Why an Ownership Mindset Is Essential for ICs & How to Cultivate One

In Travel Market Report’s recent “2024 Distribution Outlook,” nearly 70% of advisor respondents self-identified as independent contractors, but only 24% of these ICs identified as owners. Considering that that vast majority of ICs operate, market, and service their own book of business, the fact that 44% don’t identify as owners is shocking – and self-limiting.

“Mindset is everything,” Kerry Siggins, CEO of StoneAge, a motivational speaker, and author of “The Ownership Mindset,” told Travel Market Report. “Having an ownership mindset is the most self-empowering thing you can do. Instead of waiting for someone to empower you, you empower yourself.”

Independent consultants who don’t identify as owners limit their growth potential.

“It doesn’t allow them to see the possibilities of what could be if they looked at themselves as entrepreneurs,” Siggins added.

TMR reached out to Siggins to find out what five things independent consultants (and really all business owners) can do to develop an ownership mindset.

1. Embrace being an entrepreneur
Unless an ICs role is limited to servicing clients that their host passes on to them, independent contractors need to see themselves as self-employed business owners. Said another way, they need to think of themselves as entrepreneurs. Often, it’s not something that comes naturally.

“I never viewed myself as entrepreneur and that was a self-limiting belief,” Siggins told TMR. I “am an entrepreneur… I am growing a business that’s adding value to our customers.”

For Siggins, she struggled with the term because she hadn’t founded the company she was hired to lead. Other people may associate entrepreneurship with starting multiple businesses or a larger scale business.

“We have a concept of what an entrepreneur is and if we don’t fit into what that concept is in our own mind, then we discount it… I think some say that I’m working just for myself, that’s not an entrepreneur. Of course it is, it’s called solopreneur.”

When you think of yourself as entrepreneur, you start acting like one. You look for opportunities to grow, you analyze your strengths and weaknesses, you surround yourself with a support system.

“Develop your skills, read books and read articles that help you grow your entrepreneurship,” Siggins added.

2. Take control
Being an owner also means accepting responsibility for your career path and development.

“If you are waiting for somebody to tap you on the shoulder for that next gig or to say you should expand, then you’re giving away your power,” Siggins said.

You get to decide whether you want to grow your business, whether you want to hire your own IC, whether you want to specialize or not.

Accepting that level of responsibility and ownership also gives people the ability to overcome setbacks, Siggins added.

“When you have the mindset of, I’m responsible for everything that happens in my life, when things go wrong, you can find your way out of it,” she said.

3. Invest in yourself
If independent consultants really are responsible for their own growth, both of their book of business as well as their own abilities as travel advisors, then they need to be willing to invest in themselves and their businesses.

“I am the number one person who can drive my success, who can drive my income,” Siggins explained. “If I’m not learning new things, challenging myself, making investments in myself, then I am missing out on the opportunity to go after what I want.”

For ICs, that investment includes time spent learning about new products, either through online education or by experiencing the products first-hand, as well as financial investments in training programs and marketing.

4. Ask for feedback
Self-improvement comes not only from investing in learning opportunities. It also comes from being open to hearing what you’re doing well, and, more importantly, where you could be doing better.

“A lot of us are afraid of feedback because if we get negative feedback, it stinks and we want to avoid that. But we need it for growth,” Siggins said. “I’m a much, much better CEO because of the feedback that I have gotten throughout my career, both solicited and unsolicited. If we’re not seeking feedback on what we can do better, how can we make a bigger impact?”

Independent consultants should ask their hosts for feedback, as well as their clients.

“Asking feedback from clients is a great way to know if you’re hitting the mark or not… What did I do really well here? What could I have done to make this experience better for you?”

5. Be compassionate with yourself
To have an ownership mindset is to have high expectations of yourself, to accept you’re in charge of your own business, and to actively take the steps necessary to move towards your goals. But things don’t always go to plan and the worst thing an owner can do is beat themselves up when things go wrong.

“You have to balance accountability with compassion,” Siggins told TMR. “I hold myself to really high standards and sometimes I beat myself up if I miss a goal or didn’t do something as well as I would’ve like to. But things go wrong and you’re always learning.”

Rather than beat yourself up, she said, be compassionate with yourself and learn from it. This way you can take that lesson and make it motivating and empowering.

Beating oneself up generally winds up being self-defeating and discouraging.