Do people believe you’re an authority in your space? Are you an authority in business in general? Chances are, if you’re reading this, you’ve looked around in your industry and come to the uncomfortable realization that no one knows who you are.
The longer you’ve been working in an industry, the harder that hits. Fact is, the names on everyone’s lips are the top experts or thought leaders – people like you that may be very good at the work itself don’t often qualify.
Leaving aside the idea that it’s luck (we can’t control for luck, therefore it doesn’t have a bearing on our actions), how do you start making your mark and getting the attention you crave for your business?
I had a little sit down with the Earth Elementals and this is what they had to say on the matter.
Rule #1 – Show up
If you want to be known as an expert or a leader, you need to show up as one. This can mean producing content and that’s usually what people are talking about when this topic comes up. It goes deeper.
Let’s say you have a website right now. There are markers of a professional business that a website can display to the world, and there are markers of a hobby business that no one should take seriously that it can also communicate. Do you have your legal in order? Is your business registered? Have you been featured anywhere? Do you have all the normal pages and information displayed clearly and concisely? Does your website embarrass you?
Getting your ducks in a row for your business, website, newsletter system, anything customer facing, and any processes you run through to fulfill customer orders will go a LONG way to building your authority. People can smell quality.
Rule #2 – Know your stuff
Presumably you’ve been working in your trade or skillset for a long enough time to be competent. If someone asked you about a particular of the work you do then you’d be able to answer accurately and perhaps even eloquently.
You already know your stuff.
Are you communicating that to the world?
Thinking about what your clients and customers need to know and writing, speaking, making video addressing those concerns establishes you as an expert. Over time it can establish you as a top expert. When you build on the information you provide you’re creating a body of work that people can then associate with you.
It’s essential that you’re doing this in some fashion on your own platform (be that your website, channel, or podcast). It’s also helpful to do this on other people’s platforms as a guest. Bringing your knowledge to bear in the service of others is our second way to build authority.
Rule #3 – Consistently Act
Now look, I get it. If you’re anything like me you just groaned at the use of the C word.
At the time of writing, I’m about two weeks away from an ADHD diagnosis and for a chunk of my life I was convinced that I had this weird undiscovered allergy to such things as “Routine”, “Schedule”, and “Checklist”.
As it turns out, I just hadn’t built myself a system that works. Thanks to Briar Harvey, a dear friend and one of my favourite people, I discovered how to create a system for myself that I’d follow and tweak forever more. This is my 6th month in a row of using it and not only do I not feel stifled but its grown with me. If you struggle with routine, definitely go nudge her for some help.
That aside, this rule is about consistently doing the work from the first two rules. You can’t just show up once and expect endless applause. You also can’t just demonstrate knowledge once and expect it to deliver a platform for the rest of time. The most successful people (and you don’t really see most of this happening) have a process for doing both of those things over and over and over again.