Make Marketing Suck Less

Michelle Mazur (00:00): In an industry where you hear, "You just need to be one step ahead of your clients," claiming your expertise is a rebellious act. When I first started my business, a well-intentioned friend advised me not to use "the doctor" in my branding because I would intimidate people, and I clearly did not listen to this piece of advice. That hard-earned expertise, my PhD in communication, plus my 25 plus years of experience is what gives me the license to do the work I do. It's what makes me excellent at my work. It's given me the ability to get my clients results. Our culture is set up to dismiss expertise as unnecessary. We can just do our own research and be our own experts. But the rebel truth is if you want real results, hire an expert. Your job as an expert business owner is to figure out how to communicate that experience, skills and knowledge to your audience and clients.

For the next five weeks we are going to read and see how we can use the 3 Word Rebellion book to communicate your expertise and what makes you unique in a way that matters to our clients. But before we can communicate it, we've got to own our expertise for ourselves. And that's exactly what I'm talking about on this episode of the podcast. Let's do this. Get ready for the Rebel Uprising Podcast, the only podcast dedicated to business owners who feel overlooked for their expertise, skills and experience. Let's claim your expertise and turn your complex ideas into unmistakable messaging that grows your business.

I am your host, Dr. Michelle Mazur, the author of the 3 Word Rebellion and your rebel truth-telling guide to building a business that gets noticed. Experts have a PR problem. Michael Lewis, the author of Moneyball and the host of the podcast Against The Rules often says this. In his podcast he makes the argument that experts suck at communicating and promoting their expertise. There's a pretty good reason why, as he explains to Sean Illing, the host of Vox Conversations.

Michael Lewis (02:38): They do suck at telling their story. This is true. As a rule. Not always, but as a rule. And part of the reason is the kind of people who sit there thinking about how to market themselves aren't the kind of people who are developing these exquisite expertises. The kind of person who develops the expertise, it's essentially kind of a local thing. It's a narrow, specialized thing and they're thinking about how to broadcast it and how to make themselves famous and all that.

Michelle Mazur (03:01): Here's the rebel truth. As business owners, we've got to figure out how to communicate and broadcast that expertise otherwise the people we can most serve with our businesses don't know we exist. We are hiding in plain sight because we don't know how to make our expertise matter to the people who are best served by it. That's why I wanted to create the 3 Word Rebellion Book Club and read the book through the lens of expertise. The goal of the book club is to help the overlooked experts amongst us to use the 3 Word Rebellion process, to communicate the value of the work in a way that's easy for people to grasp and care about.

For the next five weeks we'll be reading the book and doing the exercises together, discussing it in the 3 Word Rebellion Book Club, pop-up community on Facebook and through our live discussion calls. Come read the book and do the work with us. You can join the book club at DrMichelleMazur.com/club. Just enter your email address and we'll send you all the relevant information. So this week in the book club, we are reading the intro and chapter one, and I wanted to give you a bonus exercise that helps you claim your expertise and own what makes you the only to-do what you do in a powerful way. But before we do that, let's talk about what is an expert.

According to the dictionary, an expert is a person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge or skill in a particular area. And yes, that's part of being an expert, having that deep knowledge of your subject matter. But that's not the only thing that makes us an expert. I believe there are three more ingredients that go into your expertise. The first ingredient is applied experience of the expertise. Book smarts? Yeah, it's pretty awesome to have that knowledge, but where the rubber meets the road is being able to take the theories and apply those to everyday situations. So your years of experience, the time you've spent earning and applying your expertise and your ability to apply that to a wide variety of clients is a hallmark of expertise.

The second ingredient of expertise is the ability to make sense of complexities and nuances of any given situation. One of the things that ticks me off the most about online business is you have a lot of people who have done something for themselves and now are teaching what they did to make tons of cash with their proven formula that is easy to follow. The only problem is, they've only done this for themselves and being able to take what you're an expert with and make sense of it for other people and adapt it to other people is a part of expertise because real experts are able to customize the work they're doing to their clients' situation. And the final ingredient of expertise is an insatiable curiosity.

Experts are always learning. They are aware of what they don't know. They're always looking to improve their skills and knowledge so that they can better serve their people. In a way, us experts, we're obsessed with getting better at what it is we do. Now that you understand what expertise is, it's time to claim yours. A few years ago I created an exercise called I am the one who knocks. It's the exercise I want you to do as you read the introduction chapter and chapter one of the 3 Word Rebellion book. This exercise is based off a famous scene from the TV show Breaking Bad, and we're going to link a clip of it in the show notes. This scene occurs when Walter White, our antihero, has fully adopted his meth-making kingpin alter ego, Heisenberg, but his wife Skyler has not quite caught on yet.

She's worried that one day Walt will open the front door and get shot. And his response to her concern is that of a man who is fully owning his power and authority, claiming his expertise. And to give you a brief quote from the TV show, he basically turns to his wife and says, "Who are you talking to right now? Who is it you think you see? Do you know how much I make a year? I mean, even if I told you, you wouldn't believe it. Do you know what would happen if I suddenly decided to stop going into work? A business big enough that could be listed on the NASDAQ goes belly-up. Disappears. It ceases to exist without me. No, you clearly don't know who you're talking to. So let me clue you in. I am not in danger. I am the danger. I am the one who knocks."

