November 6, 2020 5 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As entrepreneurs, we’re always itching for growth. Although we love looking back at all we’ve accomplished, what truly excites us are the milestones ahead.
The problem is that business growth is not constant. There are hiatuses along the way, and if we don’t see the bigger picture, we can get lost in the patches of shade and twists in the road. What’s more, there are challenges that make us question if continuing to fight for our dreams of success is really worthwhile.
The key is to keep focused with the right mindset and growth strategies in our arsenal. Here are four to add to yours.
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1. Practice the “10x > 10 percent” growth mindset
A lot of people take a few cards from the deck of life, shuffle them around, and play the “safest” ones. The result is that they get the security they crave, but that’s all. They’ll never experience what it’s like to live their wildest dreams of success.
The 10x > 10 percent mindset is just the opposite. It’s thinking of the biggest outcome you can get from anything you do. It’s stepping out of your comfort zone and fearlessly reaching out for what you want.
For example, your goal is to increase your business’s revenue next year. With the 10 percent growth mindset, you’ll plan to increase it from $5,000 a month to $5,500 a month. On the other hand, the 10x growth mindset pushes you to grow it from $5,000 a month to $50,000 a month.
For example: I practiced the 10x > 10% mindset when rehauling our content strategy services at Express Writers. I could have “played it safe” and fixed a typo or added a small extra feature. But I didn’t want that. Instead, I wanted to grow 10x, which is why I rehauled the entire product, rewrote all the internal training for my team, and turned what used to be a five-page analysis into a 25-slide deck. Our old content strategy plan offered a minimal list of content suggestions; the new one comes complete with a full SEMrush site audit, website health score, analysis of your current domain, a deep-dive into what’s trending by 5000% in Google Trends for your industry, and a full-fledged budget you can use to map out content that achieves traffic.
The result? We had clients raving about the new plan.
Grow by 10, not by 10%. Learn more about this here. But, there’s a caveat. That leads me to No. 2.
2. Remember that every day you hang on is a win
It’s important to keep in mind that not every day can be a 10x day. There will be tough days and days when you’ll wonder if what you’re doing is worth the struggle.
During these days, don’t give up. I personally love what Instagram growth expert Derik Zimmerman says about hanging on. “Somebody out there will give up today,” he says. “But not you.”
When things get exceptionally rough, sit down and take a moment to breathe. Tell yourself you’ll give up tomorrow, just not today. When the next day comes, repeat the process until you’re ready to fly out of the rut you’re stuck in and start conquering your goals once more.
3. Remind yourself that you can’t do everything at once
Success happens in small steps, instead of all at once. In the course of growing a business, there will be times when things get overwhelming. There are too many steps to the top, and we can’t be sure if we’ll ever be able to reach it.
When you’re feeling this way, remember to give yourself time. Set long-term goals, then focus all your effort on taking one single step towards them. Keep practicing your craft and growing, and you will get there sooner than you expected.
Related: Why You Need to ‘Upskill’ to Keep on Top of Trends
4. Prioritize healthy connections
We all have our dreams of making it to the top, but we must remember that we won’t make it if we’re alone. Even the greatest historical figures had someone to lean on, like Michelangelo did with his friend Vittoria Colonna.
It’s not any different in business. If we want to go far, we need a support system to lift us up when we fall and keep us going during the hard days. It pays to have people who care for us.
When we work with people who care about what we do, we set ourselves up for success.
This article is from Entrepreneur.com
