What Makes You an Authority?

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I recently published a training on The Mystery of Subdomains.

The feedback thus far has been great, but I just received a comment that I want to share with all of you.

The comment about being a 'non-authority' came from a note that I posted on the last page of the tutorial that reads as follows:

As I read Damien's comment I realized that it is so appropriate for the wonderful people of Wealthy Affiliate and really applies to everything we're doing in online marketing and blogging.

Sometimes, (especially as newbies,) we feel that we may not be 'qualified' to blog about a specific topic. We may know a lot, but 'not enough' to really be an expert in a certain area and we may find ourselves doubting our ability to write and publish content.

This recent interaction with Damien has proven what Kyle and Carson have been trying to tell us all along:

If we wait until we become experts on what we're writing about, we'll never end up publishing anything!

The only way to really learn and grow is to just get out there and start doing!

So to answer the above question, only you can make yourself an authority. Constantly learning about your niche and gaining more knowledge as you move forward will deem you an authoritative author.

Yes! There will always be someone who knows more than you and someone who has more experience than you, but - and this is super cliche, but I'm going to say it anyway - they didn't start out that way!

Everyone's got to start from somewhere at some point. Make your start right here, right now!

Cheers to y'all and have a great weekend :-)

~ Stephanie

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Recent Comments

53

Great post Stephanie, you hit it right on the button. Thanks again for a wonderful post.

Thank you, Evelyn
Happy to be of service :)

Thank you Stephanie
I needed that. I do have a little trouble with feeling intimidated about not knowing much. I have a slow learning capability but I guess the up side to that is I am not a quitter. It is great to have you in the community family with your suggestions.
Thanks again and have a good weekend.
Randy

Hey, Randy and thanks for the kind words :)

It's ok to feel intimidated, we all do at some point or another... The important part is to remember to only allow yourself to feel that way for a couple of minutes and then move on. Think about all the things you know and can share with others!

I was just talking to my dad today and telling him (for the first time) about the website and program I am working on - www.ProjectSWAG.org. I explained to him what it was and he kept getting stuck on one point -

"But, what are your credentials? Why would people listen to a 21 year old? Why would they want you to come into their schools? When they see you're so young, won't they lose respect!?"

And I tried explaining to him that so long as I see myself as an authority and I present myself as an authority, I am an authority!

No, I don't have a psychology degree, but I'm not claiming to be a psychologist. No, I don't have a teaching degree, but I'm not looking to teach humanities. Yes, I do have experience working with teenage girls and so yes, I can create workshops geared to them.

Lots of common sense and logic there Stephanie, this is a very good post.

Thank you so much, Con!

You are so right here. Explaining well and backing up what we say with the relevant sources when needed is all it takes. I am sure you are a good teacher.

Thank you, Phillipe!

Okay --Way to go ---you know a lot for sure and no one can make it different ---out of them mouths of babies comes wisdom !!!--o - your not the baby but a leaned woman ---Go Girl --if that is not out of date --
coach ed

:-) Thank you so much, Coach Ed!

Thanks for the post. I feel that way sometimes, I'm still learning and growing.

You're welcome!

It's ok to feel that way, we all do at some point or another... The important part is to remember to only allow yourself to feel that way for a couple of minutes and then move on. Think about all the things you do know and can share with others!

I agree Stephanie that most of us don't give ourselves enough credit for our knowledge, abilities, our influence, and our leadership. One of the things that I always remind my bible students of is that they should always carry themselves in a manner that reflects their relationship with Christ because we never know how what we do or say will impact others. The same holds true with us in WA who blog about the success that we have in what we may think is a little thing. It may be a very big thing to someone else. Keep up the good work....expert.

Thanks for bestowing upon me the title of 'expert', Donald :-)

I was working on a one week outreach program with a guy in Russia who impressed me very, very much. He had certain qualities that are not very common in young adult guys nowadays and I was really moved by the way he conducted himself.

I sent him an email after we both landed back in our respective countries and told him so. His respond was the following:

"Your words are very kind and reminds me the power of a person's actions. One never knows who is noticing a specific action and, indeed, I did not know that you noticed those things and that was not my intention. People are amazing."

So yes, you are right on the money!

