This is a guest post by Michael Alexis of Writer Views.
Why does the world need you to become an expert?
Change the world and make it a better place, and so the motivation for becoming an expert isn’t just so you’re an expert, it’s so you can have an impact on the world; and so that’s why I talk about becoming an expert. And the steps really aren’t that complicated.
– BJ Fogg
Ramit Sethi is an expert on personal finance.
He’s got the credentials – that’s for sure. Ramit’s a New York Times best selling author and has been featured on CNN, CNBC, NPR, FOX, the Wall Street Journal and other major media outlets.
But what really matters is that every month Ramit helps thousands of people live a richer life via his personal finance blog I Will Teach You To Be Rich.
After all, what better way to prove you are an expert then get people results on a mass scale?
I’ve been researching Ramit to figure out his assent, and to understand how he became such a trusted expert in his field. In my searching, I found a recorded interview he did with his former Standford professor, BJ Fogg, about becoming an expert.
This post covers the key points of that conversation.
Step 1: The Beach Test
That really helped me get into the area. So I was an English Major, I was Pre-Med, I did all the chemistry, all the calculus, all the physics, but I wasn’t reading medical books on the beach.
– BJ Fogg, on the genesis of expertise
Not surprisingly, the first step on your journey is picking an area of expertise. You may have heard of the book store test – where you imagine which section of books you naturally gravitate toward – as a way of determining your passion.
Well, let me introduce BJ Fogg’s beach test. It’s pretty simple: the last time you went to the beach with a book, what was it about? Or if you haven’t been in awhile, which one would you bring? If the book wasn’t related to your major in college or your current career – that’s okay!
Fogg realized he was spending his vacations and free time reading psychology – and eventually went on to become the father of Captology (Computers as Persuasive Technologies).
So, if you are a…
- water resource engineer that can’t get enough of creative writing
- economics major obsessed with shooting hoops
- marketing student hooked on World of Warcraft
- plumber who just loves linguistics
… then, yeah, you can change!
Action Step: Write down the subject(s) that you read about in your free time.
Step 2: Niche it down
Pick an area that’s very, very focused and an area that you love. The more focused the area the better. In fact, I tell my students, in 20 hours of study, you should know more about that thing… that focus point than anybody else in the world. That’s how focused it needs to be.
– BJ Fogg, on getting focused.
So maybe you read (or do) yoga on the beach. That’s your area of passion and so you are going to become THE go-to expert on yoga.
Cool.
But you need to start somewhere. That’s why Sethi and Fogg say to find a very specific focus. In their recording, Fogg shared this example for the future yoga guru:
- you live in California, so you are the California yoga expert
- you are involved with the Girl Scouts, so you are the California Girl Scouts yoga expert
- there are many Asian-American girls in the group, so you are the California Asian-American Girl Scouts yoga expert
Focused, right? Of course you want the bigger market, i.e, yoga expert for girls – but you need to start somewhere. By beginning with a micro-focus, you can develop your expertise step by step and reach your goal.
Action Step: Take your answer for the beach test and start niching it down. Combine the passion with other area’s of interest and find an intersection that appeals to you.
Step 3: Define your goals
You don’t have to be an expert that goes on CNN every week, you can be an expert in your own company.
– Ramit Sethi, on your goals as an expert
Since you hangout at Expert Enough, you know expertise is a pretty broad term. You don’t have to do it to get rich and famous. You might become an expert in kayaking so you can take your kids on a weekend trip, or a bee-guru so you can harvest your own honey – whatever your goal: define it.
Action Step: Define your goal. Write it down. Stick to it.
Step 4: Learn everything there is to know
“The way you get to be an expert, of course, is to read everything that’s ever been written or studied on it, and then you create new value. You do your own research. You learn things that nobody knows, and then you share it, sharing is vital.
– Ramit Sethi, on the process of becoming an expert
When you’re starting out with your micro-focus, you should be able to thoroughly read the subject in about twenty hours. As you expand to a wider focus, additional study is needed. Make it your goal to ready everything ever written on the topic – and as you progress, you will naturally develop expertise.
Here’s an example. You may know that Ramit promotes three major products on his site: his book, Earn1K and a new course on finding your dream job. How do you become an expert on finding dream jobs?
Ramit spent years dissecting interviews with his college classmates, collecting data, buying all the existing books/movies/courses/whatever and truly understanding the market. That’s the kind of dedication it takes to develop expertise on a subject.
Action Step: Make a list of resources related to your niche. Find them and start reading.
Step 5: Add your own value and share it
A step that people forget is they have to share the expertise with the world. I always believe that: what’s the point of becoming an expert if you don’t share it with other people.
– Ramit Sethi, on a critical step on your path to becoming an expert
Of course becoming an expert doesn’t mean you can just read everything in existence and start regurgitating it. To be a true expert you need to offer unique insight.
Add value to the conversation.
And you can do that by sharing your insight with others. Try one of these methods: start a blog, write a book, offer a seminar, volunteer at a summer camp, speak at Toastmasters – anything – just get your word out there.
Action Step: Start making your knowledge public.
Final Thoughts
I was at an affordable school, and I just wasn’t in any hurry, so seven years as an undergrad, two years as a Master’s, and then I did another Master’s in my PhD, so I did a lot of schooling, and slower than most. But ended up in an area that I was… in the kind of work I do, it’s fun and I’ll do it on vacation.
