Are You an Expert or an Ambassador? Build a Proprietary Framework That Protects Your Authority

Welcome to The Scalable Expert, the podcast where we unlock the secrets to building a business that grows with you, not around you. I'm your host, Tara Bryan, business strategist, mentor, and creator of the INFINITE SCALE Method. If you're a coach, consultant, or service provider who's maxed out with one on one work, overwhelmed by the grind, and ready to scale your expertise into a business that works for you, then you're in the right place. Each week I'll share actionable tips, inspiring success stories, and proven strategies to help you reclaim your time, grow your income, and create a business that delivers results without sacrificing quality. Let's dive in and make your business INFINITELY SCALABLE. Hey everybody. Welcome to today's episode. Let's talk about giving away your authority. So one of the biggest things as you are setting your proprietary methodology is really looking at like, what is your approach and how do you help people in a way that's unique to you and your expertise when you are helping them go from the problem they have to the result that they're looking for. So one of the things I wanna talk about is, you may actually use a different, you know, like an industry standard approach. You may have gotten some parts and pieces of the way that you help customers from different books that have been written by other people, right? And so you may reference their methodology, you may reference the book that they've written. You may reference industry standard. Sort of framework that you have as, a, it's a standard approach that's in the industry. However, at the end of the day, you have developed a unique way to put those together to be able to teach or help your customers go from point A to point B in, the fastest way possible based on how you've done it in the past, based on your expertise, based on how you uniquely look at how to solve that problem for your customers. So first and foremost, you really need to believe that you have a proprietary methodology that's unique and different from someone else. And so that's the very first thing to look at. The second thing is if you are using other resources, other books, other systems, other approaches, and you're bringing them all in to your own unique methodology, that's fine, but then don't spend the rest of the time giving away your authority by giving that author all of the credit for your whole methodology. So I have a customer and she is, building out a full program where she's helping people and as she's going through and teaching it, she's saying, well, I, I, I took and I browed this approach from this person in this book. And so, I mean, I took it, I kind of tweaked it and made it my own, but it's really this person's framework. And so I encourage you to be really careful around that because the way that your customer's hearing that is that they're hearing that it's not yours and that you haven't done anything unique with it, and you've just stolen someone else's intellectual property and put it into your program and called it your own right, which is not usually ever the case. I mean, there are some people who just copy other people and just use their approach and move forward, but in most cases, if you are an expert and you've created your own proprietary framework, you have used somebody else's model or framework in your approach, and you've been able to put together a unique way that you're helping your customers. So if that's the case, like just reference that person, don't claim that it's your own model, that's totally fine, but don't give away your authority in the process. And so reframe the way that you're talking about that and say, I learned that initially from this book, or this author, or this expert, and I've been able to incorporate it into my practice and help my customers by doing X, Y, Z. That's unique from kind of the, you've taken that initial model and added onto it or made it your own or, you've created something else on top of it based on your own expertise. And so just really think about that if you are giving away your authority. Like I have another client who's certified in someone else's approach. That's amazing, right? That is a tool that she's used to build her business but she has way more expertise than just this one approach. So when she started and she was like, this is what I'm teaching, and it's just taking this guy's methodology and implementing it for her customers. She was diminishing her own expertise that she was bringing to the table around this model. So as we built out her authority framework, she realized that there is a whole section that is unique to her and her experience and how she can help her ideal customer not only, apply this model that he's teaching, but really take it to the next level with her unique way of viewing the model, how she incorporated it into her business, and then what results she actually got from it. And so instead of saying, well, this is this, she was able to say, this is a tool that I use as I was building my business, and so I'm gonna help you. Start with the tool so that you can make the same decisions that I made and then we're gonna talk about how to, incorporate those decisions in your business to get to the result that you're looking for. So it becomes a part of the process, not the whole thing. And so if you are using other people's models or approaches, again, reference them. Don't take them and call them your own, reference them, but then talk about how you've been able to take it to the next