Segment:- Mindset Before Money: Why Your Mental Blueprint Determines Your Business Success

Summary

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Konnected Minds Podcast: Mindset Before Money – Why Your Mental Blueprint Determines Your Business Success

Host: Derrick Abaitey
Date: November 8, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on the crucial role mindset plays in determining business success, arguing that mental preparation is often more vital than financial resources. Host Derrick Abaitey is joined by Kennedy and an unidentified business owner for a candid roundtable. Their conversation dives deep into the psychological and practical barriers to entrepreneurship, the realities of starting versus scaling, and the significance of developing the right mental “blueprint” for lasting success.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Survival Business vs. Dream Business

[00:00 – 01:13]

• Kennedy outlines that for young or aspiring entrepreneurs, the primary goal should be “getting cash” through a survival business—the kind that will help them meet immediate needs—before pursing a dream venture.
  • "Most people want to start off with their dream business. But first of all, you don't need to necessarily start with your dream business. You need to start with a survival business, something that will make you survive. Then you move on to your dream business."
    — Kennedy [00:44]
• Survival businesses help build capital and business experience, serving as launching pads for more ambitious and passion-driven enterprises later on.

2. Starting vs. Scaling – Which Is More Challenging?

[01:53 – 04:25]

• The Unidentified Business Owner contends that scaling is the harder phase, highlighting the difficulty in hiring and replicating oneself within the business, especially for micromanagers.
  • "Scaling is really hard because it's very difficult to replicate yourself. Hiring is really hard. Having people to run your business the way you do it is really hard if you're a micromanager."
    — Unidentified Business Owner [02:10]
  • Shared a personal incident: both main staff were absent and she had to scramble to keep the shop running.
• Kennedy acknowledges the challenges of scaling but asserts that starting a business is underappreciated in its difficulty, especially given the psychological barriers (risk aversion, stress, initial sacrifices, etc.).
  • "Starting is also very hard. Most people don't think about hard...There are psychological barriers...Sometimes there are times where I've gone in my business without paying myself. I have to pay other people. And that's what being entrepreneur is."
    — Kennedy [03:33]
• Both agree: effective self-evaluation is critical before taking the entrepreneurial leap.

3. Mindset or Money: The Bigger Barrier?

[04:25 – 08:14]

• Kennedy advocates emphatically for mindset as the foundational ingredient, referencing Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.
  • "Anybody can get money. Anybody at all can get money. But mindset is what maintains it. Mindset is what's going to get it."
    — Kennedy [04:35]
• Mindset’s complexity is likened to a “set” (as in mathematics)—not a single idea, but a collection of beliefs and habits shaped by upbringing, society, and personal experience.
  • "People think about mindset, they think about one way of thinking. It's not just one, there's a collection of different things because there's a set."
    — Kennedy [05:06]
• Unidentified Business Owner counters by identifying money as a persistent, real-world obstacle, especially in ventures with immediate capital needs.
  • "Money has been one of my biggest challenges in business. Because you have the ideas, you have the mindset ready, but you don't have the money to execute. That is really painful as a business owner."
    — Unidentified Business Owner [06:23]
• She concedes, however, that financial intelligence (a component of mindset) determines whether sudden wealth translates into lasting prosperity.

4. Cause & Effect: Why Mindset Precedes Money

[07:21 – 08:58]

• Kennedy deepens the argument: money is an outcome, not the cause, and any lasting financial result begins with mental transformation.
  • "You need to first of all attack the mindset before. Because money is a result. Money is not the cause. It's like it's an effect, not the cause."
    — Kennedy [07:44]
  • Uses Latin etymology (causa/effectus) to explain the law of cause and effect.
  • "The cause of everything is...It begins with a mindset. Mindset is not the only thing, but mindset is always going to precede the effect."
    — Kennedy [08:16]
• Poor mindsets often lead to repeated business failures, even when initial funding is available.

5. One Size Fits All vs. Custom Approach in Business

[08:58 – 09:33]

• On product/market strategy, Kennedy champions a custom, customer-centric approach for new ventures.
  • "Most people are just thinking of everybody all at once. But I believe that you need to start with somebody that you are dealing with...tailoring your product for a particular group of people. I feel that's how you need to start."
    — Kennedy [09:18]
• The emphasis is on focusing on a specific customer segment and building from there, rather than trying to serve everyone at once.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Kennedy [04:35]:
  "Anybody can get money. Anybody at all can get money. But mindset is what maintains it. Mindset is what's going to get it."
• Unidentified Business Owner [06:23]:
  "Money has been one of my biggest challenges in business. Because you have the ideas, you have the mindset ready, but you don't have the money to execute. That is really painful as a business owner."
• Kennedy [07:44]:
  "Because money is a result. Money is not the cause. It's like it's an effect, not the cause."
• Kennedy [09:18]:
  "I believe that you need to start with somebody that you are dealing with... tailoring your product for a particular group of people. I feel that's how you need to start."

