So You’re An Introvert… So What? [Ep #160]

So maybe you’re identified as an introvert or an extrovert, so what? Your business doesn’t care. Stay tuned.

Hey everyone! Your hostess with the mostess. Andrea Maxim here on another fabulous episode of the Profitable Practice Podcast. And we are getting really close to two hundred episodes at this point. This episode is a hundred and sixty, and maybe it’s even a little bit further than that. I have to ask my virtual assistant which one this is. I’m just told which ones to record and I just do what I’m told. So I’m pretty sure it’s 160/161, and I was thinking about this one– We’re almost at two hundred. In a couple of months, we will be at two hundred episodes, and that is pretty cool because there’s a lot of people that start podcasts because it sounds fun, and fifteen episodes and they will screw it. It is too much work. And it is a lot of work! I would never be able to run this podcast without my virtual assistant. So let that be sort of a quick thing to you that if you think a podcast is super easy and super fun and requires little-to-no effort, there is quite a bit of effort that goes into it but it is such a beautiful creative outlet and I love showing it out for you guys in this way.

So what I wanted to talk about today actually, was something that inspired me. I was listening to an online summit, and one of the episodes was talking about figuring out your energy flow, and when the best energy time is for you to be doing your work, and how– When you show up with negative energy, of course, it takes you way longer to get something done. Then if you’re totally invested in it, totally energized by the project and you get it done in 30 minutes. Anyways, inside her interview, she mentioned being an introvert. And for some reason– and I don’t know where this came from– but her describing herself as an introvert and how she recharges her energy and all those things, it kind of triggered me. And I started reflecting on that, I said, “Why is her…talking about being an introvert– triggering you right now– Why did that not offend you, but why did that create a negative response?” 

Because back in my early BBD (Business By Design)  days, when James Wedmore started talking about introverts versus extroverts and then Myers-Briggs, I was all over it. I found the answer to I am what I am and this explains everything. And I’ve had many debates with my sister about whether she is an extrovert or an introvert. And I fully claimed that I’m an introvert and I don’t think that she is an introvert at all, but she says that she is. And so I always kind of create this sibling rivalry between us for no reason. Now I definitely define myself as a classic introvert, and there are a lot of people that I follow that also claim to be introverts. But coming full circle back to the point of this conversation is why she felt the need to talk about it in her little speech. Why that triggered me is because I’m at that place now in my business where I’m just– who cares. Who cares if you’re an extrovert? Who cares if you’re an introvert? Who cares if you’re an ISTJ (Introverted, Observant, Thinking, and Judging) or an ENTJ (Extraverted, Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging) or whatever that Myers-Brigg tells you. Who cares if you’re an (obliger), if you’re an upholder? Who cares what your enneagram number is?

All these things tell us and give us insight into why we are, what we are and they help define us. But I’m going to do a bit of a rant here and say if you are using these little quizzes, these characteristic types, these personality traits that you have. And you’re using it as a reason for why you can’t show up to your business, this is why I want to tap this conversation. And I think that’s what triggered me. It’s just– why do I need to know that you’re an introvert? Does that mean that you get a pass at doing certain things? Does that mean that you get to not show up on social media or not do videos because you’re an introvert? Does that mean that you don’t do live seminars with groups of people because you’re an introvert? And that’s not where she was going with her conversation. But those are all the questions that started popping up into my head. Because she was saying; you know I love to go on stage, I love to be around people but then I have to charge myself up because I used up all of my introverted energy being extroverted and then have to recharge in my little cubby hole, which I totally get. But I also reflected on how many people say; well, I’m introverted and I don’t want to do live seminars. I’m introverted and I don’t want to go on camera, or do Facebook live because I’m introverted. 

I’m introverted so I don’t want to put myself out there. And if you even listen to my interview with Dr. Tina, we very blatantly said. If you don’t want to show up on social media, your business is not going to be around for very much longer especially with the way things are. Everything is moving virtual whether we want it or not. People are finding you and screening you virtually before they ever book in with you. So the word of caution that I have for you is doing the fun little test, figure out your Myers-Briggs. I know all of my things but I’ve never attached myself to them other than finding very cool information in it. It totally makes sense as to why my brain thinks the way that it does. But that’s about as far as that should go. Because you can be an extrovert and be really crappy at talking to people. Or really crappy at doing presentations or being in front of people or just overall engaging with people. 

Your marketing could still be crappy even though you are an extrovert; your ability to engage people and captivate them on stage, or in a webinar or seminar or a Facebook live, or an Instagram story or whatever you want to call it could be really bad! But because you are an extrovert, we introverts think that you’ve got it easy. And vice versa, just because you are an introvert doesn’t give you an excuse to stay at home, to stay behind your computer, to not engage with people, to not go out and promote yourself. To not do these things that introverts genuinely don’t really enjoy doing, but we find ways of doing it anyway.

