The Expert Inside You with Dr. D. Anthony Miles
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:00:22]
Oh, that’s an excellent point, Dr. Strickland, and what you want to do is try to narrow your scope to three core areas. Three is enough. Three is more than enough. Three areas. OK, so give you my example. I’m entrepreneurship. So what’s my core area? Business scams like multi level marketing. When people go on to those different fields where people get scammed out of their money. Another one is I’m on the marketing side trade dress like somebody creates a product that looks just like another product and companies want to go to court and they bring you in as a witness. They go, well, I’m a trade dress expert. I see the faults are the same, the colors are the same, the overall package is the same. I think that’s a direct imitation, if not the rip off of the other product. And they will bring people into court cases for that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:01:17]
One of my one of my friends in my mastermind said the group that I belong to is a P.I. and that’s what they focus on is is counterfeiting. And it’s amazing how much some of the stories he’s told us about things that they find they’re counterfeit out there. And some people might say, well, what’s the big deal is counterfeit. So what? No one, the person who actually created the thing, they deserve to get compensated for that. But No. Two, a lot of times it’s counterfeit. Things might be made of something that’s not good for you. So certainly a lack of it make up anything you’ll be carrying around all day. You don’t know what that stuff is made up in some parts of the world. They don’t care as much about what they put into a product if they can make it cheaply. So it’s important. Absolutely.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:02:07]
The real deal is already part of it. Yeah. You know, the third one is a competitive intelligence. Like if someone’s doing something nasty, that’s not. What’s the other one? I forgot the other one. Is this trade dress, business scams? I think it’s too right now it’s just too dark too. Oh, sorry. False advertising. Because I got caught, I was asked to be an expert with a false advertising campaign and a state was trying to sue this company and they brought me in as an expert. They pay me for my deposition and also about three core areas, false advertising, trade, dress, and scams. In that, and when you want to build your niche, this all goes back to what you said earlier, build your niche. Nobody knows what you know. Those three areas, most of the time, when I go look for somebody like you, your name is going to be at the top of the list. That’s what’s important, not to be a generalist and be find your niche because you’re in a sea of other legal experts when you see names could be at the top of the list.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:03:13]
How do you what is the list and how do you get your name at the top of the list?
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:03:17]
What is a legal expert witnesses directory that you become a part of so you have to pay. Some are free. The ones you pay for, the ones who give you cases and ask you, they’ll see an email or say they’re looking for an expert witness in this particular area. We want to see if you would be interested. Sometimes some things outside of my circle of competence that I’m assuming in my circle of competence, I say, OK, I can help the attorney with this case. Sometimes you get picked as a plaintiff’s attorney. Sometimes you get picked as a defense attorney. When you’re a plaintiff’s attorney, that means you’re going to have to do some research and then you could be picked apart by the defense attorney. On the other part of that is as they like to hire people to have doctorates and some about them, I don’t know what that is. They like people who have doctorates.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:04:06]
It’s the instant credibility, right? You walk into a room, you’re his doctor. So there’s two numbers that get thrown around for help with regard to doctoral studies all the time. And that is that 50 percent graduate and that one percent of the population holds a doctorate degree will have a hard time getting on the 50 percent. Because I hear of cohorts where they’re like there was 30 and now there’s three. So we. Oh, wow, no, I might not be as good, but that one percent I’ve actually checked the census data and it shows over a period of like ten years that the numbers tend to fluctuate somewhere between a little less than one percent and about one and a half percent. So it’s about one percent while population one earns doctoral degree. And so you think about how many people that is, you get a room of one hundred people. Statistically speaking, you’re going to be the only one that has a doctoral degree. So we go to a courtroom, you probably is going to have one hundred people. If you got a doctoral degree, chances are you’re the only one. Now, obviously, it depends on what room you’re walking into. You walk into a university, it doesn’t apply. But that’s the idea there in general. You go to the grocery store, chances are you’re going to be the only person with a PhD in the grocery store at that time.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:05:18]
