Are You Thinking of Writing A Book

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Welcome to the Legacy Leavers series on Success Secrets Exposed. Tune in live every Tuesday at 7 PM Eastern time or Wednesday mornings in Australia on W4CY Radio and Talk4TV. The series showcases experts, changemakers, and disruptors leaving a lasting legacy with those

Good morning, good afternoon, and g'day to you all, and welcome to another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Today's guest is someone who knows the secret of standing out in a noisy, overcrowded marketplace, and it's not a gimmick, it's a book. Michael DeLong is the founder of Paperback Expert and the mastermind behind the Speak to Write method. A proven way to speak your wisdom into best-selling credibility-building book, even if you don't have time to write a single word. With a background that spans ministry, radio, marketing, Michael has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs become the obvious choice in their industry by positioning themselves as published experts. He's also the host of Experts Speak podcast, Author of the number one bestselling on marketing book and a fierce advocate for using your voice and your story to grow your business. So get ready to discover why credibility beats visibility and how to use your book as a best marketing tool and what not to do when you're trying to grow your brand. So please help me welcome to the show, Michael.

Sally, thank you. Did you hear that cheer?

Woo! Yes.

They're all standing and cheering. I hear it. I hear it somewhere. No, it's good. So good to be here, Sally. Thanks for having me. It's gonna be a fun, fun conversation.

It certainly is. And I know we've started off with a couple of fun conversations and lots of kindred spirits as it relates to visibility and being the wind beneath the wings of experts and helping them really grow and shine. I'm gonna ask you the question that you asked me very, very cheekily, and that is, how the heck did you get started, uh, in this area?

It's a great question. So I'm gonna— I can do this in about 3 and a half or 4 minutes, okay? So I'm gonna go all the way back.

Beautiful.

So number one, I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I have been married to my wife since 1990. In fact, we just celebrated 35 years of marriage.

Well done.

We, um, first 5 years of our marriage were like this. So my wife and I are complete opposites. And, and even though she and I both grew up going to church, nobody ever taught us how to be married.

Mm-hmm.

And so we brought our own backgrounds and our own persons into that marriage, and it was, it was filled with conflict and anger and things. And after 5 years of marriage, we went to a Family Life Weekend to Remember marriage conference. Now, Family Life is a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. So we sat in the— in a ballroom with about 1,000 other people as they shared with us God's blueprints for marriage. Sally, I did not know that God had a blueprint for marriage. We learned this blueprint, we took it home with us with a bunch of resources and started applying God's blueprints. And, and through the '90s, our marriage got a lot better.

Mm-hmm.

Now, in the '90s, I was in, uh, selling Christian radio. In, in Indiana and, uh, helping business owners grow by selling radio. And what I learned after 2 years of that, Sally, is nobody wants to buy Christian radio. They want to sell their products and services. And so I, I said, well, okay, I've either got to get really good at selling or really good at marketing. And so I chose marketing. And so I started buying the books and going to the conferences and following all the gurus How do you make marketing work for a small business owner? And so that's what I learned and applied it in my business through the '90s, grew because I was helping my clients grow.

Yes.

And in the '90s, we had 2, our 2 biological sons, Caleb and Jeremy. And then at the end of the '90s, marriage is better, family's growing, and business was really good. But I, I kind of got thrown into a little prison in that I, I was stuck And, and I, I wanted to do something else. So God led us out of that, that radio station, that Christian radio station, to a startup.com. Now, now you and I are similar in age, so you'll remember this. Do you remember when that, that little company called Amazon first began and they were selling— they were the world's largest bookstore?

I do.

Okay, I do too, because that's when this— these friends of mine started this dot-com to to localize the internet, and they needed a sales guy. And so they hired me to come over, and I was selling banner ads and websites to companies in Indiana that didn't even know what the internet was.

Mm-hmm.

So I was working with that company, and well, Sally, they were way ahead of their time, and that means they went bankrupt. And so, so after 2 years, I'm standing in my living room going, all right, God, what am I supposed to do now? And, and he spoke to my heart and he's like, Michael, I want you in a ministry to marriages and I want you at Family Life, that ministry that changed our marriage. Hmm. All right. So I went down and talked with them and they said, yes, we want you to come serve with us. Oh, by the way, we don't pay you because we're a missionary. So you get to go raise your own support. And I said, okay. So we, we— for 2 years, I converted a bedroom into an office and dialed for dollars every day trying to get people to support support our family and ministry. So it took about 2 years. We finally moved from Indiana down to Little Rock, Arkansas, which is the world headquarters of Family Life. They plopped me into the radio department, which I loved because that was my background.

Yeah.

I thought I'd hit nirvana.

Yeah.

Why in the world would I do anything else but help build godly marriages and families? So I served there for, um, 6 or 8 years. I climbed the corporate ladder. I was on the leadership team. Everything was going great. And they started going through corporate reorganizations. And the 3rd reorganizational chart got rolled out. And Sally, my name was no longer on the leadership team.

Oh, dear.

