You don’t know what you don’t know – and that’s OK!
As the creator and producer of a television series on business success, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to interview over 120 of Australia’s leading entrepreneurs. One of the most common questions I get asked is why are some business owners extremely successful and make millions of dollars while others struggle to make ends meet and never move beyond the four walls of their home office.
Before I answer, I always ask them what they think the reason is and the common responses are: rich parents, good luck, higher education, smarter, great sales people, hard working, and risk takers.
It could be any of one or all of these but no one has ever come up with what I believe is the main reason. Like all of us, when the successful entrepreneur first decided to go into business, many people wished them well but others told them all the reasons why they would fail. So before they even started the business, they were busy defending their ideas to friends, family, banks, accountants, suppliers, customers and employees.
As the business owner they were responsible for everything and even if they didn’t know the answers, they often just had to pretend they did know, stand by their decisions and get the business moving.
What is the most important reason why some entrepreneur’s succeed and others don’t?
It is their attitude to learning and knowledge which I call the Entrepreneurs Mindset. Most people just don’t get what it is that is required to succeed in business because they focus on the wrong things.
A good starting point for understanding where the owners focus should be is explained by Michael Gerber who wrote a book called The E-Myth. The E-Myth is short for the Entrepreneurial Myth. Gerber writes that most small business owners aren’t really entrepreneurs, they are technicians suffering from an entrepreneurial seizure. The plumber, hairdresser, accountant, butcher, baker and candlestick maker all wake up one morning and decide they are sick of working for the boss. So they quit their job and set up their own business doing the technical work they did as an employee. It is only on the first day in business that they realise the being able to do the technical work of thebusiness has got nothing to do with running the business.
Sales, marketing, human resources, management, money, strategy, technology etc. is all learnt on the run but this is the road to mediocrity and often failure.
At some stage successful entrepreneurs realise that they ‘don’t know, what they don’t know’ and most importantly, they understand that it is OK not to know. Often after losing money, going broke,poor health or whatever, they realised that although they were the best person doing the work of the business, that wasn’t good enough. They needed to develop an Entrepreneurial Mindset and learn how to run the business without them doing everything.
The first step to doing this was to admit to themselves (and to others) that they ‘don’t know what they don’t know’ but want to learn. They were prepared to ask the ‘dumb question’, employ people better than themselves, delegate to others, attend seminars, watch DVDs, read books, employ business consultants, and ultimately leave behind the technical work they know so well and move on to managing and driving the business.
Based on all the interviews I did and working with hundreds of business owners as a business coach, here is a proven method for creating an Entrepreneurial Mindset.
Prepare Your Mind:
- Admit that you ‘don’t know what you don’t know’.
- Accept that it is OK (Often people can feel the weight lift off their shoulders.)
- Be prepared to start learning.
Do Your Research, Learn and Just Do It:
- List your three key challenges or frustrations.
- Decide if you REALLY want to fix ONE of them. Focus is the key.
- Pick the one you want to tackle first and write it down in a note book.
- List what you need to know to give yourself a chance of solving it.
- Start looking for information and record it in the notebook as you go.
- Start making changes. (There is never a right time – just do it!)
The first step in developing an Entrepreneurs Mindset is to admit that you ‘don’t know what you don’t know’ and ask for help. Once you free yourself up and stop pretending you know, you will be amazed how open your mind becomes and what answers, people and success (and potentially millions of dollars) will come your way.
Andrew Vincent was the creator and producer of the Channel 9 television series Your Business Success. Over 80 of the best episodes have been re-edited and supported by a set of easy to follow workbooks and FREE business coaching. Go to www.yourbusinesssuccess.com.au/db2 .
