HOW TO POSITION YOURSELF TO PROFIT FROM ‘UNPROFITABLE CAREER’
Last week on Career Insight, I explained to you that no career is truly unprofitable. The profitability of career is largely, if not entirely, dependent on the person and not the career itself.
This week, I want to continue on this topic on how to profit from unprofitable career by showing you how to position yourself for high career profitability.
Have In-depth Knowledge of Career
The most important step in positioning yourself towards high profitability in your career is knowing your stuff properly. Knowing the core processes in your career/ course of study involves a proper understanding of what your career is all about and learning all that you should to be able to do your work excellently that you come tops anywhere in the world in your industry.
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If you are in school now, you can’t depend on what your lecturers teach you in class. The time in class is too short for the amount of things you need to know. Meanwhile, some of your lecturers don’t know what’s trending and so teach you outdated and irrelevant things alone.
Even if you have graduated, you can still learn. Don’t depend on what you were taught in school years ago. Things change so fast that you should keep abreast of what’s happening around you. A lot change within months that you should make it a point of duty to know what’s happening.
Therefore, if you really want to know your stuff, you have to do extra work on your part. You have to study on your own. There are too many materials that if you truly want to study everything, you will be drowned in the pool of information. So, availability of info is not a problem.
For anything you want to learn in your industry, go on the web and search for books, articles, podcasts, videos, websites, blog and forums on it. You will get plenty of these for free.
Brojid, I don’t have time; how do I get time to study all these?
You don’t have time? SMH. You have time; plenty of it o. God knew what we need to do on this earth when he allotted 24 hours for us every day. If you think yours is not enough, chances are very high that you have been abusing it.
I am sure you have time for study; just that you give it to other less important things. You give your time for study to football watching and argument. You give your time for learning to excessive seeing of movies. You give your time for study to irrelevant and unprofitable chatting.
Whatever career path you have chosen, no matter how unprofitable it seems, if you go about it with the attitude of being of help to someone, you will see opportunities to provide solution and therefore profit immensely.
You know how to get time?
Plug all the leakages of your time and maximise every time you have.
Have the Right Attitude Career
Like you must have read/heard me say, you career is not a platform to make money; it’s a platform to deliver solution to the problem of humanity with the talents, skills and knowledge you have.
Whatever career path you have chosen, no matter how unprofitable it seems, if you go about it with the attitude of being of help to someone, you will see opportunities to provide solution and therefore profit immensely. You will discover unmet needs and give it enough concentration to meet it. Meeting the needs of humanity comes with fulfilment, fame and wealth.
Acquire Core and Ancillary Skills
Doing exploits in your career is beyond knowing what’s up. You need to have relevant skills and ancillary skills as well. Identify the major skills you need to have in your career and major on not only acquiring but refining them to the level where you are both effective and efficient in its use.
You will acquire some of them in the course of your educational training or apprenticeship. Meet those who know it and learn. Let them teach you. You refine it with practice. Some companies will not employ you to practice with them; so offer to work for free to refine your skills. The more you use a particular skill, the better you get at it. That’s a matter of fact!
Ancillary skills are not your core skills for your career, but they are necessary in making you efficient and effective in doing your work. If you are a teacher, your core skill is teaching but ancillary skills could be public speaking, ICT and how to write. Public speaking skill enables you to get your student’s attention, hold it and ensure the class is not boring. ICT skills enables prepare your notes and interact with your students using computer technology. Whatever it takes, go for them and be armed with them. It’s an investment for high profitability in your career.
Constantly Upgrade
Like I hinted earlier, what is trending today will become outdated tomorrow. The same thing applies to your career. So, always know what’ trending in your career, better ways of doing things and more refined processes to increase efficiency. This helps you get better result; increase your chance of getting more clients, job or promotion on your job.
To profit from your career, you need to position yourself properly. The steps to positioning yourself is having in-depth knowledge of your career or course of study, acquiring core and ancillary skills, having the right attitude about career, constantly upgrade and learn to be the king in your industry.
Join forums on the web and read literatures in your industry to know what’s trending. Join relevant association to learn and upgrade your knowledge and skills. If you use a particular equipment or software for your work, look out for better ones and get them. Get the latest version of the one you are using. Again, this may cost money, but I know it’s worth it if you are gearing towards high profitability in your career.
Learn to become the King
As you learn, like I told you earlier, don’t just learn to work for someone. Learn to be on your own – build a business around what you know. So, go beyond the core knowledge of your job description to the business of your expertise and core skills.
Picture yourself running the company you work in or dream to work in. Learn as one preparing to be the CEO; not just a staff. Learning this doesn’t guarantee you will become CEO immediately; but I know you have more chance of becoming a CEO than your colleague who all they thinK is how to get promoted.
Read books and attend seminars and conferences. Don’t waste your money on frivolities. Your career is your life; that’s why you are on earth. So, spend all you can to make sure you do it properly. Instead of going to Dubai to hangout it, sneak into Lagos Business School and take a management course. Sign up for an online course and settle down in your house to learn and do assignments.
My point? To profit from your career, you need to position yourself properly. The steps to positioning yourself is having in-depth knowledge of your career or course of study, acquiring core and ancillary skills, having the right attitude about career, constantly upgrade and learn to be the king in your industry.
I wish you well!
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