Today I welcome to the show the original PR Warrior himself, Trevor Young from TrevorYoung.me.
Trevor specializes in PR, social media, and content marketing. His blog, PR Warrior has been named one of the top 20 best business blogs in Australia.
He’s a keynote speaker, author, trainer and consultant who has worked with major blue-chip brands, startups, fast-growth companies and individual experts.
Trevor is the author of the book microDomination: How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini-business empire around your personal brand. (affiliate link)
The examines the rise of a new breed of entrepreneur, one who is leveraging the power of the internet and social media to build their personal brand and grow their business on a global scale.
Trevor is also the Host of Reputation Revolution – the Do it yourself thought leadership and personal branding podcast.
Each week Trevor explores how you can strategically build influence, visibility and trust in today’s reputation economy.
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MICRO DOMINATION – How to leverage social media and content marketing to build a mini-business empire around your personal brand
The bulk of Trevor’s book centers around a concept Trevor describes as a micro maven. A micro maven is an expert who operates in a small niche on a global scale.
They utilize micro media to build to build their platform and brand very quickly. In the book, Trevor highlights over 20 individuals he studied over the course of a couple years while he was formulating the concept of a micro maven.
While each of these micro mavens (Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Darren Rowse for example) were operating in very different and distinct niches, Trevor noticed during his research seven characteristics that each one shared.
While the micro mavens he researched had been engaged in each of the seven characteristics for quite some time, Trevor did point out that it is possible for each one of us to become a micro maven.
But to do that, to reach that level of success we need to adhere to each the seven characteristics outlined below.
The 7 characteristics of a Micro Maven
1 – Power of Authenticity
Being transparent is the key to being authentic. Opening up the Kimono as Trevor says just enough to give you a sense of who the micro maven really is which is the beginning of building trust.
The micro mavens tell you their backstories and share with you what they learned and how their learnings have impacted their thinking and activities. But more than that they give you a look at their personal lives.
Chris Brogan, for example, talks about video games, comic books, and Batman. Doing this makes him and his story relatable to many of us. It makes us want to listen to the stories and knowledge he shares in his professional life.
Having met Chris, I can tell you he is in real life the person you believe him to be if you only observe his “online life”. He is authentic, genuine and what you see is what you get.
This will cause people to either really resonate with him or be repelled by him. If you fall into the repelled camp Chris himself will tell that’s ok. You’re not his people. But if his message and quirks resonate with you then you’ll learn just how genuine and generous he is in real life. This is the power of authenticity.
2 – Power of Blogging
I’ve stated this time and again here on this blog and Trevor points it out to us once again. The blog is the starting point for everything.
Most people shy away from a blog preferring instead to put their content on Facebook or LinkedIn only. However as Trevor points out, this like building your platform on rented land.
What happens if Facebook or LinkedIn suddenly change the rules, which both of them do quite often or worse they go out of business? As unlikely as that sounds if it happens you will lose everything you have worked to build in an instant.
Trevor like myself believes the blog should be the hub of all your content. Everything you do online should always drive people back to your blog.
Advantages of blogging include the ability to clarify your thoughts, reach a larger audience, and find your voice. Blogging also tells others that you care and you have the discipline to show up. Showing up is a key differentiator between you and the people you look up to online.
3 – Power of Social Participation
Gen Xer’s I’ve met generally fall into one of two camps when it comes to social media. The first camp is social media adverse. They don’t get the point and actively avoid it. Their loss.
The second camp goes social media hog wild. They jump on every social media bandwagon they can find. As a result, they leave dead and half started social media accounts in their wake. They have no strategy.
Micro mavens, on the other hand, use social media to earn people’s trust and continue to grow their influence and authority.
As their audience grows they can and will be contacted by journalists, podcasters and other writers for quotes, interviews or other earned media opportunities.
4 – Power of Relentless Giving
Trevor believes this is where the micro maven stands out and “separate the wheat from the chafe”. Relentless giving is a key differentiator between a micro maven and the pretenders.
Micro mavens give and give and give with no expectation of gaining anything in return. Pretenders give hoping to gain something in return.
Gary Vaynerchuck, for example, put out one thousand videos for Wine Library TV. One thousand videos! Sure he sold wine and grew his family’s business but his intent through all one thousand shows was not to sell but to educate people about wine.
He had no idea where Wine Library TV would take him when he started. But he showed up over and over again. He put in time and effort while no one was watching yet was undeterred from continuing to show up and share his knowledge.
I’ve seen too many people start something with high expectations only to stop after a few months because the expectations were not being met. Their problem was not the content they put out.
It was the expectation that their efforts would immediately pay them back.
Micro mavens don’t even think about expectations. They give what they know because they know of no other way.
5 – Power of Building a Community
Each of the characteristics noted above builds on top of each and they generate this cumulative effect to create a community.
It’s important to point out that community is earned.
It’s not handed to the micro mavens it happens organically because they have been authentic, they have blogged about their thoughts and learning’s, they participated in social, they have given relentlessly and they continue to show up time and again.
A community doesn’t happen overnight. It develops with the micro maven over time. As Gary Vee points out in this video there is no such thing as an overnight success. Micro mavens know this more than anyone else.
6 – Power of Generating Revenue from Multiple Sources
The vast majority of people who start out blogging do so because they believe they can make money blogging. I don’t blame them for thinking this way. There are a number of online “gurus” who will tell you the same thing.
Hopefully, by now you have realized the flaw in this thinking. Only by exhibiting characteristics one through five can you experience the privilege of generating revenue from multiple sources.
Trevor and I discuss a number of sources micro mavens use to generate revenue including building software, courses, eBooks, consulting, coaching (mentoring) and, of course, publishing a book.
And while a book is one of the many methods you can utilize as a source of revenue as Trevor points out it’s really a conversation starter with the ability to open a door for you, you may never have imagined.
7 – Power of Pressing the Flesh
Micro mavens continue the power of relentless giving by getting out from behind the computer and engaging with their community in real life. When attending the conferences they reach out to and hold meet ups with their community.
To the micro maven, it doesn’t matter if one or two hundred people attend these meet ups. They view them as an opportunity to meet with and engage with the people who support them.
TREVOR YOUNG WRAP
The best way to reach Trevor is:
Twitter: @trevoryoung
Website: trevoryoung.me
Book: microDomination
Podcast: The Reputation Revolution
Trevor leaves us with this final tip:
“Don’t wait to be perfect to get started. There is no perfect time or content. Starting is much better than waiting it out. This is a long term, on going activity and so it’s not so much where you start as it is where you end up.”
