Written by: Jennifer Nowicki, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
I am an introvert and have heard that I cannot be an entrepreneur or be in my industry because I am an introvert. While yes, being a free-lancer type entrepreneur (graphic designer, dog walker, authors, coach, virtual assistant, etc.) works well for introverts, you can be in a more public-facing business too.
Our superpowers are:
We tend to listen to people. Often people feel comfortable telling me things that they will not tell other people. I may disagree with what someone is saying, but I will listen to their perspective. Sometimes just being heard is what someone wants, not agreement with what is displayed.
We tend to be detailed oriented. I tend to want to know everything about something if I am passionate about it. We tend to see past the surface and investigate further an idea before stating our opinion. We see details that others sometimes miss. Unwritten rules and customs that differ in different cultures and groups.
We tend to be creative. Many of us introverts tend to think outside of the box and let our imagination wonder. We can sometimes see things other people cannot because we tend to be creative and see creativity as an asset to understand the world we live in or fix a problem.
We can work well in crowds. Some introverts do not work well in crowds at all, but many of us do. We need to decompress afterward. Usually, when I am at large events, I tend to focus on a few people instead of working with the whole crowd. I tend to get to know that person or few people well versus getting everyone’s business card and moving to the next person.
We tend to be intuitive. For me being intuitive, I see it as past knowledge or experiences below the surface, so you understand without verbalizing it at first. You seem to know how to do something or know something without knowing why. Only later am I able to verbalize the reason I did something.
We tend to be self-motivated. As I get older, I have become more and more self-motivated. If something makes sense, I will do it. This is an important trait of an entrepreneur; we see a problem, and we fix it.
We tend to devolve deep into our area of focus. When we are by ourselves or in small groups, we tend to incubate our ideas and do mental trial and error before implementing something. I know many times people think I am being spontaneous about saying yes to something, but most times, it is because I have thought about doing this same thing or have done similar things beforehand. An analogy is I love doing puzzles. Some ideas are puzzle pieces. I finally found a fit for them or a piece that fits nicely into a certain area.
We tend to be people or product-focused, not self-focused. Yes, I do have pictures taken of me for my business. It is a necessary evil for me. I prefer my product to be the focus, not me, but sometimes that is impossible.
We tend to be observant. When I was in Austria, I noticed how rules and cleanliness seemed important, so I respected this when I was there. I noticed how on escalators, people tend to go to one side if they decide to ride it up or down so other people can walk up or down if they are in a hurry or just active people.
We tend to be compassionate. As stated earlier, we listen to people talk because sometimes it is nice just to be heard. Maybe they need to verbalize their frustration or need a safe place to speak their opinion. Sometimes we have gone through the same thing to make them feel better, knowing they are not alone. Introverts provide this outlet.
Jennifer Nowicki, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Cultivate Taste was started by Jennifer Nowicki on December 14, 2014, but has been her focus since the Fall of 2017. She has been in the tea industry for almost 25 years and has a bachelor’s degree in humanistic studies and business administration. In 2005 she enrolled in the Specialty Tea Institute in New York City and immersed herself in the world of tea. Jennifer found her passion and became acquainted with owners of tea estates, tasted teas not available in the United States, and learned from the experts. She is the only certified tea specialist in Wisconsin since 2009. She continues to pursue her education with the Institute, including a trip to China in March 2019. She was one of eight people representing the USA tea industry in two world tea conferences in China. An experienced presenter and teacher with speaking credits at such notable institutions as Froedtert Medical College and St Norbert’s College. She is also a graduate of a gBeta program December 2018, 2019 Draper Competition semi-finalist. November 7, 2020, won first place for best unflavored white tea, her organic silver needle from the International Tea Cuppers Club.
