Success Advice
The 4 Common Mindsets Of a Losing Entrepreneur
I get it. You’re new to business, just started your own company, and your day-to-day feeling is a mixture of reckless excitement with every sale and nauseous anxiety with every missed opportunity. Your brain’s racing and you voice your concerns to anyone who will listen. As a marketing consultant with more than a half decade of experience, I’m here to tell you that while your current beliefs are valid, they’re absolutely unnecessary to succeed in business.
For the past few months, I’ve been coaching new entrepreneurs on how to start their own businesses. With every question asked and every excuse lodged I’ve begun to see patterns.
Today, I’d like to list the four most common novice mindsets of the newbie businessperson and the alternative beliefs of success that will help you achieve your goals.
1. “I Pitched One Customer And He Didn’t Like My Product”
This is the doom-and-gloom newbie entrepreneur. If one customer call or one product launch doesn’t go well, all of a sudden “the entire business is on the chopping block, it’s in the wrong niche, woe is me”.
This novice businessman is obsessed with making assumptions about everything. This thinking is absolutely wrong. You don’t make assumptions about your niche, your product, or anything in your business until talking to a substantial amount of people. Without a large amount of data, you’re essentially throwing a dart at a wall with your eyes closed and saying you’re a terrible player at darts.
The advanced business owner takes each conversation as a small learning lesson to improve gradually. He or she sees it as an opportunity to refine their work after hearing some feedback, to better improve the screening capabilities of the company, and to gather proper data. The advanced entrepreneur doesn’t assume; the advanced entrepreneur learns from experience.
2. “I’ve Got My First/Fifth/Tenth Sale! Time For Vacation!”
A novice entrepreneur gets one, two, or even ten sales and thinks it’s a massive cause for celebration. Newbies find a few sales to be a sign that all goals for the company have been accomplished.
Someone who is successful in business and has been there before gets ten sales and thinks, “Oh! Maybe this is the real deal… a winning offer. I’m going to replicate this a million times over now”.
Advanced businesspeople know how rare it is to stumble upon a winning offer. It’s not an everyday occurrence and should be treated with respect.
Imagine how long it took you to get to the point of those first few sales. That’s just the beginning of your business. Amassing a truly thriving business takes a much longer time than a few closes so you can afford to go to the beach for a weekend.
Don’t set your goals so low. Ten sales is a good start, but there’s much more to come. When I got my first ten sales, all I thought was, “Okay, I’m on to something, I’ve got to replicate this a million times”. If I find something that works, I’ll have to replicate it and improve it for many years, not just months. That is the advanced mindset. And I’m committed to it.
Implement the following if you already have a business: take that part of your business which is already a winning offer and multiply it. Just spend a week, a month, or a year multiplying it. Later on, if you decide to automate parts of it, that’s fine, but for now, just start multiplying it. Do the work, multiply the results.
3. “My Clients Are Horrible”
There are many variants of this (“They flake”, “They’re lazy”, “They’re stupid”). What it comes down to is the novice entrepreneur is more focused on the problem in their head than the actual solution in the real world.
An advanced entrepreneur thinks, “Ouch! Someone flaked on me. How do I improve my sales funnel so fewer clients disappear so quickly?” The experienced businessperson also consults peers, Googles industry literature on the topic, and plans methods to improve for the future.
If your clients don’t have the proper mindset to succeed, teach them the correct one. It’s perfectly acceptable to elicit new behaviors and thought patterns from the people paying you to help them improve. It’s a common practice in businesses of all kinds. Even if you’re just delivering a product (instead a service), you can release it in an educational manner and gear it towards the ideal mindsets you want your customers to have.
4. “It’s Working For Someone Else, But Not Me”
This could also be called the “They’re Special But I’m Not” excuse. This is a very novice belief in business. Look, anything anyone else does, you can replicate and (usually) do it better. Especially if you’re more committed. You’ll have more leverage as a beginning entrepreneur; often the most successful people in business are complacent. They just want to keep their piece of the pie.
Therein lies your opportunity to hustle that much harder. An experienced businessperson looks at a competitor and thinks, “Well, they really must be working hard, I’m glad to see someone succeeding with this niche. Let’s see if I can do it as well, deliver better service, and improve the world even more”.
You can see many examples of this. Most businesses start from scratch in an established niche. They usually just look at companies similar to them and aim to do it slightly better. Think of the difference between a Mac and a PC, a PC and regular cell phone, and a regular cell phone and an iPhone. Similar but better.
You can do anything that anyone else can do in business, but if you hold onto the wrong ideas, you’ll only make the road that much longer for yourself.
Learn from your mistakes, keep a cool head, and stay on solid ground as you climb up this mountain. No one is cut from a different cloth, and if you’re willing to change yourself, you must just change the world as well.
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These 11 Habits Will Make You More Productive, Successful, and Confident
Boost your focus, confidence, and results with 11 powerful habits successful people use every day.
