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Today we are going to take a look at nine specific pieces of the Enneagram and ways to use the ways to use it as an entrepreneur. So we have talked about job hunting in the Enneagram, three ways that the Enneagram can help you do that. In a in a recent episode 87, in episode 83, we talked about nine practical ways to apply the Enneagram. If you happen to be a manager or a leader in an organization, this one is for you, Enneagram, or this one is for you entrepreneurs. And we're going to look at nine things. And this is more of a checklist, more of a um list of options, really, of things to dive in deeper with. I'm going to give you an example or two for each one so you can kind of get an idea of what I'm talking about, what it, what I'm actually meaning by it. And then at the end, um I if if I didn't get to your type in a specific example, you're going to have a resource to download that will give you all of the information that we talked about in one nice guidebook specifically for your type. So stick around at the end for that. Um, and then when you are ready, we will start this episode with nine ways that entrepreneurs can use the Enneagram. You're listening to the Enneagram MBA podcast, a show of understanding people at work, including yourself, usually talking about the Enneagram, sometimes talking about other resources and methods, but always bringing value and having fun along the way. I'm your host, Sarah Wallace, servant Enneagram coach, speaker, and workshop facilitator. And I cannot wait to see you inside. The first way that I have listed here for entrepreneurs to use the Enneagram is understanding your sales style. Um, I actually did a seven-minute video over on YouTube about your sales style by Enneagram type, and I'll include that link as well, or you can check it out on our Enneagram MBA YouTube channel, find it over there. Um, and it goes through in more detail about the strengths and possible struggles for all nine Enneagram types when it comes to selling and talking with clients. Um, but what I mean by this is understanding your energy, your motive, your fears, how that can impact the way that you show up and talk with clients. Because how an eight is talking and selling with the client on the phone or responding to emails or maybe presenting, depending on what it is, what your business is, it's gonna be pretty, pretty different than how a type nine is gonna bring that that that sales energy to a conversation or email or presentation. And no one way is the right way. All nine types can be excellent at sales. It's just understanding what are those natural strengths, what can you go ahead and lean into again to make life, to make business more easier? What do you already have that maybe you're not leveraging? And then what are potential struggles where you may need to bring in a little bit more intentionality or just maybe not change anything, but it's worth a question, it's worth a second take. And here's what I mean. So our type eights, as you know, they they tend to be called the challenger, the protector. Um, they're known for being confident, very confident, um, being seen as confident, and they, you know, they have um a lot of confidence in themselves as well, and uh known for being direct and uh pretty candid and honest. They're gonna tell you how it is, and what amazing qualities in a salesperson. So, you know, a lot of times we don't want a ton of options, we don't want a ton of information. We just kind of want to know, okay, like somebody tell me what to do. And you want to be able to trust and believe in that person that is that is giving you some ideas for the for the answer. And eights are gonna be great at that. They're gonna listen to your problem and then they're gonna be honest. Like, yeah, I can help you. No, I can't. If I can, this is what we would do, this is how much it's gonna cost, when can you start? Kind of, you know, kind of questions. Um, challenges that an eight might face is potentially overpowering or intimidating the person on the other end of the phone, or it might kind of feel pushy or aggressive to the other person. When I as an eight, that may not be your intention at all. So just kind of checking in on those conversations and you know, listening to the feedback, being open to that, to what people are might be telling you with their words or with their body language, and maybe make some shifts if if needed. Now, the type nine sales style, they're gonna, their strengths are being incredibly trustworthy, um, very relaxed. They're gonna have a little bit more calmer demeanor on the phone or or during the presentation, a little bit more laid back. Um, not they're gonna be very friendly, tend to be pretty warm. They're gonna really listen to what it is you're saying. They're not gonna jump in um, usually with their own ideas and opinions until after you have said all that needs to be said. Wow, what an amazing feeling if you're on the other end of that, to really feel seen and heard, right? Now, challenges for a nine might be that they aren't as direct as they need to be. They aren't as clear. Maybe they're giving too many options. They could see they're too good at seeing the gray. So it could be this or this or this or this. But when you're selling something or you're talking to somebody who's looking for a solution, that can be really overwhelming. And so again, some people might appreciate that. That might be what somebody needs. You might not need to change a thing, but this is just an area to look at. Okay, I know my natural energy. Here are some of my natural gifts and strengths, and then applying that to a sales conversation. What am I really good at? What do I need to keep doing more of? Where might I be running into some consistent struggles? And where might I need to bring in some of that eight direct energy? Um, having those honest, straightforward conversations, really directly asking for the sale. Or on the flip side of that, where might you be