Popular or paid? You pick. (How to become a trusted expert)

Find Your Superpower newsletter 120

Read time: 5 minutes

Topics covered: Trusted expert, Brand positioning, Find Your Superpower Summit 2025 early bird sale ending

"Likes on LinkedIn don’t pay the bills..."

I’ve said this phrase so often that even I am tired of hearing myself say it.

But let me unpack what I really mean: Being known isn’t the same as being paid.

Sure, you can point to mega-celebrities and influencers as exceptions. But for the majority of us, we likely won’t pay our bills by posting daily on social media.

For most corporate executives, visibility without depth doesn’t reliably convert to income.

What it does do, however, is bind us to a hamster wheel of content creation. We become aura farmers caught in an exhausting, never-ending cycle of validation seeking. If we already have a full-time day job, I highly doubt that we want a second job.

Without a business model on the back-end, there’s no clear path to monetizing that aura on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Most brand coaching focuses on creating visibility

As a branding coach, I specialize in LinkedIn branding, although I strangely have more followers on Instagram (that, for another newsletter).

But in discussions with my clients, they remind me:

• "Juliana, I’m not trying to sell anything."
• "I’m not posting on LinkedIn to become an influencer."
• "I just want to share my knowledge and create impact."

I read between the lines and I think that my clients are telling me that they don’t want visibility for the sake of it.

In fact, some of them abhor the idea of being "industry famous" altogether.

They tell me that they would prefer to play padel with their partner instead of posting on LinkedIn all day (h/t to DS).

I believe that my clients want clear outcomes such as clinching a well-paid position, respect from their industry peers, recognition that they are industry experts, and invitations to give keynotes and accept board positions. Not popularity.

These days, however, most brand coaching focuses on superficial aspects such as social media content creation, how to speak well on stage, and how to get featured in newspapers and on TV.

Please don’t get me wrong; visibility matters. Visibility matters a lot.

But true industry experts don’t have to be the best speakers and writers to become visible.

In fact, most of them aren’t all that terrific speakers and writers given they invest the majority of their time on their core expertise.

Instead, they attract global visibility and widespread acclaim because they have created something everyone wants: intellectual property (IP).

Why intellectual property matters so much

Your IP is the one thing that differentiates you from the competition and gets you paid.

It is your blue-ocean strategy... on steroids.

It is your ability to organize your hard-earned knowledge, deep experience and primary data into frameworks and insights that others can appreciate and apply with ease.

Without signature IP, you risk fading into the noise: derivative ideas, opinions without data to back them, and a fragile one-basket revenue model vulnerable to disruption in the AI-agent era.

The pattern is consistent across industries:

• Marie Kondo didn’t become famous because she was the best home organizer. She developed her signature KonMari Method and turned it into a movement via her bestselling book, before scaling it into products, workshops and licensing agreements.
• Simon Sinek didn’t get six-figure keynote bookings from posting on LinkedIn. His rise began with a TED Talk on his "Start With Why" framework, which he now teaches to enterprise clients for a premium fee.
• Alex Hormozi may have a massive following from publishing videos regularly on social media. But his claim to fame is from creating the Gym Launch system to make gyms money within 30 days.

Without their signature frameworks, none of these folks would be seen as trusted experts nor would they have achieved the global influence they now possess.

My "Trusted Expert" framework

I’m proud to share that I’ve been developing new curriculum that will culminate in a brand-new 10-week advanced bootcamp starting in February 2026.

For 10 weeks, I’ll return to my roots as Professor Chan, guiding you step by step to build signature IP and package your expertise into practical formats clients value and pay for.

I’ll share my complete curriculum for the first time at my Find Your Superpower Summit 2025 on 31 October.

In my keynote, I’ll walk you through:

• A simple diagnostic that reveals exactly where you stand as an expert, and why some professionals with deep expertise remain invisible while others become the go-to authority
• My proven system for building IP and multiple income streams that clients will pay premium fees for
• The critical difference between being popular and being paid

I would love for you to join me at my flagship summit on 31 October.

Tickets are now 85% sold out, and early bird sales end in 3 days.

I think being a trusted expert pays the bills the best.

Cheering you on,
Juliana your rocketship captain 🚀

PS: Early bird pricing ends September 30! That’s just 3 days left to lock in your spot before rates increase. Secure your ticket now at findyoursuperpower.com/summit 🎟️