Is there something that you love to do? A talent you have? Something that you know you are good at?
I remember the first time that I “found” one of my talents. I had to teach a group of rowdy 6th graders in an afterschool program when the main instructor failed to show up. I didn’t have formal teacher training. There was no other teaching professional who could lend a hand. Heck, I didn’t even have a lesson plan.
So I brainstormed a game that would keep the kids busy for 20 min. During this time, I planned activities for the rest of the session. I didn’t care about formal instruction and pedagogy. I just something to keep the kids from killing each other and hopefully learn something fun in the process.
By the end of the class, one student told me it was the best class he ever had. Bananas. I was hooked. And sought out ways to leverage my talent.
Many years later, people tell me all the time – Malla I want to build a business using my talents. I get it. But it’s hard to figure out what to do when you are getting started.
What makes it difficult?
- Time – how do you find the time to do the research and get customers?
- Money – Sure you could work with 500 people on your first day if you had an advertising budget for 2 million
- Too few mentors – geeez this isn’t working but who can genuinely help me?
And the biggest one of all – The naysayers who doubt you can build a business using your talents.
So what do you do?
Find a way to build your business using your talents/passions/strengths to solve other people’s problems.
On one hand, it’s good to find out what your customers needs are. But if you focus too much on this without incorporating your own talents, you’ll get bored, frustrated and give up too quickly.
Because it’s BORRRRRINNNNNGGGGG……
And you’ll never reach the income you know in your heart that you can reach. Much less do the heavy lifting when it comes to marketing and sales. You can probably relate if you ever worked a job that you hated but were good at what you did.
So how do you ensure your talent is built into your business model? Stay tuned for my next article where I lay out some action steps. If you are a running a service based business or desire to start one – it will help you build a business that you are passionate about AND solve your customers needs so you’ll have an ongoing cash flow stream.
Did a question come up after reading this article? Something you want to more about? Share your thoughts in the comment section.
