Hey Reader,

Have you ever said something like, "I’m not an expert in this, but in my experience..."

And then given advice that was bang on?

Me too.

In August, I took a facilitation course called Create 'n Facilitate, and I loved it. I also spent most of it thinking, "Oh. That's what that's called."

Because I'd been using those techniques for years. I just never learned their names.

I learned to facilitate by standing in front of a classroom for 13 years. By moderating focus groups for 5 years. By running The Expert Up Club for the past 3 and a half years.

If you asked me if I was an expert in facilitation, I'd say, “Nah, I’ve got good intuition about people.” (True…and what about the two decades doing it, Michelle???)

Ask me what I'm an expert in, and I'll say messaging and marketing. That's where I hang my hat.

Then this week, in Signal Mentorship, Meg Casebolt's program, Meg challenged us to name what we're experts in beyond our category. The things you know because you've run a business for years. The things you know because of the life you've lived.

Facilitation made my list.

So did this one, and yes, it's super meta: I'm an expert in experts. I understand the expert brain, how it operates, what matters to it. I know a shit ton about how to get the best out of people like you.

So that thing you disclaim right before you give spot-on counsel? It’s time to claim it.

I'm handing you an old exercise of mine to do it. It's called "I am the one who knocks."

If you watched Breaking Bad (did you see the NYT named it the #1 show of the 21st Century??), you’ll remember this scene.

Walter White's wife is terrified someone will show up at the front door and shoot him. Walt informs her she has it backward. He's the one doing the knocking.

​

(Walt is a terrible role model. But the man knows how to own what he built.)

Grab a notebook and answer these:

1. What education, training, or certifications make you good at what you do?
2. What have you created? Books, frameworks, podcasts, methods, talks.
3. Where has your work been featured?
4. What skills and experience have you built over the years?
5. What do your personality assessments (StrengthsFinder, Enneagram, whichever ones you've taken) say you're naturally great at?
6. What do you keep calling "outside my expertise" that you've been doing well for years?

Mine, with the new lines added:

I am the one who has a PhD in communication and spent 13 years teaching persuasion.
​
I am the one who wrote 3 Word Rebellion® and has run Communication Rebel® since 2012.
​
I am the one who was facilitating classrooms, focus groups, and a community of experts long before I knew what the techniques were called.
​
I am the one who knows the expert brain and how to get the best out of it.
​
​ I am Dr. Michelle Mazur, and I am the one who knocks.

Now say yours out loud, even if it feels like bragging. (It will.)

Then hit reply and send it to me. I want to read it, especially your answer to number 6.

Yours in rebellion,
Michelle

P.S. Owning your expertise is how you start giving people a reason to choose you over the competition. They can't pick you for something you keep disclaiming.​
​

Dr. Michelle Mazur Message Strategist & Founder of The Expert Up Club ​YouTube / 3 Word Rebellion Book​

​