On May 8th, 2009, President Barack Obama said:
“In a twenty-first century economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make – not just for our individual success; but for the success of our nation as a whole.”
Now first let me state that this isn’t a political post. It doesn’t matter how you feel about the current or previous administrations. I thought this was interesting because it’s true, the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge. And while it’s important for a country at a macro level, I think it’s incredibly important at a micro level to the individual. 
Getting new training, a new certification, or even a college degree doesn’t do us any good if we can’t demonstrate and sell our competency to prospective employers though. And worse, if we do a poor job demonstrating or presenting we’ll look incompetent. I think this is what holds most middle-aged people back. They’re risk adverse and not comfortable with the technology to do a good enough job and therefore, they don’t do it at all.
We have to continue to sell ourselves. We have to take chances and put ourselves out there. We have to learn the new tools and we have to apply them.
If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, I encourage you to find someone who can help you put together a “good” presentation, to narrate it, and then post it online. Get your name out there and demonstrate your knowledge, your competence, and your expertise.
It truly is the most important thing you can sell.
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