169: Running a Business as an Introvert
Brought to you by Pet Sitters Associates
Summary
Running a business is usually seen as something for extroverts. We’re told to be outgoing and put ourselves out there for our clients. But many of us in pet care would consider ourselves to be more introverted, so what are we to do? How does an introvert navigate running a service based business and take care of our clients? We discuss ways to embrace your strengths and how to navigate being ‘social’ on social media. Natasha O’Banion answers, “How do I get more time back?”
Topics on this episode:
What is an introvert?
Recognizing your strengths
Being ‘social’ on social media
Ask a Pet Biz Coach with Natasha O’Banion
Main takeaway: Make time to recharge away from the hustle of your business and protect your personal time.
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A VERY ROUGH TRANSCRIPT OF THE EPISODE
Provided by otter.ai
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, introvert, clients, business, pet, extrovert, day, important, schedule, talking, pet sitter, sharing, draining, confessional, interactions, services, strengths, wallflower, affirmations, social media
SPEAKERS
Meghan, Collin, Natasha
00:17
Hi, I'm Meghan.
00:18
I'm Collin. And this is pet sitter confessional,
00:21
and open and honest discussion about life as a pet sitter. Hi, welcome to Episode 169. Hello, today is about being an introvert in business, we want to thank our awesome Patreon members and pet sitters associates for sponsoring this episode. If you would like to learn more about helping us produce the show for just a few dollars a month, you can go to pet sitter confessional comm slash support. So today we are discussing being an introvert in pet care. And unfortunately, many people think that they have to be outgoing and gregarious as a business owner. And of course you can be those things. But I feel like for a lot of us as pet care, business owners, we are introverts. One of us is an introvert and the other is not. Can you guess which one is which? Probably the one who does the interviews is the extrovert.
01:20
So yeah, I think I think Megan would definitely consider herself more of an introvert and and how that impacts you being a business owner.
01:30
Yeah, so I like being behind the scenes, I get energy from myself, basically, in my alone time and calling you really get energy from other people and talking to other people and being around other people. But I like to be a little more introspective, and just take time with myself and by myself.
01:51
Yeah, I think what's important is linking this back to a previous episode where we did where we talked about the hats that a business owner wears.
01:59
165
02:00
I'm glad you recognize. I think it is important to recognize that some of those hats are easier to wear and harder to wear. For some for some of us, just depending on our personalities. So what is an introvert? Well, the good thing is, is that you should not ever feel alone being one recent research has shown that roughly 50% of people consider themselves to be introverts.
02:25
Well, that makes a lot of sense. Half of people are extroverts and half people are introverted. So
02:28
it's a nice, yeah, it's a nice line.
02:30
But the key to understanding this is that it used to be believed that introverts were shy and timid, and didn't really want to be around other people. And some of that can be true, but it's obviously not a broad brushstroke for everybody. And when you hear the word introvert, many people envision, you know, someone hiding under a blanket all day and never leaving the house or someone fleeing from a handshake. And, you know, COVID is here. So fleeing from a handshake is okay, these days these days. But a much better way of thinking about this is to realize no one is 100%, introverted or 100%, extroverted, we're all on a spectrum. And it just varies based on personality. So and it has to do with where you get your energy from, I just mentioned this a minute ago, but introverts get their energy from spending time with themselves and being by themselves while extroverts gain their energy from being around other people. And many of these responses are biological in nature. So it's literally how we're wired. It also is how we've grown up and our parents or our aunts and uncles that were around grandparents, it's how they have connected with us and treated us. And so its nature and nurture.
03:45
So it's not about trying to be someone you're not, it's not obviously anything that we're going to be talking about today, we're actually going to be talking about the importance of great embracing our strengths. And it's not even training ourselves to be different than what we currently are.
03:59
The pet care industry, if you haven't noticed, does tend to attract introverts, because we don't have to be around other people all the time. And we'd like to spend a lot of time by ourselves and the pets help as well.
04:11
And hear this there is nothing wrong with that at all. The problem comes is when people start to think that they only have to deal with pets, they don't have to worry at all about interacting with other people. But I do recognize that it can be daunting to try and be in business and be a business owner as an introvert. So what what what are some things that we can do,
04:33
I think recognizing that there are strengths as an introvert and relying on those strengths. So as an introvert, you are more aware of your environment and your surroundings. You are very observant. And so you know the need of your clients and others including the pets, you're very aware of what they need. And so you can use that to grow relationships. You can use that to improve your processes and innovate at the personal level,
05:01
when you're more aware of the needs of your client, sometimes you're aware of them even before they know that they need them or they are aware of what is going on. And this is really critical whenever we're walking into people's homes, and looking after their pets, because sometimes, the clients might not know that something's different. But being more aware of your surroundings means that you're going to pick up on those little things that you see. And you're going to pick up on behavioral differences and cues that other people might not or they may miss.
