So, you want to be a nurse solopreneur? A coach, consultant, writer, or online educator. Whatever it is. Being a business owner is a mindset. Scroll to the end for a free resource to help you cultivate a business mindset for yourself.
When you are just starting in business, your mindset can hold you back in many ways without you even knowing it. To help you redirect your thoughts into a more productive way of thinking, we will examine some of the most common limiting beliefs nurses have when they first start in business.
What are limiting beliefs?
The concept of a limiting belief can be hard to define. It is a belief your mind believes to be true, even if you aren’t aware of its presence or control of your current decision-making process.
Whether you are aware of it or not, your own limiting beliefs have the potential to hold you back from reaching your fullest potential. But don’t worry, there are things you can do about them.
Being able to recognize and redirect your thoughts consciously is what is going to make the biggest impact on your overall business success. If you want to dive deeper here is a great resource for limiting beliefs.
Examples of limiting business beliefs.
Limiting beliefs will look different for everyone’s business. But when you are just starting they could look like an inner dialogue like this:
- “I don’t have enough time.”
- “Once it’s perfect I’ll send it out.”
- “I don’t have enough experience.”
An internal dialogue like this can easily lead to you believing that you shouldn’t even try. That’s why it’s essential to learn how to recognize them and redirect your thoughts.
What you can do about your own limiting beliefs.
The first step to changing your way of thinking is identifying their presence. As soon as you recognize they are there, you can redirect or re-frame your thoughts in a more positive direction.
Let’s examine five of the most common limiting business beliefs nurses have and see how you can break free of them. Several of these examples may hold some significance for you and these are only one limited way to approach them. Always take into account your personal set of circumstances.
Limiting business beliefs that hold nurses back:
- You tell yourself you don’t have time.
- You think you have to spend money to start making it.
- You are worried that you might make a mistake and destroy everything.
- You think you don’t have enough experience to get started.
- You think everything will change once you make a viral post or two.
1. You tell yourself you don’t have time.
The most common limiting belief I hear from nurses who want to start a side hustle or full-time business is this one. And I just don’t believe them. Nobody has time for anything until you make time for it.
I know not everyone has the same 24 hrs, but if you want your current situation to change, you need to put some focused energy into changing the problems that keep you where you’re at right now. That’s just how it works.
It doesn’t matter how much time you have to dedicate to getting where you want to go. If you are spending zero now then 15 mins a week is progress. Creating a system that lets you pick up where you last left off is an easy way to refocus your attention quickly.
To do this, I use the project management tool, Click Up. I can easily access everything I need for any given project in one digital folder. This saves me hours from having to sit down and remember what I was working on a week ago. Now I have one link I can email myself or easily schedule time in my google calendar to work on later.
2. You think that you have to spend money to start making it.
If you are just starting this one can be a little confusing because it is good business advice. But you should think of it as you have to put energy out to get what you are looking for.
It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole of thinking that all you need to do is purchase the next subscription or resource, and then you’ll take the steps necessary to start making money. But you don’t need to spend money to make it.
You can spend your own time and energy instead of spending money to create the income you want. Money and time are almost interchangeable in this example. You are going to have to spend either time or money, or a combination of both along your business journey to continue to create income.
Building a community of like-minded individuals on social media is one of the best ways to create opportunities by doing nothing else than investing your time. In this way, you will be able to learn as you grow and open up a world of opportunities for yourself.
I choose LinkedIn as my social media platform of choice at the moment. The more I post, the more opportunities I’m presented with and the more people I meet in the industry who I want to work with.
3. You are worried that you might make a mistake and destroy everything.
Nothing will ever be perfect and there will never be the perfect opportunity unless you create it for yourself. You have to know what you are looking for, to be able to identify something as an opportunity worth pursuing.
At some point, tough decisions are going to have to be made. You’re the leader of your business, so you have to be the one to feel confident in the decisions you make.
Did you know everything before you started working as a nurse? No, you figured it all out as you went. Business is the same way. You just have to believe in yourself enough to be able to ask the right questions and figure it all out as you go.
4. You think that you don’t have enough experience to get started.
This is a common belief for anyone starting out in business, but getting started so that you can get real-world feedback is how you make real, meaningful steps toward progress. As a business owner, you should put your ideas into action before you feel completely ready.
Although it may seem counterintuitive, it’s some of the best business advice you can get. You need honest feedback and knowledge of how your ideas and products perform in reality. Is it working in the real world as you expected or do you need to rethink your strategy?
5. You think everything will change once you make a viral post or two.
An active social media account can create exposure for your business for free. It can take a long time to create an engaged following, but the benefits can be invaluable.
A strategy can help you if you find creating content to share online overwhelming. It can be incredibly time-consuming to create a following on social media. If you have a strategy you can save yourself a ton of time in the long run.
Importance of limiting beliefs in business.
The ability to recognize your own limiting beliefs could be the reason you even start in the first place. When people say your emotional intelligence is important in business, this is part of what they mean.
Understanding yourself and having a good working understanding of your emotional intelligence is the first step in changing the way your life is headed. You can put yourself in the driver’s seat of your life if you allow yourself to be honest and listen.
If you want to learn more about creating a business mindset here is a free 3-day email course to get you started on your way to making money.