The Opportunity Collective

Welcome to our Emerging Leader Series, where we feature individuals who are in the middle of building their platforms.

Today, we're delighted to have Grant More, a Strengths Guru, share his insights on how to focus on your strengths and leverage them to achieve your career goals.

Episode Notes:

• Grant's expertise in Strengths has helped many individuals recognize and harness their strengths to achieve their career objectives.
• In this episode, we'll hear about Grant's journey from college to career and how he has built a passion project that complements his strengths.
• Grant shares his experiences and insights on how to transition from college to career, gain relevant experiences, and pursue your passion projects.
• The discussion highlights the importance of focusing on your strengths instead of your weaknesses, as this can lead to more opportunities and success.
• Grant's passion project, which is revealed at the end of the episode, is a curveball that is both surprising and inspiring.
• Listeners are encouraged to learn from Grant's journey and apply the insights to their own careers, focusing on their strengths and building their passion projects.

Learn more about 21st Century Townball at 21ctownball.com

Instagram: @21ctownball, @townball.hillsdale_college

https://www.youtube.com/@21stcenturytownball93

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Today's skill area: Social Skills

Social skills are focused on people.

These skills are interpersonal, communicative, and helping-oriented. They happen in person or virtually, but only when you are interacting with other human beings. Often, social skills do not feel like skills because the results are harder to measure and less tangible. But an organization needs socially skilled individuals to be able to gain the results they so desire.


Listen to the Realistic Skills episode

or

Read Realistic Skills Blog

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Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast, LifeMappingU, and everything else Daniel is up to at this menu

or you can follow Daniel on Instagram @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

How do you create opportunity when you have:

• Chronic Illness?
• Uncontrollable Pain?
• A Mental Health Diagnosis?
• Trauma?

Sometimes getting unstuck does not mean you are getting rid of a disability.

Kimberly Phinney is a National Teaching Award recipient, founder of The Way Back To Ourselves, photographer, poet, and doctorate student. All while battling a chronic illness that prevents her from using her body on some days.

In this podcast episode, you will learn the following:

• How to overcome the wheelchairs we all have in our minds
• The necessity of the arts for creating opportunity
• How limitations can increase opportunities
• How to navigate the detours of life

Learn more about
Kimberly Phinney and The Way Back To Ourselves at:

• Thewayback2ourselves.com
• @thewayback2ourselves on Instagram

When you do not have clarity on your skills, you advertise skills that employers believe are not skills at all. Skills like:
Hard-working
Team player
Communication
Time management
Organization
Microsoft Word

Are these terrible things to communicate with potential employers? Not at all!
But these “skills” are overused and cliche. You will see them on most skills sections on LinkedIn and in resumes. Since these skills are overused, imagine how much more you could stand out if you had a clear list of top 10 skills that are a more significant value-add for companies.

But here is the rub, just because you can do a skill doesn’t mean you should list it on your resume. You can do a lot of things. But if you want to make an impact and create your next opportunity, you must find your top 10 skills that you are competent in AND enjoy using.

The secret to unlocking your top 10 skills that will bring you a sense of purpose?
Your story.

Realistic Skills: 

• Measuring 
• Sewing or styling 
• Servicing things 
• Troubleshooting 
• Assembling
• Using machines 
• Cooking
• Repairing
• Building 
• Operating equipment 
• Using one’s hands
• Fixing things 
• lifting/pushing 
• Installing 
• Development 

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Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast, LifeMappingU, and everything else Daniel is up to at this menu

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

When you are a college student, the difference between opportunity and being stuck can be as simple as creating instead of consuming. 

Endya Moler has found that she can find big opportunities when she tells her story and creates new content. As a student at Texas A&M, it would be easy for Endya to just sit back and consume information. Instead, Endya is sharing her story to help spread awareness and encourage other emerging leaders.

Check out Endya's podcast, It's The Little Things: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/its-the-little-things/id1586409853

or follow Endya on Instagram @endyamoler

Sign up for the Learned Opportunity email newsletter here: https://danieleccles.ck.page/blogsubscribe

Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast and everything else Daniel is up to at this menu: https://linktr.ee/djeccles

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

Adults continue to ask kids, "what do you want to be when you grow up?".