05:29
So because being introverted and extroverted is all about energy, and where you get that energy from, it can also be very draining to be around people or be talking to people as an introvert. So for the introvert for me, and the people that I'm talking to who are introverts manage your energy, that is super important. So don't schedule meetings, back to back to back, don't schedule meet and greets in the evenings when you're more likely to feel drained after a long day. I am very bad at that, because I also am trying to be very efficient. So I do like to, I do like to schedule things in 30 minutes successions throughout the day, but that's also very draining. So be careful of overpacking social events, even online ones. During busy times, if there's a couple conferences that are happening at the same time, choose one over the other. I know that's very hard. But online conferences can be particularly draining. Because there is so much information
06:31
and you don't tend to typically change the rest of your life to fit it all in, you just think, oh, I'll make this, I'll just go and attend when I can. But I won't change my schedule at all. So you actually end up even more busy than you would be if you had gone and attended the conference in person.
06:46
Yeah, or Same thing goes, if you're doing virtual meet and greets on zoom, don't pack them back to back being an introvert is also hard. Because the world is telling you that you need to be more outgoing. So sometimes your inner critic can be the loudest voice against you. And that's very true for me as well. So I am trying to be more self aware. And because of that, when I make a mistake, I'm typically the first one to jump on myself, I am my harshest critic. But again, taking time during the day, multiple times a day for affirmations, or meditation or prayers, whatever your thing is to stay calm and focused is very important. Put your favorite affirmation or Bible quote in your car, or your phone background or in your bathroom mirror, the more you surround yourself with those kind of messaging is better, because you are worth it. And you need to remember those things day in and day out.
07:44
And that does include people in your life that are speaking those kind of affirming affirmations into your life and lifting you up as well. Not people that are going to be bringing you down or draining you from the energy that you need, or desperately trying to keep for yourself. The friendships, the people we surround ourselves with are just as important with this. If you have people in your life that don't recognize that you get drained from personal interactions or for lots of activity, and they keep forcing that on you. That is not okay, right. And that's where some barriers need to be put up. And where you need to start saying that wonderful magic word that we keep bringing up a lot of
08:20
know. And another way to manage your business as an introvert is to know that what tasks you should be doing and what you should not be doing. So have someone else do the phone calls. I hate phone call. I hate talking to people. And so a lot of times we will screen our phone calls for our business because either we're busy, which is the case most of the time, or I just don't want to talk at that particular moment. If you have a business partner or somebody on staff who loves social media, have them craft the responses to your posts. When people comment on them. They that person on your staff can respond and be kind of the face of the company. It's very important to also make the most of online communication, automate as much as you possibly can so that all the clients questions are answered before they have to contact you for a meet and greet have a Frequently Asked Questions page, have social media posts that answer those frequently asked questions and and basically anything that the client needs to know, have newsletters that go out weekly
09:31
have pre scripted texts that you can copy and paste to common questions that you get from people who asked about prices who asked about ours who asked about service radius, have those in a text document so you can just copy and paste those really quick because again, when our energy is being brought down by these interactions that we're having with people who are asking things of us, there's a little bit of anxiety that goes into all this and so we're just trying to lower this bar as much as possible to whether that's automation. Whether it's having prescriptive responses, so that you aren't having to be caught in the moment struggling or dealing with those, those feelings and emotions when you are interacting with people.
10:10
However, I will say that depending on who your ideal client is, if it's an older retiree who may not be on social media all the time, they're going to want to physically call you, right. And I do think that we missed out on a client a couple weeks ago, because we were not able to return her call. So if you're going after a particular demographic, just be aware that you might have to take phone calls.
10:31
Well, if that just seems like the worst thing ever, you could consider hiring an answering service to take all of your calls and give them the scripts and the text and information so that you never have to actually talk
10:41
on the phone. Also, as an introvert, focus on the one on one relationship building, both with the clients and any staff or employees that you may have. So for me, if I'm in a group of 10 1520, people that is really draining, and I tend to become a wallflower and not really want to talk to anybody. But if I am in a one on one conversation or a one on two conversation, it allows me to open up a lot more and to be myself a little bit more, I can build a better relationship and talk to the person more deeply than I can in a room of 20 people.
