Entrepreneurial Mindsets

There are two mistakes an entrepreneur can make; two faulty mindsets that will do nothing but guarantee failure. *

The first is FIRE! READY! AIM!

This is the mindset of the man who doesn’t do all his homework. He’s got a great idea (or at least thinks he does) and immediately runs with it. Maybe not all the way to the bank, at least not yet, and maybe not straight to the poorhouse, either. But I think it’s obvious that this mindset isn’t the most efficient one to hold if you value your time and your money.

Ever hear the old cliché, “By failing to plan, you’re planning to fail”? It describes this mindset, and it’s true.

The second is READY! AIM! READY! AIM! READY! AIM! etc, etc, etc …

This is almost the complete opposite of the first mindset, a hundred-n-eighty degree shift. Here you do too much homework. As a matter of fact, homework is really all you do. Instead of running all the way to the bank, the poorhouse, or some destination between, you’re not even leaving the starting gate! Similarly, this mindset is as inefficient as the first one in terms of your valuable time and money. Some would hold even less so, since you don’t have feedback to work with as to the efficacy of your idea / business plan.

Ever hear of the phrase, “analysis paralysis”? I’m the poster boy for it.

I’m trying to set up a couple of niche websites to make some money. Not looking to become an overnight millionaire; I’m realistic and practical. But I do see it as an opportunity at making something doing something I quite enjoy. The first mindset, the Fire Ready Aim mindset, scares me a bit, but I really don’t have much to lose at this stage of the game. I’m much more wary of getting stuck in the Ready Aim Ready Aim Etc loop. However, I got several ticking clocks, all constantly ticking and tocking and counting down to various zero hours that I don’t think this will be a problem either.

More details? Well, as soon as I have some, you’ll be the first to know …


* As I alluded to in the middle of the post, there really is no failure, as long as you keep trying. Or, to phrase it another way, failure is giving up. Some writers encourage us to replace the word failure with outcome, to lessen the psychological stigma. Think of the old Edison story, of how he went through a gazillion chemical compounds in search of the filament to glow in an electric light bulb. He never thought he failed a gazillion times, only that he produced a gazillion successful outcomes.