How can you stand out from other experts and influencers in your field?

We've all heard the advice: "Find your niche." But often, the idea of narrowing down feels confining and restrictive. What if my interests change? What if I want to talk about something else? Your "niche" should be centered around your values. Your core values are the lens through which you see the world. They make your perspective unique. Your unique perspective is what drives conversation and makes you stand out.

"I can help everyone" is a common (and detrimental) pitfall when it comes to niching. “Helping everyone” as an idea feels good, maybe even plentiful. But you don’t have enough help for everyone. Worse, you don’t have the cash or manpower to promote yourself to "everyone"...unless you’re Coca-Cola, which spends $4M annually to do just that. You're one person, and while your talent is endless, your resources are finite. You're already limited. When you recognize this, niching then becomes an exercise in recognizing what’s actually possible and harnessing that reality for its highest potential.

Finding and leaning into your niche will become even more vital to stand out and add value as content becomes created by AI. Here are 3 factors to help find your niche: - your experience and skills - your passion and sense of purpose - your unique perspective Ideally, your niche should be an overlap of these factors. This will help you stand out in the marketplace relating to your specific industry or topic. More importantly, it will allow you to uniquely frame content that could deeply impact your audience.

Use your values to drive your content. Anyone can talk about health, but my unique life experiences and thoughts shape how I view health. They make my perspective different. Your values are the lens through which you see the world. Use your content to let people see the world through your lens.

Thought leaders are known for driving the conversations in their industry that make them an authority figure. If you want to be seen as the go to expert in your field, you need to start putting out original content. Share ideas, trends, things you believe in or stand for. Don’t be afraid to give your opinion. Your value-added original content will start conversations and demonstrate your expertise.

If you’re putting off making content until you feel “creative”… You’re placing a barrier between you and your audience. Creativity isn’t the mother of great messaging. Listening is. If there is any one secret to great content, it starts your ability to see things from your audience's point of view and ends with your ability to talk about it that way. If you're stuck when creating original content, ask yourself: Which questions do people always ask during consultations? What does the future look like if my audience continues to go it alone? Which challenges are they aware of? Which ones aren't they ready to hear or talk about just yet? What are the outcomes of the outcomes I support? (get to that deeper level of understanding).

The core foundation of all Thought Leadership branding relationships. Whether you have the deep personal connections, broad group of colleagues, or digital followers. Investing in building all relationships is key.

Your network is everything! Leverage your professional experiences, established relationships, and offline/online communities to connect with people on the platform. This will allow you to slowly build your network, who will be your audience for the content you create. The content should be made to help everyone in your network, which will naturally attract others to join it so they can also access your helpful content. Give, give, give! Give to your network and sow seeds in it, with a focus on quality over quantity. The size of your network doesn’t matter compared to your reputation. If you have a great reputation and high quality network, those seeds of giving will undoubtedly bear fruits in the future!

Formal invitation to skip ALL of this: ? “Quantity over quality.” ? "Fake it till you make it.” ? “Always be selling.” Turn your back on networking advice rooted in 2011 hustle culture. The best connections occur when you're a raving fan of those you connect with. ? Help them avoid mistakes. ? Watch for their big wins. ? Salute the tiny ones too. ? Share what you know. ? Remind them of their talents. ? Show them you care. ? Support them in turning implausible yearnings into reality. If you want people to understand and remember you, the best place to start is by understanding them.

Consistency delivers… People will come to expect what you deliver, and eventually know, like, and trust the value bring. Just make sure you are actually creating value and always listen to your net work to improve yourself.

You can show up every day and still never reach your audience. Get quiet and take time to build your thought leadership strategy. Forget the algorithm and forget "keeping things going." The pause is worth it. In an age where AI, anyone win the consistency and visibility game. Take it back to ingenuity. You might not be Steve Jobs. You’re never going to shake up the world by launching the iPod. But you can still become known for your ideas, among the right sub-audience. Get quiet. You won’t be able to hear yourself or gain clarity over your own noise.

Weave a personal story that is vulnerable and honest into a narrative that your are writing about. This will help to bring the content to life and tap into the emotion of the reader. For example, I invest in uncommon founders who have travelled a great distance to achieve what they have and build their company. I look for those with a history of defying odds! The reason I am compelled to do so and feel I have unique ability to spot potential in less common patterns is because I am one who had to defy odds that were stacked against me. These odds included me homeless and abandoned as a youth and dropping out of high school. My starting point was much further away from the grad schools or companies where I ended up.

When you're getting started, it will feel like you have the shoes of giants to fill AND that they have already found the perfect way to say it all. Don't limit yourself to the shape and size of their feet. If you find yourself foggy about what to do, it's likely because you're thinking through your next steps according to someone else’s ideas. Imitation isn’t flattery -> it’s a sign of uncertainty. People are always looking for new, fresh voices. Don't discount that. Or your ability to be one of them.

Start by knocking out the cobwebs: How does everyone currently think of the subject at hand? How “should” we think of it and who told us so? Where does it reinforce black and white thinking? Where does your SPECIFIC audience sometimes need MORE than just what already exist? THIS ISN’T ABOUT IDEA BASHING – you’re simply locating the space for new possibilities

Your comfort zone is comfortable for a reason. Creating content is hard enough. Don’t complicate it by making it an act of personal development. Play to your strengths. If you’re a writer, write. If you’re a talker, talk. If you’re a designer, make gorgeous things. There are plenty of reasons to stretch and grow, to learn new tools and techniques. There are also time when stretching further is foolish. Save your comfort zone leaps for life beyond the algorithm.