Solitude for Entrepreneurs
I used to work with a woman who never seemed to enjoy time by herself. She was married with adult children, and she had something to do or somewhere to go every night of the week, as far as I could tell. Although she didn’t seem particularly extroverted – she wasn’t the life of the party or anything – I think she must have been, recharging her social batteries when she was with other people.
By contrast, I’m an only child, never married, and although I do enjoy time out with friends, I have to recharge my batteries with complete solitude.
I know a lot of extroverted business owners; I’m obviously not one of them, but I’m also not the only introvert in the group. You can be successful either way.
The truth is, to be effective in your business, sometimes solitude is better. At other times, group dynamics can be more effective.
Networking for productivity
Most successful service businesses are built on relationships. (Many product-based companies also depend on relationships.) Networking just can’t be done by yourself, unfortunately for introverts!
I know extroverted entrepreneurs who are members of lots of groups and attend all kinds of networking events. Though if you look closely, the more successful ones still target their events: they don’t actually go to everything. They look for groups that are rich in either their ideal clients, or people who could refer their ideal clients.
For example, one such extrovert I know has an organizing/decluttering business, and her company does a lot of work with senior move-outs and estate sales. (If you’re in ProVisors in SoCal, you know exactly who I’m talking about!) She networks with estate planning attorneys, trustees, and conservators.
People like that are in our shared networking group, but also in organizations like the Estate Planning Council. However, there are other professionals who can refer her: owners of home health care agencies, long term care insurance vendors, senior housing managers, owners of 55+ communities, and the like.
So although it sometimes seems like she goes to everything and everyone knows her, she’s still targeting her events. But she recognizes that there’s a wide array of different people who can refer her (and, crucially, that she can also refer to), She develops relationships with all these different kinds of people.
For me, as an introvert, there’s no way I could go to as many groups as she does. When I go overboard on networking one week, I’ve found that I have to take several days, if not the whole following week, off from meetings to recharge.
Which means I target more narrowly, focusing on which groups are likely to contain my ideal client (namely small business owners who want a life they love outside the business they love), and maybe a few groups that will refer clients like that (bookkeepers, fractionals, etc. who also work with small businesses.)
Introvert conversations can also be a bit different from those that extroverts enjoy. In general, we hate small talk, so we might talk to fewer people in the room because we want a more in-depth chat. One on one usually works well for us, and groups of three (troikas in PV parlance) can also work well. It’s also helpful to have an exit strategy from the room if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
When solitude helps you improve productivity in the workplace
You get more done when you focus on one thing at a time, rather than attempting to multitask which isn’t something the brain can do anyway. (Not with cognitively demanding tasks, anyway.) Any distractions that pull you away from the task will force you to take longer.
That’s why I advocate for putting your phones away, turning off notifications, etc. during your focus time. People are also a distraction, even if they’re just sitting there quietly, which is why solitude is best for this kind of focused “thinky” work.
Even before you settle down to work, being alone in the room can help you offload all the thoughts that are racing through your brain. Write down (note I said “write”, not “speak aloud” or “type” or “text”) everything in your head just before your focus time.
If you feel anxious about sitting there, you can twiddle a pen (I do this and at some point the pen will go flying across the room), or use a fidget spinner, or whatever to give your hands something to do.
Solitude is also important for the first part of brainstorming. When you’re trying to get everyone’s ideas, it’s better to come up with your own thoughts by yourself first and allow the other members of the brainstorming team to do so as well.
Solitude is also helpful for creativity. I’m not necessarily talking about painting, or writing, or any of the creative arts. I think business owners have to be creative too in how they present themselves and solve their clients’ problems. That just means putting different ideas together, but you can’t do that well when you’re trying to focus or when you’re being distracted or working with others.
Sometimes, as counterintuitive as it sounds, you can be more productive by not trying to do anything productive.
When groups make you more productive
I mentioned the first part of brainstorming above. The second part is to gather together the brainstorming team and start throwing out the ideas together. Please note that this only works if the whole team feels psychologically safe.
If you don’t often show that you care about your staff, or if you berate them when they get things wrong, or if you show no interest in them as people outside the work environment, you’re not going to get any creative ideas. People have to feel confident that they can say something, even if it might be ridiculous to others, before they can really help you brainstorm.
But once the ideas start flying, people will start to build on others’ ideas. That’s how you get really creative solutions to your problems.
Group trainings can be beneficial too. Especially if you’ve chosen your presenter well. (Not for nothing, but I do workshops on productivity for small teams.)
Meetings that are specifically designed to be short and solve a problem, or let the team know where everyone is and if anyone needs help, can also be incredibly productive. The best way to hold these types of meetings is to have everyone who is physically able to stand to do so – keeps them short!
Otherwise, meetings in and of themselves often just eat up everyone’s time. When you’re scheduling other meetings, consider if it’s necessary.
Could it be an email instead?
Always have an agenda and distribute it prior to the meeting so everyone involved can gather their thoughts
Respect the time limit
You may need someone to keep an eye on the time, particularly if you have someone who really likes the sound of their own voice – whether it’s you or someone else
And if you’re a solopreneur? Coworking with others, possibly those you met while networking, can give you someone to bounce ideas off. Or you might have an informal advisory board for your firm that you can use for brainstorming.
Recap (tl; dr):
Some business owners enjoy being with lots of other people and others, uh, don’t. Both are equally valid, and both solitude and group dynamics can help business owners be more productive.
Are you a small business owner who’s worried about potential dementia or brain aging issues down the road? Setting yourself up for effectiveness at work can also help your brain as you age, so let’s set up a time to talk here.
Photo by Tiara Juzi on Unsplash.