Can you be a business owner and be an introvert?
When you think of famous entrepreneurs, you might think they’re all extroverts. They have no problems talking to people, going out and selling their products and services, and getting to know more people who can push their business forward.
But I promise you, you don’t have to be an extrovert to succeed in business.
In fact, some hugely successful entrepreneurs are self-declared introverts - Bill Gates, Elon Musk, even digital marketing experts like Amy Porterfield.
It is totally possible to be a successful entrepreneur and rewrite the rules for what you think it’ll take to be successful.
In today’s episode, we’ll cover a few ways you can compete with your extroverted counterparts without wearing yourself out.
Can you be a business owner and be an introvert?
When you think of famous entrepreneurs, you might think they’re all extroverts. They have no problems talking to people, going out and selling their products and services, and getting to know more people who can push their business forward.
But I promise you, you don’t have to be an extrovert to succeed in business.
In fact, some hugely successful entrepreneurs are self-declared introverts - Bill Gates, Elon Musk, even digital marketing experts like Amy Porterfield.
It is totally possible to be a successful entrepreneur and rewrite the rules for what you think it’ll take to be successful.
In today’s episode, we’ll cover a few ways you can compete with your extroverted counterparts without wearing yourself out.
Can you be a business owner and an introvert? Now, when you think of famous entrepreneurs, you might think that they're all extroverts after all. It seems like they have no problems talking to people, going out and selling their products and services. And somehow they're always getting to know more people who can push their business forward, but I promise you, you don't have to be an extrovert to succeed in business. In fact, some hugely successful entrepreneurs are self-declared introverts big names like bill gates, Elon Musk, even digital marketing experts like Amy Porterfield claimed to be introverts. It is totally possible to be a successful entrepreneur and rewrite the rules for what you think it'll take to grow your business. In today's episode, I'm gonna dive into just a few things to keep in mind. As you grow your business as an introvert entrepreneur, you're listening to the captain coder podcast each week, I take you through actionable strategies that can help you grow your online business. I'm your host, Marisa VanSkiver AKA captain coder. When it comes to putting yourself out there online or otherwise, it can feel really overwhelming. But the first thing that you have to keep in mind when you're starting a business and you wanna grow that business, especially online, you have to be authentic to who you are. Now. Authenticity is honestly just the ultimate way to build trust. People wanna work with people. They feel like they know like they can trust. Like it's a friend of theirs when you are authentic to who you are. You're not only gonna connect with the right audience for you and your business, but you're going to grow your business faster because you're going to be 100% you. Now it could sound really easy to try to be somebody else to attract a certain type of client that you think is beneficial. I'm gonna be totally honest with you. When I started an agency five years ago with a partner, I tried to do just this. I was going to networking events, which let's be real. That's number one, surprise. I'm not a huge fan of social interaction. I like I'm an introvert. I like being at home and being around people drains me, but I was going to networking events. I was wearing full face of makeup. I can't remember the last time I wore makeup except for mascara at this point. And I was wearing a dress to all of these events. I was going out and being somebody who I wasn't and you know what happened. One, I got clients that while I liked them, they were not the right client for me and what I wanted to do. And I found that yes, we were being successful. But every time we signed a new contract, every time I felt like I got deeper into that business and deeper into this world where I didn't feel like I fit. I knew I wasn't being authentic to myself and I was miserable. I was miserable because I wasn't being true to who I am. I wasn't just miserable for a lot of other reasons, but I was miserable because I wasn't being authentic. I was talking to my best friend the other day, you know, who's considering entrepreneurship and what he might do to build an online business. And we've talked about a few options. And I said, okay, here's the thing. Don't choose anything, unless you're gonna be absolutely happy with it. The whole point of building a business of becoming an entrepreneur is to be able to pursue a passion, to be able to do something that you love. So why would you choose something and continue to dive into something that just makes you miserable? Well, that was me for about three years. And two years ago, I took advantage of a pandemic and I jumped out and I decided to be 100% authentic to who I am now. It took me a while to build a business back up and to have that, you know, revenue that I was looking for, the client base I was looking for and to connect with people. But every single client that comes through my doors, they're they're fit for me. They're a match for me in who I am. They are so much more understanding of anything because I'm authentic and I'm real with them. I'm not hiding anything. And they have a lot of trust and faith in me. And the way that I do my work, because again, I'm always authentic. If you ever go on my social media, especially Instagram at captain coder, you'll see that any pictures of me have Marvel comics and other figurines in the background on my wall, when I was creating captain coder, I knew that I wanted to be authentic to who I was and being a giant comic book nerd and a fantasy nerd and a sci-fi nerd was all part of that authenticity. So I wear comic book t-shirts and fun. T-shirts every single day. Even when I go out to networking events, I tend to dress down and wear jeans at max because that's what I'm comfortable in. That's what I feel like myself in. And I let people get to see a glimpse of the real me. I don't try to hide anything. And that authenticity has made me so much happier in my business, but it's also bringing me in the right people and who I wanna work with if you're like I was, and you're just a little bit of a lost puppy, and you're not really sure what being authentic is to you, or even how to show that I have a few questions. So if you have a minute, take out your notes app and Jo down these questions, or just your first thoughts, your first answers, the first question. How do you want people to feel when they work with you? When they meet you, it's kind of a twofer. How do you want people to feel when they work with you? When they meet you? I want you to think through what you want people to feel like when they're working with you. It's a really important question to discover who you to build with your business. I want people to feel relaxed. I want them to feel like they can trust me, but more so I want them to feel empowered. I don't want people to feel like I'm trying to hide anything like I'm speaking over them or that I'm not clearly explaining exactly what I'm doing. Even though I'm doing a job that a lot of people don't understand what I'm coding, but I want them to feel like I'm a warm, delightful person. Now, another question you wanna ask yourself, what matters to you? What mattered to me was that I could be myself, that I could work from home, that I had the time to recharge from those experiences. So I could still be creative and I didn't get burnt out. So write down