I was just talking to my dad today and telling him (for the first time) about the website and program I am working on - www.ProjectSWAG.org. I explained to him what it was and he kept getting stuck on one point -

"But, what are your credentials? Why would people listen to a 21 year old? Why would they want you to come into their schools? When they see you're so young, won't they lose respect!?"

And I tried explaining to him that so long as I see myself as an authority and I present myself as an authority, I am an authority!

No, I don't have a psychology degree, but I'm not claiming to be a psychologist. No, I don't have a teaching degree, but I'm not looking to teach humanities. Yes, I do have experience working with teenage girls and so yes, I can create workshops geared to them.

Good for you Stephanie with the attitude that you took in response to your dad's comments I'm sure that you will be successful. Sometimes it's our families and close childhood friends, that miss the jewels inside us because they know us too well. They knew us when those jewels weren't developed yet. Remember that Jesus was rejected in his home town of Nazareth because they had know him as a "home boy" Luke 4:16-30. Keep up the good work Stephanie and God bless you.

:)
Just wanted to mention that I'm Jewish, so unless it's from the Old Testament, I probably won't recognize religious references...

Hey Stephanie,

Fantastic post!

It reminds me of a fellow member Terea (@Trialynn). She asked a lot of questions in the beginning (which is always good to do) and now she confidently puts herself out as an authority, and rightfully so. She knows what she is talking about. Terea is just one example that came to mind. There are plenty of other members that this happens to all the time.

And you are now at that point yourself. Sure, none of us will know everything there is to know - with the exception of @RICH ;) But as we learn new stuff we can add that knowledge to our arsenal so that we can share with everyone else and that's what makes our community second to none!

Best Regards,
Jim

I'm blushing Jim - a lot of that knowledge came from you and Mark, certainly from @Rich, but there were many more that were kind enough to give of their time too. I thank them all for my ability to give back just a portion of what was served to me.

LOL, the one thing I know is all the things I don't know. :) R.

Thank you, Jim!

Yup, yup, it's all true!

Hi Stephanie.

I asked a couple of, what I look back on now as "really stupid questions". But that's with my current hat on. But still I answer questions when I see them when I'm thinking "really? you don't know how to do that???" - but what it is really showing is, every single one of us knows something that others don't. I still ask questions here, and will for a long time to come, that I'm 100% sure the people that answer are saying "really, he doesn't know that???"

Two days ago, I helped someone via PM who asked what I took for granted was something I though everyone would know. He/she was over the moon that they now knew how to do it. My response to them was, well now you know, you can help someone else if you see this come up again. They are now an authority on that, where they will go on to help others.

It's all about the community here - no-one knows everything, but everyone has something to offer.

All the best, Mark

Thanks for that attitude Mark, I know I have personally benefited from your knowledge

Thank you - I didn't mean I know anything more, just sometimes we ALL know something else, we've just a different way of looking at something.

I'm really happy I may have been able to help you previously - thank you for that.

Cheers, Mark

I totally agree, Mark!

I've asked 'stupid' questions and I've answered 'stupid' questions. The truth is, there is no such thing as a stupid question - it's just that it takes time to learn. (At one point we were all stupid about building websites, right? :)

If anyone had told me back when I started with WA that I would be blogging, creating trainings and helping others around here, I probably would've thought they were nuts! I didn't know the first thing about internet marketing and building online businesses!

Ah... there's nothing like the WA community :-)

Absolutely brilliant post Stephanie!!! 8~)
Seriously tho, this is an important point.
(blush - ta)

:-) Why, thank you Damien!

Seriously though, your comment brought this to light, so thank you!

I keep telling you, you are inspirational!

People of the WA community, this - Trialynn woman is crazy, I have never seen her before in my life & have no clue what she is talking about or indeed if she even knows who's post / or comment she is responding to - good day!

I'm totally confused here! Are you being serious or is this sarcasm?
Terea is an awesome member of WA and a friend of mine :)

Damien and I are great friends, thanks for coming to my defense!

Gotcha! I thought it might be humorous... happy that that is the case :)

Aussie sarcasm is a strange beast (of course not to me). It does baffle the other 99.74 % of the world population though (I must keep this in mind in the future)...

Nope, I'd never heard of her either. ;) R.

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