needing to bring in a little, you know, a little bit more softness, a little bit more, maybe some more curiosity and questioning to the conversation, um, maybe an option or two, and bring in some of that nine energy if you happen to be an A in this situation. So that's one example. Um, another way to use the Enneagram in your business is thinking about what to offer, but then also how to offer it. And here's what I mean by that. So um you might be a type seven, for example, who is just incredibly gifted at casting a vision, painting a picture of what's possible, inspiring your clients or customers with enthusiasm and excitement and possibilities. And so maybe you have this consulting business where you have these services or a coaching business, um, helping people eat better and inspiring them with, oh my gosh, this is what life could look like if we, you know, did the plan and stayed consistent and you're they're feeling excited and motivated. Um, but how you go about offering, let's say that nutrition coaching, for example, might be very different depending on what type of instinctual bias that you have as a type seven. So you have a gift of having this contagious excitement. You can apply it in very different ways and getting your clients' success and results, but it's going to come down to what feels most aligned and best for delivering it for you. And so, for example, we're not going to get into the nitty-gritty of instinctual biases or subtypes. Um, I do want to make a quick distinction. Um, you may or may not already know this, but when we talk about instinctual biases, those are the self-preservation, is probably what you've heard, the preserving energy, the sexual one-to-one or pioneering energy, or the social or teaming energy. And then subtypes happen when you overlap one of those three with a one of the nine types specifically. And then you get, you know, 54 uh subtypes. So there's lots of different personalities on the Enneagram that can help explain mistyping. It can help with confusion, why you might be stuck between one or two types. Um, so that has so many benefits. We're not necessarily talking about that right now. What we're talking about, what I'm talking about, it are those three specific biases, instinctual biases, what you tend to go to first, how you tend to look at the world and your preferences and just kind of what comes natural and easy to you. Like, let's lean into that, that rather than trying to force yourself to do something else. And so here's what that might look like in a nutrition coaching business, for example. So, um, what you offer is let's say, nutrition uh guidance and coaching. Um, how you offer it, if you happen to be somebody who has that preserving energy, self-preservation energy, those people tend to be really good at routines and structure and having the tools and having the resources on hand and knowing what people need to preserve yourself. And so maybe it's a membership or it is a course where you have everything that you could possibly need in one place. You're really good at thinking about, okay, ever someone's gonna need this and they're gonna need this. And um, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna put it all in this membership or um this course, or maybe it's um I'm going to offer accountability to make sure that you're sticking with your routine um and doing and offering something that way versus somebody else who tends to be maybe more dominant in the one-to-one or pioneering energy. They're gonna potentially be a little bit more um comfortable in the spotlight. So putting themselves out there, maybe in videos on on YouTube or out, out wherever, um, and then be a little bit more comfortable, potentially working with someone in a more intimate, um, deeper relationship. So one-on-one could be great for that person. And then we have our social energy um or that teaming energy that's really in touch with hierarchy and status and identity and reading a room and you know, kind of being able to work a room. And so you might offer this knowledge, your expertise in a group setting, because that potentially might be more energizing to you. You're gonna be excellent at navigating a group, moving a group. And so, again, it's not black and white, like this is it. If you are a type seven social, you should absolutely be offering group um coaching and services, but it's just something to consider if what you've been offering is draining you and doesn't feel as fulfilling as you thought it would, it might not be the topic, it just might be on how you're offering it. So that is something to consider. Another thing to consider um are what kind of challenges might you run into as you start and grow your business? And there's lots of different ways that we can look at this. We can look at this by type based on my type. What sort of challenges, obstacles um am I going to face? And I'm I'm gonna bring that back. Um, I'm gonna talk about obstacles specifically at the end of this list. Um, but this one I wanted to look at challenges through the lens of our center of intelligence. So we don't even have to know our type 100% true, if we just know what center of intelligence we happen to be in. That can also give us some clues into understanding ourselves and our entrepreneurial style a little bit better. And here's what I mean by that. If you happen to be in the head center, you're incredibly um good at planning and analyzing, but you can kind of get in your own way sometimes by overthinking. So five, six, and sevens are gonna just need to be aware of when they might find themselves spinning their wheels, thinking and planning and thinking and planning and analyzing and planning and preparing and planning and realize, oh my gosh, I haven't taken action, or I'm feeling really anxious because I don't know which idea to pursue. Um, just being aware and think, okay, this is very normal based on what other people who have similar styles to mine will face. And so I'm just gonna be extra aware. And when I notice