Originally Published Feb. 28, 2017
As a business owner you have some unique strengths that can help you better run your business. I’m not talking about skills here. People can learn new skills. Instead, I’m talking about the things you can naturally do better than other people.
By figuring out what your unique strengths are, you can organize your business in a way that lets you focus on these things. Here are some of the ways you can find your unique strengths.
Pay attention to what your clients say.
I was recently on a business trip for a large client project. The project involved me creating business courses and then actually teaching the content on camera.
While on this
trip, my client actually helped me find one of my unique strengths. We were heading to the studio on the third day of filming when he said, “You know, you’re a really good story teller. And you’re a natural on camera regardless or whether there’s a teleprompter or not.”This got me thinking. How often had a mistaken my unique strength as a storyteller as just some basic skill? How often had I downplayed this strength because it came so naturally to me? Turns out I downplayed it all the time.
Now I know to focus on one of my unique strengths: The art of telling a story. This may look like more sponsorship deals that require on-camera work and it certainly means more podcasting.
Pay attention to what lights you up.
When my client mentioned that I was a good storyteller, I started thinking about instances in which I was telling stories. More specifically, I started paying attention to how I felt
when I was in the process of telling stories. I thought back to podcast interviews, media appearances and even recent speaking engagements.What I found what that I felt completely lit up
and energized! For example, it took me about two hours to come down from a natural high after my last speaking engagement. It would also take me some time to wind down after filming because I’d get so into it.I also noticed that while creating and filming the classes for my client, I’d sometimes get into this weird zone where everything around me would just stop. All that mattered was what I was teaching at that moment.
If you feel like this about anything, then there’s a good chance that it’s one of your unique strengths.
Start with your weakness
This may seem counterintuitive, but one way to find out what your unique strengths are is to start with what you suck at and remove it from the list.Sometimes this is actually the easiest way to go — especially if you aren’t sure about your unique strengths yet.
For example, I know I kind of suck at organizing and I definitely suck at math. As a result, these were the two places where I started outsourcing first.
What was left over was the more creative stuff like content creation and marketing. While I didn’t realize it at the time, it turns out I’m really good at these things.
Final Thoughts
Once you’ve discovered what your unique strengths are it’s time to organize your business in a way that allows you to take advantage of them. Start delegating anything that is not in line with your strengths so you can best use what comes naturally to you.
This article was written by Amanda Abella
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