SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm joined by Dr. Lee Balcom today, who helped experts, authors, speakers, and coaches take what they already know, their ideas, their keynotes, and turn it into a book that actually becomes a foundation for real business. And I really love this conversation because we talked a great deal about what a book can do when it is used intentionally. The obvious one is that a book can build your authority, but also it can help your ideal buyers understand how you think. It can give life to the process behind your solution, which is your framework. And when it's connected to the right next steps, it can become one of the most powerful client attraction tools in your business. We talked about why so many authors publish their book and then they don't know what to do with it. Why your book doesn't have to be a bestseller to bring in clients, how to use it as a lead generation tool, and so much more. So if you've ever thought about writing a book, already have one, or know there's a deeper body of work inside you that could become a stronger business asset, this conversation will give you a very different way to think about what a book is really for. Hello and welcome to Marketing Your Truth, the podcast for entrepreneurs who want to grow a fulfilling and impactful business with clarity, integrity, and ease without performing, chasing trends, or losing their voice. I'm your host, Ellen Atoli, and I'm really glad you're here. Let's get started. Well, I'm really excited to this conversation, Lee. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

Oh, thank you. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

So, um, this topic that we're going to break apart is one of my most exciting topics because I have seen firsthand what a book can do for your business. So, and I I have so many questions for you because I know this is what you do. Um, you help people take their book and use it as a tool, basically, a client attraction tool for their own business. Can you tell me a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah. So one of the things that I noticed long ago was sometimes the authors would get to the end of the book and they thought they were done, you know, and they and I was going, what are you gonna do with this? And so this came out of meetings I would have often at an author event, either with publishers or you know, like one of those how to be an author things. And I would be talking to somebody and I'm going, so what are you gonna do with your book? And they would just look at me and they're like, I'm gonna write my book. And I'm like, No, that's I mean, I get that, right? I understand that you've got a message to get to the world. And sometimes I would say, let me just get this clear for you. If somebody reads your book and they like fall in love with what you're saying, and there's nothing, it's like, period, the end of the book, and that's it. There's nothing more that they can do with you, but you have more. You have lost an opportunity, both for them. They they've lost this possibility of what happens next, and you've lost your own opportunity. And so um, I for a long time, um, I was just kind of off and on working with people as they would appear. And I thought, you know what, we got to be more clear about this because we live in a world that just needs positive messages right now and needs a way to move forward. And authors are where that starts many times, and and experts uh bring that authorship to it. Um, I often note that authority starts with author, and you know, we need to really key key in on that and how important that can be for people.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

