I know I say this every episode, but this is the actual episode you want to listen to. Forget about the rest. This is the one. Annalisa Corti does something I've never seen before, she maps out 19 specific behaviours and shows you exactly which ones are keeping you stuck. Not your personality. Not your birth chart. How you actually show up, every single day, in your business.
I had some selfish reasons for bringing her on, because I needed this too. And let me tell you something, the aha moment I had in this conversation is still ringing in my head.
What Behaviour Mapping Actually Reveals
Here's how Annalisa breaks it down. Her test maps 19 behaviours, about half are daily life behaviours like time management, perseverance, and communication. The other half are business-oriented: sales, leadership, finance, ethics. It's not a personality quiz. It's not about how you see yourself. It's about how you actually operate.
She gave me a perfect example. A health coach came to her, super qualified, tons of certifications, great product, great pricing, clear vision. But no clients. When Annalisa mapped her behaviours, the issue was obvious: she was extremely reserved and shy. She was doing the "safe" marketing, the kind where you never have to put yourself on camera or knock on anyone's door. And that was exactly what was holding her back.
"It's not a personality profile. It's not a psychology profile. It's really how you show up. There is a shift between what they think they do and what they actually do."
I asked the question everyone wants to ask: can't you just find a workaround? Like, if someone's an introvert, isn't there another way to do marketing? Annalisa's answer was a hard no. And I respect that. She said you have to develop a feeling of safety with being out there. No shortcuts.
The exercise she gave this health coach is wild. Talk to three complete strangers every day for 30 days, supermarket, coffee shop, library, wherever, and learn three things about each person. The health coach nearly fainted when she heard it. Honestly? I was secretly fainting too. But Annalisa's been using this exercise for 10 years and says it transforms introverts because you're walking directly into the fear, not around it.
The One Behaviour Most Women Entrepreneurs Share
When I asked Annalisa what she sees most often among the solopreneurs she works with, she narrowed it down specifically to women, and it hit home. The pattern is assertiveness. Or rather, the lack of it.
"Most of my female solopreneurs struggle with declaring their worth and asking for that."
They have discipline. They have vision. They have goals and a plan. But when it comes to asserting their value, in a sales conversation, in setting their prices, in asking for what they need from a client or even a spouse, they go soft. It shows up as weak boundaries, undercharging, and letting people take advantage of their kindness.
I put my hand up. I'm in that bucket too. And Annalisa was quick to say she has been as well. The point isn't to shame anyone, it's to see it, name it, and fix it. Because behaviours are mechanical. They're routines. And if a routine isn't working, you can rewrite the mechanics.
That's when the aha moment hit me and I just had to say it out loud: you have a choice. If something isn't working for you, you get to choose to make it better. It sounds simple, but when someone lays out the specific behaviour that's blocking you and tells you it's just a mechanic to rewire, not some deep, unfixable character flaw, everything shifts.
From Behaviour to Alchemy
Annalisa took it one step further, and this is where the conversation got really special. She calls it alchemy, the idea that when you start paying attention to a behaviour and actively rewriting it, you naturally become more present. And that presence starts illuminating the deeper stuff: the beliefs, the childhood imprinting, the emotional blockages underneath the behaviour.
She shared her own story about money. She grew up in a socialist family environment but was a capitalist at heart. When she started deliberately changing her financial management behaviours, just the mechanics, it opened up a whole box of inherited beliefs about money she didn't even know she was carrying.
"By working on my better financial management behaviors, I opened up Pandora's box. I jumped in it. I did spring cleaning in the box. And transformed my own self in the process."
For founders, this is powerful. You don't need to go to years of therapy before you can fix what's broken in your business. Start with the behaviour. The rest surfaces on its own. Learn more about growth.
Quick Takeaways
- Behaviour mapping shows how you actually show up, not how you think you do. The gap between the two is where your growth lives.
- There are no marketing shortcuts for introverts. You have to develop safety with being visible. Start small, three strangers a day for 30 days.
- Assertiveness is the most common gap in female solopreneurs. It shows up in undercharging, weak boundaries, and avoiding sales conversations.
- Behaviours are mechanical. They're habits and routines. If one isn't working, rewrite the mechanics, it doesn't have to take 90 days.
- Changing a behaviour creates presence, and presence reveals the deeper blocks. You don't need to fix the trauma first. Start with the action.
"It's not a personality profile. It's not a psychology profile. It's really how you show up."
