Getting other people to see what you’re capable of

You’ve heard the expression, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.  Here’s a new expression to consider:  It’s not what you know, it’s who you know, and who knows you and what you’re capable of. So, who knows you and what you’re capable of? If you’re not being used to your fullest potential at work or by your clients, it’ because other people don’t know what you’re really capable of.

Don’t think that telling your clients what else you can do for them is necessarily enough— you need a new way of reaching out to your existing network, establishing new networks, and approaching the “capabilities equation,” so that you are doing (and getting paid for) what you truly want.

Here’s the bottom line: Most people operate under the “I’ll believe it when I see it” mindset. You can tell a recruiter you’re God’s gift to writing brochures until you’re blue in the face. But it isn’t until you wave your brilliant brochure in front of them that they start to see the light.

Think about ways that you can create “output”: tangible, real, demonstrable ways of showing others what you’re capable of. If output for a chef is a soufflé, what would output be for you?  Start to think about how you can create some now (by the way, output for me might be a book, my blog, a new speech) — so that you show and tell people what your talents are.

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