So that's what I said, too. And so they started shuffling me around the ministry in different departments to do different things that need to be done. And that began a 2-year— I call it a prison term— because I was stuck in a job I hated at a ministry I love.

Mm.

But it was sucking me dry every day. And so after 2 years, I talked to my wife, I prayed, I said, God, I gotta get out of this place. And he said, what do you wanna do? And I said, well, I wanna go help business owners with marketing because they struggle with it and hate it, really. Yeah. And I love marketing.

Yeah.

And he said, go. So I built a plan, and on January 1st, 2013, I escaped from prison. I left the ministry, started a marketing consulting firm, had one client, helped him break through some barriers. He'd refer me to his friend. So Sally, he'd refer me to you, and we'd have a great meeting, and I'd talk about my marketing, your business. And somewhere in that meeting, Sally, you'd say, now Michael, this all sounds great. Tell me, what have you been doing in the last few years? Who else have you helped?

Um, critical.

And I said, well, I've helped build marriages and families at Family Life. And you would say, Michael, that's honorable. Way to go. Look, look at the time. I do have another meeting coming up. Michael, can we reschedule for another day and keep the conversation going? So I was getting a lot of second and third appointments, but no clients.

Yeah.

And after a while I said, okay, I got to fix this. So I went, I went to my church, second floor hallway. I was pacing back and forth, crying out to God, going, God, how do I help Sally? Because I know I can. And he gave me this idea to take all of my ideas and put them in a book.

Yeah.

And so I wrote my first book. It's called On Marketing. I wrote that back in 2013. Didn't know a thing about publishing, but I figured it out. Published my book. I'd set an appointment with you, Sally, and then I'd mail a copy of my book to you. A week later, I'd walk into your office for our meeting, and there it was. My book was on your desk, dog-eared, highlighted, underlined. You'd read my book.

Yeah.

In that meeting, you'd say, now, Michael, In your book, you said, how do you help me do that? And you start— you hired me, and the next person hired me, the next, and I started gaining clients. And I went, timeout, why don't business owners do this?

Yeah.

That's what— that's where the seed got planted for us to create what is today Paperback Expert. So we're a professional book publisher for busy entrepreneurs. We help you create your book without writing a word. We accomplish it in under 24 hours of your time. We publish you in 6 months. Then we teach you actually how to use your book to build trust, to reduce resistance, and to gain more clients and referrals. And I back it up with a 2-year money-back guarantee because I know it works. So that's how I got here.

That's how you got here. And that's why I love that you're here, because you have that beautiful, proven, very simple system that is also backed with how to, not only how do you create and write the book, but how do you actually utilize the book and create the leverage from the book? So to me, it's, it's not just a part, part of something, it's the whole something. And that's incredibly exciting for experts because they're getting the whole, whole of something and all of the expertise that you bring to that as well. So.

Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you.

Very excited for that. So based on the book and the fact that you've had that book since 2013, what was the defining moment as it relates to the credibility, or what was the additional defining moments is probably a better question, after that one, that very first one in the office where it's been dog-eared and marked and people say, how do you get me to do that? Yeah. Now, obviously, that is a defining moment for you. I would love if you've got some defining moments that you can share from some clients' perspective, or if there were some other aha moments. Because if you're like me, one aha moment leads to another aha moment that leads to another. So I'll let you take that one away.

Yeah, very much so. So my next aha moment. So when I knew I had something, right, and we created the company, the question hit me. It's like, OK, I need to find business owners to share this with, right? Any clients? Where do business owners gather?

Yeah.

2013. And it hit me. I'm like, I heard about this thing called BNI.

Yep.

Right. And I'm like, okay. So I remember this vividly. I was Wednesday night. I was sitting on my child's bed before, before they went to sleep, Googling BNI groups. And I found 2 of them. One met at 7 o'clock the next morning and one met at noon the next day. And I said, I'm going. So I emailed them and they invited me. Here's what happened. Everybody does their 1-minute, you know, dog and pony show. Yep. I get up and I say, I'm Michael Delon with Paperback Expert, and I can help you create a book without writing a word. And every head went, what? What'd you say? What, what'd you say?

That was the words that got me. Yep.

I knew at that moment I had something. And at the second BNI meeting I did that, and the guy right across the table looks at me and says, this is going to sound strange, but you and I need to talk because when I was in the shower this morning, I thought, I need to write a book. And you show up. And he became my second client.

Yeah.

And that's when— those were the aha moments that started, said, okay, we've got something here. Now let's perfect it. And it's taken us years to perfect it. Those were the moments that I knew with great confidence, I've got something very unique that is going to help business owners communicate and position themselves in a totally unique way.

Yeah. And with that new, um, that unique way, uh, as it relates to writing the, you know, your first book and then having those first few, um, clients come along and, you know, you see the aha moments that they're having through speaking to you going, that's, you know, pick me, pick me, that's exactly what I'm wanting. How did that experience of seeing that in their eyes— because I always said, see, that we, you know, we have the aha moment first And then we get almost the— what's the word— feedback, but we get the credibility uplift from ourselves when we see it land in their eyes. How did that experience of seeing it in their eyes help you shape the Speak to Write Method, or did you always start with that?

