When I became a social media consultant, I assumed I would excel on the strategy track, because of my background in consulting and research. I did, but something else happened.

I would look at brilliant campaigns on social media and think, “I could never envision or produce that.” Heck, I didn’t even think I could write fiction until recently. But I began to write. And so I wrote for video. And for blogs. And even for websites too. I wrote status updates and I penned campaign playbooks. Then it dawned on me, “Mummy, I made it! I’m now a social media content creator!”

I started advertising too. I realised my project management skills could be put to use to plan online ad campaigns. I was good at budgeting, monitoring and detailing. However, I don’t really enjoy social media advertising. I mean, I love to spend money, but it’s rather tedious, especially optimisation.

I then turned my interest to social media analytics and reporting. After all, I had research skills too. I found they were relevant.

The point is, the knowledge in my social media career may be new, but the discipline and requirements are not. I took the skills from two previous careers and applied them to my current one. So my question for you is, “What old skills can you transfer to a completely different industry or occupation? Are you underestimating your talents or abilities? Are you?”