Many years ago in a hotel where I worked, I learned some important lessons from a wise man named Jock Gearhart. He was my boss’s boss, a hotel management executive and I’ve had many occasions to be grateful for him. He believed in the concept of “proprietary interest”. It’s more often used as a legal term, but he used it to mean that he wanted every person at each of his hotels, from housekeeper to GM, from bartender to CFO, to act like they owned the place when it came to providing gracious service, keeping things nice, and taking care of business in general. The idea is that if you feel like it is your own business, you will provide the best hospitality you can, and make smart business decisions. 

Eventually, if you are setting yourself up in business to do a thing, you will have to think, write and talk about yourself and how very good you are at that thing, and put it out in the world. For an introvert, that is an exceptionally hard task. And yet, it is good homework, and I am nothing if not an enthusiastic learner.