ESFPs like to take chances and building their own business is one of the biggest chances they can take. As a result, they’re often drawn to this career path, and usually enjoy every step of the journey towards career and financial independence.
Vision and Insight
ESFPs love to experiment and explore new things and this can give them amazing visions for their future and for their business. There’s nothing more interesting to this type than something new, whether it’s a new idea, a new product, or a new business, and so an ESFP’s business usually won’t be based on an old idea or something they consider boring. Instead it will be bright and exciting and yet practical at the same time.
ESFPs are grounded in the moment because of their dominant function, extraverted sensing, so they don’t always have the best sense of what will work in the future. Their dreams and visions are all about the present and how to make it better and more exciting. This isn’t a drawback when it comes to entrepreneurship, it just means that their products and ideas aren’t likely to have a long term scope, and it will take other types to bring this to the mix.
Emotional Strengths and Weaknesses
ESFPs are passionate people who are driven by their emotions and their natural willingness to take risks. This drive is often the reason why they start their own business or become business leaders, and it makes them both passionate and motivated entrepreneurs. Their focus on their emotions is the result of their auxiliary function introverted feeling, which means that they judge the world according to what they feel is right and appropriate. This makes them subject to their own beliefs, and it also means that when they’re on the path they see as right they’ll be passionately involved in everything.
However, ESFPs aren’t the type to plan for or even think about the future, and this can be a problem for them in entrepreneurship. It makes ESFPs restless, and sometimes unwilling to do the work now so they can enjoy the rewards in the future. And this can cause some ESFPs to jump from one idea or business to another seemingly at random. This can be a major problem for this type when it comes to operating their own company or business until they learn the value and the necessity of sticking to things until the end.
Workplace Strengths
ESFPs usually really enjoy their workplace relationships and have a unique ability to make people feel warm and welcome wherever they go. This is one of their greatest strengths as entrepreneurs and business leaders, and ESFPs will use their skills to make sure that their business and its workers are functioning at their best. Often, the ESFP will end up being the chosen confidant of everyone involved in their business as well and this will end up improving the health of everyone in their workplace and the environment overall as well.
ESFPs are very sensitive to criticism because of their introverted feeling function. This function takes criticisms to heart, musing over them silently and picking out all the reasons why they’re correct no matter how true they might actually be. On the surface, the ESFP might even seem fine with the criticism at first, because this is a personal, internal process that can leave the ESFP feeling very bad and almost attacked. This will be one of the ESFPs greatest weaknesses in business as they will have to face a lot of criticism and opinions that they don’t like and must learn to deal with them more constructively.
Social Skills and Networking
ESFPs love to talk to people and when it’s time to network they’ll be in their element. This type has a natural warmth and sociability that draws others to them and engenders trust. Their auxiliary function, introverted feeling, helps a lot with this. It allows them to understand other people on a deep level, to sense their emotions and see their point of view. And people respond to this intense kind of understanding and empathy. ESFPs will usually be happy to use these abilities to understand and gather clients and support through their networking efforts, and this will probably end up being their most natural role in their business.
In the Planning Stage
ESFPs are very poor long term planners. This will often hurt them in the planning stage of their business as they will struggle to think of where they want their business to go and what will help them get there. ESFPs live in the moment, and although they have enough practicality to make them happy to do tasks that will help their business grow and develop, they will struggle to look ahead and anticipate what needs to be done. This problem will affect and apply to all aspects of the planning process and most ESFPs will be quite happy to let others plan what needs to be done to start their business if it’s at all possible.
Building the Business
ESFPs don’t like rules, structures or schedules for themselves and they’ll be very reluctant to enforce them in their business as well. They prefer to keep their world and their lives open to possibilities and flexible enough to accept new ideas and new adventures. Unfortunately, setting up routines completely destroys that ideal. As a result, this type will usually have to be pushed to organize this side of their business. And if they’re an entrepreneur and on their own, this tendency will often result in them missing deadlines or forgetting essential payments. But to an ESFP this is an acceptable tradeoff for them being able to keep the independence and freedom that they crave and need to be creative and productive.
Final Thoughts
ESFPs often make natural entrepreneurs. Because they like to explore the world, they often have good ideas for products and services and this adventurous spirit is usually the basis of their business. ESFPs really enjoy the challenge of building something themselves and will rarely go back once they get a taste of the freedom this lifestyle can offer them.
References
- Storm, Susan. “Understanding ESFP Sensing“. Apr 1, 2017. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
- skaught. “Introverted Feeling (Fi)“. Jan 16, 2013. (Retrieved Apr 2018).
- “ESFP – The Performer“.
- “The ESFP Career Path“.
- “The ESFP in the Workplace“.