5 WAYS TO BE PROFITABLE DURING THE COVID 19 EPIDEMIC USING YOUR TALENT, HOBBY OR PASSION

I just love networking. Yes I love people and it was one of my talents to be able to connect with people and engage with them on various topics and thoughts.

Professionally I am a Creativity Catalyst and Educator (I help people develop and reignite their creativity muscle for innovation) but most of my work is done face to face and currently I am not able to offer my keynotes and workshops to companies during this time of Covid 19. I also love writing so I decided to use all 3 of my talents; networking, writing and creativity to share a short blog with my network on how we can start flexing our creativity during the next while.

Your first requirement is to identify what it is you love doing in your spare time. Yes, it can be more than one thing.

Next is to ask the question: WHAT PROBLEM AM I TRYING TO SOLVE FOR MY POTENTIAL CUSTOMER USING MY TALENT.

For e.g. I have just chatted to a friend who went to do her shopping at Woolworths but all the fresh produce was sold out.

The problem that needs to be solved: When do I know that fresh produce is available at Woolworths or other supermarkets so that I do not go to the shops unnecessarily?

The solution: If I enjoy App development as my talent – then I would come up with an app that tells people when shelves have been restocked with fresh produce – not only Woolworths but Pick and Pay, Checkers and Spar. People will get a notification as to when stock has been replenished and will be able to then visit their local store for fresh food. This could be linked to all the Apps for these stores.

Here are 5 other ideas (that do not necessarily require a tech solution)

If you love gardening maybe offer your services in your area to people whose garden service has either cancelled or to people who are in quarantine especially the elderly who are not up to gardening. Also look at creating pot-plants with positive messaging on and selling these to people in your area.

If you love reading: read some of the set-works for High School students and summarise these with questions and answers for the students. Students will be under immense pressure to catch up when they return to school and will need all the help they can get. Yes, I know children should take the time now to read all their books but let’s get real. Playstation/X-box or reading a book?

If you love baking or cooking: I have seen many posts already on Facebook for those offering baking and cooking services. Advertise on your local group/suburb groups as well as other groups that you belong too. There will be lots of competition in this area so make sure you promote your offering in a creative way that gets people’s attention. Try and make something that no one else is making and potentially partner with other service providers such as Netflorist to potentially sell your baked items.

If you love writing or storytelling: I believe there will be content overload especially with regard to Covid-19 as well as content for students and children activities. I have already seen so many posts on Facebook whereby people will be uploading activities daily for kids to do to keep them occupied so let’s be creative. Ask the question WHY will people read or download my content? HOW will I go about delivering my content that is different from others? WHO do I want to write/create this content for?

For e.g. If you have ideas to keep children busy with activities: As mentioned earlier you are competing with technology as well as other content providers so make sure that the activities you are creating blends into technology. I use to love playing the trivial pursuit game on Facebook at one stage. Look to develop content that is both educational and fun. Alternatively look to create competitions between children. Children by nature are very competitive and love competing against one another for e.g. Ask a brand such as Colgate if you could partner with them and send out a competition whereby kids will have to come up the most creative smiling mouth from recyclable material. Colgate will then offer a prize/s for the best model. This is content that will keep children occupied, engaged and downloading your content.

If you love handy-work: Your time is now!! People will be spending a lot more time at home and will be noticing all the things that need fixing in their homes. Yes there are those people who will attempt to self-fix but eventually they will succumb to employing someone to fix their mess (speaking from personal experience). Will people have the extra cash to be fixing at the moment? This is where you need to become creative with your pricing plans and different options for payment. Maybe it could be trading: If I fix your door then maybe you can cook a meal for me.

People need to keep busy, active and profitable during these times and to take on differing initiatives. Take a walk or jog and think creatively how you can solve a challenge or problem that people are currently facing and how you can creatively address this problem for them as discussed in the beginning of the article.

This applies to not only adults but to students and school children who are able to make money from their passion.

My son, loves researching about Samsung and Apple phones. He should be writing up reviews and sending these onto all the tech sites as well as create his own website where he should be placing blogs.

Never has Creativity become more critical than at this present moment.

Now let me take my own advice and start offering people advice how to start re-igniting their creativity muscle to empower people to continue to earn revenue during these challenging times. What would you trade with me in order to get my help?

 

About the Author: Lana Leas-Roy is a Creativity Catalyst and runs her own company called Goats2Unicorns. She is a Duke University facilitator, Innovator Gap year educator and Faith Managope Tech and Leadership Institute (NPO) CEO. Lana has spoken all over the world on “The Road to Innovation is paved with Creativity” and “How to find the attributes you had as a 5-year old when you had the highest level of creativity”. She recently received the Innovator of the Year award for Human Skills Development at the World Innovation Congress in Mumbai. She currently works with some of the top listed companies in Africa and has done work for YPO and SA Innovation Summit.

Contact Author on: lana@goats2unicorns.com for further information how to make $$$$$.