As an expert, you package and sell your expertise in a number of ways.
Maybe you freelance or run an agency. Maybe you’re a fractional CXO or advisor. Or maybe you dabble in selling digital courses and online training.
All of these things require varying degrees of expertise.
But what if you couldn’t use your hands? What if you could only advise, teach, train, and lead your clients?
Would people pay for access to your knowledge if you didn’t actually do the work for them? Would your clients value your expertise independent of your hands?
This is the heart of what an expertise business means.
An expertise business is less about providing a service and more about transferring your knowledge and insights to your clients.
And sure, advisory work (for example) is a form of service. You are directly involved and you need to apply your personal time and energy to your clients’ challenges.
But the intent is to transfer your knowledge and facilitate outcomes more than it is about doing a thing for them.
It’s a subtle difference.
The greater your expertise, the less labour-intensive and more scalable your offers can be.
Instead of doing everything for a client, the expertise model involves teaching, leading, and facilitating clients toward a desired outcome.
You bring templates, training, and processes they can follow. You bring people who can help with the tactical implementation when needed. You provide oversight and downside protection.
You provide peace of mind and just-in-time knowledge. You offer experience, insight, and most of all, your expertise.
Who and what you know is critical to being successful at this model.
Because you’re not actually doing the implementation directly, your expertise has to be valued in and of itself.
- Your documented knowledge allows you to replace your hands with recorded training, templates, and supporting resources.
- Your professional network allows you to make introductions when needed to help your client implement or achieve another goal in their business.
- Your experience within a specific domain gives you insights and ideas nobody else can come up with.
- You’re a pattern matcher and have seen a million ways to solve the same problem.
And as a result, your value comes from what’s in your brain, not what your hands actually do.
Why is this model valuable?
When you get out of selling your hands and begin selling your head, you free up a ton of time and energy.
Because of its low labour intensity, you have more time to learn or do other things. It’s a highly leveraged business model.
It’s also highly rewarding for you personally and can be a great experience for your clients if you do it right.
And the best part is, you become known in your industry. People refer work to you. Your experience and reputation compound and more opportunities flow to you.
You become a magnet.
So how do you become an expert?
You expose yourself to similar problems over and over again.
You learn how to get results efficiently and consistently. You tighten up your area of focus enough that you become a clearly better alternative to less specialized options—whether by niching down, solving a more specific problem(s), or both.
Eventually, you’re able to bring solutions to your clients’ challenges in ways others can’t.
It’s not about “more blog posts” or “spending more money on xyz”. It becomes about knowing the 80/20 of the 80/20 needed to get a job done.
How do you get the expertise model off the ground?
Building an expertise business takes time. There are no shortcuts.
But there is something to remember: if you can help people achieve their goals, you have a valuable form of expertise.
Start where you are. Share or sell your templates. Document your processes. Record trainings and keep them in a place you can point your clients to when they ask questions.
Eventually, you’ll create efficiencies in your work. You’ll begin to create assets you can repurpose for a long time. If nothing else, you’ll serve your clients better.
And maybe one day, your expertise will be working for you 24/7—creating results for your clients at scale.
Now that’s worth aiming for.
P.S. Need help with building your own expertise business? You’ll love the membership.