Have you ever wondered why some resellers are insanely successful and others seem to be stuck at the starting line?
The truth is, it's not all about luck. In fact, there are some things that small business owners can do to improve their odds of long-term success. One of the keys to success is having a growth mindset.
Being able to shift your thinking from a "fixed mindset" to a “growth mindset” might be the boost you need to take your reselling business to the next level this year.
The Difference Between A Fixed Mindset And A Growth Mindset
In the simplest terms, A fixed mindset is when you only see what you have right now and don't think about how things could be better in the future. On the other hand, a growth mindset is just the opposite: It allows you to see things as they could be, even if you aren't quite there yet.
When someone has a fixed mindset, they believe they are limited by the skills and abilities they have right now. In their mind, there are certain things they just aren’t good at, and that makes them less likely to try new things. A person with a growth mindset will see new ideas as fresh challenges they can face and overcome by learning new skills.
The key difference is believing that you have the ability to learn and grow. Another way to think about fixed vs. growth mindset is that people with a fixed mindset don’t believe they have control over their own skills and abilities. Believing that you can control how good you are at something through learning and practice will shift you into a growth mindset.
Examples of Fixed vs. Growth Mindset in Reselling
Still, not one hundred percent sure what fixed and growth mindsets are? Here are some examples that will help you identify your own thinking.
Example 1.
Fixed Mindset: I’m terrible at math. I’ll never be able to figure out how to do bookkeeping for my business, so why try?
Growth Mindset: In order to run my business properly, I need to learn how to conduct accurate bookkeeping. I can take an online course or hire a CPA to help me get started.
Example 2.
Fixed Mindset: Seeing other resellers become successful makes me feel discouraged. I know I’ll never get to that level myself.
Growth Mindset: Seeing other resellers become successful inspires me to learn their tactics and get new skills of my own to grow my business.
Example 3.
Fixed Mindset: I’m too shy to try a live sale; if this is the direction reselling is going in, I’ll just quit.
Growth Mindset: Although I typically don’t like being in front of the camera, live selling seems to be popular now. I’ll do some research and give it a try to see if it’s right for me.
Example 4.
Fixed Mindset: I already know what brands sell well; I don’t need to learn about anything new.
Growth Mindset: I love finding new ways to research brands and trends so that I can improve my sell-through rate and average sales price.
Example 5.
Fixed Mindset: I’m sure that other sellers are only successful because they have some sort of secret connection for better inventory than I can access.
Growth Mindset: It seems like other sellers are able to get access to incredible low-cost inventory. I need to research and learn more about sourcing that way in my area.
Four Ways Resellers Benefit From Having A Growth Mindset
A growth mindset can help you in your personal and professional life. In fact, having a growth mindset is critical to entrepreneurs and small business owners. Here are four ways resellers, in particular, can benefit from having a growth mindset.
1. A Growth Mindset Encourages You To Try New Things
People with a growth mindset don’t let past failures keep them from trying new adventures. If you’ve had a side hustle fail in the past, you’ll need a growth mindset to convince yourself that things you learned from that failed attempt will help you succeed this time.
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2. A Growth Mindset Fosters Resilience
You’re going to get stuck as a reseller from time to time. There will be periods of slow sales, products you can’t seem to move, or new platforms that seem difficult to master. A fixed mindset will tell you there is no point in trying, and it’s time to throw in the towel. A growth mindset will push you to keep going even when times are tough because you have the ability to believe that you can improve things with hard work.
3. A Growth Mindset Leads To New Ideas
People with a fixed mindset think that everything good has already been invented and everything you know right now is all you’re ever going to know. This type of limited thinking kills creativity and keeps you stuck in place. A growth mindset will allow you to generate and act on new ideas because you believe the best is yet to come.
4. A Growth Mindset Keeps You Humble
A growth mindset reminds you that there is always more to learn. You’re never going to be “done” as a human being. There is always another skill to learn or improve upon. It will also help you feel less resentment towards others because you will see the hard work everyone puts in to get where they are, and you’ll believe the same is possible for you.
How To Tell If You Currently Have A Fixed Mindset
If you find yourself answering yes to any of the following beliefs, then you might suffer from a fixed mindset. Don’t worry; later in this article, we will talk about how to shift from a fixed to a growth mindset!
