Evan Carmichael says if you constantly question whether something is for you, it's not your superpower. He shares how he stumbled into investing in a Toronto salsa school as a hobby, grew obsessed with it, and scaled it without prior expertise. The lesson: quit what doesn't fit, try different paths, and find work that absorbs you completely.
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How to find your superpower. I made a video not too long ago about finding your superpower and why it's important. The idea behind finding your superpower is find the one thing that, that you're really great at, that you're better than anybody else in the world at, that you can just pour everything into and focus on that. Because when you can focus on what you're best at, your chance of success in business, in your happiness level, did they just go up dramatically? The more you force yourself to do things that you're not good at because you feel you should do it or society tells you that you should do it, then you're not going to be successful. And from that video, I got a comment from one of my viewers, Shuffs TV. And Shuffs has been a loyal viewer and has been waiting for this video. So Shuffs, you're calling me out, man. Here's the video. Hopefully you get some value from it. So here's the question from Chefs: I'm currently trying to learn how to code websites to become the next best thing that's happened to the internet. I'm struggling to retain some information I learn after watching this video. It made me think, is this really for me? My point is, what do I do if I haven't found my superpower yet in the field that I want to be in? So here's the thing, okay? If you're asking yourself— what was the question? Is this really for me? If you're doing something and you're asking yourself, is this really for me? It's probably not for you. And I don't know what your reason for getting into this thing is, but maybe there's another way to tackle it. Look and explore and try to find another way to go at it without you forcing yourself to code. You forcing yourself to program when you're not interested in programming, it's not gonna work. Like, the guys who love programming Let them focus on being programmers. You've got to do something else. Whatever vision you have for the world, you know, what the change that you want to make, the product or service you want to launch, there are different ways to go at it. And the solution is not going to be you becoming a programmer. That's kind of what you've locked in your head now. For this to work, I have to be a programmer. But for it to be successful, you have to not be the programmer because you're forcing yourself to learn it. And when you force yourself to learn something, you're not going to have success. Yes, you have to explore. Explore different ways, explore other people you can work with. Really figure out what you're good at and what you like and how you can make that into a business. And it may be something that, that is totally unexpected. Like, you can't plan for this stuff. Here's an example, okay? I'm an investor in a salsa dancing company here in Toronto, and it's probably the largest salsa dancing school in North America. We teach 5,000-6,000 people a year how to dance salsa. I started in this business as a student. I was just looking to have fun and dance. And I did. I went in, I loved it. It was just a hobby, it was fun, I became excited about it, I was passionate about it. I got more and more and more involved. I started DJing, I started helping people learn and teach, and then became an investor in the business. And that was a process. But I loved it, and I could get lost in it. And that's the sign. Because if I went in looking at that business and said, "I'm going to be an investor in this company," I would have thought, "This is crazy. What do I know about salsa? Nothing. What about the music? Nothing. I'm tall, which means I'll take bigger steps. I didn't grow up with it. I don't know the music at all. I don't know the language. Still don't." It has everything stacked against me for me being a success in that business. But the equalizer, the thing that makes a difference, is the passion and the love. I love it. And so I've helped make it a huge success. You are not getting that in programming right now. You do not get lost in the code. You do not sit there, wake up at, you know, 6 in the morning, start coding, and at 6 at night you're ready for dinner time and you don't even know where the time went. That's not you right now. You're forcing yourself to learn, you're forcing yourself to memorize, and you're wondering, is this for me? It's not for you. Go find something else. Explore. You may find your salsa. For me, you may say it may be something totally unrelated that still helps you get to your goal, but you won't know until you try. And don't be afraid to try something and quit. You tried programming, it's not working, have the courage to quit and do something else. Try something else and fail fast at that, and something else, until you find something that you you can get lost in and love and say, "This is Shuffz! This is what I'm all about! I'm gonna own this!" When you do that, you'll find your moment, and then the internet will see something they've never seen before. Believe. Those of you watching and like the video, give it a thumbs up. Subscribe if you want to see more videos, and let me know what you think. Leave a comment below, ask a question, I'll make a video response. Thank you guys so much. I love Wednesdays making these videos for you. I'll see you soon.
