Your life story, your knowledge, and your message – what you know from experience and want to share with the world – have greater importance and market value than you probably ever dreamed, says Brendon Burchard in ‘ The Millionaire Messenger: Make a difference and a fortune sharing your advice ' ( >www.simonandschuster.com ). Assuring that you are here to make a difference in this world, and that the best way to do that is to use your knowledge and experience on any topic in any industry to help others succeed, the author adds that you can get paid for sharing advice and how-to information that help others succeed.

The book identifies the nine most lucrative topics in the ‘expert industry,' as follows: Motivation, leadership, financial, business, marketing, relationship, spiritual, style, and productivity. Even by the simple act of having accomplished some fundamental tasks in life, you would have built ‘accidental expertise,' says Burchard. “You might not consider yourself an expert, but the truth is that other people are out there, in the millions, trying to figure out something you probably already know casually.” The point, as he emphasises, is to begin realising that you have figured some things out in life because you have learned some hard lessons and because you have gotten some results.

Multiple revenue streams

A chapter on ‘money map' lists the six profit pillars for entrepreneurial experts, the activities to make money through: Writing, speaking, giving seminars, coaching, consulting, and online marketing. The nice part about all these activities, as the author points out, is that you get to choose which best matches your style and lifestyle preferences. “Are you an awesome writer who doesn't want to travel? Then being an author and online marketer makes a lot of sense. Love the stage, lights, and travelling to new cities? Then becoming a speaker and seminar leader could be a blast.”

However, Burchard's recommendation to those who want to truly evolve and expand as an expert is to begin cultivating all six areas into a multiple-streams-of-revenue business model. “You don't have to, but trust me, you'll want to once you see the impact, influence, and income you can generate when you mix writing, speaking, leading seminars, coaching, consulting, and online marketing.”

The fervent plea of the author is that, in the current fragile economy, when so many people are looking for their next step and desperately seeking advice, success strategies, and how-to information, mentoring and coaching offer the greatest entrepreneurial opportunity. “The knowledge worker is a long-dead concept, and in the new creative age, fuelled by content, authenticity, trust, search engines, and social media, the new class of creatives and experts will work for themselves and create real relationships with people, based on valuable advice and information.”

Imperative study for the leaders of any domain.