“Wealth does not come from your job; it comes from your personal gifting” — Myles Munroe

There is no job that guarantees security! Real financial security and freedom is not in your job, but in your passion, gifts, talents and your ability to see and seize opportunities. If the high rates of unemployment and mounting job losses have taught us anything, it is that nobody’s job is safe.

Unfortunately for most people, their only source of income is from their job, which is a risky way to live. You must become so financially secure that you forget that it is payday.

I will like to ask you a few questions: If your current career flops, what is your back-up plan? What will you do if your only source of income is suddenly taken away from you? No matter how high-paying your job is, never make your salary your only source of income. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.

Salary is becoming increasingly unsustainable and undependable. The only income that is sustainable is the one you earn from putting your gifts to use and not the one from your job. Any life that is designed around salary makes the victim live in a vicious circle. Apart from the sober truth that the proceeds from salary are unsustainable, you could actually get fired from your job! Find your gift and you’ll always have work to do. The key to personal success is the discovering of your personal gifting and deploying it to solve problems for others.

Dani Johnson said: “No matter what economy we are living in, there’s always opportunity.” The illusion of salaries, jobs and pensions have stagnated the pursuit of many for excellence and impactful adventures. It is a waste of our education, exposure and experiences if after we graduate from school, all we think about is searching for job.

Our conventional career path has led many on a journey of financial frustration and insecurity. It goes thus: you pick a job, advance in that job, draw a higher and higher salary, and eventually retire, preferably with a pension plan.

Millions of people follow that path today, relying on a single source of income, but in today’s economy, that approach is inherently flawed. If you follow it strictly, it could set you up for hard financial times, longer stretches of work before retirement, and in some cases, total financial failure.

Gen. Douglas Mac Arthur said: “There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.” Most of our youths are leaving the country for the wrong reasons because of their victim mentality. The Nigerian environment has nothing to offer to people that see themselves as victims. Monetise your hobbies, pursue your passion and not pension, be a solution to people’s problem, design a product that meets the needs of others and the whole world would come looking for you. Stop looking for money; look for problems and solve them. Money is the reward you get for solving someone’s problem.

I want to advise the governments all over the world: “If you really want to help youths, don’t give them jobs. Help them discover their gifts and talents.” That is why talent hunt shows have solved more problems for the youths than what the government is doing.

In fact, the main reason for the explosive rise and geometric explosion of the entertainment industry all over the world is simply because it is the only industry that is investing so much in talent hunt shows. Until a nation becomes a hub for talent hunt, it will always under-develop its youths.

Myles Munroe said: “To know the right places for people, we must know their areas of gifting.” As an entrepreneurship coach, I have come to realise that the best way to help unemployed youths is not just to help them find jobs, but to help them find their areas of gifting and passion. Youths must take out time to diagnostically navigate within themselves to discover their areas of gifting and core competencies. You can monetise that thing that you are so passionate about and make legitimate money from it.

Our individual gift is an indicator of our purpose and calling in life and until we discover and nurture it, we will continue to travel another man’s journey. The school system has prepared us to get addicted to looking for casual jobs, and we sometimes end up becoming casualties. Thus, the fate of a nation lies in the youths discovering themselves and nurturing their gifts. We must educate the youths to discover their latent gifts and potentials, instead of wasting their precious time and ‘destiny’ looking for jobs that only exist in the figment of their imaginations. The job you are looking for is not out there; it is right within your gifting.

There is no man that is as poor and miserable as the one that carries all his gifts, talents and potentials to the grave. Real wealth is discovering your gifts and talents, and making the world a better place through it. Just going to school to get a degree will not make you wealthy; it will only give you a platform to express your gifts, talents and unique abilities. Real wealth lies not in your job or educational qualifications but in your gifts, talents and passion.

While the poor go around looking for job with their certificates, the rich discipline themselves to discover, develop and deploy their God-given talents and gifts. The best form of education is the one that helps you to discover, develop and deploy your gifts and talents to solve problems around you. Until you discover the gifts and talents within you, you will be unable to solve the problems around you. There is a special link between the problems that you have been called to solve and the discovery of your gifts, find it!

I want to reach out to everyone out there to make their gifts and hobbies their profession. Whether as a full-fledged passion or a retirement plan, monetising your gift and hobby is the most sustainable way of living. Look inward and repackage what you love doing to make money. Making money from your gift and hobby is excitation, but making money from your job alone is exhaustion.

Discover and monetize your gift.
I am reaching out to all the youths out there to look inwards, to discover their gifts and talents. Stop attaching your destiny to the vagaries and vicissitudes of the economy around you. When you discover, develop and deploy your God-given gifts, you create your own economy!