EP50 - Claim Your Expert Authority with Christine Blosdale

Corby Fine: So I've spent a lot of time really focusing on building my persona, building my network, building my audience. And it's a lot of work. From the early days of the internet, really spending time figuring out who do I want to be perceived as online? How do I want people to think of me? What are those things that I should maybe be considered an expert in, if that's even something that I could ever be considered? I, you know, imposter syndrome hits me all the time on that, but one of the things that I always try and do, both in my corporate role as well as as a coach, is try and help people really understand what I call how they can be that "segment of one," which is really that unique individual that's made up of all the different experiences that one might have. And then the challenge becomes how do you translate that and make that relevant for other people.

And so with me today, I think is someone who can maybe help make that transformation and story connect. Uh, Christine Blosdale. Who, I just learned is originally from LA but is living in, uh, in a really nice place outside of Sydney, Australia. Specializing in branding and social media. She's worked with all kinds of global thought leaders and executives across industries. She's a bestselling author, a number one Amazon bestselling author to be frank. And we'll learn a little bit about that, 25 years of experience in helping people do exactly what I'm talking about, which is become that expert authority in their niche. And so Christine, I'm gonna ask you to just say hi and welcome to the podcast today.

Christine Blosdale: Oh, thank you, Corby. That was an excellent introduction, I must say. You nailed it. I was like, oh gosh. She sounds very impressive. No, uh, thank you. It's, it's a blast to be here with you. I really appreciate it.

Corby Fine: Yeah, no, thank you. So I have an audience that, you know, regardless of whether they're an entrepreneur, uh, they've started up a business, whether they're an executive in a large Fortune 100 organization or really anything in between. We all have this desire to build our network, and be sort of known for a number of things. And one of those things is to be, you know, relevant and maybe even considered an expert in a certain area.

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: How does one even begin to think of how to make that a reality?

Christine Blosdale: First of all, it's, um, it's really important to get out of our own way, so to speak. As, um, as individuals, sometimes we encounter that imposter syndrome, uh, or that comparison model where we look at others and we say, oh, I could never be that. Or Who would wanna listen to me? Right? Who, you know that, and unfortunately. Men suffer from it as well as women, but predominantly a lot of women who are in business suffer from this, and I think it keeps them from going after their dreams and their goals and their passions.

But once you get out of your way and you realize, and you actually claim that, you know, I have on my desk, I have this statue folks that are listening to the podcast, you can't see it, but folks that are watching, you can see it. And it's sort of like my Academy Award, right? And I do that because I use this with my clients to say that if they have expertise in any particular field, they've been doing it for quite some time. They've had the highs, the lows. They've learned what to do, what not to do. They've stumbled, they've gotten back up. Um. That expertise can really help people, uh, society, if they're a service provider, if they're a coach or a consultant or things like that, that they need to actually claim that expert authority.

And how do I even, how do I claim that if I'm just sort of in this silo of entrepreneurialism, right? We're in our little basement of thought and work, say. Um, there's a few things that you can do to actually start that process and it's everything from, I'll, I'll look at your digital footprint, I'll look at your website. If you don't have a website, you need one. Um, I'll take a look at what you have then, um, and then we'll take it from there as far as if I think that you should create a bestselling book. One of the best things, and you had mentioned it in my introduction, that I've got, I've got actually five number one bestsellers.

Corby Fine: Wow.

Christine Blosdale: When you have a bestselling book on your subject that you know really well or that you're passionate about, that brings you up on the expert authority status, right? Because it's kind of like when you get a college degree, it's not that necessarily all these companies are gonna run after you and say, oh my goodness, you've got a bachelor's or a master's degree, you... they are looking at you and they see that you have follow through, right? You actually can do a four or five year, um, journey and complete it. And then they're like, well, we'd be more apt to have you come on and work as a manager or as an employee.

So that's what a bestseller can do. It's also great fodder for getting media attention. If you, you know, if you're brilliant and you're an expert in any field and you want to get more business, you wanna get more clients. If you're hiding in your silo or your basement, nobody's gonna know you exist. And so my whole thing is to get my clients out there. Creating video. Creating a podcast as a business tool is brilliant, uh, as a marketing tool. Being a guest on podcasts is also a great marketing tool. That um, is wonderful as well. So there's all these different things that you can do to establish that expert authority and then to rise from that and to get that attention.

