What was the last bit of business advice you received? Who was it from? Advice for entrepreneurs is everywhere: Unsolicited advice from people who’ve never been where you are trying to go. Counterproductive ‘motivational’ quotes from insta and tiktok influencers telling you to ‘hustle hard’ at all costs. Toxic advice to ‘stay positive’ no matter how impossible things seem. At Positivity & Truth, we polled over 100 successful women entrepreneurs in our community. We asked: “What is your most valuable advice for entrepreneurs? That piece of advice that you, to this day, remind yourself of often.” We’ve tallied the responses and realized a clear pattern. Here are the 5 most frequent responses
Start with YOU
When building your business, always consider yourself first and build out from there. The lifestyle you want. The daily business activities you want to be doing. Your values, passions, personality, and skillset. Build your business model around that. You aren’t here to copy someone else’s business model. In addition, no matter how fast or large you grow towards success, always come back to YOU. When making major decisions, keep in mind what you originally wanted for yourself from your business. #BossLife
Mindset Matters
The narrative you tell yourself matters. Research has shown how the brain works hard to respond to what you are telling it. Constant doubt will sabotage your success and growth. When you train your brain to think in a positive, growth-focused mindset, you become better able to overcome obstacles, make wiser decisions, and remain resilient when times inevitability get rough. In addition, seeking a professional’s help to work on mindset (such as a coach or therapist) is always a wise business decision. #ROI
Hustle Culture is Toxic AF
If you fall victim to Hustle Culture, you are guaranteed to burn out (and fast!) “I’ll sleep when I die” might make you sound like a dedicated entrepreneur; however, you’ll find out all too soon that is literal toxicity for your business. When you overwork your body and brain, your productivity takes a serious hit. In fact, overworking yourself for just a few days in a row could result in an 80% drop in productivity. Learn to step back frequently to access how many hours you are working and your productivity levels – adjust often. Would you rather function at 100% average productivity over 40 hours a week… or 50% average over 80 hours? #TheyDidTheMath
Bend, Don’t Break
Learn to be flexible. As entrepreneurs, the one thing you can always expect is that something unexpected will happen. No matter how much you’ve researched, planned, strategized – some unforeseen challenge, obstacle, or mayhem will arise. You are forging your own entrepreneurial path, so prepare for this to happen a lot. Get comfortable with bending and adjusting often. You might even need to go back to the drawing board. Stick to your end goal, always. But if you are too rigid and refuse to shift the plan when obstacles occur, you are then becoming an obstacle for your business. #BeAPalmTree
Healthy Boss = Healthy Business
As an entrepreneur, YOU are your best asset. If you aren’t focusing on your health and wellness, you can’t show up as the best business owner you can be. More and more large corporations are giving their employees mental health time off, wellness credits to use towards things like yoga and massages, and other perks around health and wellness. They are seeing the results in their bottom line, higher employee satisfaction rates, lower turnover, and overall success of the company. This is one lesson worth taking from the big guys. #SelfCare
These might seem simple, yet some of the most successful entrepreneurs claim these as their MVPAs. We think we’ll take their advice over the insta influencers and unsolicited opinions from 9-5ers. #TheRealMVP
Candace Yaeger MBA MA
Human Potential Expert
Executive Coach