These days, anyone and everyone are calling themselves an “expert” and there are tons of business “coaches” who are promoting the idea that you don’t need experience, education, or training to be an expert. So…what is an expert, anyway?
Let’s start with the dictionary definition:
Expert. noun. a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority. adjective. possessing special skill or knowledge; trained by practice; skillful or skilled (often fol. by in or at).
Okay, that gives us a lot to go on.
To be an expert, you must have special skill or knowledge in some particular field.
How do you acquire special skill or knowledge in a particular field? First and foremost, I recommend reading. I’ve read over 3,000 books on small business, marketing, branding, personal growth, success, and profitability. But believe me, it’s not enough just to read. You have to read with a critical mind. You can’t read every single book and think they all contain The Answers. In fact, many books I’ve read contain one or two great thoughts, and the rest of the book simply builds on the theme. Other books have so many gems and wisdom, they tend to look like they’ve been through a war, with all the underlining and dog-eared pages. You have to learn to discern quality and substance, more than anything else.
Second, I recommend training. Take classes and courses in your area of study. I started my career as a web developer and I took tons of classes to acquire the skills I needed to be successful. Later, I taught classes in web development, and believe me, you become an expert very quickly when you teach! When I got carpal tunnel syndrome and had to change careers, I took a ton of training to be a coach. I didn’t take one course and call myself a coach. I took several courses and relied heavily on my Master’s degree in social psychology as well. And when I transitioned in to business consulting, I studied marketing and branding, startup and growth, and worked with mentors who taught me what they knew as well.
And that leads me to the third recommendation: study with the masters. Study with people who have vast amounts of experience in your field. Ask them to mentor you, as I did, and see if they’ll teach you or allow you to apprentice.
To be an expert, you must be trained by practice. In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he shares a number that many of us know: 10,000. 10,000 hours is the number of hours it takes to become a master at something, to be truly proficient. So if you’re a chef, it takes 10,000 hours (or 10 years) to become a master chef. If you’re a violinist, it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become truly proficient. Likewise, if you’re a coach, it’ll take you 10,000 hours or 10 years to be a master (not in title, but in practice). I didn’t call myself an expert in small business until I had 10 years under my own belt. You just need time in the field and lots of practice to get beyond theory and to really know what you’re doing.
To be an expert, you must be an authority. You know, there are lots of ways to become an authority. People all over the net are showing you how to become an “authority” or achieve “expert status” by marketing articles and using strategic PR…but you become a true authority when you have studied and trained and practiced, and achieved credibility and legitimacy. Ultimately, you achieve authority status when you achieve the respect of your peers and of those who have less experience and practice than you.
At the end of the day, anybody can call themselves an “expert.” But authentically, are you really one?
This afternoon I’m interviewing Jack Trout, the world’s leading branding and marketing specialist. Jack and I will be talking about how to make your small business stand out, how to create a brand on a budget, and why coming up with a catchy name for your business just isn’t enough. We’ll talk marketing strategies, positioning, and more!
Join us at 4 PM Eastern Time by joining The Experts Series!
Welcome to March, the month that comes in like a lion!
For every month in 2010, I’m focusing on a theme that’s critical to small business success and talking about that theme in my e-zine, No Suits Allowed!, here in my blog, and with my experts in The Experts Series. In January, we talked about planning your year and your small business. In February we focused on finding meaning and purpose and gaining authenticity, and I interviewed Bob Burg, author of Endless Referrals and co-author of The Go-Giver and Go-Givers Sell More in The Experts Series (if you missed that call and want the recording, you can still download it for free here).
This month my attention will turn exclusively to Branding and Positioning. As such, you’ll see articles all month long on branding and positioning your small business, throughout this blog and my No Suits Allowed! e-zine.
I’m also interviewing Jack Trout, author of over thirteen bestsellers about branding, positioning, and marketing. He’s the author of several of my official small business reference books, including Differentiate or Die and The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, and I consider Jack to be the father of modern branding and positioning.
When I was interviewing Bob Burg and mentioned my upcoming interview with Jack Trout, Bob said,
“Jack Trout is one of the seminal masters when it comes to positioning, branding, marketing. This is a guy who is so big and has been for so long, for you to have gotten him to appear on your call says a ton about you. And I hope everybody listening will be on that call next month. This guy is a master and just please, make the time to listen to him.”
I’d like to also announce the launch of my updated six-week teleseminar class, 7-Figure Branding Secrets, where I’ll take you through the exact process that I use with my one-on-one clients to create memorable brands with serious moneymaking potential. I’ll include a Q&A during every single class so I can walk you through your own branding process. More details, including dates and specifics, to come later this week!
Want to know the number one way to get more clients? Simple. Have a large list!
When you have a large list, everything changes. When you communicate with your list on a regular basis, share tips and thoughts, you become an integral part of their lives. As you share with them, they see your expertise and feel your passion. So when they’re ready, they know that they need to contact you. When people on your list need your products and services, they immediately think of you! So how do you build a large list of people who want to hear from you?
Why not attend the World’s First ListBuilding TeleSummit for Coaches and find out what works best for some of the leading names in coaching, including me, Susan Baroncini-Moe, plus Andy O’Bryan, Adam Urbanski, MaryPat Kavanagh, and more?
It’s going on now, 2/8/10 thru 2/13/20, and my interview on why branding is critical to building your list is live today!
As most of you who’ve been following me for awhile know, I started working with branding and positioning years ago. But until I re-branded my own company, I never really understood how fundamental and powerful branding could be. On Jan. 1, 2009, I re-launched my company as Business in Blue Jeans, and in the first three months of 2009 alone, saw an increase of 500% in my business, just due to branding. Since then, I’ve turned the basic principles of branding into an easy-to-follow, 6-step system that I’ve used with tons of clients. Over and over again, this system yields powerful, profitable brands.
I’ve got a few more clients than my schedule can handle, so I finally decided to teach a class to help people get started re-working their brands. Hence, “5 Simple Secrets to Million Dollar Branding: How to transform your company into a memorable, moneymaking machine!”
Here’s what I’m covering in this class:
1) The #1 thing you need to do to start drawing in clients TODAY!
2) My secrets to finding a niche where clients are absolutely clamoring for what you have to offer, and building a brand that draws them in like bees to honey.
3) Exactly how to examine your competitors, and then, believe it or not, forget they exist! (Most of my clients think I’m nuts until they understand this principle, and that’s when they see the genius of it. And don’t worry…you’ll still stand heads and shoulders above the competition!)
4) My 6-step branding system that will help you create your very own million dollar brand. (These are the exact steps I follow to brands for my own companies, as well as those of my clients)
5) The most important mindset shift you need to make before ever creating your brand. This one shook me to the core– this one simple shift can change everything for you!
The call is Wednesday, 10/22 at 4 PM ET. Even if you can’t make it, sign up anyway and I’ll make sure you get an MP3.
