I have always known I was a designer and creative director. However, I didn’t always know what that meant in terms of solidifying my design meets creative director career. Although I knew I loved art direction, I dabbled in every job imaginable. From tech start ups, design agencies, Forbes Fortune 500 companies, to film and the music industry. I even spent 8 years in college studying business, fashion design, and design and media arts. You might say I’m a jack of all trades. At the time it was confusing to me how so many different walks of life would help me find my specific niche though. I mostly felt discouraged trying to fit in where I belonged. Now I’m at a point in my career where I live for my job. I don’t mean I live to work, I mean I can’t live without work. There’s a difference, but it took A LONG TIME to figure out what I was supposed to be doing.

If you are struggling to find the thing that makes you crave work I’m going to walk you through a series of exercises to first explore what you are passionate about, and second what you are good at. Together with the help of a little self research we are going to uncover where you should lead in your career path.

A great place to start is by asking 3-5 of your closet family members, friends, professors or coworkers what you are great at. When I was lost trying to figure out what type of creative director I wanted to be: culinary, fashion, product, interior; I asked a few of my closest friends and family to tell me what they thought I was best at. All of them said the same exact things: fashion design, creative design, brand design and marketing. Although that didn’t narrow it down for me since there is a large number of industries I could pursue in any one of those categories, I started thinking about which one of those professions made the most sense for me longterm.

I asked myself what I wanted in my career and narrowed it down. My specific requirements were: working for myself, a career without a salary cap, and doing exactly what I love everyday from anywhere. Fashion design was too expensive to pursue without investors, and I wasn’t overly excited about fashion styling for a living. So that eliminated fashion. That left branding, creative design and marketing. Ding, ding, ding! I could use my brand and marketing skills to help other entrepreneurs build and design their businesses and websites and make money doing what I love.

As soon as I got serious about applying my core skills to my interest in creative direction and design I could see clearly how I was going to turn this into a profitable business. Once it was transparent what I needed to do in order to start my business, scale my business, grow my social media following, and build my client database things started to click.

Whether you are in your current job hoping for something new to come along, or dabbling in every hobby you enjoy to find your passion, we all have characteristics and skillsets that help us identity who we are and what we are good at. To discover your niche you need to establish which type of person you are first. A great place to start is evaluating your human design chart.

According to Ashley Stahl, these 10 core skillsets will help you figure out how you should be spending your days to be the most successful and happiest. To figure out which type of person you are choose which number you identify most with and lead with daily. These categories are not limited to the examples given, these are just references to help you narrow in on your core skillset. Read through the list to see which one fits you the closest.

10 Core Skillsets In Business

1. Innovation: This category includes problem solvers, self-starters and those who are highly creative.
2. Building: Mechanics, construction workers, web developers, software developer.
3. Words: Speakers, writers, creators, sales people, talent agents.
4. Motion: Trainers, tour guides, massage therapists.
5. Service Providers: Humanitarians, doctors, nurses, police officers, fireman.
6. Coordination: Event coordinator, wedding planner, operations, project managers, executive assistant.
7. Analysis: Researchers, scientist, geologists, scholars.
8. Number Crunchers: Investment bankers, accountants.
9. Technology Professionals: AI Professionals, IT Managers.
10. Beauty: Makeup artists, interior designers, visual merchandisers, stylists.

Some of you might gravitate toward more than one of these skills however the exercise is to identify which is your strongest skillset. It is important to know where your skillset derives from as well so that you are choosing accurately. For example, if you lead with #5, a service provider, because you have been taught to be a people pleaser that may not be your true passion. Seek within yourself to pinpoint exactly what you are good at, or have the passion and willingness to learn well enough to be good at.

For some people they dream of being one profession but do not have the skillset to do so. If you don’t want to put in the work to become an expert in that field it is best to lead with your strong suit. Once you have narrowed it down to one category start creating data about yourself. What drives you? What excites you? What do you do exceptionally well with that skillset? What can you spend 8 hours or more doing daily? Then ask yourself why? Get to know exactly which of the 10 skillsets you lead with and what you love about it. Once you have discovered your niche begin to niche down by making a list of everyone you know or are inspired by who is pursuing a career path in the field that you want to be working in. Study what they are doing. See how they started and what their specific niche is. You can also utilize LinkedIn and other social media platforms by searching words targeted specifically to your skillset to see what aligns with what you want to be doing.

Generating profiles from the people you want to connect with or work with will help you see where your interests lie. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to start a business you can apply that same research to a business. The goal is to narrow down exactly what you are good at, what you enjoy, and what you would like to do longterm. Keep in mind, choosing one career path doesn’t cancel out the opportunity for other trades. It gives you a chance to become an expert in one niche to gain trust from your audience so you can share your other skills at a later time.

I started my career as a fashion brand and creative director because I’m passionate about fashion, visual aesthetics and storytelling. However, I grew my creative director role into an entire agency that is now not only offers creative direction, but we create brands and brand positioning. I get to utilize my creative direction and storytelling in my clients designs, marketing, advertising, brand development and product development.

Clarity comes from engagement. Ask people who are experts in the industry you want to be in for guidance or assistance. Then be fearless in your quest for discovering your niche and finding your career path. The more you ask the more opportunity you have to discover your true passion. There’s never a perfect time to get started but you have to start somewhere to begin.

Really put yourself out there to find your niche and where you can fill in the gap between what people in that industry are doing versus what they are not doing. Every industry is saturated but your unique spin on a topic/niche is what is going to separate you in the market.

You were born to live your best life so don’t let anything keep you from getting there. Start practicing these exercises everyday and I guarantee you will find your niche and true calling which will reveal your most successful and happiest life.