Finding your value is done best from a public platform and blogs can help you determine what is valuable about yourself.
I am not good at this at all. Yet. Going through the experience of writing a book and then trying to get the word out about it was simply something I had any idea about how to do. I figured this is the publisher’s job.
It is the publisher’s job, but the publisher can’t really do much if you are uncertain about what it is you are actually trying to give to people. I like my book, and there are many people who like it as well, but, I’ve been caught between the stools of writing what I know and feel without really understanding how it can actually help others. So, my confidence to go out and say, ”Get my book, it will help you with x, y, or z.”
Blogging is different, you write what you know and feel and through doing that you develop an ability to create content whenever you want. But the real trick in all of this and the key to understanding niches, keywords, SEO and so on is having a clear picture of what problem a particular article, video or book actually solves.
This is the realm of the expert. You must be clear on what problem you solve, who has those problems and create some proven results with your solutions so that you can say it actually helped someone in some way.
Joel Roberts whose topic is ”The Language of Impact” gave a presentation that I attended which was absolutely sensational. What a gift to have been there! His topic is training people to be effective in communicating their mission.
His training is simply this, you have to be able to say here is the problem and here is the solution in a short effective and moving way. If you don’t know this it is difficult to define yourself in the marketplace and nobody wants to listen to you, because you yourself doesn’t know what you are actually about.
This has been my personal dilema. Answering the question about what value you have and what problem does that solve is the principle challenge in any business.
Singing opera is pretty straight forward, an opera company is doing an opera and I can sing the tenor role. In fact, this skill is a fairly rare one in the world. First off, you actually have to be able to sing the role, secondly it helps if you look the part and thirdly you have to be able to act it. Probably the job of a opera singer is, singing first, acting second, looking the part third and then if you are a good musician, dependable and healthy you will likely get hired. If your singing is compelling enough, the other requirements are nice but not necessarily critical to have a career in opera, although most who are pretty successful have the other values as well.
But, in talking about the arts and how using the arts to help people in other areas of life is a challenge. Obviously artists have a much different take on things than do business people. I go to business events and usually I am the only artist in the room. Everyone else is trying to make a million dollars, I am just trying to be beautiful.
You see, this discussion can take you down a lot of roads. Because what does being beautiful mean? Flowers are beautiful, but why? So bees will polinate and help their species grow. Being beautiful means being attractive, having an ability to draw things to you in whatever way possible.
The level of beauty has degrees of depth. It is the depth of that beauty, the ability to attract, which brings things closer to the core. It is the point where beauty ends, that determines the level of engagement that those things which are attracted to it will engage.
Some people are beautiful, you are attracted to them, you get to know them a little bit, but sometimes you discover that there isn’t a whole lot more you can do with them, because they don’t attract you at a deeper level. This isn’t about love relationships, although I guess it does apply there, but about relationships, about businesses and about everything a person wants to do in life. All show and no go is one of the biggest disappointments life has to offer.
Obviously, it is reciprocal. Others are also evaluating their level of attraction to you at the same time. So, this game of unconscious evaluation is constantly going on.
Business is no different. There are a lot of beautiful stores out there, but they leave you cold when you walk in them. Now, obviously not everyone feels this way or they would be out of business. But, the fact remains. You involve yourself with a business because it attracts you and you feel comfortable there.
Today, in business, there are two principle areas in which a business succeeds. The first way is through low prices, or the appearance of having a low price. Secondly, it is through quality at whatever price. Obviously, for each type, the genre plays a big role.
But the point is, beauty resonates with people on an intrinsic level that they are probably not aware of. Going into a massive discount department store where you can get all kinds of stuff for a cheap price makes me feel crumby. Although I hate it, I still go there to get specific things, but really am usually disappointed in the quality of the goods.
So, anyway. I degressed, but that is okay, because I made a discovery.
I discovered that ”beauty” is necessary for success in any pursuit. That is a piece of value which could benefit someone.
So, basically, the point of the article is to use a blog to roam your thoughts and pull out kernals of value, which can be used to clarify your solution to a problem, making you more valuable in the marketplace.
”Using the power of the arts in you to create a beautiful life.” A beautiful life can be created when you become a person of beauty, whatever that value means to you, and then you attract beautiful things into your life.
Just to touch on another topic, which is the seed of my next project, whatever it is you want in life, you can get, but you won’t get it if you prevent it from coming to you. It can not come to you if you are unconsciously rejecting it due to an element of unattractiveness or straight out blockage. It may not even be your fault, but the fault of the thing you are trying to attract. Because even if a piece of candy is great, and has a pecan in it, and you want to sell candy, those who don’t want pecans in it, will not buy it. That doesn’t make you wrong for having a pecan in your chocolate, but it means that not necessarily that which you want will want what you have. It could be, they don’t like chocolate at all.
Discovering a mission in life. Defining clearly what you are about. Creating a word that defines your mission is probably the most difficult but worthwhile tasks we have to do. Because like Joel Roberts says, if someone wants a box of corn flakes and doesn’t immediately relate you with it, you are going to have a hard time selling corn flakes.
This can be as simple as selling cola. The first thing most people the world over think of is Coke, Coca-Cola. Chicken – Kentucky Fried Chicken. Coffee – Starbucks and Donuts – Dunkin Doughnuts.
Blogs can help you move a generic message to a targeted message of clarity and strength.
I’m still searching for the two items, the problem and the solution I can provide and why that is important and valuable to my niche market.
- You: Your value
- Solution: How your value helps
- Problem: What is the problem you value solves.
- Niche: Who has that or those problems
- Products: What ‘thing’ can you sell which can transfer your value.
- Marketing: How to get your niche to see your products.
- Sales: Monetizing your value.
Above all, the decision on your mission, staying true to it once you discover it, and tayloring it to better fill a need is what any person who wants to become successful in their chosen endeavor needs to do to be effective.