Today on the podcast I’m sharing 3 questions that will help you find an idea to monetize.
If you weren’t already aware, Pimp Your Brilliance means to leverage your existing knowledge or skills to make money. I believe in letting people pay you for what you know and do effortlessly.
Unfortunately, figuring out what knowledge or skills to monetize really trips people up. This happens because most people undervalue what they know or wrongfully assume that “everyone already knows how to do this” so they wouldn’t be willing to pay.
You couldn’t be more wrong my friend.
There are several reasons why people would be willing to pay for your knowledge or skills:
- Convenience
- To fast track the process
- They view you as the “expert” or think you’d do a better job
Finding an idea that you can monetize is a crucial step in pimping your brilliance and building a thriving creative business.
That’s why I came up with 3 questions to help you find an idea. I call this the S.P.I. method: skills, problems, and interests.
#1 Skills – What are your skills or knowledge?
This should be easy enough to figure out. What are people always coming to you for help with? Do you have any specialized training or expertise that you can leverage? Make a note of those things.
I want to put the disclaimer out there that this doesn’t have to be something you have a degree or hold a professional certificate in. Being self taught is perfectly.
What you’re looking for is something that you do well or that feels effortless. You don’t need to go out and learn more. Leverage what you already have.
#2 Problems – What are your audience’s problems?
It’s important that you answer this question. You can have all the skills in the world and that won’t matter if you don’t have someone willing to pay for them. That’s why you need to focus on solving problems. Someone will pay for the solution.
When people come to you for help, what are they struggling with? When they show up in your inbox or IG comments what are they asking you to help them with? Their questions will be a good indicator of what their problems are.
#3 Interests – Does this align with your interests?
After you’ve answered the previous two questions, make a note of your interests. Is there alignment between your skills and your audience’s problems? If so, you’ve found your sweet spot.
If there’s no alignment or you’re not interested in working with someone on a specific topic despite your skills, I would cross it off of my list.
Please note: I would not encourage you to build a business or revenue streams around things you aren’t interested in because you won’t stick it out for the long haul.
How does this look as an example?
Let me tell you about my friend Andria. She’s brilliant! She has a knack for numbers and works in finance.
This is how I would answer those questions based on what I know about her.
Skills
- Finance
- Budgeting
- Trip planning
- Hosting events and creating experiences
- Craft/ DIY projects
Problems
People come to her wanting to learn how she’s able to make things happen in her life. They ask her for advice with budgeting. They ask about her travels.
Interests
Andria is interested in travel and creating experiences that help people go beyond their self imposed limitations.
Where’s the overlap?
Once you lay all of this out on paper, it’s easy to see ideas for what Andria could monetize.
She could help people with budgeting especially around travel or events. She could create a guide on how to plan for your dream trip or a masterclass on how to host your first ticketed event.
Andria could also offer to consult around helping people find their next steps. People seem to be drawn to her willingness to take risks and she could provide a sounding board for them.
Do you see how simple that was? Use the three S.P.I questions above to help you identify a skill or an idea that you can monetize.