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Grow Your Business by Harnessing Your Superpowers

Guest post by: Karl Staib

Article Overview: The thing with superpowers is that everyone has their own unique set, and if you are spending too much time worrying about someone else’s superpowers then you will lose out on harnessing your own powers. It’s why you can’t measure yourself against other people and/or businesses. They have talents that you won’t be able to replicate, so why try?

Grow Your Business by Harnessing Your Superpowers

Having a superpower comes with a lot of advantages. My friend can write amazing copy that sells products like no one you've ever seen. She doesn't even have to understand the product; she just knows how to sell the solution. I'm amazed by her superpower and at times I'm jealous. When I have this twinge of jealousy, I gain a better understanding of myself. It helps me to see what I want and I can either hire someone to help me achieve this goal or learn to do it myself.

The thing with superpowers is that everyone has their own unique set, and if you are spending too much time worrying about someone else's superpowers then you will lose out on harnessing your own powers. It's why you can't measure yourself against other people and/or businesses. They have talents that you won't be able to replicate, so why try?

Many small businesses fail because they lose focus on what they do well. They want superpowers that they can't have.

Every business has superpowers that their people bring to the work. I asked a client who runs a small technology company to find out what his employees' superpowers were. He got such a great response that he now does this every year. It helps him understand his employees and have fun while doing it.

A superpower is basically (passion) + (a task someone can stay focused on for a while) + (strength). If you don't have all three elements you don't have a superpower.

I love design, but I lose focus quickly especially when designing on a computer. I can't consider this a superpower. Honesty is very important when figuring out which skill you should be developing.

Now let's focus on you...

What are three superpowers that you possess?

These three superpowers can help you build a business that separates you from the crowd. Next you have to figure out how to leverage these superpowers within your business.

3 Superpowers

I'll break down my superpowers so you understand what works for me.

My three superpowers are:

• Creative solutioning
• Listening
• Truth seeking

Creative Solutioning

A word that I made up because I couldn't find the perfect word - now that's creative solutioning in action. The idea is a simple one. Give me a problem and I'll help you find five solutions that could all work.

It's hard to come up with five different angles to a problem, but that's why I'm different than the average business coach. I hate that word "business coach," that's why I prefer to be called a superpowers coach. People know that they will have a plan that they can implement when we are done.

Listening

Many people list this superpower as their own, but don't back up their words. They like to talk and that's fine, but they need to know that it can be like kryptonite if they aren't careful.

Listening to people takes a patient ear. To do this even when the conversation isn't exciting takes a lot of practice that many people aren't willing to dedicate time to. They are too worried about how they are perceived instead of actually listening.

Truth seeking

I'm not afraid to admit I'm wrong. I've been wrong many times before and I'll be wrong many times in the future.

To be a truth seeker a person has to be willing to accept defeat, adjust and take action in a new direction. Too many people cling to old ideas and hope that the world will eventually shift back to their mindset, which usually doesn't work

Notice

Each superpower is an action that I can take. Being likeable is not a superpower, that's a trait. Being an convincing communicator is a superpower. You can apply that superpower to your business.

Create Leverage

Now that you know your three superpowers you have to create leverage. It's this leverage that will help you develop your U.S.P. As you know if you don't have a USP then you are competing on price and everyone knows that's a fools game.

As a Superpowers Coach there are times when I want to shy away from saying something that the client won't like. There are times when I may be afraid of saying something too blunt, but that's a mistake. In order to be a truth seeker I have to tell my clients as I see it, otherwise I'm not working for my client. I'm working for myself.

Since I know that I'm a truth seeker, I've been developing my skill of phrasing my questions and guidance in a positive way. Adding this skill has helped me develop my truth seeking superpower so that it's even more effective.

I had a client who recently thanked me for being so willing to seek out the truth. Most of my clients have fears that hold them back from their success. They may not want to face that fear, but I encourage and cajole to make them deal with it. It's the only way they can break through their stuckness and grow their business.

Your turn

What are your 3 biggest fears?

How can you use your superpowers to overcome them?

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Article Tags: business, leverage, small, strengths, superpowers, USP



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My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: My 3 best business books - 1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 3. Permission Marketing - Seth Godin Think and Grow Rich seems more powerful each time I read it or dip into it. The 7 Habits not only offers some very effective ways to organize your life (which I have yet to master!), but also some great quotations and thought provoking statements including this by Nazi concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl: [i:2naxzsom]Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.[/i:2naxzsom] Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is a good read for anybody seeking to understand how to approach doing business on the Internet in the right way with regard to winning people's trust.
Re: My 3 best business books - It seems that Napoleon Hill works help a lot of business men. He had done a really good job. I bought Think and Grow Rich many times.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Think and Grow Rich - Hi Moira, What a great post! I completely agree with it and it really is too easy to underestimate those 3 points but once we learn to use them the sky is the limit. I am currently reading Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill. Have you read that book?


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