Part of the reason people buy your products is to take advantage of your expertise. They want to learn what you know. They want to see things from your perspective.
When you’re a product creator, you’ll ideally create many products over time. You want to make sure you’re really satisfying your audience. You want them to turn to you and your products first when they have a problem that needs solving or they need to know how to do something.
Some product creators get complacent. They figure that they can get away with what they already know. That might work at first—but it won’t work if you aren’t constantly feeding your mind.
When you feed your mind with new information and look at things from different perspectives, it helps you to be more creative and more informed. It’s obviously very important to be highly informed as a product creator. You need to know the latest information and strategies to share with your audience.
It’s a shame that some product creators don’t realize that. They don’t read books or blogs or take courses or coaching on their topic because they figure they don’t have to—they’re already at the expert level. But that’s just not how it works. If you never feed your brain with things related to your area of expertise again, you soon won’t be an expert anymore. People will turn to someone else for their information, which is bad for your business.
But something else happens as well—you’ll lose your ability to be creative when it comes to your topic. When you read things others have written or watch it or whatever, you start to get new ideas. You start to get sparks of inspiration you wouldn’t have had on your own.
You have to learn from those who know more than you do about your topic and also from those who know less than you about your topic.
Don’t assume that just because you’ve been doing this for longer, that those who are newer to the game don’t know anything or can’t teach you anything. You can get great ideas and learn new strategies, techniques, and information from those who are fresh.
A true expert is also a lifelong learner. When you’re a lifelong learner, your mind is always open to new ideas. You’ll see things in a different light—even things you’re very familiar with as an expert.
It’s time to adopt the mindset of a lifelong learner. When you do that, your products will be better, your audience will be able to relate to you better, and your business will be better overall.
Find a Mentor
One of the best things you can do to expand your body of knowledge and expertise is to find yourself a mentor. Your mentor might know they’re your mentor- or not.
This is someone you look up to. This might be a person with out of the box ideas and a way of looking at things that’s different from anyone else.
Read what this mentor has to say. Go through their products and take their courses.
If you’re lucky enough to have one-on-one interaction with your mentor, take advantage of that. Ask them questions. Have them help you get around problems or questions in your mind.
Read, Read, Read
One of the best things you can do to expand your knowledge and grow your expertise is to read. Every day, you should be reading things related to your area of expertise.
You might buy and read books. These might be books on Amazon. Keep up with the new releases. Read a chapter a day on topics that are highly related to your area of expertise as well as those areas that are more loosely related.
Find and go through products related to your area of expertise. Find some products you can read, others you can listen to, and others you can watch. Go through products that have you actively thinking about and practicing new ideas.
Find a Coach
There are some experts who believe they have nothing left to learn—that no one else can teach them anything. That’s not true!
Hire a coach who you admire or who can help you see your business and area of expertise in new ways. You don’t know what you don’t know… and other people and experts can help you wrap your mind around this.
Research and Test
You should also keep up with the latest research and developments related to your area of expertise. We are constantly discovering new things. As a product creator, you want your audience to turn to you so they can learn the latest information. Make it your mission to be on top of these things.
Also, depending on what your area of expertise is, it can be helpful for you to test things out yourself. Try out of the box ideas no one else is trying. When you do that, you can be the originator of the research- the one other experts are turning to for knowledge, research, and ideas.
Keep on Top of News and Trends
It’s so important to be on top of the latest happenings in your niche or area of expertise. Just because you’re an expert on a topic right now doesn’t mean it will stay that way forever, if you don’t pay attention to trends and new developments.
Every day, you should be looking for industry and topical news related to your area of expertise. Keep up with blogs, news sites, and social media related to your topic.
Again, people look to you as an authority as a product creator. They won’t do that for very long if you aren’t knowledgeable about what’s going on right now.
Keep up with trends and become a trend setter yourself.
Constantly Work to Develop and Expand Your Expertise
Hopefully, you love your topic and area of expertise so much that none of this seems like a chore. Enjoy learning more about your topic and keeping up with what’s going on.
If you do, it will really pay off for you. You’ll become the expert people want to turn to first. Your expertise will shine through in your products and you’ll never be hurting for new product ideas. That’s definitely going to set you apart from other experts and product creators—that’s always a great thing in business.