Squidoo launched with the declaration, "Everyone’s an Expert about Something." But Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert did them one better in the August 2006 issue of Wired by promising you — yes you — can "Be an Expert on Anything."

• Pick a field that can’t be verified. Colbert recommends trying something like string theory or God’s Will: "I speak to God. I’m sorry that you can’t also."
• Get your own entry in an encyclopedia. 15 minutes of fame is old school; "In the Wikipedia age, everyone can be an expert in five minutes. Special bonus: You can edit your own entry to make yourself seem even smarter."
• Use the word zeitgeist as often as possible. Colbert recommends using non-English words that sound familiar but aren’t widely understood. German is good; Latin’s even better. "But avoid paradigm. It’s so 1994."
• Don’t be afraid to make things up. "Never fear being exposed as a fraud. Experts make things up all the time. They’re qualified to."
• Don’t limit yourself to current knowledge. "If you worry too much about being up-to-date, you miss out on vast territories of obsolete knowledge just waiting to be reclaimed."
• Make a habit of name-dropping. "Say things like ‘I was talking to John Hockenberry yesterday for my story in Wired. Have you seen my cover?’ I plan to use this issue of Wired to assert that I now know everything about wires.
• Be famous. It helps. Something every successful expert takes for granted.

For the rest of Mr. Colbert’s expertise on expertise, visit Wired Magazine on the web.

And, if you’ve been thinking about launching that consultancy, there are no excuses left.