And that’s a great point, because you look at the directory of expert witnesses, I would say very few have a doctorate. Really? Yeah, I’m serious. I didn’t notice until I got into the game. I was like, wow, is this a lot of people are marketing. They have master’s degrees. They know about marketing, but they have doctorates. And now this the specific niches of expertise that they don’t have a doctor, they’re like. So they somebody is building caught on fire, you don’t really care, really get a doctorate in that. So they’ll look at people with a license that has a licensing license or certificates in that particular area. But the majority of the legal expert witnesses do not have doctorates in training. Yes, surprising. We did our training. We found out that. When you have a doctorate, I’ll tell you the other side is, doctor, you have a doctorate. If the opposing attorney is trying to find some dirt on you, they’ll go look up all your articles and look up all the presentations there, look all the books that you’ve written. And they’re try to find if you exaggerated your CV because they’re looking because if they if you exaggerated your CV, they will find out. They will expose you. It will really hurt your credibility as a legal expert witness. So you want to be like Joe Friday. Just give them the facts, ma’am. Just give them the facts. If you didn’t present at a conference, don’t say get out. Exactly.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:06:48]
Yeah, that’s not true. I hope that anybody who’s getting a doctoral degree has enough sense to do that. And I know that there’s a mentality certainly among entrepreneurs. There’s this this this code. This says fake it till you make it. Well, if you faked it a little bit too bad in writing on a resume or a CV at some point, make real sure you clean that mess up because, you know, you’ve got to know what people are going to believe, what you have to say. And you have got to be responsible enough to make sure you’re saying the truth, that when you don’t know something you say you don’t know and you don’t represent yourself any differently. Now, marketing, you can sell yourself, but you can’t lie about the facts. All right. You say you won an award. The award sound like it’s a really cool award. And it turns out that it was a small group of people, you know, small little professional organization that that you spoke at their keynote and they gave you an award for it. That’s OK. You know, but you can’t lie about any of this stuff. You can’t do that at all.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:07:52]
If you want to pay in contest, say you want a pie contest, don’t say you’re the research of that pie contest you write together. You know what? I know what we’re talking about. These attorneys, these attorneys delight snakes, hogs. They will look you up and down on Google Scholar. They will look you up and down and Google. And they’re looking for some daylight to just to to to hurt your credibility to a case that’s important. We all give them the opportunity to do that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:08:26]
Yeah. If you say this, how can I believe you about that?
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:08:30]
Out of lot and then you can be disqualified as a legal expert witness. You have to let future attorneys know that you were disqualified from a case because they filed something in your background. So you don’t want to say you don’t want to go up that track. You just don’t want to do that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely that.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:08:46]
So that’s one hundred percent that that just comes along with the ethics that we all learned in our doctoral degree programs that we need when it’s someone else’s idea. And them if you’re quoting them, you quote them. It’s not a problem to not know everything. As I mentioned before, you just have to know something, you know, and you mentioned you’ve got your your your niche that you that you focus on. And then you kind of grew it and had two and then three. That’s OK. Just stick to those areas. You don’t have to know everything. And and it’s OK. You get up there on the stand and someone to ask you about something to tell them what you know, what you don’t know. Because a lot of times these attorneys are going to try to turn around and make you say things that, you know, if if they want you to say no, then they can ask you a question that you don’t have to say no to. That’s all right. Just make it obvious that that’s why you’re saying no.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:09:39]
Just definitely trying to cross examination from an opposing attorney when they’re going to try to make you mad and we’re not going to try. Sometimes they’ll put an untruth in their question to see how you defend it and then they’ll do anything in their power to discredit you in you know, when you’re seasoned, you don’t react to things you say. Well, all due respect, sir, that is not what my study was about. My study was about this. And, you know, and a judge and a jury can see all of that. Right. So I’ll get I’ll give them the gun and the bullets maybe work for. Yeah.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:10:15]
Yeah, that’s true. That’s true. You’ve also mentioned that you had written a written a book that you’re a published author. Tell us a little bit about your book and and what that experience was like for you.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:10:26]
Sure, the first time I did a book, I did it based on my doctor research about that, that’s helpful. So you get dual use tools from your dissertation. And I published my first book, which was a bestseller. It was called Risk Factors and Business Models, based on my doctor research where I won a fellowship. OK, and let me give you some tricks of the trade for your listeners. When you get getting your doctor and you want to turn it into a book, never use the same title that you used for your dissertation. Why academic titles don’t sell.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:10:59]
That’s right. Nobody’s going to read that.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:11:02]
Nobody’s going to read it. So you want to simplify your title for the mere mortals?