that I'm spiraling by overthinking, I'm gonna stop myself. I'm gonna check in how, you know, how am I feeling? What might what action might I need to jump into to stop this feeling, or who might I need to reach out to to talk to somebody to vent this out. Um, our heart centers, two, threes, and fours, have a tendency. It is a it's a common tendency in the center of intelligence to be really focused on your image. Of course, we can all be focused on our image, but this is kind of the the emotional pattern here for these types. And so you might care too much about what people think. And the challenge can be not putting yourself out there or feeling like you're not ready to or worrying too much when you do, to the point where it's like it just ruins it all. Um, you know, am I being helpful enough? Do people see me as being um, you know, worthy of the money that I am accepting? Do people, um, what do people think of the videos, the podcasts that I'm putting out there? Um, oh, I'm, you know, comparison, you can get wrapped up into that. So just again, we can all struggle with all of these, but as a two, three, or four, this can be a common tendency to be aware of that might keep you from stopping um from starting or growing. And then in the body type, um, you know, there is a lot of um our eights, our nines, and our ones. They there's a lot of uh dealing with uh boundaries, autonomy, independence, and and that can look very different for all three of these types. So just to be aware of, you know, as an eight, you're you're gonna have a tendency to put boundaries up on the outside and think, I'm not gonna let anybody hurt me, I'm not gonna let anybody get close to me. How might that be affecting your business? Maybe it's you're not allowing in support from peers, from um people that you could learn from, maybe it's um, you know, the type of relationships that you're having with clients, whatever that might be, it can be a gift and it might also be a challenge at times. As a nine, um, you might, well, as a one, you tend to put boundaries up with yourself. Like I shouldn't be feeling this way. Why do I think this way? Why am I mad? Why am I frustrated? And kind of berating yourself, not allowing yourself to feel those feelings. So you have boundaries up almost with yourself. And then a nine has a combination of both. They're gonna have those outside boundaries. They don't want to have their peace um messed with, they don't want anything on the outside to necessarily impact how they're feeling. Um, and then also kind of like a one, they also are dealing with their own um inner peace, having that inner peace sanctum, and they don't want that to be messed with either, which that's okay, but when can it become a challenge? When might it be a problem? So something to think about how your center of intelligence might be presenting some challenges, some consistent common challenges. Um, the fourth way is to look at how you tend to go about getting what you want, getting your needs met for our three sevens and eights in the assertive or sometimes called the aggressive stance, they tend to be really future focused. They go far, they go fast. Um, they tend to be a little bit more self-focused, self-centered. I don't, you know, it sounds kind of negative, but they're looking at okay, how what do I need to go to go far and fast? We have our dutiful stance, the one, twos, and sixes, where they're gonna tend to be a little bit more focused on the common good, maybe taking into consideration what they want, but also taking into consideration what's gonna be best for the group. And so um understanding that, you know, how does that impact my life, my business, how I approach things? Am I taking too much of the common good into consideration and not doing what I want to do? Whereas the assertive stance, you know, is there a way to, yes, you might want to offer this thing and by all means do it, um, put that product out there, but is there a demand for it? Checking in with what do people want from you? What do people need from you? So, so checking in and just kind of balancing those things. And then we have our withdrawn stance with the four, fives, and nines. And this is just, you know, you can go within to get your needs met, you get kind of your inner thinking. I want to check in with how I'm feeling, I'm gonna be really reflective and you know, analyze some things, and that's amazing. And also, when, you know, when might that withdrawing energy be preventing you from um, you know, going to the networking event, making a connection, reaching out. Um, not that you want to do something that just feels completely out of line and it's going to drain you um completely, but is this a moment? Is this an hour that could have an impact that's a little out of your comfort zone, but could have a big impact on your business? Maybe not, but maybe. And so again, it's worth the question about how is this um, how is this energy that I'm bringing, this natural energy that I'm bringing, how is it helping me? How can I continue to leverage it? But then also where might I need to again just tweak, bring in some other energy to come up with a business that um and a way of doing it that was really supportive to me, supportive to you. Um, the other thing to look at is what stress looks like for you. And this is one of my favorite pieces of the Enneagram. I love the instinctual biases or the subtypes. I think that gives just a ton of information. I also love the stress arrows. And so understanding, okay, this is what a type six looks like in stress. And um, in times of stress, after they've exhausted their coping mechanisms and defense strategies of a six, they're gonna make that lateral move to a three, and they can become workaholics and you know, work for their value and get kind of competitive and burn themselves out. And so when you know what your stress looks like, what could be stress for someone else might be the growth path for another. So it is very individualized and knowing, okay, yep, as a