what matters to you. And then the last question is what feels right to you when you're presenting your personal brand. And you're trying to be an entrepreneur in business, you have to do what feels right to you. You cannot go out there and build a business on a foundation that just doesn't jive. Because believe me, speaking from someone who's been there done that you will be miserable and you will be incredibly annoyed with yourself. Now, when we talk about being an introvert, you may to switch gears here, you may be wondering, okay, like, this is all great. I can be authentic, but what possible advantage do I have when I don't like going to networking events? When I don't like doing the things that extroverts are doing to succeed in business. Well, let's just break down a few advantages that introverts have. And I want you to think about this and how it applies to you and your business. Number one, we tend to be creative thinkers. Introverts tend to spend a little bit, much more time thinking through different variables, different options. We don't jump immediately. We think through things. There's a lot of times that I've been in meetings and I've had clients that wanted instant answers. And I always tell them, look, I'm really sorry. I'm thinking through this. Let me do a little bit of research. Give me a little bit of time to kind of mold this over. I've never had anyone be mad about it, not the kind of client that I wanna work with anyway, because they understand that that's part of my process. My entire job is thinking so they, they understand that and they appreciate that. So being a creative thinker is a huge introvert advantage. We also tend to be good listeners because we don't talk as much. Well present company excluded around certain people. But because typically speaking, we don't talk as much. We don't make small talk the same way other people do. We tend to listen better to what somebody is looking for. We tend to listen to their problems, to their pain points, and it's a whole lot easier for us to understand where they're coming from because we give them the time to emote. And we give them the time to explain what they're trying to find and what they're trying to do. So practice your introversion, listening skills, and use that as a huge advantage. I can't tell you, and I'm not gonna say that there are developers in this world who are extroverts, but there are definitely web developers in this world who are not good listeners, who don't take into account what their clients are saying. And it's the number one complaint that I get that they, that the, my clients feel like they were talking to a, a wall when they talked to a previous web developer. So focus on using your listening skills and really understanding and building that relationship with your customers. And number three, we tend to be pretty passionate people. We get really excited about the things that excite us. Like I was telling my best friend, if you're gonna create a business, create a business you're passionate about. He's also an introvert, just FYI. We're quite the, quite the mix, but there's no point in doing this in my, in my whole opinion. If you're not passionate about what you do. So take that passion and apply it to your business and follow something that you really, really wanna be doing and outsource the things that you're not passionate about. We live in a world that is kind of an introverts dream. And I want you to keep that in mind, as you work on building your business, you can make the most of online marketing and be at a complete advantage with your I introversion. Now, the great thing about online marketing is that we can network virtually and online communities on Facebook and discord at other places. At least for me, it doesn't drain me quite the same way that in person networking does. And part of that is because you get to turn it off. You can go back and jump into a conversation in a couple time and the bandwidth, and you're not being bombarded by that in person, um, conversation in the same way. So take some time, find some Facebook groups, find some online communities where your dream clients are hanging out, asking questions, apply those listening skills and your passion to answering those questions and building relationships with people. It is really one of the best ways that you can find clients online is by virtual networking. And it is so much easier than going to a local chamber breakfast and having to walk into a room by yourself, at least for this introvert. Now, another thing you can do is you can write articles. Those can be articles on blogs on LinkedIn, on medium.com, guest blogs, where other places find a place where you can publish and write content. That content can be a really great way to showcase your expertise and bring people back to you. And it is a whole lot more introvert friendly because voice. You're all you're doing is writing a few things down on the page. Now, of course you can focus on social media and build your online communities that way. Social media, at least for me, can be really difficult, even though I understand it's virtual. I have a hard time showing my face and really putting myself out there in the way that I would like to and, and would do otherwise. It takes time to build that up if you're not comfortable with it. So practice just take one or two story pictures and videos a day, put yourself in more pictures more often and slowly over time, it'll get a whole lot easier. And it won't feel like an intrusion on your I introversion because you're used to it. And you gave yourself time to adapt. And of course, one of the best ways that you can make the most out of online marketing as an, as an introvert is to optimize your website. When your website works as an actual sales tool for your business, you have a whole lot less talking to do fewer sales calls, more people who are ready to sign on and more people who are already convinced. So you can just take them from interested, lead to client in a lot shorter scale. Now, if you have questions about optimizing your website and making that really easier, you can always reach out to me. Of course, I hang out the most on Instagram at captain coder, happy to chat and kind of give you some guidance on what that could look like for your website. The number one thing I want you to keep in mind here is that you can be a successful entrepreneur and be an introvert, do not let looking at what other people are doing and make, and the way that they make it look easy, especially on social media, make you feel bad about the fact that you process things a little bit differently, that you require different things. Because honestly, as introverts, we have huge advantages over our extrovert com Patriots com compatriots, um, partners. I don't know, I can't find the word and I'm not gonna go back and rerecord that, but we have some huge advantages over extroverts. If we just learn to find our voice a little bit better and share that with the world, it's a whole lot easier in a virtual community. But if you guys have any questions, if you wanna know what this looks like and kind of see how I handle it, or if you simply wanna just reach out and ask me questions about being an introvert business owner and someone who's worked really hard to build an authentic brand over the last couple of years, follow me on Instagram at captain coder. And I cannot wait to connect with you and learn more about you. Thank you all for tuning into our show this week to catch more captain coder, you can subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast app. Now, if you have any questions or you wanna learn more about digital marketing and how it can help grow your online business, follow us on Instagram @captaincoder, or visit us online at captcoder.com. Can't wait to talk to you all again next week.