If you’re approaching the magic time in life, somewhere between 10 and 20 years of working at your chosen expertise, you’re ready to get paid. Not for your labor or the hourly wage you earn no matter how generous it is. You’ve been doing that for years. If you’re like most of us, you’re ready to be paid for your knowledge. Wouldn’t that be sweet!

I wish I could tell you it’s that easy. That someone could come in and wave a magic wand and POOF! You are a household name. If you were to ask any famous people, and I know my fair share, you would also know it took them 20 hard years to become that overnight success. One of the Laws of the Universe for true success is you have to do the work first. Good ideas are a dime a dozen.

The good news is this: if you’ve paid your dues and have acquired intangible knowledge, priceless experience and yes, even insights into your chosen field, you are ready to be paid for that knowledge. What you need now is to position yourself strategically in front of the people with the checkbook.

There are 10 questions I use with new clients to make sure they create the results they really want. It may seem like an unimportant task, but it is critical. You see, we go out and spend a lot of money on brochures or websites, but if the message is off, you won’t hit your target. These 10 essential questions will help you quickly clarify your own personal strategy.

1. What is your revenue bucket?

To answer this question you need to go a few years into the future, between 3 and 5. Now ask yourself how much money have you earned? That gives you the clues to where your wealth will come from. If you don’t have a revenue bucket to catch all the good leads, clients or sales you create, the energy will go to someone else who does have their bucket in place.

2. What do you want to be paid for?

This question is trickier than it looks. You want to ask yourself to distinguish between the job that you are very good at (you’ve been doing it for years) and the one you want to do. You will create a different publicity or marketing strategy depending on the path you choose, be it, keynote speeches, workshops, clients or consulting.

3. Who needs to hear your message? One of the greatest secrets of success is to find a need and fill it. (Napoleon Hill, Think and Grown Rich) So ask yourself, “Who needs to hear my message?” Once you have identified the group, the next step is to look at their ability to pay. This answer will guide you in the development of your personal strategy and choices of the products, services and talks you offer the public.

4. How do I want my message delivered? This answer has more to do with your personality than anything else. Do you love large groups of people or one-on-one interactions? Do you work at home to avoid the traffic? All of these types of questions will help you narrow your choice of delivery. For a large ticket item, you may have to develop a multi step strategy, and make sure it works with your lifestyle.

5. How do I show myself to prospective clients?

This may seem straightforward but your presentation to the world needs to be consistent with what you are selling. In today’s world a website is a must. It is now to business credibility what the business card use to be. If you say, “my website’s under construction” or “I don’t like my website” STOP!!!!! You

are telling your potential clients you don’t take care of priorities. Now would you want to do business with that person? Probably not. Besides having a clean and easy to navigate site, make sure your clients can easily access the information you want them to buy.

6. What century are you living in?

Are you in the electronic age? Do you have a digital press kit, speaker’s kit and media kit? These are not the same and may share some of the same elements but not all. Your bio should be angled towards the type of interest you are trying to create. In my media book, where I create bios to pitch my client to the press and broadcast media, I often write 2 or 3 bios that speak right to the topic area the reporter is writing about. I then fine-tune the pitch to answer the reporter’s questions. All of these kits should be in a pdf or zip format and ready to be download or sent when you need it.

7. Are you ready to go?

You need to have your media savvy suitcase packed at all times. Quick name a business you admire. Now how do you know about them? Nine times out of 10 it is because you read about them in an article, saw an advertisement or heard about them in the news. Ten times out of 10 it is because they were visible to you. If a company, person or celebrity is packaged correctly, you have a favorable impression, if not, you have an image that is hard to shake. Make sure you are always ready to put your best foot forward the first time. If you’re not ready, get ready to be successful.

8. Who’s story are you telling?

The only one interested in your story is your mother. You want to start telling the story from your customer’s point of view. What’s so special about your product or service? We want the substance of your expertise, the Cliff notes to life, if you will. What do you do different than anybody else. You will find it is a unique mixture of your life’s experiences plus your expertise that defines your competitive edge. It doesn’t matter what your chosen profession is, Who you are is all that matters. We still do business with people we like and who are like us. Know yourself.

9. Do You Know how to use the right media at the right time?

While all publicity is good, not all of it leads to the same outcome. If you are focusing on sales, an article about your great customer service won’t bring customers in the door, today. On the day that customer needs what you are selling, they’ll remember you. A sale is determined by the alignment of certain events. Here’s the formula Need + Recognition =Sale. The first element is the customer has a need. You are not going to buy a product for a headache if you don’t have a headache. Same with your customer. You can try to create a false sense of urgency, but that’s a cheap shot. The second element is recognition and you can work on that aspect all year round. Don’t you want them purchasing your headache remedy on the day the headache arrives? Well if they don’t know about you, your products and services they won’t buy from you. Begin today to cultivate your own fans.

10. Are you ready to be successful?

You will not believe the number of people I have worked with in the past who were not really ready to embrace their success. It always surprises me because I only work with those who have the goods, whether they really see it or not. Get your head ready for success. It comes in a whisper and a wave. One day, everything will come together and you will have the opportunity to go for it. No matter what, go through the door that is opened for you and “fake it, til you make it.” You’ll see that you’ve been waiting for this very moment your whole life and yes, you do have what it takes. You just need to believe in yourself.