I love that. Um, you know, and I agree with you because as I said earlier, I saw if if I could look at like the transitions my own business have gone through, and if they're like milestones where all of a sudden I took a huge, like there was like a big jump in terms of how people were perceiving me, clients were perceiving me, and also in the revenue and growth, I would say one of those milestones um was back when I published my book. Now I want to kind of go back a step and dive into that because I work with a lot of people who have a truly impactful solution. And I tell when I tell them like you have to write your own book, they look at me like I have two heads because, and I understand, right? Because they are running around trying to market and promote what they do. And that in itself is a lot of work. And then on top of that, to tell them to go and write a book, it's like, I don't know if I can really do one more thing. Can you speak to that um to my audience about why is this so important? You touched on it, but I want to really go deep there.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah, and so and so part of that is my own story of how I kind of stumbled into this. So I my training was as a therapist, and um I kind of figured out at the end of that that I didn't like the effectiveness of therapy, uh, meaning I wasn't seeing studies that were helping people to change. So my arena was relationship work, mostly around marriages. And uh therapy often got people stuck in kind of why they were where they were, but not what do you do about it. And so I made a transition myself to coaching because that was much more let's figure out the solution. But along the way, I thought I need to start writing down what makes a difference for couples, which you do that long enough and you go, oh, there's a book here. I need to do this. And and so I uh decided to to to write the book. And at the end of writing the book, somebody said to me, So what are you gonna do with that while you're waiting to get it published? Like, waiting to get it published. And this person's like, you know, it's a it's a while before if if a publisher takes it, you're two or three years off from seeing it on the shelf. And I was like, Well, what are the options? And this was back in 1998. Um, so he said, An ebook. Why don't you do an ebook just to see what would happen? 1999, the website went live. Um, and what I didn't think through was that that did exactly what you talked about. You know, it created an impact on how people wanted to work with me and what they saw in that. And that made it very clear to me what a book could do. Uh, it built a business by accident. I didn't even realize I was in business for the first two or three years. I just thought I'd written a book and I was dealing with the people that would come to me because they read my book. And I went, What why am I not being intentional about building this? But to go the other way, if I had done it again, um if I could rewind, that's what happened to the other books I've written. Uh it was what would I do differently? And so part of what I figured out is writing a book um can be done in a number of different ways. And I think I've written them in almost every way I hear, you know, I hear people who just shut themselves up and just write, right, right, right, write. Not many of us can do that. I had a season when I did that for one of my books, and uh, and so I've done it in the mad dash. Um, I have also been the person who would get up 45 minutes earlier than I normally did, right for that 45 minutes. And if I was in the middle of a paragraph and middle of a sentence, I would just walk away from it. That worked too. Um, and then I've written a book that was basically where I I mean, to be honest, I podcasted it. Um I would create an episode, so I would just think through it and kind of do an outline, talk it out, and then go back and write that down. Now, this was before it would be easy to just turn the talk it out into text. And now that's a possibility. You know, I when I talk with people who are busy, they can take out their phone with an app, record it on the way to work, and keep storing that up until they have it. But the question is what they're doing with it, right? That's that's what we're really focusing in on. Do they have a way of showing somebody how they would work with them in whatever capacity that is as an expert? Um, let me make one more of my little stories along the way because I think it fits in here. I had a person that I helped with his book and how to frame it and everything else, and then what to do with that. And he was a consultant. And uh, so he was in a uh the president of the company's office, and the president says, Um, I have two people that I'm looking at for this work. And this person said, You know, in the past I knew what that was. That was a can I get you to the lowest price point possible. This is how it changed for him. Uh, when the person said, So why should I hire you? And what is your price that you're going to give me? And my author um reached in his his backpack and whatever bag he had, and he pulled out his book and he said, Well, I wrote the book on this. And he said, My contact information is in the back of the book. If you're interested, let me know. And he walked away. And so he said, I had no negotiating after that. You know, I would do the same thing repeatedly. I would walk in and they would say, Why should we use you? I wrote the book on this, and he claimed his authority, it transformed his business. He was no longer fighting against all the other people. He he was setting his place. He wrote his book by talking it into his uh phone. Uh, he got it all all done and then had somebody edit it for him and and just kind of put it together. So uh anyone who tells me they're too busy, there are ways of of getting it done, uh, regardless. But the question is what you do with it after that.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

Yeah, 100%. I actually wrote I had no intention of writing my book. Um, I had no intention of even I wasn't even thinking about writing a book. And one day I saw um someone who was running a paid 30-day challenge. There was a hefty price tag attached to it. But um, the challenge was you can start from ideation to finish in 30 days, and you're going to hit Amazon bestseller as well. And I I don't know why I was like, yes, let's do it. I want to do this. And I did. I actually, my book hit four countries, Amazon bestseller, um, for a whole month. It's stayed in business and marketing category, it's stayed as um bestseller. So I'm one of those people who did like so.

