This past week I was one of the luckiest workers in the world. Why? I was doing what I love and I was doing it for a living.  Life is good.  It helps that I am married to a perfect woman and that I love my wife and kids. It helps that I am a grandpa to the most awesome little grandson in the world.  But, last week all of the stars aligned. Last week I was also doing what I love for work too.  This past week was the inaugural training event for grAVITation TECHnologies, LLC. I was reminded what I really love doing and what I believe I was meant to do — training.  I love helping others advance their careers and to grow in their knowledge in AV/IT technology and business matters. It probably helps that I am a ham and I love an audience. Being somewhat technically savvy and a fairly good communicator and a wannabe comedian makes training my sweet spot.

What is your sweet spot?  Are you doing what you love?  Are you doing what pays a fair wage?  Are you doing what you can do better than anyone else?  If you can answer all of these questions with YES, than you are in your sweet spot.

I am grateful to Pro Sound and Video in Florida for helping to remind me where my sweet spot is.  This class was full of 20 awesome professionals that helped to bring out the best in my training technical abilities, communication skills, facilitation expertise and strong passion for training.  To them I say a huge THANK YOU!!!  Pro Sound and Video in Florida (and Los Angeles) is a full service design-build audiovisual, communications and collaborative technology integration firm that provides solutions in entertainment, travel and tourism, corporate, government, house of worship and sports complexes.  This class was made up of an awesome team of people from Pro Sound and it was a great group to spend my first event back in the training saddle with.  I strongly recommend Pro Sound for your upcoming integration projects.

Finding your sweet spot

Doing what you love:  This is not just limited to the one thing that you think you were meant to do or the one thing that you dream about.  It does not have to come to us like American Idol contestants or actors that are finally discovered after waiting tables in Hollywood.  This can be that thing that just brings you peace or makes you feel complete and/or content.  What is it that allows you to feel well rounded and like you are contributor?  It can be the thing that answers the question, do I feel good and happy about what I do?  It takes a lot of work to find what you love doing.  You have to try many things to really find the things you are good at and that are good to you (those are usually the things you love).

Doing what makes a fair wage:  You don’t have to make big money doing what you are doing, but it should be fair.  Are you making a comparable wage to what others make in this field and can you live comfortably doing so?  You should not have to sacrifice too much to do what makes you happy.  It would be counter to the goal if you have to sacrifice your way of living for happiness. Happiness is balance and therefore requires a fair wage. There are ways of finding the right wage for doing what you love by adding things you love as added responsibilities to what you currently get paid well for or vice-a-verse, adding things you get paid well for to the things you love doing.  It does not have to be an all or nothing.  I was a sales person for a long time and I loved it only because I was able to incorporate a lot of training into my sales techniques. Because I could do both, I was paid fairly and was happy at what I did.

Doing what you do better (or different) than anyone else:  You will be able to do what you do best for a long time and remain happy at it for a very long time if you are doing it different (and add value) or better than anyone else.  You need the competitive edge to do something for a long time and make money at it.  If you can’t compete at what you love it will have to remain a hobby and if you are trying to do a hobby for a living it can become very expensive.  In business if you don’t know what you competitive edge is, you can’t win.  If you want to do what you love for a long time, know how you do it better or different than anyone else and focus on that.  If you have ever been through my training you would likely agree that I do it like nobody else.  My training sessions are very unique.  I can almost guarantee that you will have fun,  That is my competitive edge.  If it comes down to it, I will educate you better than most AND you will have fun doing it.  I am, after all, (as one dear friend puts it) the “2010 Edutainer of the Year” (His spin on InfoComm Educator of the Year).

Bottom line is I love what I am doing and this week I was reminded of that. I re-caught the bug and I am back 100% training and consulting.  Why? Because I love it!  I am one of the lucky ones who gets to do what I love for a living.  Now hurry up and book your training with grAVITation TECH so it stays that way!!!