JohnspeakU:
How I Broke The Chain of Stagnation In My Career
By Johnspeak Uwangue (Motivational Speaker, Talent and Life Coach)

It is true that so many people are experiencing stagnation in different areas of their lives. While some are experiencing it in their marriage, some others are experiencing it in their job, Business, academies and career. Because the title of this article is on career doesn't mean that the tips outlined cannot be applied in other areas of our endeavors.
After I made up my mind to pursue my motivational speaking career full time, it got to a point that I was stagnant. I was working so hard but wasn't seeing results. It got to a point that I wanted to give up and get a job with my certificate. But as I sat down on a certain night to think about my future, I realized that the reason why I wasn't moving was more of physical reasons than spiritual. Please permit me to share with you how I was able to break the chain of stagnation.

- I Carved a Niche
As a Motivational Speaker, I used to speak on almost everything that I had experience in. From youth development to entrepreneurship to talents maximization to starting small and growing big etcetera. As I sat down, I realized that I may end up stressing myself and becoming a jack of all trade and master of non. So, in order to have a voice in the motivational speaking industry, and after doing more homework about the industry, I discovered that my strength was more in talents maximization. Carving a niche for myself didn't provide the motion I needed but helped put me on the right path.

- I Positioned Myself
In order to gain motion in my career I discovered through studies that I could either take my career from office to office and pitch to them to give us a try or I could position myself strategically where people could find me and call me when they needed my service, or both. But because I hated marketing, I decided to start with the second option.
Instead of producing a book or an audio book, I decided to sharpen my writing skills by writing motivational and talent coaching articles. Did it work? Yes it did because I got my first client as a result of my articles. After getting my first client I knew that I was no longer stagnant then I went ahead and carried out another strategy.

- I Leveraged On My Circle of Influence.
I am privileged to have come in contact with some influential people that I have made my friends both through my anchoring of the motivation and entrepreneurship segment of "Day Break Benin" on Edo broadcasting television in Benin, to people that I have met in my day to day life. I realized that I needed to leverage on my friendship with these people to grow my career. I used to think that friends shouldn't be involved in our business but now I know better. What's the essence of calling you my friend or having your contact on my phone if you can't be of help to the growth of my business or career. For instance, if you are looking for a job, the first people that should know should be those in your circle of influence. I have friends in the media, so I called them when I needed to do an interview. I have bloggers as friends, I made sure I made use of them. After leveraging on my circle of influence, I realized that I wasn't on the same spot again.

* I'm hereby giving permission to any blogger who wants to feature any of my articles on their blogs. I'm not charging any fee but I must be acknowledged as the author of my featured articles.

- I Changed My Perspective
One of the things holding us down is the way we view life. Our view of life and people can determine our growth. It is natural to think that people don't care, but we will be surprised to know that they care. I have heard people say that it's not possible to succeed in business in Africa without getting our hands dirty, meanwhile, there are people making it with clean hands. Another perspective that is holding people down is that they believe until you know someone at the top you may not be able to get some things done. As good as that sounds, that is a big lie.

- I Prayed More
Sometimes, when we have engaged all the principles we know of and things still refuses to change, wisdom demands we engage the powers bigger than us through prayers. I knew this that prayer is an effective tool to fighting the spiritual while we think and strategize our way through the physical. Wickedness is real but more real is the effectiveness of prayer.

- I Dared My Fears
After I had engaged all the tips above, I was still scared of taking steps. Not because I haven't tried before but because I failed when I first tried. The presence of the symptoms doesn’t mean that the chains are still there. The chains may have been losed but until you stand up and take steps it may not fall off. Faith is not the absence of the symptoms, it is believing and taking steps even when it seems the chains are still there.
I dared my fears by taking steps and when I did, I noticed that things that weren't working before began to work.

Succeed You Must!

(c) Johnspeak Uwangue
Motivational Speaker, Talent and Life Coach.

emmabest2000:
No time is late !


But .....

oluwamitomisin:
OP, One thing I need you to clarify is this...."is being a motivational speaker a full time job'? how long do you think this 'job' will sustain you?