I’m not shy about investing in myself. Most people in this industry (expert entrepreneurs) are not either. We simply want to be the best we can be and know that that costs money. I still remember the very pivotal moment in my life when I spent 1997.00 on a training that was the first serious investment I made in myself and my business. I was hooked!

One of the realizations I had this year was about the pace of that training & development stuff. What makes sense to do when? Am I ready for this? Is this right for me? We all ask those questions CONSTANTLY!

The realization I had is simply that it has to be timed right. Then I began to think of it totally differently.

So, I made the below video about it:

Here’s How

This year two things happened to me regarding my personal development. Each happened on a few different occasions.

The first is that I was “overtrained.” I had studied something SO MUCH that I literally could not formulate a single question to ask about it. That means my head was gridlocked with information. More training wasn’t going to help! DOING MORE STUFF was the only thing that would help! I would apply what I’d learned and that would expand my understanding (by doing) and then I would be ready to learn more.

The second thing that happened (less frequently) was that I got under-trained. In other words, I had been spinning my wheels for a while and needed help with some area. I needed some sort of training or development.

As I write this, it seems elementary, but let’s face it, we all struggle with this. It’s a tough balancing act.

I starting thinking of it like a road. You have to have a little bit of road built out in front of you, but not too much just yet, because you may need to change the exact course of the road AND you need the resources to drive.

So, what can you do about it?

A few key questions you can ask yourself.

1) Do I know enough to move forward for a month or two?

What this question really gets at is the core of what is usually the issue here and that is that sometimes the training or program or event is simply more desirable in the near term than actually DOING the next step. Don’t let fear keep you in learning mode and out of doing mode. 

2) Is more information going to help me right now?

This really gets at the root of the problem. Is “not having information” really what is stopping you from moving forward or slowing you down? Sometimes it is, but realistically, it’s usually not…

How has your learning journey been going this year? Comment below and let me know what you learned this year.

Image Credit: Photo by UX Indonesia on Unsplash

2012 was a year of absolute craziness for me. My business changed DRASTICALLY. My life changed drastically! All for the better.

It was the year in which I made more mistakes than I have ever made in a single year in my entire life. I’m not whining or crying about that, just stating facts.

Now on the flip side, it’s the year that I’ve accomplished more and had more success than any other year of my life. (Except maybe the year I was born, but I didnt’ have much to do with that. 

Notice a correlation between messing up and having success? That’s a whole other blog post!

Sooooo, I’m going to spend the remainder of the year talking about all the ways I screwed up in 2012 and what I’m doing differently in 2013. One per week, so look out!

Sound good? If so, I know exactly where to start. We’ll start with what may be the biggest (I’ll probably say that about all of them!) mistake I’ve made and that is CONSISTENCY.

I’ve done a really poor job of being consistent with a lot of things. I haven’t put out consistent content for my tribe. I haven’t consistently followed up on conversations. I haven’t consistently followed my marketing plan.

Don’t look at me…

The problem is that, in this industry, despite what the big guru’s tell you you can buy for 1997.00, there are simply no silver bullets. There are no magic formulas or blueprints, there is only CONSISTENTCY AND PERSISTENCY.

Consistency and Persistency are what gets you known and builds your tribe. Period. I don’t know if “persistency” is a word or not, but it rhymes with consistency, so it’s a go.

I’ve been saying that all year, but not doing it.

FIXED.

Here’s how:

1) I’ve created an awesome, streamlined process for creating and publishing content. It utilizes a very small amount of my time to get a considerable amount of content created for the week. Is this something you’d be interested in learning more about? If so, hit reply and let me know. I’m considering talking about that in a blog post or video…

2) I’ve implemented a new and pretty darn awesome follow-up system for potential clients and partners. I had one before, but found that when the number of people in the system got too large, it became very cumbersome and ultimately that meant it didn’t get done. Now, we’re rocking it. Stand back.

3) I’m no longer creating content that “has to go out today”. All content is going to be created at least a month in advance. As the system gets more mature and robust, content will be created about a month in advance. This will allow for much better planning and execution.

So, the bottom line here is that consistency and persistency are KEY. It is key in two major areas — content and follow-up.

Here are some really specific actions you can take to ensure that you are doing things consistently in your expert business:

1) Create a monthly “topic”, to drill down further in your content. For example. the final 45 days of content for me in 2012 are the things I’ve screwed up in 2012 and how I’m doing them differently in 2013. There is no thinking, “what should I blog about this week? What should I put on Facebook? What should I email my list about? It’s done, decided and completed in advance.

