--- title: Mark Smith on Why Entrepreneurs Should Start Thinking Like Executives to Expand Their Freedom description: On this episode, I talk to business growth strategist and author, Mark Smith, who shares on how entrepreneurs can pivot into a mindset that builds a great business. image: https://blog.maxtraylor.com/hubfs/Mark_Smith-1.jpg --- CALL Max: 508-479-9877 [![Max Traylor](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/hs-fs/hubfs/MaxTraylor_Priceless/logo.png?width=270&height=209&name=logo.png "Max Traylor")](http://www.MaxTraylor.com) Search this site on Google ![blog-banner-1.jpg](https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hub/298916/hubfs/simplex_core_images/slide-3.jpg?width=910&name=slide-3.jpg "blog-banner-1.jpg") [Max Traylor's Marketing Blog](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/marketing-blog) [Max covers content marketing, inbound marketing, lead gen, lead management, analytics and more.](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/marketing-blog) ![beer-with-max-logo.png](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Beers_with_Max/beer-with-max-logo.png?width=284&name=beer-with-max-logo.png "beer-with-max-logo.png") ### Hot topics with a cold one! ### Where Sales & Marketing Experts Let Loose & Share the Blueprints to Their Money Making Machines # [Mark Smith on Why Entrepreneurs Should Start Thinking Like Executives to Expand Their Freedom](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/marketing-blog/mark-smith-on-why-entrepreneurs-should-start-thinking-like-executives-to-expand-their-freedom) ![Max Traylor](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/f10b95c08b2a0f4f02cab39ac4e3a7b6) by [Max Traylor](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/marketing-blog/author/max-traylor) on Jul 11, 2019 7:00:00 AM - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) The one thing that holds back business owners is mindset, and thinking more like an entrepreneur instead of an executive. What are mindset tendencies that should be avoided or addressed? How do you know when you’ve built a sustainable, sellable business? What is the difference between lacking focus and being open to opportunities? On this episode, I talk to business growth strategist and author, **Mark Smith**, who shares on how entrepreneurs can pivot into a mindset that builds a great business. *"A business can only grow as fast as the business owner or top officer.*" -Mark Smith**      ### 3 Things We Learned **One key symptom of an unsustainable business ** An entrepreneur is constantly fighting the same fire over and over again. Executives never have to fight the same fire twice. If you’re constantly fixing the same problem, you have a broken system. **How entrepreneurs let their creativity rob them of an enjoyable life ** The average entrepreneur pays themselves $30 per hour and if they are working 60-80 hours per week, they are earning between $60k to $100k. They then put the profits back into the business and end up not compensating themselves properly. Without an exit strategy, they won’t get anything out of all they put into the business. **The three types of business leadership and which one you should follow ** The most common leadership strategies come from one of two places: military leadership where people sign their rights away, and servant leadership common in religious organizations. These don’t work in business. What you need as an entrepreneur is a true business leadership strategy, where the leader sets the vision, direction, strategy and culture. Then everything else in negotiated.   If an entrepreneur fails to grow their business beyond their physical and cognitive capacity, they won’t have a sellable, scalable and sustainable business. The key is evolving past being just an entrepreneur to become an executive: someone who can run a successful business while still having freedom. Executives create strategies and systems that allow the business to operate without them being present. The goal is to free up time to pursue opportunities that will help the mission and vision progress.   **Guest Bio- ** Mark Smith is a business growth strategist and author. Go to https://www.linkedin.com/in/marksasmith/ to get in touch with him. About The Author ![Max Traylor](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/f10b95c08b2a0f4f02cab39ac4e3a7b6) [ Max Traylor ](https://blog.maxtraylor.com/marketing-blog/author/max-traylor) Max Traylor helps brilliant people turn their unique knowledge into repeatable systems (productized) consulting services, seeing value in others they ... 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