What is your Business Personality?

What is your business personality, and why should you care?
You may be familiar with the study of personality types. We’ll discuss the four most common ones in a moment. You know everyone is different, we see the world differently, we have different likes and dislikes, different preferences and ways we interact with the world. What you may not know is the best business for you is one that taps into the strengths of your personality. Of course your abilities and passions come into play as well, but we can’t ignore this foundational part of who we are.
How well do you remember the stories of Winnie the Pooh? Weird question, eh? The characters in the Hundred Acre Woods are perfect examples of the four main personality types. Here is a brief description of personality types. If you are interested in a more in depth look – pop over to this link and I’ll wait here for you: personality types.  If you’re content with a brief overview, read on:

Tigger is the bouncy one. The guy or gal who loves everyone and is loved by all. He’s irrepressible, and is fun, fun, fun. His driving force is looking for the next party. His energy level soars above almost everyone else. He doesn’t seem to take anything too seriously and as a result can appear, well, a bit irresponsible and scatter-brained. Tigger keeps the rest of us from living drab boring lives. Business ideas for Tigger include party plans like Creative Memories, or teaching scrapbook classes. Tigger’s are wise to search for a business that allows them to benefit from their people skills.

Rabbit is our bossy guy. He know what to do, when to do it and how to do it. And he’s not afraid to tell you so. Consequently his people skills are sometimes less than tactful if he’s not careful. He thrives on goals, getting things done, and achieving. He’s generally pretty smart academically and isn’t afraid to take risks. Rabbit keeps everybody in line and on track. Rabbits work well alone (no jokes about rabbits and reproduction please) Being self motivated and goal orientated, Rabbits make good designers or freelancers who can work alone and set their own hours.

Eyeore is next. Ah Eyeore. He likes everything done right yet nothing is ever quite perfect enough. He is usually very bright and prides himself on being logical, thorough and right. As a matter of fact, being right is the motivating force in his life. He will research and read until he’s convinced he knows all the facts before making a decision. The Eyeore’s of the world take care of the details that the rest of us hate. Eyeore’s are excellent at engineering paper pop outs and complex die cuts. They are very good at digital scrapbooking, putting up their own website and dealing with all the complex details of running their own business. One warning – Eyeore’s are susceptible to over-thinking and analysis paralysis which sometimes causes them to get overwhelmed and stop before they ever get started.

Last but not least is Pooh himself. Everybody loves Pooh. He’s sweet, charming, affable and kind. He wants nothing more than for everybody to just get along. Pooh’s favorite activities usually involve anything that is not work or labor of any kind.
Pooh’s greatest strength is his ability to be flexible, to be whatever is needed in any situation. Pooh needs a business that has some built in accountability and structure like joining a party plan or submitting work to a site like Etsy as he’s the most likely to give up when it feels too much like work. Another great option for Pooh is to start a blog and learn how to make money from that.  Blogs give him an opportunity to be social (and Pooh loves people) but doesn’t require quite so much regular attention.

Before anyone throws rotten tomatoes at me let me be perfectly clear: Anyone can do any business. Just because you are an Eyeore does not mean you can’t be in a people orientated business. Understanding our weaknesses and recognizing our strengths allows us to be better at our business. We can find someone to help shore up our weak area. We can avoid frustration and wasted time. If you recognize that as a Tigger, details like order tracking are not your best area, you can set up tools and methods right from the start of your business to streamline those details. You can ask for help or hire your Eyeore type son to do some of it for you. I hope that clears up my intention for providing personality information. You can put the smelly produce away now.