One of the most powerful and recitable lines in movie history is Robert DeNiro’s quote, “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent”, from the movie A Bronx Tale. He sure had that right! The sad truth is that most people go through their lives wasting their talent. Whether it be stemming from fear, insecurity, or anything else, not taking a chance and pursuing your goals and passions is a sad and regretful way to go through life. In truth, we are all talented, every single one of us, and with dedication and poise we can show that talent to the world. The opportunity cost of not exploring your talents is too great to let go of.
A brief story of wasted talent
Joey was a college student who just felt like he didn’t belong. He was a business major with no clear career trajectory, but his family all worked corporate jobs so naturally Joey was inclined to do the same. One day in his dorm, Joey came across a video on YouTube about selling on Amazon. He’d always heard about this from his friends and has thought about trying to set up a store and sell in the past, Excitedly, Joey watched the video, and then another, and then another until before he knew it night turned into morning and it was time for class. All Joey thought about that day was selling on Amazon and he couldn’t wait to get out of his classes so he could dig back into the Amazon seller videos. After about a month of watching videos, Joey was ready to get started. He broke his much larger goal of selling on Amazon into smaller skills to master on his journey.
Joey began working on the Amazon project by performing the first step, finding products. He used his small amount of money he got from DoorDashing on the weekends and paid for a service that allowed him to research products. After about a week of this Joey had found a product and was talking with suppliers negotiating the best prices. He was getting good at this and he knew it. He could feel it. He was a natural! It finally came time to order his first product to be shipped to Amazon in a large quantity to be sold to the general public. In the meantime, Joey made his product listing on Amazon and set up a series of ads for the product to be displayed on. He was excited for his launch as it was imminent now that his products would arrive at the Amazon warehouse and be put up for sale. The time finally came and Joey launched his product to booming success. Joey made back his initial investment in the matter of a few weeks! He was so excited and eager to scale this product, launch others, and build his business and brand until suddenly graduation approached and Joey’s family eagerly awaited his plan for the future and employment.
Joey was in for a tough talk. He knew his parents wouldn’t understand what he was doing and would want him to “get a real job” with his degree in the corporate world. On the fence about the whole thing, Joey sent out applications to numerous different jobs and received several interview requests. Joey’s parents were ecstatic, but Joey was not. He was just getting his Amazon business off the ground and he did not have the money to outsource anything yet. Under pressure from his parents to get a job with health benefits, Joey folded under the pressure and started his first corporate job. He barely had time for his Amazon business anymore and came home so tired and drained of motivation every night that all he wanted to do was go to sleep. Every month Joey said to himself he would save enough money to delegate some of his Amazon tasks so he could scale his business, but between rent and other bills, Joey was living paycheck to paycheck. He was caught in the rat race with no end in sight because he gave in to the pressure and wasted his talent. Joey would go on to live an unfulfilling and sometimes downright miserable life of regret.
Analyzing Joey’s story
Joey found his talent and what challenged him and made him feel good all while showing the potential to be a scalable business. However, he was stomped out of this by the creeping pressure from his parents and society to get a good paying job with good benefits. Joey was on the brink of something special with his Amazon business, but he let life throw a wrench in it and became another one of the people who are always using the excuse “I don’t have time”. If he had kept going and found ways to scrap together some supplemental income while actively looking to grow and scale his Amazon business, there is no doubt Joey could have realized massive success and even hired a team to take over much of the day-to-day for him. When you find your talent, you will know it and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise or you’ll end up like Joey!