Successful people love to help beginners. They have an incredible work ethic and rarely complain. As a result, others naturally look up to them and want to follow in their footsteps.
But here’s the truth: there’s no success without sacrifice. You’ll need to give up comfort, excuses, and sometimes even social approval to accomplish your goals.
Value comes from solving problems, and these 11 powerful tips will help you become more productive, successful, and confident, starting today.
1. Take Short Breaks After Finishing a Task
Psychology shows it’s important to reward positive behaviour.
After completing a big task or finishing a book, take five minutes to walk, stretch, or simply breathe. This quick reset helps your brain recharge and strengthens focus.
Many great writers swear by morning walks, solitude, and reflection can unlock creativity.
But if you refuse to take breaks, don’t be surprised when burnout hits. Your brain needs recovery time just as much as your body does.
2. Schedule Your Most Important Tasks First
Multitasking kills productivity. If you want to get more done, try time blocking, a method where you dedicate set periods for specific tasks.
Productivity expert Caitlin Hughes explains, “Time blocking involves scheduling blocks of time for your tasks throughout the day.”
For example, if you’re a writer:
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Research your topic at night.
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Write your first draft in the morning (don’t worry if it’s rough).
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Edit in the afternoon, great writing comes from rewriting.
You can’t buy more time. Use it intentionally and without regret.
3. Eliminate Distractions from Your Workspace
Focus is the foundation of success.
According to Inc. Magazine, it takes an average of 23 minutes to recover from a distraction. That’s nearly half an hour of lost productivity every time you check your phone.
Put your phone away. Close unnecessary tabs. And yes, limit your Netflix binges.
Meeting deadlines consistently is one of the fastest ways to stand out and earn respect.
4. Take Full Responsibility for Your Life
Entrepreneur Derek Sivers once said, “Everything is my fault.”
This mindset doesn’t mean self-blame; it means self-ownership. Stop pointing fingers, making excuses, or waiting for others to change.
If your habits (like smoking or drinking too much) hold you back, it’s time to make better choices. Your friends can’t live your dreams for you; only you can.
5. Invest an Hour a Day in Learning New Skills
Knowledge compounds over time.
Whether you read books, take online courses, or practise a craft, consistent learning gives you a competitive edge.
I used to struggle with academic writing, but I improved by studying the work of great authors and applying what I learned.
Your past doesn’t define you; your actions do. Every new skill adds another tool to your arsenal and makes you more unstoppable.
6. Develop a Growth Mindset
Psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck introduced the concept of fixed vs. growth mindset.
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A fixed mindset believes success is based on natural talent.
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A growth mindset believes success comes from effort and learning.
Choose the growth mindset. Embrace challenges. See failures as feedback. In today’s fast-moving digital world, adaptability is your biggest advantage.
7. Learn Marketing to Reach People Who Need You
I once believed marketing was manipulative, until I realised it’s about helping people solve problems.
If your work provides genuine value, marketing is how you let others know it exists. Even Apple spends billions on it.
Don’t be ashamed to promote your skills or business. Without visibility, your ideas will never reach the people who need them most.
Creative professionals who understand marketing and sales have an unfair advantage.
8. Ask Your Mentor the Right Questions
Good mentors can fast-track your growth.
While mentorship often costs money, it’s one of the best investments you can make. Great mentors don’t care about titles; they care about your progress.
If you don’t have access to a mentor yet, books are your silent mentors. Read the best in your field, take notes, and apply what resonates.
9. Build Confidence Through Action, Not Affirmations
Author Ryan Holiday once said, “I don’t believe in myself. I have evidence.”
Confidence doesn’t come from shouting affirmations into the mirror; it comes from proof. Doing hard things, keeping promises to yourself, and following through.
When you consistently take action, your brain gathers evidence that you can handle whatever comes next. That’s real confidence, grounded, earned, and unshakable.
10. Focus on Your Strengths
Your strengths reveal where your greatest impact lies.
If people compliment you on something often, it’s a clue. Lean into it.
A former professor once told me I was creative, and that simple comment gave me the confidence to go all in. I studied creativity, applied it daily, and turned it into my career advantage.
Double down on your strengths. That’s how you build momentum and mastery.
11. Identify and Challenge Your Limiting Beliefs
Your beliefs shape your reality.
For years, I believed I couldn’t be a great writer because of my chronic tinnitus and astigmatism, sensory challenges that made concentration difficult. But over time, I realised those struggles made me more disciplined, observant, and empathetic.
Your limitations can become your greatest motivators if you let them.
Avoid shortcuts. Growth takes time, but it’s always worth it.
Final Thoughts
Becoming productive, successful, and confident isn’t about working harder than everyone else. It’s about working smarter, consistently, and intentionally.
You don’t need to overhaul your life overnight. Start small: take a break after your next task, schedule your priorities, or spend one hour learning something new.
Every habit you change compounds into long-term success. Remember, true change comes from practising new behaviours.
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