SPEAKER_01 10:17

Let me just kind of point point out what you just said because that that's significant. A lot of people in in this realm now recognize that to be a bestseller on Amazon isn't hard for an hour. And so, you know, they'll get that best out bestseller, they'll take a uh snapshot of that, and they'll like, I'm I was a number one bestseller, but that's that's for an hour. Yeah, that doesn't take much to stay in a category over time is the question. And that means that you actually were uh pushing that and finding ways of making sure that stayed in front of people. That's a different venture than the ones who get it for that hour, and actually usually have hired somebody to get the sales, and what they don't know is it probably took eight sales to get that hour.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Oh, wow. I I did have a good marketing plan behind it. Um, and I don't know, we might get to it because we I had actually another really well thought out plan because we have two businesses, and the other one is my husband is behind that business. And for that, we actually had a really well thought out plan to get we didn't, I wasn't, we weren't going for Amazon bestseller, but we had like the book tour and the book tour team and everything. But point being is when it bec um came time for my book, I did have a plan in terms of consistently getting it in front of my audience. So yeah, it definitely does help when you have that traction ahead of time where you can consistently go back to the people and then keep promoting it to keep it up. And I think that's what really um did the trick for me to stay up for a whole month. But um, one of the things that I wanted to ask you, I wanted to know what your thoughts are. Because obviously, we're using this as a tool to be able to get clients. Like the examples you gave me is perfect. I I 100% agree with you. So, is there a way that we should be thinking about writing this book? So when you do hand it to someone, it actually does lead to them wanting to work with us.

SPEAKER_01 12:16

Yeah, there's so there are a couple of pieces to that. Um, one, so I want to backpack backtrack just a second. The person who who did the here's my book that I wrote on it, um, he confided in me that he thought that up until that point when he used it, he probably had sold 20 copies to family and friends. That's it ever. So don't think that it has to be a bestseller in order for it to land you clients because he was using it as a tool. And so there are a couple of pieces. Um one is that I think people often miss the psychology of buying a book, period. That that in itself ties you in some ways to that author. Um the uh the disconcerting fact for authors is how few people actually make it through your book, and how many don't even open your book. You know, that I mean it's a sad fact, but it it is, and that is because many people psychologically think when they have the book they've got it, especially in the self-help kind of thing. It's like they took the action, right? They they they took the action, and so the people who buy a book on how to get into shape and never go to the gym, they took the action. And so in their mind, they kind of closed a loop. So just recognizing that your name is a piece of that is important, but that brings up the second piece is that they need to be able to get to you quickly. So in my book, I put some contact information in the front, and and uh the reason I put it in the front is because when people do the quick look on Amazon, they might not even buy it, but they can see your contact information at the front. And many people just put it at the end. I also put it at the end, but it's a little longer. And so having it in both places means that you're getting the people who actually never get past that piece or get to the end. And if somebody is just going, I need a solution to this, they've got the book and they want to find the person, they'll often turn to the back. So, you know, we're trying to get both ends of that. It's important for them to be able to contact you. Um, and that otherwise the book is gonna have a hard time. So whether it's a website that you have the domain, um, whether it's a phone number that you're gonna manage, whether it's an email, you know you're gonna have, but something that they can easily get to you is important. The more urgent the situation, the more important a phone number is. Um, but if you have something that maybe takes more explanation, then maybe a website does a better job of getting you there. Um, so that all is the starting point of this of making sure that they can get to you quickly. Um we live in a culture where people aren't going to spend a lot of time tracking someone down anymore. You know, they they either can find you immediately or they're distracted by it. And so if they go do a web search, and this is this is more and more the case, they do a web search for you, and you're not the first thing, what do they get? AI telling them all of this information. And then they just like buying a book, go, okay, now I've got it, even though they don't. They feel like they do, and they don't go further. So if they can't find you quickly through the book, you risk losing out on the possibility of that contact. And the building any business is based on the contacts and how you can bring them in.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

That makes sense. So um, I don't know where I heard this. Um, someone was because when I my book um it really like at the beginning is all about giving people a new way of thinking, and then it does go into a little bit of a process or the framework behind how do I do what I do or how they can replicate what I do. But I did hear, again, I don't know who it was that was saying books shouldn't do both. It should either give people a new um thinking, a new perspective, or it should be just all about here is a process, here are the steps to walk through. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 16:10

