Last month, Entrepreneur.com wrote a post titled 12 Ways to Become a Recognized Expert. It focuses mainly on how becoming a relative expert can improve your career path, help you find a job, or even get a raise in this uncertain economy.
With over 3,000 social media shares, you can see how the subject of relative expertise is becoming more and more popular these days.
The shift from focusing on just learning a single skill to creating a more marketable set of skills is gaining momentum.
In this post I’m going to take half of the twelve ways Entrepreneur suggested and then give my own interpretation of how you can use the examples in your own life, not just for your professional career, but for the betterment of yourself.
On to the list!
1. Learn about what’s important in your industry today & become current
How many hobbies do you have that you haven’t kept up with over the past few years? Sure, classical music or philosophy might not have changed much since Y2K, but if you don’t stay up to date with the current trends for your field you can get left behind.
Things can change extremely fast in most industries, especially anything related to electronics. Do some web searches, find out who the authorities on the topic are, and start learning what’s hot today.
2. Write an article & submit it for publication in a magazine
There is a magazine for everything. Whatever you are interested in, there is sure to be a print publication that would be willing to publish your writing.
Research what they normally write about, get in contact with some of their staff, and submit a top notch piece of writing. You never know what opportunities it may lead to.
3. Create a website or a blog
There are plenty of websites out there, but how many of them truly matter? Put together a plan to launch a new website, invest the time in creating something valuable for people, and then see what happens.
If you are trying to become well known and a Google search for your name doesn’t turn up anything related to you, good luck getting famous.
Create and use at least one social media profile, be active on websites or forums in your field of interest, and start making virtual friends.
4. Create a podcast (video or audio)
Just like we did last week, launch your own podcast on whatever you want to be an expert in. In the beginning you might not know much of anything about the topic, but if you keep having to get on camera or on the mic then you will need to learn your stuff!
By starting a podcast you will also get in touch with a lot of other people interested in the topic and can make some great connections.
5. Offer to speak at a local college
Speaking can be intimidating, but an audience at a local college can be one of the easiest (and smallest) to start with. Find a school by you, make some connections, put up some flyers, and hold “a talk”. You might only get one or two people to show up, but you have to start somewhere!
View that experience as a stepping stone towards speaking at a larger event someday. Start simple. Start small. Everyone else did.
6. Become a corporate speaker
Companies like Google bring people in to talk about just about anything these days through their @Google Talks. Everyone from Tom Brokaw to Steve Kamb.
Whatever it is that you are an expert in, approach companies with an outline for a talk and see if they’d go for it. What’s the worst that could happen? (Hint: They say no and you move on.)
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Now its your turn: What are some ways you could show others your relative expertise? How could you make a name for yourself without breaking the bank?
Caleb,
Great advice. Seems as if I’ve covered the first five steps. I’m going to muster up my courage and see if I can make the corporate speaking happen too. I was not aware of @Google Talks either. Thank you for bringing that one to my attention.
All my best to you in the coming new year,
Angela
Thanks Angela!
Corporate talks can be a different kind of audience to speak in front of, instead of group of college students, so it is worth giving a try.
Good luck!
Today I made a commitment to myself to take my online business to the next level and start doing seminars.
The very thought of it is terrifying because as we all know, fear of facing a large audience of people is one of the biggest fears humans actually have.
Why it’s relevant to the topic of becoming an expert?
Well, you see – although I’m running my website about improving English fluency for a good few years, it still hasn’t gained the momentum I’ve been dreaming of. I keep writing blog posts, making YouTube videos and helping my customers over e-mail, but I still don’t feel an expert enough simply because I haven’t been facing real people.
Yes, I’m getting comments and satisfied customer e-mails saying that my product and my motivational videos and articles really make a big difference and the feeling is amazing when you realize that you are helping others to overcome issues you’ve been facing. Yet, as I said, I don’t feel expert enough because all I’m doing is sitting behind laptop and making videos in my home studio.
So, I think I’ll do as you’re saying in this article – I’ll start small, most likely by organizing a small scale seminar somewhere in the Dublin area. I know it will be hard enough to get the first people in and become comfortable speaking with them. Well, hard is not the right word, it’s actually something I would never had thought of a couple months ago.
I feel, however, that word to mouth marketing and facing a real audience might be the factor meaning the difference between a mediocre blog and a wildly successful business so I’ll give it a shot.
Regards,
Robby
Thanks for the great blog! This is such a hot topic, because I believe you, Corbett, stated that being an expert is the new Web 3.0. With that in mind, I’ll be carefully reading your blog for more and more ideas.
I recently turned down an opportunity to conduct a radio show on a local station, but I know that would be a great way to establish myself as an expert. Because I have values preventing me from over-committing myself, I’m going to be starting a podcast mid-February, as per one of your suggestions.
Great idea about the magazine article. I never thought about that!