With the click of a button, my life shifted forever.
Okay, maybe the above is a bit dramatic. But, if I’m being honest with you, that’s how it felt when I wrote and released my first book in 2015. I was immediately viewed as an expert. I mean, sure – I had speaking engagements here and there prior to the release of From Nothing to New York – but it was nothing significant, and they definitely weren’t paid engagements. Then it happened. IMMEDIATELY after releasing From Nothing to New York, I received my first paid speaking engagement and it was $500 for a 45-minute keynote!
$500 for 45-minutes? Wow. For starters, I was ready to quit my well-paying job after booking this speaking engagement (but of course I didn’t). Secondly, how could this book change my life so quickly? I remember just months before its release, I had a hard time securing opportunities, let alone actually being paid for them!
It was in this moment, I learned authorship produces the two major qualities that create credibility – trustworthiness, and expertise.
When you become a published author, whatever topic you discuss within the two covers of your book instantly become your area of expertise. Before anyone reads a page, they trust you. They assume you’re knowledgeable if you took the time, energy, and resources to write and release a book. Your book is tangible expertise. It provides living substance to your verbal declarations. Surely you must know what you’re talking about.
So make sure you do.
Yes, becoming an author produces instant credibility, but once you lose or damage it – it’s almost impossible to regain the trust of your readers. So, if you’re looking for a surefire way of gaining instant credibility in your area of interest, make sure you’re first well-versed in it. Getting credibility is seemingly “easy”…keeping it is even easier. But, once you lose it, it may be gone forever. Do the work. Prioritize the research. Publish wisely.
“Credibility is a leader’s currency. With it, he or she is solvent; without it, he or she is bankrupt.” – John C. Maxwell
