The Skill-Value Matrix: How to Cut Through the Noise and Find Your Focus

Feeling overwhelmed? Got too many skills, too many ideas, and no clue which direction to take? You’re not alone. If you’re someone who’s trying to build something online—whether it’s a brand, a service, or a product—but you keep hitting analysis paralysis, this is for you.

For years, I was stuck in this exact loop. I’d start something, get halfway through, realize it wasn’t the right fit, then scrap it and start all over again. Over and over. It’s frustrating as hell, and if you’re nodding your head right now, you know exactly what I mean.

That’s why I built the Skill-Value Matrix—a system to give you clarity, direction, and a concrete reason for why you’re doing what you’re doing. By the end of this, you’ll have a clear path to monetizing your best skills, pursuing something you actually enjoy, and making sure the market actually wants it.

Step 1: List Every Damn Skill You Have

Open up Notion, Google Sheets, or a simple spreadsheet. Whatever works. Now, you’re going to make four columns:

1. Skill – Everything you’re good at. I mean everything.
2. Interest – How much you actually enjoy doing it.
3. Market Demand – How badly people want to pay for this skill.
4. Skill Level – Be brutally honest about how good you really are.

Now start dumping in every skill you can think of. I’m talking everything—creative skills, technical skills, random life skills. Cooking? Put it down. Video editing? Put it down. Rollerblading? Yep, that too. Anything that you’ve done and are somewhat competent at goes on this list.

Yes, it’s going to take at least an hour to do this properly. But trust me, getting it all out of your head and into a system is the first step to getting unstuck.

Step 2: Rank It Like Your Future Depends on It

Now, go through each column and rank them on a scale from 1-10 based on:

• Interest – Do you love doing this, or are you just tolerating it?
• Market Demand – Are people willing to throw money at this?
• Skill Level – Are you actually good at it, or are you just “kinda okay”?

Be ruthlessly honest here. If you suck at something, give it a low score. If nobody wants to pay for it, score it low. But if it’s something you enjoy and there’s clear demand, rank it high.

For example, let’s say video editing:

• Interest: 7 (I like it, but I’d rather hire someone)
• Market Demand: 9 (Everybody needs an editor)
• Skill Level: 10 (I’ve been doing this for years)

Boom. That’s a high-value skill that can be monetized.

On the flip side, let’s say “acting”:

• Interest: 2 (Fun, but I’m not pursuing it)
• Market Demand: 3 (Saturated industry, low pay)
• Skill Level: 5 (I used to do it, but not at a high level)

Cross that off the list. Not worth the focus.

Step 3: Find Your Money-Making, High-Impact Skills

Now, sort your list so the highest-ranked skills are at the top. You should start seeing a pattern—certain skills will check all the boxes:

✔️ You enjoy doing it
✔️ You’re actually good at it
✔️ People are willing to pay for it

These 3-for-3 skills are what you need to focus on. If a skill is missing just one of these factors, don’t ignore it yet—you might be able to develop it. But anything that ranks below a 7 in two or more categories? Drop it.

Step 4: Plug It Into AI (The Smart Way)

Now that you have your top 5-10 skills, it’s time to take them to ChatGPT and let AI help you figure out how to monetize them.

Copy and paste this into ChatGPT:

“These are my top skills: [List them]. I am highly skilled in these areas, there’s a strong market demand, and I love doing them. What are some digital products, services, or content strategies I can create around these skills?”

Let ChatGPT spit out ideas you may not have thought of. Even if some of them don’t fit, you’ll start spotting patterns in what it suggests.

For example, if your top skills are content marketing, video editing, and brand strategy, ChatGPT might say:

• Start a personal brand teaching content marketing.
• Create an online course on video editing.
• Offer consulting services for small business owners who need a content strategy.

Now, you have clear, actionable directions instead of just a scattered mess of ideas.

Step 5: Stop Trying to Do Everything

This whole exercise is about focusing on what actually makes sense for you. Before this, your skills were scattered all over the place—you had too many options and no clear way forward.

Now? You’ve narrowed it down to a handful of high-impact skills that align with your strengths, interests, and market demand.

This is how you stop feeling lost and start actually building something.

Final Thoughts: Clarity Creates Action

Most people never start anything because they don’t know where to focus. They waste years jumping from one idea to the next, never gaining traction.

The Skill-Value Matrix fixes that. It gives you a framework to make better decisions and move forward with confidence.

So if you’re tired of overthinking, go do this now. Spend an hour on it, lock in your focus, and start building something that actually makes sense.

And if you want me to create a Notion template to make this even easier, let me know in the comments.

Now get to work.