Entrepreneurial Mindset: Incentives

Greetings!

​This is the second in a series of short articles excerpted from a chapter in my recent book. The chapter is titled Entrepreneur or Employee: Mindset, discussing the differences between the mindset of an employee and that of an entrepreneur.

As employees, particularly in larger corporate environments, we tend to develop certain habits. These habits can be hard to break in the transition to an entrepreneurial mindset. Most of the time, you aren’t even aware of these habits.

Due to all the daily input we receive over many years, we slowly develop our innate, subconscious responses to stimuli, particularly in the business world. Changing that programming will be a requirement to start a business.

The difference in how they receive financial rewards is one of the most significant contrasts between an employee and an entrepreneur. An employee is paid for time. An entrepreneur is paid for results. This contrast in incentives is a vast difference between the mindset of an entrepreneur and an employee. Due to evolutionary forces, changing our mindset can take some effort.

An employee has an incentive to adopt a short-term mindset, such as focusing on finishing a project by the end of the day so they can hit the lake for the weekend. An entrepreneur has a more long-term mindset like an investor. They see every moment of how they spend their time as either moving toward their goal or away from it.

Incentives are a vast difference between employees and entrepreneurs. Consider your short and long-term goals. Aligning your short-term behaviors with your long-term goals is the key. It doesn’t have to disrupt your lifestyle necessarily, but it may require adjustments.

My family adjusted to me working Saturday mornings in my business—I bring my kids as additional help, so I get quality time and some extra hands. And I do back-office activities on Sunday morning while my teenage kids are still asleep. But I know my daily activities contribute to my long-term goal.

Are you working a little bit every day toward your long term goals? What incentives are you focused on? I’m happy to talk through it, let’s chat soon

In future articles, I will continue to cover more areas of mindset difference, including View of Risk, Desire for Status, Scarcity vs. Abundance, and Grit and Continuous Improvement.

David Busker