Successful Transition from Employee to Entrepreneur

Starting a network marketing business sounds great, doesn’t it? Finally, freedom is within reach and no more 9 to 5 job!

But what does it really take to build an extraordinary network marketing business that will provide you with the freedom you desire? Transitioning from employee to entrepreneur will take some work on your part.

If your work background is being in the employ of others, it’s essential that you take the necessary steps to make the transition to entrepreneur.

By the end of this post, you’ll have 3 steps to help you make the transition and start working on your future.

Let’s get started!

Employee vs. Entrepreneur, What’s the Difference?

Before we discuss anything else, it’s worth pointing out the main difference between employee and network marketing entrepreneur.

Let’s explore the traits of being an employee.

Most people are familiar with trading time for money. That is where you trade an hour of your time for a certain wage. There are only so many hours in a day making earning potential quite limited.

Employers tend to pay you just enough so you won’t quit and employees tend to work just enough not to get fired.

Another key trait of employees is living by a schedule your employer set up for you and working on tasks that are assigned to you.

With this type of conditioning over a long period of time, continuing in an employee mindset will make building a network marketing business more challenging

On the other hand, being an entrepreneur is quite the opposite.

Jim Rohn, a well-known entrepreneur said it best, “profits are better than wages…wages will make you a living, but profits will make you a fortune.”

Entrepreneurs work for profits. There is no one-to-one relationship between a measure of time and money.

In fact, most entrepreneurs work hard for hardly any pay in the beginning. With persistence and determination, your income will grow based on your efforts.

Entrepreneurs make their own schedule and figure out what tasks to do. Sounds like a dream doesn’t it?

Let’s dig in.

Entrepreneurial Characteristics that you can Work on Now

While there are many characteristics that define successful entrepreneurs, in this article I give you the most significant ones that you can consistently start working on now.

1 – Shift Your Mindset with Personal Development

Have you ever shifted your mindset in a big way? Maybe you are not even sure what that means.

Most of the time people focus on the things they will “get” in life. This is especially true as an employee. You’ll get that raise. You’ll get that new car. You’ll get that vacation time. You “get” the idea here.

As an entrepreneur, consider who you are becoming instead of what you will get. Although you may have a vision for the things you want in life in your perfect day, who you become on this journey is the foundation for how you get there.

Working on your personal development helps you develop a mindset that will facilitate you becoming that person who is a successful entrepreneur.

C.P. Sennett once said, “If nothing changes then nothing changes.”

I learned that lesson in a big way.

For example, when I first started my network marketing business, this mindset thing was a foreign concept for me.

Why did I need to change? Wasn’t I smart enough or good enough?

Well, no. Without change, moving forward was not only difficult but near impossible.

Only after I started connecting with people, building a team and taking responsibility as a leader, did I realize the value of personal development. I needed to change in order to wrap my mind around new responsibilities, like being resourceful, putting others first, being resilient, inner strength and perseverance.

Network marketing is all about helping others in some way, either through amazing products or giving hope to those who are not financially stable.

Do you really know how to help others? I didn’t.

Through personal development you can better yourself. When you better yourself, you have that much more to offer to other people and you can get through the tough times that we all experience.

Another crucial trait of entrepreneurs is confidence and a solid belief in what you are doing. You are sure to get pushback from others in your life.

Do you now have the inner strength to withstand that and keep pushing towards your goals?

Not many of us are born with that trait but by working on your inner mind, you can develop it.

Personal development is the first and more important step towards shifting to an entrepreneur mindset. Here’s how to get started:

Find personal development books that resonate with you. There are some fabulous authors like Jim Rohn, Eric Worre, and Darren Hardy.
Read at least 20 minutes daily or listen in the car. If you spend a lot of time in your car, turn it into learning time.
Attend personal development or motivational conferences whenever possible. You’ll walk away with a different perspective on life.

Every person has the ability to grow into and become that person who can and will succeed.

What is your vision for who you want to become in your life?

2 – Be Resourceful

What does being resourceful have to with your network marketing business? As you embark on this entrepreneurial journey, being resourceful will help move you to action and save time.

Being resourceful can happen at many levels but I want to focus on just a couple of things that will really help you.

Here’s a very simple example of why you need to be resourceful. Let’s say that you have a question about something in your network marketing business.

What do you do?

Well, I see many network marketers post their question in Facebook groups or leave a message with their sponsor.

What is the problem with that?

It’s a passive activity, right? You can wait for your sponsor to get back to you or wait for someone in the group to answer the question.

This has now cost you in time, something you can never get back.

If you are still working at a full time job I know you don’t have a lot of extra time to work on your business so why waste it.

In addition if you wait for people in a group to respond, how do you know you’ll get the right answer?

Instead, be resourceful and take action. You can usually find the answer in your company online office, FAQ or by calling the distributor support line.

You’ll save time and be able to move on with whatever you need to do.

Being resourceful helps you take action and move forward. Taking action is crucial to success in network marketing.

It helps you make progress in your business, no matter how big or small.

Progress is exciting, isn’t it? When you make a little progress each day, that’s when momentum starts happening.

Another key aspect of resourcefulness is the ability to work with what you have.

One of the biggest show-stoppers in this business is those people who feel they must have something specific in order to take a step. For example, let’s say you can’t call a prospect because you don’t have a script to use and you don’t know what to say.

Those are just excuses for not taking action on the important stuff. In this case, be resourceful and speak from your heart instead. We all start somewhere and learn along the way.

Let’s take an example of someone who wants to start a blog. Instead of focusing on the most important activity, that is writing value-driving content, they focus on fussing with the blog header or border colors that aren’t too important in comparison.

Make one of your goals to get things done no matter what it takes. Maximize and make the best use with what you have.

How can you be more resourceful on a daily basis? Make a list of areas where you can improve on this.

3 – Understand the Difference between Busy and Productive

Everyone is so busy all the time. What is everyone doing?

Busy work is something we all excel at. It’s so easy to get lost in social media and spend too much time on Facebook checking your newsfeed.

Being busy and being productive are very different things.

Productivity refers to income generating activities in network marketing. It’s crucial that you do the most important things first and the least important thing last or not at all.

What is busy work? Here are a few examples:

Checking email 50 times a day
Reading online articles or watching YouTube videos
Checking Facebook
Talking to the same 5 people over and over and over about your business opportunity

There are two activities that are most important to your success in network marketing. That is:

Finding and talking to new customers
Finding and talking to prospects to join your team as a business builder

If you have limited time to spend on your business, make better use of it.

Prioritize your activities into those that will move your business forward and those that will not.

For example, instead of talking to the same 5 people over and over about your business or products, find 50 more people to talk to. I’d rather talk to 50 people one time than talk to 5 people 10 times each.

If you spend too much time being busy, you’ll limit the time you can be productive.

Before doing something, ask yourself if the activity is truly productive. If not, it’s not a good use of your time.

A good best practice is the 80/20 rule. Spend 80 percent of your time finding and talking to people. Spend the other 20 percent of your time doing other activities that don’t directly impact income generation.

Conclusion

Transitioning from employee to entrepreneur can be the most exciting time of your life. Becoming the person you imagine in your vision for your life will be the result of shifting your mindset and taking action daily.

I’ve given you 3 crucial steps to consider when making the transition. Which of these resonates with you the most and how will you implement them into your daily routine?