– BJ Fogg, on his path to becoming an expert
Take your time. Developing expertise doesn’t happen overnight and the world will wait. Give yourself a solid foundation and grow it step by step.
***
You can get the full interview and more from Ramit’s site I Will Teach You to Be Rich. Learn more about BJ Fogg and what he calls “Behavior Design” over at his website.
Have you ever done the beach (or bookstore) test? What did it reveal to you?
Let us know in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
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I just did the beach test for the first time after reading this article. Although I don’t read as much as I used to, I found that the few books I have read recently all have to do with change.
I read Your Money Or Your Life by Joe Dominguez which is all about “transforming” your relationship with money. I read Ramit’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich and made some pretty drastic “changes” to how I manage my money. I even read a sales book called The Little Red Book Of Selling which is about learning how to “change” people’s minds so they’ll want to buy with you.
But my favorite book so far is Switch by Dan and Chip Heath. It specifically focuses on change and how the mechanics of change really work. It’s full of studies, stories and psychology and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
So it seems my area of expertise can be “change.”
My current blog somewhat focuses on this topic, but not with the type of focus I just gained from the beach test.
I’m also an unhappy cubicle worker who feels trapped. So maybe I can be a “change agent for unhappy and trapped cubicle workers.” I’m also a proud father of two little girls + I’m deeply concerned about the future of our planet and humanity as a whole.
So maybe I can be “A change agent for trapped and unhappy cubicle worker dads who want to change the world!”
How does that sound?!!!
I love it Tony, it sounds like you got a lot out of this exercise.
The next step is to figure out how you can be better AND different from other people blogging about similar topics. If you have a good idea for accomplishing that, I think you might have a winner of a topic.
One of the biggest roadblocks to expertise for me is my lack of patience. I tend to want it now. It’s something I’m working on. Great post!
Aye – patience is definitely a key element. Hopefully by following this guide and focussing on a very narrow niche you can start to see the results you want quickly.
–
Michael
By observing type of books i read & type of sites i troll on net – my beach test says that – i am passionate about Computer Graphics(Vector/Concept/Photoshop) and Psychology( one of the 2 books on my reading list is of psychology) and ideas(Stay Hungry Stay Foolish type ideas).
But i tend to thin out myself. I try to grab everything simultaneously. How should i decide which to focus on…..all seems irresistible.
I started a blog to build the passion up & have focus – still get exhausted by the pull from all direction.
I have a feeling there is a fascinating intersection between consumer psychology and graphic advertisements.
I’m pretty sure in the habits of successful people book dude said focus on AND instead of OR.
–
Michael
(((The following is not fluff…I’m doing this myself in a non IM / MMO / Blogging niche and it’s working.)))
The explanation for step 2 is great, but the examples are off. In fact, I think this is what holds people back. They don’t know how to properly “build” expertise.
Micro focusing is a good idea but…
You don’t want to become the California Yoga expert. This means you’d still have to be a complete yoga expert. The same goes for the other examples.
You should try to master ONE yoga technique. You can do that very quickly. Now you can help people with that technique. You can create a little product about it or offer a service. While you’re selling that product / service you can keep learning more and build your expertise (and adding products and services) until you are the “Yoga Expert”.
Another example would be starting out as a copywriter. Don’t be a copywriter for swimming pool companies. Become an expert at writing bullet points. (I suppose you could be the guy who improves bullet points for swimming pool companies.)
It all starts with solving one problem! There are a lot of benefits in doing this way as well.
You can dabble and see if you like the niche.
It’ll be much easier to rank for that “one problem”.
You don’t have to position yourself as the ultimate expert. (So you can get clients and make money faster.)
You’ll get known / popular for being a master at that technique. Funny thing here is, people will start asking you for help with other techniques.
You can leverage the money you’re making on that one technique (through products and services) to further your expertise in the area.
A little note: Don’t name your website (platform) after that one problem you’re solving. Leave it a little more general because you might want to expand your expertise.
Aye it’s a good point. I was thinking about this the other day. You know how epic movies all have that “let’s rise up and kick some butt” 60 second speech? That seems like a pretty cool thing to be an expert in.
–
Michael
Great addition!
It seems more logic to me and more easy to broaden your area of expertise/the subjects you’re talking about afterwards.
it looks like i would seriously flunk the beach test.
my library check out list looks really scary. bunches of books on small biz pr, social media, lean startups, legal issues, steve jobs presentations. then we jump to the other side of my brain-fundamentals of knitting and sewing, embroidery stitches, multi media art, better blogging, jewelry making, lots of precious metal clay books to refresh my brain for an upcoming show.
i wouldn’t even know where to begin to try and make sense of that.
maybe a full resource for artists and jewelers new to the business world? not specific enuf. hmmmmm, any help you might wanna give?
great post, certainly has me thinking!
Definitely sounds like a wide array of interests. Maybe start with a micro focus like “using pinterest to find fans for your toe ring business” and from there expanding step by step to eventually be the goto biz person for crafts people of all sorts.
–
Michael
great post, lots of actionable advice.
however, I got here by following a link titled “Master a niche in less than 24 hours”.
How does that relate to reading everything ever written about your field or doing a 7 year undergrad and 3 post graduate degrees?