Using self-assessment tools for personal development is important to benefit from your strong personality traits and working on improving weaknesses. It can help you start an online business in the right sphere based on your skills. Considering this, researchers have identified the following important traits for an entrepreneur: creative thinking, response to risks or risk tolerance, communication, strategic thinking based on set goals, independent decision-making, and the propensity to act (Boratyn & Mróz, 2024). You can use such tools as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Jung’s 12 archetypes, Big Five, DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Compliance), and other tests for detecting your leadership skills, emotional intelligence, and business potential.

1. What You Can Get from Self-Assessment

Assessing your personality, you can get the following benefits:

• Learning about your strengths that you can use to do business (for example, analytical mindset for the sector of finances, developed communication skills for blogging and coaching, etc.),
• Setting goals and determining your growth or strategic direction based on identified traits,
• Improving productivity based on understanding your unique way of thinking or acting,
• Making better decisions informed by self-awareness,
• Increasing your competitiveness on the job market by emphasizing your strong traits.

2. What Self-Assessment Tools for Personal Development You Can Use

Myers-Briggs

The most popular tool based on Jung’s research is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, categorizing personalities into 16 types based on 8 characteristics:

• Extroversion and Introversion, determining the attitude or interaction with the world
• Sensing and Intuition, relating to the way in which information is perceived
• Thinking and Feeling, impacting decision-making
• Judging and Perceiving, showing lifestyle

Keirsey named each of the 16 personality types. They are grouped into analysts, diplomats, sentinels, and explorers in a free test version based on Myers-Briggs categorization at 16personalities.com.

Jung’s Archetypes

12 archetypes by Jung are closely related to the Myers-Briggs tool:

Big Five Personality Traits

To begin with, you can assess your personality based on Big Five personality traits, which are the following:

• Openness (to new knowledge),
• Conscientiousness (responsibility and organization),
• Extraversion (relationship management),
• Agreeableness (relations with other people and consideration of their opinions),
• Neuroticism (emotional reaction).

DISC Test

The DISC test helps to analyze your propensity to take action and decisiveness (dominance). Influence characterizes person’s interaction with people, openness, and outgoing trait. Steadiness characterizes patient people who like stability. Compliance is about those who like order, independence, and structure.

SWOT Analysis of Your Personality

Determine strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats linked with your personality. To get more information, you can find how to use this tool in this article on SWOT analysis.

High5test.com provides an adapted version of the CliftonStrengths test that can help you identify your strengths in 5 key domains:

• Solving problems
• Managing time
• Analyzing
• Coaching
• Keeping optimism

Emotional Intelligence Tests

Taking such tests is important for personality development and starting any business, including online. It helps to learn about the way you handle emotions, stress, and social skills.

An example is EQ-i 2.0, measuring self-awareness, the ability to manage stress, interpersonal skills, self-expression, and decision-making skills.

The Wheel of Life Assessment

This test can help you understand your work-life balance, covering such domains as:

• Health
• Family and friends
• Money
• Home
• Personal development
• Leisure
• Other significant aspects
• Career

3. How to Use Self-Assessment Tools for Personal Development and Online Business

Self-assessment tools for personal development can help you develop a personal brand for online business through these steps:

• Write down a list of your strengths and weaknesses (areas to improve) you have discovered from self-assessment tools above
• Create a list of objectives how you can use these traits for business growth, leadership, management, and brand development
• Apply all your strong sides for achieving these objectives within the set time (SMART framework)
• Work on improving your weaknesses
• Track progress and conduct self-assessments

Thus, self-assessment tools can be effectively used for developing your personality and building an online business based on it.

Reference

Boratyn, J., & Mróz, M. (2024). Self-assessment of entrepreneurial potential and actual intentions to start a business depending on the chosen field and language of study. Social Entrepreneurship Review, 2. https://doi.org/10.15678/SER.2024.2.06