I taught for close to 4 years while in Nigeria and I know how exciting it felt whenever I woke up, prepared and went to meet those little brains who were anxiously waiting for me. Sometimes I would teach from morning to evening without feeling stressed out.
So many people all over the world live by making money with their knowledge. Others die of poverty because they are too generous with theirs. Today, knowledge has become very expensive to get and everyone knows this. People pay exorbitant tuition fees for their children, send them to lesson centers and still pay for private lessons/guidance at home. I have a friend who is a well-paid government teacher, but makes almost more than his salary through private teaching jobs all over.
As simple as it may seem, making money with your knowledge is not just about being able to teach. It is first about discovering what you can offer, polishing yourself up to be able to offer the best, and marketing yourself very well in order to win the hearts of those you are reaching with your knowledge.
It may take some time to convince your audience that you are the man who ticks all the boxes but when you finally do, men, you will be in money and will just be limited by time.
As part of my commitment to see that you say bye to poverty, I have carefully packaged this piece with great ideas of how you can market your knowledge for money. If you follow the steps below, I can guarantee that you that you will make so much money just by teaching others the things you know. At that time, don’t forget to call me to share with you. Haha!
Let’s get down to business.
The following are steps to follow in trading your knowledge for money:
1. Discover Yourself
Marketing your knowledge begins with a self-discovery of the things you know which you can teach others. Understand that there are people everywhere, seeking for what you know. Very often they are not ready to go for full training programs and will prefer to learn some of these things within a very short time, at a low cost and with much convenience at home.
There are people seeking for knowledge on business management, public speaking, project writing, wealth creation, job creation, budgeting, research, report writing, photo editing, academic performance, salesmanship, decorating, detergent making, program organization, computing, website-designing, juice/drink preparation, cookery, animal breeding, driving, music/instruments, etc. I could go on and on.
If you think you don’t know anything, you could identify a few things you have interest in and go for training in it. It will cost you some money but at the end you will smile when you start trading your knowledge for money.
So: Write down all the practical things you know how to do, which you can teach.
2. Sharpen Yourself
As soon as you have identified the things you know how to do, work and sharpen your knowledge of each in order to be prepared adequately to deliver the best in that aspect. This may entail you going for some refresher course in that area. Non-the-less, if you are very confident in what you know, you may not need to go for any refresher course. Just work on your ability to deliver quality stuff.
In trading your knowledge for money, you don’t only need to be knowledgeable in a particular area. You need to know how to pass down the knowledge you have to those who need it, in the most effective way.
My simple definition of effectiveness is doing something in the way that gives you the best result. Therefore, for you to say you are effective in passing down knowledge, it means all those who you teach are able to gain maximally from your lessons. And so, after every lesson, you need to get feedback from your students in order to know how much they understood.
So: Sharpen yourself and be ready
3. Market Yourself Agressively
After sharpening your knowledge, you must have become very confident of what you can offer and so the very next thing to do is to increase your visibility by marketing yourself aggressively. Your knowledge will be of no use to you if you don’t find the people who need it and sell it to them. Today with the much technology, there are many ways of marketing oneself. The following are some cheap but effective ways to do so:
i) Print out what you offer very boldly on A4 papers and post as many copies as possible along the streets and around neighborhoods where those you presume could need that particular knowledge, live. Make sure the posts carry what you intend to offer and a contact number. Also ensure that the post is very captivating.
ii) Print out hand bills and share to as many people as possible everywhere. Don’t bother much about the attitude of people towards the handbills. Just be very concerned that as many people as possible, get the information. Also ensure that the hand bills have all necessary information.
iii) Use the internet wisely. Social networking sites like face book are great places to market yourself. Last week, I saw myself negotiating the price of a set of jewelries with a lady. She had posted some of the jewelries she was selling, on face book and since I had plans of getting such, I had to notice them. Then I realized the power of these social sites.
So many people are making great use of social networking sites, even though a good number of others are just catching fun. Saturate your profile with what you do. One or two people who need it will see it or hear about it.
iv) Look for opportunities to talk about what you do. It could be in forums, seminars, media houses, meeting houses, schools, etc. Rehearse a brief presentation of what you do such that anytime you are offered an opportunity to present it, you are out to kill.
You need to make great use of the slightest opportunity you have to talk about what you do. Speak like a pro and without any complex. However, avoid being very money minded at the beginning. Win many people and you will soon have much money.
v) Talk to as many people as possible who care to listen, about what you do. Tell your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues, mates, acquaintances, etc.
All these, are just ways, to bring you in contact with those you are looking for.
So: Explore every possible way to link up with those who need what you have?
4. Deliver High Quality Knowledge
As soon as you have been able to convince one or two persons about what you have to offer, you will need to give out your best so that that will become a spring-bud for you to get to any level you dream of. Your first lessons will either mar or make you. One thing I tell people always is to be professional in anything they do. Keep a standard in whatever you do and let professionalism be your trade mark. Be known for quality.
When I was in Nigeria and attended seminars on different topics, one thing I noticed in most cases is the lack of professionalism. Most of the speakers were not prudent enough to take their time and deliver high quality material that will always speak wherever. They were always in a haste to make their money.
You cannot talk to people on “How to make money by selling your knowledge” for example, while you look wretched. Let your looks match your words. The following are things to consider as you prepare to pass on quality stuff to your participants:
i) Get a very convenient, accessible and suitable venue for your seminars.
ii) If possible, use power point for all your presentations.
iii) Ensure that your presentations are simple, organized and captivating, and your knowledge is very well understood and applicable by the participants.
iv) Provide at least water to all your participants. You could even provide drinks and include it in your price.
v) Dress neatly and very presentably, making sure you match the kind of image you want to create.
vi) Be audible, fluent and interactive when you speak.
vii) Get feed-back from your participants at the end of the lessons.
viii) Be ready to follow up with the participants, by taking their phone numbers and giving them a call to know how well they are able to apply the knowledge.
Sharing your knowledge could be a wonderful way to make money while you relax and have fun. You just need to apply the steps above. In my next, I will be showing you the different ways you can sell your knowledge.
Make your comments below
by Kadzem Claude
superb.thanks for the post
ReplyDeleteYou are welcomed. Share it with others and tell others about Wealth result
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