Don’t pretend to be an expert… become one!

Experts are a “Dime a Dozen”

How long have you been in your industry? Can you safely say you’re an expert? Are your competitors educating your potential customers? In my opinion, experience is the greatest teacher but true experts don’t rely strictly on experience. You need to continually feed your mind and business practices with new information because just saying you’re an expert because you have 10 years experience won’t cut it.

So you wanna be an expert?

That’s great to know. The first step is to make sure you’re desired choice of topics makes sense both for your business and for your personal interests. It’s best to choose a subject that jives with your personality and lifestyle. There’s no sense becoming a world renowned expert at rock climbing when you’re afraid of heights, or perhaps the leading authority on South American arachnids if you specialize in real estate. Obviously, these examples are far-fetched but you get the idea. Put some conscious effort into finding your NICHE and stick with it.

What are you reading?

You’re ready to take your learning to the next level, that’s great. I remember reading a book somewhere that said if you read a book a week for 5 years you would be a WORLD leading expert in any specific field. I have no idea if this is true but if you read 260 books on ANY topic you sure should know more than the average joe. My first question is what are you reading RIGHT NOW? What about the last 30 days? The last year? If you haven’t read a book on your industry lately I would like to ask you if you have made any significant gains financially? Typically, people want to make more money, but they expect to do this without increasing their VALUE in their industry.

What are you waiting for?

Maybe your industry is boring? Maybe there simply are not enough books written about what you do? There are endless excuses to not spend time learning. I have always had an aversion to the desire to read during my first few hours of work, but in hindsight it was some of the most valuable time I have ever spent. So STOP with the excuses, start reading a book today. I know you have one or ten that are just waiting to increase your knowledge, give you expertise and establish you’re expertise.