Being an introverted entrepreneur has helped me build a better business

Being an introverted entrepreneur has helped me build a better business
Whenever we’ve read an interview or watched a television show, more often than not, we’ll find that entrepreneurs being interviewed, are out there, they know how to own their space and be remembered. But I’d like to tell you today, that it’s not so bad being on the other side, which is being an entrepreneur who may be introverted. So I’d like to share a little bit about what has worked for me in building my business.

• Brand Building: Brand building is a very big part of a business like ours that has many players, but advertising myself & building my brand doesn’t come too easily. Having a team who can think from this perspective pushes one to get out of the comfort zone and start to think about doing what’s necessary to building one’s brand.

• Meaningful Connections – Networking and connections are a big thing in this business. But while our personalities may not allow us to put ourselves out there and connect with everyone, we build meaningful connections with the people that we do connect with. I have found that when I meet a client and am comfortable to work with them, those relationships turn out to be strong and lasting connections. I enjoy going out of my way to make things work with the client, considering our clients reciprocate this too. I have long lasting relations of over a decade, with most of the clients who started out with us. Therefore the possibilities of building a good reputation and clients recommending Basil Leaf Creative to other prospective clients, are much higher and has been one of the ways we have been able to build our clientele. It was not just business though, it has also been our employees and partners that we have been building lasting partnerships with. As introverts, we may flourish with a smaller network of people but we tend to nurture those relationships, steadily and slowly with time, building trust. And trust always goes a long way.

• Being a team player – If anyone knows me, they will know that I am not a very chatty person, but this has helped me create a comfortable space for my team to approach me, not one that may be overbearing and overwhelming. This does have its downside though, I have had my fair share of challenges, where this personality trait didn’t always work well in my favor, but being in the business all these years has helped me maneuver situations. We are not just approachable with our team but also our clients and this approachability means that clients understand they can reach out to me whenever they need. This has also made a big impact in creating lasting partnerships.

• Focus – We prefer to conserve our energies and not put our hand into too many things. This could mean we network less, we try fewer things, we may experiment less, but this energy translates into focus. I personally like to get involved and go deep into a particular space at a particular time which means I can also keep evolving in the space I choose to be in at the time. It’s difficult to focus on too many things at once but it does have its pros and cons. The biggest pro being that we end up understanding and knowing the subject really well, leading to a confidence that we know our space and have been dedicating to it for longer periods of time. Our energies need to be balanced. When we cancel out a few things, we are able to bring focus to the priorities we set. This should not be mistaken with blocking out opportunities but rather to prioritize well and focus energies on the task at hand. We apply this even to the projects we choose, we do not take on more than we can handle. We dedicate focused efforts to each of our projects and only work on those we know we can give our best to.

• Self-reflection- Being a little quiet and inward-looking, one tends to reflect on your actions much more. For those like us, who may spend much of our day indoors, in a nook, by ourselves, we have a greater chance of self-reflection, to look back at what we are doing well and not so well in business, with our team and clients.
The experience may not be the same for all, but I do hope that my experience may help those who are on the fence or facing fears, know that all can be achieved.