Why Being an Entrepreneur Will Always Take a Back Seat to Being an Introvert

I took this photo and love the way it turned out in the Waterlogue app. It has nothing to do with being an entrepreneur, and I’m good with that.

There are times when, as much as we love our business or our work, that we feel like the wind has gone out of our sails.

It might be caused by a specific incident, or it could be the result of general feelings of fatigue and stress. Whatever it is, the journey feels like a slog.

(Time-out: If reading this feels like a slog, scroll down for the audio version!)

I’ve experienced this at various times during the past seven years, and it’s never fun. It doesn’t cause me to second-guess my path, but it does force the question of what I’m doing—or rather, not doing—to take care of myself.

Last night, I made a simple but profound connection: one of the reasons I love my business name is that it describes both me and the people I serve. And it might seem obvious to say, but in The Introvert Entrepreneur, “Introvert” comes first.

I am an introvert before I’m an entrepreneur. Being an introvert came before entrepreneurship, and it will remain with me when, someday, I move on to a new adventure. Therefore, honoring that part of myself is paramount.

You might say, “Well, isn’t that obvious? Isn’t that what you’ve been talking about for the past five years?”

It is. And, sometimes I forget to practice what I preach!

Here’s what happened: During the last part of February, I had been in a mild funk. Then the fog started to lift, and I was beginning to get some energy back for work, life, everything. Last night, I was on Instagram and noticed there was a cool account called