But I don’t have experience doing anything, and I’m definitely not an expert…
How to find your experience and expertise today
Believe it or not, I hear this from A LOT of people, and every single time I do, I think back to when I was in Corporate America, saying something quite similar to myself: There’s no way I could start my own business – I don’t have experience or expertise in doing anything extraordinary – what would my business even “be about”?
Now that’s just crazy – to think that after 27 years of living LIFE I would actually question whether or not I had experience or expertise.
OF COURSE I have experience and expertise doing something. And if we want to get real – I actually have experience and expertise doing A LOT of somethings.
My first step to finding any of these experiences and my expertise was taking Sally Hogshead’s How To Fascinate test.
How the world sees you
After taking Sally’s Fascination test, I was able to uncover – through her report and results – what I’m BEST at, and of equal importance, what I’m NOT best at base don how others see me.
Before taking Sally’s test, I always thought it was about what I thought I had experience and expertise doing. It turns out, it’s way more about what others see in me, and how I can leverage that in both life and in business to differentiate myself and make myself most valuable.
Taking this test changed my outlook and the way I work here at EntrepreneurOnFire.
Always questioning ideas
But even up to a few weeks ago, I found myself seriously doubting why I was doing something: questioning an idea from all different angles.
In fact, I was questioning an idea before John and I had even decided whether or not we were going to do it in the first place.
Am I being crazy?!
Typical Kate & John convo in the EOFire studio:
John shares an awesome idea.
Kate questions it from 10 different angles.
Kate & John go back and forth for a while.
Kate & John come to an agreement around whether or not whatever the idea will actually be implemented.
A prime example, and what really got me thinking about this altogether:
A few weeks ago John shared an awesome idea, and before I had even started my sentence, which would result in a lot of questioning, I could hear my own voice in my head… I was thinking to myself: “Why on earth do you question EVERY idea?! Just do it!”
Yesterday, it hit me: Sally’s test revealed this to me nearly 2 years ago! My superpower has to do with being very thorough, detail-oriented, having a plan in place…
This questioning I’m always doing – it’s an ability – it’s another one of my experiences, and really, something I consider myself quite expert at.
That’s when I realized that this isn’t a negative, or a quality to shove to the side; it’s something I should leverage at every opportunity because it’s going to make everything we create better (and perhaps keep us from moving forward with something that could be bad for the business).
How to find (and leverage) your experience and expertise today
You can’t always sit down and just say: “Today I will find or discover all of my experiences and what I’m expert at so I can start leveraging them.” Would be nice, through, right?
Turns out, I’ve been questioning ideas since I was probably about 3 years old. And when I was in high school, and my friends wanted to do something that sounded way too risky for me, I would question that, too. And when I was working at the marketing & advertising agency, it was a huge part of my job responsibility to question ideas.
You think my client wants me to just say “yes” to every single idea I hear from them, or that I see come across my desk from the creative department? No way – that wouldn’t make me a very good Account Executive to not be asking “What if?” and “If we do that, then what about…?”
So next time you have an idea, or you come up with a new process or plan for something, or you’re simply having a conversation with your accountability partner or mastermind, really make it a point to pay attention to the things you tend to do when thinking things over. Pay attention to the way you react to others’ ideas and plans.
Then, think about how that relates to your Fascination Advantage.
Based on How The World Sees You, how can you embrace your experience and expertise and start leveraging it (as opposed to trying to suppress it) today?
