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Unleashing the Expert Within...

Written by: Therese Skelly

Article Overview: This isn’t kindergarten any more kids! Are you at the stage of business development where you can step up as an expert and really shine? After coaching hundreds of people, I have identified some of the stages that business owners move through. See if you can identify where you are.

Unleashing the Expert Within...

1. “Let me at ‘em” stage.
This is when you first start your business and are eager for customers and clients. You offer samples and free sessions, looking for buzz and visibility. For some, this lasts a few months, but others get stuck here for years. Not good! The signs that you are stuck include a lack of revenue, excitement when clients call, but a low conversion of paying clients. You probably don’t use a marketing plan during this stage either. Hopefully, after awhile you move into stage two…

2. “Oh, crap… this isn’t working” stage.
Sorry to be crude, but sometimes that’s how it feels. You begin to realize that trying to do everything yourself only leads to overwhelm and emotional burn out. You also see that the only way to be happy and prosperous is to get a team of folks to help you. The goal: you do what you do best, and delegate the tasks that you either can’t do, shouldn’t do, or know someone can do better.
If you are doing your own books (unless you are a bookkeeper), creating your own web pages, writing your own copy, or managing your own database – you are stuck in this stage and will reach a point where there just isn’t enough of you to go around. My suggestion, find small ways to outsource and delegate so you can do more things that generate revenue. Now the true entrepreneurial freedom can emerge… and you get to the next stage.

3. “I wish I knew what I knew” stage.
This reminds me of Sally Fields’ moment at the Academy Awards where she stood up and said, “You like me, you really, really like me!” Pardon the bad metaphor, but my point here is that this is where the expert status fame and glory resides; recognition, and the chance to be financially profitable by reaching more people and leveraging your business.

Let me elaborate: After gaining confidence in Stage One and learning how to think like a business owner in Stage Two, the task in Stage Three is to become a content expert. The global nature of all of this now comes into play. No longer do you need to serve one to one; use the virtual world and online communities to serve many people. It’s time to step up and claim your expert status so you are “known.”

How? I remember knowing that I had so much good information and wisdom inside, but had no idea how to get it out. The experience of wishing I “knew what I knew” really kicked in when I had my first expert interview. After responding to about 15 interview questions, I thought, “Dang, I know a lot!” Now, I’m spending much of my time “birthing” more content, realizing this is my next step to more success.

Three ways to “know what you know” and fully embrace being the expert that you are include the following:

1. Decide that you are an expert.
Yes, it’s just that simple. So many of us wander around playing small that we miss the opportunity to really help the clients we should. Does your ego react to the thought of calling yourself an expert? If your child had a life threatening brain tumor, wouldn’t you be very glad that the neurosurgeon doing the surgery knows what an expert he is! It’s not about ego as in “better than” but about discovering, owning and then sharing your gifts.

2. Have someone interview you.
Unless you are a prolific writer, it’s far easier to grab a friend (or your coach) and have them ask you questions. I suggest that you use Audio Acrobat or recording software. List the top ten problems you solve for your clients. The interviewer asks you what you do, how you show up, and the results you get. You’ll be amazed at how easily the answers roll off your tongue. It’s also very affirming when you hear yourself voicing your expertise. Another idea is to offer a free tele-seminar and share your recording of it.

3. Release your content.
Are you tapped into the world of Social Media? If so, you can put your content on Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, YouTube, Twitter, and a host of other places. At this stage, in order to successfully market, you must create new content regularly. Add this task to your marketing plan and make sure you schedule regular releases of your great ideas, insights, and ways to solve
problems.

The world needs what you have. Now is the time to get creative, play big, be bold and get your message out there!

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Article Tags: business development, business owners, kindergarten
Referred by: http://www.4-dsuccess.com



Related Forum Posts
Re: How can I promote my site? - I think because you have a very visual product you should focus on creating valuable videos and post them to sites like YouTube, Viddler and Expert Village. Some ideas for videos could be an overview of how to create an animated movie, tips for editing, how to find actors ...etc...provide value to your customers and they will flock to you like a magnet. Rachel
Re: Service Or Product? - I agree with starting a Service-based Business in the economy. Here is what I think is critical: 1. Researching that your Service business has a market. 2. Marketing the Service with as much leverage as possible. 3. Product-izing the Service (aka Package Expert Knowledge). This will only help elevate you as "the" expert in your niche and make you accessible to people in different price points.
Introduction - Hi Fellow Entrepreneurs, My name is Rita Cartwright, owner of RJ's Word Processing Services. I am a Professional Administrative Expert offering virtual assistant services. I have been in business for 7 years and specialize in Internet marketing and word processing services. I also offer bookkeeping, transcription services, website design and maintenance, and general administrative assistance. I'm originally from Phoenix and graduated from Arizona State University with Magna Cum Laude honors. My degree is a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing with a minor in Spanish. I look forward to networking with each of you.
Re: What makes a good online review? - Hi Kevin, True that the net is inundated with information, but there are flaws too, like you are not always sure as to whether the information provided is authentic or not. Therefore many organizations have set standards maybe of their own or laid down by Authorities. But for the common man, there is always a chance of falling in the trap. When I search for some product on the internet, there are two options for me (and I believe for most of us). When we are into purchase of a product, we are mostly after a specific brand. In such a case, any review does not matter. But for the other products (when Brand Name isn't that important), I generally take into account the reviews. I consider both - Expert Reviews and Consumer reviews. But many a times, they don't publish negative comments of products. So I do a search on Google or other search engines for related content to know more about the product and generally prefer to read Forums, Online Communities and Blogs (in that order) to decide on the purchase. Regards,
Re: Website analysis - [quote="Evan":fgxldfxj]Hi AnonymousMan I am always looking for additional advice for my site - feel free to give some suggestions for EvanCarmichael.com! Looking forward to it![/quote:fgxldfxj] This website looks great, I wouldn't bother changing any of the colors or text as it currently reflects professionalism and business. When I first visited the homepage there was a lot of content for me to decipher so I didn't know where to begin. However my eye was soon caught on some of the hot forum topics so I visited the forums and never looked back at visiting any of the other sections within the website. In saying this I believe if you had more feature articles on the homepage it would most likely attract me to viewing other parts of the website. For example if you had a feature article called "Marketing Your Business: Top 5 Expert Tips" with a small relevant graphic and a small description of the benefits gained by good marketing contained within a paragraph or two, it would tempt me to click on the "read article" link and then continue to read the full article while visiting a different part of the website for a change. In regards to the Entrepreneur Tools section such as the Press Release Builder you could just about delete this section as the product is repeated 5 times, which is a waste of important homepage real estate that could be used for more worthwhile content. Homepage content could include content items such as the latest feature articles, competitions or electronic newsletter sign up box. You could also use a Free Report as a complimentary PDF file download for visitors who sign up to your electronic newsletter or forums. The Entrepreneur Topics are also very bland and boring to look at so I would recommend jazzing this section up or removing it altogether. You could replace this section with one of the famous entrepreneur articles and most likely increase the clickthrough rate to this section, as I am interested in these articles but always forget they are available. For example if one of Guy Kawasaki's latest articles was promoted on the homepage it would entice me to clickthrough and read the full article while visiting the homepage to get to the forums. Do you feel these tips are helpful Evan?


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