After I started, I created the Speak to Write Method after I wrote my book.

Yeah,

because I struggled to write this thing on nights and weekends, and I was like, there has to be a better way.

Yeah.

And with my radio background— okay, so I spent 9 and a half years in Christian radio, not only just selling but on air producing ads and working with clients for them to voice their ads. So I've been working with people creating content for a long time. Of

course.

And the idea hit me somewhere is No business owner wants to sit down and write a book because you self-edit and it's hard and your thoughts don't come out. But they're all communicators who can talk about their business all day long. It's like, all I need to do is structure that in a way that makes sense.

Yeah.

And so, um, we started out actually on 3x5 cards, okay, laying 3x5 cards out with the client, building the outline for their books and things. Then I shifted to PowerPoint, and now we have this amazing system with, with professional writers.

Yeah.

But what happened is I started seeing the, the giddiness.

Yeah.

Right? When they start seeing it come together, they go, yeah. And then the ease of which they could communicate the content to me when I had an outline built, I saw the confidence in them grow. And and then then the real big fun is when they actually got physical copies of their book. When I I used to deliver because this used to be a local business. Right now I'm international.

Yeah.

I used to physically take the first copies to my client and hand it to them, and the look on their face, Sally, and they would hold it there, and I take a picture of them, and then they would come to BNI and get up and do their dog and bite and say. Here's my book, and the beam on their face, that is more fun for me probably than anything, is to see them realize the fact that I did it.

Yeah.

This is me. And then to hear them later to go, I had a client walk in my office holding my book, they'd read my book, and we sat down and the conversation was so simple because they already knew, and they became— and they just gush. And I just sit back there and going, get used to it.

Yeah.

Because that's what happens. So those were some of the fun moments early on that just got me going and said, I want more of that.

Yeah. I've just remembered the word I was trying to think of before, which was the edification when people— and there's been so many spots with that. Um, I can imagine firsthand when I'm doing Post-it note processes with clients, it's similar to your, uh, cards when you've got that sweeping visual of their inner genius. which for the first time is being reflected back at them. And they can actually see that they've got value and structure and that self-edifying process of doing that, let alone when they get the book in their hand and then a client comes in with that book, that level of confidence would just start to ooze out of them, which is just beautiful to witness and hear the story of from you.

Yeah. And it's so fun to talk with clients because we all have business cards, right? Here's my business card. Call me. Call me. Here's my brochure. Here's my company brochure. It looks really good.

Yeah.

You hand somebody a book, it changes everything. And just in helping my clients and seeing them, it's not about putting the spotlight on me going, look at me, I'm an author and I wrote this book and you should— it's not about that at all. It's like, there's so much valuable content in this book. I'd love for you, Sally, to read it, get educated. It'll answer a lot of your questions, and then we can have a great conversation. It's service-oriented, right? And when they see that, it pivots them from being, I'm a financial advisor who helps, or I'm a fiduciary, or I'm an attorney. I'm a— no, I'm a guy who has some great things to share.

Yeah. And I'm just going to cheekily say there, this is a Sally nag for those that are watching the episode later or viewing it later. There was just a little instant there where Michael actually explained how to share the book with somebody in a very human manner. And it may have just gone over your head because we were deep in conversation. just do a little rewind and you'll see how beautiful a book can be utilized as an invitation to learn more and as Michael says, to serve his audience. So thank you for that, and that is a beautiful way to do that. So I'm going to ask, coming back to people in general or experts in general that know that they've got lots and lots of value and have been through that process of struggling to stand out, What do you think, and I think that the BNI gang is a great example of, you know, there's so many experts in the room, but why do they so often stay stuck as an invisible expert or stuck within a small arena versus the expansion that you and I know is possible for them? What are the roadblocks that you see and help them overcome?

Yeah. Oh, so many. So number one, number one is they they show up sounding like Charlie Brown's teacher. Now we all I love Charlie Brown.

Yeah.

I grew up on Charlie Brown. Most of us have his teacher, right? Wah wah wah wah wah wah. And that's what most business owners sound like.

It's

they stare at everybody and there's no differentiation. There's no reason for me to lean in.

In.

And so the first thing we do— and I had a call with a guy yesterday who's not ready to do a book.

Yeah.

He's starting out in business. But I said, the first thing you need— and this is what I tell everybody— is a compelling signature message.

Yeah.

That is uniquely you, separates you from everybody, and it attracts your ideal audience. And Sally, the truth is everybody has one.

Yes.

They're just— they haven't discovered it yet, and they're not— and if they have, they're not using it properly. That's always the first step in us. And that's how somebody from BNI can go from, I'm so-and-so and do such and such, to this. So for instance, here, let me just— can I share a story with you, a client story?

Absolutely. I love your stories.

All right, so this guy's a personal injury attorney down in Florida. He is David against 2 big Goliaths in his market.

Yeah.