Corby Fine: So, you know, you, you've obviously yourself had a diverse career. You know, you've done a bunch of different things. How does that, because I find myself very similar. I've done a lot of things. I like to talk to people about finding their "segment of one," which is really that unique combination of all of those elements that only you or only I, or only they have that makes them who they are. So what, when you look back on your own personal journey, what is it that stands out that maybe has contributed to you now becoming this expert in helping other people find their expert authority?

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: ...expert authority.

Christine Blosdale: You know, it's that, uh, it's that journey of, again, having those ups and downs and life experiences, the things that you've had to do, the, the tough slog. I've been, uh, I've been in radio broadcasting. I was a journalist, a producer, and a host, and, you know, did all the editing and all that great stuff for 20 years. And so part of that of course, was developing the art of the interview and knowing the power of your voice, because in radio broadcasting, they can't see you, right? They can only feel you and hear you. And I thought it is so powerful. It's such an intimate art form that I knew that when I left broadcasting and went into coaching, that I had to work with people in that medium, getting them on podcasts or getting them to create, uh, audio. An audio art form is just beautiful.

But before that, prior to working in broadcasting, I worked, uh, for America Online. Now, I dunno how old you are, but back in the day...

Corby Fine: Older than I look.

Christine Blosdale: Okay. Back in the day, AOL was it. America Online was the thing, right? It was that horrible screeching sound you'd hear, and then you'd get, you know, "You've got mail!" and, uh, and it was, it was a great opportunity for me to hone in my skills on learning what people wanted. Okay. And I wrote an entertainment column. Now, I didn't write as Christine, uh, this human, I wrote through a cartoon character, uh, very vampy head, a uh, martini-toting, you know, anatomically incorrect. Um, a little tipsy, right? Because I thought it would be fun to do brutally honest movie reviews and press junkets through this cartoon character. And it was a hit. Uh, it was one of the most viewed daily columns that AOL had. Um, it won, you know, awards because of how many people would read it.

But my editor, I remember at the time, I said, so who is my audience? You know, who am I writing for? And he said, Christine, he goes, it's AOL. He says, it's, uh, your audience is from eight to 80. And I said, well, that's kind of a big range, don't you think? And he said, that's what it is, you know, if you can write and connect and make it enjoyable for that range, you're, you're good. And I was like, okay. Later, much, much later in life, I realized what I had developed by honing in that idea of being an 8-year-old looking at this content and being an 80-year-old and looking at this content. Sort of, uh, make the analogy to the Shrek movies. Uh, with Shrek, you know, if you're a kid, you love Shrek, you get it, you think it's fun. If you're an adult, you get Shrek on a different level, right? And so that's sort of what I had developed. And it's weird that it was a cartoon character that I wrote through. It just happened to be that way, but that really helped me understand how to reach audiences and to speak in a certain way or to write in a certain way.

So then when I went into broadcasting, it was the sort of the same idea. It was more, I knew it was like a commuter crowd driving in LA traffic four, you know, four o'clock in the afternoon, very large. Um, but predominantly this audience were progressives. Uh, 'cause it was a community sponsored type station, not corporate at all. And so more, um, freedom in, in the creativity that I could do. So those really honed in my skills on that. And because it was a non-profit radio station and network, we had what, uh, the PBS model of fundraising, which is you're getting something for free 'cause you're listening to it or you're watching it. Um, but we're a nonprofit and we only are alive because of donations.

Corby Fine: Right. Yes.

Christine Blosdale: And so I had to basically ask for donations. I had to ask for money on the air, on the regular, um, to keep the station alive. Well, you can't just ask for money and say, I know you're already getting something for free, right? So I had to develop my sales acumen, person, uh, skills. And so I came up with, um, thank you gifts. I had to find and source thank you gifts that I knew people wanted. And this is where I really developed that skillset of what people want. And I was very successful at it. I don't know, I, you know, um, to the tune of $1.5 million a year I raised just by going on the air and you know, throwing out that phone number repeatedly and offering thank you gifts that I knew people wanted.

And there was the pillar of three. There's three things that people want in life, and so if you're a coach or a consultant or a service provider of any sort, think of these three things, and that's health, wealth, and love. Not that I can provide love for people necessarily. But love is a, is all different kinds. Um, relationships improve, uh, people's relationships with themselves or with their family, or whoever. Um, health is a no-brainer. Look at the health industry. Look at the fitness industry. Look the, the, uh, nutrition. I mean, it's a multi-billion dollar industry. Um, that's health and then wealth. Same thing. It's a huge industry, not just, I can make you a six, seven figure, you know, entrepreneur. But wealth is a combination of those things, right? It's having time to be with your family and take vacations. Um, it's having some money in the bank and knowing that you're okay, that, that, that dream of you can, you can grow a business from the ground up and become very successful. So those three things. That's what I focused in on, what people wanted, and that's what helped me become really successful there. So it was just a natural progression going into coaching. I'm a, I'm a teacher by, you know...

