Why Professors are Criticized

Ever wonder why some of the brightest minds in academia struggle to make it in the entrepreneurial world? Learn why firsthand experience is the game-changer that can elevate your credibility and authenticity when it comes to selling.

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@drsheenahoward | Power Your Research

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

But it's different to tell someone how to do something than it is to actually have done it and experienced it yourself. This is actually a criticism that a lot of professors face. I don't want my work to be stuck behind an academic paywall. I want to leave a legacy, I want to reach my potential and I want to change lives. This podcast, power your Research, is my attempt to help the smartest people in the world do that very thing. My hope is that you use the lessons I share to make more money than what your higher ed job can ever pay you. I've done it, my clients have done it, and so can you. My hope is that you'll apply what you learn here and one day join the Power your Research program, where you can work with me one on one. I work with a lot of academics and people with advanced degrees that have coaching programs, that have online courses, that even just want to sell themselves for speaking engagements, and the top problem I see is that people don't have enough customers. They don't have a study stream of even potential customers in order to have consistent customers every month or every week, and there's a lot of things around selling that are important and my average academic doesn't think like an entrepreneur. They think like an academic, and so those two are sometimes really on opposite ends of the spectrum around how you should operate in the world. And so I want to share one top tip with you that is extremely important, especially today, where everybody has access to get in front of a camera and sell something. I want to share this with you, and that is be the change that you are selling. Be the change that you are selling. Be an example, a case study of the thing you are selling. Be the change that you are selling. Be an example, a case study of the thing you are selling. Now, this is really important for professors, and the reason why I believe this is really important for professors because a lot of professors have been professors for a long time, and while they can teach you, let's say, about the publishing industry, it doesn't mean they actually know how to publish a book in the real world. While they can teach you how to write a good book, it doesn't actually mean that they've actually written a book that has commercial success. The same thing with business professors or whatever it is they can teach you something like the diffusion of innovation theory or something like that, but it doesn't mean that they've actually done it in practice. And they may be able to give really concrete examples of how to do the things, but it's different to tell someone how to do something than it is to actually have done it and experienced it yourself. This is actually a criticism that a lot of professors face. The people say that they can teach a thing, but they actually don't have real world experience. Now, I'm not telling you that that is the case or that I necessarily believe that.

Speaker 1: 3:15

Hey, everyone, real quick. I don't run any ads on this podcast, so I have to rely on word of mouth. If this podcast has helped you in any way, please share it with a friend and follow me, dr Sheena Howard, on LinkedIn, where I give more free content on building your brand as an academic. If you tell me you came to my LinkedIn from the podcast, I'll make sure I accept your request. I will say that I studied comic books and comic strips and I wrote my dissertation on comic books and comic strips and, studying it academically, I got to a point where I felt like it was really important for me to actually write comic books in order for me to experience what that world was like and actually talk about it from a place of more credibility.

Speaker 1: 4:01

That's my personal opinion, so I don't just teach comic book theory and how to write comic books. I actually write them and have written them for Marvel in DC, so it gives me another level of credibility. I think this is an important transition for academics who actually want to build their brand, and it ties into the topic today how to sell things. If you could be an example of the transformation you promise, then you don't have imposter syndrome when trying to sell something to someone, you don't have any sort of fears around. Will this thing work? You are speaking from a place of authenticity and credibility because you are actually the result of the transformation you are selling. So my top tip for how to sell things is actually be a case study and an example for what you are selling and don't oversell the thing.

Speaker 1: 4:53

If you've never created and run a $1 million company, do not even imply that you have. Do not even pretend that you have. So we see this a lot in the online space people implying that they are millionaires or leading their customers to believe that they are, and so their customers are buying into things that the person that is leading them. They haven't done it and, as a result, their content is not resonating with anybody because they are not actually the transformation they are promising and they're not being truthful, and so keep that in mind, and I think that it will make your online presence, particularly your social media strategy, a lot more fruitful for you, because you won't have those hang-ups right. So keep that in mind. I hope that helps. Again, my name is Dr Sheena Howard. I'm the founder of Power your Research, an academic branding company where I help academics and educators increase their visibility, authority and income without the expense of a publicist.