Joey Chestnut

Do you ever wish that you had some kind of special talent or skill that you could use to make a lot of money and get out of debt ^[4], buy a first home, etc? Maybe you see people like Mark Zuckerberg ^[5] who co-founded Facebook ^[6] and is already a billionaire at the age of 25 thanks to his smarts and special skill set and become slightly jealous. Shoot, maybe you would even settle for being like Joey Chestnut ^[7] the competitive eater who set a world record for eating 69 hot dogs with buns in 12 minutes. What do both Mark Zuckerberg and Joey Chestnut have in common? Each of them has a special skill set that they used to its fullest to become very successful. While not all of us can become as famous or as wealthy necessarily I do strongly believe that each of us could be considered an expert at something, anything – and with the proper direction we can turn that expertise into dollars in our pocket. Let me explain.

We are All Experts (in Something)

I would submit to you that you are an expert at something. I strongly believe that you know a particular subject area better than probably 90% of Americans. I also strongly believe that you can use this expert status and depth of knowledge about this niche to make yourself some money. Granted, these bold statements that I am making are true in different degrees with different people but I believe that these statement are true for everyone.

How to Find Out Your Area of Expertise

Many of you probably thought of your area of expertise the moment you first glanced at this page. For those who are still not so sure then here are some questions to ask yourself:

1. What do I enjoy doing? - Do you crochet for 3 hrs every day and know how to weave intricate “crochets”? (OK, you can probably gather that I for one am not an expert on crochet). Do you have a huge collection of Transformers that you still pose on your shelf as a 33 year old man? (Just for the record, I have not owned a Transformers action figure since I was about 9).
2. What am I good at? – Do guests rave about your cooking whenever you have company over? Are you the first person that your friends ^[8] call when their car is “making a weird noise”? Do your friends ^[8] hate inviting you over for poker night because you always win?
3. What did I study? – Did you graduate from college or trade school with a specialized degree?
4. What do I enjoy talking about? – Can you rattle on for hours about the Dallas Cowboys or geological formations or bond trading or equestrian sports or stamp collecting or (well, you get the picture)?
5. Do I have a specialized skill set learned from my job or business? – Do you have very specialized knowledge about a certain industry or product? Do you know things about a certain industry that only an “industry insider” would know?

I am willing to wager that every one of us could look through the above questions and come up with something (no matter how obscure) that we are somewhat of an expert in.

How to Make Some $$$ from Your Expertise

The next step to putting your newly discovered area of expertise to use and make extra money ^[9] is to bring that knowledge to the world on the world wide web. The wonderful thing about the Internet is that even if your area of expertise happens to be “North Dakota Sheep Herding” then chances are that there is an audience that would love to learn about the knowledge that you have. Granted, you might not make as much money from advertisers or paying customers as someone who has a lot of knowledge about the stock market but you absolutely can develop a loyal following and make money in the process.

The wonderful thing about starting a website or blog and writing about something that you happen to already know a lot about is that A) You will already know what you should write about and B) Chances are that you enjoy the subject matter and can add some unique insight and helpful tips that someone who is not familiar with the subject or who does not enjoy the subject would be unable to.

To use two personal examples of putting some of these steps into practice: Ron started this site to talk about his passion ^[10] for making wise financial choices ^[11] and he is committed to not only providing top notch financial education but also providing insight into the different underlying character traits that influence our financial decisions. I am a CFP® and the owner of an independent insurance agency that sells Florida health insurance ^[12] and so I had a lot of knowledge about various financial topics so I started a site to help people easily compare credit cards ^[2] and a site to help people easily leave reviews and compare health insurance providers ^[13]. My most recent venture is putting up a site that will allow people to easily do a car insurance comparison ^[14] and find ways to save money on their auto insurance.

I would challenge you to ask yourself the questions above and see if you might be an expert in hiding that is primed to turn your specialized knowledge into a source of income. What do you think?

About the author

Ron has written 1082 articles on The Wisdom Journal.

The founder and editor of The Wisdom Journal ^[15] in 2007, Ron has worked in banking, distribution, retail, and upper management for companies ranging in size from small startups to multi-billion dollar corporations. He graduated Suma Cum Laude from a top MBA program and currently is a partner in a national building materials company.

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