My Top 3 Skills

In this blog post, I am going to showcase (in my opinion) my top three skills – one soft skill, and two hard skills.  I was careful to choose these skills based on my proficiency in them, but more importantly, I chose these specific areas to highlight because I am passionate about each of them.  These are the skills I wish to use in my career (among others…these are just my top three).

1. Drive

When I was 5, my parents got rid of our cat and I was devastated.  My parents told me that if I saved up enough money, I could buy my own cat.  So, I did.  It was an 8-year endeavor as I did my research and saved my money.  I employed many methods to reach my goals such as babysitting, nannying, and starting my own businesses.  At the age of 11, I started my first business – a muffin delivery service.  I went door to door pitching my sale and collecting orders, made muffins on Saturday morning, and delivered them by foot.  Often times, I wouldn’t want to finish my route for the night because it was super cold, but I did it anyway because every house was an opportunity for me to get more orders and get closer to my goal.

My second business venture was a coupon distribution business (I was 11 here as well).  This involved pitching my sale to local business owners and asking them to buy a spot in my coupon booklet.  I got about 7 companies to sign up, then I printed all the booklets and assembled them at a print shop, and finally delivered them by foot to 80 different homes.  I was able to get my cat in 2011, and a laptop in 2012.

More recently, last fall, I managed a fundraising campaign for Operation Underground Railroad (an organization that rescues children from sex trafficking around the world) and ran it for 45 days.  I centered it around a marathon my dad was running in order to boost our social media content (Facebook, mostly), and after the marathon was done, I centered our campaign around Life Leadership’s Life on Life push up contest.  In all, the campaign lasted about 45 days.  During that time, I used various methods to raise money such as organic Facebook publicity, events, fliers I designed, door to door pitching, asking others to talk about it with their friends and family, and going to various local businesses to ask them to help our cause.  Overall, I raised $20,025 by our deadline, and our team won the contest for Most Money Raised!

2. Planning

I’ve always been a planner, and since I was home schooled, it became important for me to plan out my time.  So, I created a list of things I needed to do every day and stuck to it.  Sometimes I would create a weekly schedule, sometimes a daily schedule, but they were always extremely detailed.  Few things excite me more than receiving or creating a schedule for an event or events!  I often schedule events for my friends and I to hang out, and it is always appreciated by those who attend.  I gather the RSVP’s, sign us up for an activity, and plan a place to eat after.  It works out very well!

When I was younger, I started planning my own birthday parties every year, and they were always planned out down to the last detail.  I had a schedule of events that dictated when people would arrive, what games we would play and when, what time the pizza would be eaten and when it should be put in the oven so that it would be ready to eat when the schedule indicated it was time – you get the idea.

Once my aunt (mother of 4) commented on how her kids had way too many toys and picking them up constantly was a huge task (her children were too young to put things away on a consistent basis).  I came up with a solution that consisted of categorizing all of the toys in her house by type and putting a few of each type into four different containers.  After this was done, I put three of the containers in her basement and unpacked one for the kids to play with.  The idea being that after a month, the toys in use were to be packed away and a new box was to be brought out.  My aunt was extremely grateful because there were not as many toys to clean up, the house looked amazing, and the kids didn’t seem to notice that three fourths of their toys were missing!

I know planning and organization are not normally categorized as fun activities, but for me, they’re some of my favorite things to do!  I can use my passion for planning to create value in everything I do – even if what I’m using it for isn’t all that exciting.

3. Writing

I first got hooked on writing when I was in middle school.  I became fascinated with writing short stories and parts of novels with friends, and eventually, research papers in high school.  As I’ve gotten older, my passion for writing has only grown!

In my freshman year of high school, I wrote a paper in my writing class that I entered in the Daughters of the American Revolution Essay Contest and won at the state level!

After I graduated high school, I started my own blog, and since then, I have written 34 articles (more to come!).  I love the freedom this has offered me!  For once in my life, I get to choose what I want to write about and what points I want to make.  Shortly after starting my blog, a local SEO company offered me a spot as a freelance writer which consisted of writing blog articles for their various clients such as TidyTouch Twin Cities and the Duplex Doctors.  I was told several times by my employer that my articles were the best quality that the company had ever produced. (links to my blog articles here: article 1, article 2, article 3)

I have often been told that I am a talented writer, and ideas seem to just flow from my head to the keys.  I enjoy writing a lot, and I even consider it to be an art form.  Everything I write has the potential to create vision, passion, humor, righteous anger, and so many other things – whatever emotion I intend to convey.  Like any skill, writing is something that I will continue to work on and get better at my whole life, and I’m excited for that journey!  I am of the firm opinion that no one is ever done learning, and if they think they are, they will get passed by all those who choose to learn and get better their whole lives.  This is why I have done blogging challenges in the past, and it’s why I’ll continue to do them in the future!

Looking Forward

I love using the skills highlighted above to bring value to the companies I work with!  My writing skills always seem to prove useful no matter where I go as most companies have a blog, or need help writing appealing blurbs for their website pages.  Writing also helps me when I create fliers or posters for events, or when I am emailing someone.

My love and skill for planning has been an amazing tool for me as it helps me break down my work into easy bite-size pieces that help me attack them appropriately.  I look forward to using this skill in the future to help your business be more efficient, run smoother, and make more money – whether that’s writing articles for your blog, planning an excellent promotional event, or solving problems quickly, creatively, and efficiently.

Above all, my strong drive to get things done has been my greatest asset.  It has helped me get through so many challenges in my life, and now I want to put it to work for you!