That is dependent on what they're trying to do. Um, I think both can work, um, depending. So, if I wanted to create, for instance, let's say I wanted to be a uh speaker, I want to do um big big speeches at different trade events, I probably want to be pretty clear about what that message would be, you know, what that change would be. I don't have they're not hiring me to take them through one, two, three. They're having hiring me to come present this material. So that's a difference between, say, me doing relationship work where I want them to have a starting point, but I don't want them to think that that's enough. Rarely is a book enough to make those changes because they need some outside coaching to get there. So there is a difference between, you know, what you're using it for. And that's and it brings us to the point that uh it is helpful to know what business you're gonna do with the book. It's not um, it doesn't mean you've already missed it, because I talk with many authors who are already at the end of the book's done, right? The book is there, and now we're gonna work with what's there. Um, what most authors um have in their book is their message, and so maybe they would reframe it a different way if they had to do over again, but they they generally have it. And so um, if I'm working with somebody earlier to ask the question, what's your intention? What are you hoping to get out of that book? And then let's reverse engineer. So let's say they're saying, I want to be a keynote speaker. Well, you better be able to present what different viewpoint you're bringing in, not just hint at it, but present that, knowing that the people who are hiring you aren't worried about that. They would just want to see that you have that to present. But if you are somebody reverse engineering that you want to be hired as a coach, a therapist, uh, you know, some consultant, it is more important for them to understand that you have a different perspective and that you give them enough to understand that that different perspective truly points them in a better direction, but you're not going to answer all the questions. Is that a long enough answer to your Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

If I understood it correctly, and I think this is um what I'm doing, which is you're giving them a new way of thinking, new perspective, but also letting them know that it not is not just a generic advice, but there is actually a method to your madness. There's a process that you're going to take people through, like a framework of some sort that showcases um how if they were to work with you, what would that process look like? But not nitty-gritty of you know all the details, but higher level. So they have an idea that okay, this person actually has a method, has a process. It's not just let's just work together.

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, and you brought up the framework thing a couple of times, which is really important. Um I I I'm big on frameworks. Um, so um many times people think that I'm like gonna be the list kind of person because I use the frameworks and systems. I don't, I'm not a natural list maker. My wife is. She loves to make a list. It doesn't matter if we do it or not, it's having the list. I'm all about having a functional framework or functional list. Um so I do it because it it helps. But um I often do alliterations or things like that in my frameworks because I want it to be easy to remember. But we have to recognize that there's to be able to name something different gives us a claim to something. Um, there are plenty of books on how to reduce stress. A generic how to reduce stress isn't going to move the needle for somebody working with you, but your ABC method of reducing stress or whatever you name it. Um, I've got uh for my work with couples, I have a pivot framework, for instance, and pivot stands for something, P-I-V-O-T stands for something. And in the middle of the struggle, I'm wanting them to remember to pivot. I also know that many people struggle to do that in the middle of being overwhelmed. So they come for coaching to help them uh do that in the midst of that. I will put that pivot into a very clear um piece of information. And in this case, it's a short course, uh, not a book, but a short course. And uh try to have that be a frame that they can use when things go well. And if they can't, that they can reach out for more help.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Exactly. Um, I love let's go to the framework part because I think this is an area that um it still might be a question mark for a lot of people. They might have heard of it, but they don't really understand exactly the significance of framework and um not just for their book, but in general for their business. Why is it so important to have a framework? And um ironically, um, I mean, right now, when I uh work with clients, that's one of the first things that we kind of look at after we get through the foundational part is let's take a look at how you help people, how you help clients, and figure out what that process looks like. Because when you can explain it and articulate it through a process, a framework, then it's gotta be easier for people to understand why you're the right person behind a solution. But for me, ironically, the my framework actually came about when I wrote my book because I was forced to think about what my process is.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

So um can we go a little bit deeper into the framework? Because you touched on it. Um, for those of people who kind of still not sure about what a framework is. So let's say, you know, they're a relationship coach and they help, because in a lot of ways, especially for coaches or even service providers, the way that we go about helping our clients is when. Someone comes to us, we have this toolbox of stuff, and we'll just take the tool that's appropriate for that client. But here we are, we want to kind of write a book, or in however way we want to explain our process. And so now we need to make it work for many people, not just one tool for one person. So, how do you how do you advise people to think about the framework and to come up with a framework?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

