The Demand and Supply of Talent

The concept of demand and supply has always been applied to economics and in business in general, but we don’t think about it from the aspect of how we showcase our talents. Generally in life, human beings tend to stay where they are being valued because there is a level of demand for value for their being, the same applies to talent, we tend to stay where our talents/skills are being valued. Even though we know this, there is an anomaly in the sense that we still find people stay and remain at places where they are not valued, where there is no demand for their value. In a way, people stay at such places because of the hope that one day there will be demand for them and they can offer, but it's best to stay where your worth – talent/gift/skill is being demanded and I dare to say whether it's your preferred option or not.

Most of us want to be the light of the world, shining bright like a diamond for the world to see, being on the world stage and doing our thing; but in doing so we get lost in the crowd at the world scene not knowing that an audience of a smaller number is in demand of our gift. Sometimes the road to the world stage is filled with a consistently small stage. The ability to recognize where your talent is in demand at a time is very key to success and the best way to know is through data.

As data is key to the I.T world, so also data is key to the entertainment sector and to anyone who wants to maximize his/her potential. Gathering data on how your talent is faring gives you feedback on where your talent is in its highest demand. For example, I once consulted for a talent in Nigeria who was about to give up on her music career, but we found out that her music was being listened to by a large number in South America by a particular demography, in as much as that place wasn’t her first choice of preference, but data showed that that’s where her talent was in high demand, so we focused her resources in that region and before we knew it her impact spread beyond those borders and spread towards Nigeria. The strategy is to showcase your talent to all and sundry, and because we are in the I.T age, it shouldn’t be that difficult especially with the help of social media, after then you monitor the reception of your talent through data, and it then you move on to start promoting your talent aggressively, just like the concept of 'casting your bread upon many waters, after many days you will find it again'. But most talents have often mistakenly put the cart before the horse by promoting aggressively before distributing their works adequately. In as much as there are still some promotions to be done while distributing, much more should be spent on distribution in the early stages of showcasing a talent than promoting it because of reasons stated earlier.

Demand is not just a factor of place or people, it is also a factor of time but a topic for another day, but the most important factor to note is demand and supply is the rule of the game, be where your talent is in demand.