Becoming An Expert In Anything You Do

Are you good at what you do or are you great? Are you an expert in your field or area? Are you in the top 100 in your field or in the top 10? Top 5?

Becoming an expert in what you do is what separates you from the pack.

Hi, for those that don’t know me my name is Krista Mashore and I’ve sold over 1,900 homes, averaging 100 homes a year. How did I do this? By becoming an expert in my field! And you can become an expert in your field too, and I will show you how to do it!

One of the ways I’ve become an expert is by reading tons and tons of books. One of my favorite authors is Malcom Gladwell. In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell claims that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. Think about it, that’s around  10 hours a day for 1,000 days! Even if you have a lot of aptitudes, Gladwell said in an interview, “The point is simply that natural ability requires a huge investment of time in order to be made manifest.” The author of So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Cal Newport, emphasizes that how you’re using those 10,000 hours is equally important. He says you need to push yourself to the very limits of your current skill set to really expand into expertise. Can we agree that standard continuing education and even your hard-won education and training don’t qualify you as an expert? Personally, I’m comfortable defining myself as an expert, especially in my real estate business. I’ve worked in real estate for nineteen years.

I’ve sold over 1,900 homes, averaging 100. homes a year. And even though I have all that experience, I still take a minimum of three to five webinar classes a week. Some of the classes help me track trends in real estate, business, or the economy. Others are about technology, marketing, social media, and digital marketing so I can stay on the cutting edge of marketing techniques.

I push myself to take classes and read about whatever will enhance the value I can give to my clients. I was heading to another out of town training a while back, and my dad said to me, “Why do you do all these trainings, Krista? You’re already in the top 1% nationally.” I said, “Dad, the reason I’m in the top 1% is because  I’m doing these trainings.” I don’t think he really got it. The point is, you can never stop learning. The second you stop learning is the second you lose your claim to being an expert and an authority.

The world changes rapidly these days and you need to keep up with those changes to be an expert. This applies to any business, career or profession you can name. You can be the nicest person in the world, but the person your community will flock to is the one who has the expertise and whom they see as the authority in your field. We all do that. We want to work with people we like, but when it comes down to it, we pick a dentist, a surgeon, even a manicurist based on their expertise, not just their personality, right? You have to become an expert, so you have valuable knowledge to share with your clients and community. Once you stop learning and educating yourself, you stop growing.

Because I was an educator, learning is in my nature, so I love it, but it doesn’t mean that it’s easy for me. I actually have a learning disability. I use tricks and hacks to make it easier for me, so I’ll enjoy it. If it’s not easy for you, figure out a way to make it easy. Use audio downloads and audiobooks. Download Audible or another software. Listen to educational business and marketing books while you’re getting ready for work or cooking dinner. That’s what I do. I try to not waste any spare minute, even when I’m standing in line, or driving. It has helped me immensely.

Every business and profession has thousands of great resources for learning what is happening in their field or industry. Find yours. That said, it’s not enough to be an expert. You have to let everyone know you’re an expert. You have to become the authority in your community. And the way you do that is by using your expertise to educate, enlighten, and give value to people through engagement marketing, just like the Big Guys.

Since I’ve read so many books that have helped my career I figured I would write some myself to help others!  If you would like to learn how to become an expert I have 3 different best selling books. I have books on different topics from real estate to digital marketing! To learn more about my books just visit www.KristaMashore.com/Books. If you have any questions or thoughts please feel free to leave a comment below! I love getting feedback from you guys!