Concept #5 provides a very valuable hint
about what it takes to be an expert. Passion. But there?s another force
almost as powerful in the perception of your targets. It?s called Pity. As
in, ?That guy?s so good he?s putting his life on the line!? The sub-text is,
?If that?s what it takes to be an expert, I?ll pay him to do it.
You see, experts do things that none of the
rest of us really have the balls to do. (My apologies to the women out there,
but I?m not too expert at finding better analogies than what I was taught in
Brooklyn.) In our minds, they see things in the here and now that we couldn?t
even imagine under the influence of 42,000 micrograms of Orange Sunshine. As
such, experts are the only ones qualified to take on these huge projects.
Who else but an expert would do something so humongous? And dangerous, too.
The expert?s job has more to do with
attitude than it has to do with almost anything else. The most important
part of that attitude is that you don?t look like you have an attitude.
Yes, I know, that?s what you do now and
nobody respects you as an expert, let alone for anything at all. You?re
obviously doing it wrong. Now, you?d think I?d tell you how it works. I
can?t. You have to figure it out yourself and make mistakes. What? Do you
possibly think I?m going to do everything for you?
Try this: Next time you go into a Starbucks
(TM, probably) don?t leave until you?ve managed to mention (something like)
this to the Barista, after you receive the most exotic roast they
have: ?I used to prefer this roast when grown at 11,000 feet. This couldn?t
have been grown at more than maybe ten-five at the most, and I love it!?
If the Barista says anything to you
beginning with or leading up to the words ?Are you?? you?ve blown it. If the
Barista says anything at all to you, you?ve blown it. People know an expert
when they come across one and usually feel too inadequate to even follow
through on a conversation, unless of course they are somewhat expert
themselves in which case you should get out of the coffee shop as quietly
and quickly as possible.
Go from coffee shop to coffee shop until
your target Barista gets you another cup of coffee of a different roast,
on the house, hands it to you and asks your opinion. When you can take a
sip of that coffee and simply reply, ?I like it? or, ?Not my preference.?
And then drop it completely without the need to explain yourself, and
the Barista asks you no more questions, then you have attained the attitude
of an expert.