Corby Fine: Got it.

Christine Blosdale: ...heart. Yeah.

Corby Fine: Yeah. First of all, I'm, I'm a fan of Donkey, but uh, you know, going back to the Shrek story...

Christine Blosdale: I know.

Corby Fine: Yeah. You become an adult. You're like, you like Donkey or a kid, you like Shrek. Maybe I'm better...

Christine Blosdale: I like that Lord Farquaad, whatever his name was.

Corby Fine: Oh, you always love the bad guy. I...

Christine Blosdale: Yes. I love the bad guy.

Corby Fine: You said something interesting because you were trying to hone your skills and find this path through what I heard was a bit of a transition as well of media formats, the evolution, you know, radio, now we're doing podcasts. There's a lot of things you talked about there.

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: And that's always changing, right? Uh, social media, digital distribution. I went to a LinkedIn corporate event less than 48 hours ago. And to your point, what you just said, like Video. Video, video.

Christine Blosdale: Video.

Corby Fine: Their advice: if you're not doing video now, even on LinkedIn, you are screwed.

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: I mean, the algorithms are video, video, video, for a number of reasons. Obviously way better to monetize, more engaging.

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: Brings life to the platform.

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: But when you're talking to people and helping people through this process, in a world where everything's changing, are there any strategies around making sure that the content and the persona and this niche ownership that people can start to take for themselves that it can live and establish itself across different formats and channels? Because you mentioned a few.

Christine Blosdale: Mm-hmm.

Corby Fine: What's the way to attack that?

Christine Blosdale: Well, what I do, because everybody's individual, so I will look at someone who comes to me, and usually they come to me and they say, I need, I need to get people to notice me. Right? Nobody knows that I exist.

Corby Fine: Sign me up for the love...

Christine Blosdale: No. No, but, but you know, I need media. I need exposure. I need people to know that I'm there. I need to get more clients. I need whatever. And so I'll take a look at them. I'll look at their digital footprint. I'll look at their messaging, their branding. I'll look at their website if they have one, hopefully, and I'll also have that conversation with them to know who they are as a person.

I have some clients that are actually, you know, quite brilliant and really good at what they do, but they're very shy. So I would not necessarily say jump on TikTok. And even though I love TikTok and I have some clients that I am putting and pushing out onto the platform of TikTok because their story is too good, or they're so unique, they're, it's like you're a TikTok star waiting to happen, but you're hiding in your silo or your basement. And so some clients I'll push in that direction and others, I'll say, that's not your style. Right? But your style is, your place is more on a LinkedIn, let's say. They're, they're two different animals completely.

So it depends on them. Um, but a lot of times they don't know what their star quality is.

Corby Fine: Hmm.

Christine Blosdale: They'll say, well, I've done this, I do this, I do that. I throw spaghetti on the wall. I, I help everybody with everything. Like, I'm like, no, you don't. No, no, no, no, no. We need to just hone in on that. And I have, I have one client here in Australia who's 82 years old, she just wants to get some, uh, press and publicity for the book that she's written, but um. A legacy builder, right? Because she's 82 years old. She was the first uh, the first female uh, balloon hot air balloonist. And this is back in the days when it was very male dominated, right? She, um, almost died like seven times. She's got a story that is so incredible about how a pod of dolphins saved her life when she was in the water, bleeding in the ocean, which if you're in Australia, you know it's shark territory.

So she's got all these great stories and I'm like, I'm seeing like a movie being made of her life. But I said, we need to get you out there. And even though you would think an 82-year-old Aussie woman wouldn't be on TikTok. On TikTok. I'm like, this is where we're putting you. We're putting you there because your stories are so great. She's got so much energy. She's got more energy than a 20-year-old. Uh, she's got this endearing quality. It's almost like that grandmother that you really wish you had. Right?

Corby Fine: Right.

Christine Blosdale: She's, she's, she's a fighter against ageism. She's an accidental feminist. And I said, you are a great role model also for young women. And she said, you think so? You think I can do that? I said, yeah. And so we're, we're working with that, but that's because of her personality. Somebody else, I would be looking at them and go, no, we're gonna go a different route. We're gonna get you interviewed on, we're gonna get you interviewed on different shows, and we're gonna develop that. Um, so it's... it's having somebody, if it's myself or someone like you, it's having someone from the outside look at you, look at your life, look at your experiences, and going, right, we're gonna cherry pick the golden nuggets.

