In many books and even stories about business success, you will notice that many characteristics that are lauded tend to be consistent with the extroverted personality type. This leaves introverted types, and there are many out there, wondering if they are doomed to fail because of their natural disposition. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Many business ideas work well with characteristics and traits that are consistent with introverted people. Let’s take a little time to understand introverts and then look at some business ideas for introverts in Zimbabwe. The bonus for introverts reading this is that this article also happens to be written by an introvert.
Introverts
An introvert is a person who feels more comfortable focusing on their inner thoughts and ideas, rather than what’s happening externally. They enjoy spending time with just one or two people, rather than large groups or crowds. Introversion is easy to identify from afar but not so much close up. Introverts are not totally averse to all people but rather those they lack familiarity with and crowds. Introverts are therefore more comfortable working in familiar surroundings or alone. So having an introvert handling cold call sales or at a front desk may not be the best thing as they have to deal with different people. Contrast that with a role that involves relationship management which an introvert may excel at. Extroverted people tend to feed off the energy of other people and crowds. They usually grow in such situations. Just before we start introversion (and extroversion at that) is a matter of degree and extent rather than categorical yes or no. What I mean by this is that there are 4 types of introversion or 4 ways introversion is measured and you can see variances in introverts based on these measures.
Design
Deep thought, creative isolation, a job that can be done remotely and requires little to no supervision. This is an introvert’s dream as a job or business. There are many opportunities in design that work very well with introverted personalities including graphic design, web design, add development and interior design among others. There are of course skills required outside of introversion to get into the design but the introverted personality thrives in such work or business.
Coder
Coding requires attention to detail, a lot of deep work and can be done by people working remotely. In addition to this coders will have most if not all of their collaboration and contacts with people within their own organisation or business. Coding is such a wide field with many different languages and even more applications for coding. You can refer to this article on business ideas for coders to get more clarity on just how far you can take it.
Writing and blogging
As I mentioned earlier I am an introvert. Perhaps even the quintessential introvert. Work like writing, blogging and most forms of content creation are great business ideas for introverted individuals. Again they involve expressing yourself creatively and usually doing so in a controlled environment. Most people who write like to do so in solitude. You can look into technical writing, copywriting among other forms of writing.
Photography
I’m sure there are one or two people out there who are thinking “photographers work with people”. This is true, in some contexts but not all. Stock photography (which we have an article on that you can read) does not always involve people. There are many opportunities in photography that do not involve dealing with large numbers of people. What photography always involves is a good eye for detail and time spent mastering the craft which you can do by yourself. Photo editing is also deep work that you do in isolation.
Coaching
Just because you do not enjoy working with large groups of people doesn’t mean you’re not good at working with people. Introverts tend to excel at work that involves engaging with individuals or very small groups. So if you have sought after skills or experience coaching is something that could work out very well for you. Introverts tend to be very good communicators.
Tutor
It almost goes without saying that if introverts are good at coaching then they should also be good at tutoring. Almost. You see that thing about being able to pay attention to detail and having good communication skills comes in handy as a tutor. So if you have an academic subject you’re adept at then tutoring would make an excellent business idea to pursue if you’re introverted.
Just remember that while introverts are characterised as having poor people skills nothing could be further from the truth. Introverts people skills manifest best in familiarity and small numbers. Both introverts and extroverts do not like dealing with bad people.
