but leo if i master a new skill how do i make sure i can make money from it

[Majed]

leo's always talking about mastering skills like writing, music or film making, drawing, etc.... as a way to handle survial. so let's say i spend a few years developing my writing skills, how do i monetize them ? 

[Leo Gura]

The question you should be asking is, How will you monetize having no skill?

[LSD-Rumi]

1 hour ago, Majed said:

leo's always talking about mastering skills like writing, music or film making, drawing, etc.... as a way to handle survial. so let's say i spend a few years developing my writing skills, how do i monetize them ? 

By marketing yourself appearntly. Today it is much easier for one to market himself using social media  but still it takes effort and time. 

[Majed]

@Leo Gura i mean i can hypothetically do engineering or programming at university and getting a good job. the problem is i won't be passionate about it and it's going to cost me in the long run. but if i'm going to pursue my passion let's say making music, i want it to work, i don't want be the broke artist with no money. i guess i should learn business, marketing and sales and take the life purpose course to figure it out.

[Leo Gura]

The bottom line is that you need to reach a point with your new skills where you are able to generate some exceptional work/art. Which can then be sold.

The hard part is using your new skills to generate something truly valuable and exceptional. Something many people desire.

But that alone is usually not enough. You also need business and marketing savvy. Which is just an extra set of new skills.

So you combine exceptional creative skills with biz and marketing skills, and then you get massive success.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Majed]

@Leo Gura will i learn the business marketing stuff from your book list, or should i find it elsewhere ?

[julienw]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

The bottom line is that you need to reach a point with your new skills where you are able to generate some exceptional work/art. Which can then be sold.

The hard part is using your new skills to generate something truly valuable and exceptional. Something many people desire.

But that alone is usually not enough. You also need business and marketing savvy. Which is just an extra set of new skills.

So you combine exceptional creative skills with biz and marketing skills, and then you get massive success.

Alternatively you could try to master a new skill for its own sake. If you throw the need to make money off of it into the mix, it could ruin it for you. Not necessarily, Leo did it. But it might take away any and all joy you get from it, which would basically just suck. For example, devote ten years of your life to learning an instrument (well for me, I’m at just shy of 7 years now). I had goals but making money wasn’t one of them. If I was trying to make money with this skill I would have given up a long time ago. Before the need for money is the need for passion. Choose a new skill based on your passions, and if one day the money comes, then great. But don’t expect it or base all of your efforts on the money aspect alone. Also don’t expect any money for at least 2-5+ years if it’s a brand new skill (depends on the skill).

[Majed]

@julienw yeah i mean depending on your financial situation, you can afford the luxury to not care about money. but personally i won't be investing thousands of hours learning a skill that i love if it's not going to impact people in some meaningful way. i care about my life's work and impact on the world more than just the pleasure of practice, i want to be valuable and useful to mankind in my own creative way. 

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Majed said:

@Leo Gura will i learn the business marketing stuff from your book list

No.

Although I have a few good books which will be helpful.

Edited December 6, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Greatnestwithin]

16 minutes ago, Leo Gura said:

No.

Although I have a few good books which will be helpful.

Any really good courses you can recommend on it @Leo Gura

[julienw]

@Majed Totally fair man. That's valid. Then I might focus on learning a skill that will definitely be marketable. Like programming, data science, statistics, etc. or whatever that looks like for you. It's much easier to monetize technical skills. You could focus on developing your writing skills, but like music or art that is a pretty difficult skill to monetize. Creating an exceptional piece of writing like a novel that will earn you enough money to live on would be quite the feat. You would have to spend years paying for yourself with other skills or jobs just to have the shelter and food necessary to become a better writer. And then there is the issue of innate talent. Some people are born to do it, imo. But don't want to discourage you from doing it. I just don't see how you can make any money from that for at least 10 years and then even then, there are no guarantees.

 

TL;DR the best way to monetize a skill is to apply it to something that already exists. Like if you learn programming you could work for a tech company. There is much less ardor and stress of bootstrapping your way to success. Not that you shouldn't do it, you should do what you're driven to do. It's just a question of how much risk are you willing to take on? How much time are you willing to put in? And even beyond the willingness question, do you walk the walk in the end? A week from now, a year, 5 years. That's not an easy path to put yourself on.

