Are you trying to put a square peg into a round hole?

In General, Personal Branding, Personal Development | 10 comments | permalink

I spent years of my business life trying to put a square peg into a round hole… overcoming this was one of the biggest breakthroughs I have ever had… today I will hopefully show you how to do the same.

Ok, so what exactly am I referring to?

Quite simply, I see people trying to do things that are not suited to them… now, I must stress, I am all for pushing comfort zones, but we all have a series of values, skills, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, abilities and obstacles….  so surely it makes sense to build a business that fits all of the above…. right?

Unfortunately, most people don’t do this… they hear that X is the latest hot topic, and they jump on that, with little thought of whether it is a good fit for them or not.

Just because something works for someone else, does not mean it is going to work for you… despite what marketers may tell you.

In a nutshell, stop looking for others for guidance and start looking inside yourself first.

Sounds simple enough… but it is hard to identify something when you are not sure what to look for, not all of us are lucky enough to know aged 6 what we were destined to do. So here is my DNA questionnaire… answer all of these questions honestly, and you will have a much clearer understanding.

* This is under the assumption that you are doing, or want to make money online in some way.

1) What are three things that you tend to find easy that others find difficult?

2) What are three things you find difficult that others seem to find simple?

3) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 = super shy and introverted and 10 = loud, confident extrovert, where are you?

4) What have you done previously that has given you a successful result? (it doesn’t matter if it is a small result)

5) If you could only deliver ALL of your content for the next 10 years via one of the following, which one would you choose? (writing, audio, video, in person, on stage)

6) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being highly unorganized, and 10 being incredibly organized, where are you?

7) Do you prefer to work alone or with people?

8 – If you could outsource one aspect of your business, what would it be?

The above should help you find your own DNA and identity… copy and paste the above questions, and then answer them in the comments section of this blog post, and I will happily take a look and perhaps give some recommendations and advice to you.

From now on you shouldn’t have to try and squeeze a square peg into a round hole ever again.

Dean

email this | tag this | digg this | trackback | comment RSS feed

Subscribe to my FEED and you will age gracefully

10 COMMENTS

  • http://www.simon-dodd.com Simon Dodd

    Great post as always Dean,

    1) What are three things that you tend to find easy that others find difficult? Technical setup of anything to do with computers, video editing and creation, creating & developing ideas.

    2) What are three things you find difficult that others seem to find simple? Copywriting, scheduling my time, following through once things are initially setup

    3) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 = super shy and introverted and 10 = loud, confident extrovert, where are you? 7-8

    4) What have you done previously that has given you a successful result? (it doesn’t matter if it is a small result) Created an eBook and blog along with squeeze pages to build lists

    5) If you could only deliver ALL of your content for the next 10 years via one of the following, which one would you choose? (writing, audio, video, in person, on stage) video

    6) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being highly unorganized, and 10 being incredibly organized, where are you? 4-5

    7) Do you prefer to work alone or with people? either

    8 – If you could outsource one aspect of your business, what would it be? traffic generation and backlinking

    Great post Dean, made me look inside again ;) And now I can refer back to this in the future and see if I have improved!

    Thanks

    Simon

    Current score: 0
  • http://www.smallbusinessunleashed.com Chris Green

    1) Bringing people together. Getting people motivated. Making friends with complete strangers.

    2) Concentrating on one task at a time. Ironing. Being generally practical.

    3) 10

    4) Being able to sell.

    5) Video.

    6) 4

    7) People

    8) Admin

    Current score: 0
  • http://www.matthewsmatters.com Mattgeib

    Thanks Dean for sharing this,,,This was an excellent Guide!

    Matt

    1) What are three things that you tend to find easy that others find difficult? Public Speaking–Playing an Instrument/Singing—Meeting Others

    2) What are three things you find difficult that others seem to find simple? Anything Techy,,,,Creating web Pages—Graphics Creation—-Putting something together Mechanically

    3) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 = super shy and introverted and 10 = loud, confident extrovert, where are you?..A 7

    4) What have you done previously that has given you a successful result? (it doesn’t matter if it is a small result)Managed a Team of 30-40 people in A Courier/Distribution Business, developed new protocol & routes savings of 100g’s to the co. I worked for

    5) If you could only deliver ALL of your content for the next 10 years via one of the following, which one would you choose? (writing, audio, video, in person, on stage) In Person On Stage,,of Course:-)

    6) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being highly unorganized, and 10 being incredibly organized, where are you?…8

    7) Do you prefer to work alone or with people?Definitely w/ Folks!