2) Put a robust follow-up system in place. It can be a simple Excel spreadsheet, Infusionsoft, or anything in between. The volume of people we are moving through the follow-up process has gotten to be insane in my business and it only works because it is organized and streamlined. But, it’s totally OK to start small.

3) None of these things will work if you don’t do them. Put it in the forefront of your head that your expert business WILL NOT succeed without Consistency and Persistency. Do them like your business depends on it, because it does.

Look for another lesson learned next week. And then another one, and another one, until 2012 is over. 

Then we’ll talk about something else.

How is your 2013 going to be different than your 2012? Tell me in the comments below.

Image Credit: Photo by Maria Teneva on Unsplash

I’m not a huge sports fan. I certainly don’t play sports. I have the hand-eye coordination of a coffee pot. Throughout my corporate career, however, I got really used to everything being analogized to something related to sports. I know what a hat-trick means in the business-sense and that it has something to do with hockey, but don’t really understand what it means in hockey. That’s OK with me because it meant that I knew how to communicate in the language of business, which happens to borrow a lot from the language of sports. All of that to sort of apologize in advance for the annoying sports analogy.

Let’s say I’m going to have a free-throw content with Michael Jordan. Again, reiterating that I’m not really that good at sports, or anything that requires coordination or aim. But, in this analogy, I’m having a free-throw contest with Michael.

I am standing right at the free-throw line (or whatever they call that horizontal line that is right in front of the net) with about 5 basketballs queued up and some really fast kid to retrieve the balls so I can keep throwing them continuously.

On the other side of the court is Michael. He has the exact same setup. We are in the exact same position, with the exact same balls and all ready to go.

Now, it’s also important to know that lots of people have turned up for this event. The stadium is packed full of people just waiting to see who is going to win this free-throw contest. We are warming up. You can hear that distinctive sound of a basketball bouncing on a hardwood floor. There is a bunch of chatter coming from the crowd, there’s an overall dull roar of talking. I can even smell the fresh popcorn! As we (Michael and I) are warming up, our respective coaches come over to tell us its about time for the contest to start. My heart is beating. It is pounding and I’m getting nervous because all the practice I’ve been doing is about to either pay off or fail miserably. Michael looks unfazed. He looks like he just wants to get this over so he can go have a beer.

It’s starting. The announcer comes over the loudspeaker and says, “Welcome everyone to the free-throw contest OF THE YEAR! With Jeff Steinmann and Michael Jordan! We have a special announcement to make. Even our contestants don’t know this yet. Are you ready for the announcement?”

The crowd goes wild! They want to hear the announcement!

The announcer’s voice booms over the PA system, “General Motors has generously donated a BRAND NEW, fully loaded, 2013 Cadillac Escalade that will be presented to the winner of this free-throw contest!”

Holy crap, I think, I would LOVE a new Escalade! Wow, now the pressure is ON! I get even more nervous, knowing that there is more on the line that I thought!

The announcer comes over the PA again, “Are the contestants ready?” I signal a thumbs up, even though clearly I’m terrified, but I know I have to get this over with.

Michael does the same.

The crowd gets quiet. They’ve been waiting a long time to see this and want to know who will win.

“On your marks! Get Set! Throw!”

It’s time. Stop worrying, focus and believe in yourself, is what I’m telling myself. I shoot the first one, and I’m a little off, but it spins around the rim about 10 times and finally goes in. There is a 5 minute time limit, so I’m really irritated this shot took so long.

“Don’t think about Jordan,” I tell myself. “Focus and believe in yourself. You’ve spent a lot of time getting ready for this, you can do it.”

I shoot the second shot and it bounces off the rim. Third shot is an air-ball. Fourth shot bounces off the backboard and nails the pop-corn vendor. Popcorn everywhere. I’m thinking, “I just want this to be over so I can have some popcorn and a beer.”

“Don’t hit the beer vendor, don’t hit the beer vendor, don’t hit the beer vendor,” I keep saying.

“Focus!” I yell at myself.

Then the next ball goes in. And the next one. Followed by two air-balls and and other 3 misses. Then I get a few more in. Followed by a few more misses, then I sink the last two.

BUZZZZZZZ!!!

