Are you looking to change your reality, but don’t know where to start? Mindset is the beginning of everything in entrepreneurship so this week we talk through the 3 mindset shifts you need to make (3:15), the importance of taking action (11:20) and the self awareness you needed to propel yourself forward (18:40)
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Audio Transcript
Intro (5s):
The Wanderlover podcast was created with a mission to enable travel and freedom through entrepreneurship. I’m your host, Danielle H Business mentor, content creator, and founder of The Wanderlover tune in every week for episodes about travel online business, social media, and mindset that will inspire you to take massive action towards living the life of your dreams. If you’ve been enjoying the Wanderlover podcast, if you’ve been tuning in and finding inspiration and taking away value, it would mean so much to me. If you could take a second to leave us a review on apple podcasts, I continue to record these episodes for you every single week and take all of your comments and feedback to heart.
Danielle (52s):
Thank you guys so, so much. Hi everyone! welcome back to The Wanderlover podcast. I’m your host, Danielle Hu and this week’s episode is Three Essential Mindset Shifts from Corporate to Entrepreneur. And before we get started, I just have to share really exciting news about Momentum Mastermind. My signature four month group coaching program is open for enrollment. I’ll probably do another whole podcast episode just about momentum because I love it so much. I love running the program. I love bringing together a group of creative travel, loving online entrepreneurs who are all just so committed to leveling up in their online business during the four month timeframe.
Danielle (1m 38s):
So we start March 14th and it’s going to run through the end of June. We start off with a one-on-one 90 minute goal mapping session, just you and me. You get support and accountability throughout it all. You get live coaching, hot seat coaching and if you are ready to commit to your business this year, you can click on the link in the episode description to learn more about momentum and sign up. If it is calling your name, I’m happy to set up a call. If you have any questions. And if you enrolled this week, you get an early bird discount. So we can not wait to welcome you inside.
Danielle (2m 18s):
Which brings me to my first Essential Mindset Shifts from Corporate to Entrepreneur. And just to backtrack a little, if you’re new to this show, five almost five years ago, I quit my corporate job and started my entrepreneurship journey. And I had the inspiration to record this because I am currently back in New York city where I used to work full-time or I used to live. And I caught up with old friends, old friends who are now full-time entrepreneurs and old friends who are still in corporate and all of these mindset shifts. They are only going to apply for those of you who want to either exit the corporate route or start your side hustle. So if you are perfectly content, perfectly happy with your life right now, there is nothing you need to change.
Danielle (3m 3s):
And you can just listen to this with a grain of salt, because most likely you don’t really have to be applying these mindset shifts. But for those of you who want change, who are unhappy or struggling with your present situation, listen to these mindset shifts because these were the main ones that have helped me go from corporate to becoming a full-time a world traveling entrepreneur. And I hope you resonate with these and start applying it into your own life. So the first one is who you hang out with is who you become. This is also known as you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
Danielle (3m 45s):
And bear in mind. I did not come up with these phrases. These have been tried and tested and for them to have so much weight throughout the test of time, there must be some truth behind it. Right? But I specifically remember when I was working in finance and I first heard this quote, I was completely skeptical of it. I think I shut it down immediately. As soon as I heard, I was like, this is not true. I was hanging out with so many of my friends and peers in finance and consulting. And my ex-boyfriend had said this to me about how, who I was hanging out with is who I was becoming.
Danielle (4m 25s):
And at first I just didn’t, I didn’t see it. I was like, this is impossible. I can totally do my own thing without having to listen to what my peers and friends are saying about corporate. However, now that I’m outside of that frame and outside of that circle, it is so clear to me how everyone around me subconsciously too, with their beliefs, with their thoughts, with their words of what they were saying to me has shaped me into a person who believed that corporate was the only way to go. And so I think this also goes off of the quote. You can’t see the picture when you’re inside the frame.
Danielle (5m 5s):
Right? I couldn’t see that when I was just working in corporate, hanging out with people in corporate, you know, that’s, that was all I knew. And so now, if you are in that situation, I challenge you to recognize that who you hang out with is who you become. And this is because everyone, everyone on this earth has 24 hours a day to take action on whatever it is that they value and they prioritize. And usually this comes from their thoughts. And so I remember my first glimpse of the entrepreneurial lifestyle was when I was living in New York city. I once dated an entrepreneur who was super creative.