11:15
So schedule those staff meeting schedule, those meet and greets, so that you can structure those for controlling how many people are in the room or how those interactions are going to go. And again, as I mentioned earlier, being around extroverts can be very draining even I know I'm an extrovert, but getting a lot of extroverts in a room can be very, very taxing. So if you do find yourself being constantly drowned out by others, scheduled time for you to talk for you to present for you to hold the floor, in discussion, so that you can have your moments so that you're not a wallflower in these kind of interactions so that you are able to have some space and allow others to respect that
11:54
we have the advantage here of our business has one extrovert and one introvert Hello. So we're able to recognize what each other is good at our strengths, our weaknesses, and we're able to come alongside each other and help each other when someone isn't sure of what to do or how to handle a situation.
12:14
Right handing off those tasks that we recognize, oh, no, it's not just that I'm terrible at this, it's that this other person is really good at it. And they enjoy this. And that's what gets them energized.
12:24
Yeah, like the interviews, I am not the best at interviewing people. But you are excellent at it. And that's why that works for the podcast here. In our own business, I do not like doing the phone calls. You are great at talking to people on the phone. So we go figure.
12:41
But I get really drained by not being able to see people and not getting able to interact. So Megan likes doing a lot of the backend work, a lot of the crafting of the social media posts and all of that stuff that goes into it. So she is able to do that and really excel at it.
12:57
So if you don't have a partner in your business, consider starting with a virtual assistant or investing in good software to start offloading some things. There are so many software programs out there, so many great ones. But it's automating as much as possible so that your client doesn't have to come to you all the time or your potential client doesn't have to come to you all the time with questions that they have. Along with having a good software it's also very important to have insurance. As pet care professionals, your clients trust you to care for their furry family members, pet sitters associates is here to help. For over 20 years they have provided 1000s of members with quality pet care insurance. If you work in the pet care industry, or want to make your passion for pets into a profession. You can take your career to the next level with flexible coverage options, client connections and complete freedom in running your business. Learn why pet sitters associates is the perfect fit for you and get a free quote today. At pets@llc.com. You can get a discount when joining by clicking membership petsitter confessional and use the discount code confessional at checkout to get $10 off today, check out the benefits of membership and insurance once again at pets@llc.com. There are so many demands placed on a business owner these days we have to as we talked about wear so many hats in this business. But you really have to take care of yourself as an introvert, you are your best asset. Because you know yourself the best you are a leader in your business and you can run your business however you want to. But you have to take time for yourself. I know I get recharged when I just lay down and take a nap. Or when I watch a show on Netflix or when I'm just outside taking a walk. It is so nice to be by myself. No offense.
14:41
None taken. We've been at this for a few years I get it.
14:45
When you literally feel exhausted after multiple interactions and moving from client interaction to client interaction. You time is even more important. I think it's also hard to see ourselves as a salesperson as an introvert. I don't Unnecessarily want to be broadcasting my services everywhere or telling people the price of my services? That's very hard because I don't like putting myself out there.
15:08
Right? Well, even I am espoused extrovert hate seeing myself as a salesperson, I can honestly say that I hate having to tell others about my services and explain what we do to people. It's almost the worst part of this. I know there are some days dealing with like runny poop diarrhea in the rain that would probably be almost on par with having to sell yourself and stuff. But it just seems so burdensome and intimidating. So for me, at least, what is important to do is to stop viewing it as sales, and start viewing it as building relationships. view it, instead of being a salesperson, start viewing yourself as a share person instead.
15:51
Yeah, that's a good idea you are sharing about what you do as a business, you have no pressure to sell anything, just tell others about you. And the awesome pet care services that you provide,
16:01
which gets into another big thing in this industry is being active on social media, and how we go about putting ourselves out there.
16:08
Yeah, social media is literally just about sharing, sharing value with your clients with your potential clients. And it's about letting others know what you're doing and how you do it. It just so happens that you are also selling simultaneously. So potential clients are stalking you. We get told this a lot. Oh, I didn't need a pet sitter. But I followed you for the past six months and just love your posts.
16:35
Yeah, by sharing your clients get to know you and who you are, which I know is a very fine line because quote unquote, experts will tell you to put yourself out there and let everyone see who you are, and get to know the real you.
16:49
Which as an introvert, that sounds just exhausting.
16:52
Yeah, well, because even though social media is really just, it's really just a one way conversation. It is hard to put yourself out there all the time. But
17:02
there is an empowering part to this. And it's you get to decide how much you put out there. You know, we are actually pretty private people. We're careful about sharing photos of our kids online. And we have separate personal and business social media accounts,
17:17
right? I'm just an example. You know, I'm terrified of heights. And I have yet to see how sharing that to our clients would get anybody to hire me. And I'd be very confused if that was the one thing that pushed them over the edge into booking our services.
17:30
Yeah, so there's a balance there, you get to share exactly what you want to how much when, and what exactly you want to share of yourself.
