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Abstract

id="7f23">Find What Sets You Apart</h1><p id="325f">The same way I was able to use my prior experience with a brewery to my advantage, you need to identify what parts of your life make you unique.</p><p id="d567">Ask yourself this: <i>How does the unique combination of my passions, skills, and experiences differentiate me from others in my space?</i></p><p id="250b">When you get to the root of that question, you will have found a niche you can operate in where it is likely that you will find success, if there is a market.</p><p id="6fe6">Here’s an example from my limited writing experience:</p><p id="8bd9">When I first started writing it was mainly about sports — running specifically. I used to write for blogs, news sites and occasionally magazines.</p><p id="bfd3">A few years down the line and I had my first experience of a mental health issue. At the time, I wasn’t exercising at all. I’d lost all motivation and will to run — or do anything. As it turned out, it was one of the reasons I had fallen down the dark hole that I was in.</p><p id="16c5">When things reached rock bottom, I reluctantly went to a psychologist who diagnosed me and suggested the only way out was through anti-depressants. I persisted with a few brands and could not live with the side-effects they came with.</p><p id="1633">As with most things I do, I jumped head first and decided to find a way out myself. I spent hours combing through articles, papers, and journals on mental health issues. Eventually, I discovered one of the most effective ways to counter the hormonal imbalances associated with depression was exercise.</p><p id="2c55">Therein lies an intersection of two topics I know a fair bit about: mental health and exercise. My guess is there are few people out there who have the depth of experience I have with both topics, who have the ability and willingness to write about it.</p><p id="60d3">The takeaway: Find an intersection of your experiences and passions and choose how you’re going to use your unique cocktail to provide value for other people.</p><h1 id="3998">Go Deep, Not Wide</h1><p id="3923"><a href="https://seths.blog/">Seth Godin</a> said: “If you want to dig a deep hole, you have to stay in one place.”</p><p id="ffad" type="7">“If you want to dig a deep hole, you have to stay in one place.” — Seth Godin</p><p id="1e17">Becoming an expert in a field requires spending the time to find out and experience as much as you can about the industry. You have to do more than the person competing with you is willing to do. You have to stay focused on the task at hand.</p><p id="0e24">Although we have access to more information now than ever before, it can also be one of the biggest inhibitors of useful progress and success. Because there are so many options, and so many things vying for our attention, it’s too easy to get pulled away from the things that matter and towards those which aren’t going to make a difference to your end goal.</p><p id="d8e5">When you’re going through the process of thinking about where you should spend your time, find your niche and then commit to it. It’s really easy to say, “I’ll do a little bit of this, and a little bit of that,” but that’s what everyone does.</p><p id="90d6">To set yourself apart, you have to find something to go deep on.</p><p id="16dc">James Clear’s theory of getting 1% better every day illustrates this perfectly. The maths behind it is sound, too.</p><p id="9789">If you improve yourself in a certain area by 1% every day for a year, you’ll be 37 times better at that skill by the end of 365 days.</p><p id="4cf2">To put that in perspective: Say you’ve got a business development role which is directly aligned with increasing company revenue. Your company’s current annual revenue is $1 000 000. That’s on average,$ 2739 per day(<b>*</b>). If you grow that amount by 1%, you will need to increase the daily revenue by $28 on day one. If you’re a Saas company, that might mean signing on just one more customer per day. If you improved consistently by 1% for a year, your company would be bringing in$ 37 000 000 by year-end.</p><p id="13b5">T

