Most people think of entrepreneurs as high-energy extroverted types. However, many of the great entrepreneurs have been introverts. People like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerburg are all introverts that have had huge success in business.
Conventional thinking has suggested that the traits of an introvert are unlikely to lead to business success. The business world has a reputation for rewarding aggression and extroversion. Surprisingly, introverts can have an advantage in the business world. I am pretty introverted so to know that I might not be doomed is an exciting possibility!
I started a conventional 'bricks and mortar' business a few years ago. I had to deal with collaborators and potential investors. Unfortunately my introverted personality did not help me in these dealings - I am not a loud-mouthed CEO that enjoys pitching big groups of people or ruthlessly firing people.
I found that I did a lot better in the solitary world of online entrepreneurship. I think that embracing your introversion and allowing it to be an asset and not a liability helps to set you up for success. Sure, I still have plenty of collaborators but they tend to be formed by one-on-one interactions (much more tolerable for an introvert). Introverts tend to find it easier to talk to small numbers of people rather than large groups.
There are a few things that you can do if you are an introvert but your business needs a more extroverted personality. The easiest is to bring an extrovert on as a partner. There have been many dynamic duo's that have had massive success in business. A famous example is Steve Wozniak (introverted) and Steve Jobs (extroverted). The combination of their strengths led to Apple's success with Wozniak working on product development and Jobs working on marketing.
Self-promotion can be important in business and it can be something that introvert struggle with. It is much easier to promote yourself in writing than in speaking engagements and a lot of introverts focus on social media campaigns and writing for major publications to accomplish this.
Introverts need to recharge with alone time (I know I do!). But if introverts play to their strengths they can have massive success in business ventures.
Working on freelance businesses from home are often ideal opportunities for introverted entrepreneurs. We recently wrote an article about the best home-based jobs for introverts that people can do to start their entrepreneurial careers. These home-based jobs do not require interactions with large groups of people so they work well for introverts.
So perhaps you just want to try something to make $200 today or you want to establish a longer term business as an introvert - play to your strengths and you might be surprised where life will take you!
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