The Reverend Norman Vincent Peale used to advise people wanting to succeed to “find a need and fill it,” believing that helping others succeed would help you to become a success. His slogan was a part of his autobiography as a minister and author motivated by helping others who needed to be motivated.

Bill Wilson and the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous admitted their need for sobriety and filled it by starting a program to help other families struggling with addiction.

After seminary, I returned to graduate school for another doctorate, and later started the Christian Counseling Center in my home to integrate my degrees in ministry and counseling.

If you’re open to starting a private practice, then check out your own story. A woman told me once that she was a jerk-magnet. She and I both had failed first marriages and we joked about starting a PPA for recovery (Poor Pickers Anonymous!), which morphed into a divorce recovery group at our church to help other people who also needed to get over their losses.

Whose needs do you see around you? How could you be useful to fulfill their needs?