Episode 2: Why Are You Sharing Your Knowledge, But Don't Have a Book?

 

You're smart, capable, efficient, dependable, and full of invaluable data. I know you are, because people keep reaching out to you - needing your help in a variety of ways. 

Maybe it's unofficially done: being approached (or poached) by someone looking over your cubicle, into your doorway, or awkwardly into your eyes while you're trying to eat your lunch. Maybe it's officially handled: being invited to speak at conferences, workshops, training meetings, or church conventions. Either way, the result and implications are the same - you are needed for your expertise and knowledge. So why are you giving it away without having a book that supports and streamlines all of this information?

If you're a professional speaker, you're going to be approached after your presentation with questions, demands or polite requests for clarification. An easy way to handled those requests is to refer people to the book that provides more information than a ten-minute conversation or thirty-minute speech could. 

If you're the person people like to pump for information and data in sneaky or subversive ways - the next time they have a question, you could simply say "Well, all of this information is available in my book. Here's the link to purchase it."

On a more positive note, though: when people are impressed by the information you've already shared with them - to the point where they want more - they actually wish you had a book they could purchase. This is a common phenomena experienced by preachers, motivational speakers, and thought leaders. 

Additionally, if you're being hired to speak in a variety of contexts (or hoping to be soon), you become more marketable and beneficial when your speaking engagement comes with the highlight of you signing books that people can purchase, or course materials that further justify the fee. 

So, next time you find yourself being pulled at or invited in because of specific things you have so much knowledge about - go ahead and write it down, so you can start the first step to turning your expertise into a book. It may be something as simple as a PDF or ebook that you offer in your email signature or website pop-up. Or something as dynamic as an entire library of content that records your expert advice while allowing you to be reiumbursed further for sharing it with others. 

You're smart, capable, efficient, dependable, and full of invaluable data. Act like it and write that book.