Entrepreneurs' Strengths and Weaknesses

Hello, ladies. It's Dr. Natalie here for you again. So, to continue in our entrepreneurship series, I wanted us to talk about strengths and weaknesses. This is a very important topic. It's not only for interview questions. Firstly, you need to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses. That is step number one, don't be scared. It's okay whatever you discover. But it's important if you go to the guides section here in the hug group, I have put a lot of different personality tests. There are couple of links. Just click it. It's free, it's quick, it's easy, but it can show you something about yourself. Think of it as a mirror. It's not going to be mean, it's not going to be harsh, but it's also not going to lie to you. It's important to know where you stand to start any journey. You need to know where the starting point is. So you can now plot where am I going to go? So first do a personality test or two just to get some information about yourself. It's not going to give you any big revelation, but it's good to know how you are and, and what to be aware of in different situations. So to start with weaknesses, people usually shy away from their weaknesses. But now remember you're an entrepreneur. So we're this new responsible lady. We can't just pretend that this is a problem and I'm just not going to deal with it or I won't like accept that this is my issue. You need to know your weaknesses because you need to mitigate the consequence of those weaknesses. If you're not good at something, you can work to improve at it. Some things you're never going to be great at. It's okay, but you have to have the basics. For example, as entrepreneur, you have to be able to talk about your business. You can't afford to be shy. It is just not acceptable. You're not going to be able to grow your business. So something like public speaking, even if you don't like it or you're not naturally good at it, you can practice and improve. For example, I was never good at math. As a child, my brothers were good at maths. I suffered with maths. I hated it. It was difficult, it was boring. I was always in trouble. But my dad said it was not an option. I was not allowed to be bad at maths. Whatever it's going to take, I had to learn. Because he said, in life you're going to work in business and business has a lot of maths. There's finances, one Day, you're going to have to be able to understand finances, so you have to learn maths. So I had to push myself and suffer through it with math my whole life. And even when I started business, it was still hard for me. I can see my younger brothers can look at a spreadsheet and just click, click, click, understand, understand formulas. This means this. This means what? It's so easy for them. Me, I have to go slowly. I have to be careful. I have to make sure I understand every step because I can't afford to make a mistake. Finances are important to a business. Even if I don't like maths, I had to put in the effort, so at least I have a basic level. You can't lie to me or put something that doesn't make sense and I don't pick up on it. That's at least where I had to get. Now it's easier with practice and time. But of course I would rather speak publicly than do finances. And some people would rather do the finances than the public speaking. So you have to look at your business and know how are these things going to affect me, my weaknesses, which areas do I need to put in some effort so at least I understand the basics. Marketing, hr, finances, operations, the legal side. I can't just say, I'm not a lawyer. Me, I don't know those things. I have to have a basic understanding. As a business, what am I liable for? What is possible, what is not, when do I have to pay taxes? You can't just throw those things away because you're not good at them. They are your weaknesses. It's up to you to put in some effort to understand them, to make sure you're at a basic level and then that's okay. I can manage. This is what is reasonable. Put in the effort to do it. Just give yourself time and be patient and be kind with yourself. If it was your friend learning this skill that was hard for them, I'm sure you wouldn't be harsh. You'd say, at least you're trying. Keep going, do a lesson, look for a video, ask a friend, get a coach, see how to learn these things. That's important so that you manage your weaknesses. With strengths, it's a bit easier. Gary Vee actually says he's a famous entrepreneur. Look at the top three to five things you're good at and double down on them. Just make sure you keep pushing yourself in that area. Because when you're already naturally good at something, you have ability and you have interest. So any type of Effort now goes further. It's not the same as something you're struggling with, but it's also important to shine. So look at your strengths, see what you're good at, what you like, where your energy naturally goes, and do that more. Push yourself, because to practice that, you will have a much better level of results. Your output will be incredible. If you just say, ah, I'm already good at that, and you never put in any effort, you will be shocked. You will not be as good as you actually think you are. Because also remember, other people are pushing and trying. If you put in effort on something you're naturally good at, you will become so much better, so much faster. You'll be impressed at yourself. But it takes practice, it takes intention. You need to learn about it. None of us are experts at everything in the world. Even to be an expert at one thing is very difficult. So I promise you, there's something you can learn about it. There's something you can learn about your ability to sing, or your ability to write, or your ability to create new ideas or to design products or to package things in a new way. There is always something you can learn. There's a new app, there's new technology, there's new innovation, there's new colors and designs and abilities all the time. So make sure in your fields, in your area, your areas of your strengths, where you feel confident, you keep at the top of your game. You keep learning and you keep pushing. You listen to our podcast, you make sure you're watching what's going on in the world. There's exhibitions, there's launches, there's new products. There's big companies that do what you do, but on a global scale. Keep appraised to what they do. Go and look at their website every two months. What's new here? What are they changing? What are they adding? How can I learn from this? Because you're interested in it, you like it, so it won't be such difficult effort, but it will pay off. Because your strengths are what's going to take you further in life. That's the fuel for your business, for your career, for your development, and that's what's going to keep you moving forward. It's hard when you have to use the weaknesses there. You feel like you're pulling, you know, you're pulling yourself along, but strengths just push you. It's clear sailing, but you still need to give them some energy and some time. So first be aware of what those things are. So you divide them and you know, and it's clear. You can feel your own energy. Ugh. I don't want to do this. This is so much more exciting and interesting. And you have to look at both and allocate some time and energy for both so that you get your weaknesses to a certain level and you don't dwindle and go backwards, but also that your strengths keep growing every year. You can see I've really improved. Last year. Oh, my gosh. That's how I was. Wow. I'm going forward. I'm moving further. Because in life, you're either growing or you're dying. That's just the situation. So you can't just stay in the same place. You have to keep moving forward because if you're not moving forward and life is moving forward, you are moving backwards. You have to keep learning and keep growing and pushing yourself in the areas that you enjoy that are good for you. That's what makes it easier, and that's what will take you so far.