Evan Carmichael argues that entrepreneurial success depends on mindset and playing to your strengths, not on being a natural people person. He shares how he shifted from direct sales to marketing to avoid his weakness, and built a business where customers come to him instead.
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Am I screwed if I'm not a people person? A lot of entrepreneurs write into me and they have these preconceived notions on the type of personality that you need to have to be a success in the world of business. And for the most part, it's not true. You don't have to be a people person to have success. You don't have to be good-looking. You don't have to be a certain age. You don't have to be from a certain background or speak a certain language. None of that stuff matters. It's all in your head. And so the question I got from one of my readers, Anton, who's a new newsletter subscriber on my list, uh, wrote in and he has this long story. Basically had a failed business and he was talking about my story and how I found mentors and how they helped me. And he's worried that because he's not a people person that he's not going to achieve success and whether this is for him or not. So I have an entrepreneur mindset test. For me, it's more about your mindset than your personality, because if you look at successful entrepreneurs, They're from all walks of life. You have some entrepreneurs who are the Type A personalities, are always talking. These are the guys you see on camera all the time and doing big stunts. And you got the ones who are shy and reclusive and hate people and don't like being in the spotlight and might be asses too, right? These are successful entrepreneurs as well. And you don't have to only look at one type and say, I'm not that person, so I won't be successful. In my entrepreneur mindset test, there are 100 questions that you have to answer that gear you towards seeing if you're going to be a successful entrepreneur or not. And they don't relate to personality. They don't relate to things like, are you outgoing, right? That doesn't matter for your success as an entrepreneur. You just have to make sure you're using your skills properly. So here's an example from my background, okay? I am not I'm not the biggest people person. I'm not uncomfortable talking to people, but it's not my default. When I go to an event, I'm not handing out my business cards and shaking hands and telling people, "Here's what I do, go check out my website." When I get on an airplane, I'm not chatting with the person next to me and learning about them. I keep to myself for the most part, and if I was in a sales type of role, that would hurt me. And I've had to discover that for my business to be successful, I had to lean more towards the marketing. And so I create an environment where people want to talk to me and where people want to do business with me instead of me having to go out and talk to them. Because if that was how I built my business, I wouldn't be successful. I'd be struggling. And so you have to understand what your personality is and then design your business around something that will leverage your strengths. Just like whatever skills you have, You know, if I tried to start a pizza-making business, it would suck because I don't know anything about pizza. I don't know how to make pizza, I'm not a baker, I don't know any of that stuff, so it would suck. But if I did something more towards my skills, I'd have a much higher degree of success. And so just like when you're thinking about business to start, when you're thinking about how you're going to market it and how you're going to be successful, you want to design the tasks that you're working on around your personality that fits you. Because I guarantee you, if you are going out thinking that I have to have, I have to have a solid team of mentors and I have to have a big social network for me to be successful, that's your mindset, and you're not that kind of person to go out and do it, then you're not going to be successful. Other people will go out and do that, and the people who you might see on TV who are they like being on camera and who are those Type A personalities, those people, they're good at those things and so they leverage them, but they suck at other stuff. But they've designed their business around their personality and they make it work for them. This is important. So no, you don't have to be a people person, but you have to do something. You have to take action around something that you're really good at and you really enjoy doing. And you have to have the entrepreneur's mindset. Believe. For those of you watching, you like the video, give it a thumbs up below. If you have a question, you have a comment, leave it below. I'll make a video response for you. Those comments mean the world to me. If you've never left a comment yet on a video, today is your chance. Please leave a comment. Thank you so much, and I'll see you soon.
