How to Monetize Your Knowledge & Expertise (5 simple steps)

Want to turn your skills into money? Then you’ve come to the right place.

Today, you’ll learn how to monetize your expertise. 

Plus, I’ll share the most profitable options available to you

So by the end of this article, you’ll know exactly how to turn what you know into an income. 

Ready to get started?

Then let’s dive in.

Biggest takeaways: 

• You can monetize your expertise with a business model like coaching, consulting, freelancing, or selling online courses
• Choose an existing skill people want to pay for 
• Position your business in the right way (by finding the right target audience for your offer)

What does monetizing your skills mean?

Simply put, “monetizing your skills” means finding ways to earn money from what you’re already good at.

Why do this?

For starters, it creates a nice side income. 

But eventually, it might develop into a full-time business, giving you more financial freedom and joy from doing what you love.

That’s what happened to me.

I was working at a tech startup, managing a team and millions in revenue. 

For a few years, I’d wanted to start a business… but I was just too comfortable in my job. 

That all changed when my dad had to be rushed to the ER, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my sister lost her eyesight…All within a year. 

And I didn’t have any more PTO. That’s when I decided to start my own business so that I could create more freedom in my life and use it on what’s most important to me – my family. 

I wanted to start an online business because of the flexibility. And because I had co-founded a payments startup before, I knew I wanted to build a business that wouldn’t require funding.

In other words, I wasn’t going to try to build the next Amazon or Facebook. Instead, I was going to use skills I already had and build a profitable, yet low-risk, business that would allow me to quit my job.

After trying a few businesses (career coaching and Excel consulting), I finally settled on a skill I had learned in my 9-5 – digital advertising consulting. 

Ultimately, I built that business to the point where I was able to hand in my resignation letter. I then pivoted to my current business, where I help people start their own profitable online businesses. 

It all comes down to: 

What kind of skills can you monetize?

Here’s a short list of just a few in-demand skills: 

• AI development
• Digital marketing
• Graphic design
• Personal fitness
• Programming
• Writing and editing

That said, whatever your current skills are, there’s potential to turn them into an income – especially if you decide to coach or consult others.

With that in mind, let’s look at the top ways to monetize your skills.

Best ways to monetize your expertise

Having specialist skills is all well and good. But to make them into a profit, you’ll need to monetize them in the best way possible.

So let’s explore the best ways to turn your expertise into income.

1. Coaching/consulting

Coaching and consulting are number one on the list.

Why?

Because they tick all the boxes of a great business model. They:

• Are easy to set up
• Offer high-profit margins
• Can be started right away

So what’s the difference between coaching and consulting?

Simply put:

• In coaching, you help clients become better at what you’ve already mastered
• In consulting, you fix specific problems for clients

In this video, I dive deeper into what coaching is:

The best part is that you can apply this business model to any hobby or job skill.

And because you offer such a valuable service, you can charge more too. In fact, most of my students earn six to seven figures with their coaching/consulting businesses.

2. Online courses

With online courses, you package what you know into structured lessons.

Building a course takes work, but once it’s up, you can sell it for many years. This makes it an awesome source of passive income.

The best strategy?

Start with coaching or consulting to understand your audience’s needs and fine-tune your content.

Then, transform your offer into a course.

To help you out, I share exactly how to create a course that sells in this video:

3. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a smart way to make some extra money.

Here’s how it works:

1. Recommend relevant products or services
2. Get a commission whenever someone buys through your referral link

Affiliate marketing can bring in passive income, but your earnings depend on how many purchases are made through your link.

Remember… 

A big following means more chances of sales. But it’s your audience’s loyalty that really drives profits.

My advice?

Use affiliate marketing as a bonus. Grow your audience in other ways, and then add affiliate deals to increase your income.

4. Digital products

Digital products share some similarities with online courses. For example:

• They take effort to create
• Once they’re done, they can bring in income for years

The great thing about digital products is that you don’t have to worry about inventory or shipping. This means lower financial risks.

Not sure what to sell? 

Here are some popular examples:

• Planners
• Templates
• Guides
• Checklists

The key is to create something that fixes specific problems. This makes your products valuable because they offer solutions that people are actively searching for.

5. Public speaking

Public speaking is a powerful way to establish yourself as an expert. The awesome part is that you can get paid for it too.

All you need is:

• Your knowledge
• Good communication skills
• The ability to engage an audience (or the desire to learn how to do it)

A fear of public speaking makes this option challenging – but that doesn’t mean you can’t get better at it! (More on how to overcome your entrepreneurial fears in a bit…)

Want to maximize your earnings? Then I recommend you do the following:

• Focus on lucrative niches like corporate events and conferences
• Create workshops or training sessions that organizations can offer their employees
• Provide personalized coaching or consulting sessions for deeper engagement

6. Memberships

Memberships, or subscriptions, have become a popular business model. In fact, the average US consumer spends almost $300 a month on them.

