They say a person does something professionally if he earns money from it. But there’s a small problem: plenty of people earn some money from, say, advertising or design. But professionals in the field? Here they’re as scarce as hen’s teeth!
And forget advertising! It’s the same in any industry: construction, sales, repairs, services…
Well, it’s clear why: the market is young, competition is relatively low, people are poorly educated and have little idea how good things can be, plus a great many people have unearned income (I mean dishonestly acquired), which means they spend it any old way, or spend other people’s money altogether.
By the way, Milton Friedman has an incredibly useful scheme of how people spend other people’s money, and not even on themselves, and what comes of it.
So what is professionalism? How do you become a professional at what you do?
I think professionalism is, first of all, looking closely. Simply put. Put less simply, looking isn’t enough, of course. Looking and thinking.
Getting into the details. Thinking through the things you’re used to: why do we do it this way and not another?
So: peer closely at the details and act deliberately on what you observe.
And now something that seems, at first glance, the opposite: a professional looks wider. A good worker does his job and that’s all: drills, say, the holes needed in the places specified. A professional will notice whether it’s convenient to have those holes there for how the room will be used, whether it meets safety rules, will discuss which drill bit is best and will ask why exactly you’re drilling the wall. Maybe your problem can be solved another way?
So a professional sees more, and approaches the details thoughtfully.
That’s about the way of thinking. And now a few fairly ordinary but relevant tips on how else to become a professional.
Read. Reading is, in my view, the main way to learn. Nothing more to say here. It’s useful to read not only the standard books and articles: far more can be found now in the blogs of people who are in the thick of your field.
For example, Roman Rybalchenko’s post “How to become an internet marketer?”
Or my post “12 signs of a good realtor”.
Forums hold lots of useful information. Yes, yes, these dinosaurs from the 90s still attract lots of people thanks to a live community and the chance to speak your mind without fussing over form and grammar. City forums are notable in this respect: the Odesa and Kharkiv ones.
Learn from others. This is also a form of reading. Only not of books, but of the world around you. Watch how others do it. If it’s advertising: what they write, which words they use, which materials and design. If it’s sales: notice how the salespeople greet you, what they say, how they’re dressed and so on.
To understand what you see better, it’s best to write it down. You can take photos. A camera phone helps: you can install Evernote and take photo notes.
Follow the gurus. Make a list of the best in your industry and watch them especially closely. Regularly watching the industry’s locomotives, at the very least, motivates you well.
Talk to colleagues in your line of work. And I mean talk to the point: ask questions and share experience, not discuss the latest news or politics.
One more thing: routine work, the small repetitive tasks that pile up and tend to take 100% of your working time.
It’s important to identify them and try to optimize them: spend as little time as possible on each, or get rid of them altogether.
Yes, the recommendations above are neither new nor specific. But I can say that I’m only now starting to get into the details of my own business, although I’ve been doing it for 3 years. Only recently did I come to understand how important it is to talk to colleagues. And so on. That’s why I decided to write this post: as a guide and a plan. I hope someone at a similar stage of personal development to mine will find these tips useful.
Because you want so badly to deal with professionals!