Day 1 - Figure Out What You Have

I get asked a lot of questions from time to time. It shocks me that people see me as some type of subject matter expertise. For years I wouldn't have thought that I'd be in that type of a "position" but it's cool now. One of the things I hear a lot is "I don't know what I'm good at."

That interesting to me...very interesting. I'll tell you why!

Lots of times you hear these same people saying that they want to be rich or they're going to have the corner office or they want to own their own business or this and that...you get the picture.

I want to ask them one question. How is that possible when you don't know what you're good at?

Dreaming is cool. But before you can start thinking about trips to San Trope, cars, houses, and all the other jazz that comes with richery (yup, I made that up), you've got to sit down and figure out how all of this money will appear. Trust me, it doesn't come overnight and it doesn't come like magic.

Before I tell you how I did it. Let me say this. EVERYONE is good at at least one thing. Sometimes that one thing is apparent and other times it's like finding a needle in a haystack. Either way, it's going to be your responsibility to figure out what you're good at.

Why? Well, I read on my pastor's blog that you can't be great at something you're not good at!

(reread that last statement and write it on your heart)

Here's what I did to figure out what I was good at.

1. I tried something

2. I failed at something

3. I tried it again until I got better

It's that simple - lol...seriously.

I could never consider myself a baker. I don't have the time nor the patience. Plus, I don't think I fit the baker characteristics. I'm not artsy or creative enough. I'm not some grandmother who bakes killer apple pies from scratch. I just don't fit the profile.

When you look at my baking career, it's A MESS. I remember being able to make really good homemade cheesecakes about 10 years ago. I was good at that - even the first time I did it - I excelled. I let my "baker's imagination" take over and I told myself I was going to experiment. Well, I did. I think I soaked strawberries in apple juice and flavored the cheese cake with strawberries or something like that - I don't even remember...but it was a mess. I had friends over who TO THIS DAY still rag me about that messery (another word I made up) of the cheesecake. But who cares? I tried. I failed. I tried again.

The next time it was cookies. Oh Lord, why cookies?!?!? First of all, I can read. I followed that recipe step by step. The cookies ended up spreading into a thin mess and when they cooled, if you had some mortar and cement you could probably build a small hut - that's how hard they were. Don't tell anybody, but still today - I can't make cookies to save my life - lol.

Where did cupcakes come from?

I have a food blog - Everyday Cookin' - and while cooking wasn't a challenge, baking was. I challenged myself on January 26, 2009. I pulled the thought of baking a cupcake out of my ear somewhere. It was totally random. But, I did it...and I had some friends come and taste the cupcakes. THEY LOVED THEM. I made more and more and eventually got orders from Facebook and Twitter all thanks to my personal brand (more to come on that later). And that's what got started.

It's a shame it took my getting laid off to realize what I had in my hand. I could have been doing this years ago.

How do you know what's in your hand? Just ask yourself ONE simple question.

If you didn't have to worry about money, what would you love to do?

Dream for a moment and answer that question. It will lead you to doing what you love to do - trust me...it works EVERY TIME!

The first step is to figure out what you have! You don't have to be good at it. I guarantee what you think you have still needs refining before it can be used. Moses had the rod, but he needed God's direction before it was powerful. That's what I did. I stopped and took out a blank sheet of paper and wrote down what I was good at. It took me a while because there were things there that I liked to do - but that wasn't the question. The question was to find out what I was good at - not what I liked to do. That was the first step!

-Darius