paid your salary, regardless. But as an entrepreneur, if your business isn't successful, you won't make any money. Plus, you now have others relying on you for their livelihood.
Ryan Farley is a typical example of corporate employee-turned-entrepreneur, quitting a fast-paced finance job to start lawn care marketplace LawnStarter Lawn Care. "I was used to working extremely long hours in the corporate finance world," Farley told me. "I thought that would have conditioned me well, but nothing can prepare you for this amount of stress.
"It's pretty common for founders to have the stress get so bad it affects your physical and mental health," Farley continued. "But you have to press on, and you're better off for it." Prominent entrepreneurs like Brad Feld and Mark Suster, have expressed similar sentiments.
Working for yourself also means you need to be your own motivator. You no longer have a boss hounding you to get your work done. You need to stay organized and focused, and you're going to have to be comfortable with hard work and long hours.
4. Get ready to be a jack of all trades.
As an entrepreneur, you can't say "That's not my job." Every job is your job now. There's no one else to pick up the slack but you. You need to make sure everything in your business continues to run on track, and that may mean doing work you aren't used to doing. You may need to be the accounting department, IT, marketing and more in addition to leading your company.
Entrepreneurs wear many different hats and are constantly learning new skills and working hard. If you think becoming an entrepreneur means you get to sit back and kick your feet up, you'd better stick to your day job.
As entrepreneur, author and investor Robert Kiyosaki has written on Twitter, "Entrepreneurs don't finish when we are tired. We finish when we are done."
5. Be flexible, focused and positive
Attitude is everything in business. You can't let challenges get in the way of your dream. Entrepreneurs need to be optimistic and stay focused on their goals. Your passion must drive you.
Related: 7 Myths About Starting a Business That I Used to Believe
As Steve Jobs once said in an interview with the Smithsonian Institution, "Unless you have a lot of passion about this, you're not going to survive. You're going to give it up. So, you've got to have an idea, or a problem or a wrong that you want to right that you're passionate about; otherwise you're not going to have the perseverance to stick it through. I think that's half the battle right there."
What are your tips for making the transition from employee to entrepreneur? Let me know in the comments below:
