Serena Dodd is on the podcast with me today to talk about how to manage a business mindset. This is such an important topic for all business owners.
IE 225: How to Manage a Business Mindset with Serena Dodd
Serena and I talk about knowing yourself, setting goals, using your GPS, and how important it is to celebrate your wins.
Serena is a certified Life Coach and runs her own life coaching business. Her main goal is to help life coaches make their first $50k in their business. She focuses on is mindset, accountability, and helping others get out of their procrastination zones.
She works one-on-one with her clients for 5 months to really get them moving forward as they work to grow their business towards $50k and beyond.
Know Yourself: Past, Present, and Future
Serena believes there are two areas that are absolutely vital to having a good business mindset.
- Always work in the mindset of your future self.
We all start out on our business journey with a lot of excitement and a huge desire for success – whether that success is more money, a different type of lifestyle, or both. It is so important to understand who you want to be in the future in order to help yourself make decisions quickly and overcome hurdles.
- Know one thing that is certain about yourself.
Business is full of uncertainty and our brains absolutely thrive when things are certain and we know what to expect. It’s great to be able to look back to your past and say “I was resilient then, I am resilient now, and I will be resilient 20 years from now.” That thread of certainty can guide you along your way.
Creating Certainty In Your Day
A daily routine is one easy way to create certainty throughout your day. Whether it is your whole day or just a part of your day, it is important that you have consistency every single day throughout your business journey.
This gives you another form of certainty and the ability to rely on yourself. It could be something as simple as going for a walk every day or doing 10 sit-ups every morning. It needs to be manageable, something that you can actually accomplish every single day.
Creating this certainty will lead to productivity because you will know that you can count on yourself to get things done.
Carrying Your Business Mindset With You
Your business mindset is most important right at the start. It’s easy to jump right into your business with a lot of excitement, but the minute you reach your first hurdle, you’re going to need that business mindset to keep you going.
Think of your business as a machine and your business mindset is the gas that keeps it running. It is important that you always keep that gas nearby and ready to save the day if it’s necessary.
90% of our thoughts are unconscious, so when you are not focusing on your mind-work and really paying attention to what you are thinking, you can get carried away by those unconscious thoughts.
It’s important to write down what you’re thinking and seeing what lines up with your business mindset and what thoughts you can grab onto and take with you for the rest of the day.
Setting Out A Roadmap
If you are feeling stuck or complacent in your business, the key to pushing through that feeling is to create goals.
Long-term goals are great, but it’s those quarterly goals, knocked down even smaller into monthly and weekly goals, that are going to spur you on. Setting goals is what gives you the roadmap to get where you need and want to be.
Setting a routine for yourself will also help you with accomplishing those goals because you will know when you have time during the day to get things done.
You don’t want your goals or routine to make you miserable. You need to enjoy the journey. The point of your goals and routine is not to get to the end goal; it’s to create a life for yourself that you will be happy living.
Take Time To Celebrate
You have to celebrate your wins.
As you jump hurdles, overcome obstacles, and keep your business mindset fueling you, it is important to take time to celebrate how far you’ve come and how much closer you are to where you want to be.
It can be hard to celebrate or even notice your wins when you are so caught up in getting things done. Celebrating your wins is what will actually help you to keep going. If you never acknowledge how far you’ve come, it will be easy to feel defeated.
Use Your GPS
For a lot of us, we might hear “goals” and roll our eyes. We don’t want to be tied down to a list of things to accomplish. Serena compares her goals to her GPS in her car. It can not only be helpful, but even fun to have something assist you in your journey.
As humans, we get so excited as we start off on a new path or journey. We eventually lose that feeling and the ability to create helpful goals that allow us to dream big. It is a good practice to visualize the future and where you want to be and create goals that will help you get there.
Be The Boss and the Employee
During the course of your week, there will be moments where you will have bursts, both of inspiration and of doubt.
Being able to plan, (as suffocating as that might feel) will give you the ability to do all the things you want to and need to while having designated work time.
You are the boss of your life. At the beginning of each week, tell yourself what needs to happen throughout the course of the week. Then be your own employee for the rest of the week and carry out what the boss set into motion.
No Mistakes When You’re Learning
You might be someone who continually questions the decisions you make in your business.
Every single decision you make will have both a positive and a negative aspect to it. You have to keep in mind that nothing is ever a mistake if you are learning.
Staying in a zone of procrastination is what will really harm you and your business. You don’t want to get lost in the spiral of fear over making a decision. Make your decision and step forward, knowing you will learn from whatever happens, whether it’s positive or negative.
Serena recommends reading “The 7 Principles of Highly Effective People” and “Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself” as you work towards creating and managing your business mindset.
If you are interested in learning more about growing a business mindset, you can check out Serena’s webinar where she talks about mindset and energy zoning. It helps you focus on what you want and how to not get distracted.
Serena also hosts two podcasts: So Driven and The First 50k Podcast for Life Coaches. You can also check her out on Instagram.