level, apply it differently, your experience in how you took it and made it into something else, that is your unique approach, your unique way of doing it, and how you are adding value on top of that approach. Don't tell me that it's this approach so that I can go and just buy that approach over there, right? There's something else that's unique that you are bringing to the table. Call that out and always call it out when you're mentioning different resources. I think especially for my women viewers, this is something that we tend to do is because we don't want to, we don't wanna, brag is not the right word, but we don't wanna stand confident and brag about our own expertise, we wanna like help raise other people's expertise. But that is what's gonna make you stand apart and give your customers the confidence that you have what it takes to help them. And so just remember that if you find yourself always referencing other experts as you're going through your proprietary framework, just recognize your unique view on that, your expertise that you've brought to the table or what that looks like and don't just naturally say, oh, I took it from here and how I was able to just add it into my program. There's a reason you're adding it in the order, in the way that you are adding it. Again, go back to the bigger framework of anchoring your authority, not theirs. So hopefully that helps if you are finding yourself not sure how to incorporate someone else's framework into your work, it's a tool that you've used to grow or transform your business or whatever it is that you are helping your customers with, it's a tool within the bigger approach. It's not the only thing that you've used to become successful. If it is, and you in fact have only done that one thing, then great. You are an ambassador of that other expert. You are not an expert yourself. And so know the difference because the way that you show up, you may think that you are helping, or giving yourself authority by talking about the other person, but your customer is perceiving it as you don't have that authority yourself. So let me just give you one example just to bring it home I was at a presentation, oh geez, about six months or so now ago, and this woman was a John Maxwell coach. And so she was speaking to a room full of people and she mentioned John Maxwell and she was a John Maxwell coach. And she talked about John Maxwell's approach and how she goes out and helps her customers, and in John Maxwell's approach and all the things. It was all about John Maxwell. And so my question was like, why would I hire her when I can just go to John Maxwell and get coaching from him? What is she bringing to the table that's different than John Maxwell? And I'm sure she was very talented and she had a growing consulting business and she probably had something that was her own that she brought to the table when she became certified as a John Maxwell coach. However. The entire hour, all she did was give away her authority, she kept talking about him and his approach and all the things. And so don't do that. You are an expert in and of yourself, right? So if you're a John Maxwell coach, that's amazing. What is the uniqueness that you bring to his methodology? That's your expertise. That is your, ultimately, your authority framework. It's not John Maxwell's certification program that makes you who you are. What makes you who you are is how you've taken his approach and how you've actually helped customers with it. And I guarantee that the way that you do it is slightly different than the way that he shows up or the way that all of his other coaches show up. Your job is to identify what that looks like and then create the bigger framework. So when you are going on this journey, if you've been certified in someone else's approach, if that's where you've started or you've read lots of books and you have lots of different approaches that you use to implement with your clients, really think about how you've knitted those together. Really think about the unique value that you provide when you show up. Because I guarantee that what you are doing, how you're thinking about it, how you've gotten results, how you help your customers, how you show up for your customers, whatever it is, is unique and special and is something that sets you apart from someone else. Your authority framework is just being able to articulate that and then use it to help other people. You know what I would've loved to have seen in that presentation is for her to own her expertise, own how she shows up and say, and I got my start by becoming a John Maxwell certified coach, 'cause it gave me the tools and resources to be able to start helping my customers, and then from there I was able to evolve into my own way that I showed up uniquely to help people. That's a different expert statement. That is a different way to show up as an expert and represent yourself. And so again, if this is you, I challenge you to go through that. If you are struggling with that and you're like, I know what you're talking about, but I'm not exactly sure how that would work for me, in the show notes is a link to a free discovery call. Jump on a call with me. Let's talk through that a little bit. Because my goal is to help you elevate your expertise, not grab somebody else's and use their expertise, which just increases their authority. Let's increase yours as you start to grow and scale your business. If you loved this episode, please feel free to share it with someone else. Give us a rating or subscribe if you are watching on YouTube. Until next week, have a great week.