Danielle (5m 47s):
And at the time he was one of the founders of a travel Instagram that now has over 10 million followers. And he was creating a new dating app while I was, you know, going into the office, working my nine to five or waking up at seven every morning and getting home around six or seven. And there would be nights when we would go out in Midtown or go out in east village. And I remember all I wanted to do was just, you know, say at the place we were getting drinks at, but no, I had to leave because I had worked the next day. But there he was every single time being like, you know what? I’m just going to stay for a little while longer.
Danielle (6m 29s):
I don’t need to wake up. I don’t have to report to anyone. I can structure my life. However I want. And this guy, he didn’t come from a really wealthy background. He didn’t come from money. He didn’t come from a really entrepreneurial family and all odds against him was still making this lifestyle work. And that’s when I started questioning because I was like, I spent so much time studying for my degree. I spent so much time trying to apply for this job. And where is that getting me? Right. Like I would rather be in your position and why am I in my position? And things like that, the more you hang out with those types of people that make you question your reality and be like, is this really how I want to be living?
Danielle (7m 16s):
Are my values really serving me in this moment when I clearly would be, you know, I want to do something else. It makes you question all of those things and just imagine spending more and more time with those people that make you question your current reality, but also push you towards the direction you want to go in. How incredibly valuable is that. So now, because I am just so aware of how your inner circle affects your life. I’m so conscious with who I choose to spend my time with. So for example, if I want to do something, I spend time with the people who are already doing what I want to do.
Danielle (7m 57s):
If I want to be really good at surfing, I intentionally seek out surfers who prioritize surfing as part of their day to day routine, right? That’s simply just how this world works. It’s how your life works. If I want to be more creative, I’m going to spend more time with creatives. You need to constantly be meeting people and spending time with people who are doing what you want to do. And going off of who you hang out with is who you become just after so many years of constantly challenging my own beliefs that I grew up with that are ingrained in my heritage and my culture after just challenging them one by one and seeing my life change before my eyes, I’ve come to terms with the fact that you just have to sometimes realize that everything that you’re thinking and everything you value at this moment might be wrong and might change in an instant.
Danielle (8m 58s):
And you have the capability to change them in an instant. So this is kind of mind blowing, right? Because everyone is so, so certain about their current beliefs, about their current values because of their experiences, but just being really open to the fact that every single person in this world has a unique set of interests, personality, traits, values, and therefore their life should be designed in a way that is the most aligned to their unique set of interests, personality traits, right? It just has to align. And there are so many different ways of living.
Danielle (9m 38s):
And if, how you’re currently living your life is not the way you want it to be, get inspiration from other people who are doing what you want to do. You do not have to be limited to your thoughts and your feelings and your actions in this moment. It’s kind of mind blowing because you’re like, oh my God, everything I worked for in my life, like, do I need to change that right now? Like, are they all about to change? And who says that they have to stay the same your entire life right year after year, I’m constantly proving myself wrong about things. I thought I couldn’t accomplish and things I thought I couldn’t do because of my old belief system.
Danielle (10m 20s):
And the more you accept the fact that your current reality might change in an instant, it gets exciting because you’re like, holy shit, I can change my reality in an instant. I just need to surround myself with the right people that are going to spark this change. So the more self-aware you are about what you want, what you personally value, it’s going to give you so many answers. And if you’re interested in exploring more, I’m so happy to start conversations about this, about what lights you up. It makes me so happy when people are like, oh, can we just talk about our hopes and dreams?
Danielle (11m 0s):
And I’m like, yes, all I want to do. And this brings me to my second point. So going off of being self-aware and then finding the people I’m surrounding yourself with people who are where you want to be. The next essential mindset shifts from being in corporate to becoming an entrepreneur, is that no one is going to give you the answer for your life. No one is going to take action for you. No one is going to hold your hand through it. If you want to become an entrepreneur, you need to be finding your own answers and taking action yourself.
Danielle (11m 41s):
You need to start asking yourself, how, how do I do this? How do I can accomplish this? How do I reach my goals? Instead of immediately shutting things down before you even give it a chance to grow before you even give it a chance to cultivate and bloom, instead of immediately shutting it down, which sometimes can be a habit, right? Sometimes people develop habits of just being like, no, I can’t do that. No, this is impossible. Give it a chance. This is also one of the main mindset differences I noticed between people who are in corporate. So people I used to work with versus entrepreneurs, who I surround myself with today.
Danielle (12m 22s):
So when I recommend books that I really enjoy books that have changed my life. And my way of thinking. If you tune into one of my previous episodes, the books that have changed my life, one of the first ones is the four hour workweek by Tim Ferriss. That book expanded my frame of reference of what is possible with my life and lit something up in me where I was like, there are other ways of living, right? Other people are doing it. And if they can do it, I can too. So that book was so monumental in my life trajectory. And what I notice when I recommend this book to people who are in corporate, whether or not they have read the books, some of them have some of them haven’t, but their answers are the same.