six, when I start to look at these some of these qualities of a three, I know I need to pause, I need to take a minute, what's going on here, what what might need to be changed? And that can be so helpful in understanding, okay, before I just completely burn myself out, let me catch it, let me take a minute and know what I need to shift or think of some things when I need to shift. What do I need to do? Um, this the sixth thing that the Enneagram can provide some insight on into us for our entrepreneur journey is the kind of the opposite of that stress arrow, is what growth looks like. Because growth as a two, somebody who is saying no, setting pretty firm work boundaries, saying I don't answer emails on the weekends, or I don't, you know, I'm not working on projects after five o'clock or two o'clock or whatever it is, that can be difficult for any of us, but that's really difficult for a two. And so when they start to do those sort of things, they know, oh my gosh, look at all this work, this self-work, this professional development that I've been putting in. This is a sign that it's working. Or for a type one who tends to be, you know, pretty uh task-oriented and a perfectionism. And uh, I gotta wait till it's just right when they're putting out something that is excellent, but maybe it's not a hundred percent perfect. Um, that might not seem like a big deal to some of us, but by hitting publish on something that, oh my gosh, I could work on this for another month. And I wish I had another month to work on it, but I just need to know that I've done my very best. I proofread it, I've looked it over three other times. I, you know, I feel as good as I can in this moment that it's ready. I'm Hit publish, that's a huge moment of growth. Um, so you know, just it's growth is going to look very different for others, other types than it, than it, than it might for someone else. You know, a seven typically that's not gonna be that hard just to say, oh, I've done the best that I could, I've come up with this, like publish, let's go. Right. So it's not about the actual action, the task, the thing that is growth. It's it's understanding how far you have had to come to be able to do that thing. And so if it's a long way, um, yes, you have worked a lot. And if it's, you know, if it's like, oh, I I do that on a daily basis, well, you know, that may not be the biggest judgment of growth there for you. Um the seventh item on this list to look at, to check in with for your Enneagram type is just understanding your clients through the lens of what you know about the Enneagram. And it might not be you know all nine types, it might be that you do, but it just might be, oh, I understand the stances. I understand that withdrawn, um dutiful kind of common good energy or that assertive or aggressive energy, or I understand the centers of intelligence. Even just knowing a piece or two of the Enneagram can help you understand that, okay, I'm working, I'm on a consulting project with this client, and they're sending me these direct emails. And I could take that as them being mad at me, as them being rude, but I know they just tend to have a really direct, kind of short and sweet communication style. I'm not gonna take it personally. Or um, you know, this person, me saying just do it, like for example, to uh a type five or a type one or even a type six, um, a type four, so many, just do it is not helpful. Um, and so understanding, you know, some uh somebody else might need to take more time to complete something, to think something through. Um, it might be very different than your style, but understanding that can help you have just a much better relationship, help them be more successful, help them move along at their own pace. The other thing that this can help you do is just in general, in your marketing messaging, knowing that there are some people who need a lot of details. There are some people who need you to cast an exciting vision. There are some people who need the the a strong emotion to be reminded of how uncomfortable or I don't want to say painful, but just how annoying this problem is. So mixing in the energy of the you know details, logistics, practicality that our one threes and fives tend to have with the optimism, optimist, optimist, optimism. There we go. Oh my gosh, optimism um of our twos and our sevens and our nines of okay, it's gonna be okay. Here's what's possible, here's what this could look like, and then mixing in the emotional reactivity energy of our fours, sixes, and eights. You know, this is a big problem. Like I'm passionate about it, I want to fix it, I'm here to help you. All three of those things can make an incredibly powerful sales message that you say at the end of a video, at the end of a podcast, on your sales page, um, on a social media post, whatever it is, um, you might have one that you tend to gravitate more towards. And so a lot of your marketing messaging has that single energy in it. But when you can bring all three of those together, it really hits um, it could hit a chord with with more people. And then we talked about challenges based on um the head, heart, and body type. There's also obstacles. So this is something that um I actually just shared an email about obstacles. It was called the obstacle issues, uh, issue number 19 recently. If you're not already on the Understanding People newsletter and would like that one, email me, let me know. Um, but it we talked about how a lot of times it's not adding in anything new. It's not being, it's not, okay, I need to be more assertive or okay, I need to be more patient. It's realizing what's in your way and removing it. There was a hostage negotiator in the book, Contagious, by Jonah Berger, that he had used as an example. He said, as a hostage negotiator, a lot of times we think, oh, they must be really persuasive or they must be really convincing. Um, but in reality, the hostage negotiator said, no, I typically don't do any of that. What I do is understand what is getting in our way of