This next step might be the most challenging part of the whole Passion Pays the Bills series. This is the step where you take yourself and your passion seriously. Where you envision your future success and embrace your expert status.

I can hear you thinking, “but I’m not an expert.” (Believe me, I’ve been there. I still visit there from time to time. *wink*)

Maybe only your pet or your diary knows about your thing. Maybe you wake up in the middle of the night with your heart pounding when you think about taking the next step on the path to your passion. Maybe you don’t have your degree or your diploma yet. Maybe you still need to read that book, take that class or complete that certification.

Never mind if you’re not a success yet.

You’re going to act as if you are.

…

Internet lore has it that Irving Berlin declared after writing White Christmas, “I just wrote the best song I’ve ever written — hell, I’ve just written the best song anyone has ever written.”

Now that statement might seem arrogant (and is probably untrue), but it’s useful for demonstrating a rock-solid belief in one’s own talent.

To succeed, you really have to believe  — or act as if you believe  — that you and your thing are the best things since sliced bread, the post-it or the song White Christmas.

…

Now when I tell you to act as if you’re an expert, I am not suggesting that you adopt some obnoxious, phony-baloney, know-it-all persona. You still need to be you. In fact, it’s crucial to be yourself. (After all, this is about you, you and your thing.)

But be the Technicolor you. Be you with the volume turned up.

…

When you’re talking to people about your passion, you need to act as like the Internet Irving Berlin.

(Please) not conceited or pompous. Don’t invent accomplishments or pad your resume. This is not about arrogance.

It’s about confidence.

Confidence in your skills and your knowledge and your talent. Confidence in your ideas and your plans for the future. Confidence in what you — and only you — have to offer. And what you, and only you, can create.

…

It doesn’t pay to be apologetic or tentative when you’re pitching your passion or yourself. The people out there waiting for you and your thing need you to tell them it’s here. They need you to explain why you do your thing and why you’re good at it. And what they’ll get out of it.

They need you to tell them why you and your thing are great.

So …  if talking about yourself or promoting your thing makes you uncomfortable, you need to act like it doesn’t.