We’re excited to introduce you to Saira Nisa from Birmingham, England, UK. She is the founder of Incredible Introverts and has been in business for over a year.
What does your dream life look like? Are you currently living your dream or still working on it?
My ultimate dream life is me living in a warm country, in a rural area with lush green and mountain views. Traveling, hiking, and cycling more as well as being able to speak every language possible. Otherwise, I am still grateful for where I am in my life and with the people I know and have in my circle.
Tell me more about what you do and who you help.
I’m Chief Incredible Introvert at Incredible Introverts. I help introverts lift off that cloak of invisibility from themselves so they can show up more consistently in their business or in other aspects of their lives.
To this end, I help introverted entrepreneurs and professionals to understand their archetype, and use their individual strengths, to convey their message with confidence, conviction, and clout.
What inspired you to start this business?
There were a few things which inspired me. Originally I started off to improve interpersonal skills and courage in the workplace, particularly to support individuals who were introverted, more reserved or withdrawn in the face of confrontation or bullying.
I noticed that employers generally provided partial one-off, short-term solutions when their employees required further support with confidence, courage, conviction, and communications.
After years in the corporate/private and public sectors, whilst employed & freelance, I noticed that many individuals had misconceptions about personality types; both introverts and extroverts. Furthermore, introverted individuals often used the fact that they’re introverts as a reason for why they were incapable of sales, marketing, delivering presentations, public speaking, networking and believing that only extroverts were capable of such things.
This too caught my attention and quite honestly, this does my head in. I got tired and annoyed from hearing people say they cannot do a thing “because I’m an introvert”. I was bemused and I admit felt somewhat judgemental when told “I can’t believe you’re an introvert, you just delivered a workshop to strangers and told jokes”
My response was always, “you mean to say that you’ve gone your entire life without cracking a joke, having a laugh, or getting good at something you wanted to do?”
I also got tired of hearing coaches offer how to do sales and marketing “The Introvert Way” and then teaching the same strategies that extroverts use, that other introverts who have refined their skills use, or teaching people that there is an ‘introvert’s way’ of doing something only the introvert still remains ‘hidden’ and ‘invisible’.
So I thought rather than getting tired and annoyed, why not put that energy and emotion to better use? Challenge “The Introvert Way”, challenge the misconceptions, and smash the stereotypes?!
I know from my years of delivering trainings, workshops and coaching using neuropsychological methods which worked, that I have a well-equipped toolkit which I can package up and deliver as a step-by-step foundation level to an intensive, advanced level solution.
What’s a challenge you’ve faced along your entrepreneurial journey?
Mostly time and funding. Working full time and financing a side hustle. I learned the hard way by working 7 days a week, 5 days at work, weekends on my own side hustle. At one point I suffered severe fatigue, the more I felt I did, the more hours I put in, the less I seemed to achieve and have to show for it.
I no longer loved what I was doing, and found that I left it for some years. I was doing little to nothing maybe some planning and then nothing.
A friend of mine noticed something was off, she asked me about my work, business and after the chat with her I realized I was no longer happy doing what I was doing at the time. I shut up shop, had a serious think about what I wanted to do and with whom, for whom and then I started afresh with Incredible Introverts.
Has being an introvert affected your business?
Being an introvert has not affected my business. Being invisible, uncertain, out of love with it, fatigued, ending up jumping on bandwagons, stressed, pulled in different directions, and then some, all contributed negatively to my business.
Once I cleared my head, cleared my energy, recharged my own batteries, and got out of my own head and way, I made better decisions and took the right steps. It had nothing to do with being an introvert but everything to do with how I understood or misunderstood myself.
What methods do you use to bring in new clients?
A key part of the solutions I provide is weeding out blocking behaviours. Blocking behaviours stem from life events that, have taken root inside of a person. Weed these out and that’s when progress begins.
I’ve created a comprehensive solution using neuropsychological methodologies and frameworks, closing the gaps found in mainstream solutions, plus connected the dots otherwise left disconnected in mainstream solutions. It’s holistic science.
Methods cover the foundation level or ease you into the teachings and methodologies and once ready, you can progress to advanced level.
Is attending networking events a part of your marketing strategy?
It’s not a key part but it does play a part. Since “the two years that shall not be named” happened, I’ve not attended in-person networking events but looking back at the ones I did attend beforehand I have learned SO MUCH about effective in-person networking for introverted individuals and how to get through small talk, which we tend not to enjoy.
I have recently started attending online networking events to give online networking a go but it’s more for a few new experiences for now.
I have thought about getting back to in-person networking but I’m more selective about such events now. The event, the activities happening would have to really grab my attention. Currently, they’re more exhibitions than networking opportunities. What I have done however is ramp up marketing and conversations with individuals I do know and it has made a great difference.
How do you define success for yourself and/or your business?
For me, success is the build up of small achievements and small wonderful moments which over time add up to a greater amount rather than one instance of one big achievement.
The achievements could be material, emotional, or spiritual; a combination of happiness, great health, healthy mind, heart, thoughts, gratitude, tenacity, strong faith, continuous hope, consistency, the small things like getting time to read a book or having a laugh. And the best part of my success are some key wonderful humans that I’ve been blessed with in my life. If you have the right people surrounding you, then you’re in good hands and in a good place.
What advice would you give to other introverted women who are just starting their own businesses?
J.F.D.I and don’t use or stop using your introversion as an excuse for not being able to do something or not being good at something.
Thank you for taking the time to share your story. Where can our readers find more information about you?
You can find out more about me and my work as well as connect with me via the listed platforms below – just don’t slide into my DMs to ‘get to know me’ and ‘build real meaning relationships’ because those DMs are like the Bermuda Triangle of the galactic black holes and vortexes of the online world. The only way to get to know me is either in person, or via the musings, weird, funny, terrible jokes, and sometimes even useful posts that I post.
https://www.facebook.com/SairaIncredibleIntroverts
https://www.instagram.com/incredibleintroverts/
https://www.instagram.com/iamsairanisa/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sairanisa/
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