The buzzer goes off and the contest is over. I was so focused on what I was doing that I had no idea what Jordan did. My coach comes over with a strange look on his face. I don’t know how to read it, but I knew he had been watching Jordan.

He says, “Jordan made ever shot perfectly.”

My heart sank. I knew he had won. No Escalade for me. I wasn’t even getting any popcorn.

“But there’s good news,” coach says.

“What do you mean? If he made all those shots perfectly, there’s no way I won?” I replied, sounding really pissed.

“He didn’t have a hoop.”

“What?”

“There was no hoop on Jordan’s side of the court. So, none of the perfect shots he made counted. There was nothing for the shots to go into.” Coach explained.

“I won?”

“Yep, Congratulations!”

OK, you’ve read all this and now your saying, “Wow, this guy has really lost it, now he’s rambling on about basketball and making up fake stories about beating Michael Jordan in a free-throw contest. Well, you are correct, I am rambling on about basketball and making up fake stories about beating Michael Jordan in a free-throw contest, but I do have a point.

If you want to get known as an expert, you have to have a hoop and a net. The net is how you “catch” the shots you take. The shots you take are everything you do to promote yourself. The shots are your Blogs, Facebook updates, speaking engagements, and all the other stuff you do to get yourself known. But, if you don’t have a hoop to throw them through, none of them will stick.

Let’s talk about this a little bit more. When you meet someone at a party and want to talk to them some more, what do you do? You ask for their phone number, email, connect on Facebook, LinkedIn or something else. The point is that you are trying to create a way or a method by which you can stay in touch.

If you didn’t have Facebook, LinkedIn, email or a phone, you would have a really hard time remaining connected with these people. Also, while you were at that party, you said things that interested that other person. That’s why that person was willing to share their information with you.

That is exactly how it is when you are getting known as an expert. You need that “hoop” to capture the attention of the people you encounter AND (more importantly), impress!

In the expert business in 2012, “making shots” means getting email addresses onto your list. So, the point here is to get signed up with one of the major email list providers and start making those shots (collecting those leads)! You won’t make them all, but if you don’t have a hoop, you won’t catch any!

Image Credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

A friend send me a link to an article from Forbes Magazine about Corporate Cliches today that really hit home for me. I spent 15 years working in the corporate environment, much of that along side Accenture consultants, so I literally knew and probably used about all of them! Which makes me laugh and is a great reminder of how glad I am that I am no longer in that environment of corporate blah, blah, blah. I always enjoyed (actually enjoyed making fun of) the crazy excessive use of these cliche’s that nobody uses anywhere except corporate america! I used to call them the “comfort food of corporate america,” but upon further thought I’ve decided to call them “Corporate Porno.” Why did I change it? Well, I felt it needed to be a stronger statement and I really think “corporate porno” is more accurate. Here’s the thing:

“Neither really serves any purpose except to make us feel good when we’re not getting what we really want.”

Corporate Porno is just amazing in how it actually works. It just plain makes people feel good! Whenever someone hit’s play on the corporate porno, everyone just feels better. It does not matter (one damn bit!) what is being discussed, it simply gives everyone common ground and makes everyone feel like they are all “on the same page.” Well, OK, yeah, I just used some corporate porno.

What does this have to do with anything?

Well, as I was reading all 89 of those little ditties, it made me think about one fo the decisions I made that allowed me to launch my dream life.

I decided to be myself.

Unfortunately, in the corporate world, you can’t always be yourself. That may be one of the reasons people tend to be so unhappy there. However, as an entrepreneur, you MUST be yourself. You have to be relaxed and genuine. It’s the only way to build trust.

And with all the NOISE and chatter going on with social media, everybody and their chiropractor having a blog and the 600 digital cable channels, you damn well better be exuding some personality!

My company is about building brands around PEOPLE. People have personalities, they have idiosyncrasies, and they are not perfect. That’s what makes them people and that that’s what makes people like them. So, you absolutely MUST be yourself! That is your biggest asset.

Your personality sets you apart from big, corporate giants and that is a very good thing. It’s not easy to be yourself publicly, trust me, it’s been one of my biggest challenges. But the fact remains that people like, trust and want to work with me way more when I’m myself. Right now, that is the single biggest advantage I believe I have going for me.

Yes, being yourself will indeed scare some people away and that’s OK. I’m sure just putting the word “porno” in the title of this blog post will scare some people away. But I truly believe that more people will be attracted to the genuine nature of what I’m saying here.

So, put away the porno, relax, be yourself and say what you really mean. It’s cool. Chill. 🙂

What is your favorite corporate cliche?

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There is a huge misconception out how you start up a business. I’m going to unveil it right now. The misconception is this:

“If I’m going to start up a business, I have to quit my job, invest my life savings, take a second mortgage on my house and ‘hope like hell’ that it works.”

If that’s true, it’s no wonder our economy is suffering and there are so many people working in full-time jobs that they don’t like and aren’t fulfilling them.

But it is absolutely not true. Today is different. This is how you start a business in 2012:

1. Build a passionate and engaged following of people around your expertise.
2. Ask them what they need help with.
3. Sell it to them.

I believe so strongly in that principle that I built a company around it.

I love to run and the other day, I was running through an industrial area near my house in St. Louis, Missouri. The area I was running in is very industrial and most of the large warehouses and buildings were built around the turn of the century. I love running around there because I find the history and architecture to be so wonderful and inspirational. It always makes me think about what it must have been like to build a business in 1895. Did they Google, “how to start a baby carriage factory?”

I am, however, certain they did research before starting their companies. They probably asked other business people what they wanted and needed. They probably asked local people what products and services they had to travel the farthest for. They probably did this by polling people on the street, asking them at church, or maybe worked with owners of similar or complimentary businesses to get access to their customers. Maybe they asked people who purchased certain products what they felt could be improved about them and set out to improve them. Who knows? But I’m sure they did some research about what products or services were needed in the area.

Back in that day, in St. Louis, and most major industrial areas, you didn’t travel far for your groceries, hardware, ice cream, or to get your shoes fixed. You did it in your neighborhood. So, if you are researching what business to open in a neighborhood, you simply started the business that was desired there.

Now, it’s 2012. Geographic barriers are gone. You now have the ability to create a community of people around your knowledge and expertise. Give them lots of great information and value and they will keep coming back for more. Then, all you have to do is ask them what they want. They will tell you. Then, you create it and sell it to them.

That’s actually quite the opposite of the myth! And furthermore, it’s not really a new concept. Successful businesses have been born out of people communicating their desires and businesses stepping up to fill the need for years. You can do the same.

So, I think we can put that old myth about dumping your life savings into a business to rest, cool?

Image Credit: Photo by Mohammad Rezaie on Unsplash

Back when I was working in the corporate world, I was asked to manage a type of project that I’d never managed before. Being the ambitious, career-driven guy in my early 30’s, I quickly said out loud, “Bring it on!”

Then I went back to my cubicle and said, “How in the hell am I going to do this?” I didn’t know anything about managing that type of project. So, I called up a mentor of mine and told her I had no idea how I was going to do this! She said, “You’ll be fine. You know more than you know.” I know more than I know? What does that mean? What I ultimately figured out (after hanging up the phone, wondering what the hell kind of advice that was) was that all I needed to do was to apply the basics that I already knew well.

This reminds me of one of the biggest things I’ve learned about being an expert. You know more than you know. You know so much about a topic that most of it just seems like common sense to you.

BUT IT’S NOT COMMON SENSE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD!

What you take for granted every day as part of your job, business, or whatever you do, could be life-changing for someone else. They have no idea what the first step is to prepare a tax return, sew a shirt, cook a healthy meal, or open an ice cream shop.

That’s why we have to constantly remember that we are EXPERTS! If everyone knew what we know, we wouldn’t be experts!

Here is an idea to get you started. For your area of expertise, type a search into the Internet like:

“most important thing about…”

“First step to…”

“How to…”

Fill in your area of expertise where the elipses are. You’ll probably get a bunch of results! What that means is that it’s not common sense.

Congratulations! I hereby appoint you an expert! Yay!

Now, here is the interesting thing. If you look at those google search results, you will probably see things you don’t agree with. Wow, now you have a way to differentiate yourself! You are the expert who does’t agree with some common point!

Do you think you have to agree with the common consensus on your area of expertise? Hell no! In fact, I hope you don’t! I hope you have something unique to say about it. Having a unique way to talk about your expertise is a great way to get your name out there AND build credibility.

Experts don’t agree with each other and that is what make them unique. Nobody is right or wrong, they just have different viewpoints. If yo udon’t believe that, just watch the news! They frequently have two experts who offer different viewpoints on a subject. It gets them ratings. 🙂

So, no more worrying that you don’t know enough. Go be an expert. Tell me in the comments below what you are an expert on!

Image Credit: Photo by Iñaki del Olmo on Unsplash

I think one of the key things that separates successful people from unsuccessful people is simply the ability to GET STUFF DONE.

My years of project management experience taught me the fundamentals and logistics of how to get stuff done and manage numerous other people working toward the same goal, but nothing taught more about getting stuff done than a half-marathon I ran back in. . . well sometime in the late 90’s.

I was in my early 20’s and that’s when I feel like my character really started to take shape. I was struggling through college and not really having any sort of feeling of accomplishment. I was, like many people that age, drifting from one thing to another, never finishing anything, never putting my all into anything. For some reason, I identified the need to FINISH SOMETHING and I knew it needed to be a challenge.

I HATED running. I had tried it a few times, but just found that it simply bored me, I got winded and tired and could not stand it. But, for whatever reason, I decided to run a half-marathon. I think I gave myself about eight months to get ready. I drove down a rural road near my apartment and noted landmarks at various mileage intervals. I knew there was a farm at 1/2 mile, a school at 2 miles, etc. All the way up to about 10 miles.

Not really knowing how to train for something like this, I just did the best I could, putting one foot in front of another (kind of literally!). I knew I would have to build up to it, so I just started running a few times a week, starting with a half mile, then a mile, then 2 miles, etc. I think just over 10 is all I actually ran before the half-marathon.

Then the day came. I ran that sucker in something like 3 hours. Horrible time for a half marathon! But it didn’t matter. The important thing was that I finished it. I finished it and it taught me a very important lesson:

I could do it.

I finally accomplished something.

It was really a great feeling even more importantly, it was a great lesson. There was no reason to believe that I couldn’t or that I did not have the skill or ability to do things. It taught me that I had it in me all along. It was a challenge and I was able to rise to it.

It was a huge turning point in my life. I think that may be when I got addicted to getting things done! I loved the feeling it gave me so much that I went on to do several more things like that.

After a few races and cycling events and eventually a triathlon, I shifted away from accomplishment for the sake of accomplishment. I still do things like that, but not just for the sake of accomplishment. I now try to ensure that my smaller accomplishments are leading me in the direction of my larger aspirations and use things like running and cycling purely for enjoyment. Yes, I actually love running, now!

I also won a trophy for that first half-marathon. Even though my time was abysmal by any standards, I took second place in my age division (I think it was 19 to 24 or something like that).

Some would say I just got lucky. I prefer the position that while my time was abysmal…

I’m the one who finished.

I get really annoyed when people say they want to just “get away from it all”. It’s not that I don’t like to travel; I actually do. The part that irritates me is what I call the “vacation mentality”. It’s the mentality that life blows and then we go on vacation and that is where we have fun and enjoy life. In other words, we spend most of our lives being miserable and then a few weeks a year really enjoying life. If you are really lucky, you end up with 3 or maybe 4 weeks of vacation a year in most corporate jobs or as an entrepreneur. I think that whole idea is just ass backwards.

I have a different idea. I think that the key to a happy and successful life is to actually build a life that you love so much, you don’t want to go on vacation. Do things you enjoy; find a way to make a living doing something you absolutely love and be done with it. There are a crapload of books written on that subject. I wish I could say I was “there”, but I’m certainly not. I have a long way to go to get my life completely structured in such a way that I love doing everything that I do. Hell, I’ll probably never get there, but I’ll damn sure never stop trying.

When you love your life, you don’t want to get away from it. But! . . . when you do it is immensely refreshing and inspiring. I’ve had the opportunity to be removed from my normal circumstances twice in the past two months. I am astounded by the amount of perspective that I come back with. There is simply something about being out of my normal element that puts everything in perspective and just makes me think more clearly. I spent a good part of April in New Mexico visiting some family and taking care of some business. It was not really a vacation, but it did place me outside of my normal environment and routine and I came to a huge realization while there. I was thinking about the things I had going on in my businesses and realized that I was completely unfocused. I was trying to do too many things and not making enough progress on any single one. So, I used some of the time to re-organize my priorities. It was great to really get focused again and I’m making great progress toward those goals since then.

Image Credit: Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a perfectionist. I’ve actually been called a lot of things, but that’s not the worst one.

I used to think that was a good thing – it’s not.

Being a perfectionist is the best way in the entire world to get absolutely nothing done.

