2023 June 27 You have more skills than you may think

Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. Thanks for joining me tonight to talk about some of the ways to realize all of your talents. So let's get started. If you like what you hear tonight, please leave a like and tell your friends and send me a message.

Two weeks ago, on the June 13th, 2023, episode, we talked about focusing on the 80% of our lives where we likely aren't operating in our areas of highest productivity, and how we should try to spend more time, one way or another, doing the things that we're really great at. I mentioned things like bartering with friends so that both of us get to take advantage of the other person's special talents, using the example of somebody organizing your house and life while you gave their kids piano lessons. A win-win. 

I also mentioned that starting an online business or teaching other people about something you're really passionate about is another option that you have.

This is what I wanted to talk about tonight: how to start an online business, or any sort of business, with nothing more than what you already know. When people think about starting a business of any sort, particularly an online business, one of the first things they think about is Facebook or YouTube ads of some young dude or dudette, leaning on their fancy sports car saying, Sign up for my course and see how you can live like this working only four hours a week. It doesn't work like that. The reality is that any good business is going to take some work, and you probably won't get fabulously wealthy within a year. 

You might be the exception, and I knew a few personally. I'm just fortunate in some of the courses that I take to meet people who have done amazing things in a year or two. But I assure you, they earned every penny of their income. It only looks easy once you're successful, but a lot of people do make reasonable extra money working in online businesses of many types. The key to success, like any business or job, is to do what interests you and what you're really passionate about.

You might think, But Jim, I have no special talents. That's probably just your humility going a little bit overboard. Remember, we talked before about once you get really good at something, it becomes so transparent to us that we often forget how difficult it was us for us to get good at it, and we don't realize how difficult it may be for other people.

But even more importantly, a skill doesn't have to be world-changing to have value to others. Take for example Marie Kondo, the organization person made a little fortune by simply tidying up. It was what a society awash in things needed at that moment, and she provided a simple method for people to get rid of clutter from their lives.

I'd encourage you to reevaluate what you like to do, and things that you're good at. Think about comments you may have heard from other people that perhaps you just dismissed as somebody kind of being polite. Did someone say something like, I wish I could make my dinner table look at inviting, or, I'm always amazed at how well you organize a meeting or any of the other multitude of similar comments that people make?

Those are hints that may guide you to realizing that your superpowers are things that others might find valuable. I've mentioned before that one of the programs I've participated in is James Wedmore's Business by Design. It's a course and mentoring group. One of the people in the cohort that's just starting up recently posted that she's starting an online course on how to can things from your garden. I used to know someone who was an avid canner, from hot water canning of tomatoes (which is like Canning 101) to pressure canning things like meats, that really takes a lot of experience and care and consistency to do. 

I can tell you two things from personal experience. First, there are endless online and offline resources for getting canning information, from books to classes, no matter what it is, and no matter what you can imagine, there's a ton of it there. Second, none of it gives you any confidence compared to working in person (or with guidance) with someone who can say That rim isn't spotlessly clean and so you'll likely have a spoilage if you try and get it to seal, before you fix that. It's the immediate feedback from that personalized attention that brings confidence. A book can say the jar must be very clean, but until you can experience it, it's hard to understand what they're talking about. It's very hard to be confident. I wasn't shocked when I saw that this person in BBD was starting an online course at the request of many people who have heard about her in-person courses.

If she's able to take advantage of technology and actually work with the people while they're canning, I'm sure she'll be a success. When people are new to something, especially something as important as health and food, it's very difficult to become confident without some real-time feedback on what you're doing to make sure it's correct.

Allison could have said everybody can can food. Even more commonly, There are already so many resources for someone who wants to learn to can. There's no point in me even starting. But happily, she realized that her passion and her knowledge made her different. There will be people who are drawn to her and to her methods, and so she has something to share with others that others will value.

The other person is a woman named Brianna, who tried to return to work after her first child was born, and decided that was not how she wanted to raise her family. She went on to form a community of like minded moms and is now offering support and training in how stay-at-home moms can continue to work in the fields as virtual assistants, also known as VAs.

This is another field with tons of information available, whole websites dedicated to that approach, teaching it and helping people get jobs. Yet they weren't Brianna, and they didn't have her approach. She too, found success.  

Think about what it is that you do and that you're good at and passionate about. There are other people who'd be thrilled to learn from you. Now age is no excuse. One of these people is fairly young. A third person I didn't talk about, Colleen, who is just starting a regular motivational podcast is a classmate of mine, so there's no excuse. Age is no reason. You have the talent, and so the only thing you need now is confidence. 

Now you might be asking yourself, Why would I do something like this? While there are many reasons, you could just do it to share your knowledge and make the world a better place. There's a movie star who created a whole channel about doing small plot gardening for inner city residents so that they can get fresh, organic veggies at a reasonable price by growing them themselves, and they also learn new skills and they learn independence at the same time. This nets a person essentially zero money, but they do it so that they can share their knowledge to make the world nicer. 

You could do it to earn some extra money, or perhaps even necessary money. You don't have to be working like a fool to buy a private airplane if all you want is some extra money for a nice dinner.

As always, the place to start is by defining what your vision is for your life, then what goals will get you there, and realizing that this may be one more tool available to help you reach your goals. What I really wanted to show you tonight though, is that you really do have talents and skills that others would find valuable, and this is a great gift that gives you more options.

It's very self-motivating on many levels, not the least of which is you're learning new skills, which is good for your self-esteem and overall health. In addition, you're meeting new people, which I find is always uplifting and educational in many ways. If you do decide to work online, you might be meeting people from all over the world. How fun would that be? You can learn about all different cultures right from your own home.

So that's it for the week. I'd encourage you to think about what you like to do and what you know (or suspect) that others would find impressive about you. It could be a little talent or something large and obvious, but don't minimize the greatness that lives within us all. Your homework (optional as always) is to think about some things people have complimented you on or said how they could never do that. I couldn't never do what you do!, and recognize some of your talents and skills. Bonus points if you then think about how you could teach one of those things to someone else, either in person or online.  

That's it for the evening. I just wanted to focus on one point tonight and finish up a topic we had started a couple weeks ago. 

Please remember the war in Ukraine that's going on and on and just continuing. These are people that are doing things like having high school graduations in bomb shelters. I hope that they stay in your minds. If you get the chance, UKR7.com is the page with the donation links. Please think about giving to them. If you don't want to give to Ukraine, there are lots of other places. 

World Central Kitchen is there. They help. They're a humanitarian organization. They provide food to people in need, and they're active all throughout the world. WCK.org.

Remember, one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. If you can and you're able, please try and make a donation. Do something to help somebody else, because once you look outside of yourself and into somebody else, it changes your attitude around the world and really makes you a much more open and empathetic person.

So, I hope you find it in your time and heart to do something to help somebody else in need. Remember, as always, one of the best ways to care for yourself and really open your vision of the world is to care for others. 

Thank you for stopping by. If you found something interesting or useful, please pass it along and please hit that like button. If not, please drop me a comment as to what you'd like to hear. Have a great week. Remember to live the life that you dream of, because that's the path to true contentment. Love and encouragement to everyone. See you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.