BusinessDay... the voice of business: Building multiple skills of income

Building multiple skills of income
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JUDE NDU on 08 April, 2008 12:00:00
 
Just as the internet has been adapted faster than any other news media or
technology-so are our skills set obliged to develop rapidly.
There are certain skills you must cultivate if you wish to finally develop your
talents financially. When it comes to the issue of making money, the traditional
skill most people around here (this part of the world) are familiar with is
working hard. I will rather propose that it takes an intelligent synergy of your
skills to make, making money quite cheap for any of us. This I am convinced and
strongly persuaded about. In the long run, it will take your synergy of skills
to achieve economies of scale in success.
Develop your research skills
For example, a good research skill is very important for your career
advancement. Good research skill will help you get a good job. Asking questions
and finding answers is what research is all about. If you know where to go or
the person to ask to get answers to your questions you’ve developed a skill
that you can use all your life, in career and in many everyday situations.
When you do research, you not only find information but you also access how
accurate and reliable the information is, undoubtedly power goes to those
individuals who can focus on a problem, search for evidence and facts concerned
with it ,extract the ideas and present them orally or in written form. The skill
and arrangement of researching evidence and presenting arguments is one of the
great human activities which should be greatly encouraged and taught.
Develop your writing skills
Nothing will be as important as to your professional success as the ability to
write well no matter what career path you choose to follow .you ma y able to
land a first job offer after graduation and without a strong writing ability,
but promotions and recognition will get harder at each level. Engineers,
Business people, Entrepreneurs, Nurses, Technicians and Teachers write far more
than you think and always there’s more to writing as careers advance. For
example, Joseph is a carpenter-a physical labours work right? That was true as
long as Joseph worked for a boss. But Joseph wanted to be independent, keep more
of his profit and do more creative carpentry, so he established a small
three-person building company and found himself writing more and more and
hammering less and less. He writes letters to inspectors explaining variation in
housing codes and handling complaints, he writes persuasive complaint letter to
customers and suppliers when he feels cheated. He writes accurate descriptions
of additions or remodeling so customers can visualize them. He’s become
sensitive to audience tone and word choice knowing that they sell his houses
furniture as much as his reputation for professional craftsmanship. His come to
realize his business success has a lot to do with his business as a writer.
Many talented people work hard at only one job or one business; yes, they earn
a fair income but never hit the bull’s eyes Big money because they only use a
small fraction of their skills. If they only have enough courage and drive to
branch out and use more of their skills they might have enough money and have
more fun in life. It is much more financially gratifying using your multiplicity
of skills for people and for profit.
Skills are the result of your continuing education, experience, and exposure to
other experts. The combination of these three elements makes up your skill sets.
Every one from you and your friends have unique skills to sell to prospective
buyers at your own price. Every skill has one or more potential buyer. An
anxious man makes sales but at the buyers price. A relaxed, confident man is
patient and sells at his own asking price.
Most people think of skills only in formal terms such as the skills of an
accountant, engineer, lawyer or medical doctor. But these are only examples of
hard skills. What about an artist, a photographer, a song writer? Aren’t these
people skilled? Yes, they are but there’s one important difference between the
first and the latter group. The first have undergone years of formal and
specialized school. While most if not all, of those in the second category are
self-schooled.
You must always seek out new ways to use your skills. Don’t sit back and
relax while you only use one skill. You must go out and sell the second or third
skill. If you know only one skill, learn a second or third one. Take a course in
evening school or by correspondence. Increasing your skills will impact your
commercial value.
