In today’s blog post, I will share why you should bother to become an expert and how to reframe the word ‘expert’. I will also talk about how to build and showcase your expertise.
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Oh no, she’s talking about being an expert this week. I think I need to hide or go and do something different. I don’t want to read to this. Cringy, huh?! Well no, not really. If you want to be known for what you do then it’s time to step into the role of being an expert in your field. Now, right now that might feel really scary and that’s okay. Let’s break it down a bit.
What’s An Expert?
Do a quick Google search and you’ll end up with this: a person who is very knowledgeable about or skillful in a particular area.
Now, I’m guessing you’re pretty knowledgeable about what you do, or pretty skilled, yes? Yay, you’re an expert!
It sounds so big headed though, right?! Eeek – We don’t want to own that word, do we?! Well how about we play it down a bit – what about the Go-To Guy or Gal? Better?
Everyone has to start somewhere, no matter if you’re the world’s best mountaineer or make the best pasta dish, you’ll have had to learn how to do it at some point.
Why Bother Becoming An Expert?
- It builds credibility
- Allows people to know-like-trust you
- Raises your profile
- Opens up more focused opportunities – Think joint ventures, speaking engagements, collaborations…
- You’ll get paid more etc..
Oh yeah and guess what – You become VISIBLE!
How To Build Your Expertise
It has been thought that Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Outliers, had said that it takes 10,000 hours to master a subject. What he was talking about was becoming that expert that you could recognise just by one name, i.e. Oprah for example. It does take thousands of hours to become an expert, yes, but he was talking about that super duper expert level. It may be the one that you strive for, but whatever you choose you do need to put the work in to become one
How can you begin to do that?
Observe – Model the behaviour of an expert. This isn’t about copying but it’s about noticing how an expert behaves and then modelling your behaviour on theirs. Take a tiny element of what they do to become successful. For example, they might stand a particular way, have daily success strategies that they use, get a particular type of business support etc. All of these are elements that you can take away to experiment with.
Learn from various resources; research, webinars, books, other people in the same industry, training programmes, blog posts, newsletters. The more you can build your knowledge, the more you’ll also build your confidence muscle.
Teach – The best way to learn something is to teach someone else – if you can teach what you know to a 5/10 year old then you’re on your way!
And here’s where some of that teaching can come in – you can share your knowledge through various methods and start to showcase the expertise you have, all the time learning more as you go. So sharing that expert knowledge might be as simple as a tweet or a blog post, or it can go to that next stage which we’ll cover in a moment.
Showcasing Your Expertise
There are lots of ways that you can share your expert knowledge. Here’s a few ideas to get you started. All of these things will help you rock your visibility and expertise.
- Mastermind Groups
- Webinars/Master classes
- Speaking Engagements
- Writing A Book
- Telesummits
- Podcast Shows
- Facebook Groups
- Blogging/Vlogging
- Guest Interviews/Collaboration
- Article Writing and so much more…
So now you know why you should bother to become an expert and how to reframe the word ‘expert’.
Call to action: Think about how you can build and showcase your expertise, one simple step at a time.
Remember to check out my Visibility Quiz to find out whether you’re a Visibility Lady, Countess, Princess or Queen. If you’re a guy then please change the names to Lord, Count, Prince and King) Once you’ve got your score I’d love for you to come on over to my pinned post on my business page and tell me what score you got. There’s a chance to win a little prize each month.
Also, I would love to interview Ladies, Countesses, Princesses & Queens on my podcast show, Rock Your Fabulous Biz. I’ll be asking you all about what you do on visibility right now, what’s working for you, what’s not and where you’d like to be. If you’re interested then apply for your spot here – http://bit.ly/PodVisQuiz. In order for your application to be considered, you’ll need to have completed the quiz though as I’ll need to know what you’ve scored etc.
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