What the heck is an expert?

As you may know, I launched The Creator MBA earlier this year. My goal was to share everything I've learned about building a business, so other people could avoid the mistakes I made, and learn the lessons I did in hours (rather than years).

Before I outlined my course material, I surveyed my interest list to find out what challenges people hoped the course would help them overcome. And the survey results were pretty interesting.

A big percentage of responses talked about not “feeling expert enough” to start talking about a topic online, or to start building a business.

People were eager but holding back — waiting for the expertise to arrive (I guess?).

One person said he was waiting to be a “world-class expert” before putting his business idea out  into the world. And another person thought she needed a certification to be taken seriously.

Fascinating, I thought. And completely untrue.

You don't need to be the world's foremost authority to start building your online business.

You just need to be a few steps ahead of the people you're helping.

And this is where the concept of the Minimum Viable Expert comes in.

The Problem With Waiting To Be An Expert

Waiting until you “feel like an expert” is an easy way to never get started.

And while we’re at it, what the heck is an expert anyway?

People I’ve paid good money to (web designers, conversion writers, SEO people) don’t have a fancy title or a piece of paper that declares them fantastic. They’re just smart people who had skills and knowledge I needed and was willing to pay for.

And if you ask me, a glowing personal reference or a powerful testimonial is way more compelling than a fancy certification or a degree. I hope you’ll consider that when you’re feeling under-confident about your “expertise”.

The fact is, this online game is moving fast. And while you're waiting to feel perfectly ready, other people are getting out there, learning as they go — building audiences, and making sales. And you can too.

Because expertise is relative.

If you know more than your target audience about a specific topic, you have valuable knowledge to pass along. And when you actually start sharing that knowledge and helping other people, that experience of sharing deepens your expertise.

So how do you become a Minimum Viable Expert?

Let's dive into a simple, 30-day plan.

The Strategy

Identify Your Niche Sweet Spot

To start, map out your interests, skills, and experiences.

Create a Venn diagram with three circles: "What I'm good at," "What I enjoy," and "What people will pay for." Write down the knowledge or skills you have in each circle and focus on the areas of overlap. Think about your past jobs, hobbies, life experiences, and challenges you've personally overcome.

For example, I have a friend who loves cooking, has experience managing small teams, and lost fifty pounds through healthy eating. Her sweet spot is "Meal planning and prep for busy professionals trying to lose weight."

Define Your Customer

Once you’ve identified your specific area of competence, it’s time to figure out who you're a few steps ahead of. These are the folks who will benefit the most from your knowledge and skills.

Create a detailed buyer persona for your ideal customer, and be specific. Write down everything you can think of, and slowly whittle down characteristics until you’re left with your perfect buyer.

Then go on social media (LinkedIn is probably the easiest), and hunt for conversations that are already happening.

If you can identify some people that look like your perfect customer, ask them if you can interview them in exchange for some free consulting or help. Your goal is to understand their concerns and pain points, and the language they use to talk about those things.

Create A 7-day Learning Sprint

Once you’ve defined your ideal customer, choose a few areas in your niche to focus on.

For example, my friend (the meal planner) focuses on:

1. Nutrition science for weight loss
2. Efficient meal prep techniques
3. Time management for busy professionals
4. Psychology of habit formation

For each area, start studying — read, listen to podcasts, watch YouTube videos, etc. Take notes, and look for ways to apply what you learn to your specific audience.

My meal planner friend immerses herself in nutrition books, listens to the "Half Size Me" podcast, and watches TED talks on productivity and habit formation.

A word of caution about your learning sprints — this kind of stuff can become procrastination. So limit this to one week, and move on.

Start Creating Content

When it comes to content creation, I don't want you to wait until you feel fully prepared. That day will never come. Just start sharing what you're learning during your sprint. Get on LinkedIn, X, Instagram or whatever platform your audience hangs out on.

Here are some content ideas you can share right away:

• A personal story
• An observation
• A contrarian take
• A list of tools/learnings
• A prediction about the future
• A comparison (x vs. y)

Create content and publish it. Analyze what works and what doesn’t. And do more of the good stuff.

Engage With Niche Communities

Once you immerse yourself in a topic, you’ll start to find places where your ideal customers hang out. Join online communities, and start participating. I’m a member of several communities like Starter Story, The Hudson Valley Entrepreneurs Group, The Kajabi Heroes Group, and others.

Get in there, answer questions, share your experiences, and connect with interesting people. Your goal is to broaden your network and get a deeper understanding of your customer needs.

Collaborate

When your content starts getting traction and your network starts growing, collaboration is a natural next step.

Reach out to creators in adjacent niches. Suggest a collaboration — joint livestreams, podcast interviews, or co-created content. If you do this well, your audience will start growing even faster. If you are pay attention, you’ll notice lots of top creators do this effectively on LinkedIn.

And since everyone wants to grow, it’s relatively easy to be the catalyst for these types of collaborations. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how many folks will gladly participate in a mutually beneficial project. Use good judgement about appropriate requests or suggestions, and then don’t be shy.

Your Results

Follow this game plan for thirty days, and you’ll:

• Define and deepen your knowledge in your niche
• Create content that speaks to your ideal customer
• Broaden your network
• And clarify your customer’s needs

And you'll get some momentum! You'll be out there — taking action and sharing your knowledge, instead of waiting on the sidelines.

And one last thing. I want you to keep this front of mind — Everyone you view as an expert was a beginner once upon a time. They just started and kept learning along the way. And they kept going.

That’s something you can do too.

Why not you?

Now it’s time to start building your Venn diagram. It’s the seed that will grow into your Minimum Viable Expertise.

And that's all for this week. Good luck out there!

P.S. When you’re ready to dive into more strategies for building and monetizing your expertise, check out The Creator MBA. It's packed with strategies and tactics to help you build a profitable online business, even if you're just getting started.