…so last week my daughter wanted a french plait in her hair for school. Well after fifteen minutes of pulling and tugging I knew it just wasn’t going to happen. So I suggested a simple plait instead to which she said ‘but my friends have french plaits’. The girls she was referring too both have Mums who are hairdressers which I pointed out to her and she asked me why I wasn’t good at hairdressing. My reply was ‘I’m good with cucumbers’ I have no idea where that came from but it caused a lot of general laughter and she accepted that a simple plait was the best I could manage!!!
This conversation has got me thinking though, I am good with computers, software and administration, but I know I’m not good at accountancy, copy writing and of course hairdressing! So my business is centered around what I’m good at and I outsource the bits I can’t do – I have an accountant and someone to help me with my marketing when I need it. Unfortunately I can’t yet find someone to come round and style my daughters hair at 8.30am!!
Why should I identify my skills?
I think that it is really important to work out what you are good at, as these are things you will be able to become an expert in and after all if you are running your own business you need to be seen as an expert.
You may be able to make the most amazing cakes in the world but the thought of creating a website to showcase your work may fill you with dread.
You may have beautiful products to sell, but no idea how to follow up on orders.
You may just not have the time needed to reply to all the emails you receive which results in your customer service being bad.
If you know what you are good at you can identify the skills you need to develop and those you need to outsource in order to be able to develop and grow your business.
How do I identify my skills?
The National Careers Service has a number of Skills Health Check Tools, these will help you identify what you are good at.
Or just write a simple list of the things you need to do in your business and rate them on how confident you are in your ability to perform the tasks. Those with the lowest ratings are the ones you need to develop your skills in.
I’d love to hear how you get on with identifying your skills and developing new ones so please pop a comment below.