Doesn’t Everyone Know What I Know? Part 2
“ Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do.” – Dr. Benjamin Spock
Re-Valuing Your Knowledge
It can be an easy assumption to make that everyone knows what you know, and that you have little-to-nothing to add. That could not be further from the truth. You know many things that others do not, information that is valuable to other people in various parts of their life.Your knowledge can be everyday seemingly small stuff, gigantic and deep, or somewhere in between.
While it can quickly become obvious when you think about anyone else in your life, the place that can be a show-stopper for you is when you consider the value you place on your own body of expertise. Like many people, you’re giving away information on a daily basis. That’s great, and no one is suggesting you completely stop doing that.
In fact, the suggestion is a “both/and” rather than an “either/or.” Continue to share your expertise because it’s helpful for others to know, and, in many cases, those freebies are samples of what you have available in your knowledge base that can legitimately have a price tag placed on it. Yes, it can become a source of revenue for you whether in business or not. If you are in business, that same information can also simultaneously serve as a marketing tool for your business.
Here are examples of very basic real-life scenarios that otherwise highly intelligent people did not know until a conversation or experience prompted the expansion of their knowledge base.
1. County Fair
A close friend and I usually attend the big county fair each year. She and I both possess above-average intelligence, though in different ways. My friend is much more book smart than I am,and she usually has at least one meal of statistics a day. My wiring leans more on the practical things in life. I tend to have very hungry clothes. Food inevitably finds its way to my clothing. This time it was thick chocolate syrup on a new white shirt. My friend immediately offered consolation and a solution. “Don’t worry. That’s come out with white vinegar.” I look at her like she had 12 heads and had no idea what her reference was. She quickly came back with “You know that, don’t you? After all, you’re so smart.” With a quick chuckle I said “No, I didn’t know about white vinegar being a cleaning agent, and here’s why. If you listed the top 1,000 descriptors of my mother, nowhere on that list would you find even the slightest reference to her having any skills about cleaning anything! How could she teach what she didn’t know?” That day, my knowledge base was expanded on such a basic yet valuable level. My white shirt now has no chocolate stain on it!
2. Piles of Anything
Among the many things I already knew or learned as a professional organizing an productivity expert during my second career was ways to deal with piles of things that accumulated. It could be piles of paper, laundry, magazine, toys, or anything that could be piled. And if there were piles, there were probably other things that needed to be relocated. A discovery I made very early on in that career seemed like something I thought everyone knew: “Take the biggest thing out of a pile first. It instantly shrinks the pile and provides motivation to keep sorting through the rest of the pile.” Certainly that idea was anything BUT rocket science, And yet, it was fascinating to me the number of people who simply never thought of doing that. It didn’t occur to them the cause and effect of that gesture, which continues to be true to this day among people I offer this tip. Did YOU already know that suggestion?
3. Volkswagens
Back in the 1970’s, I drove a tomato soup red Karmann Ghia. It was an adorable car and I felt pretty jazzy driving it. Pulling into a gas station one day, the attendant asked if he could add water or antifreeze into the radiator for me. Like many people, I knew how to drive the car, and I knew when something wasn’t running right. That was pretty much the sum total of what I knew about cars. However, what I also knew beyond that was Karmann Ghias and VW Beetles didn’t have radiators, and that the trunk was in the front of the car not the back in those years. The attendant knew that, too. My response to his question was “Nice try, buddy. All I need here today is gasoline, thank you!”
Value of Tips
These three above examples illustrate the value tips can and do have.
Brand new previously unknown knowledge
Reminder of something you knew and forgot
Confirmation by an expert that what you know is accurate
Revisit your knowledge at the most basic level and the information you randomly give away when you speak, write, or provide in formal and informal settings. Yes, you can continue to provide samples of what you know. You can ALSO become aware of the monetary and promotional value those tips can and do have once you increase the value YOU place on what you know.
Let’s hear from you to discuss how we can help you start or expand monetizing those soundbites to help more people and increase your bottom line. Schedule free time to explore these possibilities by finding a convenient spot at schedule.tipsproducts.com/schedule
And share your thoughts about what you’ve read in this blog post, please!!
