How To Become An EXPERT…No Matter WHAT You Do!
From guest writer Lisa Wilder, we have a timely piece for all you Energy Coaches and Therapists out there on how to Better Your Business. Lisa is a phenomenal coach and woman of great personal wisdom - I can recommend no one of greater integrity to you in teaching you how to run a superbly successful business. (to find out more about Lisa, read her bio at the end of the article)
I asked Lisa to write for our readers who have their own coaching, therapy or other service businesses as she is the very best. Lisa will be writing for us in the months to come and I have a recommendation: copy all her posts and put them in your "Business Development Tools" folder (what? you don’t have one? start one today!)
Welcome Lisa, to Sage Wisdom and the Quantum Flow Community.
How To Become An EXPERT…No Matter WHAT You Do! by Lisa Wilder
One of the greatest investments you can make to ensure your
business is wildly successful is in the area of your professional
development. It’s essential that you:
§ First become
an expert in your field.
§ Then become
known as an expert in your field.
While these two essentials sound like one and the same
thing, there’s an important distinction between the two. The first is about the
knowledge and skills you already possess, and the next is about increasing your
market’s awareness of the knowledge and skills you possess. You can’t become
known as an expert in your field without first being an expert in your field.
Choosing a very specific area of expertise for which you
want to become known has two big advantages:
- It
will allow you to become known as an expert in your field much more quickly. - It will make it much easier for you to hone in on what you already know so that you can begin to recognize the areas in which you need further development.
If you find the very idea of having to become an expert
intimidating or overwhelming, you’re not alone, but like anything else worth
doing in life or business, it’s much easier than it might appear: Just break it
down into doable steps.
Step 1: Become very clear about how you want to be
known in your field.
When I say “become very clear,� I
mean very clear. Get specific. Within
any field the possible areas of expertise are too numerous to count. Don’t try
to be everything to everyone. Trying to be everything to everyone, far from
helping you to become known as an expert, will only confuse your market and
frustrate you. Simply put, it’s much more effective to know a lot about one
thing than to know a little bit about many.
Steps 2 & 3: Identify and
acknowledge the expertise you already have, and identify the expertise you need
to gain.
This is not the time to be modest by undervaluing your knowledge and skill or
to inflate your ego by over-estimating your knowledge and skill. For this
process to work, you’ve got to be really honest with yourself. Have fun with
it. Give yourself a big pat on the back for all of the expertise you’ve already
got and let the possibilities for gaining new expertise inspire you.
Learning new things is exciting,
and when you’re always striving to learn new things, things you can share with
your market, that excitement shines through and is very attractive. You can’t
fake excitement and passion for what you do and how you can help your market,
and that excitement and passion will resonate with the market you’re meant to
serve.
Here’s a brief side-note for those
of you who are already experts in your field: I’d like to challenge you to
explore the ways in which you can expand on your current expertise. There is always more to learn.
Step 4: Look at all of the ways in
which you can gain the expertise you need.
Start by doing some research
online. Who in your field already has the expertise you’re looking to gain?
Gaining the knowledge and skill you need doesn’t have to be difficult. If
there’s someone in your field who can walk you through what you need to learn,
by all means, jump on the opportunity. Read any books or ebooks they’ve
written. Take a class or two or three. Enroll in an online program. Explore the
possibility of a mentor/apprentice relationship.
Learning what you need to learn will increase your
confidence in your ability to provide the best possible services and products
to your market—the first key to moving from being an expert to becoming known
as one. You have to be confident in your own expertise and ability in order to
instill that confidence in others.
When you really know your stuff and can demonstrate your
expertise to your market, you’ll be able to clearly distinguish yourself from
the many others who provide similar services, you’ll gain greater visibility,
and you’ll become known as the expert
in your particular field. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll earn the
reputation and trust necessary for a potential client to engage your services.
You’ll gain new clients, increase sales, and significantly improve your bottom
line.
Investing the time, energy, and money necessary to become an
expert or to gain additional expertise is one of the best investments you can
make to ensure the on-going success of your business. You’ll reap the rewards
of your investment many, many times over.
About The Author:
Lisa Wilder has over eighteen years in business management, and development,
and is passionate about helping service professionals to create lives and
businesses joyfully doing what they love. Lisa specializes in small business
development, including branding, marketing, and online systems and management.
With deep roots in energy systems management, Lisa ran and developed a Traditional
Chinese Feng Shui training and consulting business for many years. More recently, she co-facilitates
the Book Yourself Solid 15-week intensive with internet entrepreneur, Michael
Port.
Find Lisa at: “The Wilder Zone� http://www.thewilderzone.com
where she provides superior personal and professional coaching and support for service
professionals.
.jpg)
