Chapter Thirteen: Why We Need Expertise

Entrepreneurs often strike out on their own because we possess a certain level of expertise in our field and we know others can benefit from that expertise. No matter the industry, we all have a specialty that we know sets us apart from everybody else. We prove our success time and again because we have the skill to back up our claims as we deliver high quality work and concrete results.

However, it seems more and more, expertise is viewed as suspect. After all, there's no one that we trust more than ourselves, right? Only we have our own best interests at heart. Why should we form opinions or make decisions based on what someone else says?

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Epistemic Trust Epistemic trust is a person's ability to absorb new information as pertinent and reliable so as to incorporate it into their own mentality and daily living. We are trained to base this trust on whether we find the original source competent, reliable, and having good intentions. If any of these qualifying factors seem off to our own way of thinking, our instinct is to doubt the expertise itself. Every day, we as entrepreneurs have the opportunity to prove our trustworthiness and our expertise to clients and potential clients. Keeping our standards high for our quality of produced work, maintaining positive relationships with clients and colleagues, and always striving to expand our knowledge and improve our skills are all methods entrepreneurs should be utilizing to make sure their title of "expert" is deserved. After all, once that trust is broken, it is nearly impossible to earn it back.

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Epistemic Mistrust Check any comment section and you'll find armchair experts with credentials from the University of Life, and while the value of life experience cannot be overstated, we can't all be experienced or educated on every topic under the sun. That's why we need people who specialize on a single focus who can then share their expertise with the rest of us. By fostering mistrust in expertise, we only deprive ourselves from reaping the benefits of said expertise. Of course, asking questions is never a bad thing. That's how we grow in our own knowledge. However, we have to consider the source when we research unfamiliar topics. The internet, though housing all of human knowledge, can also double as a minefield of false information, sometimes shared through simple ignorance and sometimes shared with more malicious intent. The same can be said of scammers. Sometimes they genuinely believe they are qualified experts to perform a certain job, and other times they are just out to make a quick buck. We must be more discerning in our judgment.

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If we have certifications, licenses, or degrees in our specialized fields, years of experience, and highly regarded reputations amongst our colleagues, most of us can claim a certain level of expertise. A proven track record of success is indisputable and priceless. At Noteworthy Communications, we strive to prove our trustworthiness every day. When other entrepreneurs trust us with crafting and sharing their business's message, we don't take that responsibility lightly. We use our education and years of experience to benefit the clients who have hired us because this is our specialty. By trusting us, they now have the freedom to focus on theirs.

Chapter Twelve: Why Start Something New?

Noteworthy Communications is a new venture, born out of the desire to help local entrepreneurs utilize every tool at their disposal to best tell their noteworthy stories. Our story, like those of so many of the entrepreneurs we work with, starts with a Why?

* Why do I feel driven to start something new?

* Why am I taking a risk on something unknown?

* Why is now the time?

These are all questions we here at Noteworthy asked ourselves before diving into the world of entrepreneurship. For those who have spent their careers reporting to and depending on others for professional development or guidance, not to mention a paycheck, the concept of changing course can seem overwhelming, or out of reach entirely.

It’s not.

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Professional Fulfillment

The compulsion to start something new stems usually from a lack of fulfillment in whatever our current situation may be. In a 2019 report from Gallup, “Not Just a Job: New Evidence on the Quality of Work in the United States,” 44% of the sample of workers in the United States claim they are working in “mediocre” jobs, while 16% claim they are working in “bad” jobs. Combined, that’s more than half of the workforce who feel dissatisfied in their employment. That's even before the pandemic and The Great Reevaluation!

On top of that, 48% of workers in that 2019 report claimed they are dissatisfied with their ability to alter the aspects of their job that are making them unhappy in the first place. And so, the cycle continues day after day after mediocre day. Professional dissatisfaction is an epidemic that is holding the American workforce by the throat. When the pandemic exacerbated all these malfunctions in the typical workplace, it’s really no wonder why so many of us feel compelled to break free, take a chance on ourselves, and start a new venture.

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Achieving Financial Goals

Financial compensation is obviously a major factor we must consider when evaluating our professional satisfaction. According to that same 2019 Gallup report, only 59% of workers reported a pay increase in the previous five years. Even worse, 11% reported a decrease in their salaries during that period of time. These numbers have only gotten worse since the pandemic.