I spent years trying to learn how to get recognized as an expert; in my case a Do It Yourself Home Improvement expert. I was so concerned about doing it “perfect” that I never became widely recognized as a DIY Home Improvement expert. I studied and studied and studied and began building that brand, but it never went anywhere. Why? Because I tried to make everything perfect!

Ultimately, my quest for perfection lead me to become an expert on becoming an expert! I then basically abandoned the DIY Expert route and started a company that makes other people experts. So, I made good on that situation, BUT, I recognized that I cannot keep doing that.

Now, you might say, “But that actually turned out really well.” It did, but imagine what would happen if you always did that. What would happen if everything you do leads you down another path? You would NEVER get anything done, because you would keep changing paths.

I work really hard on being “good enough.” For me, sometimes I think it’s actually harder than being perfect! I’ve realized that when I do something, I have two choices:

1. Good Enough
2. Not at all

When I say good enough, I’m not talking about putting out crap. I’m talking about focusing on what actually matters.

Perfectionism is a theoretical construct that doesn’t exist in reality. So, I’m going to leave it to the academics.

I also believe that perfectionism normally means you are actually focusing on the wrong things! Like the comma versus the m-dash. Like the blue that is 2 shades lighter versus 2 shades darker. Crap that JUST DOESN’T MATTER!

When I’m working on something, I’ve started asking myself a question when I start second guessing something or laboring over something. That question is:

Does it really matter?

In other words, does it really take me further towards my goal in whatever I’m doing. For example, as I write this blog, questions, ideas, etc. pop into my head and I respond to them by saying, “Does it really matter?” In this blog, I’m trying to get the idea across that being a perfectionist is not a good thing and you have to focus on what really matters. So, as I was writing the question above, I began thinking about what font or size it should be. I then asked myself, “Does it really matter?” Hmmm, prolly not! “Just shut up and figure out how to make your point!” is what I said to myself.

In the case of this blog posts, “making my point” is what is actually appropriate for me to focus my energy on. Not the font, not the color, not the music I’m listening to while I write it.

I have a goal to make a point and my effort should be focused on that goal.

So, before you set out to do something, make a goal. That’s why in my system for getting known as an expert (get the free 5 part training series here), we write an expert mission first. It outlines who you are and what you do as an expert. You set your goals up front. Then as you work on your brand, you have those goals right there to refer to.

Since I think I’ve made my point by now, I’m going to stop writing and tweaking and just post this!

Are you a perfectionist? 

Image Credit: Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

Have you every asked yourself, “How could I make money with the knowledge in my head?”

I did!

I’ve always wanted to be financially free, too. Who doesn’t?

Well, a few years ago, I started really thinking about how I could make that happen. I started doing some serious research on how I could get to that point of financial freedom. The big limitation (or perceived limitation) that I had was that I worked a fairly stressful, and very well paying full time job. But, I wanted more. I wanted control of when I work, where I work and probably most importantly, HOW I work. By the way, I also had a giant mortgage!

I was at the bookstore and a book by Yanik Silver called, “Moonlighing on the Internet” caught my attention. I read it in about 5 days (that’s fast for me). The book is all about making money on the Internet, with one of the key ways being to sell the information you have in your head, in the form of Information Products. That just means eBooks, online training videos, audio, etc. It requires very little (usually 0) staff members, profit margins are 90%+ on electronically delivered products and it’s very flexible, meaning if you have a laptop and an Internet connection, you can do this.

So, I asked myself what topic I know the most about. Being kind of an information and hobby junkie, there was a lot. Not to mention I had learned a TON in my 15 year career working as a manager of large technology projects.  Ultimately, I decided that the best thing for me to publish information about was Do It Yourself home improvement. At the time, I had completely redone my first house and was well into the (MAJOR) renovation of my second house. So, I set out to be the Do It Yourself Expert. Kind of like Tim Allen without all the grunting. Or like Bob Vila without the flannel shirts.

As I set out to do that, I found out it’s a whole lot of work. AND there is a lot you have to learn. There is a tremendous amount of information available, but it very quickly becomes overwhelming. But, I wasn’t discouraged, I dug in.

That’s when my business shifted. . .

Suddenly, I realized that when I combined my Technology background with the two years of research I had been doing, my expertise was not home improvement, it was creating experts.

With that, my company, Braveau Experts was born. Braveau Experts partners with experts to build a brand and create product and services based on that expertise.

Image Credit: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash