I absolutely love Soulful Shout Out series here on Soul Speak! I get to highlight and introduce you to beautiful people and their wonderful offerings!

I love connecting people and sharing products that I love, and so I’m just thrilled to be able to do that each week with you here.

If you would like your product/website/service promoted here, please click here to read the details and then email me to apply. (I take what I share very seriously and will only share products and services that I am in alignment with.) The spaces are going quickly and the introductory prices are going way up after the first of the year, so please keep that in mind when you’re signing up! A huge thank you to everyone who has already done so. You’re all absolutely wonderful, and I am so grateful for each of you.

And now, let’s get to this week’s beautiful soul and her wonderful offer just for you! 

This week, I am featuring Tanja Gardner from Crystal Clarity Copywriting! Tanja and I met in the Amazing Biz and Life Academy and immediately hit it off! I love her mix of groundedness and spirituality.

Tanja is a gifted writer who loves helping other soulful business owners embrace the business world and thrive! She also spends much of her time creating articles and offerings to help introverts embrace their businesses rather than feel drained by them. She has a free call coming up for introverts, which we’ll talk about very soon! But first, I asked her a few questions to help you get to know her and learn more about introversion.

So let’s get started!

Welcome, Tanja! Let’s start by giving a quick overview of what introversion is and isn’t. For instance, I am a shy introvert, but that definitely isn’t the case with everyone. Shyness and introversion really are different, aren’t they? 

*grins* – Yes, yes they are!  I describe introversion and shyness as two aspects of the tendency to be “quiet” (there’s a third aspect too: high sensitivity or HSP).  Any of the aspects can go together, but they don’t have to.

Introversion or extroversion is about how your energy levels respond to interacting with other people.  Shyness is about your confidence: the extent to which other people’s opinions  affect your ability to take the actions you want to take.  HSP is about how you respond to sensory stimuli: sounds, smells and sights.

I actually wrote an entire blog post about the differences between the three aspects and how I’ve noticed them interplaying with each other within me.  I’m deeply introverted, but not in the slightest shy.  And for what it’s worth, I’d never have guessed that you were shy, Jodi! You always seem so compassionately confident to me 🙂 

Oh no, I’m very shy, very introverted, and also highly sensitive! A triple threat! 😉

Many introverts (myself included) grew up feeling like they needed to hide this part of themselves – that it wouldn’t be understood or accepted. Did you experience this in your own life? If so, how did you get comfortable with your introversion? 

I’m lucky in that I grew up in New Zealand, where the pressure to be extroverted is less intense… but it still exists.  I grew up believing deep down that being social was “normal,” and that I was antisocial because I needed SO MUCH time to myself.

Antisocial didn’t seem like an accurate label, because I *did* like being with people sometimes. They just had to be the right people, in the right setting, in the right numbers.  If they weren’t, I ended up exhausted, and longing to be curled up at home with a good book.

Plus, I used to find it incredibly confusing that I could happily stand on a stage and talk to a room of 200 people.  But then I’d have borderline panic attacks if I had to interact with any of them one-to-one afterward.  I thought that something must be seriously wrong with my brain. I definitely thought I’d have to get over whatever-it-was if was going to have a successful business.

Then, last year, I discovered the concept of introversion, and that discovery totally rocked my world.  I realised that I wasn’t broken or flawed or wrong – I was just introverted.  I also realised, after a lot of reading and research, that it was possible to set up my business and life in ways that honoured my introversion.

Talk about a turning point!

I completely agree! When I realized that I could set up a soul-filled business where I worked from home and connected with others on my own terms, I was elated!  

I love that you offer so many resources for introverts, especially those who want to step into the business world and do it in a way that feels right for them. Can you share a few tips on how you learned to create a business that you love while honoring your own needs at the same time? 

I’d love to!  The first thing I learned was to relax into the knowledge that I wasn’t the only introvert in the world.  Discovering that introverts make up between 25-57% of the population (depending on who you ask) was an eye-opener for me.  Plus, many successful business leaders, activists, politicians and entertainers are or were introverts. Bill Gates, Rosa Parks, Abraham Lincoln, Julia Roberts, Clint Eastwood, and of course, the lovely Leonie Dawson are great examples.

I also learned that introverts aren’t just people who lack extroverted strengths. We actually have strengths of all our own that can help us to serve our clients and get the word out about what we offer more effectively.  We just need to figure out what our own individual strengths are, and then learn how to use them in our business. 

What are 3 tips you can offer to a fellow introvert who is either thinking of starting a business or is feeling overwhelmed in his/her business? 

