When Attitude Trumps Intelligence

You’re probably very aware that these days educational merit tends to be given great weight. It has become an accepted truth that people can only be successful in life and business if they have a university degree, and it must now be from a top educational establishment as well, not from just any old college. 

Frankly, there’s a great deal of snobbery and misinformation around this issue. It is true that education is important; I would never deny that, but we have lost our way a bit and we are also in danger of neglecting those talented people who don’t have university educations and still have something valuable to contribute to society.

Stanford University research

It’s somewhat ironic that the evidence I’m going to use comes from one of the USA’s top universities; Stanford in Palo Alto. A psychologist called Carol Dweck, whose life mission is to study attitude, has recently produced a study that reveals your attitude to life and other things is a much better indicator of potential success than your IQ.

Fixed or flexible?

Carol discovered that most of us have one of two mindsets that we operate from: we are either a fixed mindset person or we have a growth mindset. Which one do you think is most likely to lead to business success? 

Let’s see: if you have a fixed mindset, you

 “believe you are who you are and you cannot change.” 

The issue with this is that when the person is presented with any new ideas and work challenges, they tend to believe they can’t handle the ‘new stuff’ and so feel overwhelmed. They get that “rabbit in the headlights’ look!!

The ‘growth mindset’ person believes they can “improve with effort.” This person can outperform a fixed mindset person even if they have a lower IQ measurement.  Why? Well, because they believe they can learn and grow. 

They embrace change and treat new things as an exciting adventure. They are the person who says: I’ve never used social media but I’m willing to learn and they go to classes and spend hours researching techniques until they have created a whole new skillset for themselves that they can now use to find work. They didn’t need to go to Stanford, Harvard or any other university to do that.

Breaking through boundaries

You would think that people who know they are smart have more confidence than the people that society has labelled ‘stupid’ simply because they don’t have qualifications on paper. And to a large extent that’s true. 

Indeed, many of these people are over-confident. However, the Stanford research showed that many of these confident people only reaped the benefits of this feeling as long as the going is easy for them. If they can’t go beyond their comfort zone and break through the boundaries, they face problems with progressing. Growth mindset people tend to welcome setback; they see them as opportunities.

Embrace failure

Ultimately, Carol Dweck says that how you deal with failure is a huge determinant in your success. The growth mindset person looks at a ‘failure’ and says, “This didn’t work, how can I solve the problem?” The fixed mindset person tends to label things ‘failures’ and not look for ways to improve.

So, you see; your attitude can carry you through challenges more effectively than your IQ.  And that’s why you’ll discover that a lot of entrepreneurs didn’t go to university; they were too busy launching their big business idea!

Tips for Bringing Investors On Board

So, you’ve got a brilliant idea for a business start-up, and you’ve also done the right thing and put a business plan together, and now all you need is a bit of a cash injection to get up and running. You think the business plan should sell the project for you—and indeed, it’s a big part of your resources—but what you really need to get right within the plan is the amount of money you really need to get started.

I’ve been there and know that if you ask for too little, you run the risk of running out of cash almost as soon as you started. This makes you look pretty stupid to your investors when you have to go back and ask them for more cash. Plus, there’s the possibility that they won’t give you the additional cash injection. I’ve sourced some excellent tips that show you how to close the deal with investors and keep them onside.

Work out what money you need – then double it!

I advise you to always kick high when you’re pitching for money. Like I said earlier, it means you won’t run out and have the kind of interruptions that could hold your business launch back. Having a strong cash flow at the beginning is potentially the difference between failure and success.

Show optimism in your revenue figures, but provide evidence

It is all very well showing amazing revenue figures in the first few years of trading, but no potential investor will believe your figures if you don’t back them up with solid research data that shows why you’re sure that there’s good reason for the optimistic estimates. To be honest, investors know that

Keep control of your company

It is very important that you keep hold of a controlling stake in your company; otherwise you are nothing more than a minority shareholder. Do you know what that means? You can be pushed out of your own company by the majority shareholders. You risk the possibility of having no say in the future direction of your business. If investors demand a majority shareholding, I advise you to politely decline their investment if they insist on it. There are business structures that protect you from majority shareholders, and you should consult a legal expert in the commercial law of your country about what those company structures are.

Exude confidence

When you meet with your potential investors, show passion for your idea and confidence in it. Never go into a meeting where you’re asking for money with an air of desperation. The investors will see this as a weakness and probably won’t feel you’re a sound investment.

Have everything documented

Have your terms of business worked out and written down to show to investors. Only change those terms if it is in YOUR interest to do so. Also, be prepared to show the investors what you have put into the project in terms of commitment, especially if you have put money in. It gives them more confidence if they can see that you also have something to lose, because then you’re likely to work harder.

And those are the five key tips for bringing investors on board: you might also find this article on seed stage funding sources very useful when you’re deciding which investors to approach. And I wish you good luck with your endeavours!