The Mindset of an Entrepreneur: Driven, Creative, Logical, Fierce!

Buckle up, QB Community, because we want to get inside your head!

This month, we’re exploring how entrepreneurs like you think. We want to know what drives you, what keeps you going and why (and how) your brain works just a little bit differently than non-entrepreneurs. Thanks to some recent research and your own great input on this topic, we’ve uncovered some fascinating findings about what makes the self-employed tick. Example? Entrepreneurs say self-employment means working longer hours and making more sacrifices than if they worked a typical 9-5 -- yet they also say self-employment significantly improves their work/life balance. Are you surprised? I’m not!

I’m a case in point. When I co-founded NutraBella and launched Bellybar, I wanted to give pregnant women an easier, tastier way to get their prenatal vitamins. I also wanted to be able to run my own business on my own terms. I’ve always been self-motivated, and I was determined to write my own story from start to finish. I became obsessed with solving a problem for pregnant women in my own time and in my own way.

Back then, I had plenty of friends who couldn’t understand why I would risk everything to open a business. Clearly, these pals didn’t share my single-minded “I can do it” mindset, and that’s okay. I knew working for myself would be difficult, but I also knew I would succeed. I was steadfast, driven and passionate. As a result, I built a business I loved.

Does this mindset sound familiar? I’m sure it does. Here are a few more facts I bet you can relate to as a hard-working entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs are happy to make sacrifices

Intuit recently surveyed 1000 self-employed workers, and 62% said they had to make personal sacrifices for work. However, most of them (62%) were happy to make these sacrifices.

How can working more lead to happiness? QB Community member @Teri has some thoughts on this: “I was often working much harder than the managers or owners above me which made no sense to do. Now when I work hard, my clients benefit and I benefit in return, because they give good referrals to me. So, now I say I am in control of my own destiny. I work when I want, where I want and with the clients that I choose.”

It makes sense that being in control of your schedule and your workload would boost your work satisfaction. No one’s telling you what to do, and you fully own any decisions you make. Sure, that’s a lot of responsibility, but I suspect you wouldn’t have it any other way.

Entrepreneurs are a tirelessly driven and creative group of people

Something else we entrepreneurs share is our creativity and drive. Where does it come from? Science may have some answers. A research study conducted by MIT took MRIs of entrepreneurs’ brains and found they are uniquely wired. The imaging showed entrepreneurs possessed both left and right brain skills when it came to addressing a problem, meaning they used both logic and creativity to solve an issue. Non-entrepreneurial managers relied primarily on the left side of the brain to solve the same problem. It’s amazing to think your entire brain is working to help you make your business succeed!

You know better than anyone that being your own boss is an exciting, exhausting and rewarding journey. I hope you’ll join us as we explore what kind of thinking it takes to survive and thrive when you work for yourself. For now, however, I’ll let QB Community member and photographer Pascal Depuhl sum-up what he thinks distinguishes entrepreneurs from the 9-5ers. Not surprisingly, it all comes down to mindset:

“A business owner knows that it will take hard work, sleepless nights to start his business. It will mean going against the flow, ignoring the many people who will tell him that what he is dreaming of is impossible. A business owner will try one more time, do one more thing, call one more person, give it one more shot, look at one more resource until he succeeds. An average person will clock out and go home at five.”

Thanks, @photosbydepuhl! I couldn’t have said it better myself.

One more thing. This month in QB Community, you’ll also find information, articles and profiles about what it takes to turn an idea into a product, and you’ll meet some very impressive “inventors” who will be selling their wares at November’s QuickBooks Connect in San Jose. (Want to go? Click here for early-bird pricing!)

Enjoy!

Ciao for now,

Leslie