Big Idea to Best Seller with Jake Kelfer

I think it comes from one practice, right? When you do hundreds of the same thing, you naturally just get better, right? But then I think it also comes from understanding what you actually want. So, for me, I want to be a great presenter. Therefore, I am willing to put in the work to be great at that craft, right? And so, when I used to play, I grew up playing baseball and basketball, and I would play center field when I played baseball. And most kids growing up don't want to be in the outfield. I loved it. I wanted to be the best center fielder in the world. And so I did the little things that prepped me for the big moments. And those little things are when I got to a field, I would pick up blades of grass to see which way the wind was blowing. I would roll some ground balls in the outfield to see were there going to be any bumps or was I going to be able to scoop it cleanly and be able to throw somebody out. Where were my angles that I was going to take to back up my teammates? Right. And those things, where's the sun going to be? And I think when you really want to be great at something, you're willing to put in a level of preparation that enables you to be ready. And so for me, I love presenting and I've really tried to, one, hone the craft, learn from people that were better than me, and then get as many repetitions as I can so that I can articulate the message. In the easiest and most concise and enthusiastic way, right?

Jake, welcome to the Book Thinkers Life-Changing Books Podcast. How are you feeling today?

Dude, I'm feeling good, man. This is gonna be a fun convo.

Yeah, it really is. Now, you're a 4-time bestselling author. When you meet people, do you identify as that, a 4-time bestselling author?

You know, I didn't originally, and this is a funny story. So I wrote my first book at 23 years old, all right? I didn't know what a book was going to do for me at that time, and, you know, I was a single dude, and I would never like outwardly say, oh yeah, I'm a best-selling author, right? But my friends, they started to think this was hilarious whenever we'd go out, and so they would be like, this is a best-selling author that you're talking to right now, and so it was hilarious, but— Over time, I've started to, to understand what it means to become the identity of someone who writes a bestselling book. But it's always, it's always been a fun journey of identifying as that or just, you know, being proud of the work that I've been able to accomplish with the team I have.

Yeah, that's amazing. Jim Quick says, I am are the 2 most powerful words in the English language. English language. Wow. I'm having a tough time with the English language today. So it's cool.

Yeah.

You might as well step into the identity, right? Now, that's a lot of fun. Did that pickup line work for you?

Let's say it made for some fun conversations.

Yeah, that is pretty funny. Did you ever bump into any other bestselling authors at the bar?

I didn't. I didn't, no. And most people weren't in their early 20s writing books. So, the crowd I was with were doing entrepreneurial things, but very rarely were there authors in their early 20s at that time.

So, for the original book, what was the inspiration? Because you're totally right. The average early 20-year-old isn't writing a book.

So, I didn't expect to write a book at 23, okay? So, I had in my mind that in order to write a book, you had to have achieved a certain level of success or you had to have a certain amount of money, right? So then, you would be, in my opinion, credible, right, to society. But then I was working with the Los Angeles Lakers, okay? And this was my first job out of college. I was working for Los Angeles Lakers. It was Kobe Bryant's final NBA season.

And you're 23, so this is all aligning perfectly.

Yeah, right, right? And so, I'm getting to work with the team and I'm like, this dude Kobe has an impact on the entire world. People are spending their life savings to come watch him play one final time. And I'm like, how do I do this? Now, I couldn't become an instant Kobe Bryant overnight, but I thought maybe if I can't change the entire world, what if I could change one person's world? And so I came home that night and I just asked myself 2 very simple questions. What do I know and how can I help? And then the truth is, man, I didn't know shit, right? Like I'm one year out of college, but the only thing I did know was all of my fraternity brothers and my, younger real brother, who's a couple of years younger than me, they all asked for my help. They all asked for, Jake, how did you get all these interviews? Jake, how'd you land your job with the Lakers? Jake, how'd you network with all these executives while you were in college? And I realized that I knew enough to help people who were 1 to 2 steps behind me get the results. And so, I ended up writing my first book. 6 months later, Kobe retires, I retire, and I released Elevate Beyond, which was a millennial's guide to standing out in the job market. And that book became a bestseller, sold thousands of copies right away. And within months I was speaking all over the country and my book was used at colleges as required reading in their syllabus. So it was like an unexpected, incredible journey that was all founded in the belief of sharing knowledge to help another person.

Yeah, man, you can't hit a home run from the dugout, right? You've got to step up to the plate and take a swing. So I think that's so cool. Were you a big reader? of personal development or business-style books prior to deciding to write this one?

So, I've always loved books, and there were 2 books that I read in my high school days, okay? One, the first one that my parents really wanted me to read was How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I still quote some of that book in speeches that I do and workshops that I do, and that was like a hook because I started doing the things, and then I was creating like All these amazing connections. And I was like, this is the most amazing thing. Let me read more. And then I got introduced to an author by the name of Jon Gordon. And Jon Gordon writes business fable-style books. And his book was called Training Camp. And I read this book cover to cover over and over again. It was the underdog story of this guy who's in training camp to make the NFL. And me being a 5'8 Jewish kid from the suburbs wanting to play in the NBA, like I was the underdog, right? And so, I read this in high school and it really like jump-started and really helped me motivate myself. And then since then, I've been just a voracious reader, sometimes going in waves, right? Depending on the season. But reading has been such a huge part of my life and it's crazy that now it's part of my like actual job, which is nuts.

Yeah. So cool. The girls at the bar stood no chance. They were talking to somebody who worked at the Lakers, had a bestselling book. And had read How to Win Friends and Influence People, you know, so you're, you're like of the school of Dale Carnegie. So cool. Um, John Gordon has been on this podcast before, so you guys are sharing the digital stage right now. What are some of your favorite lessons from that book?

I mean, I think one of the biggest lessons from that book overall was, for me at least, right? And I used to have quotes from that book all over my, my wall for about 10 years. But it was really about, for me, understanding that if you want something bad enough, you got to be willing to endure the journey to reach the endpoint. And oftentimes, you know, and again, this is cliché, but this is why it is, is like you got to understand that as you build something that's worth building, it's going to require you to go through times that are hard. And when it gets hard, you have to decide, Do I want the hard or do I want the easy and get the quick win? And so, I think for me, it just kind of embodied this that I always live with the underdog spirit. And Dean Graziosi, he has that book, I think The Underdog Advantage or something. And it's really about taking this, for me at least, like there's always more to be had, but you got to have fun in the pursuit of greatness.

I love all of those lessons and I agree 1,000%. So, how do you go from, okay, I decide to write this book because I want to have Kobe Bryant level impact at some point in my life, and this is the first step. So you decide to write this book, it goes bestseller. You realize it was an easier process than you thought. You also realize there was an inbound demand for the information that you were sharing, right? So that's a great sign. Your friends and your little brother and everybody else is asking you for this type of information. It performs well. How do you go from, okay, I wrote a book to I'm going to help other people write books?

So that took a while, right? Because I still wanted to be in the world of the NBA, all right? So once I started speaking, I was like, this is amazing. Didn't know I could have a career doing this. Didn't know you could get paid to talk. I was like, this is the coolest thing ever. So I'm getting paid to talk, but I still wanted to work in the NBA, so I build out an NBA event, and it was called Professional Basketball Combine, with the whole idea to help NBA players turn their dreams of playing pro ball into their reality. And over the next 3 years, we helped 70+ NBA guys sign contracts that have now been worth over $250 million in lifetime contracts. And that's been like unbelievable. But as I was going through this journey, I wrote my second book because people started asking me, Jake, how have you been able to network and get all the NBA teams and national media? How have you been able to do that? So I wrote my second book, Elevate Your Network. And then the pandemic comes. Now, along the way, I'm helping people here and there who are writing books. I'm showing them my newest bestseller techniques and tactics. I'm showing them the marketing things, but I'm just doing it for fun because my heart was working, you know, in the basketball space and speaking. I was a-okay with what I was doing. But then the pandemic hits and instantly my combine gets shut down and speaking revenue disappears pretty much overnight. And I was like, well, This is one of those opportunities that life isn't going to go according to plan every single time. And I really kind of started to switch and learn more about the online space and really dig into it. And so, then I ended up writing my third book. And then fast forward, and at the end of 2021, one of my business coaches at the time, she was like, Jake, as someone who's doing more of the online stuff, I wouldn't bring you in to speak about this general stuff that you're doing. But if you wanted to talk about how to write a book for business, I'd bring you in as a guest speaker tomorrow. And it was like I had resistance, but then she brought me in and I did a presentation. I made it up on the spot, and I had somebody right after saying, how much does it cost to have you help me with my book? And at that moment, Big Idea to Bestseller was born. Top of 2022, we officially launched Big Idea to Bestseller, and now we're a rapidly scaling, uh, publishing company. that helps entrepreneurs and executives write nonfiction books to grow their business.

So, are you a traditional publisher? Is it a hybrid model? Are you helping people self-publish? What does the model look like?

So, the model that we've kind of taken on is not traditional, not hybrid, and I would say it's like the major leagues of self-publishing. All right? So, for people that are listening, right? Like traditional publishing, a lot of your listeners probably know, like you get a book deal, You give up a lot of your royalties typically for the advance to build out the deal. Hybrid, you have a lower split of royalties, you know, and sometimes there's different tactics. With us, you get all of those services. We will, we have ghostwriters, we have writing coaches, we will edit your book, design your book cover, format your book, we will publish you professionally, we will help you launch your book, we'll help market your book, okay? But you maintain 100% ownership rights and royalties of your book. So it's not just self-publishing where we're just saying, hey, this is how you do it. We can help you with that as well, but this is, hey, you're going to get all the services from the best of the best in the industries, but you're going to still retain 100% ownership so you can use it for higher margins, for different marketing techniques, for coaching clients, speaking gigs, etc., and some of the other things that you can do by Retaining control.

I think the average reader who wants to maybe write a book, right? We've got a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs, maybe early-stage entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs in the audience who think, okay, like I might want to write a book. Why, again, can you reiterate, maybe go a little bit deeper on why it's important for somebody to retain the IP and maybe give some examples of like what you might lose if you sign away your IP to a big publisher?

Well, and this is a really fun question because I don't think there's always one right way. Like, I'm biased, right? Like, I love the way because it's worked for me and it's worked for the people we help, but I also know some people who have done the other approaches and it's worked for them. So, I want to preface this by saying just because this is what I believe is the best way for most people, it doesn't mean it's the only way or the right way for everybody. Now, that being said, okay, I believe in, in this model, okay, because number one, when you work with a, with a company like ours or you are focusing on self-publishing with a professional flair, you maintain 100% control, meaning you get to choose the team that you work with. That can be a small team or it could be a large team. You get to typically choose the budget. That could be a big thing for some people. Maybe you're balling on a budget, maybe you got a larger budget, okay? That can be a big role. You can choose your timeline. When people work with us, the average timeframe is about 8 months from, hey, I'm thinking about writing a book, to hit an Amazon bestseller. Whereas if you traditionally publish, that could be anywhere from 18 to 36 months on average. That's a huge difference. And if you're using your book for marketing purposes, well, in my opinion, I'd love to have a book done in 8 months and then have 10 months of marketing versus just 18 months before the book's even out, right? So these are just some of the reasons why I've really loved this, and the biggest reason is because when I was first starting out and I was trying to write my book, no publisher in their right mind would have taken a chance on a first-time author writing a career development book at 23 years old. That just wouldn't have happened, and I wasn't willing to go through all of that. And so when I found this other option, I was like, let me try it. 6 months later, I wrote a really great book that has now helped thousands of people all over the world. It jump-started multiple businesses. And that was all because I was able to have control. And then I was able to use it however I wanted. I wasn't responsible for making decisions based on what someone else wanted. I didn't have to focus just on book sales to get royalties. I only focused on what I wanted to do. I could give books away freely. I could buy cheap author copies. I could get higher profit margins. I could do so much with my book by retaining control. So it's one of the reasons I'm a huge, huge fan, especially if you're using your book for business growth.

I love that you said self-publishing with a professional flair. That was cool. And All of the reasons you just highlighted, those are the same reasons that I decided to self-publish my book, Rise of the Reader. And I'm a big advocate for working with a company like yours to get the book done. Sidebar real quick. I mean, we're still recording this, but separate conversation for a second. You're an amazing presenter. I love the way that you just laid all of that out. Now, I know you read How to Win Friends and Influence People in high school, so kudos to your parents for kind of forcing you to do that. But where has your ability to articulate your thoughts and present in such a well manner? Where has that come from?

I think—

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It comes from one practice, right? When you do hundreds of the same thing, you You naturally just get better, right? But then I think it also comes from understanding what you actually want. So, for me, I want to be a great presenter. Therefore, I am willing to put in the work to be great at that craft, right? And so, when I used to play, I grew up playing baseball and basketball, and I would play center field when I played baseball. And most kids growing up don't want to be in the outfield.

Yeah.

I loved it. I wanted to be the best center fielder in the world. And so I did the little things that prepped me for the big moments. And those little things are when I got to a field, I would pick up blades of grass to see which way the wind was blowing. I would roll some ground balls in the outfield to see were there going to be any bumps or was I going to be able to scoop it cleanly and be able to throw somebody out? Where were my angles that I was going to take to back up my teammates? Right? And those things, where's the sun going to be? I think when you really want to be great at something, you're willing to put in a level of preparation that enables you to be ready. And so, for me, I love presenting and I've really tried to, one, hone the craft, learn from people that were better than me, and then get as many repetitions as I can so that I can articulate the message in the easiest and most concise and enthusiastic way, right?

So yeah, I mean, when I think of Jake, I think of energy and charisma and enthusiasm. So let's— I want to learn a little bit more about your daily routine. Like, do you optimize for energy and what are some of the things that enable you to have so much energy and enthusiasm on calls?

All right. So, so energy is a big topic. This is an unbelievable question. Let me say this. I believe in something called the flexible routine. Okay, now this is potentially counterintuitive to the normal definition of routine, right? The routine is doing the same thing over and over again, right? That is how you build a habit, and doing positive habits over time creates better behavior, right? We understand that. You've read the books, I've read the books, right? We get it. But here's the thing, is I was doing all of the things that a morning routine, daily routine, evening routine should be, right? You wake up at a certain time, you go outside for 10 minutes, you get the vitamin D, you then drink this, you do that. I had a crazy-ass routine. Okay? Now, this was in my mid-20s. I'm 31 now. This was in my mid-20s. And I got to a point where I was like, this isn't fun. This isn't— this is not getting me where I want to go. And so, I learned, yes, I love rigidity, I love routine, I love structure. But what I learned more importantly is to ask myself the question, not is it fun, because not every routine is going to be fun, but is this routine actually serving me to get the result I desire from doing this activity in the first place? And I quickly realized that I was doing things because the internet suggested this is how successful people win. And I stopped saying that and I started saying, When do I have the most energy and when am I most optimized? That needs to be the routine that I continue with. What are the things that serve me best? Those are the things I need to continue. And so now I have what I call the flexible routine. I'm very, very rigid, but I also understand that I'm here to serve the highest version of myself. And so what that looks like in a practical standpoint is I wake up at 5:32. Okay, not 5:30. I want to sleep in, so I go 5:32. My favorite number is 32. I'm a math nerd. Me and my dad do this. So, 5 minus 3 is 2, right? That's making a rigid routine fun. And guess what? If I wake up a little bit before then, that's okay, right? I don't have to rush into something. When I go to work, I'm most effective In the morning. I'm not a night person. I'm not. I like to go to bed early, so I grind for 2 hours right away when I wake up. I love it. That's like what I do. So I figured out how to do that. And then when you combine this, you asked about energy, right? Well, you have to— if you want to give people the right energy, I believe that number one, you have to be doing something that you truly believe in. So that you have the energy. If you aren't excited, okay? And not that you're going to be excited every day, but if you aren't believing that this is part of your purpose, then I don't believe you're going to show up and deliver because you don't care, right? And so I care. I come on this, I'm fucking— excuse my language. I'm fired up, baby.

Me too.

Like, I'm like, dude, this is amazing. Like, we can have an awesome conversation. That potentially has the power to inspire somebody to do something that they weren't going to do before this. That's enlightening, right? And so I also believe that it is my duty as somebody that has been gifted with a naturally higher state baseline of energy and happiness, that it is my duty and responsibility to share that, to share this vibe, to share that. And I'll tell you this, not everybody likes this energy. All right. And guess what? That's okay too. I always tell people, you don't need everybody to like you. You need the right people to love you. And that's when you can really truly be yourself, have the right energy, and show up and deliver.

Yeah, so cool. That'll have to be your next book title, The Flexible Routine, because I think there is a lot of controversy, or I'll say there's a lot of back and forth in this world of personal development on social media. You've got Hormozi. He says no routine. And then you've got other people who say same routine every day, no matter what, don't budge, like Jocko, for instance. And you're somewhere in the middle. And I think that's really cool. Also, since 32 is your favorite number, it sounds like next year is going to be like the banner year for you. And I love all of the growth that you're experiencing. The other thing that bleeds through the video camera, the mic, whatever you want to call it, is your passion for what you do. And I know that people want to work with people that they know, like, and trust. And the best way to get to know somebody is to understand all of these things that make Jake Jake, right? Your story leading up to why you decided to write your first book, some of the funny things about the book, like going out and talking to the bar or whatever. But like, yeah, you're a bestselling author and you realized how easy and accessible it was for people when you can provide value. Then you go on, you know, through the pandemic and everything, you make a few changes, you decide to start helping people write books. Now, how many authors are you working with per year?

Right now we're doing a little bit, like around 100 per year, and we're scaling that pretty quickly. So, it's freaking awesome, man.

I love it.

Who's the ideal client for you? Because there might be somebody listening or watching to this show and they're like, maybe I should work with Jake. Like, I've got a book in me. What are the things that you look for in the ideal client?

Yeah, so I'm going to give you a BS answer and I'm going to give you a real answer. And the BS answer is anybody that believes they have a story to tell and they want to share that story, okay? All right, so we checked that box. Yeah, let's check that box, right? Let's talk about the nitty-gritty. What we believe is our most successful people that want to write books are people that have a strong compelling reason to wanting to write a book in the first place. Now, we only focus on nonfiction books. So if you want to write a fiction book, don't come to us. We'll refer you to someone else. If you want to write a children's book, we won't do that, but we will put you in touch with the best in the business. Now, that being said, who do we really love to work with? We love to work with people typically at 3 stages. Either you're a beginning entrepreneur or career transitioning, meaning you are working a corporate job and you're looking to go into the consulting world and you need a bridge to give you that jumpstart in credibility because you're not new to results. You're just new to getting them in a different way.

So good.

And a book is that credibility piece that bridges the gap between corporate to new. It doesn't mean you're a brand new person, never made a dollar. It just means you're new to making money this way. The other type of person is the person who's pretty new in business, the entrepreneur who's new. And they're like, okay, I don't want to spend 4 years trying to figure out how to get clients or how to be getting meetings, land podcasts, all these things. So it's a person who's at the beginning who's like, I want to build up my methodology. I want to have a place for unlimited content. I want to have the ultimate credibility piece. So they write a book early on. It builds out their framework, which leads to a backend program. It leads to their credibility. In my opinion, that is a fast pass to being taken seriously in a space where there's high competition and low barrier to entry. And then, yeah, go ahead.

Oh no, I was gonna say I love both of those answers, and man, you are so good at articulating exactly who your ideal client is. I love that. But what were you gonna say?

Yeah, and then we find— I'll wrap it up here— then we find there are really 2 other sectors, right? There's the super established entrepreneur. We often find that this is anywhere from the 6 to 8 figure range where they have done everything, right? They've built the business, they have predictable revenue, they are growing, they're trying to get to the next level, and they want to increase their brand so that it can drive more revenue and opportunity. Maybe they're getting ready for a sale, maybe they want to go from 7 to 8 figures, whatever that like next level is. Maybe they want to get featured in Yahoo, in Forbes, like, but they need something else, a TEDx talk. Well, then they would come write the book based on everything that's gotten them to this point, and then it serves as a low-ticket physical product, an entry point to the funnel, and a massive credibility boost, which pours gas onto an already existing fire, which is their business. And then lastly, we work a lot with corporate executives, CEOs, founders, and people who want to share the lessons they've learned through their incredible careers, creating legacy, and potentially even sparking a second career. after their corporate world?

Yeah, you're getting me excited. I'm like, I've got to write more books. I think, I mean, books provide so much value. You know, you're condensing decades of your lived experience into days of consumption for somebody else. And you're right, it's low ticket and it's the best of what you've got. I heard somebody say recently, it was a mentor of mine, Kevin Horsley, I got to give credit where credit's due. He said, Nick, I'd rather read somebody's book than spend a day with them. And I'm like, what are you talking about? And he's like, that's the best of what they've got. They spent so much time writing and simplifying that message so that you can absorb it. But if you get coached by them one-on-one, you're gonna get a whole bunch of other random information and context.

Yeah.

It's not gonna be the best of what they've got. So I agree. I think everybody out there should write a book, especially if there's a very clear inbound demand. What you have to say is different and you feel that calling. And so, if people want to work with you to get that done, what are the first steps? How do people reach out?

Yeah. I mean, the best thing to do is visit bigidea2bestseller.com. And on there, you can get all the information you want about what we do. If you want to connect with me directly, Instagram @JakeKelfer, that's going to be the best. And then, for your listeners, since I know they're readers, I'd love to give them a little gift if you're okay with it.

Yeah, of course.

Basically, I'd love to give anyone who's listening to this a free copy of my latest book, Big Idea to Bestseller, and this book is literally all about how to write, publish, and launch a nonfiction book. So, if anybody's interested in that, just message me on Instagram @JakeKelfer, say, hey, I heard you on the podcast, and I'll get you a paperback copy mailed to your home.

It's amazing, man. So much value. Okay, last question. What was the best book that you read last year in 2023?

This is one of the most difficult questions you've asked today. I think, let me address it with this. Last year, I would say, I mean, Atomic Habits, I read almost every year. That book has been one of the most influential books recently for me. And I've read a lot of my clients' books, and there's been a lot of great client books that I've read, but I would go to Atomic Habits is one of my most powerful books that I've read because I read it over and over again. And I would also say The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. I believe that's how you pronounce his name. I really enjoyed that book. And then because I can't just give you one answer, I will also say this. I just started reading fiction again, and I never thought I would read it after, you know, reading Harry Potter growing up, but that has actually given me so much clarity and great ideas around building a bigger vision because of the worlds that you're introduced to. That's a whole other topic of conversation. But Atomic Habits and The Psychology of Money were the 2 big ones for me last year.

I had a public speaking professor in college challenge me on the whole fiction versus nonfiction thing because I had just gotten into the world of nonfiction. And he said, listen, man, don't discount fiction. It's the only place in the world where the impossible can become possible with the stroke of a pen. And that is creativity. That is big thinking. So we'll leave it there, man. Thank you so much for the amazing conversation today. And next time we'll do a deeper dive on the fiction books that you're reading.

I'll do it. Hey, I appreciate you, man.