Denise Gosnell

The Hidden Danger of the Entrepreneurial Mindset: What Business Leaders Lose When Gaining the World

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As corporations like Apple, Facebook and Google have risen to stratospheric levels, there has been a tendency to glorify the leaders at the top. The worship of business leaders and entrepreneurs has reached a fever pitch in recent years, invading pop culture with shows like Shark Tank and taking up countless hours of airtime on networks like CNBC and Fox Business.

What gets decidedly less attention is the high personal toll many entrepreneurs and business leaders pay on their way to the top. These men and women may have reached the pinnacle of achievement in their fields, but their personal lives are often considerably less successful.

Put simply, there is a hidden dark side to the entrepreneurial mindset, and the same drive, devotion and single-minded obsession that make the world’s greatest leaders so successful can also cause their relationships to suffer. To their husbands, wives, sons, daughters and other loved ones, these successful entrepreneurs are often perceived quite differently.

There is no doubt that the entrepreneurial mindset is different, or that those differences are at least partly responsible for the success of these unique individuals. Successful entrepreneurs see the world in a different way, they view risk differently than others, and they are blessed, or cursed, with an obsessive need to succeed and be the best.

While that obsession with success and that striving for perfectionism is good for the businesses they build, these tendencies are less useful when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Indeed, many entrepreneurs secretly struggle with failing marriages, distant relationships with their children and a host of other personal difficulties.

The visionary Elon Musk once said that being an entrepreneur was like staring into the abyss and chewing glass, hardly a ringing endorsement of this rarefied lifestyle. The honesty Musk expressed about his chosen role in life is illuminating, but it is also quite rare. Instead of facing their demons head on, many entrepreneurs and business leaders suffer in silence, fearful that an admission of weakness would undermine their authority and hurt their businesses.

From the outside, life as an entrepreneur can seem quite glamorous, and the media just reinforces this impression. As a result, the lens gets skewed, making it even harder for business leaders and entrepreneurs to seek the help they need.

In some ways, it is hard to feel sorry for these people who seemingly have it all. From the outside looking in, their lives look perfect, with millions or even billions of dollars in the bank, adoring fans who line up to buy their products and all the luxuries money can buy. From the inside, life is often considerably darker, and there have been a number of high-profile suicides among seemingly successful leaders and business owners.

While there is still a stigma about seeking help and a reluctance to talk about the difficulties of life as an entrepreneur, things seem to be changing. The rise in suicidal behaviors and the increase in risk-taking behavior among their peers has caused many entrepreneurs to examine their lives more closely. The fact that their peers have been willing to seek help has led many business leaders to follow their brave examples.

Until now, discussions of business leaders and entrepreneurs have focused mainly on success and glamour, from celebrity CEOs buying basketball teams to billionaire business owners dating A-list actresses and fashion models. That worship of celebrity and focus on success is an ingrained part of our culture, but an honest look at the promise and perils of entrepreneurship requires a more nuanced approach.

While the rewards of entrepreneurship and business leadership are great, there is also a dark side to this unique mindset. The drive and dedication that business leaders frequently use to create life-changing products and build great brands can also wreak havoc with spouses, children and other loved ones. Successful entrepreneurs generally eat, sleep and live their businesses, and that can leave little time for friends and family.

But the good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way. If I can transform myself from being a workaholic entrepreneur to someone who now runs my 3 companies in an average of just 3 days per week, you can too. I learned that you can actually grow by subtraction – by removing from your todo list – not adding to it. You can grow by working smarter, versus harder. It will take some adjusting and ditching of bad habits. But the freedom that awaits you on the other side is totally worth it.

Do you have the guts to join me and break the mold of what we’ve been brainwashed into believing is the path to success? If so, make sure you check out all the great free resources on this site (including my free report, podcast, and more) on how you can claim the freedom you’ve always dreamed of without sacrificing business growth.