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:00 – Survival business vs. dream business (Kennedy)
• 01:53 – Starting vs. scaling: which is harder? (Panel)
• 04:25 – Mindset or money—what holds back businesses more? (Kennedy, Business Owner)
• 07:21 – The law of cause (mindset) and effect (money); why mindset must change first (Kennedy)
• 08:58 – One-size-fits-all vs. custom approaches in early business (Kennedy)

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Summary Takeaway

The episode’s core message is clear: while access to money is essential, the mindset with which entrepreneurs approach business challenges fundamentally determines both initial survival and long-term success. Both panelists agree that self-awareness, resilience, and mental adaptability lay the foundation for sustainable achievement, and that new business owners are best served by starting small, focusing their energy, and intentionally cultivating their “mental blueprint” before chasing ambitious financial goals.

Transcript

[Kennedy]

Digital products have no inventory as you don't have to stock up anything. It's unlimited sales. And so what I need to do is that I find a way to reach out to those people, sell their products. I don't need to create a product. I don't need to spend my time, my energy. I just need to find a way to get them to make me an affiliate. I sell their products for them. So what you need to do is I just need to learn how to learn. You just need to learn marketing. And so for me, for people who are outside, I'll tell you that you need to learn marketing, learn how to use social media, learn how to be able to market with us on the ground or everything. But for me, start something and get cash. That's the first thing I'll tell you. You need to get cash because as young people, you need to get cash. And so for me, I'll say, be exposed to different type of business models. Don't just be stuck and say, oh, I. Since I can't start my dream business. Most people want to start off with their dream business. But first of all, you don't need to necessarily start with your dream business. You need to start with a survival business, something that will make you survive. Then you move on to your dream business. And so when a survival business is for immediate cash, your dream business is for whatever you want to do. For example, I have some businesses I want I'm going to start in the future, but those dream businesses, I'm going to get a lot of money from whatever I'm doing now and put into those businesses in the next three years. And so that's exactly what I'll tell anybody. First of all, figure out a survival business.

[Derek]

Fantastic. Let me stop you here for a minute. We are on a journey of changing the minds and the lives of people. So if you haven't subscribed and become part of the family, please hit the subscribe button and turn on the notification. Thank you. Now, let's carry on with the conversation. At this point. Yeah, we are no longer going to agree on one thing. I want to really get deep into your understanding of these questions that I'm going to ask you. And the first question I have is starting or scaling? Which one is harder?

[Unidentified Business Owner]

Hmm. Okay. So I would say scaling is harder. Starting. Basically, you need an idea. You just need to execute. I don't. I don't really understand why people struggle to start a business. It's the easiest thing to do. Just get it started. Reach out to people, test the market. Get the idea. Start selling. But scaling is really hard because it's very difficult to replicate yourself. Hiring is really hard. Having people to run your business the way you do it is really hard if you're a micromanager. I know I am, and I know you are as well, Derek. Being able to take a step back from your baby and let people run it without you is really hard. Wanting to do your own thing, traveling abroad, wanting to be away from the business is really hard because people keep dragging you back. For example, last week, I have my. The one in charge of my business, she's on maternity leave.

[Derek]

Okay.

[Unidentified Business Owner]

And then all of a sudden, the other. The second person who has to be in charge had a family crisis. So I found myself scrambling around just to get somebody to be there so that the shop can run. That is really difficult.

[Derek]

Okay.

[Unidentified Business Owner]

Yeah. So I feel like scaling is really hard. That's what takes. That's what makes or breaks a business.

[Derek]

Scaling your turn.

[Kennedy]

Personally, I agree, though. This is what I say. Starting is also very hard as well. Most people don't think about hard. Of course, starting is. Starting is also very hard. And so I don't want us to trivialize starting at all, because this is. Starting is just easy. But it's not that. Because, number one, there are psychological barriers in terms of some people. It's not everybody that's wired to be an entrepreneur. Some people just want to be. To just. Just to be working, just to get paid. Because why will you take that risk? And all of that sweat and all of that, those mental beddings of paying somebody else. That's what it means to be an entrepreneur, to be able to do that. Because sometimes there are times where I've gone in my business without paying myself. I go, man, sometimes without paying myself, I have to pay other people. And that's what being entrepreneurs. But I mean, when you're starting a business, you need to. First of all, you need to evaluate yourself. Am I fit for this? Can I do this? Am I going to win at this? And I don't think starting. Starting could be easy sometimes. But the thing is that if you want to start well, because some people can start, but if you want to start well, can be difficult sometimes. And so that's. That's what I'll say. You need to deal with those psychological barriers and so many different things. And.