coming to a compromise. And then I focus the energy on how do we come together and remove that? Or how do we how do we remove that so that we can come together on the solution? And so, you know, a lot of times it's understanding based on your type, what are some of those consistent roadblocks that can can get in your way? Um, we've talked about, you know, a five might overthink, a five might feel like I need to learn more, I need to research more, I need to plan more before I'm ready to put this out there. Um, so that might be the obstacle in your way. Whereas um a seven, for example, or um a three or an eight or one of these kind of more um impulsive types might jump right in. And the thing, their obstacle is the impulsiveness and the jumping from idea to idea and maybe taking um too much action, doing too many things at one time might be their obstacle. So it's like it's it's we're not all gonna have the same obstacle as an entrepreneur. It's going to be um very much impacted by our personality and and our different communication, conflict styles, the energy that we're bringing. And so looking at, okay, what are some common obstacles of my type can be helpful in understanding how do I navigate through them? Not how do I ignore them, probably not how do I blast through them, but how do I navigate through them so that I'm not continuing to run into the same roadblock over and over again. And then the last one that I have here is understanding your type's childhood message, because by doing that, you may have some additional insight into why it's why things can be so difficult, why starting can be so hard, why um growing might be so hard, why you might be burnt out because you're working all the time, why you feel like you can't be yourself when you show up on video or whatever, whatever that obstacle or challenge might be. This will give you some sort of insight. It may not give you the whole story, but it's gonna give you something really good to think about and maybe a little cringy, um, but give you some things to think. Oh my gosh, how is this message showing up? Like, yes, that's absolutely playing in the background. So bringing awareness, number one. And then number two, how do I turn down the volume? I'll probably always be there, but how do I turn down the volume? For example, a type one, they tend to have this unconscious childhood message that it's not okay to make mistakes. Type two, that it's not okay to have your own needs. Type three, that it's not okay to have your own feelings or identity. Type four, that it's not okay to be too functional or too happy, too five for a five, it's it's not okay to be too comfortable in the world. Um, type six, it's it's okay, it's not okay to trust yourself. Type seven, it's not okay to depend on anybody for anything. Type eight, it's not okay to be vulnerable or to trust anyone. And then type nine, the message is it's not okay to assert yourself. So depending on your type, how is that message playing in the background? Is it playing in the background? If you took a minute to reflect on it or maybe the next week look at that, is that showing up for me? And then what is it keeping me from how is it keeping me from getting to where I want to go? From being the entrepreneur, the business owner that I want to be, from being more visible, from being less visible. Maybe you want to be more behind the scenes, um, doing things because you feel like you're supposed to, versus, oh, that's really what I want to do. That's really what I want to do. Um, not that. And so that can be really, really helpful too, and just understanding, okay, this is the story that I need to change. How you change that will be different for each of you. Um, but knowing what to focus on can be valuable information as well. So there's our list of nine ways to use the Enneagram on your entrepreneurial journey. By no means is it an exhaustive list, but it is a, I think, a pretty good start for things to start thinking about and looking into for how to leverage what you already are great at, how to navigate through some roadblocks that keep coming up over and over and over again so that you can navigate around those, so that you can leverage what you have and move into the direction of the person that you want to be, the business you want to have, the ultimately the life that you want to have. So we went through some of these in more detail. We went through some specific examples. If you are interested in getting all of this and more inside one place to access, um, there is a guidebook. Your guidebook for your type is over at anygrammba.com forward slash resources. Seven bucks to download this 25 to 28 page guidebook, depending on what your type is. And uh it'll have it all in more detail. This is something that I print off and bind for my one-on-one client. So you can do the same and have it be a reference on your desk if you wanted to print it out, or you could keep it on your virtual desktop and be something to refer to, um, nerd out on, and ultimately help you in creating something that's really aligned with your personality and your preferences and your strengths and all that good stuff. Um, so again, it's Enneagram MBA.com forward slash resources. Your guidebook is waiting for you over there. And as far as season three goes, that is officially a wrap. Moving forward, you will be getting the replays over the next couple of weeks of a LinkedIn live series I'm doing called the Enneagram Case Files, where we are opening up the case on each type each week about what it's like to work with that type, what it's like to be that type at work. So keep an eye out for those. But um, until next year, when we officially kick off the next season, this would be a great time to go back and catch up on past episodes, either with this season, from season two, from season three. So tons of content and information and experiences to hear about, to learn from until then. Um, I appreciate you being here, hanging out this season, and I cannot wait to see you next.