And he came to me and he says, I don't have the money they do, I can't market like they do, but I need to grow my business. And I said, okay, let's, let's talk. I said, William, tell me, why do you live in Florida? I have a, I have a whole process, but one of them is like, why do you live where you live? And he told me he was in Florida because he went there on a baseball scholarship when he was in college, and he was going to the Pros in— as a pitcher in baseball. That was his plan, and he was really, really good. In his second year of college, he threw his arm out in baseball. Yeah. Had to have surgery, rehabilitation, killed his baseball career, killed his scholarship in college. He had to pivot, finished college, became a sheriff for a while, and then said, I want to go be a personal injury attorney and help people. And I said, William, that's, that's an intriguing story. Have you ever told that story to anybody? And he said, no.

I

said, we're going to.

Yeah.

And so I took that story, Sally, and I created his book. And now, and we created that signature message.

Yeah.

Look, is When Life Throws You a Curveball, right? What to Do After You've Been in a Serious Accident by William Franke. Baseball player turned attorney.

Yeah, much more compelling. I'm a little bit interested now. Who is that? That sounds cute. I'm curious.

Right, and you lean in. And now, so William paid to get on like the morning TV shows, you know, for a minute spot or 5-minute spot. And before, he was just, I'm an injury attorney, blah blah. And I said, William, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go on there in your nice attorney suit with a baseball glove and a ball. Because he was a pitcher. And I want you to talk with people and tell your story and say, if you have been— if life has thrown you a curveball and you get hit by a truck or bit by a dog, I understand where you are because I've been there. Why don't you call, get a free copy of my book? Let's focus on getting you healthy, and then let's focus on getting you the settlement you deserve.

Mm-hmm.

That pivoted his entire business and changed everything. Now he can compete against Goliath because they don't have that kind of a story.

Yeah.

And every business owner and expert has a story like that, but they're so close to it, they don't see it or they don't think it's compelling. And I disagree. It is. That's the first thing you need to do. That's what's going to start separating you from everybody else so you can stop being Charlie Brown's teacher.

Yeah, absolutely. I love that. And I'm going to ask the question because I often hear you say, Don't write a book to sell something, write a book to sell yourself.

Yeah.

And you've just explained the tip of the iceberg of that, you know, the intrigue and the compelling way in which— let's talk about the front cover. So let's, let's move a little bit and we'll just peel back that front cover just a little bit, just to reveal some of what's inside. So what's inside that helps the expert to sell themselves within the book? Just a few of the little, I suppose, the hidden gems without giving everything away.

Yeah, no, I can give it. I'll give it all away. It's honestly, it's vulnerability and transparency. Here's the truth of the matter. When we hear people speak, it's always, I mean, it's always their successes. 7-figure business, 9-figure business. I did this and I did that. But what's really going to connect at the heart level is sharing your, your failures.

Yeah.

I went to the pros and I, I lost it all. And I had hopes and dreams and they got shot. But I came back and here's what I've learned. Because here's the marketing principle I live by. People buy who you are more than what you do.

Mm-hmm.

And so there are thousands of financial advisors or coaches or speakers or attorneys. Why am I choosing you? It's because I'm bonding at a heart level. An emotional connection has been made. So what's inside of that story is William talking about the, the pain of losing that, and then having people come around him and, and build him up and say, it's okay, William. There's another pathway. Let's do this. And so as we take William or any of our clients, they all have some kind of a process that they walk people through. It's sharing that in an incredibly emotional, human way so that we build trust before we meet with a prospect.

Mm-hmm.

Because you're reading my book, you're spending an hour or 2 with me in the pages of my book, you're gonna know me. You don't know about the law. You don't want to know about how to structure an estate plan. You don't. You want to know that I know.

Yeah.

And that I'm the person you trust to take care of you because of my stories, because of the clients I've helped, all of that. So as you create the book, we just, we pull out the genius of our client, but we dig down to that heart level to say, who are you? And weave that theme through the entire book with stories. And I tell a lot of my clients, we want pictures of you and your family. We want stories of where you've gone. And they're like, well, that's just all personal. Nobody wants to know about that. Everybody wants to know that.

Yes. Yes.

That's what makes us personal, right? Because that's what we do is we unpack the story. We figure out how do you get somebody from A to B? And C to D to E, and build the process so it's simple. Don't overeducate people; they don't care that much.

Yeah,

they're looking for somebody they can trust who is an expert. I mean, you got to be good at what you do, but you don't have to be the best. That's the thing. People want you, and they want somebody they can trust. Do that, and your business is going to just. Grow so fast.

