How To Be A Recognized Expert

Yesterday I asked Is There An Expert In The House?  I said I’d share an idea to claim your expert status.

Perhaps you can start a blog on your area of expertise.  After all, that’s what I’ve been recognizing in my personal branding “You Get It” award, right?

Perhaps you can write articles and submit them to newsletters and magazines.  Being published helps define you as an expert, doesn’t it?

Perhaps you can speak at industry conferences, or on teleseminars or webinars, right?

Yeah, all of these help define you as an expert.  I’ve done all of them, not to be able to say I’m an expert, rather to help get exposure and branding for my company.  Being called an expert because people see my blog, articles or presentations is just a side benefit.

But I think these are all akin to “flash in the pan” hits.  In other words, one article isn’t going to cut it.  And one presentation can easily be forgotten.  Even one blog can get lost in a sea of blogs (there are over 100 million blogs, I think).

Here’s something I’ve done, and seen, that creates expert status like nothing else: WRITE A BOOK.

I know two things about many of you (because you’ve told me):

1. You have wanted to write a book for years.  You have even started to write stuff down… you have a book in you and you know it!
2. You don’t know how to move forward, … the writing process, or the publishing process, or even if it is worth the time to do it.

I think some people who write a book get a lot more value out of their book than others.  Let me suggest two resources for you:

First, my publisher has a book he recently published titled 42 Rules for Driving Success with Books.  I honestly thought it would be rather boring (sorry Mitchell), but a few days ago I started reading it.  I’m totally consumed with the two-page stories of other authors (my two page story is in there), and how they have driven success with their books.

These stories are so inspiring me I’m anxious to start my THIRD book.  If you are wondering if it’s worth the time to write a book, pick up this book (16.96 for the paperback, or 11.95 for the ebook).  I love stories like these, and I give this book a 5-star rating for inspiration.

Second, I did a webinar a year ago called Write Your Book.  I share some of my experiences, and ideas on three different publishing options.  When I gave the webinar i had two people on the call – one has since published her book and the other is in the process of writing his book.  The webinar is $49.95 and available for download once we receive payment.  You can get the Write Your Book webinar here.

How do you claim your expert status?  Unlike the other ideas at the beginning of this post, your BOOK will last a lot longer than a flash in the pan.