How to get paid for what you know

With the present economic situation in the country when jobs are hard to get, one of the ways to earn a living is to know what you are good at and know how to get paid for it.

Years ago, I saw a newspaper advert of a training for pastors on various aspects of ministry work.

I noted that there was no topic on use of new media and I took the chance of showing up on the first day of the programme to ask if I could be allowed to share my knowledge about how pastors can maximise use of the Internet.

The programme officer told me it was too late to accommodate my request, but he agreed to ask the bishop of the church if he was interested in my proposal.

The bishop liked the idea and altered the programme schedule to accommodate my lecture.

I left the venue paid more than I was expecting and with the contacts of many potential clients who wanted personalised coaching.

The above incident happened during one of my desperate moments of trying to survive ‘on my own’ after resigning from where I used to work and was guaranteed monthly pay.

Most of my anticipated revenue streams did not work out as planned and I had to think deeply about what else I could get paid for. My mastery of the new media when it was still relatively understood by a select few like me came in handy and ever since continued to be a good-paying side hustle even when I returned to take a regular job.

Many people are very knowledgeable about various skills and other areas of human interests but they don’t know how to get paid for what we know. They think they can only earn a pay from a regular job or when they start a business of their own.

If I didn’t ask for the opportunity to speak at the pastors’ conference I would have missed the chance of getting what I was paid and others contacts I got.

It is not enough to have experience or knowledge which we can brag about, there is need to find where to share them and get rewarded for what we know.

To get paid for what you know, however, you must really be the expert you claim you are.

You must know more than the basic information available to any pretender in your area of specialisation.

Your depth of knowledge must by authoritative and valuable to those who want to pay you.

You must keep abreast of latest developments and keep researching your subject area.

You must have personal practical experiences and other case studies you can share and not only theories about what you know.

New jobs are indeed hard to get nowadays both in the public and private sector and it is necessary for anyone who have bills to pay to know he or she is good at, which does not have to be what they studied.

Organisations and people pay for services and knowledge and only those who can offer them are guaranteed of getting paid.  More than ever before, graduates of higher institutions have to know how to turn their education into offering services they can be paid for.

The entrepreneur course which is now compulsory in universities and polytechnics has to be more aimed at making the students understand the business sides and opportunities  of their main courses and not only teaching them the basic buying and selling.

Graduates should be able to come up with new ways of offering services in the courses they studied or other endeavours.