Options

hat theory doesn’t hold if you spread that 1% across multiple projects. You’ve only got a finite amount of time and energy to spend in a day. If you spread yourself too thin, you won’t be able to improve the skill that really matters by 1%.</p><p id="5597">Find something you want to become an expert in, and then go deep.</p><p id="6927">(*) This doesn’t account for public holidays or weekends, but I just left it as it is for simplicity purposes.</p><h1 id="ee5d">Value Your Time Correctly</h1><p id="ed2e">On platforms like Upwork and Freelancer.com, it can be tempting to try and underbid other applicants for contracts. You think that as someone who is looking for a job to be done, price is the most important factor that they consider.</p><p id="06fd">For some, it is. Be sure to identify those sorts of prospects and don’t waste your time with them. You’re looking for someone who needs your particular set of skills. Don’t get into a race to the bottom.</p><p id="3e07">When you find a good match, stick to your cost and then justify it. If they need what you’re offering — you’ll find a fit.</p><h1 id="f339">80/20 Principle</h1><p id="cdde">Once you’ve nailed down a few paying customers and are earning money, you should start optimizing your income.</p><p id="0893">There’s no better principle to follow than the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle">Pareto Principle</a>. It states the 80% of the outcomes are as a result of 20% of the effort. That means you should find the 20% that is generating most of your income and focus your time and effort on that.</p><p id="ff7e">That 20% might be a certain customer or it might be a certain category. Identify it and then ignore the rest. Schedule a review of your income streams periodically. I do it quarterly.</p><h1 id="5713">Keep At It</h1><p id="76d4">I know, it’s a cliche. But it is more applicable today than ever before.</p><p id="9477">Because there are just so many options out there for anyone looking to make money (online especially), it’s easy to try and stick your fingers in too many pies.</p><p id="c6a8">When that happens, you often don’t make any meaningful progress, become demotivated and never get to the end goal: making some extra money.</p><p id="4bca">So find something which someone wants (preferably, needs) where you can deliver a quality product with your set of skills, and then buckle down and make that revenue stream your primary goal. Use the methods and tips above to keep you on track and then keep at it — day after day.</p><p id="2cc8">If you can overcome most of the hurdles that other people haven’t been able to by sticking it out, you’ll soon find yourself with a nice, steady income stream.</p><h1 id="2201">More Reading</h1><p id="2d9b">Here are some other articles you might like on the topic of business & making money:</p><div id="fb5c" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-get-your-business-noticed-with-little-to-no-marketing-budget-19ac5a11f060"> <div> <div> <h2>How to Get Your Business Noticed With Little to No Marketing Budget</h2> <div><h3>Its simple, easy, and something every business can implement.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*Dkt3BVaMK7o2Le_VFnQISg.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="24b0" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/how-to-negotiate-your-salary-c53a88a18f8d"> <div> <div> <h2>How to Negotiate Your Salary</h2> <div><h3>And make sure you get fairly compensated.</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*knl3R4mFsTOSB1vGv4cuKQ.png)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

How to Use Your Skills to Boost Your Income

And attract long-term paying clients.

Be unique, like this orange. (It was mainly just a cool image, I thought). Modified from a photo by davisco on Unsplash

There are a lot of posts about “How I made $10,000 in my first month as a writer” and “The best side hustles to make you an extra income every month.”

It can be overwhelming being bombarded with information on how well everyone else is doing, while you’re bringing in a measly amount every month.

I know when I started writing, the road to earning any money online seemed never-ending.

This post will give you some actionable steps to identify your unique set of skills and assets which you can use to make you some extra money online and then how best to go about doing exactly that.

By following these guidelines, I supplement my fixed monthly income (a salary from my full-time job) from anywhere between $590 (first month) to $2290 (highest month).

Be a Pain-Killer, Not a Vitamin

The most important part of being paid well is making sure you are solving a problem that only a few other people are.

If you are one in one hundred million who can do what you do, the likelihood is that your particular set of skills is not highly sought after in that area.

Through the principals of supply and demand, we know that you won’t be able to charge a premium for your services. If your skills are easily replaceable, someone else who is cheaper will step through the door.

Elon Musk said:

You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve.

To make money consistently, you have to find a problem that people need to be solved.

You’ve probably heard of the pain-killer vs. vitamin product comparison. A vitamin-type product is one that might be good for the user, but it’s not necessarily something that they absolutely need.

Think efficiency (vitamin) versus necessity (pain-killer).

Asana is a good example of a vitamin. Very few people absolutely need a project management app. There are more basic tools you can use to track the progress of projects (like Gantt charts, manual, or on a computer). Asana makes that process intuitive and easy. For some, it is worth paying the fee to use the software which makes their life and jobs easier. But if you took it away, their business likely wouldn’t be completely jeopardized.

A pain killer product is one that solves a big pain point for the user.

An example of a pain killer is an online payment provider. Without them, you can’t receive money efficiently online.

The previous norm was direct transfer payments. The process was slow, and required effort from the user and often led to a decrease in conversions. So someone decided to improve the process. Heard of PayPal?

PayPal’s early success was largely due to how it improved the checkout process on eBay. The increase in efficiency at the point of checkout increased conversion rates for sellers and soon everyone needed this payment method.

The amount of online payment providers available today is evidence enough that what they created was something online businesses absolutely needed — and still do.

PayPal created a painkiller product.

The just of it is; if you consistently solve problems that matter for someone who needs a solution, you will always have paying clients.

Find What Sets You Apart

The same way I was able to use my prior experience with a brewery to my advantage, you need to identify what parts of your life make you unique.

