Position Yourself as an Expert

Creative derivative work by Tara Wilkins based on this original illustration.

I want to share a story with you I heard while attending a (really awesome) social media seminar recently. It's an amazing story about a guy who got laid off of his job and started a blog. It's a story about a guy named Pat Flynn.

Pat Flynn is just a regular dude like you and me. He got laid off of his job one day and thought he was totally screwed, so he decided to put in serious effort into developing his blog into something worthwhile that would generate income. He put in affiliate links, blogged regularly and offered tips to people in his niche with a little bit of reaction here and there. After some time blogging, one of his friends suggested he write an E-Book.

So he obliged. He put a lot of work into the book, studying at the library and putting documents together. Then he published the book on his blog. Immediately people started purchasing the book and in the first month alone, Pat made $8,000 off of E-Book sales. Pat's blog readers started viewing him as an expert in his field and soon enough, his affiliate links started generating income too. At the end of the year, Pat ended up pulling in $203, 219.04 off his blog. Isn't that NUTS!?!! I was blown away when I heard that part.

Pat actually posts his monthly income on his blog: Smart Passive Income and literally breaks it down so you can see where all of the money is coming in (and how much he's spending). It's super inspiring and awesome . I highly encourage you to check it out.

The reason I wanted to share that story is because when I heard it, something clicked. I realized how much impact we can have on our blogs and/or our businesses if we just start strategically positioning ourselves as experts. I mean really, let's break it down: An expert by definition is a person "who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area."
Any of us can do it with some confidence, endurance and A LOT of hard work and dedication!

Don't you think?!