Hmmmmmm… OK, my top 3 tips would be:

1. Understand clearly what drains and energises you:  It is SO easy for introverts to end up exhausted from simple, day-to-day activities because we don’t realise how they’re affecting us.  Sometimes the results are easy to spot, but at other times, our days can resemble the “death of a thousand cuts” energy-wise!  So keep an eye on your energy levels over the day to see how different aspects of your life increase or reduce them.
2. Use a scheduling system that works for you to proactively manage your energy: You can’t be present for your clients, or your business as a whole, if you’re worn out from everything else you have going on. A good scheduling system can help you space out the things that drain your energy, and ensure you block in time for those all-important recharging activities.
3. Connect with other introverts: I can’t express how much of a difference it made to me to discover that I wasn’t alone as an introvert! Finding other folks who a) understood what being introverted was like, and b) interacted in introvert-friendly ways was a life-saver. 

I recently started taking the first week of each month off from calls/Skype sessions in order to recharge and have time to go within. This works really well for me, but I know that an extrovert would run their business very differently. In what other ways might an introvert and an extrovert differ with regard to business? 

That sounds like a really smart boundary to set up to honour your inner introvert!  I do something similar with my work week: I block in three specific days for client work. The rest of the week is mine for getting on with things in my own time, at my own pace.

The difference between introverts like us and extroverts is that extroverts actually thrive on the interactions that drain us.  They find it far easier and more enjoyable to schedule calls back-to-back, and feel energised by meeting new people.

That means they’re likely to set up their business days to include far more interaction than we do. They’ll happily follow up with clients, attend group events, dial into training calls – all things that tend to exhaust us.  But then, of course, they’ll often have difficulty with the stuff we’re usually good at: the planning, analysis, and detail work.

I think that’s one of the reasons that introverts and extroverts can work so well together. We each have our strengths, and with a little respect and understanding, we can totally complement each other!

I completely agree! Many of my closest friends are extroverts, and I love how different we are! 

You have a wonderful free call for introverts coming up that I’m so excited to share with the Soul Speak community! Would you please talk about what you’ll be offering? 

No problem!  It’s a 90-min training session called “The Introvert’s Stress-Free Guide to Promoting Yourself Online.” 

In it, I’ll explain more about what introversion truly means and how it can help you and your business. I’ll share a process that helps me to manage my energy. And I’ll also talk about why cyberspace is SO perfect for introverts, and share promotional techniques that have helped me honour my inner introvert.

After listening to the training call and doing the practical exercises, you’ll:

• … understand more about how to promote yourself effectively: and you’ll feel more energised and authentic as you’re doing it
• … really start to GET how your introversion can be a plus: you’ll better understand your strengths and how to use them effectively in your business
• … understand yourself better: you’ll feel more comfortable within yourself, and spend less time beating yourself up and wishing you were different 

It’s a seriously content-rich call, and I’ve had a lot of great feedback on the material in it. I’d love to invite your readers to join me on it! 

Yes, I definitely recommend it! I know that there are so many in the Soul Speak community who would benefit tremendously from it! 🙂

I would love to know what’s next on the horizon for you? 

I have a 5-week programme coming up in early October for introverts who want to learn more about getting the word out about their offerings.  And I have some ideas for other introvert-related training that goes beyond marketing and promotion too.

I’m hoping to hold an “Introvert’s Guide to Staying Sane over the Holidays” class in early November, so it’s available before the Thanksgiving craziness kicks in. I also have some ideas for a shorter programme that just covers planning and scheduling for introverts towards the end of the year. And I’d like to create an in-depth programme for setting up an introvert-friendly newsletter process too.

So many ideas!  I just need to give my inner introvert the time and space she needs to process them all and turn them into reality. 

I hear ya! I love everything that you have coming up – so many great ideas!

What does your soul want you to know? 

*soft smile* – When I listen to that small, still voice inside, what I hear is, “You’re on the right track, honey, but it doesn’t have to happen all at once!”

I can be impatient sometimes; and especially when I’m *not* managing my energy levels well, it can be easy to get discouraged.

My soul has been talking to me through my journaling lately: especially through the tarot journaling practice I’ve just started.  And the message that seems to be coming through clearly right now is that “All will be well”.

It’s a beautiful, reassuring message to be hearing.

So beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing your heart with us today, Tanja!

For everyone who’s reading – please sign up for Tanja’s free call – it’s going to be so informative and just what every introvert needs! 

She’s hosting 2 calls to make it super easy for everyone to join: one on the 19th and another on the 23rd.

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