As podcasting, hosts of podcasts, and as a former radio personality and producer, I know, I know a winner when I see one. The winner is gonna be someone who's got that great bestselling book or that amazing story. Your TikTok channel has a million views. Oh my gosh. And you're 82 years old. That's fantastic. So those stories that we know as, um, hosts and producers, those are the cherry picking things that we wanna do. I've got some clients that are, they're sitting on gold mines and they just don't realize it. They're like, oh, you know?

Corby Fine: Need to help them find it and uncover it.

Christine Blosdale: Yeah. Exactly. Exactly.

Corby Fine: So, so you're talking to a lot of different people. You're seeing a lot of different stories. Maybe what are one or two absolute must dos and maybe one or two, you kind of gotta not do that, that you see as those repeated winners and those repeated pitfalls, you know...

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: ...to really making someone that go-to authority and, and, and uncovering those stories and getting people to care.

Christine Blosdale: A really important thing is to claim your title.

Corby Fine: Hmm.

Christine Blosdale: And when I say that... I have, I've seen so many clients say, uh, I say, okay, so elevator pitch. Okay? So I meet you. Um, hi, I'm Christine. What is it that you do? And they look, some of 'em will look at you like a deer in headlights and go, uh, I do lots of things. That's the wrong answer. Right. And for the longest time, even myself, it took me a while. I mean, when I was working in radio, I could say I'm a, I'm a host producer of a radio show, but when I was starting coaching, I didn't know. I was like, well, I'm a media coach. I help people. And I didn't know I had to really work at honing in my title as an expert authority coach. Do I do other things? Do I? Do I like gardening? Do I, you know, do I like cooking? Yeah, yeah. I love all these things, but I had to really hone in on that.

I've got some people that I say, okay, so what is it that you do? Who are you?

Corby Fine: Yeah.

Christine Blosdale: And they'll say, I am. I'm an author. And I say, okay, that's not what you do. That's not who you are. That's not what you do. I said, listen to me. I'm an expert authority business coach who happens to be an author. You see the difference?

Corby Fine: So, so you're, what, what I hear you doing is almost applying the notion of a purpose and then the channel or tactic by how you actually achieve that.

Christine Blosdale: Correct.

Corby Fine: Got it.

Christine Blosdale: So it's it's like, um, a heart surgeon. Right. Your heart surgeon isn't gonna say, well, I've got a diploma in this and that and the other. Those things are important. They're on the wall and they're really important to you, you want that person to say, I'm the number one heart surgeon in New York, or whatever. Right. I'm the most sought after. Why?

Corby Fine: No, it's... I actually go to the next level and, and I would kind of take it to, um, what I wanna hear is, I saved 487 lives last year. I just happened to do it by opening up people's chests and putting their hearts back together.

Christine Blosdale: That's even better. Yeah.

Corby Fine: You could do it by all kinds of ways, right? Curing cancer or cutting off whatever limb. But, but the point is to me, I like to think about the stories coming from the outcomes, right? That like a telecommunications company doesn't say we sell phones and internet. What they should say is, we allowed 87,000 grandmothers to say goodnight to their grandkids last year, no matter where they were in the world. We just happened to do it by owning fixed lines and wireless towers.

Christine Blosdale: Which doesn't sound as sexy.

Corby Fine: Well, exactly, but I, I hear a little bit of that in what you, what you're saying. So actually that's good. So, so Christine, what do you do?

Christine Blosdale: I help overwhelmed entrepreneurs sleep at night.

Corby Fine: You just happen to do it through coaching and helping them own their space.

Christine Blosdale: Exactly.

Corby Fine: I love it.

Christine Blosdale: It's, it is, it's important and, and again, we don't, because we're hustling and we're just sort of in that one-person island. We don't see all those things, and that's why you need to have somebody from the outside, if it's a coach or a mentor, somebody that can look on the outside and look in and go, oh, did you know that you did this? And that's really important for people to know. It might be something that you just forgot, you forgot about. Right.

I remember when I started talking, uh, to people when I was um, promoting the work, um, I had forgotten that I had worked at America Online and I worked really hard during those times. I mean, it was a, it was a grind because I was on the West coast and I had an East Coast editor, so I had to get up at the crack of dawn. Uh, to get everything in to write the column for that day. 'cause it had to be written that day. So I was working against the three hour time difference, uh, and it was, it was a lot of work and I had a lot of fun. I met a lot of stars and celebrities and blah, blah, blah. um, that was important and it really gave me a lot of skills that I've carried over and I'm using today. So now I put that, I put that on my "as seen on" or "as featured in" uh, badge. The "I Love Me" wall, as we call it, the wall of fame.

