Working with a new client on her mission story, one of the questions I’ve asked her to ponder is:

“Are there particular problems people don’t realise you could help with?”

This is a good question to put to yourself. Maybe you could be offering alternative services that your clients would value. Maybe you’ve ended up in a niche that feels too restrictive. Maybe you have skills and insights that go largely unused.

It’s all too easy to get stuck in our lane, convinced that diversifying could lead to confusion. The belief that clients will only pay for that thing we are principally known for can mean missing out on whole areas of interest. Bits of absolute brilliance that end up staying hidden.

This can be hugely frustrating, because you constantly have this nagging sense of unfulfilled potential. What if you could employ all the tools in your utility belt of brilliance?

But then, if you diversified, how would you then describe yourself at a networking lunch? How would you avoid Mystified Face Syndrome, when people walk away from the conversation feeling none the wiser about what you actually do, because you’ve just recited a list?

If this rings any bells, talk to me. There are clever ways to make all your bits of brilliance fit together. That expertise that no one knows about could be earning you shedloads, and of course benefiting the people that really need it, so don’t hide that brilliant light under a bushel.