This is something I have been noodling on for a while. I am good at a lot of things, and great at just a few things. Maybe this is the case for many entrepreneurs.

So, I started thinking about the things I am just good at, and if when taken together, whether several goods make a great.

For this post, I am considering whether good/great skills could be combined for an excellent service offering or profitable business.

Reality check

I am probably never going to be a rock star. I may get to rock a stage and a venue giving a motivational talk, but it’s unlikely I’ll ever be the lead singer for a rock band. *sigh*

I am good at singing, but not great. I am a good performer, but probably not good enough to make the singing seem great.

In this case, my goods do not combine to yield a great, unfortunately.

Better options

What I am great at is structuring a talk. This is a skill that just comes naturally for me.

I have joked with clients that I think in PowerPoint and can create a deck for anyone on almost any topic.

When I sit at my desk and start working on a deck, the slides seem to come together magically. It just flows and it’s almost effortless. Hours fly by.

This skill, combined with my presentation skills and ability to poke fun at myself, takes good or really good skills into the great territory.

Bingo!

Skills inventory

I think it can be helpful to think about what you are good at, what you enjoy doing even if you’re not that good at it, and what you are actually great at.

Clearly everyone is different, but here are some of my skills just to get you thinking. This is important as you are building out your business because the more of your top skills you can use, the happier and more successful you will be.

One of my absolute favorite things to do, and I think my best skill, is strategy consulting. If you break it down, you would find it is a combination of listening carefully, asking clarifying questions, and identifying patterns.

If I could just do one thing all day, I would happily have calls with people, listen to their career or business challenges, and offer suggestions and strategies.

Fortunately, I get to do this with my introductory consultation calls and my client calls – and it’s fantastic. I’ll file this under great.

I am also a strong writer and a pretty good editor. My writing is definitely at a higher level than my copy editing skills. This is a case where two goods combined make a great.

When you think about it, I’ll bet some of your goods might make a great. When you find those combinations, make sure you leverage them to grow your business.