6 Ways To Start Thinking Like a Boss
The term “boss mentality” is thrown around quite a bit in the business world. It's an all-too-common topic discussed among solopreneur podcasters, lifestylers, and coaches.
But what does boss mentality mean when you get down to its nuts and bolts? More importantly, how can you apply this mindset to get more from your business? Over the last 10 years, through the ups and downs of solopreneur life, I've learned how to think like a boss.
What Does It Really Mean To Think Like a Boss?
Before we start to unpack the fundamentals of a boss mindset, it's worth considering what it's like working within a traditional 9-5 employee-employer structure—a structure where you likely aren't the boss. Instead, you have a boss.
Fundamentally, traditional employment conditions used to be dependent. Because when you work for other people, they take care of everything:
✓ Your paycheck goes into your account and has already been taxed.
✓ Your 401K has increased.
✓ Your company has even covered life insurance.
✓ HR reminds you of the deadline for open enrollment.
✓ The corporate attorney handles that cease and desist order.
✓ Your manager sets your goals and "develops" you to reach them…
They also control what you do, how you do it, and your worth. You must be at a certain place at a certain time. Even if you don't, you still need to put in a certain number of hours or complete a certain number of deliverables to get your paycheck.
And your paycheck gives you what they decide is "fair" compensation for your contributions to the overall product or service.
This learned dependence often means that when people start working for themselves, they don't fully know how to use their new-found freedom or manage the myriad responsibilities associated with running a business.
It requires a fundamental mindset shift to start taking care of yourself AND break free of the social conditioning that dictates the connections between time and money, "hard work" and "rest."
You have to learn how to be a boss in a world where the vast majority of workers never work for themselves*.
Boss Mentality and the Solopreneur Journey
Solopreneurs, in particular, often get stuck in an employee mindset because they don't consider themselves "real businesses" just because they're a one-person show. This leads to many of us undervaluing our work and our time. It's a mentality that traps us in the same cycle of overwork and underpay that we had when we worked for other people.
But, you won't fully reap the rewards of independent work if you can't break the employee mindset. So, with that in mind, here are the key mindset shifts that need to happen to claim your freedom like a boss.
What Does Boss Mentality Actually Mean?
In the solopreneur world, boss mindset and boss mentality are topics discussed all the time but often without much context. What exactly is a boss mindset?
Here’s my definition:
If you think like a boss, you have taken ownership of your work, worth, and wisdom. You understand your ideal clients and have designed services that solve their problems. You know the financial aspects of your business front and back, focusing on value and profitability. You know what you want and have a clear strategy to get it.
Of course, the mindset is not just about projecting confidence and taking initiative. It's about mastering your business from the inside out and being accountable for it all. Whether you’re tackling new skill sets—like marketing, project management, or financial planning—or learning to delegate, having a boss mentality means continually growing and evolving your expertise to grow the business.
Moreover, embracing a boss mentality means redefining traditional work-life balance by prioritizing flexibility and autonomy over a rigid 40-hour workweek schedule.
People who embrace the boss mentality fully own their personal and professional development. They also know that success involves a blend of personal fulfillment and professional achievement. They become the key architects of both.
How To Think Like a Boss: 6 Ways To Develop a Boss Mentality
You Make the Decisions and Solve the Problems
When you work for yourself, you are the only person in charge of the decisions that drive your business and, therefore, your life. You are also the person who has to solve the problems. This means you will need to be (or get) better at more than what you specialize in now.
You are a great—fill in the blank—graphic designer, coder, writer, etc. The world needs you and your unique skill set. But unless you are also a marketing expert, project manager, business strategist, website designer, HR expert, accountant, and lawyer—all at the same time—then you'll have to learn some new things and wear some other hats.
Now, I believe in hiring experts and delegating when that makes sense, but chances are you won't always have the funds to do that, especially in the beginning. And even when you do, it's up to you to decide what you need, find the right person, and integrate them into your business.
So, what does being a boss mean? It means you are ready to roll up your sleeves and learn new things constantly to keep the lights on and the doors open.
You Hold the Purse Strings. It's Time To Fill the Purse
When you work for someone else, you might not even know what they're charging for the end product and how your time fits into it. Yet, when you're 100% in charge of making your own money, you start thinking about it differently.
As a business owner, you need to charge enough to cover your time and your overhead, taxes, benefits, PTO, and everything else involved in running a business.