It probably was uh a good starting point for me to be trained in therapy techniques because that's a whole school. You know, every school of psychology is basically a framework. And then how it carries out is basically the tools of that framework. And so I already had a preset um thinking about that when I went in. But I remember years ago, um, I'd written a couple of books and I was at a conference, and the person said, You all have unique ways you do things. So, what I want you to do in the next 10 minutes, so let's put a time frame on it, 10 minutes, is to write down a certain number of steps that it would take. It could be three, four, five, maybe six steps that would get somebody from where they ever they are to where you know you think they want to be. And just and this wouldn't need to be how it would fit for everyone. That was that's the criteria. And so I sat down, and it the other thing was it can't be something you've already done. So I was sitting there thinking, okay, I keep getting questions about forgiveness. And I've worked with plenty of clients on forgiving. And so I sat down, and that actually ended up being this book, which is seven different pieces. It's the forgive process, and it has a seven-step process to forgive that applies across the board. Now, will it work for everyone? No, they might need actually some coaching because they're stuck on it. It's not because the framework doesn't work, but because they're stuck on how to apply the framework. That creates the opportunity. So I often have using that exact same scenario, I'll have an author and I'll read through the book and I'm going, the framework's not clear. We need to clarify that. And so I simply ask the question I want you to take 10 minutes, no more than 10 minutes, just to write down however many steps you think it takes. One, two, three, four, or five. It's it's gonna be obviously one and two is probably not gonna be it, but three, four, five, six, all good numbers of what it would take to get somebody from where they are to your goal. And without fail so far, they've been able to do it. And we've been able to look at what's unique about their approach. It's their framework. Um, I've had a couple of times when somebody will hand me the framework and I'll I'll be going, this is like everybody else's, how to live stress-free or you know, whatever. What is unique about yours? We can name it something if that would, you know, if it works for that. We can use alliteration if that makes sense. But there's got to be something that when somebody reads it, they go, Oh, that's Lee's framework for that. And I want, I want to use that further. Doesn't have to be complicated. In fact, you don't want it complicated for those few steps. You want something that they can readily go, oh, I see the path. Not and and this might get back to that question you ask, oh, I see the path is different than, oh, I know exactly how to get down that path.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

Yeah, yeah. And I I love that you're saying that they're this process that you're using, it's pulling different pieces of how they help clients or how they, you know, they they work with people. It's not just their entire way or the entire solution from A to Z, but it's like like bits of pieces of that process where they're pulling out and it's relevant for one specific situation.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Yeah, when when I hear authors, um, and and somebody to be an author, uh, for the most part, there are some exceptions to this that are because they read somewhere that this is how to make big bucks. And I don't know who's lying to them about that, that writing the book will do it, but we'll leave out those people who think they can just do that to the people who are writing a book because they've got a message. That that's who I generally see. And that message tells me that they have intrinsically created a framework. They just they may not recognize it, but if they just write down how do I work with a typical client to get them from here to there, they come up with their framework. And that framework is what carries the book. Um, once they they've got it. Usually before that, it feels kind of vague and not quite on. And then they get their framework and they go, that's it. And I can see the light up. And then it actually makes writing the book much easier because now you have the outline. It's already created.

SPEAKER_00 26:33

Yeah, I love that. Um, let's go back to the marketing part of um of how to leverage your book to get in front of clients. You mentioned your client where um where he's in a conversation and it just hands a book and says, here's a book. What are some of the ways, other ways that you are helping people use their book leverage to get clients?

