People have been convinced for quite some time now that in order for them to be successful in any way shape or form, you need to go to college for 4 years and get a degree. That degree, depending on where you go to acquire it will cost you up to 100k or more. Too expensive…you say, well don’t worry about that. You see, you got these financial institutions everywhere, ready and willing to give you a loan so that you can fulfill your dreams.

Yeah, they’ll loan you the 100k, no problem and charge you a nice low interest rate to go along with it because of course they really care about you. Once you get that wonderful degree and go out into the real world to get a job, you might land yourself a good 40 to 50k per year gig. Which is absolutely gonna help you pay off that loan in no time.

If you’ve been duped into believing this path is the only way to success, then I challenge you to step outside the matrix for a bit and explore a new path. We are probably one of the most fortunate generations to be alive at a time when information is readily available to us at all times. It’s a game changer.

I was also duped into believing that college and a degree was the only way to success, until I woke up with over 20k of loan debt after just one semester. I thought to myself, there’s no way I’m gonna keep racking up my debt like this or else I’ll be paying this for the rest of my life, so I dropped out. One of the best decisions I ever made as it forced me to look for alternative ways to success in any job or business.

I came to realize that most companies out there that are hiring, they don’t really care about your degree. They care about your capabilities, in essence your skillset and experience. Do you have what it takes to do the job well and are you going to be a good culture fit in the company? That’s it, that’s all they wanna know. Are you worth the investment for them?

As I got further experience in the work force, this became more and more evident. So I began acquiring skills that would make me more valuable in the market. Time after time, I would beat out my highly “college educated” competition with fancy degrees very easily. And I don’t say that to brag, I say that to prove a point. Depending on what your view of success is, you don’t need college or a degree to get you there. You just need Highly Profitable Skills that will always be in demand by the job market.

In this week’s post, I am going to give you a list of 4 Highly Profitable Skills that can land you any job you want. Not only that but I’m gonna give you a resource to learn the skill so that you can start taking action on this right away.

Today we are exploring 4 highly profitable skills that have the potential to get you a higher paying job or even push you to wanna start your own business. One of the biggest struggles I see millennial dads facing is that they feel stuck at a dead end job or feel stuck in their earning potential. Meaning that they don’t believe they have what it takes to make more money. Or even worse, they think that they have to go back to school to get a degree that will allow them to earn more money.

Maybe back in the 80s or 90s that would’ve been true, but in our digital age, it’s no longer a factor. You can acquire a lot of skills out on your own either via the internet or books. From online courses, consulting, coaching, YouTube, and even Podcasts, you can acquire skills from a multitude of places that don’t involve you getting into 100k worth of debt.

The problem nowadays is that we have TOO MUCH information available to us, so a lot of us don’t know where to begin. So I’m gonna give you 5 skills here today and I’m gonna show you where to get them.

1. The Ability to Learn Fast

Over the past 2 decades technology has been advancing at a rapid rate. And as it continues to advance, it will only go faster, which means that your ability adapt and learn fast will be an essential skill for you to have. For my guys that are handymen and are scared of software and technology, why not be good at both? I always get these guys that say they like building things with their hands and that they’re not good at tech. Bruh, you literally use your hands to operate tech and when you create something digital, you are still creating something. Why put yourself at a disadvantage out in the market?

With that being said, In school, they taught you what to learn, but it’s rare that you were taught HOW to learn. All my life I’ve hated school, but I’ve always loved education. I came to the realization that the only way to advance in life and become successful is through what you actually know and are capable of. You can only increase your capabilities by learning something you didn’t know before. This is why I’m a big fan of reading because it literally expands my knowledge, which further expands my skill set, and ultimately makes me more valuable.

While most people are there complaining and whining about reading a freakin book, I’m over here seeing dollar signs on my bookshelf because all of that applied knowledge has the potential to make me more money. With more money, my family and I have more options. We are in a better position to make moves like the one we just did where we moved from CA to TX. On top of that, we’re in a better position to actually help friends and family monetarily when needed without expecting anything in return.

All of this happens with your acquisition of valuable skills. And one of the most beneficial skills is the ability to learn fast. However, in order to do that, you have to learn how to learn. Yes, I understand this is kind of meta, but bear with me for a moment. How efficiently can you consume a new piece of information and internalize it and make it your own? If you’re not very good at that, or if your memory is not great, it’s ok, you can train your brain to get good at these things.

