Startup Story
Puleng Kgosiesele is the Founding Director of MindGYM in Botswana. A Mindset Coach, Facilitator, and Speaker, her business is focused on empowering others to show up and participate in work and life in new ways, making new choices, and practicing new behaviours needed for lasting change in the area of personal growth. She offers solutions based on elevating mindsets, to strip away misguided self-beliefs that hinder and thwart people at every turn, helping them mature into a more complex understanding of themselves and maximizing their full potential.
LoA spoke to the life-changing mindset coach, Puleng Kgosiesele, about her business, her approach to coaching, and her ambitions for her own business in the future.
What does your company do?
We set people free from the bondage of their own thoughts. MindGYM is a coaching and training consultancy for human behaviour transformation through a mindset change. Through bite-sized “workouts”, MindGYM supports individuals within work environments and other organized group settings, to develop a mindset designed to thrive on change and uncertainty, having a passion for development and growth, driven by a sense of accountability and ownership. Simply put, MindGYM offers a workout for the mind, changing how people think, feel, and behave, so that they can become creators of their destinies and not victims of their histories or circumstances.
“MindGYM offers a workout for the mind, changing how people think, feel and behave, so that they can become creators of their destinies and not victims of their histories or circumstance.”
What inspired you to start your company?
A profound life experience taught me an invaluable lesson, and that is, that your life will never be any different from the character of your thoughts. It means that as long as you believe that your position and condition in life are due to your circumstances, then you will always be at the mercy of those circumstances. Yet the attitudinal disposition as well as the mental, physical, and emotional state of the average person are evidence that many are trapped in this unhelpful way of thinking. Therefore due to a deep desire to arrest this debilitating pandemic, MindGYM was started to help do away with the “victim of circumstance” mentality that keeps many hopeless and frustrated and help them understand that the change they are looking for is not in their circumstances, but within themselves, in their thinking. Once this realization goes from just mere knowledge to conviction, then the desired change is inevitable. MindGYM is therefore the vehicle that makes true transformation possible.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Most traditional personal development programs attempt to change people's lives by adding new skills and strategies within one's current view of themselves, which often yields temporary results. In contrast, the MindGYM philosophy is that you do not change your life by changing your life, you change your life by changing your mind, because where the mind goes, the life follows. So, the MindGYM difference is that we address patterns of thinking, and most importantly, show how people can choose to think and feel differently because your transformation is attached to what happens in the realm of your mind. If your mind does not change, then neither will your life.
“The MindGYM philosophy is that you do not change your life by changing your life, you change your life by changing your mind, because where the mind goes, the life follows.”
Tell us a little about your team:
We believe that everyone is a leader and therefore lean more toward winning partnerships and less toward employment. Therefore, if there is a skill, talent, service, or resource we need, we partner with individuals or businesses that can best deliver what we require. We work with professionals that offer a full continuum of wellness services.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
Having no prior entrepreneurial experience, my entrepreneurial journey has been a rollercoaster ride filled with ups and downs, challenges, and valuable lessons. I have faced rejections, sleepless nights, and self-doubt. But through the struggles, I have learned what it means to be resilient. Each setback has provided an opportunity to grow and learn. And through this perseverance, I have achieved significant milestones.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
My vision for MindGYM is buried in its purpose. I am deeply aggrieved when people live miserable and self-destructive lives, simply because they were never really introduced to themselves, living out of conditioned false identities. The plan therefore is to take MindGYM to the world. To achieve individual behaviour transformation at scale, this will require partnerships with Governments; NGOs; Institutions of learning, correctional services and worship; the private sector; parastatals, and social clubs and groups, amongst others, to create exposure for their members and allow for delivery of consistent, repetitive, mind workouts over time. This will yield an incredible harvest of transformed lives and improved quality of living, the world over.
“I have learned what it means to be resilient. Each setback has provided an opportunity to grow and learn. And through this perseverance, I have achieved significant milestones.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
It is being the truest expression of myself. It gives me the freedom to express my core values through my business activities, allowing me a purposeful and fulfilling engagement with life. There is greater use of my skills and talents, and I am also liberated to independently decide how, when, and with whom to work. The formidable resilience I cultivate, as I adapt to the dizzying roller-coaster ride that symbolizes my entrepreneurial ambition, is rather pleasing to see. I like the person I am becoming in the process of helping others become better versions of themselves. Being an entrepreneur has truly been instrumental in giving me a sense of self-transcendence.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Do not let the human intellect of wondering “how” stand in your way. Define your ideals and the how will be shown to you. Challenge your automatic thoughts that tell you it cannot be done. Enlarge your sense of self and be clear about what you value and stand for. This will be important in your journey because successful entrepreneurs are not born overnight. It takes time, hard work, and plenty of discipline. You can expect to face many challenges and lows at unpredictable frequencies. But you can also certainly expect to experience extreme and numerous highs. And the peaks make the lows entirely worthwhile.
Find out more:
Email: mindgym@theword.co.bw
Website: https://www.theword.co.bw
Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61552953811664
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewordwithpuleng/
Why LoA loves it…
There is always so much written and talked about when it comes to developing an entrepreneurial mindset, but it is easier said than done for many. Creating the right mindset really does set you up for success, and that’s where experts like Puleng Kgosiesele bring their expertise and insights to the table. She is helping people to get their mindsets right, and their lives on the desired path for fulfillment. Inspirational! — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa