I was interviewed on the HSP Connection podcast recently. Host, Robbie Leigh, and I got into all things self-employment for highly sensitive people (HSPs), and a key part was about our natural HSP superpowers (amazing strengths) for self-employment.
You can listen in or watch the conversation. I’ve got a list of our topics, and more about our superpowers below the video.
You can also listen to the HSP Connection podcast on: Apple / Spotify and other platforms.
Topics Covered in the Interview
- Overview of self-employment and being a highly sensitive person.
- Marketing for HSPs
- Tips about knowing your niche
- Simple tip to reduce overthinking and make decision-making easier.
- How I figured out my pricing in the very beginning with so many unknowns.
- How the “experimental” mindset, “safe enough to try”, helps and what it looks like.
- How letting in support has been so key, and it can be free.
- What I notice as patterns for HSPs in business.
- 3 HSP superpowers that help you in business and marketing*
- Self-care in a self-employment context, so different than in the typical workplace.
- Rethinking your definition of success can be so freeing.
- Classic worries that HSPs have about self-employment and what I’m doing to help reduce those worries.
- How offering online courses (about career and self-employment) has rounded out my business model, and brings the price for help way down.
*HSP Superpowers for Self-employment and Marketing
Highly sensitive people have many superpowers (very high strengths), including many that help us in our work. In the conversation above, I highlight these three big ones:
- Empathy – for deeply understanding your prospective and current clients.
- Attention to high quality service – for keeping our prospective and current clients happy.
- Reading your own inner signals – to guide you in all of it, and to know where your boundaries are.
We’ve often learned to turn these important talents off, because of these thoughts:
- Empathy: “I’m exhausted by others’ feelings!”
- Attention to detail: “I’m taking too long with all this attention to detail.”
- Reading your inner signals: “I’m too picky so I’ll just suck it up to get along.”
Because we have run away from them, for good reason, they might need befriending again and cultivating into their full potential.
Every Superpower Has Its Achilles Heel
Even while every strength has a down side, these natural instincts in us are built in for good reason, if we ALLOW them back into action again, at the right times. They are there at the ready to be accessed when you’re willing to give it a try.
Those downsides DO need to be addressed. You ran away from them for a reason.
You can turn ON the good parts and turn DOWN the bad parts.
Two ideas that can help:
- This is exactly what a business coach for HSPs can help with.
- If you like learning from books, you’ll find some good tips in the new book, Sensitive.
