Understanding Your Strengths & Weaknesses

Good morning and for those of you in the States, I hope your
Thanksgiving holiday was relaxing and fun. I tend to get
especially introspective this time of year, and I want to
encourage you to do the same. Not everyone does a good job of
this, but it's an important part of your growth -- mentally,
emotionally, spiritually and even financially.

Today I want you to think about the things you try to do which
are not core strengths or talents. Things you have no practical
experience doing, that are a BIG stretch, and frankly a waste of
your time. Let me give you some examples.

I have no business opening the hood of a car.

When my car stops working properly, I can open the hood and
stare for hours. But I don't dare touch a thing because I am
clueless. I remember Jerry Seinfeld's old joke about seeing
people stuck on the side of the road, with their hoods open,
half-expecting to find a giant on-off switch set to OFF. That's
me. I lack the tools, the experience, and talent to fix my own
car. I am beholden to my mechanic. I don't understand what he is
talking about, but I trust him to do the job that I can not.

I should not be allowed near an iron.

No matter how hard I try, I can't get wrinkles completely out of
my shirt. I move wrinkles from one side of the shirt to the
other. I burn my cotton shirts. I melt my synthetics. I create
water spots with steam and stain things up with too much starch.
Try as I can, even with instructions from more experienced
friends, I just can't get'er done. I am a lost cause.

Likewise in business, I realize I am not a coder. I can write
and read code in a variety of computer languages -- all
self-taught -- but at the end of the day, I am not the guy you
want to pay to develop code. I may be able to fake my way through
it, but the result will not be pretty. That's why I pay an expert
to write all my software and web code. He went to school for this
and I didn't. This is what he does for a living. It's where his
gifts and talents lie. It's what he was born to do.

What were you born to do?

What are you wasting time trying to fake your way through?

For instance, some of us were not born to sell. This is one of
my strengths. I remember when a VP of Sales challenged me to sell
him a pencil. I told him there's a number 2 on it for a reason. A
pencil has a limited life span. It smudges and makes a mess. You
always have to sharpen it. There's no easy way to carry it in
your pocket without leaving marks or making holes. A pen is
ultimately the number one writing instrument. Then I took out my
Mont Blanc pen and demonstrated the quality of the fine writing
instrument. I sold him the pen.

Clint Eastwood once said, "A man's got to know his limitations."
I agree, but a man (or woman) also needs to know their strengths.
They must also seek balance in their lives, focusing on what they
do best and delegating what they do poorly to others. It's a
question of maximizing time and talent.

I'm not suggesting you don't try to acquire news skills and
challenge yourself to learn how to do new things. Not at all.
What I am saying is that I observe many, many people struggling
to launch a business online when they have no earthly clue what
they are doing.

I also understand the financial challenge of hiring others to do
those things you are weak in. However, it has been my experience
that those who claim they can't afford to pay a more qualified
person to do these tasks frequently wind up spending even more money
by having to hire someone in the eleventh hour to fix their
mistakes. There have been several times this year where people
asked for a quote to assist them in some online marketing
capacity, and then decided I was too expensive, so they tried to
do it themselves. Then after they magnified the problem and made
things worse, they tucked their tail between their legs and
quietly asked for my help again. And it frequently costs more to
fix a mess than to do it right the first time with outside help.
So finding and hiring the right talent to help you is actually a
form of cost aversion. Getting the job done right the first time
actually saves you money.

Here's another example. When I bought my first house, I bought a
lawn mower and grass trimmer. I mowed my lawn as a kid and didn't
think twice about doing it now for my first house. I soon learned
that I lacked the eye to mow my lawn and trim my grass. My
neighbors used to line up across the street, pull out their lawn
chairs and beers, and point and laugh at me as I tried in vein to
manage my lawn and edge my grass.

I wound up giving my new mower and trimmer to a young handy man
we knew, and I asked him to work it off by mowing my lawn for me
for a year. He jumped at the chance and he was very good at it.
Likewise, when I moved to my second larger house, I had learned
my lesson and hired a lawn maintenance company during the first
week. It was worth it to pay someone else to do the job because
they could do it better than I could. And it freed me up to focus
on other things I could do better.

It's the same for cleaning my house. I can burn through 8 hours
of my time cleaning my own house, or I can pay someone else to do it
for me so I can spend time billing for my time at $150.00/hour. I
can pay for the house cleaning by billing just one hour. I'd much
rather maximize my time and revenue than take the 8 hours to
clean the house myself.

So what are your three greatest strengths that you need to focus
on and exploit in 2010?

Likewise, what are your three weakest points that you have been
trying to do on your own, and now need to turn over to someone
else in 2010?

Remember, if you are not satisfied with the results you have
been receiving all these years, it's not going to change unless
you take a fair and honest assessment of your own abilities and
change the way you do things by delegating some tasks to others.

Exploit your strengths.

But know your limitations.

Let me know how I can help you.

Until next time,


Steven

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