#chicexecs

According to the 16 Personalities Personality Quiz, I am a Commander (ENTJ). Being a Commander means I am an extrovert, I use my intuition, I think instead of feel, and I judge rather than perceive...it also means that I am the only Commander in my class!  : )

Recently I’ve been thinking what being a Commander means. According to the summary on the website, not only am I an egomaniac control-freak, but I’m also extremely independent. I will carve a path for myself, even if there isn’t one there to begin with. But just today I figured out how being a Commander has held me back.

While juggling school, it’s hard to keep my stuffed toy company Poketti afloat. I definitely try to post on social media every day, but sometimes that isn’t enough. In order to turn a start-up into a business, you have to network, create demand, and advertise everywhere. With just our family behind the wheel, it’s slow going. We try to sell at pop-up shop events to spread our story, but with SATs, ballet, and homework clogging up weekends, it’s hard to find time to work on expanding my plushies’ reach. I’ve seen so many licensing deals and PR spikes gain traction, then slowly simmer down. Failure is a huge part of launching a business, but a new opportunity came up recently that might turn things around. 

This is where I realized that my Commander nature has been holding me back. My mom (the Debater), my dad (the Architect), my sister (the Advocate), and I have been contacted by a great PR firm called ChicExecs. As a family business, we’ve been marketing and advertising all by ourselves, but ChicExecs offered to expand Poketti along with us. If you asked me a year ago, I would have declined the offer – my Commanding nature would tell me to keep Poketti in my own domain. But, help is extremely important. Some things are only successful if you get help, and this definitely holds true for a growing company. It seems kind of obvious that my family can’t start a stuffed animal empire our own, but I owe it to my Commander mindset for that setback. I hope that growing our connections will grow our company in return.