Danielle (13m 9s):
They immediately say, not everyone can quit their jobs and pursue entrepreneurship because we still need people who have to be doctors who have to be lawyers who have to work in finance, right? They are thinking about, however, not everyone can do this. Then a common answer that I also get from people in corporate. This goes for four hour work week. This also goes for Gary Vaynerchuk because he spreads a similar message where it’s like, find your, find your passion, hustle, and work towards a life of your dream. Another response I get from people who I introduced to Tim Ferris and Gary they’re like, I don’t like them because it’s all fluff.
Danielle (13m 50s):
They don’t tell you exactly what you need to do with your life. They don’t give you actionable steps. And this blows my mind. I totally understand where they’re coming from, but it just blows my mind and the way people interpret their message. So what I’ve learned in years and years of entrepreneurship is that no one can prescribe you your business. No one can prescribe you what you need to be doing in entrepreneurship. Because the nature of this business itself is bringing into this world. Something that has never been created before, whether that’s your personal brand, whether that’s an invention, no one can teach you entrepreneurship.
Danielle (14m 32s):
And when you are looking for answers, when you are looking at these people to tell you what to do with your life, you’re only going to fail because that’s not what they are in business for. They’re here to expand your mind and be shifting your mindset, to start asking more questions, to start looking for answers yourself. And that is what I got from Gary’s message from Tim Ferriss’s message. When I was in corporate, I was like, oh my gosh, this is possible for me. What can I do now? So that’s when I looked into drop shipping. When I looked into travel blogging, when I looked into Amazon FBA, I took the initiative and I took action to look for answers instead of expecting to read a book and then have the answers come to me.
Danielle (15m 21s):
So if you’re in corporate and you want change, if you want to incorporate some entrepreneurial mindset shifts into your life, start thinking how start asking yourself how instead of being super critical and judgmental at first, I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’ve realized that those thoughts do not serve me, especially if they keep me in a situation that I don’t want to be in. So you have nothing to lose, right? Start asking yourself, how, how do I make my dreams a reality? How do I do this? How can I find the answers? Instead of reading a book and being like, wait, I still don’t have an answer yet.
Danielle (16m 2s):
Right? Instead of being like this book sucks. I got nothing from this book. What he says, isn’t even true. Not everyone can quit their corporate jobs. Instead of thinking like that. After reading a book, maybe start asking, Hey, he has so many testimonials. So many people were able to adopt or incorporate the four hour work week in their lives. It’s Danielle Hu. Founder of the Wanderlover is a testimonial to the transformations that this book is capable of producing in someone else’s lives. How can I be one of them? How can I do the same? And I promise you asking yourself those questions and focusing on things that you can change about your life.
Danielle (16m 48s):
It’s going to serve you so much better. If you are in a position that you’re unhappy with, I promise you entrepreneurship cannot be prescribed. If you’re asking, how do I become an entrepreneur? You’re probably not trying hard enough. And it’s this creative muscle that you just have to trust yourself and exercise over and over again. You need to be bringing something unique into this world. You can do it. This brings me to my final Essential Mindset Shifts from Corporate to Entrepreneur, take action, get experience, and then decide. You cannot make decisions based on someone else’s experience that just doesn’t work.
Danielle (17m 32s):
It will never make you happy. You need to take action and find out for yourself. Remember when I said everyone on this earth has a different set of values of personality, traits of characteristics, right? You cannot take someone else’s word as your own. Some people love corporate jobs. Some people love freelancing. Some people love entrepreneurship. Other people realize that anything I just said might not be for them. Right? Some people hate corporate jobs. Some people hate freelancing. Some people hate entrepreneurship. Who are you? Which one are you? And you’re not going to know until you experience it for yourself.
Danielle (18m 14s):
You can theoretically guess be like, I think I would like this. But even that, although it’s a little closer, because you’re thinking about it. You truly won’t know until you experience it for yourself. There are so many people who quit corporate and start entrepreneurship, start living a digital nomadic life and realize it’s not for them, but they learn through experience. Other people are the opposite. They go into a corporate job and they realize, holy shit, this is soul sucking. There’s no way I can do that. That’s how I learned. Even though no one else around me felt the same. So you need to take action and get the experience for yourself. And the key to this is being self-aware.
