Jackie of All Trades - Trades in Conventional Wisdom By Mary Ann Cadorna
Conventional wisdom says one cannot be a Jack or Jackie of all trades and be successful, but I beg to differ! As I needed to meet the challenges of life and/or business, I only had myself to rely on. So I drew from my ingenuity, natural abilities, talents, desire, and necessity to learn! As I always say, "necessity is the mother that gives birth to new skills, so I spent many late nights and early hours in the labor room, delivering my skilled babies, and I became a Jackie of all trades because I had to be, and in having to learn so many things, I became skilled at many things and traded in conventional wisdom. But like children, my skill babies became toddlers, juveniles, until they finally matured to where I could count on them!
SOCIAL MEDIA: For example, when real estate shifted to social media, blogging, photography, and videos. Developing my own websites was a great challenge; fortunately, I was already a writer/poet, and also, being a photographer helped me provide the social media content.
VIDEO COST OUCH: However, as real estate shifted to using videos, I found it cost-prohibitive to pay $300-$400 for a two to three-minute video. So, I had to learn, and bought an HD camera and became what if call a cam-ham! Most importantly, I took on the challenge, developed my skills, and excelled at video production, from recording, directing, producing, interviewing, editing (the most painful), and more.
RADIO TALK SHOW TO VIDEO: Back in 2005, I went from a 30-second ad spot to my desire of having a 60 minute Real Estate Radio Talk Show. And 15 years, I leveled up to Executive Producer of my own show. As an added benefit, I transitioned my broadcast radio interview skills onto video media without a hitch and earmarked them with my youtube videos.
CONVENTIONAL OR NON-CONVENTIONAL: The moral of the story is to believe in yourself first before listening to someone else's wisdom, conventional or not, for you never know what you will discover about yourself in the process. As for me, I wouldn't trade being a Jackie of all trades, and I love developing unconventional wisdom! I don't like to be told what I can't do; as an autodidact, I don't have a lid, or I never knew that one could exist for I always had my thoughts in the vast the big blue sky of possibility thinking. That's how I made the top 1% my first year of real estate and to my own #1 ranked radio talk show just 1.5 years later.
TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCE: In truth and consequently, it's not easy to be a Jackie of all trades, for there will be doubters that misunderstand you. Like during a business lunch, a conventional wisdom coach asked me, "Mary Ann do you want to be a Jackie of all trades and just be mediocre?" "Or do you want to excel at one thing?" My direct reply to his patronizing was, "What I do is not mediocre and whatever I pursue is always to achieve above the level of mediocrity." So don't let anyone put you in their judgment box when they don't even know your abilities or capabilities. The truth is your goal should always be to be learning, do the best you possibly can, and whatever you do, aim high, always strive to achieve above the level of mediocrity and conventional wisdom and conventional opinion!
JACKIE OF ALL TRADES WISDOM: Remember my saying, "Necessity is the mother that gives birth to new skills." As long as you don't mind being in the labor room and going through the labor pains of giving birth to that new skill. Then you will be far better off for like your birth children, and your skills will be with you always.
By Mary Ann Cadorna
February 8, 2015
http://www.SanFranMaryAnn.com