Skills are important as you start your business. Even if you just want to buy and sell, you need skills that can help you be profitable in your buying and selling business. So, how can you identify your skills? In this article, you will learn a process for how to identify your marketable skills and refine them so you can build a business around them.
My previous teachings have discussed why you should start your business and some steps to set achievable goals for your business. Those articles lead into what we will talk about today.
Steps To Identify Your Marketable Skills
Here are the steps to identify your marketable skills.
Step 1: List your achievements.
To identify your skills, the first step is to make a list of your achievements over the past two to five years. Not everything on the list has to be work-related.
Here’s an example, using Ifeoma.
Ifeoma works in the real estate industry. She is passionate about starting her own business in this industry. Currently, she writes business content on her website.
So what are Ifeoma’s achievements?
- Ifeoma won the Young Performer Award last year in her company.
- On the weekends, Ifeoma teaches people how to write.
- Her website has over 200,000 visitors a month.
Let us leave Ifeoma for a while and focus on you. What are you passionate about? What can you do effortlessly?
Questions To Ask To Discover Your Marketable Skills
Here are some sample questions to ask yourself to discover these kinds of skills:
- Do you know a lot about plants and understand how to take care of them?
- Are you an adventure lover and enjoy sharing your stories of these adventures?
- Are you a computer genius? Can you make apps, code and fix computers easily, so that whenever there is a technical problem people turn to you?
- Do you speak more than two languages and love learning new ones?
- Are you good at taking photos that tell stories?
- Are you handy with tools? Can you build things or fix stuff around the house easily?
- Do you care a lot about helping others and making your community a better place?
Additional Questions To Ask To Discover Your Marketable Skills
- Do you have a passion for writing?
- Do you know how to use graphic design tools to make really fine designs?
- Do you have a flair for fashion and make your own dresses?
- You can bake some delicious cakes and snacks?
- Do your friends love your cooking?
- Whenever you write a post on social media; Facebook, Instagram, etc. it gets shared many times?
- You are an excellent public speaker and you draw people’s attention when you speak?
- You are an accountant by profession, you are good with numbers and understand simple bookkeeping?
- You work in the finance sector and can explain finance and money matters in simple terms?
- You are very handy; you can repair electrical faults and appliances with ease?
- You are a hot stepper and can dance?
- Do you sing well or have an instrument you play very well?
- You can virtually sell anything; you can even sell ice to the Eskimos
What I did with the list above is to give you context on how to identify your skill. So, make a list of all the achievements and good experiences you have had in the last two to five years.
Let us take a look at me. Florence owns a comprehensive business solution and development company, ReDahlia, that won the award of the Most Innovative Entrepreneurial Services Firm in Nigeria. Also, she owns the biggest entrepreneurial platform in Nigeria which was awarded ‘Best Nigerian Business Support Platform 2020’.
She loves to teach about business and is also an investor.
In 2019, she won the Young Entrepreneur Award by Eloy, a very prestigious award. Her entrepreneurial platform is home to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Florence uses her platform to impact thousands of entrepreneurs and guide them to build sustainable businesses
My achievements may appear intimidating to you, but it should not discourage you from sharing your achievements. Do not look down on your achievement.
This exercise is very important because it can help you draw out the skills you can build on to start your business. So go ahead and write them down.
Step 2: Break them down.
The second step is to break down your achievements, in the following order:
- What you did
- Why you did it
- How you did it
- What the result was
- What skill/skills you used in each achievement
In the Ifeoma example, she enrolled in a sales course and has, over time and through practice, perfected her selling skills, which has made her a top performer in her organization. She also took some writing and SEO courses and commits to writing twice weekly on her platform.
What skills helped her achieve these accomplishments?
- Ifeoma is a sales expert.
- She has SEO skills.
- Ifeoma is strategic about attending industry-specific events and networking with the right people.
- Ifeoma does not procrastinate.
In my case, for Entrepreneurs.ng to get to the level it is at today, we have had to consistently publish high-quality entrepreneurial content and distribute that content daily on social media.
For winning the award, I have been building ReDahlia for over a decade and have served more than 4,500 clients through our different business units- ReDahlia Workspaces, Business Registration Services, Our Business Training Academy And Other Support Service which you can find here.
We reach more than 1,000, 000 entrepreneurs yearly. It was by continuously putting in the work that I got noticed and nominated for this award.
And here are the skills that helped me:
- I am a business writer.
- I know every aspect of building a business.
- I understand marketing and selling.
- I am by nature an “implementer,” who implements any new knowledge I gain.
Step 3: Choose skills to develop.
The third step is to review the skills you have listed and note the ones you are most confident about. Then ask yourself: Are these skills marketable?
First, you need to ascertain if there is appreciable demand for your skill. If you find that people are searching for that topic, it means that there is a demand for it and potentially, they may be willing to pay for the service.
Next, go online and check if there are similar businesses that are built on the skill you have, and take note of how they run their businesses. How can you be different?
For instance, let’s say I want to start a class to teach people how to write and optimize their content for SEO, just like Ifeoma. I will first go online to see if there are businesses near me offering the same service. Let’s say I see that there are two businesses close to me that offer the same service. Further research shows that they offer expensive private lessons. So to differentiate myself, I could teach my class online on YouTube or through my own platform.
Conclusion
To recap, make your achievement list. Break down the skills you deployed to achieve them and identify the highest-performing skill or skills. Then research the marketability of those skills and competitors in that niche, and figure out a way to beat the competition.
How I Can Work With You To Identify Your Marketable Skills
If you want to work with me to identify your marketable skills so you can build a business around it, then enrol in the Start Your Business in 30 Days Program. I will take you from idea to starting your business in 30 days.
Every week, I teach practical business lessons that have helped thousands of entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. If you want to benefit from my teachings, sign up for the business lesson here.
Some parts of this article were first published by Florence Chikezie on Forbes.com
I am an internationally trained award-winning entrepreneur and a member of the prestigious Forbes Coaches Council. I help aspiring entrepreneurs start and set up their businesses through my program- Start Your Business In 30 Days. And, I work with companies and established corporations to scale their impact and revenue. Reach me at Florence@entrepreneurs.ng if you would like to transform your business.