Danielle (18m 57s):
I think that’s like a trend for all of these three mindset shifts. You need to be self aware. You need to know what lights you up, what you like, what you don’t like, and then have the confidence to execute and take action from that place. You cannot say to yourself, Hey, I really hate this. I really hate this situation. I’m in and keep yourself there. I’m not saying you have to completely switch off one minute and the other, but start thinking how, ask yourself those critical questions. How can I do this? How can I start changing? How can I take action in the direction of my dream life?
Danielle (19m 36s):
So a little backstory at my younger brother. He’s 21 years old and he’s backpacking by himself. Through south America. He graduated a semester early and he’s just backpacking and staying at Airbnbs. It’s all self-funded and he is learning already at such an early age. What kind of travel he prefers? He already is settling down and out of Keepa and Purdue. He’s going to be there for two, three weeks, and he’s just going to chill. He’s going to learn Spanish and enjoy his time off. He realized he didn’t love hostels. He loves meeting people, but didn’t really enjoy the hostel experience. I was the complete opposite.
Danielle (20m 17s):
I was partying all the time and backpacking and hostels were something I really liked during his age, but he would not have learned that about himself. Had he not experienced it for himself? He just constantly would have heard me saying, oh my gosh, you’re 21. You should totally go backpack without really knowing what it entailed. Same thing with entrepreneurship, same thing with life. You need to take action and experience it for yourself. I still do this as like, this is one of my mantras for life. It really is. It started when I was backpacking at the age of 19 through different countries, I was studying abroad and I was traveling so frequently.
Danielle (20m 59s):
And then I was in a corporate job. This is when I learned, I hated being in corporate and my travel style changed. I was maximizing vacation days. I was combining them with long weekends and I was really just trying to cram as many countries into my vacation days and weekends as possible after I quit my corporate job, I went back to country hopping. So I was going to a new country every other week. And I learned that I really enjoyed staying in Airbnbs. And I started experiencing really luxurious stays. And so my standard of living, I was like, Hey, I no longer like backpacking anymore.
Danielle (21m 40s):
I’m going to up the standard for my travels a little. And then after country hopping for a while, which is something I thought I had wanted to do since quitting corporate, I realized that it got really tiring. And in that moment I wanted a base and that’s why I moved to Bali. I saw people living in Bali and decided that I wanted to do the same, but then after a year, a year and a half, I got sick of it. I was like, you know what? I want to travel again. I actually don’t like staying in one place for a really extended period of time, even though it’s beautiful. Even though I love it, I just need new experiences and new locations.
Danielle (22m 20s):
And thank God I have an online business that allows me to do this. But this is when I realized, I think six months in a place is the perfect medium. And that’s what the last two years has been. We spent a little over six months in Brazil, then we were in Hawaii for six. Then we went to Costa Rica and then went to Indonesia for another six months. And I just love this flow of slow travel. And that’s where I am right now. Of course, if you talk to me, my recommendations are going to change based on where I am in my life, right? So you should never ask people and hold it as truth I could have told you a few years ago, backpacking is away.
Danielle (23m 2s):
Then I could have told you, you know, actually going to a new country every week is so fun. You should try that. Or I could have been like just moved to a different country for a year or two, right? My experience are changing. What I’m advising is changing. And therefore you just need to experience it for yourself, having the self-awareness first and foremost, and then learning from mentors who are there, learning from people who are where you want to be right now. And this is precisely why every single one of my clients Excel in whatever it is that they are doing because they know what they want. And I am here to support them.
Danielle (23m 43s):
I hold them accountable. I give them a map, but ultimately they are deciding exactly where they want to go. So to summarize, if you are currently in corporate or if you’re a new entrepreneur and you really want to hone in on your entrepreneurial mindset, practice, finding your community, get rid of any beliefs that aren’t serving. You recognize that your beliefs are totally malleable and you can adopt beliefs from other people who are where you want to be too. You need to start asking how, how can you do things? How can you make this a reality? Because no one is going to give you the answer that needs to come from within.
Danielle (24m 26s):
And it comes from self awareness and last but not least take action and get experience for yourself and learn from people who are doing it or who have done it. So if you are ready to commit to the next level in your online business, I really encourage you to reach out about momentum mastermind, learn more using the link in the episode description. If you want to surround yourself with like minded individuals who are all ready to make an impact and make a lot of money doing so online or working from anywhere, we would love to have you in this group.
Danielle (25m 7s):
If you sign up this week, you get free access to The Wanderlover Business Academy 2.0 which is valued at $997! We cannot wait to welcome you inside. Have an amazing week guys. And I will see you in the next episode.
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