SPEAKER_01 26:55

Yeah, um, so there are the ones who just drop by somewhere and give a book. And and this is one of those um myths that authors have believed that they need to sell their book in order for it to do something for them. Um, and my thing is, I mean, a book is cheap for for the author to get, uh, depending on how they do it, it can be very cheap. And uh, and notice when we're talking about some of my books, they're not that long. I mean, um, some of them are longer, some of them are more traditional, but this one has has been a great way of getting clients because they can get it and read it very quickly to actually make make it through. And so I don't worry so much about the sale of the book. Um, so giving it out uh to people is a great way of doing that. There are some ways of doing even uh the ads on Facebook or other places, other social media where you do the I'll pay for your shipping, which basically covers the cost of the book and the shipping. Yeah, yeah. And that's the the nice thing about that. So they, you know, it's I'll pay for the shipping and the shipping is $8.95. Well, shipping is not $8.95. The cost of the book and the shipping is $8.95. But that's fine because that's a break-even. You know, that's what they're trying to find is what is that break-even, and then they can run ads on that. Usually they've had it enough to pay for the ads, and if they can get a successful ad, they're creating a way of getting that out there. Because again, instead of saying, uh, can I give you a report, a free report? No, they're actually buying a book, and that's a different thing than a free report, which now sits on everybody's computer forever unread. Right. So they can do ads and a funnel. That's one way that it's out there. We've already talked about dropping by, handing it out to them, um, being on podcasts, posting on social media, other ways of making sure that people know about them and then go find their work. Um, so again, it's probably a lot of that is based on what is the person trying to do. If if they're a speaker, they may be sending out copies to the people who are hiring speakers to say, you know, I usually speak on this. Would you like to have me? Whether that is in their kind of industry market or companies that are would be having events wherever that is, uh, and getting in front of them. Um, most people uh find that one of their best ways is tapping into what they're already doing. So, for instance, speakers, if they're already trying to talk with the planners, now they just have one more thing. You they can say, hey, I wrote a book on this, I would love it if you have an opening to consider that. And so there are ways of kind of adding one more piece on, leveraging what they're already doing. And then there's some kind of those new ways like running ads that are um, you know, just for shipping or other ways.

SPEAKER_00 29:50

Yeah. What are your thoughts about? I mean, sort of like along the same line. Like I've been using mine for the last year as a lead magnet, and I'm loving what it's doing for my business. What are your thoughts on using your book as a lead magnet? Does that take away? Because I know a lot of people look away from that because they think like, oh, then the tech takes away from the value of this book that I've written because you're giving it away for free. But then here you are, you know, um, all these options that you're explaining, they're all given away your book for free, for free. So, what are your thoughts about using it as a lead generation tool?

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Oh, I think in however you set it up, it should be a lead generation tool. So let's talk about two different approaches. One is to give it away, the other is to use it as what they call a tripwire, a very low cost. You know, whatever if somebody is willing to say that's worth $5 or $7, they've already said, I find value enough in this to take out my credit card and fill out the information, and we'll just hit you know, Apple Pay or whatever. But they're they're gonna take that extra step. That is a much more valuable lead for sure than somebody who's collecting free items off the internet. But there are plenty of people who still are building their email list, so they're not using that as the next step. There, and that's the difference. So um a magnet is great for getting an email. Whether that email is uh as profitable as you want, it's it's so cheap to send an email. I mean, it's next to free to send an email. So getting an email on your list is important. If you are using that as the starting point for a funnel, though, having it as a tripwire, so seven dollars. And and so um I had a have a colleague of mine who would set up his funnel that it would be a free uh a copy for I think uh seven dollars, seven dollar copy. They would sell that and then say, would you like this as the audiobook? $20 for that. So now they're at $27. That's significantly more. If they said yes to that, I do have this broken down into a three video series of teaching that is $47. And so now they have added to this point where the next step is, would you like to talk with one of our coaches about this to see if you know that would make sense? So they've gone from a $7 to all the way to a you know, a coaching contract. And so that's just a funnel process. The difference between I think getting an email, it's very hard to go from a free copy to a sale than a tripwire to a sale. So um, depending on what your what your goal is, it's it's kind of that reverse engineering all over again.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

Yeah, exactly. From the book all the way to putting all the breadcrumbs to where I they need to work with you. So um if someone right now, let's say they haven't written their book yet, are there things before they even start thinking about what goes into this book? We talked about the framework, so that's one of the essential parts. Are there any prerequisites that they should be, or are there um things that they shouldn't like they have to be in a certain place before they even think about they should write a book?