Now I have a resource for you on how to do that. It’s a book called Limitless by a guy named Jim Kwik. This guy had a brain injury as a child and some teachers would call him the kid with the broken brain, yet against all odds, he is now literally a brain coach who teaches you how to speed read effectively and memorize things quickly. His book is a great start to get you exposed to some of his techniques. 2 quick tips that I’ll give you from his book when it comes to reading, in order to consume things faster.

1 is that as you’re reading use your finger or a pen as sort of a guide tool to place a focal point for your eyes. Hover over the words you read almost like you’re underlining the text your reading. It’ll feel a little weird at first, but over time it’ll start making you more focused when you read. The 2nd tip is to try to read as fast as you can, don’t go slow or else you’ll get distracted. The way Jim describes this, it’s almost like when you’re driving a car. If you’re just cruising and taking your time, your mind tends to wander and get distracted. But when you’re going 90 mph or you’re on a race track, you better believe that you’re gonna be a lot more focused. Reading faster triggers your brain to be more alert and focused on the data it’s processing.

Acquire this skill of learning fast and you’ll be amazed at how all that knowledge starts to drive up your bank account, if applied properly.

2. Effective Communication

There’s a lot of men out there that are great speakers, but horrible communicators. Meaning they can put a sentence together and make it sound good, but they don’t know how to get their point across in order for it to be truly understood. The other component these smooth talkers miss is intentional listening, which is a crucial part of communication.

You might know somebody at work that loves to talk and that’s really all they do, but just because he or she loves to talk, doesn’t mean people like to listen. To be skilled in effective communication, you need to be able to read people and you need to be intentional with your listening. Before you speak, you should have some awareness of your audience. What words should you use to captivate them and make them understand the message you are trying to convey. When they respond to you, are you truly listening and being present in what they’re saying or are you just thinking about what you’re gonna say next.

Most people communicate very selfishly, it’s all about them and how they feel during the conversation. Even when somebody tries to make a point or have the last word in a conversation, it puts that selfishness on full display. It happens with married couples all the time when they argue over who’s right and who’s wrong. To be a skilled communicator you have to understand certain dynamics.

Reading the person’s verbal and nonverbal queues. Using the right words tailored to them to get your point across. Getting confirmation that they’ve understood what you’ve said to them in exactly the way you wanted them to understand it. And when they respond, listening with intentional interest and seeking to understand what they’re saying. All these are key elements to effective communication and if you can get good at this, then you have yourself a very valuable skill.

You can go into an interview for any job and speak with confidence when you answer their questions. You’ll be able to have deeper and more meaningful conversations with those you care about. This skill can be leveraged to become a great story teller which just naturally makes you a more influential communicator. Your ability to ask powerful questions increases which gives you an edge in conversation and allows you to take charge. Not only that but your ability to write increases also, which is something every business cannot function without. You will stand out if you develop this skill.

So the question is how do you acquire it? Well, truthfully all of these skills will only be mastered with practice. But in order to practice you need to learn some communication fundamentals. There’s 2 books that I’ll recommend for this. One is a book called, How to Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Gives you some great key points on effective communication and influence and it’s filled with plenty of examples from historical figures that used these methods to attain results they wanted.

The other book I’ll mention is one called Co-Active Coaching. This is a resource for coaches, but there’s a lot of gold in here on how to listen with intent and how to ask powerful conversation leading questions. Always remember that he who asks the question in any conversation is the one controlling the conversation. The better you get at asking questions, the more people like to talk to you. It’s funny how that works. This skill of being an effective communicator is extremely valuable to the market and has the potential to make you a lot more money if wielded right.

3. The Ability to Lead

Everyone wants to be seen as a leader for the notoriety, but very few actually want to put in the work to develop leadership skills. Being a position of leadership is extremely difficult, whether it be in a work environment or in a family, it’s a lot of responsibility. And if you don’t train yourself to handle that responsibility well, you will either burn out and give up or you’ll pass up the opportunity of being a leader just to not be burdened.

Despite how hard leadership can be, it is a desired skill and one that is absolutely worth acquiring. It’s the reason CEOs and COOs get paid so much in large companies. They make the big decisions that propel the business forward and take on the biggest risks. In a family, if the man is fully present in that leadership role, his decisions have an extreme effect on the family. Even if he’s not stepping up and being a leader, his wife and kids are still looking at him for guidance. And if he sucks as a leader, he will still lead them somewhere, it just may not be a place any of them want to go.

A good leader tends to be a good mentor. Someone that can teach and help develop those that follow him. A good leader is influential, not bossy or demanding. He leads by example and doesn’t have the need to be validated by others or to announce to the world that he is a leader. It’s just something that’s evident by how he leads his own life. He accepts criticism and if it’s constructive, he adheres to the feedback in order to make himself a better leader. A good leader is obsessed with constant improvement and self development.

