I’m surprised that I have to say this, but many people still believe that in order to have a successful online information business, you have to hold back some of what you know.

The fear is that if you give it all away, then you won’t have anything left to sell.

This is nonsense.

And in this article, I’m going to explain why.

Experts

I’m sure that you know this already, but the only people that will ever have successful Internet businesses are experts.

Experts know more than anyone else about their niche.

And it’s because they are experts that they’re not afraid to share that information.

This is evidenced by the fact that they also create more content than anyone else.

Amateurs

Amateurs, on the other hand, are afraid to tell people very much because they don’t know very much.

And so if they create content that’s based on what they know, then they’ll soon run out of things to say.

That means that if you’re an amateur and you want to become an expert, then you’ll have to learn more so that you have more to give away.

But, not only will have you have to give away more, you’ll have to give away all that you know.

Now that will scare amateurs for the reasons that I’ve already mentioned; but I want to allay those fears.

There’s no risk in giving it all away

Just because you publish all you know, on your blog, in article directories, in presentations, audio or video, doesn’t mean that everyone will consume it.

In fact, you can bet money that it won’t happen.

Take the book industry, for example. The majority of people who buy books never make it past the first chapter. And they’ve paid for the book!

I read recently that even though we live in a culture where life-long learning is essential, only 10% of the US population is actively seeking to learn anything.

That means that the risk of anyone becoming aware of all that you know is practically non-existent.

Why experts give it all away

There’s another reason why you should give it all away, and that’s because it’s how you demonstrate that you’re an expert.

Think about it like this: Who do you think knows the most? The person with 20 articles or the person with 400 articles?

You see, by your own admission, you recognize that the people that you consider to be experts have published a lot of content; and that means that if you want to be seen as one, then you have to do the same.

There’s a second reason why experts give it all away, and that is that they realize that just because people know what to do doesn’t mean that they’ll do it.

In fact, that’s a major problem. That’s one of the reasons there’s a coaching niche. People have discovered that they don’t know how to apply what they know and, because they want to get better results, they pay someone to show them how to do it.

But even the coaching model only works some of the time.

I hope that you can see how important this is.

In order to be seen as an expert, you have to give away everything that you know, and that’s because your prospects will only pay you if they believe that you’re an expert.

Let me say this another way: The more information you withhold, the less of an expert your prospects will think that you are, and the less likely that anyone will pay you anything.

What does this have to do with list building?

Experts have lists. And the people who are on those lists want to learn from the expert who owns it.

If you hold back some of what you know, then you won’t be perceived as the expert that you claim to be, and that means that no one will join your list.

And the reason that they won’t join it is because they don’t believe that you know enough to teach them anything.