Everyone created by God has specific talents and strengths. But it's one thing to discover your talent and another to use them to impact your world. Its a fact that majority of people who have succeeded in working with their God given talents went through tough times in their early days. From Michael Jackson to Michael Jordan to Muhammed Ali to Max Lucado to Arnold Schwarzenegger to mention but a few. In fact, God only promised good success and not a cheap one. Any cheap success doesn't last because tough times helps us to develop backbones that'd sustain not just our talents but also all aspects of our lives. Most people who've gone through tough times always came out stronger, wiser, more refined, more responsible and better than when they first started. "Tough times never last, tough people do." (Robert Schuller).
- REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED So the big question is, why did you decide to work with your talent(s)? Asking ourselves this very important question will help us know where we stand. It has been proven that most people who fall out in the pursuit of their God given talent started with a wrong motive. If you venture into music because Jay Z earns millions per show, then you're bound to quit when the money doesn't pour in. While in my 4th year in the university I decided to help people with tips that they could use to heal their wounds. So I started a motivational radio program. And for a whole year I couldn't get a dime from it either through sponsorship or speaking/training invitations. But I still stayed put because of the passion I had to help people and the calls and emails I received weekly from my listeners who'd been blessed and inspired by my program. But now, I don't pray for speaking invitations they just come and when they do, I'm always excited. Not because of the fees I'd receive, but I see it as another opportunity to touch lives one more time. One of the amazing things ever said on earth is Jesus' statement "He that is greatest among you shall be your servant."
- LOOK AND SEE. What can you see of the future for your career? As a man sees in his heart so he will become. If you can see yourself performing to a huge crowd of people in the future then you can experience it. Anytime you feel like quitting, just look into the future and see the rewards that awaits you. See yourself being paid millions for just an appearance. See yourself receiving millions of dollars as payments for your endorsement from different multi national companies. If you can picture it, you can work towards, and if you can work towards it then you can achieve it. I like what Mike Murdoch said "Stop looking at where you've been and start looking at where you can be."
- WHO'S SPEAKING THROUGH YOU? Words are like seeds, if you sow the wrong words you will surely reap its fruits. During the early stage of our talent career, we'd always be tempted to complain and whine. But an understanding of the fact that complaining and murmuring has the potential of killing our creativity, will save us. Why add more problems to your challenges with negative words? John Mason writes "Your words reflects what you believe about your future." Stop telling everyone that nothing is working, maybe that's the reason while nothing seems to be working. But rather, speak words of hope. You may not look like it now, but that doesn't mean you cannot become it.
- ONE STEP AT A TIME. After I ventured into my speaking and writing career, I went to a former pastor of mine in my undergraduate days and informed him of my career path. After counseling me, he assured me that he'd invite me to speak in his church's youth program. For more than three months I didn't hear from him and I became worried. I had started a television program during that period and had told him about it. So I called him and he said "Johnspeak, relax. I haven't forgotten about you. Just keep doing what you are doing, the world is taking note of you." He later called me on a day I wasn't expecting and gave me my first speaking gig and my first pay check. But his words has always been resounding in my ears. Sometimes, we get so in haste to reap the fruits of our labours that we end up reaping unripe fruits. You'd agree with me that we'd require less stress and strength to climb a staircase one step at a time compared to climbing three steps at a time. Most times, while most Talentpreneurs get frustrated in their careers is that they are trying to climb the rungs on the ladder to success three steps at a time.
- BUILD YOUR TALENT MUSCLES. You may have been told how talented you are, but that's not enough. Anyone who refuses to improve on his or her talent will soon go out of vogue. Abraham Lincoln once said "Whatever you are, be a good one." It will be a waste of time, money and efforts trying to promote a talent that isn't good enough to compete with others. You're not the only one in that field that you've chosen, but what will help you survive is how much training and retraining you put into developing your talents. Attend seminars, conferences, workshops, read books, articles etc and very soon the world will be able to differentiate between you and those who doesn't. "Everyone wants to change the world, but only few thinks of changing themselves." (John Mason).
- JUST PRETEND I know we all need money to live our dream lives: buy our dream cars, live in the best environment, travel around the world etc but money shouldn't be our first priority in the pursuit of our vision and dreams. If you're to survive the early stage of your talent career, it's best to pretend as if you don't want it. At the early stage of your talent career, your focus shouldn't be on the money but on how to develop yourself, promote your talents, become a strong force to reckon with in your chosen field of talentpreneurship. People who run after money always end up frustrated, but those who run after impacting their world with their God given talents always end up rich and successful. Just pretend as if you don't need the money, focus on being the best in what you do and the money will flow in.
- DEVELOP NEW PLANS. A wise man once said "The majority of men fail because of their lack of persistence in creating new plans to improve those that succeed. " What strategy have you been using to get the best out of your talents? Survivals don't sit down and cry about their predicaments, they sit up and think up ways out of their predicaments. It's time to storm the world with new strategies that the world has never seen before.
- BE PRUDENT At this level of your career, there may not be much money coming in, but you must learn to be prudent with the little that comes in. This is not the stage to show off. At this stage every dime should count and should be judiciously utilised. Any friend who wants to hangout with you should be ready to foot the bills. Indebtedness is not a curse, but the consequences of spending more than you earn.
- GET A SIDE HEN During the early stage of your career, you'd be the one to fund your career and not your talent funding you. You should be ready to spend money for the development, promotion, management and monetization of your talents. You must nurture and feed your talents until they are grown enough to feed you. Being a talentpreneur isn't cheap, it requires lots of financial investment most especially if you want to be rated among the best. One could be lucky to get a sponsor or you could do two things: 1. Get a job while you pursue your talent part time or, 2. You could pursue your talents full time and get a side hen. A side hen means a place or legal method of getting little funds from your talents to meet your daily needs while you await the big funds. Eg performing in a place as a musician, comedian, dancer or speaking as a poet or motivational speaker and be paid little fees while you await the big bucks.
Succeed You Must.
(c) Johnspeak Uwangue Motivational Speaker, Talent and Life Coach.
Johnspeak is solving complex issues through the wisdom of God, his personal experiences and in depth researches in the affairs of individuals, organizations and nations.
For more enquiries or talent coaching, please send an email to: Johnspeaklife@gmail.com