Creating content is a great way to show off your expertise, build an audience, and catapult your career. However, it can seem pretty daunting, and time consuming for those of us who are always heads down. In this talk we'll walk you through some simple steps for getting started, and how you can use channels like Gumroad to improve your reach!

1. How to Showcase Your Expertise
Through Content Creation
Femgineer Forum
#femgineerforum
. . .
Sponsored by: Gumroad
March 13, 2014
Poornima Vijayashanker
poornima@femgineer.com
@poornima
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2. Format
• Brief talk on strategies to help you level-up
• Breakout session to practice strategies
• Presentations to get feedback
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3. Agenda
• Why is it important to showcase your expertise?
• How do you find your area of expertise?
• How do you build an audience?
• How do you package it all up?
• Breakout session
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4. We’re not going to focus on:
How to get a publishing deal.
How to growth hack.
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5. Femgineer.com
(2007 - Present)
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7. “I’m NOT an expert...”
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8. Of course you’re NOT.
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9. No one is an “expert”.
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10. You don’t need to know everything.
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11. Remember show & tell?
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12. Connection.
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13. People Who Want to Get to Know YOU
• Recruiters
• Companies
• Co-workers
• Customers
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14. People are more likely to reach out
if they know who you are AND how
you think!
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15. “I don’t know what I’m good
at...”
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16. Areas of Expertise
• You don’t need to have years of experience
• You need to showcase what you do know & can
speak about confidently
• It maybe what you are currently working on
• It might even seem “obvious” to you
• It might already be “done” but you maybe
appealing to a new audience!
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17. People are NOT omniscient!
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18. Languages
Frameworks
Techniques
Experiences Processes
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19. It does not have to be technical!
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20. “I can’t write...”
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21. Turn conversations into content!
“...”
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22. Here’s What People Want to Learn
• How to fast-track their learning
• How to approach a complex topic, simply
• How to make $
• How to be :)
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23. How much time is this going to take?!
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24. This is NOT about investing tons of time.
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25. Pick 1 thing to start with.
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26. Break it down into a recipe that others
can replicate.
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27. Own up to the limitations.
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28. Be clear about who this is and isn’t for.
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29. Get some feedback from friends.
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32. Reuse!
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33. Don’t be Afraid to Reuse Content
• Blog post
• Guide
• Talk
• Beginning of a book
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34. “I don’t like self-promotion.”
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35. So who is going to promote YOU?
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36. Start with your network.
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37. Build an audience from there.
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38. It will not happen overnight!
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39. You have to be clear & consistent.
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40. But you can set the frequency!
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41. So you wanna make $$$?
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42. Start testing!
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43. Experiment.
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45. Case Study
• Took popular blog content
• Wrote two chapters
• Create an e-book using iBooks
• Posted on Gumroad
• Tweeted it out
• Emailed it
• Put it on my website
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47. Supplemental Reading: Mastering Product Launches by Nathan Barry
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49. Find out where your audience hangs out.
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50. Promote early and often!
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51. Once you hit your number start writing!
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52. Keep your audience informed.
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53. Review
• Why is it important to showcase your expertise?
• How do you find your area of expertise?
• How do you build an audience?
• How do you go from package it all up?
• Breakout session
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54. Next Forum:
Why You Should Consider Being an
Early Stage Startup Engineer
nousDECOR
April 2, 2014
Visit meetup.com/femgineers
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55. Want to host a forum at your company?
Contact: justin@femgineer.com
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56. New Courses for Spring 2014!
Confident Communicator
Web Product Development
Lean Product Development
Visit femgineer.com/learn
Mentoring
Visit femgineer.com/mentoring
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57. Get our book!
How to Transform Your Ideas into
Software Products
http://femgineer.com/transform-ideas
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58. Q&A
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59. Breakout Session!
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60. KEY OBJECTIVE(S) AGENDA
DELIVERABLE
BREAK OUT SESSION
Get comfortable
identifying your areas of
expertise.
30 minutes Get into groups of ~5 people.
1. Introduce yourself to the group.
2. Talk about your skills, recent projects,
and a topic you’d like to share.
3. Present & receive feedback
Short presentation
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