Denise Featured In My Wakeup Call Podcast

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In the August 18, 2019 episode of My Wakeup Call with Dr. Mark Goulston, Denise revealed her life-changing moment that made her realize what matters most in life. From working 70 to 80 hours per week, Denise came up with a 3-day work week and found the freedom to spend more time with her family and loved ones. Listen to the full episode here.

How To Build Great Teams and Reward Your Best Employees

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Whether you are a first-time business owner guiding your startup to profitability or a serial entrepreneur embarking on your latest adventure, building a great team will be critical to both your short-term success and the long-term sustainability of your business model. No entrepreneur, no matter how talented you may be, can build a great business entirely on their own.

If you want to succeed, you need to build a great team around you, but you need to do more than that. Every successful entrepreneur knows that rewarding their best performers is a critical part of their success, and they go out of their way to incentivize great performance.

You can learn a lot from those successful entrepreneurs as you build your own team. Whether this is your first business venture or your twelfth, learning the success secrets of your fellow entrepreneurs can boost the odds of your own success. Here are five ways entrepreneurs build great teams and reward their best team members.

1. Focus on Personal and Professional Growth

Entrepreneurs are constantly in motion, and so are their best employees. The best performers tend to be restless, always looking for new things to learn and new ways to contribute to the organization.

Successful business owners understand that tendency, and they work hard to nurture it. They provide ample opportunities for both personal and professional growth, from industry-specific seminars to team-building retreats. These growth-building opportunities do more than improve performance – they build loyalty, foster teamwork and help create a better and more responsive company.

2. Offer Freedom and Flexibility

Freedom and flexibility have become critical parts of the modern workplace. From telecommuting opportunities to job sharing, entrepreneurs are increasingly building flexibility into their hiring practices.

Creating a workplace where everyone is able to build their own work-life balance can be good for business. Happy employees are more likely to stick around, and in the case of your best workers, that is a very good thing indeed.

3. Be Generous with Feedback

Whether you are building a team of five or five hundred, the workers you hire need to hear from you. More importantly, they need to hear from you when they do something right – not just when they screw up.

The best bosses are generous with their feedback, both positive and negative. Letting your best workers know how they are doing and guiding poorer performers to do better can transform your existing team and take your budding business to the next level.

4. Seek Out Suggestions

No matter how great you are at running your business, you do not know everything. What sets the most successful entrepreneurs and business owners apart from the rest is the realization that they cannot know everything. The best business people know what they do not know, and they seek out suggestions from their staff to fill in the gaps.

Asking for suggestions and taking those suggestions seriously is a great way to build a solid team. When workers are engaged and appreciated, they are more likely to remain loyal, and that loyalty can translate into better business results and a more solid bottom line.



5. Nurture Disparate Skill Sets

The beauty of a great team is that everyone you hire brings a unique set of skills to the table. Some workers have a natural talent for math and statistics. Others are scientific and technical geniuses.

Identifying those disparate skill sets and nurturing those talents is key to successful team building. Finding out what everyone has to offer, not just from data on their resumes but from real-world performance as well, fosters teamwork, loyalty and cooperation.

No matter what type of business you are in, the team you build will make a world of difference in your success. Some entrepreneurs are natural team builders with an innate ability to find the right people and bring them onboard. Others are less talented in this area, but can still learn the necessary skills to build a great team. The tips listed above can help you create a team of talented professionals – one you can rely on to guide your business now and in the future.

Denise Featured In Law Of Attraction In Action Podcast

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Denise talked about her wake-up call moment in the August 8, 2019 episode of Law of Attraction in Action with Michele Joy. In the said episode, titled, “Lightening Bolt Was a Wake-Up Call,” Denise looked back to that day when her home was struck with a lightening bolt and how that incident has served as her wake up call. Listen to the full episode here.

The Secret to Discovering Your Life Purpose

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As a business owner, it can be so confusing at times when you wonder what your true purpose is and whether your business and personal life are aligned with that purpose.

