Last week, I read an article on a new (to me) website, Men With Pens. In it, James talks about an offer he received from someone who wanted to write a guest post for the website. His first instinct was to wonder why someone in the fitness community would want to write for a business/marketing website. He received an answer from this person that was an excellent explanation of how to reach across niches and explore ones you might have thought were unrelated to your area of expertise. In part, he was talking about how to recognize the value we all have, and how much broader that value is than just that one area.
It’s great advice, and something we don’t think about as much as we should. I’ve always felt that most people undervalue themselves. A lot.
We all have what we consider to be our areas of expertise. Whether we’re in the world of tech, or marketing, or medicine, or whether we stay home and take care of our kids and run a household, we all have what we consider to be our particular specialty. We’re pretty comfortable there; if someone asks us a question in that area, we’re usually able to provide them with a good answer. So when we start to think about what we can offer that has value, we pretty much restrict our options to that one area.
But this is a terribly limiting way to think about ourselves. Is that really all we have to offer? Just that one little tiny sliver of who we are and what we can do? I don’t think so. Within that one area of expertise (and outside of it) are actually dozens and dozens of other related areas we have experience in. Let’s use Bunker Hubby as an example. He is a Land Surveyor. But within that profession, there are a multitude of areas he also has experience and knowledge in. He owns his own small business, so he knows about running a small business. From his experience in dealing with the construction industry, he can tell you how to pick a general contractor or a home inspector . He can give you insight into getting things done in small-town government, because he deals with small-town government every week. He can even talk to you about how to teach kids math, because he has a part-time job teaching surveying (which involves a LOT of math) at the local community college.
Here’s another example. After I read the article on Men With Pens, I scrolled down and read the comments, as I usually do on articles I find interesting. One of the commentors (we’ll call him Matt) claimed that his niche (estimating tile for commercial construction) was fairly limited, and that there weren’t any other areas he could consider himself “expert” in. I commented that I thought Matt was wrong; after years in the construction business, there are plenty of things he has undoubtedly gained knowledge about. Here’s a quick list of areas he might have knowledge in just off the top of my head: Running a small business, Choosing a contractor, Understanding building codes, Project management, Customer service, and Being your own handyman. The list is virtually endless.
We’re all prone to doing this. It’s easy to forget and discount the talents, skills, and knowledge we’ve picked up over the years. The problem is that once we’ve gained that knowledge and those skills, we tend to forget that not everyone has them, too. We think, “Gee, if I was able to learn about that skill, it must be easy. Everyone must have this knowledge too. It’s not a big deal.” But everyone doesn’t have that knowledge. We need to remember that the knowledge we have is valuable to others; the skills we have are ones that other people don’t necessarily have.
Once we understand this, we begin to see ourselves in a new light. We start to place actual value on what we know and what we can do. I’ll use myself as a final example. I have a degree in social work, but my last five jobs have been: Executive assistant, customer service VP for a startup software company, business owner and primary artist of a jewelry-making company, blog editor, and now the owner of a food-related website. And that’s just in the last five years, and doesn’t include the things I’ve done as a volunteer, such as Secretary for our Town Planning Committee and for a local mom’s support club.
So take a long, hard look at what you know. You’ll find things there that would be of value to someone else – and you never know where that might lead you.
{ 2 comments }
I had a similar experience years ago when I was running a greeting card store. I was talking to one of my regular customers one day about how I’d like to get out of retail, but I didn’t have experience with anything else. “Wait a minute,” she said, “You’re the manager here, right? So you’ve got experience in HR, scheduling, managing other people, all aspects of customer service, etc.” And she was absolutely right! I had never looked at it that way. So then the key to my resume, when I applied at non-retail jobs, was to make THEM see it that way. Instead of a job or experience-based resume, I made a skills-based resume. And it worked!
. I guess you struck a chord over here.
Carry on. I just felt like sharing my story
Great post, Trish. I think you should add to your own skillset list the ability to help others see themselves in a new light
In my current job (which I hope to have for a long time into the future!) I’ve been blessed to bring to the forefront and improve upon graphic design skills which I had downplayed when applying because the job (and my title) is web-focused. I really enjoy doing both. Plus, I’m able to be a resource for teaching co-workers software skills.
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