Now many of you may wonder, what exactly is talent monetization? It’s a relatively new phrase no doubt, but the meaning is pretty much an old concept. In a nutshell, it is the transformative approach everyone can adopt by leveraging their hidden talents and passions for financial gain.
What exactly is talent monetization?
In common language, talent monetization is the art of generating income by discovering and using your hidden or inherent skills, knowledge, and talent.
It involves recognizing the value of your hidden talents and finding innovative means of generating income through them. And the beauty of it is that there are no limits or restrictions to the type of talent you have.
It can be anything and everything you have ranging from a creative ability or an uncanny instinctual habit or a specialized expertise.
What is the talent monetization process like?
The talent monetization process can be split up into at least eight steps:
Identifying the talent: Obviously to start you need to first identify what unique talent you possess.
As said earlier, it can be anything ranging from a skill, a hobby, or some extraordinary knowledge or ability you have. Don’t worry if you don’t detect or know it immediately.
Some people need a little time to reflect and decide what exactly it is that sets them apart from others.
1. Research:
Once you know your talent, it’s time to do some research about its demand, trends, and market. As the aim is to monetize it, find out how much of a demand there is for your talent or expertise.
2. How to present it:
Once you know the demand, it’s time to create an offer that best aligns with your talent and the market needs. Based on your talent, you can decide between offering it as freelance services, a course, consultation, e-books or performances.
3. Create an online presence:
Now that you know your talent and how to offer it, it’s time to create a ‘store’ for your talent. And with today’s internet world, what better store can you have than an effective online presence?
Your social media handles are the best places to start, and based on what you offer, you can also have websites and landing pages. They make the perfect ‘store’ for your talent in the online world.
4. Marketing:
With your store ready it’s time to start implementing effective marketing strategies to reach out to your target audience. And you can do it effectively through content marketing, social media marketing, emails, and even ads if necessary.
5. Engaging with clients:
Once you start marketing, you will start getting leads. It’s essential for you to know how to engage with your clients. This means focusing on building relationships with your audience, providing value and showing how your talents can solve their problems.
6. Start monetizing:
Now it’s time to look out for ways to monetize your talent. Based on your talent, it can be done with the help of freelance platforms, an affiliate program, your website or a direct relationship with your client.
I generally recommend not sticking to a single income source or means, but diversifying your options.
7. Keep learning and updating
Now that you’ve started monetizing your talent, your journey doesn’t stop there. Like any other job or gig, talent monetization is a continuous learning process.
It means you need to stay updated with the latest industry trends, learn new skills, and be ready to adapt to changes where needed to remain competitive.
There you go!
Your answer to what talent monetization is, and how to do it. Look out for the next blog post that’s coming up soon, about another popularly asked question, “How can I discover my hidden talents and abilities?”