The Rise of the Micro Expert
December 15th, 2008As 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.
Tags: do what you love, micro expert, micro experts, niche experts
This entry was posted on Monday, December 15th, 2008 at 6:07 pm. 
December 15th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Good post. Reminds me of Kevin Kelly’s 1000 True Fans concept, which in turn came out of the idea of the Long Tail.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:37 pm
That post was great, think its going to become more and more relevant over the next two decades.
December 15th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Here’s the link to that post:
http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php
December 17th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
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. ๐
December 21st, 2008 at 9:09 pm
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.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
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.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:18 pm
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