Episode 419: How to Create an Amazing Strategy and Game Plan

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm Larry Weddell. And before we get started, if you want to know exactly how to win again and again, go to Wydell on winning.com webinar now to watch something I've put together for you. Now let's get going into this episode.

Of Million Dollar Mastermind. I'm back talking with Jane Westman. It's just been too long, Jane, since we've had a chance to talk.

It has been a long time. I'm so glad you were catching up today.

Yes, we are. And, you know, I'm excited about so many of the things that you're doing. You know, you're like one of these thought, you know, you're an industry leader without really trying to be that just by your normal outreach and doing what you do. But so let's talk about this. What did you learn from doing your book, and at what stage in your career did you say, I'm going to get my own book? And how did that work out? Dive Right in, the Sharks won't bite in 1995 was one of your first. Well, I guess you've done other books, but that was your first. It says one of your first books focused on helping women entrepreneurs. And. And so talk about what that experience was like. Yeah.

So I researched that book in 1994, and it was published in 1995. And that was before we had all of the technology that we have now. And I did learn a lot, and it's helped me. I learned a lot about being an author that has helped me help other authors. So, for example, I learned that the title of the book book and the subtitle was Too Long and therefore very hard to say in an interview because the title is Dive Right in, the Sharks Won't Bite, the Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Success. Okay. So one thing I help a lot of authors now come up with titles for their books, and we try to make them three words if we can. You know, one, two, three words. That that helps a lot. I also learned a lot about being interviewed, just like you and I are doing right here, because in those days, I traveled all over the United States and I was interviewed on television and radio shows in cities throughout the United States to publicize the book. And I learned a lot about being prepared for the interviews, having message points, having specific topics that I wanted to talk about. I learned how to deflect questions that perhaps, perhaps I didn't know the answer to. And I learned how nervous somebody could be to be interviewed. And that's really helped me a lot when I help my clients prepare for their interviews because I understand where they're coming from. And so I try to give advice about how to start the interview and be really prepared, coming right out of the gate of how to be dynamic and how to stick to your points and your messaging. I also learned a lot about entrepreneurship because I had to research the book. So I've got plenty of advice, particularly for women entrepreneurs. Although a lot of, obviously my advice would be good for anybody who wants to or build a business. But a lot of the things that I wrote about that I researched and wrote about in 1994, in 1995, those problems still exist today, or the advice that I gave in those days is still valid today.

Yeah. And so have you written other books? Have you?

I have not written any other books, but I write a lot of articles and I have a YouTube channel, and I talk on my YouTube channel both about book marketing and now I've been talking a lot about entrepreneurship.

And the thing is, Jane, let's let people know about that YouTube well, before we get to the YouTube channel. In terms of writing a book and the things you learn from doing that, the thing I found is that it was easy for me to write in the sense I was writing stuff that I talked about for 40 years. And so it was. It's just a matter of getting down. But even then, it helped crystallize and simplify and solidify. It helped me simplify what my I was saying and find, you know, where you had 40 analogies for it to make a point. You got the best 1, 2, or 3, and it forced, again, forced you to be disciplined in your conversation. And so how would you describe for people who are thinking about writing their own book and they're at a business of their own, and when's the right time to write the book?

The right time to write a book is anytime that you're an expert in. In your field or anytime that you see a problem. What I advise people to do is whether you're a consultant or you're running, let's say you're running a tech company. Even that helps people hire employees. So when you see a problem that your clients are having and you have solutions for that problem, that's the time to write a business book that will help grow your business and build your brand. So it's about solving problems based on your own business experiences. That's if you're writing a business book, of course, or even let's Say you're a chef and you want to write a cookbook. It would be the same thing if you're a psychologist and you. And you, you know, you help people be better parents, parent. You can write a parenting book. If you're into fiction and you're driven to write a novel, you know, go for it. But my focus at this point is helping people write and market their business books, often as part of an overall marketing campaign for their companies.

Hey, listen, there's a lot of information online, but there aren't a lot of people who have actually done something. In my case, I've actually built a successful business that's accrued over 5 billion in assets under management and has done well even during trying times. Now, if you want to know exactly how I've done this, go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar Now, I've compressed a decade of learning into five short weeks. Just for those of you who want to give yourself an incredible advantage and are tired of waiting and watching others move up.

Yeah, and in many ways, you can act like a calling card. You know, you help establish who you are and what you can do for other people. There is a certain power of being able to have that and hand that to people. People appreciate getting a bunch. It's amazing. You know, you sign and make a few comments to them, and they, you know, they seem to be very. It's a good way of breaking down barriers and making connections with people.

It also solidifies you as a thought leader. People are very impressed when you write a book. So the other thing about writing a book is if you're not a great writer yourself, do you need to get a ghostwriter? If you write it yourself, do you need an editor? So again, Larry, my theme over and over again is have a team, build a team, other people. Same thing with writing a book. You don't have to sit in a room all by yourself and write a book. You know, get out there, interview people, do your research for the material that's going into the book, and then build a team to help you produce the best book possible.

Right. And as you've gone, well, let's go on over to your videos. This is an extension of that. And so as an extension of reaching out to people, what would people get on your. A lot of the questions I could ask you right now, they could go to the. And get it off your YouTube and.

And hopefully they will.

And so what. How long have you been doing the YouTube videos?

I started, I think it was March or April. When I became isolated because of COVID when everybody was so frightened and we really were not meeting with other people. So my associate Sarah, who I mentioned earlier, actually handles a social media platform for all of our clients. She was saying, jane, we need some videos. Let's make some videos. I love. I love talking to you, Jane. You've got great advice. Let's make some videos. So we started making videos and, you know, I would. I would say five or six thousand people have been looking at each video. There's a pretty good audience.

Amazing.

Yeah.

By the way, regarding you talking on, I love those glasses.

Great.

I'm a connoisseur of glasses and those are first class.

Thank you. Well, I'm wearing them so I can see you. Otherwise, I make my videos mostly without the glasses.

Oh, do you?

Here's where I'm heading. Larry, I think I'm going to get you to start making video interviews and not just podcasts, because you're really great. Look at how much fun we're having.

I think, I think you're going to win that argument. I think you're right. Now talk about you have, you know, I list. There's a bunch of questions I can ask you, but what advice? Let's just say what advice do you have for. Let's just say key strategies. Key strategies. You would just say generic key strategies for building a successful business and to give you that focus so you can overcome obstacles always come up. But if you have that focus and that energy going towards a target, it's like a speed bump. If you've got energy, you can just go right through it. But if you're not focused and you don't have that, obstacles are going to stop you. So what would you say that strategies people could use for moving forward, One of them you already talked about. Have a team. Don't try and do things by yourself. Find what you're passionate about. Get good at it, because you tend to enjoy things you're good at. And when you're good at something, you have success. And then of course you're going to love it because I'm good at it and I win. And people give me compliments, you know, so those are things we've already covered before. But what kind of strategies that have you used? Because I feel like you think with systems you have to have a. Strategies involved. You know, you have a system serve. Strategies is a way of looking at it. So how do you. When I say that type of thing, what jumps into your mind?

Yeah, having a written business plan and I'M not talking about one of those really complicated plans that you would put together because you're going to go out and try to raise venture capital or even for a bank. I'm talking about a very simple plan that's probably a couple pages long in which you write out what your business is all about, how you're going to finance it, where are you going to get the money? Who are the customers? How are you going to reach those customers?

This is great stuff.

And what are you going to do to launch the business or market the business or do sales? And where do you need help? So that way, by writing out all the different parts of what this business is all about, how are you going to market it? How are you going to get capital? Are you. Are you going to use, you know, mortgage your house? Are you going to take a bank loan? You know, how are you going to get that money? Which parts of this business are you going to run? Who do you need to bring in to help you? I also think you need to get some basic business advice from an accountant, possibly a lawyer. You need to decide if you're going to work from home, if you're going to work in a shared workspace, if you're. If you're going to rent an office. So I would say get this all written out in several pages, and it makes it very concrete. And then the other thing is to develop what I call an informal board of directors, where you reach out to other people who you know in business and you ask them if you can meet with them to review this plan.

Yeah. Jane, I'm flabbergasted. You just knocked it out of the park. That was the most concise, powerful, every word, valuable answer I think I've ever gotten on the most critical thing for people to get started, you know, and you just covered the whole battlefield there. Thank you so much. I mean, you're welcome. You have ended our game with a grand slam home run. I'll promise you that. I fired up and looking forward to hopefully doing this again in the future because I know your world is going to evolve and multiply. But also after we go play golf in.

Okay.

Yeah. And so thank you so much.

You're welcome.

If you enjoyed what you've heard and are dead serious about finding out for yourself exactly how this works in the real world, I've taken the most valuable business lessons I've learned over 40 years and put them into something for you to watch. Go to Whiteellumwinning.com webinar now in order to move up as fast as possible. I'm Larry Widell, and I run the Million Dollar Mastermind. Go, go.