Clearly defining one’s life purpose is a quest that some say can never truly be answered. I disagree. I came up with my own definition of life purpose that finally made sense to me.

Are you ready for it?

I believe that your purpose in life is to simply live in joy. To be happy.

I know that sounds really simple, but I believe from the bottom of my heart that it is true. The way that you live in joy is to do things that make you happy as much as you possibly can.

For some, this comes easily, but for others it may take some deep soul searching. There are no rules to follow, just the rules set out by your heart.

Try some of the following activities when searching for your true purpose:

Activities and hobbies. Reflect on your favorite activities and hobbies. What do you love doing, even if no one pays you?

Skills and intelligence. what skills do you have the other people rely on you for, and they constantly tell you how impressed they are with your abilities in that area? But it just comes easy to you.

Happiness. What do you seem to be doing when you’re the happiest? When do you simply lose track of time because you love what you’re doing so much?


Follow Your Bliss

To put it quite simply, if you’re following your bliss, you’re on the road to living your true purpose.

Remember, you’ll always have outside influences when it comes to finding life’s meaning, but following your heart and what brings you joy is the only true answer.

3 Powerful Ways To Improve Focus

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Unless you’re a Buddhist monk, you encounter distractions from time to time that minimize your effectiveness in getting your work done in your business.

The internet is especially disrupting with email, messages, status updates, and more. But distractions also include employees, family, and our own wandering minds. It seems that we dawdle our lives away five minutes at a time.

The big question is how to defeat this tendency. How can you make use of the Internet constructively in your business without falling victim to its distractive qualities?

Try turning these strategies into daily habits that help you become more efficient and effective:

1. Use time limits. When we set a time limit, we improve our ability to focus. It almost becomes a game of ‘beat the clock’. Ideally, you should use a timer and limit your work periods to around 25 or 55 minutes – with a 5-10 minute break in between tasks. If a task is going to take longer than 55 minutes, break it down into smaller chunks.

  • Having a time limit also forces you to do the most important parts of any work. If you only have an hour, you’re going to have to decide what’s most important. This is much better than deciding to simply work on something until it’s done. Decide how long it should take, and then set the timer.
  • If you have any sort of attention challenge, using a timer can increase your ability to keep your mind on the task at hand. The time flies by, and you’ll get more done. You’re likely to even find it relaxing, since you’ll be focused on what you’re doing instead of thinking about 20 other things.

  • Research has shown that the most productive schedule for most people is:

    – 50 minutes of work
    – 10 minute break
    – 50 more minutes of work
    – 30 minute break (You might not be able to get away with a 30-minute break at work, but it’s a good time to get up, walk around, and get a drink.)
    – Repeat
  • Time your breaks. If you decide to check your email or do one of those other tasks that seem to magically go from 5 minutes to 30 minutes or more, using a timer will serve as a reminder. It will also force you to only check on the most important things.

2. Close everything that can be closed. Everything on your computer that isn’t necessary for the task at hand should be closed down. If you don’t need the internet, shut it off. That includes all your email, notifications, games, and blogs. Close your door and unplug the phone, if possible.

  • Nothing is going anywhere – it will all still be there when you’re done. One of the keys to being more effective is eliminating the things that make us less effective.

3. Insert a pause, as needed. When you first implement these habits, there will be times that you will have an incredible urge to check your email, Facebook, or Twitter.

  • Before you succumb to the urge, take 10 seconds and pause. Take a long, deep breath and ask yourself if you really want to waste your time on something that is largely meaningless, or if you’d rather accomplish something worthwhile.


The ability to focus has been largely lost for many of us. However, these easy habits, which anyone can do, can go a long way toward improving your focus and effectiveness at any task.

It’s likely to be challenging at first, but you can do it. You can get more done, in less time, by learning to improve your focus and avoiding the things that waste your precious time.

Put these three habits into play starting today. You’ll be impressed by how much more you can get done, and how much faster your business can grow!

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