IT’S SEASON FOUR, EVERYONE! This year we are doing quarterly themes – and I’m so excited to bring you the theme for the first quarter: THE ENNEAGRAM. I basically do not shut up about it any time it’s brought up, so dedicating such a big portion of the year to this is VERY on brand. Today’s episode is with the Ashton Whitmoyer-Ober and we are talking all about the Enneagram for entrepreneurs!
The Enneagram For Entrepreneurs with Ashton Whitmoyer-Ober
Ashton Whitmoyer-Ober is an author, public speaker, Community Psychologist, and certified Enneagram educator. With a desire to see relationships strengthened, she created Enneagram Ashton in early 2019. She is the author of Enneagram for Relationships, The Two of Us: A Three Year Couples Journal, and The Enneagram Made Simple. Find her on Instagram @enneagramashton.
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Show Notes:
- What does “hustle like a mother” mean to you?
- I am a mom, so I feel like I take it literally. You know, I’m doing all of the things as a mom and as an entrepreneur, and so, you know, just doing all of the things all the time and not just doing them, but you know, doing them well and being able to foster all these different areas in my life and cultivate relationships and things like that.
- When I started talking about the Enneagram, I wasn’t a mom, but I’ve watched my journey with the Enneagram change as I became a mom and wore all the hats and stepped into all the roles that we do, right? That’s what I love about the Enneagram is having it be a tool that you can utilize in all of the different facets of your life.
- So you have a huge Instagram following – you’ve written books about it, you are a certified Enneagram educator. So I would love to hear kind of how you got into it and what made you jump off into the world of Enneagram like this?
- So I am a Two, so I feel like I need to start there. Even when I was younger and people would ask me like, what do you wanna do with your life? I’d be like, I have no idea, but I just know I wanna help people or make an impact in some sort of way. Previously to this I was working in the domestic violence and sexual assault prevention field. And then when I went back to get my master’s degree, so I have my bachelor’s degree in psychology, I went back to get my master’s degree in psychology and discovered the Enneagram. I’ve always been interested in different personality tests, but what I love about the Enneagram is that it is a tool to help people understand themselves and others better, to identify their strengths, the areas in which they need to grow, what sets them off, what helps them be the best version of themselves, all of those different things. And I thought, if I can help people by using this tool, then that sounds pretty cool to me. So that’s ultimately what led me to just create my account to share knowledge to help people. And then it kind of just took off from there.
- When did you start your Instagram account? What would you say the response has been on your page?
- January 2019 – It has been quite the adventure!
- I think people are just like really wanting to learn about themselves. The things that resonate the most with them are things that they see and they’re like, oh wow, that is me. And I’m not alone in those feelings. I think people, you know, think that certain characteristics about themselves, let’s say, you know, like being a perfectionist or being like highly critical, that they’re the only ones that feel that way. And then when they learn that there are other people that are out there that respond or react the same way that they do, it helps them to feel seen and understood. So I think that’s why the response has been like so amazing to, um, you know, not just my account, but other Enneagram accounts and people who are sharing that knowledge because they feel seen and they feel like, oh, this is me and there are other people like me.
- Other personality tests are more response-based than motivation-based. That’s a huge reason why I look at it as a tool because you know, it’s not just something like, oh, this is who you are, these are your behaviors, or this is how you respond. It’s about the motivation. It’s the why and the how and the how behind why you do what you do. What the Enneagram does that I don’t think a lot of other personal personality tests do, is it allows us to have a little bit of grace for ourselves.
- Do you feel like there are Enneagram types that you see over and over again in [these entrepreneur] kinds of fields that are suited for this kind of work?
- Any Enneagram type can be an entrepreneur, right? It’s just about lining up your characteristics with your strengths and what’s going to serve you best as an entrepreneur. It doesn’t really matter what your type is, it’s just lining up your characteristics with whatever it is that you wanna do and then identifying your strengths and also identifying your areas for growth.
- What do you think your biggest challenge is as an entrepreneur?
- The need to be liked and the inability to say no. It’s definitely something that I’ve been on a journey to as an entrepreneur, especially with a large following on Instagram. Like it’s quite literally impossible for people to like me.
- Where would you recommend that people get some of this information on their types when they’re trying to figure out where they’re healthiest or not healthiest? What resources do you like to use for that?
- It’s difficult at times when there’s so many resources at your fingertips because it’s hard to decipher what’s reliable and what’s not reliable. Obviously I’m gonna pitch myself for a minute. I have resources and eBooks on each of the types that can help you determine your level of health and you know, how to really step into some of those characteristics that we talked about. Other than that, I really do think that the Enneagram Institute provides a lot of really valuable and accurate information about your level of health and where you are and where you want to be and how to grow and things like that. Obviously Instagram accounts are great, but you know, there are those that are posting things and they aren’t necessarily trained in the Enneagram. So it is about researching and finding tools that are accurate and validated and that can sometimes be difficult in our day and age of the internet.
- Is there anything else you wanna give us as tips for an entrepreneur when it comes to the Enneagram and kind of using that to go move forward?
- It’s just important for people to recognize that anybody can be an entrepreneur. Every type has strengths that it takes to be an entrepreneur. Just be confident in yourself and who you are and what you have to offer.
- So tell us, where can we hang out with you on the internet? Where can we find you? How can we get your resources?
- You can find me on Instagram @EnneagramAshton.
- My website is enneagramashton.com – you can find everything on there, all of the resources I talked about and I would love to connect.
