Introvert's Outreach: Andrew Smith
The 10-Questionnaire for Inward-Bound Creatives
My working theme here on Home|body is “introvert’s outreach | midlife-climate crises | kitchen-sink creativity.” If you explore my archive, you’ll find all manner of miscellaneum loosely cast into those categories. The whole enterprise of doing this at all—daring to send out deep and honest missives weekly to growing audience known and unknown—is, effectively, my “introvert’s outreach.” But I decided to dig further into that concept when fellow Substacker Andrew Smith of the thoughtful daily (!) subscribed, saying it was the “introvert” part that compelled him. Surely so many of us on this platform—writers and readers and creatives of all kinds—consider ourselves introverted, and maybe tapping into that vein specifically is a great way for us inward-bound, loners-by-nature to connect a little more than we’re otherwise inclined.
Here’s the first edition of my new ongoing feature, a set of 10 questions (which may morph as we progress) featuring a new guest each time. This will come out in addition to my regular weekly posts (so consider this a bonus and sit tight if you prefer my usual essays). I’m open to your participation; please reach out if you want to play along, krista@sleepyhollowink.com. Suggest questions and other ideal candidates.
Seeing as he kind of inspired the whole thing, my first guest is, of course, Andrew Smith. More about him and a pic, and huge kudos for bravely being game:
Andrew Smith is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and run several businesses over the last couple of decades. He currently owns and helps manage three jiu jitsu schools and an online tutorial site for jiu jitsu, helps rescue senior dogs, and writes every day for Goatfury Writes.
INTROVERT’S OUTREACH: ANDREW SMITH
Assuming you identify as an introvert - where do you feel you fall on the scale? (Between intro, ambi and extro)
Krista, I want to first say: thank you for connecting with me here! This is a really good way for us to expand our reach beyond our typical networks, so from one introvert to another: thanks for doing this.
If I do a personality test, it’s inevitably going to say I’m introverted. Everything is a spectrum and I’m somewhere along it, but being around other people for extended periods of time always wipes me out.
It’s funny, though: I can “be” extroverted (very intentional quotation marks) if I have to, like if there is a really big benefit... but it’s not my natural state by any means. So, I’ll use “extroversion” in order to, say, meet other writers on Substack, or grow a customer base at a new business, and so on. There’s always an end game, and a time to stop pretending to be extroverted.
How would you personally define “introvert”?
Great question. I think it’s someone who generally prefers to be alone or among a very small group (one or two others, generally) they know very well, to being around folks they don’t know. I treasure my solo time these days, and feel the need to regenerate if I’m around too many people, especially for more than a few minutes.
How does being an introvert manifest itself in your life?
My schedule is rigorous and disciplined. This means I have to do certain activities most days. In more recent years, this has resulted in me getting up before most other people, so I can focus on getting things done... or on writing. This year, it’s been all writing during that sacred time I get to myself every day, no matter what. I carve out the first 2 hours every day for this.
It means that I will always have alone time, but it doesn’t mean I'll be able to avoid meetings and such... it’s just that I have an element of control by scheduling the meetings during certain times, and then sort of recovering from the meetings with quiet, contemplative time.
When did you become aware that you’re an introvert?
I’m not really confident in my answer, but I know that my entry into middle school was a very eye-opening moment for me. I felt peer pressure and a strong sense of otherness for the first time in my life, at least at that scale. Crowds became something dangerous to 10- or 11-year-old me, and that danger never completely subsided (although, oddly enough, I’m generally comfortable with speaking in front of larger groups). I confronted this fear head-on when I started going to punk shows in my late teens, and wrestling in high school allowed me another “experiment in extroversion” where I got to know a larger group of people I came to care about.
(&6): Do you take pride in your introvert status or is it something you struggle with? How does being an introvert impact your creative life?
I think it’s simply what it is, a character trait. I can amplify it and be all by myself for hours at a time, and publishing every day is certainly a byproduct of this practice of solitude! But of course, there are also negatives, like dreading a phone call or meeting, which can also lead to procrastination. On balance, I think I navigate this pretty well.
How does being an introvert impact your relationships?
I’m incredibly fortunate to have a partner who feels the same way I do. She’s even more comfortable in her own skin than I am, and can go for days without poking her head up for other human interaction. We both also have our moments of “necessary extroversion” and we both recognize that it’s a necessary part of our lives.
How does being an introvert impact your professional life?
In the course of running my own businesses for the last couple of decades, I’ve positioned myself in a spot where I am no longer “the face” of any of my companies. There are others who can answer questions and interact, for the most part, and they can do a better job than me anyway.
Not being the face per se means I can focus on longer term strategy, and, if I’ve done a good job of building the business, I can let it operate much more “hands off” while I pay attention to our next big challenge, on leveling up, so to speak. That has to do with having good partners, too, of course! I could not do this without their participation, and vice versa.
Is self-promotion hard for you – marketing your work, asking for a raise, etc?
Yes! That’s the part of the job — “necessary extroversion” — that I do not relish, except insofar as: I’m pretty good at it.
It’s kind of like being the world’s best pooper scooper... you still have to pick up dookie every day, even though you’re the best.
So, I wake up being a good pooper scooper, and I scoop some poop every day, and that helps my audience grow, helps me connect with other writers, and so on. Writing gets me into flow state every day, for which I am eternally grateful... marketing gets me into whatever the opposite of that is.
But pretending like people will just happen to discover our work is silly, just like it is with business. You just have to tell people what you’re up to.
How do you strike a balance between requiring solitude and the desire for social interactions that might inspire your creativity?
For me, this boils down to a very rigid routine every day. Some folks would push back against this and insist there’s no room for surprise, but I can assure these folks that there’s plenty of the unexpected. In essence, I try to stick firmly to writing every day for the first 2 hours of the day, no matter what (after about 30 minutes of reading, brewing coffee, and listening to news). This is my time, not for anyone else, and I cherish it every morning. Getting up earlier has helped cement this, and I find that my mind is sharp during these hours anyway.
So, when I have to interact with other folks, I have preset times for this too. If I have a meeting, it’s going to be exhausting, but I’m also going to be 100% present for the meeting. I don’t have meetings if I don’t think they’re important (I’m the boss), so each one is a great opportunity to learn something or take action on something important. Cordoning off “people time” from “me time” is an absolute must.
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Thank you so much to Andrew for this “necessarily extroverted” post on introversion and pulling in a dog dookie metaphor!
Are you too an introvert? Shout it out (or whisper) below and stay tuned for the next edition whenever I emerge again from my cave.
Yay! This came out really good, and it was fun to do. I hope it encourages some folks to find their path forward, writing or otherwise.