You’re too good to explain it (here’s why)
|
Hey Reader, You know that moment when a client asks how you did something — and your honest answer is, "I don't know. I just did." It feels like intuition. Like you just know which question to ask, which piece of advice to give, exactly how to move a conversation forward. You've been doing this long enough that the knowing happens before the thinking does. What if it’s not intuition but something else entirely? I was wrapping up work with one of my Done-for-You Messaging clients. We'd finished the whole process — she'd completed the workbooks, I'd sent follow-up questions, and then we had deep conversations. Where I'd pull on specific threads, reflect back what I'm hearing in a sharper, more precise way, and watch what surfaces. At the end of the call, I told her I had everything I needed to create her message. She looked at me and said, "Really? HOW?" And I couldn't fully explain how in the moment. There's a reason for that. Two MIT researchers mapped how expertise actually develops, and at the highest level of mastery, something interesting happens. You stop consciously following rules or moving through steps. The process goes underground — into your subconscious. When you're working with clients, it looks like magic to them. What it actually is is your deep expertise operating from a level you can no longer easily access or articulate. This is what researchers call the Expertise Paradox. This also explains why someone with half your experience seems to market themselves so effortlessly. They can rattle off what they do and why it matters because they're still conscious of every step. They haven't reached the level where the process goes underground yet. They’re better at marketing because they are not as good at what they do. (Writing that made me want to die inside 🫤). Your knowledge and expreince is so deep that the words for it don't come automatically. Which means the thing your clients most need to understand — why your work matters, what makes your approach different, why you and not someone else — is exactly the thing that's hardest for you to say. You can't read the label from inside the bottle. So if you've ever felt frustrated that you can't quite articulate how you do what you do, or why it matters, or why people should choose you — that's NORMAL. That's the expertise paradox doing exactly what it does to people who are genuinely, deeply good at their work. But it might be time to work with someone who can read your label for you. Yours in rebellion, P.S. I have one spot left for Done-For-You Messaging before the price increases. If you felt this email in your chest a little — it's time to work with someone who can read your label.
|
Make Marketing Suck Less
Marketing strategies for solo business owners who sell outside the online business bubble. Messaging and marketing for consultants, service providers, and experts whose clients live in the real world—where funnels don't work and referrals matter more than reels.