What is an ‘Expert’ anyway?

Listeners to the podcast would have heard Phil and I discuss the importance of establishing your expertise in a particular area, preferably a niche.  But does it mean to be a so called ‘expert’?  It’s not as difficult as you might think.

First, let’s establish what the word expert means.

As a noun the word expert is define as:

a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field; specialist; authority

Used as an adjective the word expert means:

possessing special skill or knowledge; trained by practice; skillful or skilled

Some synonyms which are often used for the term expert include:

connoisseur, master, experienced, proficient, dexterous

So you can see that there is no requirement that you possess a Ph.D in the subject, there is no limitation to the number of years of experience you must have to qualify.  Too often we place these unnecessary barriers for ourselves when we say, “Oh, nobody would EVER want to hear what I have to say about THAT subject.”  We’ve defeated ourselves before we have even started.

The Importance of Relativity

Here are a few things to keep in mind when establishing your expertise in a particular subject or business area.

1. There is plenty of room for experts of all kinds in any market.  No one has a monopoly on ‘expertise’ in any subject.  True some people know more than others but some who know less may be better at communicating their expertise to an audience.  Which one do you think gets more business?
2. Expertise is often geographically relevant.  It’s great that you are an expert real estate advisor in Chicago but that has nothing to do with someone carving out expertise in Miami, better yet…South Beach…still better is an expert on properties in a specific 10 block grid.  Over time you can be the ‘expert’ of a niche which is virtually unassailable by others trying to enter your small but heavily defensible kingdom.
3. Expertise is always relevant.  Look, I am really good at changing the snow tires on my car.  I have the process down to less than 30 minutes.  Among my neighbors and my family, I am ‘the expert’.  My mother knows more about planting, raising, pruning and tending to roses than almost anyone.  It’s not her business and she does not have a degree in horticulture but it is her passion and her hobby and people from all over come by to ask her advice and to get tips and insight.  In their mind she is an ‘expert’.

Make a list of all the things you are actually good at.  Start off with a general list but but then specify.  Here is an example:

• Baking
  • Baking desserts
    • Cakes
      • Chocolate Cakes
        • German Chocolate Cakes

You may be able to ‘establish your expertise’ on a very specific subject.  But it’s not a big leap for other people who have eaten and enjoyed your German Chocolate Cakes to believe that you can also bake other types of cakes as well.

So, start with what you’ve got and build on it.  We are all experts at at least one thing…

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Here are a few words about the author.  Besides being the ultimate family man Jake is also an avid outdoors man, cyclist, sailor and student of human behavior.

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