The key to success is taking charge. Whether you’re an entrepreneur or an employee, you have to take full responsibility for everything you think, say, and do. That is the only way to show up, step up, and live up to this one-and-only life you’ve been given.

My friend Ann Vertel joined us on Leading the Factory Forward last week to talk more about this. Ann is a motivational psychologist, retired Naval Officer, and high-performance speaker, trainer, coach, and consultant.

After retiring from a 20-year career in the military and getting a doctorate in psychology, Ann began coaching women leaders in high-performance skills. From there, she fell in love with watching women transform and succeed.

These are some of the pro tips Ann shared on transitioning to entrepreneurship, based on her own experience.

Change Your Mindset

A big part of the transition to entrepreneurship for women is getting back in touch with who they are. 

In corporate settings, many women play a role. They alter their temperaments to fit their environments. Therefore, one of the biggest changes women experience when they leave the corporate world is their newfound sense of freedom. 

However, along with that often comes imposter syndrome. These women have fantastic expertise, skills, talents, and experience, yet when they go out into the wild west of entrepreneurship, they start to feel like they have nothing to offer. They have to learn how they can truly help other people.

Explain Your Value

You can explain your value to others by:

• Recognizing that those who hired you in the past hired you for a reason

• Recognizing your skills 

• Deciding what you want to do with those skills

• Asking, “What am I trying to accomplish? What's my end game? What transformation do I hope to have when working with people?”

Invest in Community

You can try to do it on your own but you're not going to be successful. You have to work with other people to reach success. 

On top of that, you have to have an abundant mindset. Don’t go into business thinking that it's all about competition. It is possible to have colleagues who have the same client base as you. The power is in referring each other back and forth. There is truly plenty to go around. 

The key is surrounding yourself with people who are givers, not takers. These are the people who have an abundant mindset, want to collaborate, and will get excited about watching you succeed.

Work With Those Who Share Your Values

We should build our businesses based on the values that we share with the people we want to serve. If we don’t, we will never be in congruence with what we are doing. 

When you work with or even just reach out to people who have different values than you, you’ll always feel like you’re couching your words or walking on eggshells. 

Therefore, if you’re going out in business, take a hard look at what your values are and then don’t stray from them. Once you get clear on that, the right clients will start showing up. 

If you’re constantly standing on middle ground, you won’t do well. However, if you stand for something and aren’t afraid to make waves, you will ostracize some people, but you'll also attract the kind of people you want to work with.