Every single day I see a new one, it seems that it has become very popular to call ones self an expert on various topics. People with little skill or experience can write a book or start a business and declare themselves experts. Most popular are;
I am a Social Media Expert – Really? Who Says? What makes you the expert? People from all walks of life have decided to jump on this band wagon. My mother, age 72 has decided that she is a social media expert. Heck why not, she uses Facebook, and has for about 6 months, she tells all her friends how to use it, when is the best time of day to use it, why it’s important to use it, and on and on. Well all things considered she has as much experience as many out there calling themselves an expert.
People have decided that they can become professional speakers on the topic of Social Media, they can write books about it, blog about it, and get jobs with companies to manage their social media campaigns. Reality is, they can because their clients are in a sea of confusion about the topic, and they cannot tell the difference between the real experts and the wanna be expert.
Next post popular I am an Expert category goes to the “Networking Expert” – Really? Who Says? They do of course. People think that because they gather cards, build databases and attend events they are networking experts. There are hundreds upon thousands of books, blogs, podcast, websites, organizations and speakers on the topic of “Networking” most of them just repeating the same advice over and over. Anybody can be a “Networking Expert” all they have to do is read books, go to networking groups and regurgitate the material.
These are the two topics that are generating the most authors, speakers, and experts. Not that most of them are really that skilled or offer up any new material, it is just more crap in the cesspool of crap.
Don’t get me wrong there are experts out there, those who have really created a name for themselves, who are doing the work and education it takes to be considered an expert, in his book “Outliers” Gladwell put forth some conventional wisdom; namely that takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in anything, and I question that.
Before you hire one of these experts there are some things you might want to ask them, some hard questions. Make them show you some testimonials, a client list and ask them, what makes them an expert. If their prices seem really cheap, that can be a clue, they are not making money! Where did they get their expertise? How many hours have they invested in becoming an expert? Make them show you their success! There are really not that many experts out there, and the ones who are calling themselves that, don’t have the credentials to back it up, and have very little in the way of new information and concepts.
Use caution when hiring experts in these fields, ask hard questions, there are experts out there, people who are making a living doing it, who have invested the hours, the time and they develop new successful ways of doing things.
Remember, anyone with a book can call themselves and expert, and self publishing has created a lot of experts!
How many clients do you have who have hired you based on your expertise?
