Have you thought about what problems do you solve? I am referring strictly to your professional activity. Well, I suppose you also must solve many problems on a personal level, but I will stick exclusively to your professional sphere. Because your professional life, like everyone else’s, is focused on solving problems. Big or small problems, problems of your clients, your bosses, other coworkers … but, ultimately, problems.
Don’t tell me you had never considered your professional activity as a problem solver. Well, it is time for you to consider it. Because no one will hire you but to help them solve their problems. Nobody is interested in what you have studied, where you have worked, what talents do you have, what your motivations are … if not to be confident that you are going to solve their problems.
I already know that “problems” have a very negative connotation. If you don’t like this word you can use the word “challenges”. In other words, you can dedicate yourself to helping people achieve challenges. Same idea, same concept, but a kinder word, and much more positive. Well, in most cases the idea is the same, but you can pose it negatively as a problem or positively pose it as a challenge. For example, if you are a nutritionist, you can say that one of the problems you solve for your clients is “stop having a few extra kilos”, or say that you help them achieve their challenges “being at your ideal weight”. The idea is the same, to add value to others, either by eliminating a problem or helping them to achieve a challenge.
There are a lot of problems or challenges that people and organizations have. We can group them into 3 large groups:
- Make more money. Most companies and people like to earn more money, have access to more customers, get more commercial references … The first large group of problems or challenges that you can solve has to do with strictly economic issues.
- Spend less money. Also, most people and organizations like to save money. To reduce the costs of a certain product or service, eliminate some type of expenses …
- Be happier. We all want to be happier. And I understand happiness in a very broad sense. From physical aspects such as sleeping better, having less pain, to more emotional aspects such as being comfortable with your life, practicing a certain activity that you love, seeing happy people you love …
You must understand that people will only hire you for one of these 3 ways of solving problems or facing challenges. Think carefully about the main problem you are helping to solve. If it is not clear for you, it will be more difficult for you to manage it well. And apart from managing it well, you must know how to communicate it clearly. Your personal brand must make it clear not only who you are going to help but, above all, what you are going to contribute. That is, what problems are you going to solve or what challenges will you help them achieve. So simple … or so complicated. Your brand is the problem you solve. In a world like today’s world, it matters less and less what you have studied, what your experience is … or even if you work a lot or a little. The only important thing is going to be the problems you solve. If these are important, if you know how to solve them well, if there are few people who can solve them, you will be very successful. And if the problems are easy to solve or a lot of people can solve them, your proposal will have little value consequently you will hardly have interesting income and it will also cost you to find good jobs or clients.
Because as Paul Marsden said, British writer, businessman and politician “The business world is nothing more than solving people’s problems … making profit.” In this sense, I am sadly convinced that the essence of your personal brand is solving problems for other people and being able to communicate it properly.
