Embedded Files
On this podcast we spend a lot of time talking about the nuts and bolts of business: strategy, funding, team building, you name it. But if you've been listening to us, you know that underneath all those practical conversations, there's a foundation that everything else is built on: Mindset. It’s the inner psychological work, the grit, and the perspective that separates those who just hustle from those who truly build something meaningful. At the end of the day, before you can master your business, you have to master your own mind.
One of the biggest mindset shifts we talk about is the difference between an employee and a business owner. As an employee, you can clock out at 5 p.m. and be done. Your paycheck is guaranteed, and if something goes wrong, there’s a whole company structure to absorb the impact. But when you’re the owner, that all changes. Suddenly, there’s no guaranteed paycheck waiting for you. You are HR, you’re the janitor, you’re the chief of everything, and you carry the weight of knowing everyone else gets paid before you do.
This shift is all about taking on a profound sense of responsibility. It’s a mindset where you see the entire operation as yours to protect and grow. I remember a story about a visitor at NASA who asked a janitor what his job was. The janitor didn’t say he sweeps floors; he said, “My job here is to help put a man on the moon”. That right there is the ownership mentality. He understood that his role, no matter how small it seemed, was critical to the overall mission. He took ownership.
As leaders, we look for that same energy in our teams. We need people who see a problem and don't just wait to be told what to do, but instead ask, "What do we do?". Because when a team fails, it's not a team failure; it’s a leadership failure. It's always you. You’re the one who hired the team, created the culture, and set the systems in place. If they’re not succeeding, it’s your responsibility to figure out why and fix it, not to blame them. That’s the heavy crown a leader wears.
Another huge part of mindset is defining what you’re actually grinding for. Society, especially social media, paints this picture of success that’s all about the Rolls Royce, the big house, and the expensive watch. We’ve all felt that pressure. I remember pulling up to a nice restaurant in my older Honda Accord and the valet parking all the flashy cars up front while mine got sent to the back. The valet even said they do it because people with nicer cars are more likely to tip higher. It’s easy to get caught in that trap of "keeping up with the Joneses," feeling like you need to upgrade just to meet external expectations.
But that’s a rat race, a never-ending cycle where you’re just working to sustain an image you might not even truly want. True success, the kind we talk about on the show, is defined from the inside out. If you think about it, chasing money is kind of a distraction. When we really break it down, what we’re all chasing are the intangibles: peace, time, and relationships. Success is having the freedom to control your own destiny, not being an employee in your own business, chained to a lifestyle you can’t enjoy.
This means you have to get clear on your why. On your deathbed, you won’t be thinking about the cars you drove; you’ll be thinking about the relationships you built and the people you impacted. For someone in survival mode, success might understandably be about income right now: putting food on the table and creating a safety cushion. But even then, it's about setting milestones: first, save a 3-6 month cushion; next, upgrade your skills; then, get to a place where you're no longer living paycheck to paycheck. Each step is a success to be celebrated. You can’t let someone else’s definition of success make you feel like you’re failing.
Many aspiring entrepreneurs get stuck in what I call the "research trap". You get an idea, and you start researching, and researching, and researching. You tell yourself you’re being productive, but really, you’re just feeding a fear of failure and a need for perfection. You get overwhelmed, analysis paralysis sets in, and you never actually start.
The mindset shift here is from perfection to progress. Progress builds business, but perfection builds pressure. In the startup world, we have a saying: if you’re going to fail, fail fast. You have to put your idea out there before it’s perfect, as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), to see how the market reacts. You’ll learn more from that real-world feedback than you ever will from endless research.
This is about working in the dark, away from the spotlight. It’s like an athlete in the gym; the real work happens when no one is watching. You need that private space to fail quietly, to build your confidence without the negative energy of naysayers, and to fine-tune your craft. A lot of people want to post every step of their journey, but if you’re not a content creator, that can be a huge mistake. You expose your idea before it's ready, invite criticism that can destroy your confidence, and give competitors a roadmap to beat you to the finish line. The best transformations happen in the dark, like a photograph developing. When it’s ready for the light, everyone will see the finished product anyway.
Ultimately, the entrepreneurial journey is a test of your mental and emotional resilience. Things will go wrong. You can have the perfect plan, and it still won’t work out the way you thought. You’ll face disappointments. The key is to have the grit to keep going.
This is where consistency becomes your superpower. Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. You can’t control when an opportunity will appear, but you can control being ready for it. Just like the car salesman who started showing up early every day and eventually started closing more deals because he was there when the eager buyers arrived, you have to consistently put in the reps. It’s not always sexy, but success is often boring.
Finally, it’s about having faith in something beyond yourself. Whether you’re a person of faith or you just believe in your own vision, you need a grounding force to carry you through the times when you don't know what to do. It’s about understanding that you can do everything right and still not get the outcome you want, and that's okay. The failure isn’t you; it’s the business or the timing. You learn from it, you pivot, and you go again. That is the mindset that will help you go beyond the grind.
HOME | ABOUT | PRINCIPLES | EPISODES
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse