How the Mindset of a Small Business Owner Can Hold The Business Back

Kevin Thomas
4 min readJun 18, 2024

Running a small business is a journey filled with challenges, opportunities, and growth. While strategies and skills are essential, the mindset of a small business owner plays a critical role in determining success. Unfortunately, certain mindset pitfalls can be significant barriers, preventing owners from reaching their full potential. Here’s how the mindset of a small business owner can sometimes hold them back and how to overcome these mental obstacles.

1. Fear of Failure

The Issue:
Many small business owners grapple with a fear of failure, leading to risk aversion. This fear can prevent them from seising new opportunities, experimenting with innovative ideas, or making necessary changes to their business.

The Solution:
Embrace failure as a valuable learning experience. Understand that every setback provides lessons that contribute to future success. Cultivating a growth mindset — where failures are viewed as stepping stones to improvement — can help minimise the fear and encourage calculated risk-taking. In my last business, I had my fair share of ‘failures’. Although these failures were sometimes painful, each was a HUGE LEARNING EXPERIENCE. The key is to learn from each ‘failure’ and then make changes to your strategy. Embracing…

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Kevin Thomas
Kevin Thomas

Written by Kevin Thomas

Helping small business owners to find direction, develop focus, confidence and drive | Business & Life Coach