8 Things to Do Now to Help More People with What You Know
You know things most people don’t.
You can do things most people can’t.
You’ve spent years developing your expertise.
You’ve actually helped people. You know you have more to give.
And yet.
You’re insecure about doing more because ….
Nobody taught you how
Nobody taught you how to build a website.
Or how to set up a payment processor.
What SEO stands for, let alone how to do it.
How to describe what you do without sounding either braggy or boring.
How to market yourself without feeling icky.
And so on.
Here’s the thing, though.
The people who could really use your help are out there. Right now.
Some of them are searching Google.
Some of them are asking colleagues.
Some of them are reading things written by people who just aren’t as good as you are.
And you don’t have to be an expert in the operations stuff to reach those people. Promise.
So, instead of waiting until you’ve built a full on skyscraper, let’s just have someone over for tea. Deal?
Eight things to do instead of waiting until you’re ready
1. Write a mission statement
Not the kind you’d put on a grant application and nothing that belongs on a t-shirt.
Just your honest answer to: how do you want to help people, and why?
Forget the website. Forget the platform. Forget how you’ll charge for it. None of that matters yet.
2. Pick one channel
One. Not all of them.
Do you like to write? Talk? Work with people one-on-one? Lecture to groups? Create tools? Make things? Host conversations?
Pick the format that feels most like you and start there. You’re not locked in forever. But picking one thing and doing it is infinitely more useful than researching all the options and doing none of them. (Ask me how I know.)
3. Talk to the people you want to help
No IRB approval required.
Just have a few real conversations with the people you’re most excited to support. Ask them what’s getting in their way. What they’ve already tried. What they’ve been looking for and haven’t found.
Just be curious and listen. You’ll learn more from three honest conversations than from three weeks of planning.
4. Be you
This one is kind of the whole ball game.
Ask yourself: what’s the most you way to step in and help? You can… write jokes. Tell stories. Get straight to the point. Use analogies nobody else would think of. Send voice notes. Design helpful graphics. Whatever it is, it’s your special sauce.
Don’t ask what you should do. Ask what only you could do.
5. Start
Put something out there.
If you have time and energy to set up a website or a blog, great. If not, pick a social media platform and post something. Or email the people you already know with a tip or two. Or offer yourself up as an expert to your local radio station.
You can do anything. Just don’t agonise and don’t wait.
6. Pay attention to what happens
Once you’ve put something out there, wait and see what sticks.
Notice what’s working and what isn’t. Then do more of one and less of the other.
7. Keep going
This is where it gets really hard.
Not because there’s some big bad crisis to manage. Because it’s boring. And tiresome. And a little bit painful.
So you get busy, deflated by the lack of immediate results, or infatuated with a shiny new idea. (I wrote a whole post about that cycle, in case it sounds familiar.)
Keep going anyway. Play around until you find the format that feels most like you and most useful to the people you’re trying to help. It takes longer than anyone tells you. It also works.
8. Ask for money
At some point, set aside something a little special.
It could be a substantial piece of content delivered in a useful way. A premium tier of something you’re already doing. One-on-one time with you, priced like the rare thing it is.
Don’t obsess over the payment processor or the pricing model right now. Just prove that someone will trade their hard-earned money for your help.
Once that’s happened, you’ve made it.
Could be a dollar or a thousand dollars. Doesn’t matter.
You are helping people AND earning money to make it sustainable. You’ve arrived.
One more thing
When you’re ready for the smoother systems, the website that actually represents your work, the automations that stop stealing your afternoons, and all the rest, I’m here.
To think through it with you, figure out what makes sense for your situation, and help you build something that grows alongside your work.
Custom Help is the place for that. Or if you’d rather start with a quick read on where you’re at right now, My Two Cents is free and takes about three minutes.
The world needs what you can do.
Don’t keep us waiting.
What’s the one thing that’s been stopping you from sharing your expertise more broadly? Email me to let me know: [email protected]
