The ENFP as an Entrepreneur

Vision and Insights

ENFPs are natural visionaries. Their dominant function is extraverted intuition, which explores the external world to determine its patterns. This allows them to make intuitive leaps, to see truths and connections between things that others might not see, and it also gives them a great vision for the future. ENFPs can use this function to judge whether products and services will work in the marketplace and also to predict what people will want and need in the future. They can also use it to connect old ideas in a new way, and anticipate how that connection can be used to create a business that will help people and make their lives better. This gives them an edge over other types in business, and they often use this insight to determine their vision of the future and to fuel their path towards it.

But ENFPs can use their insight for more than just creating new things, they can also use it to inspire the people around them. This is one of their greatest strengths, the ability to see a vision of the future so clearly that they can inspire others to see it too. And this is what usually fuels their success as an entrepreneur or a business leader, because others end up following them and working towards the future they envision.

Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses

ENFPs are driven by their emotions. Their auxiliary function is introverted feeling, which means they’re very aware of their own emotions and beliefs. It also means that their emotions have to be engaged with something for them to feel happy and to work at their best. As long as ENFPs find a field, a product or a role that resonates with their sense of wrong and right, they’ll be passionate advocates and entrepreneurs. In fact, this is usually their preferred role in business, to bring their drive and passion to the table and to inspire others to care as much as they do. The only problem with this kind of drive or passion is that when they lose it, usually because something happens that conflicts with their internal values, they find it very difficult to get motivated enough to continue working.

Workplace Strengths

An ENFP’s greatest strength in business is their emotional intelligence. Their auxiliary function gives them an amazing awareness of their own emotions and values and that usually means they understand the emotions and real life experiences of others as well. Because of this insight, ENFPs have a lot of empathy and understanding for the people around them, and this makes them warm people who naturally draw others to them. No matter how busy an ENFP entrepreneur is, they will always notice and make time for the people around them. And this creates very harmonious and happy workplaces, clients and business partners.

Social Skills and Networking

ENFPs are very good at networking and everything that goes along with it. This type have excellent communication skills and truly enjoy getting to know other people. They usually do this in the spirit of co-creation and with an honest desire to understand other people and to help them out. This makes them very popular at social events and it also means that people naturally connect with them and want to stay connected over the long term. Which is why most ENFPs have a wide circle of friends and acquaintances that they help out and care for and who are usually happy to help the ENFP in any way they can in return.

In the Planning Stage

ENFPs aren’t always the best planners. They’re the ideas person, the one who thinks up imaginative solutions to problems and new ways of doing things. But when it comes to planning, they usually prefer to leave this aspect of business to someone else. This allows them to focus on generating ideas. But when they’re forced into a planning role, usually because there’s no one else to do it, they can sometimes find some pleasure in organizing people in this way. ENFPs use extraverted thinking as their tertiary function, which enjoys organizing efficient systems in the external world. This function is underdeveloped in this type, but it can be strengthened through hard work, which means that this type can learn to organize their business. But they will never volunteer for this type of role, and will escape it as soon as possible.

Building their Business

As they work at building their own business, ENFPs will naturally foster a flexible and harmonious environment. Because of their high emotional intelligence, the people they choose to work with will usually be glad to work in alignment with the ENFPs deeply held values and this will often make for a very warm and giving environment. ENFPs usually have a very strong sense of right and wrong, and anyone who operates outside of this moral code will quickly find themselves left behind. This doesn’t mean that the ENFP is always right of course, everyone is wrong at some point. But because the values of most ENFPs are usually associated with avoiding causing harm, it’s fairly rare that they’re wrong in this area.

The only part of the planning process that ENFPs have trouble with is the organizational side of building a business. This type doesn’t like rules, schedules or routines and so they’ll struggle to impose them on the people they work with. ENFPs are perceiving types, which means that they prefer to leave their external world open to possibility. This can be a benefit when it comes to creativity and innovation, but it can also make for a fairly disorganized and untidy workspace.

Final Thoughts

ENFPs often find themselves naturally gravitating into a leadership or entrepreneurship role. With their combination of emotional intelligence and intuition, the entrepreneur’s career path really is a natural fit for this type.

References

1. Storm, Susan. “10 Signs That You Might Be an Extraverted Intuitive“. Oct 30, 2017. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
2. “The Tertiary Function“. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
3. “Judging vs. Perceiving“. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
4. “ENFP – The Discoverer“.
5. “The ENFP Career Path“.
6. “The ENFP in the Workplace“.