I just love that scene. It's so great, but it really shows that power of owning what you create, even though Walter White is quite the antihero. So creating your "I am the one who knocks" statement is something that is a powerful activity for you to do, and it's easy to do but it's probably going to make you feel a bit uncomfortable to own your only and claim your expertise. That's why I am giving you five questions to ask yourself to find your credibility markers and create your "I am the one who knocks" statement. So question number one. What's your education, training, certifications that make you awesome at what you do?

Now this is the knowledge piece. For me, I have a PhD in communication. I have been in the field for over 25 years and I have worked with a variety of companies from Fortune 500 to businesses just like yours. That's my hard-earned knowledge and credibility. Now, the second question. Number two. What have you created? This can be books, podcasts, frameworks, methodology, blog post. What have you created that is helping you get your expertise in to the world? For example, I've created three books and this podcast, and so many things that I can't name it here. I'm actually constantly creating. So what have you created? The third question is, where has your work been featured? So these are the signs of outward credibility.

So your work can be featured on podcasts or stages in media outlets. So for me, I've been in Fast Company. I've been in Inc. I've been an entrepreneur. I have been interviewed on over 60 podcasts at this time, so my work is out there. It's featured. Other people have given it a nod of credibility. So where has your work been featured? Question number four. What skills or experience do you have that make you great at what you do? So these are the things you have cultivated over time. Like for me, I am insatiably curious. I am great at asking questions. I have been doing this type of work for ages, decades, and I've been working with the 3 World Rebellion for the past four years.

And that framework I created, well, it plays to my strengths that I cultivated as a researcher and communication expert. I'm terrific at seeing patterns and recognizing those patterns, connecting all the dots. So, each of the skills that you have, that is a part of your credibility. That is what makes you powerful at what you do. So question number four, what skills or experience do you have that makes you an expert at what you do? And the final question, question number five, what personality assessments have you taken that reinforce why you are extremely good at what you do? Now I realize you might not be thinking like, "A personality assessment can really assess my expertise?"

Well, it can reinforce your strengths so that your expertise is playing to them. So personality assessments like StrengthsFinder, How To Fascinate, or Myers-Briggs, or even the Enneagram, with personality assessments, they show you that you have these strengths, that you're cultivating these strengths and that it's innate to who you are, what you do, and how you do it. Now, for example, on StrengthsFinder, one of my top five strengths is individuation, which means I am extremely good at seeing what makes other people unique, which is great because the 3 Word Rebellion process is all about finding that unique message, and I can spot that like nobody's business because that is my strength.

So your action step here is to go back and listen to those five questions and create your "I am the one who knocks" statement. You'll use the following script to do that. So the script is pretty basic. You can start by writing down, does your brain ever ask you the question, "Who do you think you are?" Mine does. So I thought it was about time I answered it. So who do I think I am? Let me tell you. I am the one. And repeat, I am the one who, three or four times, with what makes you an expert. And then at the end, say, I am, your name, and I am the one who knocks. And of course you can change the "I am the one who knocks" into anything that makes you feel your power.

And if I was doing this, which I've obviously done, my statement reads something like this. Does your brain ever ask you, who do you think you are? Mine does. So I thought it was about time I answered it. So who do I think I am? Let me tell you. I am the one who has a PhD in communication, who has worked in the field of communication for 25 years and served hundreds of clients. I am the one who created the 3 Word Rebellion framework and the 3 Word Rebellion messaging intensive. And it's the only framework of its kind that actually helps you craft a one of a kind message based on what you stand for and the vision you want to create in this world.

I am the one who's published three books, recorded nearly 300 episodes of the Rebel Uprising Podcast, and has been featured on over 60 podcasts. I am Dr. Michelle Mazur and I am the one who knocks. Boom. Say it out loud and you'll feel the power of claiming your expertise. So now it's your turn. Feel free to come over to the 3 Word Rebellion Book Club Facebook group, and post your "I am the one who knocks" so we can celebrate you owning your expertise. And if you're not a member of the book club, head on over to DrMichelleMazur.club to sign up and you'll get access to the club and all the other extras like live discussion calls so you can make process unearthing your one of a kind message so you can better communicate your expertise.

If the Rebel Uprising Podcast is helping you claim and communicate your expertise so that your clients can find and hire you, please share the show with a friend. The easiest way to do that is through pod.link. You can find the show at pod.link/rebel, and that page will allow anyone you share the show with to subscribe and start listening in their favorite podcast player. That's pod.link/rebel. The Rebel Uprising Podcast is a production of Yellow House Media. Our production coordinator is Lou Blazer. Our production assistant is Emily Kilber. The podcast is edited by Steven Mills. Our executive producers are Sean and Tara McMullin. The Rebel Uprising Podcast is recorded on the unceded traditional land of the Coast Salish peoples, specifically the first people of Seattle, the Duwamish people, original stewards of the land, past and present.