Becoming visible in your business tends to feel messy in the beginning, and that’s perfectly OK! When you start getting messy, experimenting, and seeing what sticks, you’re moving towards progress. Progress in your messaging, brand, audience, and business growth.
And like I said in my last email, becoming visible in your business can feel like a lot at first… when getting started, niching down and taking baby steps is so important to help limit that feeling of overwhelm. Simply starting to get out there is how your voice will truly evolve and align, but there’s also another great (and fun) way to gain clarity on yourself and your business!
I know there’s so many of us who love to take these, even just for the fun of it. There’s just something about finding a little more about ourselves. We tend to just love it!
Ok, I love it 😃
But really, these tests can give us so much clarity on our strengths, how we work best, how we connect with others… you name it. These tests have helped me understand how I best show up in the world, better serve my clients, overall work style, and my own creative growth.
Today I’m breaking down some of my favorites and how they can help you in your business!
To note: In no way am I an expert or affiliated with any of these tests (some of these are not free, but they’re worth it). I just really love them and have gained clarity from all of these in their own ways! To learn more about each test, click on the designated test link.
This one really helped me gain clarity on what my strengths are, how I can better serve, and show up in my business. This test is broken down into 177 questions relating to your talents, natural thought, behavior, and feeling patterns. And yes, this one’s a bit longer than others, but it really is so insightful. With your results, you’ll see your top 5 strengths, followed by each profile from strongest to least strong. StrengthsFinder encourages you to focus on your strongest assets and then delegate out profiles that land further from your top 5—which I LOVE. Doing just this can help move you towards success that doesn’t feel like a struggle 🙌
StrengthsFinder also has 4 domain categories that each strength profile falls into (Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking). How StrengthsFinder puts it, “Our profile helps you understand who you are, there is also power in knowing how you make things happen, influence others, build relationships and process information.” Each domain is connected to a strength profile, and with your results, you’ll see which domain you lead in.
For me, I lead in Relationship Building, and my top 5 are Empathy, Positivity, Adaptability, Ideation, and Intellection. Discovering my top 5 allowed me to…
• Empathy—connect with others through storytelling and feeling all the feels with others more than technical business tips.
• Positivity—shamelessly celebrating my clients during the design process, after a launch, and with their wins.
• Adaptability—be completely ok with how I set up my daily work schedule… less structured and more flow.
• Ideation—own a laundry list of ideas where many don’t make it to the surface 😅
• Intellection—allow for space to stop working and reflect… and maybe also sign up for one too many courses 😅
This one is great for understanding how you work and how you can better work with others. This one really dives deep into how you are best productive, process information, problem-solve, and make decisions. The interesting thing with Kolbe is that it focuses on the conative part of our minds, also known as how we do things or method of operation. Kolbe is broken down into 4 parts—Fact Finder, Follow Thru, Quick Start, and Implementor. Through your results, you then get rated on a scale from 1–10 for each part. That being said, if you’re a low Implementer (3 or lower) it’s not necessarily a negative thing, you just may be more imaginative instead of hands-on ✨
For me, I’m a low Fact Finder and Follow Thru, but a high Quick Start and middle-of-the-road Implementer, with a score of 3, 3, 8, 6. Understanding this information has allowed me to…
• Low Fact Finder—step into more of a visionary role and make sense of information by going right to the heart of it.
• Low Follow Thru—be ok with my multi-tasking tendencies and abilities!
• High Quick Start—honor my quick and intuitive decision making, and experimentation that may at times seem risky.
• Middle Implementor—integrate both the imaginative and tangible within my business.
Now I’m sure you’ve heard of this one, but of course, I had to add! Myers Briggs was one of the first personality tests I did (aside from those quizzes on Buzzfeed), and it brought so much insight into who I am… in general, as a human. If you’re not familiar with this test, it’s a holistic personality test that dictates your strengths and preferences. Consisting of 16 different personality types, each type has a breakdown of 4 categories—Introverted/Extroverted, Intuitive/Sensing, Thinking/Feeling, and Judging/Perceiving. Through your results, you’ll see if you lean more towards one category or the other. Each variation of letters results in one personality type. For example: INTJ (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Judging) tends to be more imaginative with a well thought out plan. INTJ is also considered the Architect.
For me, I’m an INFP, also considered the Mediator. Diving into the breakdown of my personality type allowed me to…
• Introverted—honor the need for downtime as I gain energy through alone time.
