I was attending a commercial real estate network event, representing my real estate company where another company owner and broker approached me.  He told me his company had just spent a considerable amount of money on a consultant to find out how to best influence his target market in order to perceive his company as the market experts.  His company was told they needed to write and publish a book on commercial property to become instantly recognized as the market experts. Then he said that he’d been given the assignment, by his partners, to write that book right away. I guess they were thinking he’d get it done in his spare time!

The expensive consultant was right!

Journalism is one of the two fastest ways to be perceived as an expert on any subject, the other is to teach. 

Teaching however is far less visible to the general public than journalism.  I've been using journalism to convey the message that I'm the market expert for many years. First, as a regular columnist for the Commercial Property News (San Francisco) and later for the Bay Area's largest independently owned newspapers, plus writing for my own company's tabloid publication. Getting those columns published netted me some very large commissions, both directly and indirectly.

In fact, I¹d just self-published "Investor's Guide to Commercial Real Estate". It¹s a simple and direct 101-page book that gives the investor some great tips, positions me as the expert, and shows them the value of my services.