Build And Monetise Your Authority - Part 2/3 [What Kind Of Expertise Can Be Monetised?]

What kind of expertise can be monetised?

When it comes to the question of what kind of expertise can be monetised, the answer might surprise you. Basically, it’s anything that you have insight into that is likely to be of interest (and value) to someone else. So much of value that they pay for it. You know, sometimes when you put out an idea and people are all supportive and say they’d absolutely get it, when it comes push to shove and an actual finance commitment is required, it can often like very different.

Naturally, the larger your potential audience with the right type of people is, the greater the chances that you can monetise, but to make it more obvious, let’s break it down.

Areas to consider that you can package up and monetise include:

Results

As much as we talk about expertise and credentials, this doesn’t have to be the foundation for what you want to monetise. It could also be results you’ve achieved through trialling and testing, years of experience, an interest that has become a hobby that has potential to get bigger.

For example: You’ll never get a certification for ‘community building’. Yet, this is one of the most popular demands from companies.

There is no official certification or education for it. It comes from experience, personality and of course, results. You might be a social media manager, but your real interest, passion and expertise lies in community building. Go for it! It isn’t something many can do, I definitely couldn’t. 

Technical skills

This is often the most obvious area to start with. What credentials, education and experience do you have? What skill sets have you built over time? What questions do clients, peers and even family & friends come to you for because this is what they associate with you?

For example, a public relations expert might share their technical expertise on how to write a winning press release, while a web developer might share insight into how to build a high converting website.

It’s about considering topics; skill sets and challenges that frequently pique people’s interest which you have unique insight into.

Industry/vertical expertise

Industry or vertical expertise can take a broad or narrow approach. It can offer insight into trends emerging within your specific business sector, including data and future predictions. Or, it can really hone in on a theme within your industry/vertical.

For example, Pat Flynn was laid off from his architecture position in 2008 and he created a website to help him pass an exam. What he didn’t know was that this little website created thousands of visits veery day.

Things changed for him when people told him that his staff is so good, they would pay for it. This is when he started selling an eBook study guide to help other students pass this exam. He sold this eBook for $19.99 and made over $7k in the first month which was a game changer for him.

This got him so excited that he wanted to share how it all happened and what he learned, so he created SmartPassiveIncome.com that same month. Sales grew and so did his online course offerings. However, he started with a very specific topic in his industry / niche which allowed him to expand from there once people asked him how he actually created the business behind it.

So this is hopefully also a good reminder for you that, whilst you should have a micro-specialisation and be very focused on one particular aspect of your promise that you want to be known for, you don’t have to stick with it forever. You can widen the toics you cover once you had this breakthrough moment.

Pat Flynn now runs a successful podcast, sells online courses, masterminds etc – you name it.

Questions to ask yourself when considering monetising your knowledge

If you’re considering whether your expertise can be monetised, it pays to ask yourself a few simple questions.

These help you determine if there is demand for your expertise and also assist with identifying the types of information that will lend itself to monetisation.

Questions include:

·      Can I share a unique perspective?

·      Do I have ‘insider’ tips?

·      Are there questions my customers frequently ask of me or my business?

·      Is there something that comes easily to me that others might find complex?

·      If the answer to any of the above is yes, it then comes down to determining the best method of monetizing your insight.

How knowledge can be monetized

Knowledge and expertise can be monetized in a lot of different ways, many of which may be familiar, but some of which might surprise you. But basically, there are 2 main formats: Either you sell your content directly to users in form of your skill set as an employee, a contractor, a board member or as a consultant. It also includes courses or coaching programs you have developed, paid speaking gigs or done for you services like website content creation, but also templates, checklists, step-by-step guides etc.

The other way to make money is through your audience that you built by sharing your knowledge. 

These include: sponsorships, affiliate programs, ads on your social media or online platforms if you have enough subscribers, listeners or visitors. 

However, this way isn’t what I specialise in that much as it doesn’t always correlate to your knowledge. 

My focus is helping professionals make money leveraging their expertise which means we work on systemising their knowledge so they can create results, over and over.

This allowed them to monetise this framework through multiple options, from selling it as do it yourself option like an online course, eBooks, cheat sheets etc as well as a done with you program like a group coaching/ training program, a train the trainer solution, like selling it to corporate teams who then train their staff or the highest value option, do it for you which includes some aspects are done for the client without them having to do anything. 

That could be anything from developing a strategy to creating content to setting up workflows etc for them. 

This last option, the done for you version of your systematised knowledge is the most expensive offer that you can provide because it requires more time and personal involvement than the other two versions and since we all have only so many hours in a day and time is the most valuable resource, it needs to be more expensive. This also limits the type of audience who can afford it – and again, that’s a good thing.

When you however, have systematised and packaged your knowledge in a way that makes sense to anyone and the following of the right steps guarantee the results that you want to be associated with, you don’t only have a repeatable and predictable framework that also works without you and lives after you but you also have a future-proof career because you can offer it in different formats (to different audiences) and create multiple income streams for you. 

This is what I’m a massive fan of having those multiple income streams that are built on each other but can be offered separately because I’ve experienced in my first career, in marketing, how quickly things can turn and go downhill if you only have one substantial source of income. 

You could get a new boss who doesn’t like you or vice versa, the business could be sold and your role could be made redundant, you may get bored with what you do and want to pivot but without building any other foundation, it takes you of course a lot longer to get traction and this is why most professionals stay stuck where they are. 

So now you know how you can make money – again, it’s either through your own content or through your audience that you build, let’s look into the exact formats that you can choose. There is no right or wrong, it comes down to your personality, your resources, your area of expertise and the type of people you want to work with and how they get the results the quickest and most effective way.

1. Monetised content

This is the type of written, visual or audio content where you are paid to share your insight or expertise, such as blog posts, YouTube videos, paid speaker roles, etc. 

You can monetise content either directly, meaning being paid by the end users of your insights (ie. paid subscriptions or online courses), or paid by advertisers for access to your content consumers (ie. affiliate links or banner ads) when you refer to someone’s product or service and you get commission for it. Again, the latter isn’t something I talk about a lot as it’s not something I’m a) super familiar with yet b) I only make a few hundred $ a months through those affiliate programs and c) not everyone’s got the right sized audience to make it financially viable and d) isn’t really relevant for especially corporate professionals as they don’t use any of the services just yet that have an affiliate program.

2. Digital products

Digital products take a whole range of different forms, from e-books to videos and podcasts that people subscribe to. Online courses are another example of digital products that can be sold, but more on that shortly. 

I’m a massive fan of digital products like workshops, eBooks, templates etc because they are created once and can be sold over and over, meaning they don’t require you ongoing time and energy investment and of course, they can be scaled and with that, become an additional stream of income without you having to give up a fulltime job.

I’ve got a few of those, from my Personal Branding Hub to my LinkedIn Academy to my content creation workshops although they are a bit of a mix between do it yourself and done with you. My signature offer ‘Trusted Authority’, which is a group program is a mix of done with you and done for you services and my high end 1:1 coaching program are more a done for you service rather than a digital product but I do leverage quite a few assets in the programs also.

Memberships

Creating a membership site allows you to deliver specialist wisdom to a select group of people who pay for access to that content and the community built around it.

That might involve sending out newsletters or restricting access to a specific part of your website so only paying members can view those articles or information.

I did run a membership for 1 year but retired it in 2021 after I realised two things: 1) community building isn’t my strengths and 2) my audience was too small to keep the low-price pint. Memberships really only work when they’re low cost but high volume or the other way round. But I’m glad I experienced and explored it, also when it was to realise that it isn’t a format I would want to pursue long-time. So don’t forget: whatever you do, it’s either a success or it’s a story. There is no failure and the only failure is to not give it a go at all.

Community

Of course, you can also monetise your expertise by creating an online community, whether that’s a physical community or a virtual one which might feature guest lectures, and guest speakers, run your own workshops or events. I had for many years a MeetUp community which I literally just stepped down as I have outgrown the audience with the direction I’m heading into. But for many years, I did monetise the group that I grew from just under 400 to over 1,600.

The other benefit of building your own community is skill building like moderation, facilitation or teaching skills. Public speaking is one of the most important skills to master if you want to progress in your career, no matter what that means to you.

Online courses

Selling online courses is a great way of taking your insight and sharing it in bite-sized pieces that people can digest in their own time.

Online courses allow you to advertise your expertise and have people sign up (and pay) to be guided through a process. And with platforms like Thinkific, Kajabi, Kartra and Co, they are easier to create than you might expect.

How to translate your expertise into a knowledge commerce business that makes money

OK, so you’ve identified you have the expertise to share and it’s likely to offer value to others. 

Now what steps do you need to monetize it, and how do you know which medium works best for you?

Be crystal clear on what you offer, aka what results you can deliver and what you want to be known for

The first step to understanding how you can monetise your knowledge is to clarify what you actually can deliver and for whom.

This is where we come back to the part 1 of this mini-training where we focused on completing the sentence – “I use my expertise to help people ______”

For example, ‘I use my expertise to help people with digitalising their service business.

That means potential areas of expertise and monetization would include:

·      How to set up an online CRM system

·      Internal and external communication platforms

·      Automated invoicing 

In this instance, it also means my audience is likely to be business owners and individuals looking to set up some systems so they can focus on delivering their knowledge in one or many ways we discussed earlier.

This is an important aspect to think of as yes, you could potentially digitise many businesses as they all need one or many set ups but are you most suited to small to medium sized businesses or would your skillset and background be more suited to highly complex multinationals, government departments and highly regulated businesses? 

This is an important distinction for you to stand out as your systemised knowledge would be centred around those exact issues. A start-up has very different challenges than a business that needs to undergo a digital transformation to stay competitive. Neither is better or worse – it comes down to your personality, the type of environment you feel comfortable in and have experience in and of course, what exactly it is that you want to offer.

This brings us to the 3rd piece of the puzzle: Your point of difference which is closely connected to your story.

You can have all the credentials in the world but if you can’t back it up with your personal experience, stories and case studies, your credibility drops significantly. Think about it: if I would have a degree in communication, a doctorate in marketing, a masters in business and also certified business coach but I have never run my own business, never set up nor managed a social media account or developed a campaign, how trustworthy am I? I would be the most overqualified person with zero trust. And remember: being the Trusted Authority in this day and age is what future-proofs you and comes down to the 3 elements: capability (which we covered in part 1), credibility (which we cover in today’s training where we not only develop your own signature framework but also support your claim and positioning through stories and partnerships) and visibility which is the 3rd and final part in the equation.   

At this stage, it’s really important to define how your solution is different from other people’s. Is it easier to understand? Is it proven and trusted through endoresements and social proof? Is it delivered in a different format which makes it more attractive? Is it for an audience that hasn’t been paid attention as much than the same program does to others?

Basically, answering this is all about the why, the way you?

Why would someone choose you over someone else with similar qualifications and credentials?

And pro-tip – the answer to this question needs to be quantifiable. It cannot just be because you feel you are ‘better” than someone else.

How do you solve a problem?

This is where we get granular with your knowledge and develop what we call – a signature framework. This is a process that you define, follow and also can communicate on how you deliver the transformation, the result, the promise that you make based on your capability.

The outcome of a signature method is to have a clear path how to go from point A (their current reality), to Point B (their desired future)

It could be that you want to be associated with digital transformation for small businesses. This is great but can mean so many things:

Is it to get the business ready for social media?

Is it more profound and includes setting up a digital and automated workflow that includes platforms, software and integration tools?

Or is it about turning their current offline solution into an online offer?

See what I mean? Digital transformation can mean anything and nothing. Same goes for literally every specialisation there is. That’s why it’s so important for you to know a) what problem you actually solve b) why it matters and c) how you can repeatably get to the results. Otherwise it’s fraud and you won’t last for a long time.

When you know the 2 points, point A (current problem challenge) and point b (ideal future outcome), you can then develop a framework that can be followed to get there.

The problem could be:

-       Confused by technology and scared that automation could take away the personal spin that the business is known for

The ideal solution might be:

-       Integrating automation to improve the customer experience whilst minimising human error and costs associated with that

The way to get there, aka the promise could be:

Delivering a tailored digital transformation that maximises your customer experience without losing the personal touch.

This would speak to only a certain audience who’s looking for that. Other businesses don’t worry about the personal touch. It’s more a cheaper or faster solution that they want to be known for.

Part of building your credibility is to then share your expertise through content, where you ‘show’ rather than ‘tell’. Everyone can say they are the best digital transformation specialists but without proof in one way or another, it’ll be hard to sustain.

This is where content creation comes in, in one way or another. It might be trough a blog, including LinkedIn articles, so you don’t even need a website to start with, through regular social media updates and short-form posts, videos, podcasts, either as host or as guest but also by speaking at local industry events, speaking up in internal meetings, hosting your own lunch & learn sessions for your company or your private workshops on weekends.

This however, is part of the final piece to the Trusted Authority framework, part 3, where we discuss the tools and tactics to not only get in front of the audience through visibility but also through intentional promotion of your personal brand. Yes, without sounding like a douchebag because no one wants to be THAT person, right?

With that said, thank you for listening and I’ll be with you for the final part soon!