• Intuitive—feel good about receiving all the facts first and then execute in an intuitive state. For example: I love to deep dive into brand strategy with my clients and obtain all the important facts/feelings first, and then I move into a more intuitive design flow.
• Feeling—allow myself to make decisions based on my gut instincts.
• Perceiving—enjoy spontaneous moments, change up my schedule without feeling guilty (with deadlines in mind of course 🙃).
Enneagram is an interesting one, focusing more on our emotions and how we view the world. Consisting of 9 different personality types, Enneagram shows us how we act at our best and at our worst. As humans, we tend to live our lives more on a spectrum of thriving and being our best selves to having off days or darker moments. Understanding our own personality type, we can better cultivate tools for self-improvement and self-compassion. This test also helps us identity personality types in others and how we can best support them.
For me, my dominant personality type is a 4, also known as the Individualist. Understanding this has allowed me to…
• feel my emotions deeply and allow space to do just that. Allowing this space aids my emotional well being, which helps me elevate and thrive within my personality type. It’s funny, whenever I do allow for this (normally it’s me crying… big crier over here 👋) I always feel amazing after.
• cultivate a good-feeling living/workspace, as I can be sensitive to my surroundings. Having a good workspace has allowed me to be more productive and ready to go.
• understand that at my best, I’m highly inspired, creative and expressive!
Ok this one isn’t exactly a personality test, and may even feel a little too woo for some of you, but I absolutely LOVE this one! Human Design is based on the exact time and location of your birth, which then creates your overall chart. Now you may wonder, what does that really say about me? Well, what I’ve learned about Human Design is that there is science to back it up, which truly excites the nerd in me 🤓
There are so many layers to Human Design, but here’s a little breakdown of how it works… Human Design is measured by neutrinos. When we are born we are imprinted with a specific design of neutrino information, which then leaves a genetic thumbprint determining our general nature. (There’s a lot more to this and I encourage you to do your own deep diving, but that’s the short and sweet of it). Your results are then broken down into 5 main types (Manifestor, Manifesting Generator, Generator, Projector, and Reflector) with 9 energy centers (active or not active), 12 different profiles, 36 channels, and 64 gates. As I was saying… there’s a lot of layers with Human Design, and I encourage you to learn more here.
According to Jovian Archive, “Neutrinos are unusual particles that carry an infinitesimal amount of mass. About 3 trillion neutrinos, and the material information they carry, pass through every square inch of the planet per second. Our Sun produces about 70 percent of all neutrinos that travel through our solar system, with the remaining 30 percent emitted by other stars in our Galaxy, and a small amount from the planet Jupiter.”
Along with the science of it, there’s a level of spirituality to Human Design. A belief that I hold dear to my heart… there’s so much more to this world and universe than we’ll know in this lifetime. Just because we don’t necessarily see something doesn’t mean it’s not real. Maybe this belief stems from all the above personality types combined, maybe? And if this one doesn’t resonate with you, that’s ok. Take what resonates and leave the rest friend 🙂
This test is a fairly simple one, but do make sure you know your almost exact birth time and place of birth. For me, I’m a Manifesting Generator with a 6/2 profile. Diving into my chart has allowed me to…
• be ok with starting off my mornings in a go go go mode. I do love slow mornings, but most mornings I’m up and moving like fire.
• understand that I’m part Generator which means I tend to hold a lot of energy creating and working, but also part Manifestor which means I need time to reflect and manifest.
• feel confident about my quick gut decisions, but let myself change my mind after a moment of clarity. This comes from my main type and having sacral authority (oh yea that’s another layer to Human Design, but is pretty connected to your main type).
Understanding Human Design may seem overwhelming, but once you get the hang of it, it’s no too bad! You can also start slow and simply learn more about your main type, which will give you a lot of information already.
If you’re interested in learning more and getting started, I’ve really enjoyed this book: Human Design by Chetan Parkyn. This book easily breaks everything down in an easy to understand way.
A few of my favorite personality tests that have truly helped me grow as a human and also within my business. I’ve found it’s best to take these tests with a clear head and plenty of time, as some of these can be longer than others. While taking these tests you’ll most likely notice common themes that pop up. Take note of these themes and see how they can be better integrated into your daily life and business. This will help you grow authentically the way you’re meant to!
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