Mindset to succeed in 2021

By Maru Panganiba

If only a year ago you had been told that a pandemic was going to wipe out thousands of businesses, that it would put the global economy at risk and radically change the world of sales, would you have believed it?

Since March 2020, however, hundreds of thousands of businesses worldwide have faced this destabilizing social and economic crisis.

But…

You know what made some companies save their business from shipwreck and some didn’t?How did they get him afloat?

And, mainly, how could they continue to sail firmly in such murky waters?

Empoderamia decided to invite the sales expert and founder of the Speed Selling Method, Maria Eugenia Panganiba, to reveal to us the strategies that entrepreneurs used to adapt their business to adversity and manage to give a radical twist to their brand and the way they used to sale.

Empoderamia: Maru. If you had to mention the FEATURE that managed to save many entrepreneurs from the very difficult global situation we are experiencing, what would it be?

Maru: I think the people who managed to react quickly were those who decided to adopt a different mindset in the face of the new situation they were facing, that is.

They had a growth mindset. Stanford University’s social psychology specialist and professor Carol Dwek explains in her successful book Mindset: the new psychology of success, such as people with a growth mindset, are much more likely to overcome adversity, get ahead, and succeed than those with a fixed mindset.

Empoderamiat: Could you explain to us why certain entrepreneurs managed to quickly change their mindset and others did not Maru?

Maru: The first big point, and it’s one of the big differences between people who have a fixed mindset and those with a growth one, is the false myth that not everyone “was born” with the gifts, skills or resources to overcome adversity.

The specialist in the topic perfectly sums this up to us in a simple sentence:

“If you think you’re growing up and you’re open to growth, you’re more likely to grow up. If you’re closed to change, you’re more likely to never change.” Carol Dwek

One of the first things we need to learn to change is the false belief that not everyone can change. Everyone, absolutely everyone, can, if we really want to change that situation.

Fatalism, fear of challenges and new challenges, fear of failure or criticism, fear of uncertainty or leaving their comfort zone are other factors or beliefs that consciously or unconsciously prevented many entrepreneurs from acting with speed.

Empoderamia: But Maru, don’t you think, in this case, it was more the situation we’ve been living since March 2020, that really stopped entrepreneurs from getting ahead? Many of them, even though they would have wanted to do something, could not do it for a thousand reasons completely out of their control. For example, many were forced to close their doors. Others did not have the first-hand products needed to supply their production line. The means of distribution were limited, scarce and insufficient, among many other external reasons that had nothing to do with his mentality.

Maru: That’s a very excellent observation. It is interesting to remember that all, both growth-minded and fixed-minded entrepreneurs, were exposed to the same situation. The big difference, however, is that growth-minded entrepreneurs allowed themselves do something the others didn’t do and that was to find a solution beyond that limiting situation.

It’s exactly like the riddle that asks you to join the 9 points with 3 lines without taking off the pencil.

We’re all there making lines and lines. Same lines, even though it doesn’t work.

Those nine points represent the difficulties you mentioned to me. We want to sell, but we can’t because it’s closed, because we don’t have the necessary products, etc. And there we continue, spinning around the problem, even though we realize that it is impossible to solve it. We are stuck very much despite our good intentions to do so or the false idea that we are in “growth mind” mode as we are trying to deal with the problem.

Let’s remember that another characteristic of a growing-minded individual is to get out of their comfort zone and try new things. That is, to seek innovation.

So the question that those businesses that managed to adapt faster were asked was:

What else can I do to get ahead with the resources I have?

Back to the famous dots. How can I draw these three lines differently?

I’m not going to put the solution so as not to take away the opportunity for those who don’t know this challenge of thinking differently, which is where the famous phrase comes from “think out of the box.”

Let’s remember what the great genius Albert Einstein said:

“If you’re looking for different results, stop doing the same.” This is the essence of innovation.

Empoderamia: Innovating may seem, once again, something not everyone feels born to do Maru. Many human beings still believe that you need to be a great genius or be born with great creativity, imagination or talent to innovate.

Maru: Effectively. It’s another very pertinent observation. The myth that it is only some geniuses who are born with great creativity, continues to persist. However, dozens of experts in various areas, mainly psychology, have shown that all humans are able to develop creative thinking, learn and change. Another foundation of creative thinking is that we can all grow if:

We learn from the failure; criticism and success of others

We are continuously trained.

Open our thinking to new ideas; and processes

We take risks

We leave our comfort zone in search of new challenges

Companies and businesses that managed to overcome the terrible adversity they have faced since March 2020 used several or all of these growth skills. Consider the clothing factories that were made to make mouth covers or the perfume companies that produced antibacterial gel, among many other examples.

Empoderamia: But Maru. What about all those who, despite applying all these strategies, couldn’t get afloat for reasons completely out of their control?

Maru: You’re absolutely right. There are two last strategies I would like to give to our readers and with which very few had in March 2020: Anticipation and Planning.

It is true that the pandemic took us all completely by surprise. No one or almost anyone was at least prepared to deal with such a devastating situation.

However, by 2021, which is almost at our fingertips, we have the unrivalled advantage that we know the situation and above all that we are in time to plan our intervention strategies.

NOTE: I said STRATEGIES and not only strategy. A great friend and professor at the University of Miami expert in marketing and finance once told me. Maru, if you really want to be prepared to deal with any kind of eventuality, you can’t count on just a plan A, B and C, as we commonly think. To be 100% prepare you must have a plan from A to Z.

Indeed, if there is one thing this global pandemic has come to teach the vast majority of entrepreneurs, it is that our business must be prepared for each and every possible eventuality that may arise.

If there’s one tip I’d like to end, it’s that we need to think about every possible catastrophic scenario (A to Z) to be prepared to face them and not fall off suddenly as was the case this year. It is not a question of being fatalistic or pessimistic, but realistic, cautious and mainly VISIONARY.

From A to Z, remember that. Learn from your mistakes and others to be prepared, this time, for any situation. Learn from the success of your competitors and the companies that were able to innovate so you don’t fall behind again. And above all, open yourself to change.

Don’t stay behind one more time. Remember. Changing is inevitable. If change approached leaps and bounds with the advent of the new era of technology and digital commerce, the coronavirus crisis taught us that change is, today more than ever, INDISPENSABLE.

The advent of the numerical age is another example that clearly shows us how the companies that adopted a growth mindset were the ones that managed to adapt to a turn so radical that they would soon live. We agree that almost no one was prepared for this new era. Others refused to believe in her. In the blink of an eye, market leaders such as Kodak, Nokia, BlackBerry, MySpace, Yahoo, Xerox, Blockbuster and, more recently, Microsoft lost billions of dollars or disappeared completely from the face of business. Why? Simply because they didn’t adopt a growth mindset.

If you really want to get your business afloat in these times of great economic uncertainty, but especially if you want to prepare to face the new challenges of 2021, you have to completely leave behind your limiting beliefs and learn to have a growth thought.

Training and business advice will always be two of your best allies to achieve this.

And you. Are you ready to leave your ideas behind and move on to a growth mindset that will prepare your company to face any eventuality? If you need ideas on how to do it, do not hesitate to contact me @marupan-ganibaventas en fb e Instagram.