In my own life, within my circle of family and friends, I’ve become the man a lot of them rely on for help. I get the calls when stuff goes down, whether it’s monetary aid, family consulting, business advice, etc. I am a resource now that can provide value in several areas of life. Some men, do not wanna be the guy everyone comes to when they need help. In my mind, that’s the best type of man to be. It should give you confirmation as a man that you are doing something right with your life and demonstrating leadership skills.

If you wanna develop as a leader in any setting, one of the best recommendations I can give you is to pick up a book title The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell. This man has been studying leadership for a good portion of his life and has fulfilled the leadership role in many settings from churches to companies, he’s done it all. This is one of the reasons why I’m a big fan of books. Books condense life long experiences and lessons into 200 pages that you can consume in a week. What may have taken John C. Maxwell to learn in multiple decades, you can learn in a fraction of the time. Think about how much of an advantage that is for you. But it’s only an advantage if you learn what he teaches and apply it. Don’t sleep on leadership skills, you are gonna need them if you wanna advance professionally and personally.

4. The Ability to Sell

This one is such an extremely valuable skill, but most people brush it off simply because the word Sales has such a negative connotation. You probably picture that sleazy car salesman that promises you the world on the car he’s trying to sell you. He tells you you’re getting a great deal, that it’s covered under warranty bumper to bumper, that stain in the back seat is just part of the new design, don’t worry about it. This is the guy I used to picture in my head when anyone mentioned to me that I should get into sales.

It wasn’t until I started getting exposed into the world of entrepreneurship that I began to understand how important this skill really is. And it’s not so much because the skill is connected to money, it’s more so the idea that we are constantly selling all the time without knowing it. The word “sale” or “sell” derives from a Scandinavian word that means “to serve” other translations say “to give” or “to deliver”, but I really like “to serve” because I believe it embodies what this skill is meant to accomplish.

You see for you to reap the benefit of any product or service, someone has to sell you on it. For you to allow a person into your life as a friend or business partner, that person has to sell you on it. For me to eat at a restaurant that I’ve never eaten at before, I need to be sold on it. In all of these examples, you need to be convinced that whatever the thing or person is, that it’s going to serve to benefit you in some way shape or form. And in exchange for that benefit you will have to pay a price in order to obtain it. Sometimes the cost is money, other times it’s time or energy. There’s always a cost associated in a sale transaction, even the ones that don’t involve money at all.

So why is this skill so important? It’s because being effective at it allows you to serve others in greater capacity by leveraging persuasion. Now, I know what some of you will say, well isn’t that manipulation. No, manipulation means you are trying to control that person and make them do what you want them to do by any means necessary. Persuasion with positive intent means that you are trying to convince someone that whatever the thing is will benefit them, will serve them in some way, ultimately making their life better.

If my younger brother was a heavy drinker and drug abuser, I would want to sell him on the idea that being sober and staying away from the drugs and alcohol would be extremely beneficial to him. My intention is completely pure because I want to see my brother healthy and in a better state, but if I don’t have the skill to sell him on this, it’s gonna be difficult for me to persuade him. This is kind of an extreme example, and no my brother is not an alcoholic drug addict, but I think you see my point. The ability to sell can benefit you greatly in different areas of your life. Even in a job setting, when you go for an interview, you gotta sell the employer on you. The price for them is the salary they gotta pay you and the benefit is the work you will produce.

I hope you’re starting to see the bigger picture when it comes to being good at sales. If you really wanna brush up on this skill, one of the resources I recommend is a book called Socratic Selling by Kevin Daley. It walks you through techniques on how to use the Socratic method of asking questions to sell. Great salesmen know how to lead conversations with powerful questions, which leads the prospect to a conclusion, which then causes that person to make a decision. Buy or not buy, or think about it and buy later. The ability to sell will definitely make you a more capable man and will allow you to put more money in your pocket.

All of these skills that I’ve shared with you sort of stack on top of one another. Your ability to learn fast allows you to consume and internalize more information. With more knowledge, you become an effective communicator because now you actually have something to say. When you have something to say, people pay attention and you become viewed as a leader. And in order to lead effectively, it’s important to be persuasive and you can do that through the skill of selling. These 4 skills alone, if you put the energy and time necessary to develop them, they will change your life. Every company in the world wants people that excel at these skills. If you wanna start your own business, you’ll need these skills. Even within your family, they will serve you to be a better man, father, and husband.

Please go to my Resources Page and check out the books I mentioned here and more.

Until next time my fellow Alpha Dad,
- G. Vidal