How Can I Monetize My Skills and Expertise?

Are you the one people always call for advice on a certain subject? The truth is when you are an expert in your field; people value your knowledge and opinion. The question is how will you monetize your expertise and create multiple streams of income.

Online courses, seminars, workshops and keynote speeches are some of the many way to create income streams. The goal is to create ways that allow you to be recognized for the things you are good at while you teach your audiences new skills. Your knowledge is why your friends and family trust you, so spend some time creating your offerings.

Being knowledgeable is one thing; knowing how to utilize, package and monetize that knowledge is another thing. Choosing the right strategy to diversify your skills. Then spend time in discovery and experimentation until you get it just right. By all means, don’t forget personality is as much science as art.

Monetize Your Expertise

Here are a few steps to help you strategically monetize your expertise in a profitable way.

1.    Audit Your Experience

Monetizing your skills and expertise goes beyond knowing your expertise or your field. It involves knowing yourself. You must know your strengths and how it compliments your expertise. As such, audit your experience. What skills do you possess? How will those skills solve other people’s problems?

The key to this step is to realize what you have in terms of skill and talent. Are you an accountant with great organization skills? Or are you a good marketer with super sales techniques? Perhaps you are a successful entrepreneur who is excellent at public speaking. You are an expert already, so how will you present that expertise? After you audit your skills and knowledge, combine what you have into a perfect and easy-to-consume product(s).

2. Who is your Target Market?

Before deciding what to do with your skill and expertise, you have to closely analyze your target audience. While you want to create a product from your talent and knowledge, you also want to create a product that your customers would appreciate. 

You have to figure out those who need your expertise and focus your energy on producing for them and selling them. 

For example, a writer can write any type of content, but if his target audience wants useful information and wants it fast, then a blog post would be most convenient.

Figuring out who your target market is would help you create the perfect product and content. It would also help you market yourself and your business strategically.

It is unwise to market an online class to busy execs. Consultancy or short, summarized content would be more suitable for their needs and schedule.

3. Creating your product

After analyzing yourself and the market, you are finally set to produce value. At the core of monetizing your expertise is creating value. People would pay for the amount you add to their lives and business.

Other than being conscious of your strengths and taste in the market, you must also ensure that your service or content offers value. 

A book, online course, or keynote speech, whatever you are selling, must change your customer’s life for the better. If it isn’t doing this, then your product is useless, and you have to go back to the drawing board.

4. Marketing

Irrespective of what your monetization strategy is, marketing plays a significant role in the level of your success. You must be able to convince your audience of your skill and the value of your product.

All marketing avenues are fair game, from online ads to free videos on YouTube and publicizing your portfolio. The key is to establish yourself as an authority and back it up with quality.

People wouldn’t buy anything you are selling until they are convinced that it is valuable. It is your job to do the convincing and no one else’s.

Conclusion

The process of monetizing your expertise is very technical and intentional. You can’t just wing it and hope for the best. Without adequate planning and in-depth analysis of yourself and the market, failure is a very likely outcome.

To get the best value out of your expertise, you have to offer the best value possible. With in-depth planning and execution, you can create multiple channels to monetize your skill and expertise with ease and convenience.