It’s easy to feel self-confident and mentally strong when everything is going great in your small business. However, when disaster strikes unexpectedly and you hit a challenge, that’s when your true strength is tested.

One of the best ways to be successful as an entrepreneur is to build a strong mindset to be ready for challenges so that when they come, which they will, you will be ready to face them.

These tips will help you create a strong mindset to deal with any business challenges.

1. Get a Mentor

An easy way to keep calm under pressure is to get a mentor from a professional organization. These mentors, who are experienced entrepreneurs, have been vetted and screened to match certain criteria. This ensures they have enough experience to help you.

Having a mentor is so beneficial that entrepreneurs with mentors double their chances of staying in business past five years compared to entrepreneurs without mentors; 69% of entrepreneurs believe their business grew due to mentorship.

2. Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation can permanently change the way you deal with stress.

A Harvard study showed that people who took an eight week mindfulness meditation course experienced changes in their brain, which led to decreased feelings of anxiety and stress. A University of California, Santa Barbara study also showed that just two weeks of meditating decreased mind wandering and increased focus.

If you have a daily stress management practice, it will allow you to remain focused during challenging times so you can process information clearly and make effective decisions.

3. Build a Support Crew

Entrepreneurship is an extremely unique and risky profession. If you are running a small business in Canada you have a 50% chance of staying in business for five years. Those are high odds of failing. It’s crucial to have a support crew of people who are similar to you.

You can easily find likeminded people at co-working spaces and weekly business mastermind groups where you can meet daily, weekly or monthly to share ideas and support one another.

4. Follow a Plan

Many entrepreneurs regret not having a business plan in place after starting a business. If you have a business plan, it gives you confidence, as it shows you what you need to do to be successful. It also offers you back up options if things don’t go as planned.

This way when high stress challenges come up, you don’t panic, as you have everything laid out for you in your business plan.

If you have strategies in place to build and maintain a strong mindset, it’s likely you will see business challenges differently. By preparing for unexpected change, you will be able to overcome it from a place of peace and efficiency, rather than panic and ineffectiveness.

If you’re a business owner who has dealt with unexpected change over the past couple of years, then take a look at the Passion & Grit: Build Your Resiliency Toolkit program.

Starting May 12 this program is designed to help you develop four keys of resiliency: mindset, preparedness, strength and action, so that you can prioritize your next steps and summon the strength and passion to move forward!

Learn more and apply today at go.we-bc.ca/PassionAndGrit