Opening and running a business can be challenging and even exhausting at times. To stay focused on long-term success, it is vitally important for business owners to develop a growth mindset. Setting goals and making plans can help keep your team focused on strong performance while maximizing your growth potential.
When I decided to become a Marco’s Pizza franchisee, I decided to go big. I wanted to build my pizza empire and set a goal to open 10 locations. I opened my first store in 2018 and now four years later, I opened my fourth location. Believe me, going from one to four was not an easy task and there were many challenges along the way. For me, setting long-term goals for myself and my team has helped me keep my eye on the prize while looking for ways to grow my business.
So, how does one develop and maintain a growth mindset? Below are a few tips and best practices for entrepreneurs looking to enter growth mode.
Break Down Large Goals into Smaller Wins
When a goal or obstacle is too big, it can be overwhelming. Many entrepreneurs struggle to see how they can accomplish something so lofty from where they currently are in their business journey. Taking a step back and making smaller goals can help you visualize how you can accomplish those long-term goals or bigger obstacles.
During my time in the Air Force, I learned to break up each piece of a challenge so it becomes more manageable, and I now use that same skill as a business owner. Payroll, overhead, vendor partnerships, and marketing are all small tasks that can help set you on the path to achieve a bigger goal. Once you have a set of manageable pieces, you can tackle each one individually.
Humble Yourself and Ask for Help
Once you’ve identified your obstacles – seek help to overcome them. Whether that be building a team, seeking out mentors, or bringing on new partners – identify strengths, weaknesses, and skills needed to continue to push forward.
Your support team matters – invest in building the right one. For me, this was finding the right general manager with strong expertise in running day-to-day operations in my store. Then, with his help, we were able to build a solid operational infrastructure and additional team resources from there. The support I receive from them helps me tackle challenges because I’m able to turn to them for advice, insight, and feedback. Your team will turn into a trusted support system and can make all the difference as you begin to expand your business.
Be Agile
Do not expect your plan and the way your business grows to be linear. Nothing is perfect and nothing ever happens quite exactly as you plan it to happen. Most of the time you’ll find yourself needing to execute a plan B, C, D, E, F, etc.
The first thing I would suggest is to let go of any expectations of how things are supposed to play out. Once you release expectations, your ability to stay calm and persevere through a challenging moment becomes easier.
Take challenges as they come, try to have an open mind, and get creative when looking for solutions.
Eliminate Failure as an Option
Sometimes, our first reaction to uncertainty or challenge is fear – fear that failure is looming in our future and that can be paralyzing if you let those thoughts win. Fear is natural, but don’t let fear stop you from trying. Instead, look at it as an opportunity to test your ability, grow your resiliency, and even learn something new.
The unknown gives us the curiosity to try new things and aim for the stars. Changing your mindset on what failure is can help. Failing at something means you took a risk and tried something new. That’s not a bad thing at all and when you change your outlook, failure doesn’t seem as scary.
Trial and error will lead to bigger and better results. Keeping a positive outlook will go a long way toward helping you tackle whatever challenges come up in your entrepreneurial journey.
See the Vision
Your vision must be clearly defined. By painting a clear picture of your vision, everyone in your business will have an understanding of how to support its growth.
Make sure it is communicated with everyone on your team, and often. Be sure to also monitor your vision as you continue to grow and reach milestones. This will allow you to make sure you are staying on the path toward achieving your vision and growth goals.
If you have decided to take that leap and open your own business, congrats! You have taken the first step and it is often the scariest. I hope these tips help you set goals and visualize what the future of your business looks like. Always aim for the sky and keep working toward your growth goals.
Stephanie Moseley is a multi-unit owner of four Marco’s Pizza locations in Virginia – Newport News, Suffolk, Yorktown, and her newest location in downtown Newport News. Moseley began her military career in 1985 and spent seven years as an Air Force intelligence analyst, where she ran a division that oversaw the SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft. Moseley is a former Air Force Captain, who initially transitioned out of the military and into pharmaceutical and biotech sales, and then later on, became an entrepreneur with her first Marco’s Pizza location opening in 2018. In 2022, Moseley was recognized as the recipient of the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) prestigious Franchisee of the Year Award and the Franchise Business Review Rockstar Franchise Owners Award. If you are interested in becoming a Marco’s Pizza franchisee, you can visit www.marcos.com/franchising.
Growth mindset stock image by Ivelin Radkov/Shutterstock