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:11:06]
Second second thing is actually what sexy-fy your title because you want to make sure that people are going to look at and pick up and want to read. Exactly. You know, I do that or I try to do that when we’re when we’re putting out these podcast episode, I try to make sure the title is something interesting so that when actually when someone sees it, they’re like, oh, let me let me see what that’s all about.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:11:32]
Yes. Marketing one on one. OK, remember, everybody’s not in a doctor program, they’re not one of those Chi Square, none of the regression models.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:11:43]
The other thing is we don’t want Idle’s remember what’s in it for them, not what’s in it for you. This is not, I’m Dr. Smartie. This is I’m solving your problem. Exactly. I’ll confess, I knew this stuff that when I was starting Dissertation Done, I’ll confess I went out there looking at dissertation genius and dissertation coach and things like that. And I don’t know what I’m doing to my competition right now when I say that those names are taken. Luckily for me, I didn’t jump on right away and I started thinking, well, what should I call this company? And then it click, Wait, what is it that people want? You know, the folks that I’m talking to, what do they want? They want to get their dissertation done. And that’s why if you’re going to hear the title, it’s a dissertation done. It’s not about me. It’s about you. And if you have any sympathy for popular, you got to do it. I got to say, that’s what I’ve done in business, that that that that I’m happy with.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:12:42]
And you basically you basically prove my point is you want you want a title that they’re simpler for reading audience, which is different academic audience. And you also want a title that can remember. Yeah, I can remember some of these academic titles. Even on your best day. You could remember them. Not at all. And you may disagree with me on this point. If you’re writing a book and you’re first out the gate, do not put after your name. Why that’s a deal breaker for some readers, because I believe that when they see Ph.D. after somebodies name is going to be boring. So will you do your first book? Just put your name. Now, when you flip the book around and you want to people to see your background and what you saw, the Ph.D. and it gives you credibility, like it helps your doctor feel that you write a book and don’t know who you are. You have no brand, so you just put your name. And then on the back of your book, you give your body, you say, this is a mistake. I made my first book and I’m share with you this. By this degree, first, not your first degree that you get your got put your first, then your masters, then your then your bachelors, you don’t put your bachelors, then your masters and your doctor. That’s the mistake I made my first I got it right for the second book.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:14:01]
I will go I will disagree with you about the about the doctor thing though on the title. I think you should have it there, but you got to make sure that everything about the cover, about the the the title, the little subtitle, everything there has got to convince the person that this is something I want to read. I have a book that’s coming out soon and it’s got if you flip through it, it’s got like cartoon pictures in the book because I’m trying to make concepts easy for people. Some of these concepts are I’m talking to a doctoral student audience. So it’s not simple stuff we’re talking about necessarily. But if you presented in a simple way, in an accessible way, even if it’s for like a group of doctoral students. I’m still probably writing an eighth or ninth grade level in that book because that’s what you do. People want it to be easy. You don’t want to be reading a book that’s going to be helpful to you. And you’re sitting there reading it with a dictionary. You want to be you want to be able to read. Exactly. And so that’s the thing. You don’t again, you’re not trying to impress people that you’re smart. You are trying to impress people, that you can help them solve the problem that they have. And if you do that in that context, I could agree with you that when your name is doctor, now you’ve got a book. But the first thing is the you know, the first thing is they got to see that book. That sounds like something I’m interested. That sounds like a cool way of doing it. One of the things about academic titles is they tell you the answer like right in the title. It’s all there. Right. You just about have to read the study. You can read the title. You say, OK, I’ve got it, and I’ll see the study for information. Your book title needs to be something that builds some curiosity. I understand what he’s talking about, but I had an idea where he’s going with this. You know, that’s the thing.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:15:47]
