Are extroverts better entrepreneurs? The word “better” may be misleading because introverts are GREAT entrepeneurs, but their business style is different than the business style of an extrovert. The world goes around with extroverts and introverts and you may find your business thriving if you bring in others who balance your innate tendency.
Are Extroverts Better Entrepreneurs?
Extroverts may be able to cast a wider net for networking opportunities and for potential clients. Simply because extroverts like to be out and about and talk with strangers, they may have access to more clients than an introvert.
They may find it easier to strike up a conversation with strangers which could lead to business conversations.
They interact with their team, probably more regularly.
They just may be more charismatic than their introverted counterparts. You can read this as “life of the party.”
What benefits to introverts bring to the table?
They are focused. They rarely get off track when pursuing a goal.
The relationships they build are constructed over the long term.
They may be more niched and this could enhance their expertise.
When building a team, fill it with both extroverts and introverts and you will have a well-rounded workforce that will benefit your business as well as your clients.
Note that it’s rare to find an entrepreneur who is 100% introvert or 100% extrovert. Most every person is a mixture of both while most people also lean more toward one or the other. Ambiverts are those individuals who can thrive in a crowded networking event for a time, then will head back to the office to recharge their mental batteries.
Which are you? Extrovert? Introvert? A little of both — an ambivert? Do you know yourself well enough to know which spectrum you fall into and what do you do to enhance your natural tendencies and make your business a success? We’d love to know.
As an entrepreneur you need to get out of the office and continue building business connections. Toward this end though you need to make the most of business meetings. If you attend an event or a business luncheon and walk away, hours later, with a sense of “that was a waste of time” you need to sharpen your skills to see if you can determine beforehand just who might be wasting your time before you schedule time out of the office.
Make The Most Of Business Meetings
It’s all about them. This is a red flag you should notice up front. If you meet someone at a networking event and they launch into their elevator pitch without even a “getting to know you” question or two. You can rest assured that if you meet up again, the conversation on your end will not be furthered, but their agenda will be continued. As a side note, make sure when you meet people that you aren’t the one who is monopolizing the conversation.
Future planning. If they say, “well, at some point in the future” or “we aren’t at the point of bringing on vendors” or “we don’t have any plans currently” you will know that it might be a good getting-to-know you time, but you won’t walk away being any closer to a new business deal than you originally were. This is not to say that “future” promises should be discounted, but know that you’re not getting a contract signed any time soon.
I’d love to pick your brain. When someone says this, they KNOW you have a product or service that they would benefit from BUT they are not willing to open their checkbook and invest. Sharing insight and information isn’t a bad thing, but you don’t want to continually accept invitations to, “brain picking” sessions. You deserve to be paid for your expertise. Bottom line.
What raises red flags for you when you’re scheduling a business meeting with a potential client?
Have you ever wondered how can you motivate employees without cash? It’s a Catch 22 for many entrepreneurs; they’re worried about breaking the bank and they also worry about losing great employees. If your employees are being lured away by the promise of more cash at a competitor business, you need to find a way to keep those employees without putting your business in the red.
How Can You Motivate Employees Without Cash?
Flexibility. Many employees would prefer a flexible work schedule to a raise. Can you offer a later start time or an earlier leave time? What about allowing an employee to work four ten-hour days instead of five eight-hour days? Could you make that work? What if your employee needs time off for a doctor’s appointment or to go to their child’s school play? Can you be flexible with time off requests?
Offer autonomy and allow them to “own” their job. Don’t micromanage. Give your employees a task and trust they will complete it at the level of expertise you expect of your staff.
Offer praise. If an employee goes “above and beyond” make note of that and share that with your other employees. Implement a “refer a colleague” program in which a staff member points out when another does a great job or performs an act of kindness.
Build community within the firm. Even if your employees are scattered in various locations, build community by fostering conversations across the locations. Host get-togethers if feasible.
Offer life long learning opportunities. If your employees are always learning — whether job-related or focused on a passion project (knitting, gardening, auto repair) they will be achieveing a work-life balance and will also be pursuing a passion outside of work — that you have provided them.
What do you do to keep good employees from leaving? What incentive programs have you found that have worked? What hasn’t? We’d love to know.
Conscious business ownership is a buzzword in entrepreneurial circles. What does it mean? It means that the business takes up causes and that the way they operate the business, treat their employees and customers and the environment support their mission and vision. Is your business promoting your values? Maybe it isn’t even something you’ve ever thought about. Chances are you haven’t. I didn’t, until recently. Once I did take time to think about my mission and vision for my business, though, I did realize I run my business the way I run my life — I follow specific missions in my life and they carry over to my business dealings.
Is Your Business Promoting Your Values?
Whether you’re a solopreneur or if you’re looking for a business partner, you need to know your mission and visions and to make certain they mesh or you will be butting heads. You may or may not pronounce to your clients and your employees that you are running a conscious business, or you may just be living your mission and vision without the pronouncement.
I’ll bet you are living your mission and your vision and that it is carrying over into your business interactions, but if you’re not clear about the concept, here are values to consider:
Be authentic. Be true to yourself every day in every business and personal relationships
Be ethical. Just as you wouldn’t work with someone whose ethics you questioned, you don’t want your potential business partner to question your ethics.
Be trustworthy. If you’re trustworthy, you will more quickly build trust with prospective clients. It’s been said that new clients want to work with a business owner they “know, like and trust” and you want to be the person they have those feelings for.
If you work with a team, do they understand your core values? If not, why not? Have you articulated the mission and values to them? More importantly, have you shared with them HOW they can carry those values into their interactions with clients on a daily basis.
It’s not a trick question. You do need to ask yourself what will you risk for your business dreams? Do you want to “go big or go home” or do you want to dip your toes into the entrepreneurial stream? You can choose to be somewhere in the middle. No matter which path you choose you need to understand the risks, the rewards and how long it might take you to achieve either.
Everyday when I am talking with entrepreneurs, we have the discssion about what type of risk-taker they are. About how quickly they want to achieve their goals and myriad other items necessary to help them pull together their business plans and become gainfully self employed.
Act as though you are the success you’re dreaming of. While I don’t embrace the “fake it til you make it” mentalityI do believe that if you dream of being an entrepreneur you need to have the entrepreneurial mindset. You need to move away from being an employee to being an employer. Are you ready to act as though you’ve already “arrived”?
Believe in yourself and know that you have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. You need to surround yourself with people who will help support your dream, but more importantly you need to believe in yourself and that you have the skills, knowledge and drive to make it happen. If you can’t boldly say, “Yes, I can do this!” It will be difficult for those around you to believe it.
Live the dream. Your small steps toward entrepreneurial greatness means you need to work at it each and every day. Sure, you can take a day off and spend time with friends and family, but when you’re starting out, you need to be focused, driven and see that goal you’re driving toward. As they say, “there are no shortcuts on the road to success.”
Are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve your goals? Is your family supportive of your dreams? What’s holding you back from your dreams? Let us know. We can help.
