Playing To Your Strengths

by Steven Downward in An Entrepreneurs Stories

I’m sure that you recognize that everyone of us is different than everyone else. I know that I saw that very early on in life. But we don’t always think about what that really means when it comes to building a business either online or offline, at least, I didn’t realize it anyways.

So what am I getting at here?

Well, it’s simply the fact that when you get into business you need to learn about you, about who you are, what you’re good at, where your strengths really lie. Then leverage those strengths in the best possible way you can for your business.

Let me explain this using my life as an example.

When I first got started in business I heard the concept looking at other people that were successful and then do what they did. So that’s exactly what I did. I saw all these successful people and I started to emulate what I saw them do. The problem that I ran into was that none of the stuff I saw them do seemed to work too well for me.

So instead of sitting back and looking within to find out why things were not working I just went out and found someone else to learn from. And what happened was that I spent years learning from this person than that person about what they were doing to become successful.

This really sucked and was really frustrating. Looking back on this I kind of feel that I was a bit insane. Instead of trying to do something different I was just changed the wall that I was beating my head against. Ouch.

All this changed a while back when I started to look at myself and I really started to learn what I was NATURALLY GOOD AT. What are my natural skill and abilities that I can leverage to produce more without it being a struggle or a push?

(I’m going to talk about The Law of the Lid here a bit so if you haven’t seen this post, I highly recommend that you watch the video.)

I learned that where my strengths lie are not in the public eye. But that’s where I was spending the majority of my time because that’s what my mentors told me to do. Be out in front of the pack and make a name for yourself. This is an area where my starting point was so low on the scale that I could never really become a master at it. On my best days today, I would only say I’m a 5 or a 6 out of ten where other people whose naturally good at this stuff would start at a 5 or a 6.

What I was not told to do was to find a way that generates a cashflow and then expand upon it. But that’s actually where I really do well. I start at a 5 or a 6 here. I’ve always been good with money and with managing where it goes to get the best return out of it.

Have you ever played the game “Cashflow” by Robert KiyosakiI? If you haven’t I highly recommend that you find someone that has it and play it a half dozen times or so. Anyways, this game is designed to teach someone how to get out of the “Rat Race” and to become financially free. (Really cool way to play with money without having to put hard cash on the table.)

I’ve literally played this game over a thousand times (no joke) and looking at what I do in the game compared to what I use to do in real life, there’s no wonder that I struggled, I was not only fighting the world of business but I was fighting myself the whole time. It was like trying to paddle up a raging river thinking that my goal was up the river instead of just going with the flow of it (going with what I’m naturally good at) and just letting the river take me with ease.

I hope that this helps you in someway with your own business journey and I encourage you to take the time to look with in. Look at who you are and what you’re naturally good at. What do you like to do the most in your business? What get’s you the most excited when talking about your business? To find these things, ask someone that you’re close with what they think. Talk to your parents or long time friends. All these people can really help you get a good in-site into yourself and your passions.

And when you discover what these talents are, soak them up. Allow yourself to see what these skill can really do for you and if they dramatically change your outlook towards business and even life like it did for me, let it. You’ll be grateful that you did.

Till the next story.

Steven Downward, signing off.

PS: I also thought that I’d share with you one of the most influential things that I’ve done around learning about my natural skills and abilities. It was something called a “Wealth Profile Test” by “Wealth Dynamics“. For me, when I got the results back from taking this test, my entire life changed for the better. So I would feel kind of crappy if I didn’t share this with you. Now I don’t make a cent if you go and take this test or not but I feet that you needed to know about it because of what it’s done for me.

You can find the test either by Googling “Wealth Profile Test” or “Wealth Dynamics” or you can just click the link above and they’ll take you right to it.

And at the very least, watch the YouTube video that’s half way down that page. It will really help you to understand what the test will give you.