In the last week I’ve been busy helping many of the new members inside GHG Membership take the first steps on the road to building their online businesses.
None of this “push-button magic software” stuff (which doesn’t work anyway otherwise I’d be doing it myself for sure!), but real businesses that are ethical, profitable and sustainable.
It’s REALLY exciting stuff!
But one of the most common questions I’ve received is, “How can I possibly make money online if I’m not an expert in anything?”
Here’s my advice:
1. There Is No Such Thing As An “Expert”
The term “expert”, I think, is really quite unhelpful.
It implies that you need to pass an exam or have some kind of qualification in order to call yourself an expert and advise others.
This is NOT the case!
All you need to do is know a little more than other people to help them.
For example, do you know how to cook a special food recipe? Then you can certainly help others online with their cooking – you DON’T need to be a Gordon Ramsey to help people improve their cooking skills.
Alternatively, do you know how to register a domain name or build a website. Then you ARE qualified to help others! Write an eBook or create a short YouTube video to explain it.
Nobody knows everything and in certain niches (internet marketing especially) things change so quickly that everyone is trying to keep up all of the time.
For example, how many genuine Facebook experts do you think are out there? Not many (if any?) as its all pretty new and is constantly changing!
Also, you don’t have to pretend to know things. If you don’t know the answer to a particular question just say so! This approach will catapult you forward and give you great appeal to your subscribers (or future ones if you haven’t started yet).
With all the hype around is massively refreshing to have honest people, giving genuine advice.
People really like that.
2. No One Will EVER Give You “Permission”
This point is really important.
At no time, either now or in the future will someone magically appeal in your life and say, “Congratulations, you have studied <insert subject of choice> for 5 years, therefore you now officially have permission to call yourself as expert!”
So again, forget these imaginary rules. You only need to know a little more than others to help them out with free content and sell products online.
3. Find Other Experts
If you are still wary about putting yourself out there (and this is completely natural to begin with so don’t worry about it) then why don’t you act as the interviewer and interview other experts for their advice?
I’ve done this many times in this very blog, including here, here and here.
And it works like a dream!
You NEVER have to pay experts for their time either.
So find other blogs in your niche (either using Google or a blog directory like Technorati) and approach these people for an interview on Skype.
Use Pamela to record the Skype call and publish it to your blog, give it away as a free gift/lead magnet to get people onto your list or even package up several interviews and sell them as a product (Hint: a lot of people have made a great deal of money doing this last idea!).
So there you go.
Forget the term “expert” – it is meaningless really.
Thoughts, comments, questions?
Please share them below and click on LIKE if you liked this post! 🙂
P.S. Do you want to get started building your own sustainable online business with an exact roadmap and on-going support from yours truly? If so, I’d love to welcome you inside our members area! Click here to grab your 7-day trial for only $5 (it’s dead easy to cancel at any time if you don’t like it!)
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I hate it when someone call himself “an expert”. Usually those people are not experts at all, lol.
Good article Rob.
Agreed Cristina – And the crazy thing is that most of the time you can see right through it!
So not sure you they are kidding really?
What I cannot stand is all these so-called experts or gurus who do nothing but use their so-called status to brazenly do nothing else but promote their products, and all they give away is opt-ins to other people’s lists in return for a free report. Nothing makies me search for unsubscribe so quick. Good work Rob,
Hi there Dawn,
There certainly is a lot of self promotion out there for sure.
And there’s nothing wrong with that in itself (at least in my book) PROVIDED it does actually help people out get them to where they are trying to get to.
Trouble is a lot of the time, it doesn’t!
You can easily see these people who constantly send you to other peoples lists (“List Swaps”). Trouble is their diluting their own list in the process! I don’t mind seeing it once in a while but I agree Dawn that I tend to unsubscribe if that’s all I see along with product promotions.
Anyway, nice to see you here again on the blog – glad you liked the post!
All the best, Rob.
Thanks for sharing this araticle Rob. I am learning alot from you and appreciate all you have to offer!
My pleasure Norman – thanks for commenting and letting us know you enjoyed it! 🙂
Hi Rob
I think that a lack of confidence in our own knowledge and abilitites can definitely hold us back.
Many of us have an interest in something that we know a lot about but we can perhaps think “no one will be interested in that”
But the fact is that we all start from somewhere – even the top “gurus” started off at some point knowing nothing about their “speciality”
I am prone to the same lack of confidence as well. I have been involved in book-keeping and payroll for many years both as an employee and running my own limited company.
I have a wealth of experience but I still look at others doing the same as me but who are far better at branding themselves on-line and I think that they “must” know more than I do !? It makes no sense really but I still do it.
A lot of it is down to self-belief and confidence – two qualities that are very hard to acquire if you don’t have a certain type of personality.
Regards
Kevin
Excellent points – thanks for sharing them Kevin!
I do think you’re right that confidence (or lack of it) plays a big roll. It’s easy to feel sometimes that “I could never do that” when watching the polished performances by others. But the thing with the web is that unpolished performances come across as “real” and are often much more appealing. Many very successful people online wouldn’t get a job on TV or Radio but the internet IS different so they do very well indeed.
Also, many people don’t realise what they have to offer. Often their skills are really in demand by others but they don’t really see that. In your own case, book keeping, payroll and especially running your own limited company will have given you some real skills that are definitely in demand online. It’s all too easy to think, “Nah, no one would really be interested in me.” But 9 times out of 10 they probably will be!
There are plenty of opportunities to work behind the scenes for people who really don’t want a personality based business.
The answer is just do it – confidence does come with experience and getting stuck in actually results in many pleasant surprises along the way.
What is there to lose anyway? Life’s too short isn’t is?
Rob.
Hi again Rob
Also, when we have been working for a while in a specific area or have it as a hobby it becomes like second nature to us.
And in this case we often don’t actually realise just how much expertise we possess in that area that other people just don’t have.
I would imagine that your contributors are all pretty accomplished computer users – and in a world increasingly dominated by computers I think that they have an untapped goldmine at their fingertips.
Kind regards
Kevin
Rob when I was a Trainer there were 2 phrases that we regularly used when trying to change peoples thinking;
“in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king”
“expert – an ex is a has-been and a spert (spurt) is a drip under pressure”
Never have these phrases been more appropriate than in todays marketplace!
The guru is more frequently a triumph of marketing (perception) over substance, so you need to do your “due diligence” before trusting them. In this internet marketing world, (I am speaking from my non-internet experience of marketing – I am not yet a real internet marketer) I strongly believe that creating the relationship with your customers needs to be a lot more personal & Rob I agree with you about being honest if you dont know something. This is one of the reasons why I am happy to receive emails/links from you & recommend you – I KNOW I wont get hype & bull***t
Well said Ian – thanks for the compliments and your thoughts on this! 🙂
Kind regards – Rob
Hi Rob,
I came to this post through Google search and this is what I exactly looking for so great post 🙂
I want to start my info product but have many issues and the biggest issue is to find a topic where people are buying information and the other issue is generating traffic and sell your product to them. I have also emailed you but obviously you are a busy man with your own business.
Is there anyway you can provide me help for putting out my first product and making the sale?
Looking forward to hear from you soon.
– Shan
Hi Shan,
Thanks for your comment, I replied to your email 🙂
Kind regards, Rob
Thanks for the tips. Good ideas.