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I heard a great quote the other day. “Even a second grader looks like an expert to a first grader.” It is so true. You are an expert to someone.
If you are trying to teach, coach or consult others, determine what you know that the beginner or person a few steps behind you might not know.
EDGE
My son is a Boy Scout. In the scouting journey, the boys develop into young men mentoring others. When it comes to Scout skills, the older boys are the experts only because they have been there and done that.
The boys are required to teach younger boys in the troop using the EDGE Method.
The EDGE Method is a four step process for teaching any skill.
The E is Explain. The D is Demonstrate. The G is Guide. The last E is Enable.
Explain
The first E is Explain. Explain the skill and what you will be doing. Describe the steps involved. Ensure they understand by asking questions.
Demonstrate
Next, demonstrate the steps using the actual materials. Describe what you are doing. This is where you show them how to do the skill by giving examples.
Guide
The third step is letting them practice the skill. Here, you guide and coach them as they try to do it themselves. Provide feedback along the way. This step is the most time-consuming, because they will fail a few times until they get it right.
Enable
Finally, you let them fly on their own. The last E is Enable. You enable them by letting them do the skill themselves without any participation from you.
The boys use this method to teach many skills. By doing so, they look like experts. They also learn the skill better, because they are going through the steps themselves multiple times.
FAST FOOD
Once when I was grabbing a quick bite to eat at the local fast food restaurant, I was reminded we are all an expert at something to someone.
After ordering my food, I pulled up to the drive thru window of the fast food restaurant to pay. My total came to $4.38. I handed the kid in the window $5.38. The amount completely puzzled him.
He looked at the currency for quite some time. I was beginning to think he didn’t realize I needed change. After what seemed like two minutes, he looked around for his manager.
When he realized his manager was helping another customer, he looked back at the money trying to devise a plan B.
The kid finally stuck his head into the window and asked, “Are you good at math?”
I said, “The total was $4.38, right?” He replied with, “Yeah.” I said, “You owe me a dollar.”
“Oh, that’s what I thought,” he replied with relief as he ducked to the register to retrieve my dollar.
At that point, I realized we are all an expert to somebody. Even people who do not normally deal in American currency could probably guess that $5.38 minus $4.38 equals $1. To this kid, I looked like a genius.
You may not feel you are an expert in your niche, because you don’t have the experience or success equal to others. Just realize you have more experience than the beginner. You are always a few steps ahead of someone else.
If you think about where you were two years ago, you are much more experienced than a person in that position now. Help those folks make the two-year journey to get to the point where you are now.
HOW TO BECOME AN EXPERT
There are 3 Ways To Become An Expert In Your field.
THE RESULTS EXPERT
Been there and done that. That is the results expert.
I have been in radio for 30 years. My podcast is 6-years-old. The experience is there.
If you have been doing something in your niche for any length of time, you can be an expert to someone with less experience than you.
THE RESEARCH EXPERT
Study a topic enough and you can be an expert.
To be an expert, you simply need to know more than the average person on a given subject. If people are coming to you for answers on a topic, chances are you have more knowledge than the average person.
If you read three books on any given subject, you are probably an expert on that subject using this definition.
John Lee Dumasbecame an expert on millionaires not by living the life of a millionaire. He did it by interviewing fantastic entrepreneurs, most of whom were millionaires.
Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, wasn’t rich when he started writing the book. He simply interviewed many rich people and became an expert.
Study a topic enough and you can become a research expert.
THE ROLE MODEL
People do business with those they know, like and trust … even if we don’t know anything about the niche.
Look at Oprah’s Book Club. What does Oprah know about great prose? Probably not as much as people who spent years earning a Masters Degree in Literature and are now literary critics and scholars.
However, Oprah’s Book Club was incredibly successful. Fordham University marketing professor Al Greco estimatedthat sales of “Oprah editions” of the 70 titles in her book club total about 55 million copies as of 2011.
In 2004, Leo Tolstoy’s tragic 19th-century love story, Anna Karenina, hit No. 1 on USA TODAY’s Best-Selling Books list after Winfrey embraced it. It was published as a book in 1878.
Trust will go a long way.
YOU’RE THE EXPERT
If you have been in your field for any length of time, there will always be somebody with less experience than you. Find those people, and help them succeed.
You may not be number one in the field. That doesn’t matter. You can always be seen as an expert in the eyes of someone at some point. You simply need to find them. Then, help them in your expert sort of way. Who knows, maybe you are good at math.
I’d love to help you with your podcast. E-mail any questions or comments you might have to Coach@PodcastTalentCoach.com.
You can also find other tools including worksheets, a workbook and videos to help you create great content at www.PodcastTalentCoach.com.
Let’s turn your information into engaging entertainment.