As the Novel Coronavirus continues making sweeping changes in each country that it makes its new home, the state of work is being seriously flipped on its head. Proving your relevance as a professional is starting to become an absolute necessity.
There are now no two-ways about it whether you run your kiosk, or represent a multi-national as its overall Team Lead to managing a client’s account in an advertising firm to implementing a humanitarian type project for a UN-related agency.
The cat is out of the bag and vast budgets are being minimized for key and “important” staff as well as the ones who actually do the work for the company and when they are off, work generally becomes hard to do based on technical ability, willingness to work and general attitude in getting things done.
Over the past 60 to 90 days, there has been a surge in online meetings and workshops through Zoom calls, Google Hang Out, Microsoft Teams, and a host of others.
Those meetings are skewed towards frequent updates, budget adjustments, and actual information sharing on various post-COVID interventions in one’s geographical space of choice.
For those of us (you reading as well) who were not regular attendees of such online exertions, there has been time aplenty for some curious soul-searching. Intentional deep thoughts about how the change of work models affects you and me specifically.
Dr. Xavier is a close friend who studied and practiced Veterinary Medicine for 7 years and changed careers by learning how to code software and upped his programming skills in C, C#, ASP.NET, Java, PHP, Javascript, CSS5, HTML5 as well as becoming adept at Linux networking with Apache and MySQL.
He has always been a wide reader and is a good writer let alone a great tutor/ teacher of various subjects from STEM-based ones including Physics, Mathematics, and Biology to English and Literature in English as well.
I know he is reading this and can comfortably say he is a cross between a techie and a lawyer wrapped up in one. Knowledgeable across the board on umpteen topics and a good problem solver. A week ago, on a social media chatting platform, he intimated to me in a sort of lamentation, that he is tired.
When I probed further, he said that his good-naturedness is affecting his cashflow. He has been quite engaged during this lockdown tutoring a few colleagues’ children on science subjects and not earning decent enough payments.
He said his coding skills should be being referenced enough for him to get work that should have helped roof his upcoming house, but alas... Long and short of it is that he is tired of being taken advantage of and wants practical ways to helpfully monetize his skills.
For many of us, this will (if it is not already) become the existing reality. The future of work is happening now and if we (you and me) are not careful, we may be rendered partially irrelevant for now until your own innate and learned skills can be monetized well enough for you to earn a living of sorts.
So when Dr. X asked me the question, “Edmund, how do you convert a skill into money? I’m not making money from this sh*t and I’m tired, Edmund. I’m tired.” I told him it will need a little more than a chat session in Telegram or WhatsApp.
So Dr. X, as I write this, it is not only for you, it is for many of us who are also tired of having much-needed earnings always being lower than what we always negotiate for.
These four questions can endeavor to offer some guidance in answering your question.
- Are your skills worth being paid for (monetizing)?
- What exactly are your skills anyway?
- Would you pay someone like yourself a worthy rate for their skills if you were that person?
- What dictates your costing methodology?
It is true that most of us have been taught to sell something else (products and services) as opposed to selling ourselves. The closest we come to this is when writing a CV for a job application.
Or at best when selling something for someone, you are noticed. Creative types always seem less interested in selling and keener to spend time on their craft as it is their chosen escape away from selling themselves.
The belief that their skills should sell them is being challenged every day and is the main gist of this article.
As I delve into the tips that can help you monetize your skills, always remember that your skills are looking to help solve a problem for somebody.
Whether you are solving an entrepreneur’s need for shared IP services or tutoring a student grappling with quadratic equations, let these tips help you to monetize your skills:
ONE: Develop a product and/ or service catalogue
Do not let a client (potential or existing) misunderstand your offering. In today’s ever-present technology-age, it is imperative that having e-documents showing your products is clear.
This can be on a separate Facebook page, a website if you are keen, or even just having e-brochures done by you and a fancy graphics guru who can make you and your skills appear world class and thus professional.
Many a time, we get a raw deal because the client (again potential or existing) cannot see us in the same light as the standard in his/ her mind. For Dr. X, he can create a one-page tutoring profile with a basic flow of what it entails and how each student benefits.
E.g. Review of overall subjects strength for student| identify weak and strong points| do initial tests| focus on overall student well-being| key exam tricks used to pass in top 15%| hours expected to put in| charges per hour| no discounts offered**| face to face sessions.
What I have shared is basic, and can be improved further, but just going to show that the potential client understands the skill you are sharing and it will require monetary (money) to exchange hands for value added.
TWO: Choose who you really want to help
At BLEGSCOPE now, I use many of the same business development and communications skills that I have been exposed to throughout my life. The biggest difference now is that I am a little choosier with who I selectively help. Yes, you may say we are trying to monetize our skills, but sometimes who you help is not always about money alone. It could be a small reminder of you at a certain age and you had no such assistance at the time. >>If you pick your industry based only on how much money you think you can make, then you can expect to always be chasing the money.