How to Become an Expert in Your Field

Become an Expert in Your Field

Do you want to advance your career, or are you just passionate about an industry or issue? Becoming an expert, so to say, will create a powerful platform for your career. And you don't have to pursue the area of your day job--you can expand your horizons in anything! Here are some ways to advance your knowledge and platform--for the purpose of advancing your career!

Instructions

1. • 1
     

     Put in your time. Obviously, you will not be an expert at anything, or come close to it, if you do not have some real-world experience. So if you are a new graduate, put a few years into your career and see if you like where you are headed.
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     Network with others. Experts always have a story to share and get a feel for issues in their industry by connecting with others. So by networking, I mean that you should reach out to others without any known motive. If you are researching a book you will meet others in your field that have something important to say, but it is likely that publishers will want a foundation first. So take time and build up your experience first before you start pushing the expert thing.
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     Continue your education. Get ahead by staying on top of trends. Even if you are not signing up for courses, you can stay on top of your industry by combing industry websites and subscribing to trade publications.
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     Write a book. Nowadays, it's not so hard to publish a book due to the power of self-publishing. No matter how you publish, once you have enough to say, or have conducted enough research on a topic, you can easily compile a book. This isn't easy at all, but it does establish a great foundation for you to build your career specializing in one area.
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     Market yourself and promote yourself. Once you have a book, you can seek out the opportunity to speak and write about your topic. You can also use PR sources to stay on top of leads in which people want to speak to people in your area of specialty. You may also want to create a website that can serve as a hub for speaking engagements, press clippings, articles you write and other updated material.
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     Don't use the term "expert." It's nice to be referred to as an expert in something by others, but if you push this too much to promote yourself you can sound cocky and open yourself up to more people scrutinizing your credentials. Instead, you can use the word "specialist" if you need to designate a title.