Edited December 6, 2022 by julienw

[Majed]

@Leo Gura what's the most efficient way to learn them ?

[Leo Gura]

7 minutes ago, Majed said:

@Leo Gura what's the most efficient way to learn them ?

1) By starting a biz

2) There are hundreds of courses, products, and seminars which teach marketing.

[Leo Gura]

1 hour ago, Greatnestwithin said:

Any really good courses you can recommend on it @Leo Gura

Eben Pagan, Dan Kennedy, etc.

[Superfluo]

@Majed Eben Pagan for the theory, digital marketing gurus for the "pop" implementation of marketing. You can find many free courses online and on portals like Udemy, Coursera, Simplilearn, Udacity, FutureLearn, ecc. 

Google "best marketing courses" or "best courses portals" or something like that.

[Majed]

@blueberries the thing is, i'm starting out in a 3rd world (lebanon) country and the easiest way to get out of it is to continue my studies in a first world country, can i quit my country to a better country if i learn a marketable skill like the ones you've listed above ?

[Leo Gura]

20 minutes ago, Majed said:

@blueberries the thing is, i'm starting out in a 3rd world (lebanon) country and the easiest way to get out of it is to continue my studies in a first world country, can i quit my country to a better country if i learn a marketable skill like the ones you've listed above ?

I had a friend and coaching client from Lebanon who I coached for over a year.

His dream was to become a video game developer. He did it. He built his design skills working on games in Lebanon and then got hired by a game studio in Florida who paid for his visa.

If you got the skillz, companies will be happy to pay for your work visa. Although I guess these days lots of people just work remotely. But you can even use that to your advantage.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Majed]

@Leo Gura alright so i guess i should develop my skills as a musician, like i want to be a rapper, make music, so i will develop that skill set, beatmaking, writing lyrics, sound engineering,etc... and then after 3 to 5 years i’ll be signed to a record label in france, cuz i want rap in french ideally.

the only problem is that in lebanon if i’m gonna be getting a little job just to buy the equipment to make music, sort of the studio and softwares, etc... it will take me like a year since in lebanon we’re paid 100-200$ a month for work without degree, and if i need a new laptop, i need to work for an extra 7 months, and if i need a course on business or marketing, i’ll need to work for months. And i can’t be asking my parents for anything since we’re living in survival mode. And if i want to make a music video i need also some money. 

That’s why it isn’t very practical for me to not enroll in university and quit the country through that. My plan would be to go study in france finish a programming degree, like 4 years, then i would have both the money and the right location to then be able to work on my creative projects. I want to have this peace of mind that i have a solid stable income and not being reliant on my parents before i start working on my true life purpose. 

Just to have enough money to buy the life purpose course and the book list, i need to work for 2 months. 

Or i can probably develop a marketable skill that i can learn in a few months, and start making money through that in lebanon to finance my creative projects and education (courses,etc...) but i’m not sure how much i’ll be paid for that. And i don’t know how do it yet but i can probably learn. 

The advantage of staying with my parents is that i have free food and shelter, but nothing else no money for pick up or dating, no car, no money to finance my creative projects... 

So yeah i’m kind of in this dilemma right now of what i should do, i know i’m gonna accomplish my goal in the long term, just the means can differ, but both will lead to the same conclusion. 

[Leo Gura]

44 minutes ago, Majed said:

alright so i guess i should develop my skills as a musician, like i want to be a rapper, make music, so i will develop that skill set, beatmaking, writing lyrics, sound engineering,etc... and then after 3 to 5 years i’ll be signed to a record label in france, cuz i want rap in french ideally.

Be careful with overly idealistic thinking.

Your plan has to be strategic and workable in the real world of business.

Rapping is highly competitive and you must bring serious skill to the table in order to have any chance of making money there. Realistically no one is going to give you any breaks or record labels. To get a record label as a rapper I imagine you already have to be very popular and successful on your own.

Don't expect anyone else to make you successful. No one is going to bring you business or make you popular. You must do that yourself. And if you don't know how, then you will not succeed. This is the proper realistic attitude. You must treat business seriously. This ain't Disneyland. Whatever your plans, they must work in the real world of dollars.

Edited December 7, 2022 by Leo Gura

[Majed]

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