What am I good at?

You would never build a house without having a list of materials you have. Even having the blueprints will not help if you don’t even know what assets are at your disposal.

Before starting a business, at the beginning of his path, every entrepreneur needs to analyze what he is, what he has, what he is capable of. The strengths. The assets.

Let’s play this another little game: “Write down all your strengths. Something you love to do, something you are good at, something giving you an advantage”

If you’re good in something, composing such a list may sound like bragging to you. That is perfectly normal to be good in something, and it may be a great asset to use in your future business. Write down everything. And don’t worry, the list of weakness follows in the next post 🙂

Here is my own list:

I know how software world works

I know how software works. I know how the Internet works. I know how to make IT happen.

As I already mentioned, I have worked as a software developer for nearly 20 years now, but this wasn’t when I started. I’ve started when I was 12 (and it was 24 years ago), poking around my Spectrum computer my parents got me. There is when I learned to code (I learned Assembler on that Spectrum), there is when I learned to love computers and software making. That’s where I realized how easily, with a push of a button, you can do a lot, you can solve problems and make stuff happen. Real world stuff, not just symbols on the screen.

Since then I’ve learned how to build websites. Small at first, taking simple gigs at a freelancing board Scriptlance.com (non-existing now), I grew this moonlighting thing into a full grown 15 employees company, in the end of the day having developed more than 500+ projects of various size and level of complexity. Here I am now, at my current position of System Architect, keeping afloat a dozen of complex and highly cross-integrated financial projects at the same time.

So, I do know how to make IT happen. I do not need to learn all this Internet stuff to get into online business because I already know it all. I can build software myself, or hire someone, I speak their language. All I need is to finally put my foot down and for once do it for myself.

I’ve got some blogging experience

I know that getting into online business requires you to put yourself out there — and that’s exactly what I am doing right now. I need to know how to blog, how to create content. And I do.

Since I’ve decided to move over to the US (what is it, 6 years ago?) I’ve been running a blog about America, the country, the people, and specifically about my path I went down to come here. You can find still it at https://olegblog.com, although it’s in Russian.

I have grown my blog to 1,000 unique visitors a day. Most of my audience is from ex-USSR countries, a good half of them reading about the US in dreams of going there – immigrants to be. I’ve written tons of posts on “going to US” topic, and many of them went viral and got thousands of comments. I’ve been told I can write really well and many people asked me if I want to write a book one day. I take it as a social proof that I can do blogging.

But more than that, over these years of software development AND blogging I’ve got SO experienced with WordPress, hosting, different plugins and so on and so on – that it would be a great waste if I don’t use that skills to my personal growth.

I’m good with photography and Photoshop

For more than 10 years I’ve been an amateur photographer. I shoot in different genres, from travel to fashion, and I became quite good with Photoshop in the process. You can find some of my recent works here.

I am not sure yet how this skills can help me build my online business, but I know how to take photos, am fluent with cameras, light, and other gear, know how to edit and post process, and most importantly – can tell a good, quality photo from a not so good one. At least, this skills will help me build a pleasant experience for you, with the content I’m going to be creating.

I like explaining and teaching

Be it about work or not, I always loved to put things into words, to explain and teach complex things in simple ways. From explaining something about software programming to teaching how to play piano or ride a bicycle. I love doing that.

And I’ve been told a number of times that I am good at it, and I probably should teach. I don’t want to get into a teaching career, and I am not entirely sure how, but I believe this skills may become useful along my path. Maybe I’ll open an online school? Maybe create a course? Write a book? We’ll see it. But I’m going to use and enjoy this passion of mine in one way or another.

I like to organize things

I find a lot of joy organizing stuff, taking action and making things happen. What makes me most happy is creating something that works without my supervision, like building mechanisms or scripts or applications — this is the reason I become a software engineer in the first place.

As I now understand, creating an online business takes a lot of automation that has to work without supervision. I’m glad there’s an opportunity for me to have a lot of fun doing it!

So, this is my list.
What did you get in yours?