With the glamorization of entrepreneurship by social media and so-called gurus, there has been an increasing interest in people’s desire to lead the entrepreneurial life. Unfortunately, not everyone has the fortitude to quit their 9-5 and run their own business as it takes a lot of mental willpower and persistence in striving towards your own goals. Many aspiring entrepreneurs often skip over the necessary mindset shifts and go straight to creating strategies, tools, and systems to help them scale their businesses. However, this is often a costly mistake.
Entrepreneurship requires more than an idea and skills. It requires a powerful mindset and deep commitment to furthering your personal growth and mental wellbeing. For Singaporean sisters and entrepreneurs Lok Hui Ching and Lok Hui Ping (Xannelle), a powerful mindset has been the guiding light for them from the early stages of life. The entrepreneurs share their top mindset shifts for millennials who wish to be successful in business.
Worry less – dare to fail and learn
With so much information available to us on the internet, we can easily fall victim to analysis paralysis if we read too much into anything. The greater the risk, the greater the reward and although this is a worrying concept for many to grasp, once we embrace the fact that we will experience failures, we simply understand they are life long lessons that will we will carry with us for the long term.
The best advice Xannelle shares on this is “as Nike says “Just do it”. I strongly believe experience is the best teacher. Why not just do what you want to do and go through the process on your own instead of worrying so much? Things will somehow work in your favour if you dare to fail and learn.”
Be unafraid to ask for help
It is healthy to ask for help. Entrepreneurs are conditioned to believe that they can and must do it all on their own. This thinking is fallacious and can lead to burnout – mentally, emotionally and physically. Being unafraid to ask for the help you need can help to improve your skills and free up your time for the essential things that require your attention.
It’s important to preserve our mental wellbeing this way as we aren’t left confused trying to figure out things on our own. It also helps us cut out unnecessary steps that we may have otherwise wasted our time in had we not asked for help.
Xannelle, who has received a lot of help throughout her entrepreneurial journey, has invested in herself and encourages entrepreneurs to do the same. “I find most people being overprotective with the cash they have on hand. They have the mindset of ‘everything can be found online for free.’ Sure enough, information is available easily now, but it takes a huge amount of time to gather this data and filter the useful ones. From experience, not only do they waste their precious time, but they also spend way more money than engaging a professional or mentor to guide them. Save your time and let the money go to the person who has a proven working method! You will get rewarded for that.”
Allow growth to take place
Countless success stories from entrepreneurs also include the moments they failed. Failure is not a final destination, but instead one path on the journey to success. Aspiring entrepreneurs must be willing to fail and learn from it for growth to take place. Hui Ching shares,
“Failing in business is better than a reduction in your job. Most people are not willing to take risks, but here’s the scary thing – the ‘safe thing’ right now in today’s economy is a new danger. If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything at all, it is that nothing is ever certain. Most people are not willing to fail because they listen to too much gossip.”
Failure will help to make you stronger and improve your drive and confidence. So, embrace it, learn from it, and move forward.