What Is an Entrepreneurial Mindset and Why Should You Have One?

So, you’re interested in being an entrepreneur, but you’re not quite sure if you have what it takes? Well, I’m here to tell you that you do have what it takes, and here’s why: anyone can be an entrepreneur, the key to becoming one is to have an entrepreneurial mindset.

Now you must be asking, what exactly is an entrepreneurial mindset and why is it necessary? Well, it is the key to achieving success and growing your entrepreneurial career. You have to keep in mind that entrepreneurs aren’t born. It takes time and effort to become one and the key is building your mindset. If you set your mind to it, anyone can become an entrepreneur.

Have you ever thought that you might like to start your own company, your own business, be the boss of yourself, put your amazing ideas to good use? You’ve seen entrepreneurs in the media like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Kylie Jenner, and you’ve thought, I want to have that success, I want to create something amazing. Each of these people had the right mindset and characteristics to turn their ideas into success.

An Entrepreneurial Mindset

In Hack the Entrepreneur’s blog post “Entrepreneurial Mindset: How to Think like an Entrepreneur”, they discuss the five key characteristics of an entrepreneurial mindset: decisiveness, confidence, accountability, resilience and humility. These five characteristics outline perfectly the main aspects that any entrepreneur needs to be successful.

1. Decisiveness: make a decision. Indecisiveness is a huge cause of failure. Just do something. Start off with small decisions and keep it going.
2. Confidence: Act confidently and don’t doubt yourself. Even if you don’t know what you’re doing, no one else has to know that. The more you believe in yourself that you can do something, the more confident you become.
3. Accountability: Take accountability for your actions and outcomes and don’t blame others. Hold yourself accountable. Stop creating excuses.
4. Resilience: Resilience helps you handle the decisions you made that didn’t turn out right. It allows you to bounce back and correct things when they don’t go your way. Success isn’t defined by a straight line. You need failure to grow.
5. Humility: Be willing to learn from others, let others help coach and mentor you. Stay humble.

Now, with these five characteristics in your pocket, you’re ready to start your entrepreneurial journey. It’s good to keep in mind that you should be flexible. Things may not always go your way, there will be unexpected events that will derail your plans. Top entrepreneurs do not succeed at everything they do. Just keep in mind that you are in charge of your path and only you can make the right decisions for you.

Lastly, most importantly, having an entrepreneurial mindset can help land you a job faster than others who don’t. These skills, and characteristics such as creative thinking, leadership and problem-solving, will help give you a step up compared to others in the workforce. Entrepreneurial skills are skills that everyone wants on their team and will set you apart from others.

How to Get One?

So, now that you’ve got an idea of what an entrepreneurial mindset is, you’re probably wondering where you can grow your mindset. The Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub) has a certificate you can enroll in called the Entrepreneurial Mindset Certificate (EMC), that allows you to build and strengthen your entrepreneurial mindset and entrepreneurial ideas.

The certificate is open for any uOttawa students to enroll and offers all its programming to anyone (uOttawa student or not) who wishes to attend. The certificate is obtained by attending 10 tools and skills workshops and 5 networking events.

Join this exclusive program that allows you to learn, grow and develop your entrepreneurial path with the help of mentors, resources and fellow entrepreneurial students that can help you along your journey here.

Just remember, you have to get into the mindset first, then once you’ve nailed being in the proper mindset, everything else will flow from there. It isn’t going to be easy, but it will be worth it.