Your Gift Is What People Already Ask You For

The next thing you’re supposed to be doing, the thing you feel God is calling you to do, is almost always something people are already coming to you for.

The cake test

Let’s say people are always asking you to bake a cake. Can you bake one for my son’s birthday? For this retirement party? For our family reunion?

Ding, ding, ding. You don’t need to keep it in your notes app, wondering what your next thing is. Start there. Charge them to bake cakes. That may be your next business. It’s actually very simple.

This is where a lot of people get stuck in impostor syndrome: “I’m not a baker.” Well, if you’re baking cakes for people once or twice a month, maybe that’s exactly what you should be doing.

It may not look glamorous. But who said your life has to? Just because something shines doesn’t mean it’s real, or that the people doing it are happy. Do the thing that makes you happy and that people are already reaching out to you for.

Help the people who are already coming

A girlfriend of mine wants to become a consultant in a business not many people are in. A few people in that industry had already started coming to her for help.

When I asked how she’d let people know about her consulting, she started going down a rabbit hole. I stopped her. Help the people who are already coming to you. If they have a problem and you have the answer because you’ve been through it, solve it. They’ll tell the next person, and the next.

That’s how it works. You don’t write down a hundred ideas and throw them against the wall like spaghetti, hoping one sticks.

Other people see your gift first

Your gift feels too easy to count, because it comes naturally to you. That’s why other people recognize it before you do. You can’t see the picture when you’re inside the frame.

Think about someone who can really sing. Somebody asks them to sing at their wedding, and they say, “Me? How did you know I could sing?” Because you sing all the time! You lead the songs at church!

A coach once told me you get paid according to the value you provide. If you provide value to a group of people in a way nobody else can, you’ll be paid for it. The scripture says your gift will make room for you. Stop looking at everybody else’s gift. Yours is for you.

They said I talked too much

When I was little, I don’t care how many A’s and B’s I made. Flip that report card over, and the teacher wrote, “She talks too much.” My mom always went off on me about running my mouth.

Guess what? For the past decade, I’ve been paid to talk. Speaking engagements. The very thing I was told to quiet down about is the thing people pay me for.

For you today

• Take inventory: write down everything people come to you for, whether it’s advice, answers, or help.
• Look for the “duh” moment, the thing you’ve done your whole life and could do with your eyes closed.
• Help the next person who asks, and let your gift make room for you.

See you tomorrow, live at 6 AM Eastern on YouTube.