The point is, that it doesn’t matter what your enneagram says, or Myers-Briggs says, or whatever sort of personality trait it is that you are those things. I understand that you can’t change. But if you use those definitions as reasons for not adopting or adapt to the alternative. That is going to help you show up in a better way that is going to help you get outside of your comfort zone and grow. That is going to allow you to leverage your abilities as a healer, as a business owner, as someone who needs to market themselves. If you allow those terminologies to stifle your growth in any way or keep you playing safe, then you are missing the point. And so if I were to ever hear from any of my students give me an excuse that Oh I’m introverted and therefore I just don’t feel comfortable doing that. I’m going to say snap out of it because you just don’t have a choice anymore. The way the businesses are going and the speed to which businesses are closing dictates that you adopt, adapt or die. Right? 

And I’m being a little bit blunt here, and I know that there’s going to be some people that are really going to resonate with this, and some people that it may not be something that you want to hear right now. But circle back to this, maybe in six months or a year. I just want to bring this up as again part of that mindset that we tend to adopt. We love to find any excuse that is reasonable for us not to go outside of our comfort zone. And I could have easily said years ago; Well I’m introverted again not knowing that I was, and not done any trade show, not done any seminars, not done webinars, not recorded videos on YouTube. And all of those things have helped me gain the traction and the speed to which I grew my business today. And because I got outside of my comfort zone then and didn’t even think about it. I didn’t even give myself a chance to talk myself out of it. I said I just have to do this. My speaking skills are amazing now! The ability for me to have any of my patients buy into what it is that I want them to do as patients. 

Meaning, if I want them to do a lab test, I have to sell it. If I want them to do a supplement protocol, I have to sell that. You are asking for their money and therefore you have to give them a reasonable reason to part with those dollars. And a lot of that is coming with messaging, and marketing, and pitching, and presenting. And if I tested my introverted ways, I would not have the confidence that I do now. So, again, I love these quizzes, I love these analyses just as much as the next person. But that is all that they are, these are just giving you a little bit more information as to who you are and why you are the way that you are. But almost all of them also give you ways to leverage out of that. Right? And I love The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin which was an incredibly eye-opening experience for me when I needed it. And I discovered that I was an obliger. And the definition of the obliger is someone who always lets people dictate what their time is. 

So when I’m leaving the girls with Scott, I wouldn’t go to the gym because I would be so nervous about having a stressful time with the girls that I would sacrifice my lifestyle goals of exercising to make sure that he’s taken care of. Or if somebody needs me at the drop of a hat, I’m going to drop everything and do what I need to do to make sure that they are alright. It’s naturally what an obliger does. But I love that in the book it also said that you can’t not be an obligor, this is who you are. But here’s what you need to be doing to make sure that the obliging tendency in you doesn’t take over. So that you feel totally spent, that everyone’s taking advantage of you, that you don’t get yours. And a lot of that comes with, I need to hire a personal trainer. I need to hire a business coach, I need to be hiring these people that I can oblige to that help me grow and become better and show up to the gym. All of those things!

Extrovert or not, introvert or not, ENTJ or not, ISFJ or whatever the other one is, opposite of the ENTJ or not, it just doesn’t matter. The point is that these are just terminologies that are putting you into a very well thought out little box, but certainly isn’t containing you to what those definitions are. So if you are struggling, if you are a fellow obliger, if you are an introvert and you’re really needing that loving push over the edge to get you out of your comfort zone, to have you show up to your business in a different way. I would love to work with you! And I invite you to check out our free master class. And the link is in the show notes and that’s going to give you the four-step program we use to merge or practice online. And that’s a great way for you to see my coaching style and learn more about the maximized practitioner program. But if you also want me to help mentor you and give you more than one-on-one guidance while my team is also being hired at the same time to get your to-do list to do. Then please DM me @andreamaximnd or drop me an email in the best place for you to check-out all those https://maximizedbusiness.ca/. So I’d love to hear your comments, your feedback if you agree with me if you disagree with me. Why I would love to hear from you, just drop me a DM @andreamaximnd https://www.instagram.com/andreamaximnd/ . So that’s all that I wanted to talk about today, it was a little bit of a trigger and I thought about a very important point that needed to be brought to attention. Just in case, these are one of those excuses that you’re using, to keep playing small and playing safe because you are no longer allowed to do that. I’m your host Andrea Maxim, I will see you next week on another fabulous episode of the profitable practice podcast. And I’m out.

 You guys are killer. Thank you as always for listening to the profitable practice podcast. Leave me a comment, and if you have it already, I would love a review on iTunes. Definitely subscribe to this podcast and leave me a quick review! For those ready to maximize your practice, contact me at https://maximizedbusiness.ca/.