The Key Difference Between Employees And Entrepreneurs

What really separates them from the pack.

Author

Brendan Ryan
April 24, 2023

I’ve seen this story so many times.

Entrepreneur builds a multi-million dollar business from scratch.

And then proceeds to lose it all somehow.

BUT

Does it all over again. And again.

On the other hand, you can take a highly paid, highly competent employee…

give him alllll the resources in the world including capital and training…

tell him to build a business from scratch….and he fails.

Do you see it?

So then what is the difference between the two? How can one build great businesses and be able to repeat it while the other couldn’t do it to save their own life?

It’s not training. It’s not resources. It’s not even their network.

It’s their mindset.

I made a shortform video about this a while back and I got comments asking “well what is the mindset??”

And that’s a complicated answer. There’s a lot that goes into it.

It’s not just one thing.

So let’s take a look at a few of the shifts that need to occur if you want to break out of the employee mindset and intro an entrepreneurial mindset.

Scarcity —> Abundance

One of the most important changes that needs to occur right away is a mindset shift from scarcity to abundance.

Think about it, when the average person needs more money what do they do?

They immediately think about where they can save.

“Maybe I won’t eat out as much. Maybe I’ll go on less vacations this year. Maybe I can cancel that subscription.”

But the problem is there is a limit to how much you can save.

Whereas there is no limit to how much you can MAKE.

When an entrepreneur needs more money they focus on how they can make more money. “What else can I do to generate more income?”

And that’s just one facet of this mindset. The abundance mindset applies to everything in your life: your health, your wealth and your relationships.

Another unfortunately common belief that hinders people is the idea that if you’re making money you’re taking it from someone else.

That in order for you to have something someone else must go without.

This is not true.

Capitalism is not a zero sum game. When entrepreneurs provide a product or service to the world they are making the world a better place. People only pay for value.

Cost —> Investment

When employees spend money they ALWAYS see it as a cost.

When entrepreneurs spend money they see it as an investment of some kind; they’re regaining their time, investing in a great new employee etc.

Once you get used to identifying potential tax write offs for your business this might get more clear.

Can you see how this shift is also related to the abundance mindset?

Failure —> Learning

Entrepreneurs understand that failure isn’t real.

Our school system conditions us to be terrified of failing rather than seeing it for what it really is..

a part of the process.

ANYtime you undertake something new you’ll suck at it at first.

Imagine a baby learning how to walk. The first dozen attempts or so they fall. Do we call that failing?

Of course not. It’s part of the process. They’re LEARNING.

Entrepreneurs embrace failure. They love it. They’re molded by it.

In fact, you’ll hear some even say that they want to “fail fast,” because they realize it’s part of the process. The faster they fail, the faster they learn.

The faster they learn, the faster they succeed.

Perfection —> Action

See if you can spot why this is related to the failure/learning mindset shift.

Employees will often be “perfectionists.”

Or even worse, they’ll be people who never take action because they’re paralyzed by analysis.

The research and learn and read but they never actually DO anything.

You know the type right? Anyway…

Entrepreneurs understand that knowledge without action is useless. Entrepreneurs HUSTLE.

No it does not.

And they also understand that DONE is better than perfect.

A common mistake that a lot of beginning entrepreneurs make is spending too much time perfecting their product or service before launching it to the marketplace.

Why is that a problem?

Because the marketplace might not even want their solution to begin with!

And you can’t make a perfect product/service without getting feedback from the marketplace itself.

That’s the whole point of entrepreneurship. You’re solving problems for people.

You’re serving the marketplace! Your product/service is NOT for you.

Destination —> Journey

One of the most beautiful transformations that occurs when you become an entrepreneur is realizing it was never about the end result.

That anything worth undertaking is worth doing for it’s own sake.

This gets you out of the mindset of “once I accomplish this…THEN I’ll be happy.”

That doesn’t mean that entrepreneurs don’t have big goals. Entrepreneurs are the biggest dreamers there are.

But it means they figure out how to have big goals that drive them while ALSO being happy with what they have in the present moment.

Interesting right?

It’s almost a paradox of sorts.

Many say that desire creates a form of suffering. That when you want something bad you make a contract with yourself to be unhappy until you get it.

Despite that it’s possible to be happy and thankful with what you already have while also being driven by dreams of a better life.

I know. It’s tough to wrap your head around.

But it’s true.

There are a lot more mindset shifts that need to occur but this is a good start.

I may write a book about it someday.

🔥🔥🔥THIS WEEK’S SPOTLIGHT🔥🔥🔥

Wanna see what I’m talking about in this edition of the newsletter as a real time example?

Check out Kevin Phun’s newsletter Inside My Mind.

He’s documenting building a business from scratch and his experiences and thought processes along the way.

Kevin went to pharmacy school (like me) but wisely decided to rip up his licensing application before he ever started working as a pharmacist (unlike me).

Instead he’s lived an adventurous and entrepreneurial life working with NBA stars and Fortune 500 companies.

Now he’s building a newsletter agency for MMA fighters.

Give him a sub! There’s a lot to learn by watching someone do it.

In The Internet News

That’s a wrap! Thanks for reading!

Links

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