We all have certain financial goals propelling us forward. Maybe we want to travel regularly. Maybe we want to purchase our own home. Maybe we want to be out from under a mountain of student loan debt. Maybe we want to have children and provide security for them. Maybe all of the above and more. It’s disheartening enough to feel trapped in an unfulfilling job. To not even be making enough money in that job so life can be enjoyed outside of work can lead to some real self-reflection. And we ask ourselves, yet again, Why?

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Meeting Market Needs

We can't just think of ourselves when we start something new, because no venture can succeed in a vacuum. We have to think of what our venture would add of value that is currently missing from the market. Why are our contributions valuable and necessary, and will they be sustainable well into the future?

Noteworthy, for example, was not even a thought before the pandemic hit our community. It was not until we saw the businesses around us struggling with customer outreach, consistent messaging, and keeping their doors open that Noteworthy began to take shape. By early 2021, we were ready to lend our expertise to make sure we didn't lose the organizations that make our communities unique.

As previously discussed in Chapter Eleven: The Waiting Game, waiting should never become a habit, especially if we are waiting out of fear. Life is happening right now, and it won't wait for anyone. If something new is calling our name, we need to understand why, and how we choose to respond.

For self-starters and established entrepreneurs alike, there’s always a Why? behind what we do and the chances we take, but perhaps the question isn't actually Why? Maybe it's Why not?

Chapter Eleven: The Waiting Game

Everyone has a vision for themselves and for the lives they expect to lead, both personally and professionally. We picture how we will spend our time, what we will accomplish, advancements in our careers, adventures we will experience. There's no limit to what we can imagine for ourselves. The same can be said for the lives of our businesses. We imagine how we might pass that next threshold for clients, for profits, or services, for reach.

Imagination, though simultaneously fun and critical, is not proactive. We must decide what we do with that imagined vision. There are those that take steps to make it their reality, and those that simply wait for something, anything, to happen. Days pass, years go by, and suddenly it feels too late to change anything. We've waited ourselves into a position where we feel stuck.

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Making Plans

Isaac Newton's First Law of Motion says it best: "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." It's actually physics! By continuing to do the same as we have always done, we will continue to live the lives we have always lived. Another word for this could be stagnation.

Not everyone desires big personal or professional changes, and that's okay, but those that do must become the unbalancing force in their own lives. We must decide what we want, make a list of all that needs to happen in order to achieve what we want, and create realistic, but strict, deadlines for when these tasks must be accomplished. Then the real work starts, the doing.

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Making Excuses

To become our own unbalancing force sounds uncomfortable. Who wants to be unbalanced when our comfort zones are safe and familiar and oh, so convenient? Change can be daunting, but without it, we cannot grow and are left to wonder what might have been. The unknown can be terrifying, but fear should not be allowed to hold us hostage from what we truly desire.

Maybe courage isn't the problem, and we're just experiencing a lagging willpower or habitual procrastination. We have to then ask ourselves, at what point does procrastination turn into plain old giving up? We do not have an infinite amount of time to play with, and yet we tell ourselves we will do that thing tomorrow, or set aside time over the weekend, or after the holidays, or, or or.... It's too easy to assume that someday everything will just work out the way we want it to, or the way it's supposed to. Why wouldn't we want to take control for ourselves and put in the work to ensure the outcome we can't stop imagining?

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Making Moves

For some of us, once we have a certain vision for the future, it is quite impossible to wait. Waiting only means delaying results, or maybe never reaching them at all. The longer we wait, the easier it becomes to accept standing still. There are plenty of people, especially entrepreneurs, who are not capable of merely treading water. We are consistently striving to be the unbalancing forces in our own lives, always striving for more.

Sometimes the greatest motivation of all is seeing results. That validation is tangible proof that all our previous efforts are paying off. Then the cycle repeats. We don't want to lose the ground we've gained, or the momentum driving us forward. This leads to even bigger and better results. Then the realization hits us, that everything is beginning to take the shape we had imagined for ourselves like a vision board come to life.

As previously explored in Chapter Ten: The Great Reevaluation, there is great freedom in investing in yourself. Learn the difference between strategizing and waiting. Waiting should never become a habit, especially if we are waiting out of fear. Life is happening now and it won't wait for anyone. After all, we are only what we do, not what we say we'll do. It's okay to want more as long as we are making consistent effort to earn it.

Is there an aspect of your business or brand that you've been waiting on to improve? Stop playing the waiting game, because there will be no winners. If you need assistance, guidance, or expertise to move forward, then consider that your next step. This is what Noteworthy Communications does every day for business owners who are done waiting and are ready to make real moves toward that vision they have in their minds.