One of the biggest lessons that I had to learn as a business owner is that I am an expert. This by all means does not mean I know everything about my field, far from it, but I know more than the average person, thus, I am an expert. As dictionary.com puts it, an expert is “a person who has special skill or knowledge in some particular field”. It’s not saying I know everything just that I have skill and knowledge.
Okay so sure, I’m an expert. So what? What does that get me and why is that important? A couple of reasons. If I tell someone I’m an expert at what I do, or if someone refers me to someone they know as an expert at what I do, it holds some weight. People naturally put more faith in an expert versus someone that just does a task. It can give you some natural credibility in their eyes.
I would have to say though that the reason that I found being deemed an expert to be such a powerful thing is what it did to my mentality as a business owner and professional. Once I had enough people tell me that I truly was an expert at what I do and that I should claim it personally, I had so much more confidence. I now had a right to step up at networking events and speak with conviction about what I do, because I really did know what I was talking about. I also found after the step of having some people tell me I was an expert the confidence became visible, people started to also tell me that they could see the confidence.
Think about what you do professionally. What about your job do you love and really thrive on? If you really love it then you’re probably also good at it, or worded differently, you’re skilled at it and you have knowledge about it. Remembering our definition above that means YOU are an expert. So I challenge you: CLAIM IT! Own the fact that you’re an expert, now don’t let it get to your head in an “I’m better than you” sort of way, but have confidence in it as a “I can help you with it” type of thing. If you claim your “expert-ness” you will see your confidence grow!