Corby Fine: Neat. So let me ask you one more big question then. You've been doing this a while. You helped a lot of people. I always like to leave my audience with a couple of more, you know, tangible takeaway things that say that was worth the half an hour of listening time. So what are maybe one or two things that you would recommend given some of the changes you see coming in terms of personal branding and establishing expert authority over the next couple of years? Uh. Shit's changing. Excuse my language.

Christine Blosdale: Is that okay?

Corby Fine: The economy's all over the place. Companies are all nervous. People are trying to figure out what to do. There's political upheaval. Social media channels are changing, like it's chaos out there. So what do people do to really establish themselves in this current climate of madness?

Christine Blosdale: Well hearkening back to what you had said earlier and what we both agree on: video is king or queen in your world and you need to be creating video. And I'll say, um, a couple quick tips. If you have a website, instead of having gobs and gobs of text, please don't do that. Have a brief, tiny, short, little, maybe bio there, but above the fold, when people come to your website, if you have a video that plays, that introduces you, that you can capture somebody's attention right away, then... if you're, if you have a service where you're trying to get money from people in exchange for that service, they need to trust you. They need to know you. So they know when you're talking on that video that you're not some scammer, you know? Uh, that's really important, that first impression. It's the first thing that we see on somebody's website, right? So that's important.

Um, the other thing, in addition to doing the video, I highly recommend that you Google yourself. And when you Google yourself, you will see what has been written about you. And if there's not a lot about you, that means you need to start getting out there. So that means putting together a media kit or an EPK. For those that don't know, EPK is an electronic press kit. You can create one in Canva. I do it for my clients all the time, and you have an excellent headshot. If you have a professional photo of you that is worth its weight in gold, do not do a selfie off of your phone. Make sure it's a good representation of you. And if you're able to do that media kit, basically it just says what those accolades, those things that you've done right, those cherry picked things, uh, and that EPK can be sent out to podcast hosts, radio show hosts, producers, television, all of those different avenues. But, but get out there and take action. Too many times we live in our dreams and we say, one day I'll write that book. One day I'll create a podcast. One day I'll do a video and we don't. So taking action is absolutely the most important thing.

Corby Fine: No, I appreciate that. But if people did want more and wanted to reach out to you...

Christine Blosdale: Yeah.

Corby Fine: ...what's the best way to get you?

Christine Blosdale: The best way to get me is expertauthoritycoach.com. They can go to that website, expertauthoritycoach.com. There they can, if they're interested, if they want to talk they can, uh, schedule a strategy session and also if they want to rate their own expert authority-ness, if that's a word...

Corby Fine: It is now.

Christine Blosdale: They can, they can, uh, take my quiz. It's a scorecard quiz so you can see how you rate, uh, in your expert authority. It doesn't matter what field you're in, you can take the quiz. It's 10 questions. It's it's a great exercise to do because it's asking you the questions that you should be asking yourself, and you get rated on that so you can see where you, where you fall. And that's https://www.google.com/search?q=expertauthorityquiz.com. Yeah.

Corby Fine: Got it. I will, I will do it myself...

Christine Blosdale: Good. Oh, good.

Corby Fine: ...and report back to you and don't slap my hand if I'm bad. Uh, and I will also share that link out when I, when I do the publish. So, uh...

Christine Blosdale: Beautiful.

Corby Fine: ...that's great. Thank you. Well listen, lots to think about. I worked in radio, wasn't on radio. Kind of thought I always wanted to be, but thank God for podcasting. I enjoy it. I'm not shy, neither are you.

Christine Blosdale: Mm-hmm.

Corby Fine: Uh, Christine Blosdale, the Expert Authority coach.

Christine Blosdale: Thank you.

Corby Fine: Really appreciate the time and, I know you got up early and I'm staying up late. So, we balanced out on this one.

Christine Blosdale: Yes, yes. And we're both, we're, we're not too far. I don't even know how many thousands of miles we are apart, but thank goodness for technology, eh?

Corby Fine: Other side of the planet, but wow. The internet is working really well.

Christine Blosdale: I know.

Corby Fine: Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Christine Blosdale: I appreciate you. Thank you so much, Corby. I really appreciate you. Thank you.

Corby Fine: Take care.

Christine Blosdale: Bye.