Do You Hold Any Of These Fixed Mindset Beliefs?
- You believe success can come only from natural talent. Success and talent are things you are born with and aren’t something the average person can achieve.
- You believe there are some things you will just never be good at and often feel helpless. “I’m never going to be good at taking photos.”
- You give up when things get challenging because you believe there is “no point.”
- You focus more on ability than on effort.
- All feedback feels like criticism.
Having a fixed mindset will not only hold you back in business, but it can also make you feel pretty lousy. Try shifting to a growth mindset and see if your mood improves along with your business.
How To Shift From A Fixed To A Growth Mindset
Controlling your mindset is like hacking your brain to go farther than you ever dreamt possible. What if you could wake up each morning and feel energized by the fact that you haven’t yet reached your full potential? A fixed mindset makes you feel stuck and gives you nothing to look forward to. A growth mindset makes you excited for the future and excited to work on your reseller business each day. Here are some tips on how you can shake yourself out of a fixed mindset.
The first step is to become mindful of your thoughts and beliefs. Spend time listening to the way you talk to yourself and make a note of how many positive or negative thoughts you have in a day. Then, pick one of the following things to work on as your first step in shifting to a growth mindset.
1. View Challenges As Opportunities To Learn
If you are struggling with an aspect of your business, don’t simply give up because you think you’ll never possess the skills needed to become good at your job. Instead, look for opportunities to learn more or practice skills until you master them. This is your chance to become a better photographer, a better photo editor, a master of SEO, or a brilliant bookkeeper.
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2. Acknowledge Imperfections or Failures Without Fear
Hiding from weakness means you will never overcome it. Failure in entrepreneurship is inevitable. In fact, you’ll probably fail at something multiple times before you get one big success that pays off big-time! If you quit after the first or second attempt, you’ll never know what was possible all along.
3. Try Learning In New Ways
Not everyone has the same learning style. Some people learn best by being told what to do, while others can only retain information if the learning is hands-on. Some people are auditory learners, while others are visual. You’ll need to try learning in different ways until something clicks. If you had trouble learning a skill in the past, it’s simply because you didn’t find the right way to learn it that works best for you.
4. Read Books Or Watch Videos About Having A Growth Mindset
You’ll need to convince your brain that having a growth mindset is important, especially if you’re already prone to negative thinking. Challenge your negative internal thoughts with new information by learning everything you can about having a growth mindset. Read until the end of this article for some additional resources that can teach you more.
5. Learn To Value The Process More Than The Result
People with a growth mindset enjoy learning. They will search out new learning opportunities and make it part of their overall business plan to keep learning new skills or ways to improve. The journey to get to your result will teach you so much that it becomes the most valuable part of your business.
6. Learn Your Purpose
Having a growth mindset often gives people a greater sense of purpose. You can backward-engineer that feeling by cultivating your purpose and focusing on why you want the things you want.
In business planning, we call it your “big why.” Your purpose goes further than stating a goal; it’s more about what your life will look like when you accomplish that goal. For example, your goal might be to make an additional $2,000 net income from reselling per month, but the purpose is to feel financially secure, so you can focus on family and friends rather than on stress and worry.
7. Reward Your Actions
Human beings are often motivated by small rewards. Train your brain to keep looking forward to the next challenge by rewarding yourself for actions you take that correlate with a growth mindset. Remember, you’re rewarding yourself for taking action, not for completing something.
8. Celebrate Growth And Success In Others
When you have a growth mindset, you don’t feel envious when others succeed in the same business as you. You will feel like there is enough room for everyone to grow and have an abundant business. Start today by cheering others on with compliments.
9. Learn How To Take Feedback As A Positive
When you suffer from a fixed mindset, all feedback takes on a critical tone. The voice in your head tells you that you simply aren’t good enough or capable of change, making it really hard to listen to anyone's suggestions. So, how do you turn this around? Start by believing that the feedback is coming from a place of good intention and rephrasing any negative thoughts in your head.
