How to play to your strengths in your business? You need two things: The Clifton Strengths Test to pinpoint your talents, and Anna Nelson to guide you in the right direction.
What kind of business should I start?
Really, I want to know... WHAT BUSINESS WOULD I BE GOOD AT?
If only we knew, right? 
So much so that we’ve pondered over this topic before in a previous podcast and blog. (You can find it here.) It’s one of these podcasts that has a great overview of steps and options. But sometimes, you also have to go back and say:
‘Hang on a second. That’s important stuff. I need to flesh that out a bit more.’
Which is exactly what we have on the agenda for today.
Discover Your Strengths With The Wonderful Anna Nelson
You probably remember my Bra-Designer-Friend-Turned-Business-Coach? She went on a cheeky coffee date with a friend and next... POOF! Her entire world was turned upside down. For the good, may I add. It’s a powerful story about how to play to your strengths in business, and what happens if you do.
As to what happened after that infamous coffee, I couldn’t put it any better than in Anna’s own fierce words:
‘In the world of coaches, few people know what makes them a good coach. I know what makes me an excellent coach. How I show up for my clients is individual and plays into my superpowers.’ 
I’m going to guess you’re looking a bit stunned right now.
There’s also a good chance you find yourself hungering ‘Whatever it is she has, I want some of that!’.
Girlfriend, I’ve got some news for you!
IT’S EXACTLY WHAT ANNA SETS OUT TO ACHIEVE FOR ALL OF US.
Anna will help you figure out what makes you YOU, which services and products bring out the best in you, and which team you should surround yourself with to make it smooth sailing.
Imagine how good it would feel to say that you know how to play to your strengths? That you know you’ll show up as the best possible version of yourself in your business?
It’s time to do some explaining about the Clifton Strengths Test, don’t you think?
Clifton Strengths Test Explained
Probably the best thing I can do is give you my own experience with the Clifton Strengths Test.
Here’s the background you need to understand it all:
After you’ve battled your way through 177 questions, you receive your results as a set of 34 talent themes. Your top 10 talents are the ones you operate from on a daily basis. Each strength also influences the other. It’s what makes us unique.
While it’s fascinating to discover your strengths, it’s important you realise you couldn’t nor shouldn’t change them. There is no bad strength. What matters is how you use them.
The talent themes fall into 1 of 4 buckets:
- The Strategic Thinking Domain: people who are in their heads, connecting the dots, see patterns, see their way out of the chaos.
- The Relationship Building Domain: people who are great with other people.
- The Execution Domain: people who get things done, they always have to be busy.
- The Influencing Domain: people who get people to take action, they’re good at winning someone over, they buy into their own self.
Pinpointing Your Strengths May Be Harder Than You Think
Why am I explaining all this?
When I received my report, eager to discover my strengths, I was baffled to see that my 4 top strengths fell in each of the 4 different domains (!!!). It would have been easy to conclude that the test was flawed, or ... that I’m an enigma. You’ll be happy to hear, I’m not.
BUT it shows just how important it is to look at all your strengths, not just the first few. It also showcases how the sum is bigger than its parts. But maybe most importantly, it highlights the value of having somebody who knows how to interpret your results.
Enter Anna.
How Can You Use Your Strengths To Be Successful in business?
To get the background, Anna has a long conversation about what kind of business you want to build? What it is you love doing in your business? And on the flip-side, what do you hate about your role?
Once that is out of the way, it’s time to finally discover your strengths in the report. As you read through it, Anna will tell you to highlight anything and everything that resonates.
Anna explains that she regularly sees people who have blind spots for some of their talents. Not until she points out how they present in their unique way, do they start making sense.
Next, it’s time to look forward to the future and figure out how you do things in a way that plays to your strengths and, as a result, advances your business.
If you have a team, it can be a matter of giving a particular job to someone else who is good at it. You might come up with an alternative way of doing something and tweak job descriptions accordingly. It’s a matter of making an inventory of talents in the business, and then distributing tasks so you make the most of all that talent you have at your fingertips.
But what I find most impressive of all is the positivity that comes with the Clifton Strengths test. When everyone understands the strengths of other team members and you notice the entire team going about their daily tasks a lot more consciously and constructively, that’s when a business really goes on a winning streak.
I’m sure you can tell I’m rather enthusiast about the Clifton Strengths Test and how discovering your strengths can really make that much of a difference in your business.
So, if you have questions, get in touch with Anna. I promise she’s the easiest person to talk to and she’ll happily explain anything you want to know about finding out your talents and how to play to your strengths in business.
Connect with Anna Nelson
hello@annaynelson.com
www.annaynelson.com
www.instagram.com/annaynelson
www.linkedin.com/in/annaynelson
