Are you really an Expert?

It's tempting to say, "I should be a consultant -- I am an expert". Yeah, maybe. Read The Business of Expertise?to gain some clarity.

I had never heard of this book (or author, sorry Mr. Baker) until a very good friend and successful entrepreneur?handed me a couple of Baker's books. True to?form I knew I would never be able to actually READ the books, so I went to audible to get the audio version. The first time through at 2x speed was interesting, so I listened again at 1.5 speed. I am glad I did.

Not-so-quick aside to give you perspective on how I was thinking prior to picking up this (audio) book.

I have a pretty high bar for the label "expert", but after reading (listening to) this book, I realize that my bar has been more qualitative than quantitative.?I don't consider myself necessarily an?"expert" at anything as it kind of feels like rating yourself a 10 out of 10 and feels uncomfortable?to me. Feels like someone else should label you as an expert, or visionary, for example. Ed Amoroso is an expert in my view. So is Mike Michalowicz.

I learned three things in college, well four if you count that the Lakers didn't express interest in my skills, despite being able to dunk?( yes, a very a long time ago ). One of them was that the most important thing for a business to focus on is to "stay in business". (Message me if you want to know the other two things.) Consequently, I have been more interested in building businesses which are built to last,?based around teams and process, and that generate enough margin to invest in people and ministry.

All private businesses change hands (if they survive) so I know that the day will come when I need to step aside. This "expert thing" is often on the path of "what's next" for people who move on from their businesses.?I mention this because a lot of people in my circle start as business owners, sell, and then rebrand themselves as experts in this new season. That may be a future hat I wear, so I am not going to swear it off, it's just not been on my radar.

End of aside.

First a little bit about the author -?Baker's resume is almost too varied to be believable - grew up in Guatemala off the grid, is a private plane and helicopter pilot, accomplished photographer, world traveler and more. Makes me think I need to "get out more".

Baker does a great job of unpacking and defining aspects of what it means to be an expert. Whether you are one already or want to become an expert, this is a great playbook on the experience.

It talks about approaches to positioning including how to look at "vertical" positioning in an industry or "horizontal" positioning with certain activities such as "combatting high turnover in middle management".

It also considers the role of geography with respect to your "expert business". Take for example my activities in an IT service business (https://navitend.com). While our clients would (hopefully) consider us experts, our?marketing focus suggests that we are (at present) too "interchangeable" with our competitors. Sad but true. Better to know the truth than wallow in ignorance, heh? In other ventures, the clientele is not geographically bound so our expertise has demonstrable credibility. In those businesses we sell Energy Management and IAQ devices internationally, training software nationally (https://eeotraining.com) and in another, specialized automotive hardware globally. This is starting to make sense (to me).

Baker unpacks some concepts around market size in terms of how many competitors exist and how many potential clientele to compete for -- how you know if you have a reasonable chance of making it in your "area of expertise". Really good stuff.

If you were to present in front of a room of other "experts", would they learn anything from you?

And more.

For all of my friends (existing and future) who are considering embarking on the "expert consultant" path, spend some time with this title. Even at 2x speed, it's worth your investment.