Each one of us as our own unique set of skills.
But if you really want to be successful, rich and free from the fear of failure, the absolute best thing you can do is to apply those skills daily!
Hopefully you have been able to harness your abilities, and now use them to make money. See that’s the ultimate goal. We all want to do something we love in order to earn a living. There’s a saying that I will loosely quote which reveals that, “if we do what we love, we will never work a day again in our lives.”
But how do you go about unearthing and exposing them to the world?
The first thing you need to do is to take inventory of the things that make you…YOU. What makes you different from everyone else in the massive sea of the day-to-day grind?
Compile a list of experiences, insights, talents and abilities. Now, take some time and write down on a blank piece of paper how you would explain them to a friend at a bar. Don’t be overly critical with proper punctuation and spelling. Just write! Let the words flow as if they were coming from your own mouth after a few libations.
I’m not condoning the over indulgence of alcohol, but in an article published in April 2012 by Psychology Today, “Research has shown that alcohol tends to reduce people’s ability to focus in on some things and ignore others, which also happens to benefit creative problem solving.”
Anyway, after you’ve explained how you’re unique, and how your uniqueness could benefit you professionally, I want you to sit down and reread what you have written.
But DO NOT make any changes!
Go through with a yellow highlighter, and mark the words or phrases that really stand out…that make you extra special! For example, I wouldn’t highlight the fact that you are fluent in Spanish, but I would exclaim that you are fluent in Spanish because of the two years you spent with the Peace Corps in Honduras.
That’s the jaw dropper!
The ability to speak a second language is great, but the fact that you learned this skill as a result of your desire to help others, holds more weight and gets people to notice you.
Now you can copy your highlighted words on another fresh sheet of paper. These are the distilled points that we are going to focus on. Next, I want you to reach out to others to further assist you in your search. Ask them what about you is different. I would avoid using family as a sole resource. They tend to sugar coat, and avoid harsh criticisms. Pose the question to your customers or clients instead, and annotate their response.
You may be surprised by the feedback you receive. In business, acting as the owner causes us to become blinded to anything outside of our narrowed focus on the daily operations. Your customers may reveal exceptional selling points that you can begin to include in your marketing and advertising verbiage to boost sales and increase profits. Chances are pretty good that if one person exposes a reason that they continue to do business with you, that very same thing will be attractive to more than just one future customer.
Again, on a fresh piece of paper, combine both your own distilled ramblings along with the customer’s feedback. There in front of you, you’ll have been presented with a list worth its weight in gold! A piece of data that, if you followed my instructions, has revealed what about you makes you marketable.
If you find yourself stuck in a thankless job, and you fear that your future is doomed to work hard so others can make money, use this data as an exit strategy. Find a way to take the things that you’re exceptionally good at, and research opportunities for you to apply those skills in a manner that makes you wealthy. Start small. If you love creating handmade jewelry, create and sell your wares using Etsy.com, if you want to be a writer, cut your teeth by launching a contractor for hire profile on oDesk.com or if your dream is to sing for a living, start hitting up every Karaoke bar in the state and belt your lungs out on the high notes!
My point is that life is too short to make someone else rich. You’ve been provided with unmatched skills. They are unique to you, but in order for you to capitalize on this Godly investment, you have to use them.
Only then will you reach your full potential. Only then will you truly understand what it means to be…
SUCCESSFUL!
P.S. We always post our babble on our Facebook Page. So if you find yourself spending more time on the book of faces, you may want to LIKE our page so that you never miss a word of our ramblings. Here’s to your success! ~Andy #themarketingguy