[Derek]

Yeah, mindset or money, which one is the biggest barrier for businesses?

[Kennedy]

I'll say mindset.

[Derek]

Okay.

[Kennedy]

Why? Because, you know, anybody can get money. Anybody at all can get money. But mindset is what maintains it. Mindset is what's going to get it. So people like, there's a book that I read, the Secrets of a Millionaire Mind by T Harv Eka, and you're speaking about how there are some billionaires who lose it. I'm sure if you lost all your money today, you'll be able to get it back. Because it's a money mindset. You can take all of the money away from you, but the skill is still there. And so the mindset. And you see, the thing about mindset is this is a mindset. Mindset set means a collection of things. I think when people think about mindset, they think about one way of thinking. It's not just one, there's a collection of different things because there's a set. Like in school we used to have this thing called math set. A math sets with the set square, the compass and everything. So it's a different set of things. Same thing with mindset. So there are different things in our minds that contributes to our success or failure. And so most people, they haven't dealt with all the different types of sets of mindset they've received from their father, their mother, their school teacher, who is, who is broke. Your teacher is broke and he's, he's teaching you something. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with school, but sometimes they teach you certain mindsets or teach certain mentalities because the mindset is basically a set of mentalities. They teach you a particular mentality that can contribute to the reason why you are where you are right now. And so mindset is hard because you need to, to unwind all of those things. You need to find a way to unscrew all of those things before you can, you can succeed. And once you have that, even if you lose your money, you're going to get it back. If you are back to rock bottom, you're going to get it back. And so mindset has always been important. Mindset precedes money.

[Unidentified Business Owner]

So this is contradictory, seeing as earlier I said you can start a business without money. I mean, earlier that's what I said. But as somebody who runs a retail shop or a retail business, money has been one of my biggest challenges in business. Because you have the ideas, you have the mindset ready, but you don't have the money to execute. That is really painful as a business owner. So I found money to be a huge stumbling block in my business growth. Yes. Even though mindset is important because the mindset of money is Also important, understanding money, Understanding how to utilize money when you have it. Because there are some people who can have $1 million now and nothing changes in their lives because they don't know how to use that $1 million. Right. But there are some of us, if we get that $1 million, we will make it work. But, yes. So I would say money has been a biggest. One of the biggest challenges for me in business. Yeah. So. Yeah.

[Kennedy]

So the thing about mindset is that, for example, if I put a random person in charge of a real estate business and I put maybe Kennedy in Japan, no money. Like, he has all his experience.

[Unidentified Business Owner]

Yeah.

[Kennedy]

He's going to win. And it's not because he's probably richer or he's. It's just because he has built a different type of mentality. And so you need, first of all, in order to be a millionaire, you need to have a millionaire's mindset. If you want to be a billionaire, you have to have a billionaire's mindset. And so what you need to do is that you need to first of all attack the mindset before. Because money is a result. I don't think people. But money is a result of something. So money is the outcome. Money is not the course. It's like it's an effect, not the cost. And so the. The. The cause of everything is. It begins with a mindset. Mindset is not the only thing, but mindset is. Is always going to precede the effect. So since mindset is a cause and money is the outcome, the word cause or the law of course and effect, that's what we have. So cause comes from the Latin one as kosa causa means a reason. Effect comes from the Latin one as effectus. That means an outcome. So when I talk about a reason, I'm saying money. So I'm basically saying that a course is a reason. So mindset is the reason for the outcome, which is money. And so the moment your mindset is wrong. So most people get into many businesses and they fail. Fail, fail, feel, feel. And they're wondering, why am I failing? Because it's not just about the money. You could have 500,000 cities and lose it all one day and you're done. But once you have the mindset of multiplying, maintaining, everything changes.

[Derek]

Fantastic. So now the next point I have is one size fits all, right, Or a custom approach in business, which one do you think is better when people are starting out?

[Kennedy]

For me, I'm saying a custom approach.

[Unidentified Business Owner]

Why?

[Kennedy]

Because when you're starting, you're starting a business, most people are just thinking of everybody all at once. But I believe that you need to start with somebody that you are dealing with. So if you're running, you're running a hair business, you're thinking about maybe the modern young lady who wants the hair or you want something like that. And so for me, I believe that you need to have a customer approach, working with a streamlined group of people, somebody in who you are, who you're trying to really work with, as in tailoring your product for a particular group of people. I feel that's how you need to start. Connected Minds Podcast.