Tutorial for Freelancers: Practical Exercises To Help You Work Out Your Strengths

Discover your strengths and build your career with these exercises recommended by Mònica Rodríguez Limia

Mònica Rodríguez (@rodriguezmon) is a business mentor for creators and creatives. She is passionate about her work and believes that everyone has it in them to keep getting better and better. For Mònica, education is key and has the power to change the world.

Mònica shares how you can go about getting to know yourself better before launching your business project. She shares simple exercises that you can do to work out your strengths.

What do you have already in your backpack?

Monica has developed these exercises starting with a basic principle in mind: before launching your business, it’s important to be aware of what personal skills and financial resources you already have to invest. There are many ways to learn more about yourself. Here Mònica shares several.

Think about former jobs

Make three columns: one for the things that you are good at and enjoy doing, another for the things that you’re good at but don’t enjoy doing, and a third for the things that you don’t like doing and you that you also find difficult. List your personal skills and interests in the corresponding columns–this is a simple and easy way to make your creative profile visual so that you can then examine it.

How you see yourself, how you think others see you, and how you see them

Ask two friends, two family members, and two co-workers (past or present) what they would say your strengths and weaknesses are. Then you will be able to compare the image you have of yourself to that of those who know you.

Another exercise you can do that is along similar lines is, when these groups of people come and ask you for something, ask yourself, “What are they asking me for?” This is another way to understand your worth and the skills you offer to others.

Choose references

Lastly, another simple but very useful exercise is to choose four companies that you consider key references and describe why you like them–for their products, for the image they project, or their mission. We recommend that you choose two big international companies. It doesn’t matter whether they are from your sector: what’s important is that they inspire you professionally.

If you have enjoyed this tutorial from Mònica Rodríguez, be sure to check out her online course, Business Models for Creators and Creatives. You will learn to create your own personalized business model, taking into account the unique characteristics of the creative sector, and develop a career that maximizes opportunities for success using a specialized business canvas.

You may also like:

- Managing your Finances as a Creative Professional, a course by Mònica Rodríguez Limia.
- Freelance: Keys and Tools to Find Success as your Own Boss, a course by Martina Flor.
- LinkedIn: Build your Personal Brand, a course by Núria Mañé.
- Visual Storytelling for your Personal Brand on Instagram, a course by Marioly Vazquez.