Why ambition, self belief and a growth mindset are the key ingredients to launching a successful business

‘Actually, I Can!’ is a phrase that I told myself many times during the process of setting up my business, which turned out to be one of the best ‘self-belief’ techniques to support me with launching a successful business during a global pandemic.

With 12 years experience in education, the later years working full time as an Assistant Headteacher, I have had the pleasure of working with thousands of students and adults over the years to support them with developing their knowledge, attainment, progress and success. During my most recent years I broadened my skills by studying positive psychology, certifying as a  ‘Woman in Leadership’ and becoming a certified Life Coach which have all supported me with launching my business ‘Actually, I Can!’ a community to support female entrepreneurs and career professionals with succeeding. My passion is to inspire females and empower them to achieve their full potential in life and business through growth mindset and self-belief.

Ambition

Setting up a business was a new experience for me but also a very exciting one. I had always had the ambition to launch my own business and during the pandemic felt like the perfect time to support many women with their mindset. Having gone through a challenging few years personally, I knew I could draw upon my own experiences to inspire others. My daughter was my one true inspiration and motivation, with the pressure of providing for a family as a single mum and knowing the uncertainties with the pandemic, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy; however, this was my dream that I wanted to fulfil and therefore I wasn’t going to let anything stop me. I wanted to demonstrate to my daughter that females can be strong leaders who are able to achieve whatever they want regardless of any setbacks.

I spent many months during the pandemic studying hard and learning everything I possibly could about setting up a business, from online courses and business programmes to podcasts and YouTube videos, I was always learning. Every spare minute I had I was actively learning whilst also having a full-time job as an Assistant Headteacher and being a mum. The juggle was somewhat challenging; however, I knew I needed to develop my knowledge in order to succeed. I had an ambition to launch this business, because I wanted to be able to inspire women and support them with their self-belief and success. After many months, I reached a point where I felt confident with my business plan and strategy. I felt ready to launch and motivated to succeed. It was now or never…. so I took the plunge and launched. My ambition and motivation supported me with reaching my goal and creating what today is a successful business.

Self Belief and Growth Mindset

Throughout the process of setting up my business, self-belief and growth mindset also really helped me launch a successful business. Everyday we are surrounded by challenges, however, it is all down to how we programme our minds to overcome these and to succeed ourselves.

Research shows that your mindset plays a major part of success. I am a firm believer that you can achieve whatever you want to achieve as long as you develop the knowledge, have the motivation and apply a growth mindset.

Individuals who believe that they can develop and improve through hard work tend to have a growth mindset.  If you enjoy learning new things; are inspired by others success; resilient and embrace challenges then you are likely to have a growth mindset. Anyone can develop a growth mindset. It’s a mental and emotional attitude that people can pick up and develop over time if they choose to.

Developing a growth mindset empowers you to cultivate self-confidence and self-belief as well as encouraging you to be more motivated and determined to reach your goals. With high energy, resilience and self belief, you are able to work harder towards your goals. The more you believe you can achieve the goals you set for yourself, the more your confidence will grow and you are more likely to achieve them.

An example of where this is evident, is when I was setting up my own business ‘Actually, I Can!’ I had many fears about failing, people’s judgement and getting into debt with setting up a new business.  I would often shy away from the idea of actually launching and feared failure. The ‘imposter syndrome’ would sometimes kick in and stopped me from progressing forward.  However, after adopting a growth mindset and realising that challenges are all part of the entrepreneur journey, I was able to visualise my goal. I knew what I wanted to achieve and knew what I needed to do. I gradually grew my confidence and self-belief and used all resources possible to support me such as my own coach, daily affirmations, journaling, reflection and reviewing my business plan. Over the months I made progress and was then able to launch my business. This demonstrates the power of a growth mindset and the impact it can have.

Here are my top tips on how to become more ambitious and develop your own self belief and a growth mindset:

Be brave and confident. Confidence is extremely important and is valued by many. Have the confidence to set your goals and go for them, never mind how hard they feel or how far away they seem. Be brave on every step of the way up your staircase to success.

Be curious. Be curious about what you are trying to achieve and about how to achieve it. To want to learn will always help you move forward, you will absorb more information and knowledge and develop more skills in order to succeed because you are curious about how things work and what you can do to progress.

Be inspired by others. Think about who inspires you, and why. Look at their story, life, methods, philosophies, successes and mindset. How have they become so successful? What can you learn from them? Use the experience of others to help you reach your goals. 

Take risks and accept failure. Take on new, exciting challenges that will help you to progress towards your end goal. Be a risk-taker. Tackle challenges head-on with confidence and determination and accept that failure is possible. We all learn from failure and are able to move on from it providing we see it as a lesson.

Acknowledge that growth happens over time. Growth is not necessarily rapid. Look at the growth you have achieved up to now – how have you grown and what have you done to achieve this? Progress often does take time, therefore enjoy the journey understanding that every step you take you are one step closer to achieving your goal.

Love what you do. Be passionate about what you do and what you are working towards. Love the goals you have set yourself and the process you are following to achieve those goals. Passion really does shine through and if you truly love and believe in what you are doing, you are more likely to succeed.

I see significant growth potential in so many women around me (both entrepreneurs and career professionals) therefore know there are many other women out there just like me who are driven and ambitious and have a goal and dream to reach. If I could give one piece of advice, it would be to simply be as ambitious as you want. There are no limits to what you can achieve, therefore if you have a dream about building your own business empire then chase that dream, and make it a reality.