Taking Inventory of Your Skills

From sasCommunity

--KirkLafler 14:02, 26 April 2007 (EDT)

By Kirk Paul Lafler and Charlie Shipp

Knowing what you can provide clients and prospective clients is a valuable ingredient for success. Understand that the services you intend to offer should be perceived as adding value in an already highly competitive marketplace. Second, keep in mind that there will almost certainly be intense competition from other like-minded individuals.

Begin by taking inventory of your skills which involves the following steps:
1. List your skills/services (e.g., strategic planning, market analysis, systems analysis, technical writing, etc.)

2. Perform the following rankings for each skill/service:
a. Level of competence(e.g., up-to-date (current), competitive, and out-of-date)
b. Income level production for the past 12 months (largest to smallest)
c. Assess whether each skill/service is "Active" or "Passive" (e.g., Active---critical to clients you are pursuing, Passive--non-critical to prospective clients)

3. Once ranked, categorize each skill by functional discipline (e.g., Business consulting, programming, marketing, etc.)

4. Capture comments, features, successes, and failures about each skill/service. These comments, along with rankings, will be used in the preparation of promotional materials.