SPEAKER_01 33:01

So I don't know. Uh uh a certain place would only be that they feel like they have enough command of helping a client that they're ready to grab that. Um it's been a while now, but I ran into a person at an event and I said, you know, what are you planning on doing? He said, I don't know. I think I'm gonna do executive coaching. He was maybe 21. And I I asked it, you know, have you been an executive? No, but I think I could coach them. I'm like, I mean, now we have a lot of a positioning problem here. Um, that's you're not ready for that. So do some other things and then come back to that when you you've gotten to that point. I don't find many people though who are ready to write a book who are actually there. So, my question, one of the things I work with authors to do is to figure out how to build their business from their book. And so if I get to somebody before the book is done, which is um not as often, I would ask the question, what do you want that business to look like? What are you trying to get towards? What would be your ideal business? You know, kind of how would you work with people? What would you be doing with them? What are your expectations for income level? And you know, are you gonna work remotely? Are you gonna be across the world from them? What does it need to look like? So let's imagine that ideal business. And then that tells us as we back up how that book needs to go, um, what it needs to address. I have met with uh a few people who realize that they wrote a book that would lead to a business they didn't really want. You know, they they probably often had burned out in that business already. And so they are writing a book, not sure what to do with it. But more often than not, they've already got it. The message is embedded, and now we have to say, how do you bit build a business from there? What's that gonna look like?

SPEAKER_00 34:50

That's interesting. I had never thought about like the way that you write your book can also determine the type of clients that you get. Is that is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_01 34:58

Yeah, books are great filters. Um they're and I, you know, I you may find the same with podcasts, but I I can filter out people that I would not want to work with. Um, I've got a um a podcast coming out this week that I know I'm gonna get flack for. And my wife is keep saying, Are you sure you want to do this? And I'm like, Yes, because whoever would say, Well, he's a jerk, they're not people I'd want to work with. And so I'm creating a filter point for that. Um, and uh, and I know I'm relying on good research and I'm relying on good frameworks, and so I'm okay with filtering out those people. Um, so a book is a great filter in and out of your ecosystem. Uh, and so if you um have somebody who is on the go and really busy, a short book is a good choice, something that they can get through very quickly. If it's somebody else, you know, you might go with a more full-size book. And this is a much more full-size book. I mean, we're at 200 pages on that. And so they would be willing if it's something that they are desperate to try to solve and know it's gonna take some time. That's a different piece. So, even that, uh, what level of writing you would do is important to think about what does that mean for the clients who are going to consume it, how you write the book, how formal does it need to be, how informal does it need to be, all of those pieces just internally are important. But then how you frame what you're gonna do with them, you know, what is what is the and the um outcome that you're hoping for them? That's what determines if they can see that that's the outcome they want, they're filtering in. If they were like, I don't want that at all, they're filtering out, and that's important. Um, when I am working with clients, I often say, Have you read my I have a program online. Have you read my program online? And if they haven't, I will say, This is a cheap way of determining if we're on the same wavelength because my coaching is going to be more expensive. And what if we get in there and you and I are just having arguments about, you know, you don't agree with what I'm saying? We could have solved that up front. So I require people to have gone through that as a filter point. Sometimes I don't hear from them again. That's fine. But generally they read it and then we have a common language. Now I have a beginning point with them that's already created. So where is it that I want to have somebody coming into my business? What readiness do I want them for the next transformation?