    8 – If you could outsource one aspect of your business, what would it be?ALL TECHY STUFF!!!

    Current score: 0
  • http://www.inmotionkitesurfing.com Brendon

    Great post as always Dean, and quite stimulating, read thought provoking, not the other kind of stimulating… ;-)

    Current score: 0
  • Rita Hanscombe

    Thanks for sharing the insights Dean. Very thought provoking and true.

    Rita

    1) What are three things that you tend to find easy that others find difficult?
    computers and programs and technical stuff, finding the quickest most efficient system to do repetitive tasks, creating textile craft items

    2) What are three things you find difficult that others seem to find simple?
    share and forex trading, doing the same things day in and day out, staying with one task to completion instead of jumping around to different tasks

    3) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 = super shy and introverted and 10 = loud, confident extrovert, where are you? 8

    4) What have you done previously that has given you a successful result? (it doesn’t matter if it is a small result) running the entire admin of a small company including accounts, support consultant for payroll-design company,

    5) If you could only deliver ALL of your content for the next 10 years via one of the following, which one would you choose? (writing, audio, video, in person, on stage)
    video

    6) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being highly unorganized, and 10 being incredibly organized, where are you?
    8

    7) Do you prefer to work alone or with people?
    mostly alone but sometimes with people

    8 – If you could outsource one aspect of your business, what would it be?
    admin and maintenance

    Current score: 0
  • http://www.brightideasmarketing.me Lee Rush

    1) What are three things that you tend to find easy that others find difficult?

    Combining Creativity with Analysis, Talking to Strangers/Networking, Finding answers to tough or obtuse questions.

    2) What are three things you find difficult that others seem to find simple?

    Economics, Creating Strategies from the ground up, Saying No to doing too much

    3) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 = super shy and introverted and 10 = loud, confident extrovert, where are you?

    9+

    4) What have you done previously that has given you a successful result? (it doesn’t matter if it is a small result)

    Reduced impressions on a client site which also reduced bounce rate.

    5) If you could only deliver ALL of your content for the next 10 years via one of the following, which one would you choose? (writing, audio, video, in person, on stage)

    on stage

    6) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being highly unorganized, and 10 being incredibly organized, where are you?

    8

    7) Do you prefer to work alone or with people?

    alone

    8 – If you could outsource one aspect of your business, what would it be?

    billing

    Current score: 0
  • http://gtl-marketing.co.uk Greg

    good questions looking forward to your feedback :-)

    1)What are three things that you tend to find easy that others find difficult?

    Create covers, write letters, rebrand
    2)What are three things you find difficult that others seem to find simple?
    SEO traffic, wordpress build a list
    3) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 = super shy and introverted and 10 = loud, confident extrovert, where are you? 6-7

    4) What have you done previously that has given you a successful result? (it doesn’t matter if it is a small result) taken on team leader role, when others thought I would fail. Yet did a better job than the regular guy

    5) If you could only deliver ALL of your content for the next 10 years via one of the following, which one would you choose? (writing, audio, video, in person, on stage)
    Written or dvd/cd

    6) On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being highly unorganized, and 10 being incredibly organized, where are you? About a 5

    7) Do you prefer to work alone or with people? Either depends on the activity

    8 – If you could outsource one aspect of your business, what would it be?
    SEO Traffic – optimizing sites

    These are the things I either enjoy or struggle with at this moment in time, could do with a hands on show me process. for the things I struggle to get the gist of.

    Current score: 0
  • http://backlinkstechniques.info Tikyd

    Not too long ago (relatively) I wanted to be good at many things. Now, I think that I agree with you on the fact that it might be easier to leverage the assets that one has instead of trying to acquire from scratch a new skill.

    This being, don’t you think that after a person get a certain level of mastery for things he has predispositions for, he/she could try completely new things?

    Current score: 0
  • http://let.allenbg.com LET light

    Great post.Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

    Current score: 0
  • http://www.iheartinternetmarketing.com make money online internet

    Just because everyone else is doing it and they’re making money, it doesn’t mean we have to do it too. Very nice tips you’ve got there.

    Current score: 0