Yeah, I love that. We've, uh, you've said lots of my favorite words in that conversation. Um, the emotion, because obviously with the work we do is all around that emotive and emotional content. Um, and that you've talked, um, about, uh, you know, they really want to get personal and understand you. And I think, um, from an expert's— from an expert that always likes to be the expert and the overteacher, we actually forget. And I'm saying we, I'm really meaning me. We forget about those, you know, those personal stories because you're going— it's just A, B, and C because, you know, we just want to share, share and make things easier. And I say it that way because somebody like yourself that's able to pull those in, not only the inner genius but package it with all of those stories, that's something as an individual, it is very difficult for us to do as an individual. But when you've got somebody that's drawing all of that out of you, it does make it much more effortless and a lot more fluid and all those sorts of things. So it becomes a joy. The other thing that I really think is relevant, and I'd love your comment on this, is the real shift I'm seeing, and I'm sure you're seeing it in the marketplace with all of the advent of AI. Love it or hate it, depending on the way you do and don't use it, but there's a real shift where people really, really now want to connect with the human being and understand the human being behind the book, the business, you know, the help that they're looking for. Have you noticed that shift in your area and how people's books are being picked up and perceived and, you know, run forward with more because of that human connection that's being created?

Oh, without a question. The human element is everything in all that we do. Yeah. We, we use— we do not use AI in creating books right now. Okay, we use AI in other parts of our business.

Yeah, a lot of money.

But not for book creation because it, it, it's not there yet. It might be in the future.

Yeah,

but there's— it's not going to create— I, I will say this, I will assure you AI will not create that title. You put all of his information in a, in an AI thing, it is not coming up with that. I've tried and tried and tried. And it comes up with all kinds of stuff. It ain't coming up with that because that's a human looking at and connecting dots that a computer just doesn't do today. Number

one. Connecting dots. Yep.

People, yeah, people want the, the emotion. And the other thing with AI right now, and I keep saying right now because it might get really wicked cool in the future, who knows what the future holds, right? But right now it's not pulling out the stories. If you give it an outline, it's going to go and search and bring back, here's the outline. It's going to be very factual and very Stoic and very flat.

Nice word. Yep, flat and stoic. Yep, love that. Perfect.

That is not compelling. I am not looking, and your audience is not looking for more information. They have Google and YouTube and all that. They don't want more information. They want a trusted expert that, that can connect with them and be Real.

Yeah.

And that's the difference of AI versus doing it yourself and having somebody like us help you with it, um, because you're building your brand.

Yeah.

Okay. And when we create your book, then we create a podcast for you, we do your audiobook, and we put it all together. Now you're an entity, and entities So you've got to understand, what are you trying to do? What's the end? A book is not the end game, folks. It is an asset that will work years in your business. But the last thing you want to do— I'm going to use AI to write my book and it's going to— nobody— you know what, it doesn't matter because nobody reads books anyway. That's right. Nobody reads books anyway. And they— and trust me, you write a book with AI and somebody opens it and it sounds flat and stoic, they're going somewhere else because they just took that and said, oh, is that what Sally's all about? Is that the feeling Sally communicates? Is that— I need somebody to work with. So I'm a little passionate about this.

And I love that passion. Thank you very, very much. Okay, I'm going to ask you a random question here for people that are sitting on the fence as it relates to writing the book or taking that next step. What is one small step that they could do today to get started?

Schedule a call with me. No, okay, that's not what we're talking about. But I

like that. You like that?

I mean, that's the honest truth. Yeah. The first thing, there's so many places. Here's what I would really think. If you're thinking about writing a book, ask yourself why. What are you communicating? Open up a Google Doc, just a blank Google Doc, and just do what I call the brain dump. And you just start thinking. And usually with Google Doc now and Word, I rarely type. I still, I use their dictate function. So I will sit there, use ChatGPT, I don't care. Just get something and get your thoughts out of your head and say, here's what I'm thinking. I want to, I want to write a book. I'm a speaking coach, so I want to work with executives who are struggling to reach that next level because every time they do a presentation, they stumble and it just doesn't have— I want to write a book that speaks to them and their pain because I have this, and that's what I want to do. And you write that in a Google Doc or something and you sit back and you look at it. And then when you go, hmm, then I would say never write a book. Okay? And what I mean by that is don't sit down at your computer and type it out. Don't, because you're going to self-edit. You're going to write a sentence or two. You're going to say, yeah, that doesn't sound very good. Backspace, backspace, backspace, backspace. How do I know? That's exactly what happened to

me.

That's why I created the Speak to Write process. So I always take a friend to coffee, give them— just like you're doing with me. Give them 5 or 6 or 7 areas to ask you questions, record it, and guess what? Voilà. Your book is starting to take shape. But you need to have an idea of what am I wanting to communicate? What are the challenges my audience has and how well do I know them? And how well can I speak to that in my book and reveal myself in that book to go, that's why I do what I do.

Yeah, just going to write— that's right. There's another keyword I'm going to write down there. The beautiful word reveal. Reveal.

Reveal.

Okay, so I'm going to ask you to reveal another little secret and, and, or another fabulous story, and that is as it relates to the underrated strategies that you've helped your clients utilize, uh, to get their book in other people, in the right hands of their people.

Okay, so people make marketing way too complex.

You picked up my lead. I love it. Thank you very much.

Yeah. Yeah. So let me, let me, let me tell you about Elynn. Elynn is a financial advisor up in Canada. She had written one book by herself, but she did not have a marketing plan. So she didn't— that book's still sitting in her office. Right. And so she started writing her second book and just got fed up, found us, came to us and said, can you help? And so we walked her through our process. We positioned her as the financial architect for Canadians because of her background. I, I looked at her process and she's got a 6-step process, but she had never named it. I named it based on what I knew about Lynn. And so her process is now called the RETIRE process because she helps people retire. So her book is called Retire on Purpose.

Beautiful.

And so we published her book, we made her an Amazon bestselling author. And she says, okay, now, Michael, what do I do? Because she didn't have a marketing plan and she's good at what she does and she's a decent marketer. I said, okay, Lynn, do you have a database of people? And she's like, well, yeah, because I do conferences and seminars and all this. I said, great, how many people are in your database? She's like, oh, 800. Awesome. I want you to send an email out to them. Here's the subject line: Don't buy my book. And then the body says, I want to give you a free copy of my new Amazon bestselling book. You heard me at the conference or a seminar. I'd love to put this in your hands. Won't cost you a penny. Just tell me if you're interested. I'll mail one out to you.

Oh yeah.

She had about 70 people raise their hand, said, yeah, give me a book. She mailed out about 70 copies of her book. Within about 2 or 3 weeks, she had 6 people walk into her office, start doing business with her. Within 60 days of publishing her book, she had generated $75,000 of revenue. From that one strategy.

Sorry, I'm just going to ask you to just go back and repeat something then. You said within 60 days, was that correct, of her book?

Yep, 60 days.

Yep, fantastic.

I didn't have time to get the books out to the mail. They had to read them, they had to come back in, she had to write the contracts. 60 days, she made $75,000, which more than paid for her book. And she told me in an interview, she's like, Michael, the rest is gravy. And I talked to her a few months later. I said, okay, Lynn, you know, how are things going? So she's done that a couple more times. She's like, Michael, here's what I'm doing now. She's like, I live in a kind of affluent neighborhood that has, I think she told me, 350 houses in it. She's like, I'm mailing a copy of my book to every one of my neighbors. I said, Lynn, you're brilliant. That's perfect. Because they see her walking at the park with her kids. They're going to get that. Do you think she's gonna get some business?

Yes. Yes.

Simple marketing of putting your book in people's hands, offering it for free. I'm a big free guy. I've got a few clients who do the free plus shipping thing, and you can do that if you understand the back end and, and have the system to monetize it properly. That's how the free plus shipping works.

Yeah,

if you don't have that, just give it away for free. Because it's going to cost you $5 for the book and mailing is going to cost about $3 or $4. So $10. Yep. Get your book in the hand of an ideal prospect, and especially when you sign it to them, they'll never throw it away. Did you know it is sacrilegious to throw a book away? Did you know that? Yeah, we don't. We move them from house to house and office to office.

Yeah, absolutely we do.

Yeah. Signed by the author. So that's, that's one. I think we were talking strategies, right? Marketing strategies.

Yeah.

One. Email out to your list. And there are dozens of little emails like that that you can do. How about email follow-up? How about you get a prospect on LinkedIn? You're doing LinkedIn ads or Google ads and you get a prospect. Somebody opted into something, whether it's your book or a webinar or whatever it is, they're on your list.

Yep.

Okay, here, bane of my existence. Okay, Sally, talking with business owners who say, I need more leads. Hey, tell me about that. Tell me about it. Last month, you know, I'm paying for a leads runner. Last month I got, you know, 30 leads. Okay, what happened? Well, you know, 2 of them became a client, 5 of them became appointments and 2 became clients. I need more leads. So what are you doing with the other 25 who opted in but haven't done anything? Oh, they're not interested. I need more leads. I'm

like, wait, wait. Isn't that such— you've just— that's— sorry, I'll just have to interrupt there. That what you've just said then is such a typical difficult conversation with that 25. Well, I'm, I'm going, oh, and laughing at myself because I know I've done that, little— and I'm a marketer, let alone all those other businesses that have, that would be doing it even more. Oh my gosh, please continue. Thank you. Yeah.

It's, I mean, statistically less than 3% of the population's in the market for anything at any time.

Correct.

So when somebody opts in, they're researching. Yeah, they're trying to build a relationship. All right, there are a few who want to buy today. I love those people. I don't build my business on those people. Those are great.

Yeah,

so the follow-up systems— I would say, so what are you doing to follow up with those people? Because they're going to buy sometime and they don't have a follow-up system. Okay, so if you have a book, you now have emails that can go out on every chapter of your book, usually multiple emails per chapter. Why don't you take it to the next step and do a short video on every chapter of your book? Put that on YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, everywhere, website. So when somebody comes to your website— the other bane of my existence— most websites today look like they were built in the 1990s. Yeah. They're text and pictures, and most of the pictures are stock images. Where's the video, folks? So why don't you take your content, do short little videos, put them on the front page of your video— on your website. When people come to you, they're researching you, they get to hear you and see you, and they say, oh, take the next step. Okay, the other, the other bane of my existence is I go to a website, you know what, the center— you know, real estate is really important in websites. It's real estate, very expensive. You know that, you know what's in the middle most of the time of that beautiful front page? What? Right there, schedule a call with me. I'm not ready. I'm not here.

Yes, I try.

I want to learn more about the problems I'm having. Can you even solve them? Give me a next step that benefits me, not you. Now you should have a call scheduled somewhere, and it should be easy, but it shouldn't be smack dab in the center. How about, you know, Download a free copy of my book. Watch my video series. How about engage with them and take them through a process? I, in my, in my book on marketing, I call it the alphabet maze. It goes from A to Z. As business owners, we want to take somebody from A to Z as fast as we possibly can. Mm-hmm. The client understands that between A and Z, there's a great big B through Y that they have to meander at their own pace before they have the confidence and trust To make a buying decision. And so you have to understand how reluctant people are to take that next step, and you have to do everything in your power to lower their anxieties, to build their confidence, and to say, let's just have a conversation.

Mm-hmm.

And when you can do that consistently on your website, on your LinkedIn, on your Facebook, in your book, on your videos— when you show up consistently like that, they're going to resonate with you, and they're going to say, this is my person. When I am ready, this is my— so in marketing, what I want to do— and I learned this from Roy Williams, the, the Wizard of Ads, years ago— I want to be the first person you think of and the one you feel the best about when you're ready to make a decision.

Yeah,

that's marketing.

Yeah, I'm gonna just add to that. Sorry, I'm gonna say that's humanized marketing.

Yes, it is. It's, it's— and it comes with storytelling, revealing myself, being transparent. Um, you know, when, when I do my, my newsletters, my print newsletters and things, Front page of my newsletter is all about me and my daddy-daughter dates, me and my wife at waterfalls, me doing— it's about the personal side of Michael. Because I know if they like Michael, 90% of my job's done.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm gonna come back to one of the stories that you were talking about, the financial person that helps the lady with the retirement and how she's given the books to her community and the The image that came up for me and the feeling when you were describing that, I had the thought to myself that would be— was, oh wow, when they've got her book and they see her walking around the street, and because her book is— and the way in which you've helped craft the book is more the personable, the vulnerable, they actually have a different feeling of knowing her and they're starting to join the dots. Oh, that's that lady. Oh, that's the book. And oh, she's done this. So they actually know more about her before they get to her. And as a result, with that story, you could really feel as you were describing it that they would feel so much more connected to her and compelled to connect with her. And yes, and in that moment, in all those moments for those people, she is their sought-after expert.

Yeah, absolutely.

She, she, she's familiar and, uh, comfortable for them.

All of them. And, and those are the buying decisions. Those are the triggers. Do I feel comfortable? Do I sense the same person? Are, are you— do you have integrity?

Yeah,

really, at the end of the day, that's what we're looking for. We're vetting it all the time, and we can, we can tell it On Facebook scrolls or whatever. It's like, you can just tell it sometimes, and it's something in your spirit. You just keep going and you go to the next person, but then somebody will come along, you're like, oh, that— oh, let me tell— let me— and then you'll watch their videos.

Yeah.

And go get their books, and you'll start— you'll be— you'll be— you'll get into their world.

Yes. Yeah,

you're not ready today, but you're— you're— the, the gravitational pull has started.

Yeah.

And that's what we do with just hundreds of people who enter my world every month. They just start filtering down, and when they're ready, we have the conversation.

Yeah.

And it's, it's, it's beautiful.

Yeah, it's so human. Love it.

The, um, all right, so one more one. Let's talk one more strategy. So, so we talked to Lynn, email out, sending books out to her database. Very human, right? How about referrals?

Yep,

everybody loves referrals. But when I talk to business owners, I'm like, okay, so do you have a system for referrals? Well, no, people just send them to me.

Yeah, and they look at you.

Yep. So here, when you're an author, when William settles a case and everybody's happy, he says, Sally, it's going good, folks. Thank you for allowing me to serve you and help you get your life back in order. It was It's been an honor. Would you do me a favor? And you just shut up. And they're going to smile and go, well, yeah. They'll do anything for you. Sally, you don't know this, but most of our clients don't come through all the advertising and the TV and everything that we do. They come to us through the recommendation of a trusted friend.

Mm-hmm.

It would mean a lot to me, Sally, if you would take— would you be willing to take 4 or 5 copies of my book and just Have them with you in your house, in your car. And when you're talking with somebody in the next two or three weeks about how we served you and how we helped you get your settlement, would you do me a favor and just hand them a copy of my book and say, "Well, here's the guy that we work with. He's amazing. You should read his book." And if you ever need, he's the guy to call. Would you do that for me, Sally? And he'll say, "Absolutely."

Yeah.

So now what did I do? Number one, I thanked you. In our culture, nobody thanks anybody anymore. It's a lost art. So I thank them for allowing me to serve them. I then ask them if they would help me. They will. I gave them a script to use, a great resource, and the timing in the next 3 or 4 weeks as you are talking with people about how I helped you. It's a natural conversation.

Yeah.

