Adopting A Founder's Mindset

Here's a thought experiment for you: What are the big topics and ideas that first come up to your mind when you think about business, in a generic sense?

What about "doing business"? And "leading a business?"

I bet your words include:

• Money, revenue, or profit.
• Strategy, market, competition.
• Clients, customers, users.
• Services, products, prices.
• Employees, salaries, culture.

There's a reason why I win this bet every time - these things are what most of the media and consulting industry focus on. They are the language of choice for those who work in large consulting firms. They are the topics of 80% of best-selling business books and Harvard Business Review articles.

This is one way to look at business. But not the only one.

Instead of taking data-driven action, we might choose to follow observations and stories. Instead of assuming there's a predictable way people and companies behave, we can suppose different actors have different interests and levels of power. Instead of using best practices, we can brainstorm.

Economic models and data analysis have their place in business. But so do psychology and sociology. That's how I landed on the next topic for a blog post series.

The biggest internal reason for business failure among boutique consultancies is, without a doubt, the limits of the founder's mindset.

That's why this week's posts will be all about adopting a healthy and growth-oriented founder's mindset. The goal is to explore essential key mental models and behaviors for a sustainable transition from employee or freelancer to lifestyle boutique consultancy founder.

As always, feel free to send me any questions or topics you'd like to see discussed.