WARNING: Don't Even Think About a "Book" for Your Business (Please)

Seriously... thinking about a book is bad for your (mental) health... feeling guilty about not having done it yet... feeling dread about all the work (editing, writing) you'll have to do... nervous about the people who might hate it, not buy it, leave bad reviews...

Instead, can we talk about some IDEAS for you and your book? Is that ok?

Because, so many people (not you of course) think they'll fit everything they know into a book (it will be a mess), it'll be super duper long (no one will read it), and it generally seems like a PAINFUL process... if you don't have a plan to help you. (Hint: Book Formula online course.)

Can we just play, have fun, spitball some ideas?

What if... you created a 30 day plan to help out a SPECIFIC "stuck" person that you know?

(But don't actually let on that it's for that person...)

30 days to... lose weight through simple habits... make money with a rental property... save your marriage... get out of debt. I had a recent podcast guest (Chris D. Bentley, a realtor) with two published books: "7 Steps to Buy a Home" and "7 Steps to Sell a Home." It CAN be that simple! Solve a real problem, with a real plan, in a 30 day period.

And... let me throw out something a little painful for you: no one likes your successes! Is there anything more boring than saying... I'm great at this, I did that perfectly right the first time, I'm the best at this...?

This is where... making fun of yourself, humor, self-deprecation... can transform what you'd normally consider to be a BLAND topic into something INTERESTING.

Notice how I didn't say "try to be funny"... I said to make FUN of YOURSELF.

Why would anyone listen to you as the "expert" if you're talking about the mistakes you've made? Two reasons: first, the mistake happened a long time ago, and second, you've changed since then, and found a BETTER way to solve the problem...

You could call this "before-and-after" or "problem-solution." You could say, "I used to treat my spouse like crap in this way and that way. But now, I do chores without being asked, or asking for recognition afterwards, and I go out of my way to show little bits of gratitude for no reason when SHE does the dishes."

The wife and I recently had a son (Leo Plank) and when she was pregnant... you guessed it... we bought a few baby books to see what we were in for. You can imagine that the book discussed what NOT to do with a baby, even more than what TO do!

Our favorite "pregnancy" book took about 30 days for us to work through... and each page more or less covered what to do each week of that pregnancy... week 16, week 17, etc.

Here's an easy attention getter that guarantees you have something to say in your SHORT "30-day" book...

Say something SHOCKING but true.

And then throw in another piece of information to reverse it. An easy template for something like this is: "I Hate _____." Let's say your (30-day) weight loss book has a chapter about exercise. Start off by saying, "I hate exercise! You should NOT exercise." Then explain a few physical habits, routines, methods, patterns, someone could apply daily to lose weight.

Circling back around to podcast guests as I mentioned a moment ago: you, as a business owner, should be appearing on someone's podcast every month... ideally a few times a week. Take your show on the road and tap into other people's audiences, instead of waiting for search engine optimization and social media traffic to work (slow), or trying your luck with paid ads (very risky and time consuming).

As a podcast interview host, one of my best guest experiences was with a guest named Steve Miller, author of "Uncopyable." An email arrived in my inbox asking if I'd take him as a guest, I agreed, his bright orange book arrived in the mail, and then we conducted our interview. I flipped through his book ten minutes before the interview and showed up with all sorts of unique questions to ask. We had a blast.

Many times, I'll search for books on Amazon, not to buy those books, but find a thought leader about a specific topic... then contact those authors! Since that person is an author, I know they want to sell some books, and will therefore agree to appear on my podcast as a guest.

If you want podcasters to come to you, to speak with you about a subject you enjoy (because you wrote the book about it), have a friendly conversation (because you can send them your book -- either physically or in PDF form, or both), and you want to land high-ticket, monthly paying clients (because these prospects discovered YOU as an AUTHORITY, from another AUTHORITY's podcast)... get yourself a book!

To recap, so far, we've said that you MUST:

• create a 30 day plan that solves a specific problem for a real person that you know, but don't tell the person that the plan is for them
• use each step in the plan to ridicule YOURSELF and your mistakes along the way, so that you can say... here's where I made a mistake, perhaps you can relate... and HERE's what to do instead
• get attention with each of those steps by stating something true, harsh, shocking, and crazy... but then reverse it, perhaps by stating what not to do
• and assemble those "pieces" into a book! So that you can get on podcasts and use thought leaders as your referral sources to build credibility, expertise status, and become better and better known in your marketplace

I still realize that even the "thought" of a book is intimidating, and the solution is to do it one small step at a time!

The first step is to create your cover. I'm a huge fan of you creating your book cover FIRST, before think about your chapter titles or anything else inside that book...

It can be done in just a few clicks. You can be holding your own book in your own hands in just a few days from now, with almost NO work on your part! I want to show you how to do that inside our Book Formula course, as the very first thing we do...

I'm sure you're aware that you also must create the INSIDE of the book, but book publishing has changed so much in just the last couple of years (when was the last time you were in a bookstore?) that you'll be shocked at how accessible, and fast, it can be done...

I also want to help you with many other areas of using your book as a business builder, from marketing the book, promoting it, creating a special book website, guest starring on podcasts, publishing the book on multiple marketplaces including in audiobook form, and involving other co-authors in your book... inside Book Formula.

And the best part is, you can do this at your own pace AND stop at any time. Publish the book as-is and add to it on YOUR OWN schedule.

The place to end the frustration that comes with a book, stop dreaming, start doing, AND get your book out there... is inside our Book Formula course, so go there right now. Do it!