The quickest way to profit from your skills is by using them regularly and
actively thus, you make money while improving yourself and your skills. The
quickest to loose your skills is not by using them, therefore you loose in two
ways: 1. Your skills become dull
2. You don’t earn income from them
Never allow your skills to grow dull. If you have to work for free even for
just some few hours to keep it sharp and up-to-date, do it. Sharpen your skills
by enrolling for professional courses, reading the best magazines and
periodicals available on the subject matter, reading books in the area of your
specialization and by extension, attending meeting of trade groups of your local
area of chambers of commerce. No matter how good you are, you can always
improve. The biggest room in the world is that for self improvement and self
actualization, in Japanese philosophy, it is called kaizen. That is-”by
increasing quality continuously, you also increase productivity”
It is true that nobody is perfect but that should not be your own excuse for
not seeking to perfect your skills. That is, the desire to be the very best you
can.
Diversifying your skills leverages your chances for wealth .you cannot build a
fortune selling one skill, being in one business or marketing one product .no
matter where or how you diversify you stand chances of gaining. You can
diversify on a job almost as easily as you can in a business. Many of the
successful chief executives I have studied and read about reached their highest
paying position by diversifying, taking on more responsibilities in diver’s
duties. Soon, they become multi skilled able to deal with any and many problem
that might arise, their diversity of skills leads them to quick advancement and
bigger earnings. One important and highly beneficial aspect of diversifying is
the greater confidence you’ll gain. Having more than one source of income
reassures you and makes you confident in yourself. You are more relaxed, thus
you do a better job and obtain better result. Xerox Corporation (the document
company), one of the phenomenal success story in corporate history had its sale
“multiply” in six years. Yet this great company keeps pushing ahead for new
products, services and methods of production. Joseph C. Wilson, the then chief
executive officer had diversification on his mind for two reasons:
1.It helps keep the company
2.It is a positive action against a too-narrow product line. If you don’t
diversify, you disappear-he comments.
Diversify and your chances of building a fortress for fortune are great. Sit
back and wait for luck to come and you’ll have a long, long wait.
How to develop new skills
Try to flash back on you past life. Did most of the dreams you desired come to
pass? Did you get the job you wanted? If you did, then you can make most of your
dreams materialize. When you imagine you have achieved the success you want, you
release positive forces in your direction. These positive forces increase your
chance of success when you face real life situations .Your dreams, vision and
values prepare you for success and you act professional, even though you may be
using the skill for the very first time. Mental skill is by far the most
important human development skill. Simulations by assimilation stimulate your
mental power.
Find your best skill building time. You must find the best time for yourself by
trying to imagine yourself using your new skill. The best time of all is just
immediately after you awake in the morning or before you retire to bed in the
evening. I call this period my morning and evening meditation quite time.
Kathryn Kulman once said “noise is the absolute absence of power”.
Meditation is extremely powerful. Images built at this time are more vivid and
retained longer. The success you imagine while relaxed seems to build a greater
driving force. John C. Maxwell in his book- the 17 Essential Laws of a Team
Player, says- “if you study the life of the truly great individuals who have
influenced the world, you will find out that in virtually every case they spend
considerable amount of time contemplating, meditating, and listening”.
Time alone is very essential to skill improvement. It allows you to gain
perspective, sharpen your vision and enables you to plan how you can improve in
the future. Devote about fifteen to thirty minutes daily to force feed your mind
with vivid scene of yourself acting successfully. If you do, your chances of
becoming as successful as you imagine are extremely good. Some of the world’s
most successful men have attested to this. W. Clement Stone, an oratorio alger
award winner and author of several manuals on the potential powers of the mind,
firmly believes that his extra ordinary success(he accumulated wealth in excess
of three million dollars)is due to the power of positive self-imaging. Mr. Stone
once said that U.S president Richard Nixon told him that if it were not for Mr.
Stone’s book, “The Success System that Never Fails”, Nixon wouldn’t have
reentered politics after his gubernatorial defeat in California.
If a person’s self image is working against him, he won’t get far
regardless of his effort. On the other hand, if his self image is an automatic
steering mechanism driving him towards success, he will expend any effort
necessary for success. If his self-image is success oriented, even a person
lacking education or experience will be comfortable rubbing shoulder with the
kind of successful men he knows he is going to be.