A membership model offers business owners many benefits, like more:

• Stability
• Customer loyalty
• Sales

However, subscription fatigue is also growing…
To combat this, you could have a tiered pricing strategy instead of a single flat rate.

This would allow you to have membership levels that cater to everyone, whatever their needs and budgets.

7. Podcasts

Podcasts are the perfect platform to explore topics in depth. You can:

• Discuss what you know well
• Interview experts in the field

For instance, here I am as a guest on the More Money podcast.

Podcasts help build a stronger connection with your audience. But keep in mind that growing an audience takes time.

You can monetize podcasts through:

• Ads
• Sponsorships
• Memberships
• Affiliate marketing

8. Ebooks

Ebooks let you package your knowledge and sell it in a format that’s easy to consume. 

With self-publishing, you take your knowledge directly to your audience. 

This means you’re in charge of everything, which can be both fun and exhausting.

Another challenge to consider is the crowded market – if you want a successful ebook, you’ll have to create one that stands out. 

Plus, while self-publishing platforms like Amazon Kindle and Apple Books offer exposure, they also take a cut of your earnings.

That’s why you shouldn’t make them your main source of income. Instead, leverage them to lead readers to other services you offer, like coaching or online courses.

OK, these were the top eight ways to make money from what you already know.

Ready to find out HOW to monetize your expertise?

Great, because that’s what we’ll be covering next!

How to monetize your expertise

Monetizing your expertise doesn’t have to be complicated. Most of it comes down to having the right strategy.

Let’s go over the five steps together.

Overcome your fears

Raise your hand if you’re feeling:

• Unprepared
• Nervous about failing
• Worried you don’t have enough expertise
• Anxious about taking risks
• Scared of being exposed as a “fraud”

These are all signs of imposter syndrome, which is common among high achievers.

It’s crippling. It drains your energy. And it can create a cycle of negative self-doubt.

But here’s the thing:

You need to start somewhere.

A bit of fear can actually motivate you. But when it holds you back from even starting out, that’s when it becomes negative.

Instead, try to embrace an entrepreneurial mindset.

This means:

• Seeing challenges as opportunities
• Becoming action-oriented
• Learning from setbacks
• Believing in your potential for success

Need help overcoming your business fears? Then check out this video:

The next step is to find your niche. 

Pick a niche

Niching down helps you:

• Become a go-to choice
• Stand out with less competition
• Charge more for specialized solutions

To find your niche, think of WHO you want to help with WHAT.

In this video, I share the one sentence you’ll need to pick your niche:

Once you’ve thought of a niche, it’s time for market research.

After all, the most profitable niches fulfill a specific market need.

To know if there’s a demand, you have to talk to your audience — just reading about them isn’t enough.

The goal is to identify:

• Who your target audience is
• What problems they have
• How you can help them

Once you’ve figured this out, the next step is packaging your offer.

Package your offer

I recommend my students to work with productized services. These services solve specific problems and are sold as packaged products.

Why work with packages?

Because packaging your offer helps you break out of the hourly rate.

Instead of charging for the hours you put in, you’re paid for the results you deliver. This boosts your income. Plus, it attracts the right kind of clients.

You see, cheap clients work with someone because of the low price.

But premium clients pay for value. In other words, they prioritize results over cost.

I talk more about how to set prices that attract your ideal clients here:

To develop your packages, start by writing down the questions you often get asked. This shows what you’re good at AND what potential clients might struggle with.

Next, turn these insights into structured packages that directly address these needs.

Great! You’ve got your package ready.

Now it’s time to share it with the world.

Market your offer 

To make your business profitable, you need clients.

But how do you land those first clients?

For one, hold off on that website for now.

Why?

Because when you’re starting, platforms like niche Facebook groups, Twitter, and LinkedIn are much better marketing tools.

How do I know this?

Well, it’s exactly how I kicked off my coaching business.

I dove into Facebook groups where I knew potential clients would be. Then, I offered value there week after week.

Seeing what I could offer, people started reaching out to me. And within just four months, I had earned over $100,000 — enough to leave my day job.

But before I could make this happen, there was still one important step left: Delivering my offer.

Deliver your offer

Now that you’ve got their attention, what’s next?

Making your service or product even better!

For this, you actively need to ask clients for feedback:

• How was their experience?
• What did they love?
• What could be better?

This direct feedback is invaluable. It helps you refine your offer and sets your business up for long-term success.

What’s next?

And that’s a wrap! You now know how to monetize your expertise.

There’s nothing better than using your knowledge to help others, right?

That said, running a highly successful business takes time and effort…

Want to learn more?

Then grab my free guide on the biggest mistakes people make when starting to monetize their expertise. 

Read more:

How to Start a Freedom Business

How to Finally Go from Employee to Entrepreneur

How to Make Money Teaching Online