One lesson, thought, or resource to living a fuller life every week. Some bonus episodes here and there.
Suraj Chaudhary is a writer, developer, founder, and a constant learner. He shares lessons and resource to living a fuller life every week.
In this episode, I share why you don't need to be an expert in order to teach others and make a living on the internet. Listen to the full episode or read the article in order to know everything that you need to know.
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Suraj Chaudhary is a writer, developer, founder, and a constant learner. He shares lessons and resources for living a fuller life every week.
Dear reader,
Have you ever thought about starting a YouTube channel, writing a book, starting a newsletter, or coaching someone with something?
There is a very good chance that you have, especially the YouTube channel part. We get encouraged by the people on the internet making crazy amounts of money and living amazing lives.
But more often than not, we don’t even begin.
We think: “I am not an expert at this thing yet. Once I learn everything about this, then I’ll begin my YouTube channel/newsletter to teach others.”
But the thing is that you don’t need to be an expert in order to teach.
Doesn’t matter if you are interested in arts, literature, books, tech, knitting, traveling, a sport, or any other random thing, you don’t need to be an expert.
Let me give you an example:
Remember back in the day, when you learned how to cycle, you didn’t know how to do a wheelie or ride the cycle hands-free, but you were still able to teach a person just starting out?
Or remember how you sometimes teach elders or a younger cousin/sibling how to do a certain thing on the phone or computer?
The key is that you don’t need to be an expert, you just need to be a few steps ahead of someone in a particular thing.
If you look at things objectively, you will realize that not being an expert is a major advantage. It is because when someone becomes an expert at a certain thing, they forget how it is when you’re just starting out, your problems, your insecurities.
But when you’re someone who has experienced the thing recently and if you then teach about it, the audience, the readers, listeners, and the viewers are able to relate to it a lot more.
I had this realization long back in January 2022 when I read the book “Show Your Work” by Austin Kleon. That is why I started my personal website surajc.com in February 2022. It’s a very short book (<140 pages) and worth the read, highly recommended.
If you’re comfortable with making videos, do that. If you’d much rather write, do that.
Share the journey you’re on. Share as you learn.
If you continue to share and talk about the things you love or the things you’re learning every day or every week, before you realize you’ll have built an amazing community of people that love what you share.
And don’t think that the things that you’re interested in are weird. We are over 8 billion people on this planet and most of us are on the internet.
If even 0.0001% of the people like your content (which will happen as you continue to share), you will have an audience of over 8,000 people.
That might seem small but you can make a living with an audience of 1,000 people (read Kevin Kelly’s incredible writing on 1,000 true fans).
Alright, for this week, here’s what the takeaway is:
Takeaway: You don’t need to be an expert in order to teach or share something. Every day or every week, as you have new realizations or as you learn new things, share that on the internet. If you do this consistently, you will have built an amazing community and you will have learned and earned a lot on your way there.
This week’s question for you: Have you ever thought about teaching or sharing stuff on the internet? Why haven’t you started it yet?
I will write again next week.
I’ll see you then.
Warmly,
Suraj