This question, while innocent, has, in my mind, expired. Life does not follow the old script of doing one job for your entire life. 

But even though that question is not helpful, we can still learn how to navigate our careers with the practical mindset of a child. 

Let's change the question from," what do you want to be when you grow up?" to "what jobs (or games) do you want to try." 

Sign up for the Learned Opportunity email newsletter here: https://danieleccles.ck.page/blogsubscribe

Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast and everything else Daniel is up to at this menu: https://linktr.ee/djeccles

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

A few months ago, I did an Instagram poll asking you what robs you of opportunities in your life.

People answered that they are robbed of opportunities because of their mindset. Participants also said they were deprived of an opportunity if they didn’t have enough resources to seize it. But most of you answered that you are robbed of opportunities because you just don’t know what you want.

If you don’t know what you want, Mark Cumicek is here to help.

Mark is a professional in uncovering your dreams and helping you achieve them.

He is a Certified Dream Manager, Mental Fitness Coach, Hope Dealer, and Epic Encourager.

Through programs like 21 Days of Dreaming and Dream Kickstarter, Mark has helped thousands of individuals be more engaged at work and meet their big hairy audacious goals.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcumicek/

Or join one of his Dream Programs at onwarddream.com

Sign up for the Learned Opportunity email newsletter here: https://danieleccles.ck.page/blogsubscribe

Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast at danieleccles.com/podcast

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

A few months ago, I did an Instagram poll asking you what robs you of opportunities in your life.

People answered that they are robbed of opportunities because of their mindset. Participants also said they were deprived of an opportunity if they didn’t have enough resources to seize it. But most of you answered that you are robbed of opportunities because you just don’t know what you want.

If you don’t know what you want, Mark Cumicek is here to help.

Mark is a professional in uncovering your dreams and helping you achieve them.

He is a Certified Dream Manager, Mental Fitness Coach, Hope Dealer, and Epic Encourager.

Through programs like 21 Days of Dreaming and Dream Kickstarter, Mark has helped thousands of individuals be more engaged at work and meet their big hairy audacious goals.

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markcumicek/

Or join one of his Dream Programs at onwarddream.com

Sign up for the Learned Opportunity email newsletter here: https://danieleccles.ck.page/blogsubscribe

Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast at danieleccles.com/podcast

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

Emerging leaders know how it feels to move from job to job. The average person will have 4.5 jobs from age 18 to 25. All of that change makes it hard to know your career path. How will you gain opportunities if you need to know what direction to go? 

But what if we look at your career as a general theme instead of looking at a career path? Your 4.5 jobs in 7 years may not lay out a clear career path from point A to point B. But reflecting on each of these experiences can tell you much about the type of work you are competent at and find fulfilling. 

In this Learned Opportunity Podcast episode, I'll show you how you can find your career theme and start gaining new opportunities that merge your passions and skills. 

Sign up for the Learned Opportunity email newsletter here: https://danieleccles.ck.page/blogsubscribe

Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast at danieleccles.com/podcast

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com

What do you do when you have to pivot? We can plan for the future, but sometimes life throws a wrench in those plans.

The emerging leader on this week’s podcast episode knows a thing or two about pivoting when plans do not go as expected.

In this episode of the emerging leaders series we have Alex Rodriguez. Alex is a business owner, full-time content manager, and writer. Owning a business has always looked different for Alex. She comes from an educational background and has had to start her tutoring and educational therapy business multiple times. Alex says that we have to know when something is working and when something needs to change if we will get unstuck and create opportunities.

Sometimes it is clear when things aren’t working. Like when Alex had to leave Wuhan, China, in January 2020. Other times it takes deliberation through prayer, mentorship, and self-assessment.

So is it time for you to pivot?

Follow Alex on Instagram @suyen_the_writer

Find out more about the Learned Opportunity Podcast at danieleccles.com/podcast

or you can follow us on Instagram @learnedopportunity or @djeccles

For Career Consulting,  Public Speaking, or Media Requests, visit DanielEccles.com