Formerly Corporate--that’s what I was over 20 years ago. Starting my own consulting business after a merger between two Fortune 5 companies left my secure job out of the new plans. Things were unsettled.
Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “If only I could just get through this week, things would finally settle down”? Life has disabused me of the notion that things ever settle down.
But can you create clarity in the chaos? That’s the mindset of a business owner.
A business is like a rollercoaster. There are exhilarating ups and demoralizing downs, with a few scary curves and even flips. The business owner has no one else to blame when things go sideways, and no one else to thank when they go well. That’s both the challenge and the gift. But what separates those who simply run a business from those who truly own it?
It’s the mindset shift—from “doing the work” to “owning the outcome.”
The role of running a business is an operational one. The role of “owning the business” is a visionary one.
Here’s a bit of my take on the Owner’s Mindset:
Key Shifts to an Owner’s Mindset
(adapted from the author’s book, Formerly Corporate)
Embracing ambiguity
Owners know that waiting for perfect means waiting forever. So you make the best call with what you know now, then adjust as you go. Ask what decisions will move your business forward, not what’s next on the task list.
What’s not ambiguous is the need to bring in the money.
Accepting volatility
It’s tempting to spend your energy putting out fires, but owners carve out time to anticipate what’s next—market trends, customer needs, and even their own capacity.
(My capacity is still recovering from a fall I took. Talk about volatility!)
Our times are volatile all right. The larger economy seems indecipherable.
But accepting that must still be the owner’s mindset. Then: What could go wrong? What could go right? What can I control or influence? What if?
Creating money out of thin air
That’s what a business owner does. Goods and services are offered to a buyer in exchange for money. Where did the goods and services come from? Someone thought them up and did them....Money materializes from the thin air of imagination, is refined through the crucible of hard work, and deposits itself into the owner’s bank account.
My Own Mindset Moment
Formerly Corporate. That’s what I was. Having been successful at executing someone else’s strategy with someone else’s money, I was ignorant of how hard it would be to devise a successful small business strategy and fund it as a start-up.
Banks wouldn’t loan money to a business less than two years old without a P&L statement that showed a P(rofit). Neither would government agencies.
Or I just didn’t know where to look. I didn’t even know to ask the question or who to ask.
The only recourse I saw was my only resource—my buy-out package. That only worked for a while. I came to learn that the real recourse I had was my own resourcefulness.
I had come from an environment that rewarded individual accomplishment. In academia or corporate R&D, you wanted your name first on the patent or publication, even though everyone knew it took a team to find a breakthrough.
I couldn’t do this business thing alone either. Once I started learning from more successful small business owners, relying on and delegating to a team of specialists, and planning ahead rather than reacting to outside forces, things began to shift.
By the way, I didn’t have to hire those specialists. Many were like me, small businesses who excelled at business functions that I did not. Like book-keeping, or graphic design, or marketing support.
As I found these other business owners, and we started to work together, all our businesses improved, as we learned to let go of being do-it-all, know-it-all business runners to being business owners.
I finally got the picture. And I wrote the book on it. Link here. Formerly Corporate: Mindset Shifts for Success in Your Own Business.
How Can You Start?
Build on small wins. Look for the pieces that are missing from your business.
Where Are You on the Owner’s Journey?
I’d love to hear what shifts you’re making—or where you feel stuck. Sometimes, just naming the challenge is the first step to moving past it.
And if you’re looking for support, accountability, or just a fresh perspective, remember that you don’t have to go it alone. I work with small business owners to build not just better businesses, but stronger mindsets. Let’s talk about what’s next for you.
Here's to making the shift—one decision at a time.
Lorette Pruden has helped hundreds of small business owners, sales professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders grow their businesses and manage that growth since 2000. She specializes in the Formerly Corporate—so many small business owners who’ve worked with her come from a corporate background that she finally wrote the book on it.
