Identify Your Skills, Talents And Believe In Yourself!

"I'd like to go into business for myself but what could I do that someone else would buy?" Because I hear this statement from dozens of people every week. I've decided to explore two key issues: One, how to identify your marketable talents. And two, why it's important to develop positive self-belief.

I'm constantly amazed at how often I hear people say they work on jobs they do not like and make salaries with which they're not satisfied. When I suggest that they identify their real skills and interests - the activities that excite their passions - and focus their daily activities on finding jobs or starting businesses that will make their skills pay off, they stare at me with blank expression; as if to say working at what one likes is a blasphemy instead of a blessing.

The truth is every one of us has a talent or skill we enjoy, have mastered, and are renowned for among friends and relatives. Whether it's singing, writing, cooking, repairing cars, organizing parties, even babysitting, we use these talents or skills everyday. These same skills are your most valued assets and the keys to your success as a self-employed person.

Therefore, an individual who wants to go into business should begin by taking a daily activities inventory. Consider how you spend your time everyday. Are your daily activities consistent with your interests, goals and aspirations?

For example, do you like to type? Start a secretarial service! Are your friends always asking you to bring that favorite pie or dish to the family picnic? Why not consider starting a catering service? Do you receive a constant string of compliments for your fashion flair, color sense or custom designs? Maybe your future is as a fashion designer or image consultant.

To create your own job, you have to look at yourself as a collection of skills and talents that have value to yourself and others. Take note of the traits that others notice about you and comment on (either in admiration or envy). In the process of identifying your skills and talents, rank them in terms of your interest in them and their perceived value. Eventually, you will discover the assets that comprise your personal platform for supporting the business or job that can secure your economic future.

One saying we use at Self Employment Leadership Forum, Inc. (SELF) is "Before You Can Believe It, You've Got To Believe It." This means that before you can sell anything to anyone else or achieve any kind of success, you first have to sell it to and believe in yourself. A disturbing insight is how hard it is for people to see value in themselves and, therefore, their skills and talents. Ironically, in self-evaluation, people often devalue their own skills and talents, while others recognize, covet and even envy these attributes.

One student in our workshop, Denise Cribbs, related how at least 25 people had at one time or another asked her to bake a cake or prepare a meal for a church social or other event. Those people were acknowledging her cooking talents, offering, in most cases, to pay her. Yet Cribbs talked herself out of taking advantage of this economic opportunity, saying, "Cooking? No one would pay me to do that." Most of you will recognize this scenario of self-doubt and personal devaluation.

In another case, there's the late Azell Mance, a self-employed businessman fo 33 years, who created a second career for himself by writing and marketing a new book, "How To Buy A Car Without Getting Cheated". Mance managed to get the book into select Chicago Walgreens Drug Stores and bookstores and had inquiries about the book from as far away as California and Canada. He accomplished this despite the fact that he'd never written a book before in his life, and he published the book himself without support from a publishing house.

Mance's story illustrtes that he possesses two valuable attributes: an unquenchable belief in himself and the drive to turn his self-belief into profits. The seeds of success are within you and your belief in self. Jesse Jackson said, "Your attitude determines the altitude your aptitude will carry you to." To find your millions, you have to learn that you can achieve anything you believe you can.