Learning. When starting and running your own business, there’s no way around making it part of your everyday routine. There’s always something to learn about your industry, your clients, your competition, AND yourself!
As a solopreneur and the one person ultimately responsible for the success or failure of your business, it seems silly not to learn and pay attention to your strengths, what motivates you, and which of your qualities makes you influential. And thinking through it on your own, doesn’t always lead to an objective and honest picture of who you really are.
In the past, I’ve completed the DiSC assessment and StrengthsFinders 2.0 – twice each. And found them both to be relatively accurate in describing my motivators and approach to working and communicating.
Just recently, I was presented with the opportunity to participate in another self-assessment program: Sally Hogshead’s Fascination Advantage Test. The Fascinate test required only about 10 minutes of my time to answer 28 questions targeted at determining which one of 49 personality archetypes match me. The premise of the personality archetypes is that there are 7 different “triggers of fascination” that are combined in different ways according an individual’s personal style for catching the attention of and influencing others.
Immediately after finishing the test, I received an email with a basic report identifying my archetype and triggers. Those results alone seemed to accurately describe my personal/professional style and approach:
But where the rubber hit the road was when I received my “custom report” in a PDF via email several days later. The custom report gave a deeper dive into my archetype and each of my triggers. More significant to me (the solopreneur), however, is that it delved into the unique traits that give me a competitive advantage – and those that might be potential pitfalls. And it gave me strategic tips for leveraging my strengths for professional success. Better still, was the realization that my dormant trigger, Power, could make me more effective in business.
“POWER commands people to pay attention by exerting some form of
influence. With your dormant POWER, it’s possible you might be missing
out on opportunities to distinguish yourself, especially at work. If you can
identify and increase your use of this trigger, your messages can earn greater
respect and a bigger audience, thereby increasing your influence.”
Ouch! But it’s absolutely right! O.K., I’ll work on that!
Like StrengthsFinders, the Fascinate System isn’t free, but it is reasonably priced. For individuals, the Fascination Advantage Custom Package that I tried sells for $47. There’s also a more basic package available for just $17.
Of course, much of the success you can expect to achieve from self-assessments like this one largely depends on what you do with the results and insight they provide. I think many solopreneurs (myself included) often dedicate time and energy to understanding who we do business with – and who is competing for that business, but we don’t always make a conscious effort to dig into what makes us tick. Nor do we put much thought into how to strategically develop our personality traits to make people more inclined to pay attention – and react – to our calls to action. As solo business owners who are our brands, it makes sense that we should.
Sally Hogshead’s Fascinate System is one way to learn how to use your unique strengths to be more influential. What other methods have been effective for you? StrengthsFinders? DiSC? Myers-Briggs Type Indicator?
I view my role as more than an independent contractor for hire — I become a part of your team. You’ll find that I dig into the details to understand what’s important to you — and your customers. I embrace collaboration, communicate openly, and craft content to help you achieve your marketing and business goals. Read More...
Over the years, I’ve taken a number of personality tests. While I don’t recall my DiSC in detail, I believe I was high S, high C, middle of the road D, extremely low I.
Maybe on the power side, you might need to be more direct.
Personally I find the way you communicate to be extremely influential, encouraging, uplifting, and impacting.
If you are the way you communicate in person as you are online, that’s powerful; and a great testimony.
Thank you.
Thanks, Peter! Do you think your DiSC assessment was rather accurate? Did you find the results and guidance through that tool helpful? For me in DiSC, D scored the lowest – No big surprise there!! 😉
Your suggestion for being more direct is a good one! I have no issue doing that for clients in copywriting, but when it comes to my own personal style, I tend to keep my approach softer and more collaborative. Thank you for your positive feedback and kind words! I always appreciate and respect your thoughts, Peter!