How to become a recognised expert in your field

This is what I have done over the years to become a recognised expert in helping people make partner, and when they get there, stay there.

Do you want to become a recognised expert in your field? For clients and work to come to you based on your known expertise?

In this episode, I’m sharing my personal playbook for building a powerful personal brand, one that makes clients seek you out. This doesn’t happen by luck; it happens by design. I’ll walk you through how it all comes down to two foundational principles: Consistency and Commitment.

It took me over a decade of consistent work to get to a place where people call me for my expertise, and I want to show you how you can start that journey today.

Listen to this episode to discover:

• Why the foundation of a strong brand is built on Consistency and Commitment.
• How to define your niche by asking three critical questions: What are you passionate about, what are you credible in, and is there a market for it right now?
• The importance of credentialising yourself by building a body of work, whether that’s through writing articles, a newsletter, or even short videos.
• Why you must commit to your chosen platform and show up regularly to build a brand that lasts and attracts the high-quality work you want.

Tune in to find out how to become that recognised leader in your field. The type of personal brand that means that work seems to come to you effortlessly.

If you find this episode useful, don’t forget to like it and then subscribe so you don’t miss another episode.

You can also listen to this episode on Substack and on Apple Podcasts

Hello and welcome back to the How To Make Partner podcast. I’m your host, Heather Townsend.

A question I was recently asked in a coaching session was…

How did you become a recognised leader in your field?

Now, after, of course, my ego had stopped being stroked, I thought, recognised leader? I started to think about…

Well, what is it I did? And what is the question about? And actually, it’s a question about building a powerful personal brand, one that makes clients seek you out. And, you know, we all want that, don’t we? Where we don’t have to make the phone ring.

People come to us because we’re known for being good.

Who wouldn’t want that? Now, that situation doesn’t happen by luck. It happens by design. And I know that sounds cliched. And I think about what I’ve done across the years and I’ve followed a standard playbook. And today I’m going to share that playbook with you.

So this is the How to Make podcast with me, Heather Townsend, the author of Poised for Partnership and co-author of How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life. I’m also the author of The Go-To Expert and The Financial Times Guide to Business Networking. So two very relevant books to this podcast. And in this podcast, I will be highlighting some of the great stuff in our Progress to Partner Academy.

And for the podcast, new episodes are released weekly, so press subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

So when I think about what have I done time and time again to become the go to expert, i.e. to have a really strong personal brand, what is the foundation of it?

And actually, it’s built upon two simple but powerful words…

Consistency and commitment.

And I think about it. And three months ago, we were contacted by a really large Indian law firm. You know, we’re based in the UK. It’s known as if we have lots of work in India who said, will you run a new partner program for us? And actually, they were talking to other people.

But very quickly, they ditched the two, you know, household names of business school institutes to go with us. And you know what? You know, this will be one of our biggest clients. We’re looking to work with them for decades, hopefully.

And they came and found me. And who wouldn’t want that?

But actually, this didn’t happen just because I put one LinkedIn post up or even two. It took over a decade of consistent work for me to earn the right for people to call me for my expertise. But actually, if you’re sitting here and going, but I don’t have time for a decade, let’s just start at the beginning. It all starts with one decision.

What do you want to be known for?

You know, I’m known for helping people make partner. I’m also known for helping people for once they’ve got to partner, establishing themselves as a new partner.

I’m also known for my how do you profitably grow and scale a practice, whether that’s a small accountancy firm, a professional services firm or a practice within a practice. You know, these are my core bits of expertise. And as you can see, they’re pretty narrow expertise.

And the more narrow you can make your expertise, the easier it is to establish it because you aren’t fighting in the same crowded pond as everybody else. And to find your niche, what you want to be known for, you need to ask yourself three questions.

Number one, what am I passionate about? You know, what work generally interests and excites me?

Number two, what am I incredible in? Where do my experience and results already speak for themselves? And number three, and crucially, is there a market for it? Are people willing to pay for this expertise right now? Now, once you’ve defined your niche, the next step is to credentialise yourself.