Exactly. So I have a colleague of mine did that. He made that mistake. He used his dissertation title for his book. He didn’t move any units.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:15:58]
Because what was his dissertation title? Something like, you know, a phenomenological study of the antecedents of, you know, yada, yada. In all, no one’s going to read that at all. He was just like that. It’s got to be catchy. You know, one of my podcast titles from from from way back, the lady was a superintendent of the public school system. She had her doctoral degree and she was still teaching in the classroom. And her principal walked in one day and says, listen, we’re not going to be renewing your contract. You’re going to have to move on. She’s like what’s going on? You’ve got your doctoral degree. I’m kicking your butt out. You got to do something else. And and he wound what he was doing it to. No is a perfectly fine thing. He was doing it out of love. He was helping her. Right. And she went on and said she was running the school district with a different school district, but running the school district shortly. And that was kind of the title of our podcast was from getting kicked out of the classroom to running the whole district. And people like what? How does some classroom and what does this all about? There’s some curiosity there and it doesn’t tell the whole story. That one tells a lot of the story, but it does tell the whole story. And I want to look at it.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:17:14]
Wow. Yeah, I had that happen. One of my daughter’s teacher, she had a doctorate and she was teaching in junior high school. Yeah. And I was like. So first, I think that teaching these kids is a little bit of the under her pay grade. I just you know, some people do what they like well, apart part, you know.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:17:38]
Yeah, that’s fine. And that. So the problem is when you get folks who are like, yeah, we’re not going to pay you for that doctoral degree and they’re going to kick you out for that reason, if it’s what you really want to do. That’s one thing. This principal knew this particular lady and this was not done out of out of malice or out of being cheap or anything like that. It was really that out of love. It was helpful to her. But that’s all that you get pushed out of the nest sometimes to be able to spread your wings. So.
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:18:07]
Well, here’s the other part of that, too, Dr. Strickland. You’ve got kids call you doctor, but they don’t call a principal doctor.
Dr. Russell Strickland [01:18:13]
If you’re in education, that that’s that’s something to you. So there there are sometimes when, you know, you get specialists that come into the school that are doctor, you know, speech pathologist, my son has to wear hearing aids. And so his audiologist, the school system has an audiologist. They’ll come in, they’ll be doctor and the principal might not be. That’s OK. But the principal is clearly over the teachers that does, like you said, see, it creates a little bit of a bad look. What did the book do for you once you got it out there and started leveraging, how did you leverage it and what would that do for your career?
Dr. D. Anthony Miles [01:19:01]
Well, here’s the other part of what we talk about, building your expertise. Well, when you do a book. What you don’t realize that book does things that you cannot do individually or have the capability to do individually. The book is on the Internet. My book was on Amazon. So I started having people that wanted to interview me in the media, like radio shows, on television shows. So I had to learn another part of my game. I had to learn how to do media interviews because everybody’s not trying to do that. Case in point, how to make talking points, how to make sound bites, how to make how to ask the question. And that’s something that we take for granted. But when you’re on the air, somebody is asking you a question. How do you sound? How do you sound intelligent, expressing yourself about a question. So I had to buy two books and learn how to do media interviews. The first one, I was a test run. And the second item, I said, OK, I’m a get better at this because I was actually nervous about the media interviews. So when you do a book, the book gives you instant credibility, believe it or not. And when people want people around radio shows and podcasts around the country, they want interesting books and they want interesting people to interview. So when they asked me for an interview, you want to be able to bring the goods, you don’t want to go. Well, Dr. Miles, you did your book on this. Can you tell me something about you don’t want to go? Oh, well well, you don’t want to do that.
