What Is the Set of Your Mind - Employee or Entrepreneur?

Mindset. I was struck last week by how drastic the difference between how an employee and an entrepreneur think. It affects their actions, comfort level, what they value and their risk profile. Although I love my job for the aspects that have to do with creative relationship and systems building, I have strong entrepreneurial tendencies as a freelancer, real estate investor, network marketer and online marketer for many years. Also, I see having multiple streams of income (one of which is my job) as safer than just having a job.

An employee wants a steady, stable job to pay the bills and feel safe. If the money from one job is not enough, they will probably get a second. If they can, they put any extra money aside for savings, college education for the kids, retirement, vacation or maybe a car (not so essential in NYC where I am). They want to be paid as much as they can negotiate and these days, most people stay at a job two years, then move on, leveraging their income and status up with each move (or at least that’s the idea when it works). They like the structure of going to a workplace each day and interacting with other people in a structured workflow, of having medical benefits and, sometimes, even a 401K. They look forward to retirement when they will have time to spend with family and friends, maybe travelling or pursuing a hobby.

An entrepreneur wants time and financial freedom as quickly as possible and is willing to exert significant time and money resources upfront to accomplish that. They don’t work comfortably for other people and are impatient with corporate politics and ineffective teamwork. These are business owners, real estate investors, freelancers by choice (not circumstances), stock and futures traders, franchisees, online marketers, network marketers and consultants to name a few. They are always looking to add to their skills because it makes them more marketable. Their cashflow tends to be variable and some businesses can take 2-5 years before they show a profit. They have a strong stomach for risk and certainty that, at the end of the failures, they will succeed. They must have strong internal certainty that, if they invest focused attention on building their enterprise, it will pay off. Sometimes, they are ahead of the curve and an idea that could (and often does) succeed later, fails. After all, until the Walkman, nobody knew that portable music was an essential element for a rich quality of life. There’s a book called Blue Ocean Strategy about creating new paradigms for business that make the competition irrelevant. Amazing!

Yes, I know these are generalizations and there is more to it than that. So what does your mindset tell you about who you are inherently – an employee or an entrepreneur? Are you happy and fulfilled with your current mindset? As an employee or entrepreneur, how can you expand your possibilities? When will you start? NOW would be good...

Success Is Not Just About the Cash

I went to an amazing seminar put on by the New York Entrepreneurs Business Network (NYEBN) in NYC about how to have our vendor table crowded with clamoring customers. Jessica of Shani Marketing gave specific tips about attraction marketing so I tried them out AND THEY WORK!!! Among other things, I made up a questionnaire about people’s lives asking specific questions to see if what my partner, Janet Cook, and I offer might help them accomplish specific health or wealth goals like having more natural energy, better nutrition, releasing toxins, restful sleep or extra income.

This questioning style worked well for me because I felt like Janet cared about what I wanted and was interested in helping me boost my energy in my second half century of life (as my brothers so kindly mentioned). As a welcome side effect, I have also let go of 14 pounds since March 20th. Wahoo! I really enjoy discovering who people are and celebrating what makes each one special. I am endlessly curious and remember small facts about people’s lives for ages. I share what is working for me as I would share a fantastic book or movie so I am unattached to the ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and the relationship stays intact. As a result, people are joining our team and buying the products but it’s out of the caring not pushing a sale for cash. Doing what comes naturally…

Business Partnership at its Best

Partnership at its best… my business partner, Janet Cook, and I complement each other in that we are like and unlike each other. We are alike in our passion for helping people, learning new skills, being entrepreneurs and loving life. We both appreciate how magnificent people are and look for it. For us, the glass is always half full, even in the face of circumstances that might say otherwise, like bill collectors or a broken furnace. We dream and act to reach those dreams. People close to us have said at times that we are unrealistic (or even a little crazy). But we aren’t.

We are unlike each other in that Janet is more outgoing and I have to deliberately be accessible. Naturally, I am shy and could happily sit in a corner and read. But I can’t have the voice I want in the world if I don’t learn to interact in crowds, even when I am uncomfortable. I am married 14 years to an amazing artist, David, and Janet dates so I live vicariously on that front. I had almost forgotten about the dating world. Janet is more playful and I am more serious, tall and I am short. I am great with marketing, systems and online tools. She has owned successful businesses, including now. I have a job with businesses on the side. She is more organized about prospecting, following up and closing. I struggle to fit all my activities into my schedule. We complement each other, learn together, are brilliant models for each other, and consider ourselves lucky in our business partnership. Who are your business partners and what, together, do you bring to the relationship?

Here I Am, Stuck in the Middle With You

Bills to the left of you, paycheck to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you… OK, so I changed the song a little. Have you ever had a time when you stacked up the bills (lots of them) and the single check that’s meant to cover them and, despite your best efforts, there is just not enough income? Me too. What is the solution? Consider getting another job or two, online or work from home business, real estate, hobby, Craigslist or eBay?

Try another solution instead. You can still go back to those other options later, if you like. Think of and list your talents… do you cook like a chef, knit fast and easily, read or write exceptionally well, twitter, market, do graphic design, shop, do spiritual healing or feng shui? What is your transferable skill set from your work or business? What are your marketable hobbies? What are you passionate about that could be another way to earn income?

Now here’s the game. Add up the bills so you have an exact number then subtract your income to figure out the money gap needed to pay them all (sigh of relief). Then look at your list of marketable skills and talents. Take each one and figure out how, with that single skill or talent, you can make the extra money you need. At the end of the exercise, if you have a list of 10, you will have generated strategies for earning or generating 10 times the amount you need. Why bother, you ask? In a serious and perhaps unnerving moment, this game incites your natural resourcefulness that fear might have shut down. I have negotiated my way out of a lot of tight spots this way. Try it for yourself and let me know how it works for you.

Do It With A Friend

Only Where Love and Need Are One...

“Only where love and need are one and the work is play for mortal stakes. Is the deed ever really done for Heaven and the future’s sakes.” Robert Frost wrote that and I have been thinking lately about what it means practically. My grandfather, whom I love dearly, is 98 years old, sharp as a tack, so I am very aware of mortality these days.

Need drives many of my actions and probably yours too – need to pay the bills, work at a job(s) or business(es), spend time with family and much more. I notice that love gets left out when I am focused on need but, in the world perception, need is a more legitimate reason for most actions. Why is that? How did they become separated? You see, I think what the Robert Frost quote means is that love and need are two sides of a whole and so are work and play. But we don’t live like that is true, do we? I see this quote as a path to wholeness and balance. I invite you to focus on love in your work and play and I suspect need will come along for the ride. Let’s experiment. It might be FUN!