Ask yourself this: How does the unique combination of my passions, skills, and experiences differentiate me from others in my space?

When you get to the root of that question, you will have found a niche you can operate in where it is likely that you will find success, if there is a market.

Here’s an example from my limited writing experience:

When I first started writing it was mainly about sports — running specifically. I used to write for blogs, news sites and occasionally magazines.

A few years down the line and I had my first experience of a mental health issue. At the time, I wasn’t exercising at all. I’d lost all motivation and will to run — or do anything. As it turned out, it was one of the reasons I had fallen down the dark hole that I was in.

When things reached rock bottom, I reluctantly went to a psychologist who diagnosed me and suggested the only way out was through anti-depressants. I persisted with a few brands and could not live with the side-effects they came with.

As with most things I do, I jumped head first and decided to find a way out myself. I spent hours combing through articles, papers, and journals on mental health issues. Eventually, I discovered one of the most effective ways to counter the hormonal imbalances associated with depression was exercise.

Therein lies an intersection of two topics I know a fair bit about: mental health and exercise. My guess is there are few people out there who have the depth of experience I have with both topics, who have the ability and willingness to write about it.

The takeaway: Find an intersection of your experiences and passions and choose how you’re going to use your unique cocktail to provide value for other people.

Go Deep, Not Wide

Seth Godin said: “If you want to dig a deep hole, you have to stay in one place.”

“If you want to dig a deep hole, you have to stay in one place.” — Seth Godin

Becoming an expert in a field requires spending the time to find out and experience as much as you can about the industry. You have to do more than the person competing with you is willing to do. You have to stay focused on the task at hand.

Although we have access to more information now than ever before, it can also be one of the biggest inhibitors of useful progress and success. Because there are so many options, and so many things vying for our attention, it’s too easy to get pulled away from the things that matter and towards those which aren’t going to make a difference to your end goal.

When you’re going through the process of thinking about where you should spend your time, find your niche and then commit to it. It’s really easy to say, “I’ll do a little bit of this, and a little bit of that,” but that’s what everyone does.

To set yourself apart, you have to find something to go deep on.

James Clear’s theory of getting 1% better every day illustrates this perfectly. The maths behind it is sound, too.

If you improve yourself in a certain area by 1% every day for a year, you’ll be 37 times better at that skill by the end of 365 days.

To put that in perspective: Say you’ve got a business development role which is directly aligned with increasing company revenue. Your company’s current annual revenue is $1 000 000. That’s on average, $2739 per day(*). If you grow that amount by 1%, you will need to increase the daily revenue by $28 on day one. If you’re a Saas company, that might mean signing on just one more customer per day. If you improved consistently by 1% for a year, your company would be bringing in $37 000 000 by year-end.

That theory doesn’t hold if you spread that 1% across multiple projects. You’ve only got a finite amount of time and energy to spend in a day. If you spread yourself too thin, you won’t be able to improve the skill that really matters by 1%.

Find something you want to become an expert in, and then go deep.

(*) This doesn’t account for public holidays or weekends, but I just left it as it is for simplicity purposes.

Value Your Time Correctly

On platforms like Upwork and Freelancer.com, it can be tempting to try and underbid other applicants for contracts. You think that as someone who is looking for a job to be done, price is the most important factor that they consider.

For some, it is. Be sure to identify those sorts of prospects and don’t waste your time with them. You’re looking for someone who needs your particular set of skills. Don’t get into a race to the bottom.

When you find a good match, stick to your cost and then justify it. If they need what you’re offering — you’ll find a fit.

80/20 Principle

Once you’ve nailed down a few paying customers and are earning money, you should start optimizing your income.

There’s no better principle to follow than the Pareto Principle. It states the 80% of the outcomes are as a result of 20% of the effort. That means you should find the 20% that is generating most of your income and focus your time and effort on that.

That 20% might be a certain customer or it might be a certain category. Identify it and then ignore the rest. Schedule a review of your income streams periodically. I do it quarterly.

Keep At It

I know, it’s a cliche. But it is more applicable today than ever before.

Because there are just so many options out there for anyone looking to make money (online especially), it’s easy to try and stick your fingers in too many pies.

When that happens, you often don’t make any meaningful progress, become demotivated and never get to the end goal: making some extra money.

So find something which someone wants (preferably, needs) where you can deliver a quality product with your set of skills, and then buckle down and make that revenue stream your primary goal. Use the methods and tips above to keep you on track and then keep at it — day after day.

If you can overcome most of the hurdles that other people haven’t been able to by sticking it out, you’ll soon find yourself with a nice, steady income stream.