And the way I’ve always done this, my playbook, to use that cliche term, has always been to build a body of work that demonstrates my expertise. Now, years ago, that meant writing a book. I’ve got six books to my name now.

Today, it can be writing articles on LinkedIn or another social media platform, starting a newsletter, recording short videos, or actually probably what is the best route today…

Running a podcast, you know, where else you get the chance to be between your ideal clients is for 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes at a time.

You know, the goal is to consistently put your best stuff out there for people to see.

Now, let’s just recap the engine of brand building, you know, to become that leader in what you are. It’s both consistency and commitment, a commitment to what you’re going to be about, but also consistency. At the time of recording this,

I’ve published over 52 articles on my Startup to Grown Up Stubstack in the last year, one every single week. I am nearly 2,000 free subscribers and starting to pick up paid subscribers.

And, you know, I’ll be honest, I’m sitting here. It’s a Friday. Saturday, I need a How to Make Partner podcast to land. It’s not recorded. Sunday, I need the next episode of my startup grown up substack podcast article to land. Do I feel like writing them all the time? Do I feel like recording them? Do I wish I was doing something for me today? Absolutely.

I don’t always feel in the mood. I don’t always want to do it.

But I have not broken the chain of these recordings. In fact, my team has said to me, oh, nobody’s going to notice if you don’t do a podcast this week. Yes, my loyal audience is waiting for that podcast episode to drop.

And it’s this commitment, this discipline is what builds momentum and eventually a reputation.

And I get it. You’re busy. You’ve got client work. You know what? I’m busy. I’ve got client work. Some of you may know, some of you may not know, but I suffer with fibromyalgia, which means that I have chronic fatigue. I’m always having to prioritise what I spend my time on.

Have I slipped in the 10 weeks since I’ve had the diagnosis and I’ve been dealing with chronic fatigue? No.

You know, I’ve recorded episodes while I’ve been on a sewing week. I know I shouldn’t have done, but I have delivered on that commitment. And I think, you know, this is the point I want to make.

You must commit to your chosen platform, turn up consistently and always aim to be helpful to your ideal client.

This isn’t about going, I’m great, come and work with me. It’s this consistent, generous effort is what builds a brand that lasts and attracts the high quality work you want. It’s a slow burn, but it works.

And I look at my pipeline of new business. I’ve got some big, big opportunities that are probably likely to turn down because we don’t have the bandwidth because we’re too busy on our how to make partner side of things.

And we’ve only done that because we built the platform and we’re seen as leaders in what we do.

So to recap. You want to define your niche. So get specific by finding that intersection of your passion, credibility in a viable marketplace. You know, it’s got to be linked to the strategy of your service line and your firm and then credentialize yourself.

So consistently create and share valuable content that proves your expertise and then commit to consistency.

So choose your platform and show up regularly over the long term. This is a non-negotiable.

Now, if you’re listening and thinking, I know I need a strong brand, but I feel like I have nothing unique to say or don’t know where to start. You know what? That’s a very common feeling.

And it’s why having a clear plan is essential. The course, how to become a go-to expert in our Progress to Partner Academy is the perfect place to start. This course will take you through the steps of defining your personal brand and creating a content plan that builds your reputation and gets you noticed.

Now, I popped a link to buy our Progress to Partner Academy in the show notes. Also in the show notes, you’ll find links to my books, Poised for Partnership, The Go-To Expert, The Financial Times Guide to Business Development and How to Make Partner and Still Have a Life. So you can easily find them on Amazon.

And as a thank you for listening, there’s also a link for a 10% discount on annual membership for our Progress to Partner Academy, which is packed with resources to help you drive your own development effectively.

Right, that’s all for this episode of the How To Make Partner podcast. And your action this week is to really think about, well, what is the one niche area of expertise you could commit to owning? And start there.

Now, as I always say, if you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or give us a comment on Substack. This helps us get the word out to others who may need this advice too.

Remember to hit subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s episode.

Thank you for listening.

Join my Progress To Partner Academy and access all my courses and use the code PODCASTBP10 to get 10% off 12 months of premium annual membership.

 

 

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