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Alastair McDermott helps experts to become known as the recognized authority in your field so you can command premium fees, work less hours, and never have to suffer a bad-fit client again!

He hosts The Recognized Authority podcast, and has written a number of practical guides to building authority.

Alastair McDermott helps independent experts & consultants to earn more by rapidly building authority and visibility so that you can command premium fees, work less hours, and never have to suffer a bad-fit client again!

Alastair is an author, consultant & business coach. He hosts The Recognized Authority podcast, and has written a number of practical guides to building authority through content creation.

His most recent book is “33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast“.

He is currently working on his next book: “Recognized: How to Win & Retain High-Ticket Clients by Becoming the Prominent Authority in Your Field“.

Talking Points/Questions

  1. How to become a recognized authority in your field
  2. Why & how to build authority
  3. How to scale up your content production without reducing quality
  4. How to have a full calendar of daily content on your social media profiles for just 2 hours work per month
  5. How to niche down your business
  6. Why vertical specialization is a silver bullet
  7. Why referrals are dangerous
  8. Why it’s harder to sell consulting
  9. Why audio & video quality matter far more than you think
  10. How to look and sound amazing on video
  11. What is the Authority Maturity ModelTM
  12. Why I surveyed over 1,200 consultants about marketing
  13. What it was like growing up in an adventure centre
  14. How I got a job because of a computer game

Speaker, Podcast & Radio Guest

Alastair has spoken at many business & marketing events, and been invited as a guest lecturer at top universities including University of Limerick, University College Cork, and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.

He has also appeared on radio and podcast with Dublin City FM’s Inspirational People, Inspirational Stories, as well as The Self-Made Expert, The Accelerate Sales Podcast, INC60, Hallway Chats, Dealing with Goliath, Social Media Chats, The Unpolished MBA, Make Your Someday Today and many more.

Note for podcast hosts: Alastair will show up on time, in an acoustically treated room with a professional microphone. Local audio recording file available on request – ask before we record!

33 Ways Not to Screw Up
Your Business Podcast​

Do you want to:

✓ grow your audience?

✓ establish yourself as a thought leader or improve your engagement levels as an existing thought leader?

✓ build better relationships with potential and current clients that lead to increased earnings?

This book is for business leaders & entrepreneurs who want to start a podcast that achieves these goals, without screwing it up.

It includes in-depth coverage of 33 crucial elements for every business podcast. You’ll discover:

  • three critical strategic mistakes to avoid with your podcast
  • the best and worst podcast formats for business
  • how your business goal completely changes the type of guest you should invite
  • the rookie mistake many business owners make with podcast workflow
  • how to make a bland office sound like a professional recording studio

If you’re ready to create an effective podcast that achieves your business goals, read this book.

“The only podcasting guide you’ll need”

— Anne Janzer

33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast - book cover

“If you’re serious about starting your first business podcast, I guarantee that reading this book will be well worth your time and money”

— Jonathan Stark

Books: Expert Authority Builder Series

Alastair has written a number of books, workbooks and practical guides, including the Expert Authority Builder series.

  • Quick-Win Content [2023] – published by The Recognized Authority

  • Efficient Content Creation [2023] – published by The Recognized Authority

  • Your Podcast Launch Workbook Podcast [2022] – published by The Recognized Authority

  • 33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast [2022] – published by Networlding

  • How to Sound & Look Good on Zoom & Podcasts [2022] – published by Oak Tree Press

  • Running a Website with WordPress [2015] – published by WebsiteDoctor

Coming soon:

  • Niching Down: How to Grow Your Consulting Business Through Specialization [Spring 2024]

  • Recognized: How to Become Known as a Recognized Authority in Your Field so You Can Command Premium Fees., Work Less Hours, and Never Have to Suffer a Bad-Fit Client Again [Late 2024]

Career/Business Timeline

  • First job ever: assistant kayaking instructor
  • First job post-college: mainframe assembler programming
  • Six years at Sun Microsystems as software engineer
  • Started online marketing business in early 2007
  • Successful first year with six figure project
  • Financial crisis 2008-2011 almost destroyed business
  • Two failed start-ups in 2010 & 2012
  • Slowly built consulting business back up from 2012-2020
  • Despite COVID-19, 2020 best revenue year since 2007

Videos

Selection of Interviews

  1. Becoming A Recognized Authority In Your Field With Alastair McDermott (The Better Way to Strategic Marketing, May 2022)
  2. 33 Ways Not to Screw Up Your Business Podcast (The Marketing Book Podcast, August 2023)
  3. Create An Unfair Advantage with Alastair McDermott (Virtually Famous, May 2022)
  4. Command Higher Fees & Get Better Clients With Alastair McDermott (When It Worked, Apr 2022)
  5. Specialization and Authority with Alastair McDermott (The Self-Made Expert #154, Oct 2021)
  6. How to Scale and Productize Your Consulting Business with Alastair McDermott (Alisa Meredith YouTube Live, Oct 2021)
  7. How To Market Your Consulting Business With Alastair McDermott (Build Live Give #305, June 2021)
  8. How to Get Clients without Relying on Word of Mouth Referrals  (Dealing with Goliath #026, Nov 2020)
  9. How to Test & Promote my Online Course (How I Built It #231, Aug 2021)
  10. How to Specialize in Your Business and Marketing (The Audience Converter Podcast #078, Feb 2021)
  11. Inspirational People with Alastair McDermott (Dublin City FM, August 2020)
  12. How Consultants Avoid the Feast or Famine Rollercoaster (Dealing with Goliath #014, Aug 2020)
  13. Getting Your Business Online with Alastair McDermott (INC60, Aug 2018)
The Specialization Podcast

The Specialization Podcast:
An Educational Podcast Series

The Specialization Podcast: how to niche down your expert consulting business so that you can have more impact, command higher fees and work with better clients.

The Specialization Podcast is an educational podcast series focused on helping you to understand and implement specialization in your expert business.

If you are a consultant or expert and you are considering specializing your business, you’re in the right place.

Important Links

Here’s my important links in a simple copy-pastable format:

Photos

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Book: "How to Sound & Look Good on Zoom & Podcasts"

If you’re a consultant or other professional and you’re using Zoom (or Teams) for client meetings or you’re podcasting, you need to read this ebook.

HOW TO SOUND & LOOK GOOD ON ZOOM & PODCASTS does exactly what it says on the tin!

It provides you with useful tips & tricks to make you sound and look better.

This is important, because research shows that poor audio quality can influence listeners’ perceptions negatively – and you definitely don’t want that!

Book: "Running a Website With WordPress"

“Clear, concise, jargon free, and packed with great tips, pointers and advice. Especially good if you’re tackling a website for the first (or even third) time” – Amazon Reviewer