Personality Types:
For the purpose of this write-up,
I will not go the route of the popular trait types of melancholic, sanguine,
choleric and phlegmatic trait types. Social scientist have classified our
business trait types to mainly two:
1. The Generalist: These are the very visible guys who you see starting
new things, at the very forefront of leading technologies, aggressive, you call
them sometimes overly ambitious and can do just anything to achieve their
goals. These guys are the typical guys you refer to as the cow-boy type of
business men and we most often than ought see them as the only type of guys who
can succeed in business. This class of people are further divided into four
personality types. This includes:
The Trailblazer: This class of people are described as goal getters with strong passion for results. The only language they speak is; it has to be done with speed. They have unusual sense of urgency, unusually persistent, incurably realistic, analytical, practical and aggressive.
The Trailblazer: This class of people are described as goal getters with strong passion for results. The only language they speak is; it has to be done with speed. They have unusual sense of urgency, unusually persistent, incurably realistic, analytical, practical and aggressive.
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| Mr. Trailblazer |
You call them slave drivers, but they don’t see any
other way out but to get result. These guys are endowed with capability to
start businesses but may not have the patience to manage them. You see them as
being overly competitive because rather than join you to build what you have
started, they will rather set something up in parallel to compete with you. You
want to be careful not to stand in their way because they can bulldoze their
way through. Perhaps you belong to this class of people, just embrace your
attributes and know you are destined to do great things. You are the
conventional business starter you may however need the assistance of people
with more temperate people skills to assist you manage the business to grow.
Managers:
These set of people are more goal oriented, and also analytical but unlike the
trailblazers, they look beyond themselves and see other people as the
instruments to achieve their aims. They are more process driven, dominant and
independent minded. They are not the perfect people persons because they often
step on toes by being direct in their communication approach.
These guys are business nurturers, more relaxed, loyal
to a fault and see their employees from a friendlier point of view. You
sometimes see them as not emotional and they often drive you crazy. You ask so
how can these guys be entrepreneurs, well don’t be surprised, just give them
the opportunity to get their hands on a franchise, you will be surprised at the
way they manage and grow it to an enviable business. So if you fall in this category,
you may not be part of the people who start businesses like the trail blazer, you
can buy into business ideas, take ownership of it and build it to an enviable level.
Go-Getters:
These guys have traits which shows a balance between the trail blazers and the
managers. They share similar characteristics with trail blazers like
competiveness, independence and drive. Although they show a high level of drive
to achieve results, they balance it with a meaningful measure of social skills.
From observation, they represent the largest class of business initiators and
founders. Their balanced traits makes them great business founders and business
managers. These guys are investors, business managers, and not necessarily
experts in any field.
Motivators: They are the last class under the generalist category.
This class of people have a moderate level of drive and independence. They can
be mediators and great go-between. They assist in building people and stir them
in achieving their goals. They are the people you refer to as always optimistic
and see like from a very bright prism. This attribute make them handle pressure
very well and handle sales pretty well.
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| Motivator |
If you fall in this category, then you may want to
start out in sales, buying and selling stuffs. You may also want to go buy into
a franchise since you will be capable of nurturing it well and keep your
clients coming back every other time. You may also want to consider opening
stores, supermarkets and any other people centered business. You can also be
involved in consulting in your area of expertise.
2. Specialists: You belong to the class of
people who knows so much about very little. They are authorities in their field
and their opinion holds a lot of water when it comes to their area of
specialization. Over the years they have amassed a lot of experience that you
can’t discount.
Authorities:
Consider them the people you have known in your office for a very long time who
are so engrossed in getting the work done. They are very detailed, focused,
procedural, thorough, logical, overly cautious and accommodating. You call them
experts and specialists who know so much about everything and are very loyal to
their employers. Don’t blame them, we need people like them to make the world a
great place to be. In case you belong to this of people, you can do very buying
an existing and thriving business. You will do well with a partner who handle
sales and marketing while you see to the day to day operations of the company.
Diplomats:
You want to think of them as the best in the class of specialists because they
work well under pressure, close deals quickly, and can work well under pressure
in order to meet their deadlines. They multi task pretty well, and rather than
delegate, they will rather get things done by themselves. They are people
centered and calmly persuasive in making you do what they want of you.
Where do you excel in entrepreneurship as a diplomat?
Well think not too far, retail business may just be where you excel! Although
you are people oriented, your main weakness may just be your inability to be
assertive and hold other people accountable. Therefore, if you must excel in
business, you may require a more assertive and stronger partner who will make up
for this your deficiency.
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| Customer Service |
Collaborators: These are those you refer to as the gregarious class
of specialists. They handle people very well and are good relationship
managers. These guys never fall out of the line and they play by the books. You
work pretty well in a structured environment and can’t tolerate or manage
chaos. You may not be the best cold call seller but when that ice is broken,
you can take up the call and convince people to buy what they don’t need. You
are well liked by people and can sustain conversation endlessly.
You can excel in a customer service business or business
that involve you managing relationships already established, To excel, you may
need a generalist who can do the cold calls while you do the warm marketing
also known as the deal maker.
Practically any trait class can
be involved in business however, you need to understand who you are and the
type of business you will do well at. Also understand that your capability to
do well is linked to your ability to enjoy what you are doing and how do you
enjoy what you are doing if it is in conflict with your personality.
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