Sparking Up Authenticity

Being in the age of content and social media, brand is a buzzword that is often thrown a lot in businesses. But there's something to strive for and build beyond branding. It is called authenticity.

Eric Kasimov, Founder of KazSource, Inc., and  SportsEpreneur, swears by the value of sparking up authenticity and how this leads to unlimited room for growth and opportunities.

Whether you're a business person mixing up a marketing plan, a content creator cultivating a brand, or a neophyte in a specialized field, it's the same thing. Authenticity is a gem that's tricky to find yet demands to be shown.

For Eric, sparking authenticity is a nerve-wracking process that takes time and effort. It isn’t about luck or just throwing and waiting for something to stick. Eric emphasized the importance of iteration. Iteration means going through a continuous process of trial, error, and making important decisions that will result in necessary pivots - which will then lead to eventual change and progress.

Change is authenticity’s best friend, especially when accumulated insights and experiences sharpen who you are and where you want to be.

Stack up talents

Eric understands the value of the concept Scott Adams brought called, “talent stacking”. When you stack up normal things like everyday skills, talents, and interests, you’ll end up with the right mix of extraordinary. It’s like connecting the dots of your personal assets in life., As a result, you will create a unique picture of yourself.

If you think there's something there, lean into that. Lean into whatever that is, and give it some time if it's worth it. You'll come across something worth pursuing. – Eric Kasimov

These things could also be overarching fields of interest, for instance, communications, technology, and networking. Or industries such as technology, graphic design, and biking. Individually, they look ordinary. But when stacked together, they could lead to a multi-million business idea. A unique product or service that only you could ever come up with.

It’s important to value and invest in continuous learning in all forms. Treasure insights, knowledge, and skills that you accumulate along the way. And you’ll see, everything’s a learning experience that you can build on.

Create and be consistent about it

There are two sides to everything. In business, there’s the consumption side and the production side. This is where Eric made his great crossover. He challenged himself not to get caught up consuming and start being on the production side of things. He decided to have an output.

You can sit back and learn and read everything in the world, but until you actually do something about it, that doesn't matter. – Eric Kasimov

Start creating 

Since you’ve already spent time accumulating and stacking up knowledge and skills, you might as well put out something genuine. As Eric notes, “If you put yourself out there, things can happen.” Sure enough, opportunities came knocking at his door because he started broadcasting his content. Opportunities saw him.

Creating in itself isn’t enough. You also need to be consistent about it. There’s a velocity curve in creating content in such a way that you have to keep doing it and improve on it. It’s a path of starting, learning, failing, learning again, and continuing.

Creating content can bring you all the best things – a community, an influence, self-improvement, and profit. You just have to pay it with consistency and patience. So if you’re looking for returns on the first day or first month, don’t expect it from here.

Leverage it

Society mistreats the word “leverage” far too often, as it simply means getting something out of something else. But authentic leveraging, especially in content, is putting your original creation out there and making it work for you.

Allow yourself to start with something raw - or even a bad draft. But as soon as you find something that's authentically yours, get your content out, and allow it to be consumed. That's leverage.

Authenticity will be an important part of leveraging content creation. Whichever way you create your content, the only way to be authentic is by passing the test of time. Be consistent with your messaging. And then you’ll see that everything you’ve put out there will find its way back to you.