Facing the rollercoaster of entrepreneurship can take its toll on your mindset. Ensuring that you have what it takes to deal with challenges and failures will make all the difference to your financial success. This week, I sat down with Alisha Kumar, founder and CEO of The Social Project. We discuss her journey creating a social media agency and what she’s done to maintain a growth mindset.

What is a growth mindset?

The best way to describe a growth mindset is the unwavering belief that through hard work, learning, implementing the right strategies, and having the right support you can accomplish anything. This mindset is not concerned with how you are at the beginning when figuring things out; it’s more about going through the journey and knowing that you will get there. Think of it as another form of tenacity and grit despite what challenges you are currently facing. 

The Importance of a Growth Mindset for Small Business Owners

Having a growth mindset is the engine that fuels a business forward by allowing you to invest in your business, to learn new skills, and more. Alisha uses the example of going to networking events as a great way to employ a growth mindset. By going, you have no idea who you will meet, what connections can be made, and the overall positive impact going to events will have on your business. Of course, it can feel awkward and nerve-racking, but having a growth mindset will not let you dwell on these feelings, rather the possibilities of the networking event. 

How to Maintain a Growth Mindset When Facing Setbacks

When facing setbacks, it’s important to let the thoughts come out and realize your mistakes. Some helpful shifts that you can take that are part of having a growth mindset are:

1. Visualize the outcome you want and reverse engineer your way to it. This is all about focusing on how you can still make your dreams happen by figuring a way to achieve it. For example, did you launch fall short? What does a successful launch look like? What do you need to make happen the next time you launch? Pay close attention to the things you didn’t do the first time not to beat yourself up, just to be aware.

2. Redefine what success means to you. This can be a tough one to swallow. Once you realize that what you wanted might not have been good for you or even what you really wanted deep down, you can completely change your circumstances for the better. 

Final Thoughts on a Growth Mindset

Part of redefining success and adopting a growth mindset involves running your business the way you want to, rather than what society expects you to do. Alisha mentions not following hustle culture and realizing that having a large agency with many employees isn’t something she really wants. As well, it’s more than ok to take a break from emails and social media!

Another key point that Alisha mentions is how more revenue doesn’t always equal more profit. Can we get this on a billboard? Many business owners do not factor in the extra overhead that comes with growing a business such as increased employee or contractor costs. Deciding to grow your business needs to be made consciously and have a realistic idea of what success can look like. With a growth mindset part of your toolkit, you are likely to achieve financial success on your terms.

Show notes: