In this vlog, Evan Carmichael explains his "miss‑you test" – a simple way for entrepreneurs to assess whether they truly love their business by asking if they miss it when away. He argues that missing your work signals passion, while not missing it suggests a need for change, possibly selling or pivoting. He then answers viewer questions, starting with how to secure a literary agent. He shares his own experience with agent Dupree Miller, describing how the agent arranged multiple publisher meetings, created competition, and secured a better deal, and he outlines steps to find an agent (research, outreach via Twitter/LinkedIn, leveraging connections). Next, he provides a status report on his upcoming book: three sections (ideas, drafts, application), with sections 1 and 2 largely completed, section 3 needing interviews; overall the manuscript is about 60% finished. He mentions upcoming interviews with companies like Menlo. He also discusses his "belief playlist" – a personal music mix he uses to set a positive state, encouraging listeners to cultivate varied interests to spark creativity in business. The video includes casual interruptions (rain, mosquitoes) but remains focused on actionable advice and personal updates.
Chapters
Does your business pass the miss you test? So one of the things I've always found helpful in thinking about projects that I'm working on is, do I miss it when I'm not working on it? And this relates to my book because last week I wasn't able to get a lot of writing done because 50 Cent commented on my video and shared it and my day exploded on me. And so I wasn't able to write and I kind of miss it this week. In my very first video in this series, I talked about how much I hate writing. But, you know, I've built up a team and I've built up momentum and I've been able to get help with the areas that I don't like doing. And I kind of miss it. And that makes me know that I'm on the right track. And I'd encourage you guys to think about the same thing. Do you miss the projects that you're working on when you go away? And I think a lot of entrepreneurs, we can get stuck in a routine, stuck in a habit. And we see good growth and then plateaus, and it's because you don't really love what you're doing anymore. And often you can't get that clarity until you go away, until you stop doing it and then see, do I miss it or not? And I think that's why vacations help a lot of entrepreneurs. When you go off to another city, another country, I know when I leave, I miss the work that I do. You know, I miss the YouTube comments. There are mosquitoes everywhere. It's raining.
But we're still doing videos.
I miss the comments, I miss making the videos, I miss the meetings, I miss my business. You know, it's great for a couple days and like I'm itching to get back. And you know, a lot of entrepreneurs too, they'll go away and they'll realize, maybe I don't miss my business, right? And that's a good thing to realize because then something needs to change. And that might mean you selling the business, moving on to something else. It may mean you changing your day-to-day life. Changing the activities that you're doing. But it's a good rule for business, it's a good rule for life. If you do not miss it when you're not doing it, then you probably shouldn't keep doing it. Find another way to stand. Go follow something that you are passionate about. I'm gonna make a quick video today because this rain is insane.
I was hoping to get to Whole Foods today to write, but I'm not sure it's gonna happen.
Thunder showers all day long. But I'm gonna get to your questions, so here we go. Bahran asks, "Hello, I saw your video on YouTube about book publishing process and I enjoyed it." "and I've just finished my book." Congrats, man. "And I wanted to ask, how can I get an agent to read it, and are you an agent for book publishing?" So I am not an agent. I have an agent. The agent that I have for publishing is Dupree Miller. I definitely recommend getting an agent. Mosquito! Oh, I dropped it.
I was going to show you the mosquito. I'm going to do this inside because I hate mosquitoes. I'm very allergic to mosquitoes.
Moving inside. Moving inside.
Where were we? Agent. So yeah, I'm a big fan of getting an agent. What happened when I got my book deal was my agent basically lined up a whole bunch of meetings with publishers back to back to back to back to back, and we pitted them one against the other, and I was able to get a significant increase in the offer. Kind of like when you're selling your home and you get an agent to kind of line up multiple bids. That ended up happening for me in the book, and I got a great deal as a result. I could have gone to publishers myself. I feel like I wouldn't have gotten as good a deal and maybe not ended up with the right publisher. You know, do what you're good at and don't worry about the rest. Have people around your team who can support you, right? So I'd be looking at how can I get an agent, and I would look up— I would just start looking it up, look up all the agents. And get your deal in front of them. Reach out to them, find out how you can connect through Twitter, LinkedIn, just through email. I'd be looking at my connections, who do I know that I might be able to get an introduction to, somebody else who works at an agency. Itching like crazy, stupid mosquitoes. But I would definitely recommend going down that route. They take a cut of whatever deal that they bring in, but in my opinion, it's totally worth it. They more than pay for themselves, and I'm a big fan, at least so far. Next up, Tamara Weeks. 'Your book will be done in October. How much of your book is completed now? Is it all written and you're just tweaking each page with your team?' That's a great question. So there are 3 sections to the book and section 1 is pretty much done. Section 2, most of the content I think is written in a— I don't wanna say poor way, just like kind of first draft.
My first drafts are usually pretty good.
It's not just a spew. It's usually good. I don't make many modifications, but I'll need to go back and edit it. And section 3 is, it needs a lot of love. Section 3 is the application of my theories. So section 1 and 2 are the ideas, and then section 3 is how people at different size and different companies are applying it. And so I have to go do those interviews. I have most of them lined up. I've already done 2, and I'm going to the US in a couple weeks to interview 2 more companies. Including Menlo, which I know Tamara was somebody that you were asking about. And then it's turning that into content for the book. So how much am I done? Let's go with 60%. So I got a lot of work to do until we're finished. Next up, New Future Builder. I checked out your playlist, pretty interesting variety you have there. Ha, my music choices are all over the place too. I think he's referring to the Believe playlist that I have. And I'm a big believer in starting the day with music that makes you excited, gets you going, because music is a great way to instantly change your state. And so I created a belief playlist that was selfish, that's for me, and it was a private playlist for the longest time, and then people were saying, hey, we'd love to see that too, can you share it? And so I shared it, and I think it's great to have a mix of tastes in every area of life, in the food that you eat, the music that you listen to, in the activities that you're willing to try out. Even just trying it, even just trying it, and if you never go back to it, just having a curiosity and a willingness to explore, I think really overflows into the rest of your life. I'm itching like crazy from these mosquitoes. I think it exposes you to new ideas and opportunities, and I think it really helps my business to have a variety of interests and tastes. And so, um, I encourage it. Next up, Dolores: Brilliant news, well done following your flow, skipping the occasional schedule only adds value to the book. Hurry up, I need to read it already. Thank you, Dolores. Unfortunately, it is a process. The book is coming and I promise as soon as it's out, I will let you guys know. And the last question, Bassam Omda, who writes in: Peace and love from Egypt. Peace and love from Canada too, man.
Okay, that's it, a short one.
I don't think I'm going to get to Whole Foods. Hopefully this rain will subside and I can make a quick dash, 'cause I really like the environment of being able to work out there. If you guys have questions about writing a book, my process, anything I've talked about in this video, leave it below in the comments and I will make a video response in next week's episode. Thank you guys for watching, thank you for your support, really means a lot, I appreciate it. Continue to believe, and I'll see you soon.
