How to Roll With The Tide of Credibility and Experience
The following content is taken from The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss (pages 170 and 171). Some of the content is taken word-for-word and all credit is due to Mr. Ferriss.
We have heard, seen, or lived through the unfortunate tide of “you need experience to get experience”, and “that individual is chronologically older and therefore must be more correct.”
The following are practical action steps to help with your credibility factor, and therefore generate experience by doing, rather than by falling short of not being there, chronologically.
Presenting the truth in the best light, but not fabricating it, is the name of the game.
1) Join two or three related industry organizations.
The Association for….The International Federation of….Or local (The Ontario…, Hamilton….., Toronto…..)
This can be done online within 5 minutes with a credit card. Some may come at a cost, some may not. Attend their in-person events. Even simply attendance can be seen as an accomplishment by others.
2) Read the two or three top-selling books in your topic.
This can be done by visiting Amazon’s Bestseller Lists. The beauty about books is that those you look up to could very well be reading those same books. To my knowledge, there are no private books for “First Class Flyers” [correct me if I am wrong J].
3) Write one or two articles on Medium or on your LinkedIn profile.
If you have nothing to write, interview an expert, and always give shred. Help them broadcast their light, regardless of the size of your following. In this gesture, you are adding value to them.
Don’t overthink this one. Write about what you learned by watching a TED Talk.
4) Give one free one-to-three-hour seminar (or record a presentation online to YouTube).
If you have a Mac product, recording your screen can be done for free through a built-in feature called QuickTime. You can set up events for free on Eventbrite, and gather in a coffee shop. Your friends are still seen as ‘regular’ attendees to those who don’t know you :).
5) Personal business cards.
Create from websites such as Vistaprint. The more simple the information, the better (first name, last name, phone number, email, website links).
6) Clear headshot. Clear headshot. Clear headshot.
Tip #4 — Angle the camera from below [to appear older in age].
7) Your wardrobe for those ‘Gladwell blink first impressions’. Clothing.
Not necessarily for fashion purposes, but for hygiene. Touching base with your personal hygiene is a sign of respect for others. Zara is a great store for affordable clothing that is in-tune with the latest trends.
8) Leverage online learning.
Udemy sometimes has sales of $15 CDN for a 4 hour course on essentially any topic. BrainStation is neat educational business in downtown Toronto offering in-person courses, catering to digital skills.
Lastly, and most of all, Jim Collins said:
The question is not How Can I Be Successful?
But rather,
How Can I Be Useful?
-
Nathan Kolar, www.reachworldwide.ca
