How To Make Yourself Valuable

When starting out in business it can be all too easy to look at those who are further ahead and wish to be in their situation.

But, what you need to understand is those people / influencers / competitors / business icons are most likely in a position of being aspirational to you because of the value that they bring.

In my opinion, the best thing you can do in any situation, and the thing that you want your team to do, is to focus on being valuable. When I first started out in my career, I was working within a large global advertising agency. Sounds glamorous, right? But the reality was a little less inspiring I promise you!

I went in right at the bottom and I mean right at the bottom. The career started as one day’s work to support one of the senior team. I did their filing, I put things in alphabetical order. Menial tasks that needed to get done but had a low perceived value.

But I must have done dull tasks well enough — and feined enough enthusiasm — as I got invited back for another day of work, then a week, and then a permanent role was offered to me.

Through the mundane assignments, I started to spot better ways to do things. I created my own little systems, processes and plans that made my tasks more streamlined and efficient. This in turn meant that I had further capacity for additional tasks, meaning I could get more done; I had created value through optimising.

I appreciate that all the jobs listed above sound small — and in the majority of instances they were — but that self-starting mentality led to me becoming an asset to the business. This, quite quickly, led to very senior management spotting my worth and enabled me to ‘climb the ladder’ which ultimately resulted in me being the third person bought in to initiate a whole new department.

And when you are one of the first handful into a big new department, people start taking note and your value becomes more obvious. Remember, this whole opportunity was the outcome of the credibility I had built through becoming a person of value to the company.

It was the accumulation of those small things I was willing to do and, trust me, small things really matter.

I ended up being one of the senior team in that TV department because it was the detail that mattered in order to create something bigger. Those microelements that you pick up on, the small things that no one else notices or really bothers about enable you to shine differently. That drives your value and being valuable gets you noticed.

I really understood the benefit of being noticed once I had left the world of big corporate business and entered into the arena of entrepreneurship. Now, you might think ‘why is being noticed useful?’ as an entrepreneur and the answers are numerous, but the main one that I want to make you aware of is that opportunities come towards you.

I’ll give you a very recent example; our wellness centre in North Devon has become a real destination for those seeking the very best in well-being excellence. So much so that we are looking to expand. Initially, we were looking to roll out a whole well-being centre offering but more recently we have been looking at pushing for a larger scale through a franchise model, meaning that we are viewing the business in separate components. One of those elements will be our ‘plant bar’ which specialises in delicious vegan food and independent small-batch coffees. In order to test the model we needed to find a location where we could test systems, processes and procedures of the standalone food offering and — because of being noticed — I was made aware of the perfect location to beta-test our concept store.

Honestly, I could not ask for a better location and the only reason I was made aware of it was that I am known in my sector and I make myself known in the industry.

So, back to the title of this article, how do make yourself valuable? Well, in my opinion, you should focus on developing your skills and abilities so that you can offer something of value to others. This can involve learning new things, gaining experience, and constantly striving to improve. It’s also important to be reliable and to always do your best in any situation. Additionally, you should try to be a good team player and be willing to help others when they need it.

Ultimately, becoming valuable is all about being a person, brand or business that others can count on and contribute to their success.