We live in a society here in the USA where people often help each other with challenges they have when learning a new topic, skill or process. Chances are that “You Get Help” on occasion from experts who work in areas you might not be as qualified in, but at the same time, since you have expertise yourself, it is likely you work as a consultant or instructor as well. They point is that you get help and you give help as well.
You may know from our newsletter that we have been engaged with putting together a step by step course on how to get known as an expert. Being known as an expert take marketing. Even if you are the best expert in your field of expertise, without promoting yourself or networking, you may not get the consultancies or teaching gigs that you deserve.
And the concept of marketing can take on a variety of different forms that you may not immediately think of it as being marketing and yet it is. For example, teaching an online workshop is considered marketing. Anything and everything you do is considered a form of promotion if it gets you more prospects, customers and clients.
For most of us, we do not like promoting ourselves. Sometimes it feels like we are bragging or somehow being not authentic. In truth, if you do not tell them, they do not know. It really is as simple as that. And in our ever growing “You Get Help, You Give Help” document and work-in-progress, we are at the step “Become Official Educator.”
Of course whether or not you decide to do this or not is entirely up to you. You may have already established yourself as a consultant, instructor, lecturer and teacher, in which case this will not be as useful to you. But if you are someone who has a lot of knowledge and experience in an area, you might find this useful.
How do you become an official educator? The first step is to decide to do so. The next step would be to book some speaking engagements. If you have never done a lecture or taught a workshop, you might consider getting some experience before promoting yourself as an educator.
Whether or not you plan to charge or not, you still need to market yourself. If you already have a workshop that’s great, if this website frames you as being an educator, even better. Achieving the right results involves being focused on excellence and doing right by the customer what you would like to receive.
If you do not have a website, not to worry. You might consider getting one of the many web builders out there, which means that you are able to easily create and maintain your website without help from a web designer or other professional. But if you do not want to pay the monthly fee of having this kind of service, you can start a website for free. Most web builders have a free offer where although the domain name has both your and their name, to start off this is not a bad solution.
Of course it is better if you have a professional site that conveys your expertise and has only one domain name, such as your own name. But you need to start somewhere so the point is to start. In the old days there was a lot of sales calls going on. This still occurs but not as intensely as before. One of the reasons for this is that there is a new way to do sales.
The new method for booking yourself can be using emails. This does not always work because people get spammed so often these days. But if you have an account using your own name or that of your company, as well as follow best practices, email can work fine. First, you need to include in the subject line something straight forward and simple.
For example, if you are looking to get a booking at an educational entity that relates in some way to your expertise, you can let the person you are sending the email to know in the subject line that you are a very qualified expert in a field that relates to what they teach. Especially if it is recent news, you can subtly get the word out that you have won an award.
And the content of your emails itself needs to be short, sweet and sincere. If you are looking for a paid gig, you will be more successful if you have a professional website because your emails can be from your domain name. Such as yourname@yourwebsitename.com. If you are an expert but have not taught a lot, you can more easily go with the no domain name website.
In your email you can then let the reader know that despite you have a great deal of experience in your area of expertise that could be useful to them. But also do not hesitate to let them know that you are moving into the educational realm and therefore are seeking opportunities to teach. This method truly works if done correctly and with sincerity and professionalism.
And of course, in your email you can provide the reader with a link to your professional or basic website or even to your details on a site where professionals list themselves. Doing some of these initial freebies and be fun, and before you know it you will become quite comfortable with being an educator.
Also, always be sure to ask for a letter from the individual who booked you saying how pleased they were with your presentation. This will be useful in the future, especially if you have three or four such letters. There is nothing quite so impactful than testimonials. So now it is up to you to “Become Official Educator.”