I went to this little boutique in Redwood City. While I was looking for a dress, I had a quick chat with the shop owner, a friendly young woman in her thirties. We talked about my job as a digital marketer and the upcoming tech conference. That was the main reason why I was in town, besides shopping. She told me, she has no clue about digital marketing and all these digitalization topics. She also mentioned her fear to lose customers because of not being digital. I listened to her, and during our conversation, I had an idea how to boost her sales with a growth hack method. She got super excited and started to brainstorm and develop the approach that I gave her. It had cost me only a few minutes of my time to consult her, but that was enough to fuel her passion for digitization and take away her fear. I was quite impressed by the fact, how less it sometimes needs to motivate and inspire people. When I said goodbye to her, she still had this sparkle in her eyes and the willingness to learn more about the whole topic. Two days later I saw, that she had used the method, which I gave her. It made my day.
I thought, sometimes our skills and knowledge seem to be so reasonable to us because we use them day by day in a business context, however, what if we are open to giving away our advice and sharing our skills in a nonbusiness setting for free? 5 minutes of your time can have a significant impact and value to others. Moreover, the great thing is if you share your skills you will be rewarded with other perspectives and views. It does not matter if you are a digital consultant, a mechanic or a photographer.
Let us keep our eyes open for situations, where we can support each other and let us become more and more a skill sharing economy!