10. Learn From Other’s Mistakes And Successes
The failures you learn from don’t have to be your own. Why reinvent the wheel? Take time to learn what others before you have already learned. Just be careful not to fall into the trap of thinking that what didn’t work for them might also not work for you. Feel free to try creative approaches to obstacles in your business and use the past only as a guide.
11. Keep Making New Goals
A growth mindset is never finished! Each time you reach a new goal, it’s time to make another one. Set small reasonable goals so that you can step back and appreciate each one you meet successfully. The best way to scale your business is to keep moving forward.
12. Take Ownership Of Your Attitude
At the end of the day, the responsibility to think positively and keep an open mind is yours alone. Your attitude can hold you back more than any other obstacle.
You may also be interested in: 9 Steps to Start a Reselling Business Online for Profit
Poshmark Was Built By A Man With A Growth Mindset
If you’ve ever heard Poshmark’s founder Manish Chandra speak, you’ve seen an example of someone with a growth mindset. Poshmark has an origin story that not many know, but it’s very interesting. Poshmark struggled in the beginning to get the venture capital needed to grow. They faced challenges and setbacks with USPS regulations and often ran out of money. At one point, they threw out their entire marketing plan and took a risk depending largely on word of mouth and community to grow their platform, an unusual plan that paid off in the end.
Not to mention the fact that Poshmark only exists because Manish didn’t stop after a failed business called Kaboodle. Research the origin stories of your favorite brands, and you’ll see tons of examples of having a growth mindset.
Depop, Gen Z, and Live Sales, Oh My!
Resellers are in a unique market that takes place largely on the internet. As you already know, progress moves lightning-fast online. On top of technology advancing every day, fashion trends are also cycling in and out just as quickly. This is a lot of information to learn, assimilate, and accept.
There are three things in reselling right now that many people struggle with. The first is learning new platforms, the second is keeping up with the latest trends, and the third is dealing with live sales.
Learning New Platforms Like Depop:
Many resellers struggle when they’ve relied on selling on one platform, such as eBay or Poshmark, and now it’s time to learn a whole new marketplace. As many resellers learned last year when the Poshmark algorithm suddenly shifted, you can’t count on just one marketplace to make sales if you want consistency. Luckily you can use Vendoo to help you crosspost to multiple marketplaces in seconds. Learning how to make sales in a new environment, however, doesn’t happen quite that fast. You’ll be using your growth mindset to keep yourself motivated to learn the ins and outs of the new platform and what it takes to make sales there.
Keeping Up With Gen Z:
Like it or not, Gen Z is quickly aging into an important consumer role in reselling. As Gen Z shoppers increase, it will be more important than ever to learn new brands and styles that will help you make quick sales. A fixed mindset will tell you that you already know the best brands to sell, but a growth mindset will convince you to never stop learning. You can learn more about Gen Z fashion using blogs, social media, and especially from watching TikTok.
Live Selling Isn’t For Everyone, But It’s Here To Stay:
Love them or hate them; live selling isn’t going anywhere. When Whatnot first exploded onto the scene, resellers were pumped. This seemed like a fun and fast way to clear inventory and make more sales. However, once live selling started to become popular among other platforms, such as Poshmark, resellers started to panic. Visit any reseller Facebook Group right now, and you’ll read terrified posts from resellers who are certain live selling is going to kill their sales or be the death of reselling as we know it. With a growth mindset, you can see live selling as a new challenge to try. Even if live selling doesn’t fit your business model, you’ll be able to accept that there is room for all types of sellers to succeed.
Resources For Learning More About Building a Growth Mindset:
Here are some additional resources if you’re interested in learning more about having a growth mindset and how you can hack your own brain for business success!
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Big Life Journal has wonderful blog posts and printables about growth mindset
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Growth mindset skills and activities for adults
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More activities from Positive Psychology
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A growth mindset podcast for you auditory learners!
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Stanford Alumi Video with Carol Dweck, an expert on growth mindset
Having a successful reselling business isn’t about luck or some magic set of skills some people are just born with. Reselling is a business that takes research, hard work, creativity, and lots of trial and error to become good at.
All the skills you need to become a successful reseller can be learned from the ground up. One excellent place to learn from other resellers is the Vendoo Facebook Group, where we share tips with each other daily. We hope to see you there!
