So You Want to Be an Expert!

We constantly hear about the importance of being an "expert" in your field if you want to do things and go places. The questions are what does it mean to become an expert and what will it take? Becoming a recognized expert takes more than expertise. Becoming a recognized expert must be a goal; it must be a commitment! You must be willing to work hard to earn and achieve the recognition. Do you think that you are ready to do that? If so, read on!

What Does It Take To Be An Expert

This is probably the easiest part of the process of becoming an expert. To be an expert you need to:

• Know why you want to be an expert.

• Have knowledge and expertise in your subject (also known as an SME or Subject Matter Expert).

• Know where to get the answers you do not have.

• Be willing to acknowledge that you do not know everything.

• Be willing to share your knowledge without being a know it all.

• Have a desire to continue learning and improving on your knowledge.

• Be honest in your dealings.

• Have the ability to effectively communicate your information.

These are the fundamental tools of an expert. Most of these should be of no surprise to you. Essentially they are basic common sense. Now to the harder part.

How Do You Go About Becoming a Recognized Expert?

Becoming a recognized expert requires a great deal of work on your part. It does not happen overnight and it does not happen without a well developed strategy. I have identified as key steps. This list may not be comprehensive and if you have ideas or recommendations please comment and let me know. I am always looking to build on my information.

• DO NOT go around bragging that you are an expert.

• Let your information, knowledge, and actions speak for you.

• Be consistent and do not try to establish yourself as an expert in multiple disciplines, especially if they are unrelated; eg. Do not try to establish yourself as an expert in photography and cooking. These are not related and will confuse your audience; even if you are an expert in both.

• You cannot fear giving away information. Some purported experts get cold feet when the believe they are giving something away when they could be charging. The reality is that it will happen, but that is the price you pay to achieve your goal and the recognition you desire. The rewards will come; have no fear.

• Do not be afraid to say you made a mistake or that information you provided was incorrect; either a minor error or even a major error. Address it immediately so you maintain your reputation.

Why do I lead with the DO NOT statement; because it is like playing "King of the Hill" when you were a kid. There is always someone that wants to knock you off that hill. They will be looking for errors in what you say no matter how small or insignificant they may be. It does not take much to call your expertise into question, so DO NOT presume that everything you say is correct. Too many things are changing too fast for you to take that risk.

Look at the problems that Intel experienced with the Pentium II chip when some math wizard found an error in the 10,000th decimal position. Was this a problem that would impact many customers; no. In fact, it probably would not impact more than a handful, if that. What Intel realized though was that their motto of "Intel Inside" was at risk. If this problem existed, what other problems might there be. It was imperative that Intel fix the problem and it cost around a billion dollars, but they could not afford to risk their reputation.

Where Do You Go To Establish and Promote Your Expertise?

Obviously you must go to where you audience is located. This will take some work, but you need to have a receptive audience that is ready for one or more experts including you. So this is what you must do...

• You must have an audience willing to listen.

• If you want to be a very well known expert, you need a big audience.

• Identify locations where your audience is listening and you can establish yourself as an expert by answering questions.

• Look for forums, bulletin boards, Blogs, news articles, and other places where you can respond and comment using your expertise.

• Google search for questions on your subject and follow the links.

• Contact local media to get attention for your expertise.

• Build a following and create an Internet Radio Program to promote your topic.

• Write and distribute a Blog.

• Create a Mailing List of prospects to send expert information.

You must be creative in this process because without an audience your "expert" status will remain a mystery to everyone but you.

How Long Does It Take to Be Recognized As an Expert?

There is no easy answer to this question. Much depends upon how active you are, where your audience resides, what kind of questions you are answering, how free you are in giving away information, and how accurate you are in your answers. Some of the questions that you must answer for this include:

• Identify the scope of your notoriety. Do you want to be known as a local, regional, national, or International expert?

• Determine how committed you are to the process.

• How much time you are willing to dedicate.

• How much do you really know?

• Develop a list of topics that you could write about.

• Try writing some articles and see how they are received by knowing friends.

• Become an EzineArticles author and submit some articles and then see how often they are read and if people comment.

The reality is that becoming an expert takes more than knowledge of a subject. It takes a commitment to put yourself out there answering questions and taking the criticism that will most likely come and not getting defensive.

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