SPEAKER_00 37:31

Yeah, 100%. I mean, in general, any of our marketing assets, they're either repelling or they're putting out a signal to draw the right people to us. So, yeah, 100%. Let's talk about the elephant in the room, the AI factor here. And you see, I mean, I see it all the time. I'm sure you do too. Like use AI to write your book in 48 hours. Let's say you have your framework. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Um, I uh have very mixed feelings. I've I've done the sweat, the I also know reality of what's coming our way. Um, right now, um, I can read an AI book and go, that's AI. But that's not we're not far from that. Um, I generally say to somebody, you have to feel good about how you did the book, not me. Um, and and so if it's AI, you know, make sure that what is in there you can stand behind and and make sure that if you feel like it's your voice, make sure you feel like it's your opinion. A lot of people use uh a ghostwriter, which is you know, I mean, it's that's what we're actually the difference now. Is it a human ghostwriter or an AI ghostwriter? And that's I I know there's a lot about creativity. I'm in many author groups that are just up in arms about AI, but I I must say, we're not stopping this. It is coming. And um, so I I do use AI as a research uh partner with me. The other day I was getting ready for this podcast I talked about, the the one that's gonna get me hate mail. And I said, give me a deep dive on the research here. I don't want you to to tell me what I want to hear. I want to hear what the research says to make sure it supports what I said. It saved me hours of digging through the links. And and so for that, I find it important. For writing, I haven't used it for a book, but I also don't fault somebody who does that. Um, busy schedules and everything else. I'm gonna leave it to somebody to decide what is that gonna be their method. I just know that AI is unavoidable.

SPEAKER_00 39:44

Yeah, I agree with you. I mean, I I think at this point we all are using it, or hopefully we're all using it for brainstorming and ideation and research, like you said. Um, I do think that um I guess it depends on how you're using AI as well. For me, it is so easy to tell, even if like you feel like you're being very clever. I'm I I just can't tell if this piece of you know, writing has been written by AI or if someone actually wrote it. And the biggest telltale is that even if you are hiring an editor to edit your book, there's a humanness in the book that was written by a person. And the the AI pieces are just too perfect. And I feel like when we encounter something that is so perfect, our like our brain doesn't know what to do with it. We know something's wrong with it. And I feel like that the thing that we're after, where we're using this book for someone to really, at the end of the day, lean in um to connect with us, with our thinking, with our approach, with our way of helping, that it it might distract from that. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

Well, and and again, we're doing the filter piece, right? I mean, there are gonna be some people who read that and go, yeah, you're AI and I'm not gonna do it. And and to recognize that there is a built-in filter to that. I also, I mean, just in what has happened in the last, I mean, let's go three months with AI. Um, we're gonna get to the point when AI is going, oh, you want it to be more human. Okay, let me throw in a couple of mistakes for you. And and then suddenly we're at a very different point. We're not we're not there yet. I mean, I'm the same as you. I read it and I go, that's that's AI. However, there are times when I'm reading something, I'm like, that gave me the information I needed. Um, I wasn't looking for a connection. I needed information. And so it doesn't offend me in those situations. The only offense I have is knowing what's happening to the workforce. But that's uh apart from the information that's being delivered to me. I can separate those two pieces just on ethics that concerns me. On I needed a piece of information, yeah, I'm sure that was AI, but it gave me the facts I wanted. Those are very different pieces.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Yeah, 100%. Um, so if someone wants to learn more about you, um, how to work with you, talk about whether or not um doing a book at this time makes sense. And then if they do, what they need to think about, where's the best place to find you?

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Yeah, so uh book to business blueprint.com is and then because that's what we're trying to do is help people go from that book to the business, booktobusinessblueprint.com. I have uh several resources there, a couple of free tools to get started. Um, and uh I started a podcast um after the book because I realize that's really where I talk to people and and and part of it is where did I come from? How did how did I stumble into this accidental business that's now uh we're 26 years in uh to this little accidental business and um how that was fueled by books and and the fact that I wish I'd been more clear uh at the beginning of that, that I think I made mistakes that would have changed things are all in there. And there's a program. If if people want to figure out what is one step, and that's the other thing that I notice when when you write a book and then you go, what now? It can be like a fire hydrant of information out there. And you're just want you're needing a SIP that you can manage in a day, and it's just blowing you away. And so we do a one thing per week process to get people to build that business out. So all of that's at book to blue book to blue book to business blueprint.com.

SPEAKER_00 43:26

I love that. I love that. Book to business blueprint.com. Well, thank you so much for being here, for sharing your wisdom. Really great conversation.

SPEAKER_01 43:36

Thank you. It was great.