5 Mindset Shifts to Take Your Business to the Next Level

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John Nieuwenburg

John Nieuwenburg has been a professional business coach since 2004. Prior to becoming a coach, he held executive positions with Tip Top Tailors and BC Liquor Stores. In 2019, MacKay CEO Forums awarded him with Canada’s CEO Trusted Advisor Award in the Small Business category. Since becoming a coach, John has worked with over 350 clients, taking them through a systematic process that helps them feel organized, confident and in control of their businesses.

Why you need to level up your thinking to level up your business

Want to take your business to the next level?

You need to begin with your thinking!

The process and tasks of building and growing a successful business aren’t all that difficult. The hard part is changing your mindset.

Here are 5 shifts you need to make in your THINKING if you want to take your business to the next level.

1. Ask a better question about getting things done

True business success starts when you stop DOING the work of the business (what Michael Gerber calls the operator in the e-myth) and start leading the business.

The first step is a subtle but profound change in thinking that begins by changing the question “How can I get this done?” to “How can this get done?”

how can I get this done vs how can this get done

The second is paying attention to where you’re spending your time and energy.

What is your time worth?

A good exercise for this: Time audit and skill/fun box

2. Operate from the role of executive leader

Let others take responsibility.

Hire people who are *better* than you are.

Make your assistant your boss. (Yes, really!)

Get out of the hub and spoke.

3. Make a non-negotiable commitment to your goals

There is often a time lag between your effort and results you want.

Seth Godin call this “The Dip.”

One of Seth’s posts (How many good days?) inspired this article.

Commit to moving through the dip by making a non-negotiable commitment to your goals.

Try this on as a mantra:

“The only thing left to negotiate is how much effort reaching my goal is going to take. The fact that I am getting what I want is not up for discussion. It’s not up for debate. With the right planning, my success is inevitable.”

4. Lose your limiting beliefs and uplevel your identity

Limiting beliefs and identity issues can show up in a lot of places in your business.

Two of the most common places are with sales and money.

The fastest way to change these is by upleveling your identity.

See yourself as a successful business owner who is good at sales, good at delegating, good at leading a team.

5. Adopt systems thinking

Systems run the business.

People run the systems.

You lead the people.

85% of what you do is routine.

These routines should be well-documented with SOPs (standard operating procedures.)

10% to 15% of what you do will be exceptions to the system.

In these cases, you’ll need to intervene in order to get things done.

Then, ask: “How would the system need to be changed so that this exception doesn’t happen again?”

Bonus mindset shift: get help when you need it

Business owners tend to be independent by nature.

As a result, they often waste a lot of time trying to figure things out on their own.

Owners who scale successfully understand the value of saving time by getting the right help when they need it.

If you’re ready for some support to help you get to the next level, you’re ready for a business coach.

Book a 15-minute call to see if coaching is right for you here: time with John

The Ultimate Guide to Scaling Your Business

w5 what does it mean to scale your business

How to grow your business without sacrificing time freedom

This post is part of my Ultimate Guide to Scaling Your Business. Visit the guide homepage to get my best advice and coaching exercises to help you:

  • Develop systems and processes to free up your time
  • Hire and manage a great team to run your business (mostly) without you
  • Make the mindset changes that enable you to grow your business bigger - faster than you dreamed possible