To master the field of non-fiction writing, sell your services and products for top dollar and ensure that business is coming TO you instead of having to always CHASE business, you need to be perceived as an expert.
Experts get paid more money for their opinions. People buy their products, adding to their mystique. You get asked to provide advice for top dollar. You are given special terms on partnerships from those who want to leverage your special aura of expertise.
In short, as an expert, you capture the attention of your market – and if built carefully, can turn you into a powerhouse entrepreneur.
So, how do we become experts?
We aren’t born experts are we? Many of us would consider ourselves experts at only one thing in life – if anything.
Surely we can become an expert in many topics if we choose to do so?
When it comes right down to it – expertise is only measured by how much those around you perceive that you know about a given topic at that time.
Where we sell ourselves short is in our belief that it takes a lifetime of experience and learning to become an expert in any one topic.
Expertise is knowledge – applied. So, you need to be good at two things if you want to master expertise.
1. Gaining knowledge
2. Applying that knowledge to solving real world problems
When you think about it – celebrities are perecieved as experts, even though there are thousands of people in their respective fields that know more about a topic.
Now, the ultimate secret to gaining knowledge quickly is to ask questions. Ask lots of questions that cover every angle of topic.
The very first thing you should do when researching a topic or market for your writing is to develop a long list of questions that you will ask yourself and people within your market.
75% of your time preparing your information product should be asking questions, with the remainder put into organizing (applying) that knowledge to solving a very specific problem.
Follow this approach and you really can be an expert in almost any market you decide you want to write about.
Jeff
