Knowledge is the new money

We live in the Knowledge Economy. Many gurus say that, but what does it mean exactly?

Specifically, what is the impact of this Knowledge Economy on your bank account? In other words, how can YOU get rich in this Knowledge Economy?

Four things:

1. Function
2. Understandability
3. Usability
4. Sensual feel and physical / intellectual control

1. Function. You have to figure out exactly WHAT is the function of knowledge in your profession or business. How do you acquire knowledge, and how does it work for you?

2. Understandability. What is the specific process through which you acquire knowledge, and what is the methodology you use to apply and market your knowledge?

3. Usability. How usable are the systems you interact with, in your work or business? How usable are YOU to others (collaborators, clients, coworkers, etc.) so that they can easily gain knowledge from you?

4. Feeling and Control. How in control do you feel regarding your knowledge processes, and how good do you feel when you use those systems?

The bottom line is, How do you use knowledge to create value (and, therefore, make money)?

If you're a consultant at a big consulting firm, it's easy: you use your education and training, as well as the knowledge database of the company, to acquire knowledge which you then customize and apply to a client's specific situation to produce a recommendation, a solution, etc.

What if you are a retail salesperson? Well, you could jot down in a notebook, every day, all the specific selling techniques or selling words that you tried, and separate what worked (i.e. resulted in a sale) and what did NOT work. This notebook ensures that you will constantly develop your selling skills, according to a quasi-scientific method of tracking results, interpreting them and formulating useful conclusions for future guidance.

There is not a single job out there that could not benefit from a greater awareness of the role of knowledge in creating value.

The success secret is to carefully answer the above 4 questions, so that eventually, you can become the master of your personal and professional knowledge. Only then will you be able to make money from systematically gathering knowledge (from quasi-infinite libraries like Google) and applying it to help clients/employers (and of course make a bundle in the process).