ARE YOU ALREADY A BUSINESS SUPERHERO?

WE ALL HAVE A SUPERPOWER BUT HOW TO DISCOVER IT?

According to the comic books unless you’re Batman you need a superpower in order to be a superhero. In many cases the hero doesn’t know they have a power until something happens to draw it out. Unfortunately this is the real world and we are not talking about being able to fly or being invisible because that would be brilliant, we are talking about the real superpowers we all have, the ones we have right now that just need to be discovered.

A SUPERPOWER IS NOT A SKILL

So within the scope of this post what is not a business superpower? Well, let's imagine that you are a painter of beautiful landscapes, or you are good with your hands and enjoy making fine handmade contemporary furniture, or you may have an eye for design or enjoy helping businesses with their VAT returns. These are not Superpowers these are skills…

A SUPERPOWER IS A TALENT

Or, more specifically: a combination of smaller talents brought together to achieve something brilliant.

Your superpower could be a talent or a collection of small talents that you can use to get your skills in front of people who want to use or buy them. In short, it's the motivation and promotion of your skill to achieve a goal.

I believe that everyone has at least one business superpower, it's just a case of finding, recognising and using them.

HERE'S EXAMPLE #1 THE ARTIST

I met an artist once, he was a very nice chap and quite famous now and it was on meeting him that I first started to consider the theory of the business superpower. You see his superpower was not that he could paint, or even that he could come up with the concepts, or the fact that he knew people at major London galleries so giving him a way in the back door, or the fact that he simply lived in London. His superpower was an absolute unshaken belief that what he was producing was undeniably brilliant and so simply had to be exhibited to the world. He knew this without any doubt at all.

It can be argued that his superpower was his self-belief in his skill, and that motivated him to bring all the other elements together. History has shown him to be right, he is now a world renowned artist and sells his pieces for millions of pounds.

HOW CAN YOU FIND YOURS?

Finding your superpower depends on you and can be more difficult for some while others, like my friend the artist, can discover theirs, use it, benefit from it and not even realise it. Most of us will need to think about it a bit more and perhaps develop it over time. But what might be the clincher and help us on our road to discovery is to consider that a superpower might not be big or monumental, but instead be the combination of several smaller talents that when used together can add up to something really, really great.

BECOMING MORE BUSINESS SELF AWARE WILL HELP

We are all self-aware right? We know who we are and what we want, right? Well maybe, but if I had 10p for every entrepreneur I have met who couldn't tell what their business did let alone how they made it a success, I would have about £260 sat in jam-jar somewhere. Becoming more self-aware will help you to think about yourself, your business and what you want to achieve.

As an exercise could you tell someone in one sentence, what your business does? For a bonus point could you tell someone what your business does and include a benefit? Within the scope of this post, this is the beginning of being business self-aware. Being able to think about what you do and to be able to simplify it is just the beginning, but ultimately it will help you to think about what you want and what you are good at and to put them into an order that can be applied to the mission, your project - your business.

THIS IS NO TIME TO BE MODEST

If you are a modest person thinking about yourself and what you are good at can feel uncomfortable. However, it is no good to expect other people to know what you are good at if you can't really put your finger on it yourself. You will really need to dig deep and really consider where your talents lie and furthermore what you enjoy, because quite often they are one and the same. It doesn't matter how small the talent is, it may well be the key to unlocking your superpower.

HERE'S EXAMPLE #2 THE BLOGGER

Very recently I explained this theory to a friend and asked what he thought his business superpower was. As a successful blogger he replied that his superpower consisted of lots of smaller powers; the ability to be able to come up with ideas for posts that people seem to like reading, to be able to sit for a week and actually write something worth reading, the ability to design the post so it looks appealing and not being nervous about putting his ideas out there for people to potentially disapprove of. He also admitted that ultimately he did it all for himself. It didn't matter if anyone read his posts, he just liked to come up with ideas and see them real on the page. He did it for his own enjoyment and by being able to share it, others were able to enjoy it too.

So in short his talents where:

1. Being able to start a project and finish it.
2. Not being reliant on the approval of others.
3. A general enjoyment of the work.
4. Doing it purely for himself
5. His drive to see his ideas realised.

These all added up to be his business superpower and to bring about the successful production of his blog.

But to help make the point let's look at it from a negative point of view.

1. If my friend the blogger wasn't able to see things though to the end, a post just wouldn't ever get finished.

2. If he was interested in the approval of others, he might be so worried about criticism that he might never post anything.

3. If he didn't enjoy the process he simply wouldn't be able to keep it up; he’d get bored and go down the pub.

4. He didn't do it for others, he did it for himself. Luckily others like what he writes so that’s a bonus.

5. Finally, without wanting to see the post real on the page, the project would have never have got off the ground in first place.

YOUR LIST OF TALENTS

Try this:

1 The List: Make a list of your talents, what you are good at and what you enjoy
2. Think about your mission, what do you want to achieve?
3. Think about your talents and put them in order to achieve your goal
4. BAM! This is your superpower

OK so the above is simplified to help demonstrate the theory. The list should be different for everyone and only you can make your list in your order, for your goal.

AND FINALLY, NOT SO OBVIOUS…

The point of this article is that for some of us our superpower is not obvious, it might seem that we don't have what it takes to really make it big especially if we compare ourselves with others who have already made a success of things. But perhaps if we look at ourselves in a different way we can recognise that in our own way we do have business superpowers after all. It's about seeing something great in yourself that you probably just take for granted.

"Everybody has a superpower we just have to find it."

Am I talking rubbish? Is this just Voodoo, mumbo-jumbo nonsense? Your comments as always are welcome. After all, the more thoughts and opinions in the mix the better, since ultimately we are all in this together!

Thank you for reading : )

CtA - LEAVE A COMMENT, COME BACK SOON.

Deshok is a small but well informed digital agency

very capable of delivering big things on a global stage.
To find out more about Deshok visit: www.deshok.com

When you're ready, CONTACT Deshok and let's talk about

where you want your business to go next.

CALL: +44 (0)1202 388538 - EMAIL: info@deshok.com