Become a Recognized Expert in your Field

How would you like to have prospective clients call YOU?  How would you like to stop chasing business and sit back and let the phone ring?  Most of us would love that luxury.  And after years in a particular business, many of us get to that point.  But it’s a struggle and many others never quite get there.  The trick is to become a recognized expert in your field, to establish a name for yourself that is associated with expertise in your business.  The trick is to become so well known in your field that prospective clients seek you out and never even compare you with your competition.

You already know the recognized experts in your field.  You know who they are.  And in many cases, their achievements appear out of reach.  Their business reality is so different than our own that it seems almost out of reach.  Well, that is not case.  Although these recognized experts seem to have a certain degree of star power, they are human beings just like you and me and they got to their level of recognition by following a strategy, by doing certain things deliberately to achieve the desired results.

So the question really is: what did they do?  What were the steps along the way and exactly what did they do to achieve the exposure they now enjoy.  Believe me; it’s not an easy path.  Yes, in some cases, people almost stumble into their own success.  Those stories exist and we’ve all heard them.  But there are many more than take the hard road and literally muscle their way onto the stage.  This article will look at the conceptual foundation of that process.

The first thing you’ll need to become a recognized expert in your field is expertise.  There’s no way to fake this.  And as an author myself, I’m certainly not encouraging any sort of deceptive run into stardom.  If you have ambitions to become a recognized expert in your field, you absolutely must become an expert first.  And with the internet close at hand, doing so is easier than ever.

There’s no question that the best value for your money in terms of acquiring expertise is in published books.  Do a search on Amazon and you’ll quickly find more knowledge than you can handle.  And for those of you who don’t like to read, you can often buy the books in audio format.  In fact, you can do a search on iTunes and YouTube and probably find dozens of free podcasts or videos on your topic.  And of course, a Google search will bring up all the resources you need.

The second thing you need to do is give your expertise away for free.  Yes, you read that right.  Give it away for free.  Make yourself useful.  Get out there and demonstrate your expertise.  Show the world your knowledge.  And the internet plays a major role in that as well.  No longer do you need to publish a book to demonstrate your expertise.  Now, you can publish articles like this one or start a podcast series.  You can contribute to blogs or forums or you can start a blog of your own.  All of these tactics will position you as an expert in your field.  All of these things will increase your credibility and your exposure.

Now, the idea of publishing a book is another great option.  And that’s a lot easier than it once was as well.  No longer do you have to submit a proposal to the industry heavies like Penguin and Random House and pray you get accepted when thousands of others get denied.  No.  Now, you can find a smaller independent publisher or self-publish your own book.  And regardless how you get it out there, you will make the transition from a regular runt to an author.  And from that day forward, people will treat you differently.  They will treat you like an expert.

The last thing you need to do is leverage the early exposure you get to widen your audience.  After you’ve contributed to blogs and forums, after you’ve found an audience by podcasting, after you’ve sold 100 copies of your new book, you need to immediately put those victories into your bio and use them to position yourself for larger and larger venues.  Done properly, the process can snowball and lead you on a steep climb to success.

The recognized experts in your field aren’t that different than you and I.  They’re just a few steps in front of us.  And just because their reality looks so different than yours, don’t think the same reality isn’t equally available to you.  It is.  You just have to map out a strategy and follow through with it.  You have to develop expertise and then give it away for free.  And then you have to leverage the early exposure to widen the audience.   Good luck!