17:39
Right now. We still do videos, we shared newsletters about what we're doing. And our clients love being part of our larger family. But in here, hear this because I it's at the end of the day, it's still a business transaction. And more importantly, here, it's it's our business,
17:56
yeah, and into your business. So if you are more introverted and petrified of a thought of putting more of you on social media, it's okay to pick and choose and still have a private life. I know that people buy from people and there's a know like and trust factor before someone will buy from you. So it, it is important to kind of come out of your shell a little bit and put your face out there and do a video every so often. That that is very important. So as an introvert, it is hard to do but take small steps.
18:30
Well, and those small steps include just talking about yourself and what you do. That's the one thing that you can absolutely be sure that you are an expert on his who you are,
18:38
how you run your business.
18:40
Yeah, that what services you offer and why they're awesome. No one else can talk about that the way you do. And you should take heart in that that should be very encouraging and should be very empowering to you. As we start to look of what do I share on social media? What do I share with my clients? And how do I do that? You need to start with what you do and how you do it. Plain and simple. You don't have to go into the whole entire backstory of your entire life and share every nitty gritty detail. Although you can if you want, you can absolutely. But if that sounds daunting, or that sounds exhausting, or maybe there are some painful memories there. You don't want to want to or you don't feel like you need to take heart know that you can just start sharing about your business and know that that is wonderful and people will love being able to see and get to know you that way.
19:26
So here's some takeaways. If you are an introvert in business, like me, focus on your strengths. Maybe it's writing blogs, maybe you are an excellent writer, and you know how to use flowery language and get your point across in a few paragraphs. Great. Do that your clients are going to connect with that. Maybe you are a good listener, maybe you are very observant. Use those strengths in your business when you are at the meet and greets pick up on little things that you can relate to back to later so that the client will know that you were paying attention The second one is supplement your weaknesses. So like we talked about maybe partner with an extrovert, in your social media, or in your blog writing, if you don't like blogs, or in in your video series that you're going to do partner with a local pet care business. So the focus isn't all on you, but you're still connecting with your potential clients and getting your name and face out there. And the third one is take time to recharge. This is imperative in this business, and particularly if you are an introvert, whatever you do yoga, meditation, reading, watching TV, hiking, the list goes on and on. But take a little bit of time each day for yourself. being an introvert in this business is not the end of the world. You have strengths, you have tools to equip yourself and to excel in this business. We say this all the time, but it's true. It's your business. So run it the way you want to, so that you're living the life that you want. And we would love to know if you are more introverted or extroverted and if you partner with someone who isn't like you, how it impacts your business, how you run it that way, you can give us a call at 636-364-8260 or find us on Facebook and Instagram at pet sitter confessional.
21:18
And actually speaking of finding more time and taking time for ourselves this week's Ask a pet biz coach segment with the Tasha Albanian answers the question of how do I get more time back in my life.
21:29
If you want more time back for yourself, you have to require it of yourself. You have to put it in your your day to day you have to create a schedule. When my clients work with me, the first week we do is we do a daily planner. They're like we're not doing dog stuff. No, we're doing mindset and daily planner. Because when you put it on your schedule, and you require it for yourself, you're gonna take it. But if you keep saying yes, yes, yes. Okay, sure, I can take that. And people are pulling you all over the place. Because you haven't set boundaries without a schedule. Like no one can set boundaries if you don't have a schedule, because I mean, we know what boundaries means like, Sure, I'm not busy. But if you set a schedule and say no, I take your animals on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and with my family on Tuesday, Thursday, I do self care days on Saturday, no one's going to affect my self care day, then you will demand the time because you put it on the schedule, you made it real. It's kind of like budgeting
22:21
for money, too. You have to budget your time and set it aside so that it doesn't just disappear. And you don't know where it went.
22:29
Yeah, it was anything. I think all the theme is that none of us can relate. You have to have intention on everything. And that's really how you execute.
22:43
Natasha not only runs her own awesome dog walking business, but she is a pet business coach as well. And if you would like her to coach you through your pet business, you can go to start scale sale calm and use the code p sc 20. For 15% off her coaching,
22:58
we want to thank pet sitters associates for sponsoring this week's episode, as well as our amazing Patreon for supporting us and for encouraging us to keep going we really do appreciate all that love and all of that support.
23:11
And if you are a Patreon member, we are working on some awesome new things in the few months.
23:16
Yes. Right that will be for Patreon members only Don't worry, the show is not going anywhere. We're not changing up the format or anything like that. We are just trying to add some more bonuses for becoming a Patreon member. So we're looking forward and really excited to get those announced soon.
23:33
And as always, we thank you so much for taking your most valuable asset your time and listening to us today.
23:39
Thank you so much.
23:40
Join us next time. Thank you
