Halloween’s coming so let’s talk about this insidious curse.

You are the expert so you should be the best at marketing you, right?

You should know that anytime anyone ends a sentence in “right?” the answer is “Not Right”.   If you are truly an expert in anything, you really can’t see the forest through the trees.  The disheartening part is the more of an expert you become, the worse “The Curse” becomes.

I see this all of the time.  A professional expands their technical knowledge or hones their skills to a razors edge.  That professional then loses the capability to connect their value in any way to a potential or current client. I have seen very few experts able  to improve their skills in their chosen field while still improving their marketing.

Causes of The Curse of the Expert

The things that make you an efficient professional also cause “The Curse”.

Lingo: When you are an expert you have developed lingo you do not even know it lingo.

Easy to You Does Not Seem Important to Market

When you are an expert, what you feel is easy, is usually what is important to your clients and patients.  Sometimes what is valuable to a client is not actually in your expertise.   Where you feel your value lies in your expertise usually does not match that of your ideal clients.

Adding New, Unique Skills Does not Always Increase Perceive Value

When you improve on the margins, When you improve marginally, that is to say hone your craft in way like few others, your dilemma increases. Most of the other sources of information, most on the web, do not value that marginal improvement because they have not made it.

So how do you lift “The Curse of the Expert?”

 First you must delve deeper into understanding “The Curse of the Expert”. Accept it. Even if you were to go out and hire someone to help you with marketing, you should be able to find someone that also can walk the tightrope between Expertise and Explanation. 

Hi. I am Ian, and I am an Expert.

I have struggled with this dilemma and I do this for others everyday. If you want to set yourself apart, you must, absolutely must, accept you have “The Curse of the Expert” and the condition will never be cured, just treated.

Next, start listening to yourself.  Are you able to easily explain and connect with others not in your field your values as an expert? Now you are on the road to recovery.