Every person is created with certain gifts, talents, and skills to use as a way of providing for themselves, helping others, and simply enjoy as hobbies. But do you know there are many persons who have not identified what their professional skills are? They are busy trying to copy what someone else does, do what others expect of them, or doing it because it is convenient for them to do. Well how do you know that this is the case for someone who have yet to move in the area of their expertise? It’s really simple. Here are some clues:
If whatever career, job, or business you are doing does not check off ALL THREE boxes below? Then that’s a red flag.
Take Pride. It must be something that you are trained and qualified to do: If you do not have the required training or skill to do your job, then you either need to be trained or are in the wrong profession. If this is a skill or gift that you aspire to, then you must take the time to do whatever it takes to master your craft and to be the best at what you do. Otherwise, there’s not enough respect for your position to take it seriously enough to learn to do it well. If this is truly something you should be doing, then take the time to invest in yourself by being trained. This also gives you focus, because once you are able to pin down what exactly it is you are supposed to do, then you will have focus to place that profession at the top of your priority while everything else is secondary. You won’t be busy all over the place with your professionality. ever met someone that every time you speak to them, they are doing something different and none of them are related? They are just all over the place like a hustler selling watches on the inside of one side of his coat and cigarettes in the other, trying to make a buck? That is not the action of someone who is purposeful, and focused.
Develop value. This must be something that you can be paid to do: If this is not the case, and even if you do it well and enjoy doing it but you are not earning, then this may be a hobby. This step places the value to your talents and skills. It determines how much your ability is worth, and this is determined by how well you do it and how much you have invested into preparing yourself such as being trained for this position. Ever know at least two persons doing the same thing but one seems to be paid more than the other or even seem to be getting the higher paying clients when the other seems to barely be scraping at the bottom of the pot for the leftovers? This is not to say that the latter may not be in the right profession, after all, they could not be managing and valuing themselves well as the other does. Either way, the struggle the latter is having is they have not placed the appropriate value on their profession. They do not know what they are worth so they do not know what to charge and often sell themselves short just to try and land the job. They want to win the bid for the job so much they undercharge to get it. Someone who knows the value of their skills or profession is not afraid to walk away if that ask is not being met and they have more control over how high or even how low they can go without coming in short out of desperation. And because they have mastered their craft, when they do the job they do it with much expertise and pride that it is done well and suddenly, the recipient praises their work to others, adding another layer of value to their craft because great reviews raises the bar of value each time and they become sought out to the point where they can charge more than before and still land the job. Because their clients look at the work that precedes them and agree that its quality and the integrity of their performance deserves what is being charged.
Have Passion. This must be something that you really enjoy doing: At the end of the day, this step is the glue that holds the other two aspects together. In spite of having the ability to perform your job well, or to even be paid for it, if this is not something you enjoy doing and you are doing it out of duty, or the money is good, then this is not the right career for you. Enjoying what you do makes you passionate about it and give you the drive to go the extra mile. If there is no love for what you do, then you can never fully commit to it. Of course you will show up because the money is good, but when the money is the only motivation, then your performance is hinged to if and when you are being paid. You don’t work when someone is not looking. You are not kind and flexible, you are more rigid. Adding passion to your training and value provide the wiggle room for you to ebb and flow in your business. This means you can decide when it is about the money or not. However, if you are all about the passion, but have not placed a value where you are being compensated or are able to do your job well and still show up to do it every time, then this may be a charity. Love to do something that you do well but not being paid for it is being charitable, so this may not be the right profession for you.
Being in the right profession or business MUST encompass all three above and none of them are exempted. If your profession is missing one or two of the above, then it is no longer a profession and it becomes something else like a side gig, a hobby, or a charity.
I am known as a person that is a Jack of all trades and master of none. I have the immense ability to teach myself anything I want to learn how to do. I master the creative arts, I could do almost anything creative. I was a singer, I could design and make clothes, dance, create graphics and design websites, an Interior Designer, an event decorator. Those were some of the things I was very skillful at and much like the hustler above, every time I was doing something different. On New Years Day in 2001 I was sitting at my office desk where I was a records distributions manager (totally unrelated to anything I listed above) and suddenly something in my head asked me one question that changed my life forever. It said “If I were to ask you what your profession is, what would it be?” And I could not answer. There was no professional title to describe everything I did without looking like a street hustler peddling here and there for a buck. And I became overwhelmed and started to cry, and God stepped in because of course it was his Holy Spirit that asked that question of me because God was getting ready to teach me to define myself and become more purposeful. So he told me to grab a pen and paper because in the next 30 or so minutes we were going to decide just what my profession or area of expertise was, separate from what were side gigs, hobbies or charity. What God told me to do is now going to become your assignment of the exercise that you will do.