One of the biggest mistakes freelancers make is charging a similar rate compared to what they were making when they worked for someone else. But you are a business now, not an employee. What you were paid as an individual contributor will not cut it.
This is a big one for solopreneurs. You might have much lower overhead than a larger company and so you justify hourly rates that don't include the costs it takes to run your business.
Your boss mentality needs to evolve because a business of one is still a business—your clients need to pay you like a business.
You Know What You're Worth and How To Ask for It
This applies to everyone, not just business owners. Our society has created a stigma around talking openly about money and compensation, and ultimately, that reinforces power structures where people get paid less than they deserve.
When you work for others, you have the luxury (or crutch) of only having compensation conversations with your boss. When you work for yourself, you must be very clear about what you're worth and get comfortable talking about money regularly with other people (clients, staff, and freelancers).
Your new boss mentality is owning this money conversation. It means confidently asking for what you are worth when entering into new contracts, client relationships, and quotes.
You Decide What You Do and When You Do It
In exchange for the added responsibility, being a solopreneur means you have flexibility and control over your work and life. This can take some getting used to when you're accustomed to other people telling you what to do—especially when it needs to be done.
This newfound flexibility means you have to think carefully about what you prioritize. Many new (and not-so-new) freelancers get stuck doing the same things they did when they worked for someone else, even the things they hate.
When you're the boss, you must think intentionally about your time, revenue, and business model to ensure you're doing what you love. What makes sense to do yourself? What makes sense to delegate? What do you truly love doing?
And that's right—the word LOVE wasn’t thrown in by accident. What does a boss mean if not having the freedom and flexibility to focus on the aspects of business you absolutely love? Because if you're going to hate your work, you might as well go back and do it for someone else.
Remember, You Develop Yourself
When you work for other people, they perpetuate the myth that only their outside perspective can show you what needs to change. While an outside perspective can be helpful, ultimately, you know when something isn't working. You have the power to change it, whether that means taking a course, investing in a coach, or getting a new certification.
The payoff is so much better when you've decided what needs to shift and then take the necessary steps to do it.
To be successful and get those top rates, you need to be great at what you do. You also need to be able to pivot quickly and learn new things on the fly. This means you must have a process for setting your own goals and making them happen.
A boss mentality is knowing you are truly the only person in charge of "developing" yourself and your business into version 2.0.
You Decide When To Not Work
We've been taught a very simple equation when it comes to traditional worklife:
- Work = virtue + worth + value
- Idleness = laziness + indolence + inadequacy.
When people start working for themselves, they often can't think outside the box of the 40-hour workweek and eight-hour workday. You still feel guilty when you have a day (or hour) with nothing to do, even if, financially, you're fine.
But, this can lead to people trying to fill their days with work, even when they don't need the money. Or maybe they’ve not priced according to their work, so they must work constantly to make ends meet.
When you're the boss, you get to change the relationship between time and money. You get to decide how many hours you work in a day, week, or month.
Want to work a 20-hour week and still make the same money? Do the math and price your contracts accordingly. (Of course, that must be backed up by knowing your worth and building your business model around your life, not just your bank account.)
Just remember that sometimes we chase a full workload because it validates us, not because that amount of money will actually change anything in our lives. When you work for yourself, you get to choose your rest and not feel guilty about it.
On the flip side, you can also choose to work your ass off for a period of time in order to take an extended vacation or retire early. That's the beauty—you get to choose, and, in the end, the results are yours. Those days you spent working your ass off went directly into your bank account, your retirement fund, and your business, not someone else's.
I Developed My Boss Mentality, and You Can Too
Working for myself is one of the greatest gifts of my life. It saved me on so many levels and has given me a pathway to a fulfilling life that I would not have been able to find otherwise. But the truth is, it isn't for everyone.
Having complete control over your time, work, and life sounds amazing until you realize the level of responsibility that gives you. Working for yourself is not an easy route, but developing the fundamentals of a true boss mindset can help you tackle these challenges head-on.
Ultimately, solopreneurship is the best route to achieving personal and professional freedom, but only if you're willing to work for it. Learning how to think like a boss isn't a shortcut to this freedom, but it sure does help make the journey much more enjoyable.
Ready to learn to think like a boss in your business? Book a Free 30-minute Clarity Call with me.
* https://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2016/self-employment-in-the-united-states/home.htm
