Experts Use Ten Simple Concepts: #9, The Power of Volume

The difference between being a successful expert and an expert without a following is like the difference between having a piano fall on your head and a tree falling in the forest with no one there to witness it. I?m not quite sure how these two tie in, but I always wanted to use that phrase about the tree.

It really doesn?t matter. I?m gambling that because I am the expert and you want to be one (AKA, I got what you want), in order to prove to yourself that you?re my equal, you?ll bust your butt to make those two concepts fit within the context of the topic of gaining success as an expert. Once you figure it all out, you?ll brag about how you?re cooler than me and, of course, I?ll still get all the credit.

Why?

Because, Hey! Only an expert with years of accumulated wisdom could present you a challenge so bold that you?d embrace it until, stretching yourself way beyond your perceived limits, you?ll come up with an answer that benefits us all.

You?d think, with an introduction like this Concept 9 would be ?Get Everyone Else To Do the Work For You.? But, it?s not. The reason it?s not is because any dummy knows this is the Platinum Rule. If you don?t automatically understand and embrace this concept in all aspects of your life, you have absolutely no reason to think you could even come close to being an expert in anything!

No, Concept #9 is that successful experts recognize the mathematical formula Volume = Expertise!. And of course, its corollary, the thicker the sandwich, the more tempting to bite. Actually, I?m not sure if that?s a real corollary or not, but, hey?it' my guess, if it?s used often enough in this context, it will be known as ?Corollary #1 to Concept #9 of Being an Expert.?

And that?s my point: Volume speaks volumes. The more you hear it, the more it becomes true. And, just like so many other of the koan-ish concepts I?ve been presenting you, volume has multiple aspects, so volume means amplitude, as well.

Take a quick peek (if you can stomach it) at such so-called talk shows as Crossfire and the like. Experts all. How do we know? They are the first to tell us. Over and over again. And their points are made in direct proportion to their insistence on them. The unit of measurement is decibels.

As consumers, because, really, when you look at it from afar, that?s the sum total of who Americans have become as human beings, we have been trained that the more we are exposed to a name or concept ? through any combination of repetitive or intense exposure -- the more we embrace it as fact. Think ?Operation Iraqi Freedom.? Does it really matter what the Baghdad residents think? Of course not, they?re not the experts!

For the sake of transparency, I am speaking in terms of being an expert in the American market because, let?s face it, we?ve got the buying power, there really is nothing worth anything West of Hawaii and East of Montauk Point, and I don?t speak Chinese.

There are so many services on the internet where you can get your name on a by-line, it?s ridiculous. By using a tried and true concept of marketing, you can get a phenomenal amount of exposure without having to work very hard.

An axiom of marketing is that the potential consumer usually makes the buying decision within the first fifteen or so seconds. From that point on, they spend about 90% of their ?consideration time? rationalizing to themselves what a great choice they made.

The strategic gem this leads to is this: Forget content; focus on titles.

There?s tons of literature ? both on and off the internet ? that teach you how to write good titles. That?s what catches your eye on Google. Besides, by the time you?ve gone through pages and pages of references, you?ll be too bushed to actually read something ? that?s for the experts. But you will remember that title and the name that goes with it.

Get down to it. It?s the same basic concept that what really smart parents know: Teach your man-children to kick.

It doesn?t matter how many boys you have, teach them all to kick from the time they?re two years old. Like everything else in life, it?s a numbers game, but one of them is bound to get good at it. Don?t worry about the other kids, if you do this right, the kicker will support all of you.

When he?s ready to go to college, he?ll go on scholarship. All he has to do is go out on that field maybe a couple times a game and kick that ball over the heads of all those opposing behemoths, and then go back to his life. He gets points for the team, gets educated, gets drafted into the pros, gets rich and pulls the family along with him all without getting hurt!.

I apologize, but I will have to bill you on this one.