Transferable Skills

When I first began doing my motivational speaking back in 2008 to juvenile offenders I would often get asked how was I able to transfer "Non-Marketable" skills to business and entrepreneurship. The fact that they actually believed that the things they learned in the streets would not be applicable in a business or professional setting is in fact a myth and one that I believed for quite some time. That belief paralyzed me mentally until I went to community college and learned that everyone starts somewhere and skills and experiences can be applied to several industries. When I would survey the crowd to find out what they knew how to do it would range and from taggers to car thief's to burglary and what I would tell them next would absolutely shock them. I would go to tell them how those skills can be transferred into a potential business for example:

• Car Thieves are also Car Security experts on how to protect it
• Burglary Suspects are also Home Security Experts
• Drug Dealers are Great Salesmen and Supply Chain Managers 
• Taggers are Great Artist and/or Architects 
  

and there are other examples for everything that you think is a waste of a skill.  One of the best exercises that assisted me in doing a skills audit was when my undergraduate professor Dr. Newman made us do a 25 page resume in his professional sales course, yes you heard me right 25 page resume, yikes! He wanted you to list every job or responsibility that you have had since you can remember, which I found that if you do it everyday you will not only complete the 25 pages, but exceed it. So if you are wondering if you have the skills for a certain job and/or industry please do a 25 page audit and do it daily until it is filled. 

As a former Drug Dealer and business school graduate I know that I have a unique skill set and advantage over any of my competitors even the Harvard and Princeton graduates, as like Jay-Z said "They only graduated from one school".  Stay tuned for my "Drug Dealer to Businessman" video series coming soon, where I will be sharing my experiences and tips on how I went from being a 6 figure Drug Dealer to a 6 figure online businessman so please subscribe to the channel.