When somebody else says, hey, how's that settlement going? Oh, oh, he's great, William. In their brain, the reticular activating system will go book, book, book. I've got his book. Let me go to my car and get his book. You've got to read it. He's amazing.

Yeah,

how you multiply referrals with— that's how we call it cloning clients.

Yeah,

take my best clients. I want to clone them and make a clone army like Star Wars did.

Yeah, yeah, that was a great idea.

How much more fun is it for Sally to To say, hey, here's the book of the, of the guy who helped me, versus, well, here's his business card, you should call him when he has a problem.

Shut up. Yeah, so true.

No, but a book— My guy wrote the book on— that's why I got such a great settlement. My guy wrote the book. He's an expert at—

Yeah, it's just so much more effortless and helpful and genuine and all those things, isn't

it? Human. All of that. So I think so many times people, business owners, think, I'm gonna publish a book, it's gonna be on Amazon, I'm gonna make lots of money on Amazon. No, you're not. Don't, don't— no, you're not gonna get rich selling your book on Amazon. You're not Stephen King. Shut up. Yeah,

you're

gonna get— you're gonna gain wealth by gaining clients through the human approach, by doing marketing that's simple, that's impactful, and that's relational.

Yeah.

That's the ticket. It's not rocket science.

Yeah, no. So many mic drop moments. Cool. We're just about getting to the end here. And I've got 2 sort of questions. I'm going to see if I can combine them. We'll see whether it's artistic or creative. We'll just see which way they go. So you've without a doubt helped hundreds of experts elevate their voice and you clearly are creating the legacy that you hoped for and wanted to with your, with your business. What do you see as it relates to the ripple effect of your legacy, as it relates to the clients and what's going on with them and their families and what that ripple effect is doing? So if we, if we look at every— your background with the ministry and the families, so we're going to go full circle back to the family side of things. What happens in the inner circle of the family element with the experts that you work with because of this legacy that you've crafted?

Oh, that's a great question, Sally. Thank you. I believe their family structure is strong because the expert, the business owner, doesn't have to labor as much. They have less stress at work because they've built these systems with their book. Clients are more attracted to them, so gaining clients becomes more routine, and that lowers the stress. It lowers the working hours. I don't. You know the badge I wear for working hours? I've never, Sally. I've never worked more than forty hours a week in my life. That's my badge of honor. I come across people. Oh, I had to work a hundred hours a week last week. I am so sorry to hear that. You got something all out of skew. But their families see them more.

Yeah.

They spend more time with their kids. They take vacations. You know how many experts I talk to who don't take a vacation? I haven't had a vacation in 3 years. I'm so sorry to hear that. You're out of balance. Let's fix it. And so those are— that's the ripple effect, because the kids see that mom and dad are actually They like each other, number one, because there's less stress. Money issues start to go away if you're a good budgeter. Now, I can't promise that you're going to be a great budgeter, but when you have more revenue coming in, it impacts the budget and you go, oh wow, we can actually do that. We could take a weekend away. We can go to Disney. What? Yes, you can, and you should. And so the family dynamic changes and the kids see that, hey, being an entrepreneur is kind of cool. Maybe he's telling me that, maybe he's not, but I've got the idea that there's something else behind this. And oh, by the way, my mom, she's really a cool chick. She published a book. And so there's, there's so many layers of that ripple effect, but it's the time and the money that gives them the ability to have moments and memories with their family that they would have missed. Okay.

Oh, you've— oh, that's huge goosebumps. You've just said one of my favourite, favourite, favourite words there, working with legacy leavers, etc., is that creating memories, memories word. And isn't that a fundamental forgotten thing in our busy life, is the opportunity and the simplicity in which we can create those magic moments with our families. So what a phenomenal legacy. Thank you.

100%. You're welcome. It is a joy to do what I do.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Not that we can— not that we can see that. It absolutely beams from you.

I'm going to work on my presentation a little bit, my passion, just a little bit. Yeah. That's how we should all be.

Yeah, absolutely. Michael, it's been an absolute pleasure sharing time with you and asking questions and doing a bit more of a deep dive into your fabulous process. I appreciate greatly the time that you've spent with us and the information that you've shared with, with the audience today. Thank you so much for joining us.

You're welcome, Sally. So happy to be here.

Yeah. Any final words just as we wrap up from you?

You know, at the end, be yourself. You have a story to tell. Don't try to be somebody else. Be who you are, and that's going to attract the right people for you to serve. Be yourself.

Beautiful. Thank you very, very much. Again, thank you, Michael. Been great sharing with you, everybody, and we will look forward to seeing you again on another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Till then, take care. Bye.

Remember, if you want to be sought after and sold out, as well as being known as the obvious expert in your industry, industry, you need to speak with Sally, our host of Success Secrets Exposed. Sally is the founder of Monetize Your Content, a done-for-you content marketing agency that helps you be easy to buy. See you next week on another episode of Success Secrets Exposed. Tune in live every Tuesday at 7 PM Eastern Time or Wednesday mornings in Australia on W4CY Radio and Talk4TV.