The Rise of the Micro Expert

December 15th, 2008

As is the power of small we are all micro experts.

We hold expert knowledge within a small niche.

Much of it we’re not aware of as it is just a way of life, for example I’ve found Iam an micro expert in:

  • Managing virtual teams across multiple countries, time zones and long time periods
  • Twitter Evangelist: the art of using twitter
  • Bootstrapped Marketing

These are just some, this isn’t a recent occurrence I suspect it has been like this for many years.

But now something has changed.

The value of this knowledge has changed.

Before it was handy to you and a few select people you ran into.

Now using the internet the global interest can be enough to build a market around.

An online tv show; a blog, a small book detailing your learnings, a series of dvds.

With this in mind you can really do what you love and make a few bucks at the same time.

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7 Responses to “The Rise of the Micro Expert”

  1. Simon Young Says:

    Good post. Reminds me of Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans concept, which in turn came out of the idea of the Long Tail.

  2. Ben Young Says:

    That post was great, think its going to become more and more relevant over the next two decades.

  3. Simon Young Says:

    Here’s the link to that post:

    http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php

  4. Nathaniel Flick Says:

    As always, great thoughts.

    Seems that as technology makes the transferring of information faster and smaller, our skills have to follow suit. I feel more and more that my “jack of all trades, master of none” fits what the market is demanding.

    Quick bursts of knowledge/information (are they the same thing by today’s standards?!) are managed by more and more people; the great democratisation of the world.

    Okay, back to my oatmeal and my.yahoo. ๐Ÿ™‚

  5. Ben Young Says:

    Thanks Nathaniel, too kind.

    I understand the metaphor but I think it’s moreso master of many trades these days.

    As this long tail of almost seemingly infinite niches unlocks you can truly be by definition the master of a niche, given you may not be as much of a master as you would be if you committed your whole life to it, but then this niche wouldn’t exist as you would stick to one niche.

    Stimulating discussion, I really think that this is the future.

  6. Nathaniel Flick Says:

    Great points too. Not sure you need to be the master of a niche but just do it better than everyone else (or just the most popular at it!). There’s a difference.

  7. Ben Young Says:

    Your right I just think the jack of all trades master of none doesn’t quite cover it.

    Maybe

    Jake of many trades, master of a dozen or so

    Just throwing it out there



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