#241: Kingdom Driven Marketing with Shae Bynes (Kingdom Marketing Mindset Series)

Welcome to Kingdom Writers, where we help equip and empower Christian writers of all genres to share your unique gifts with the world. We're your hosts, C.J. and Shelley Hitz.

This podcast is filled with spiritual encouragement as well as prayers to help you overcome the resistance you face as a writer. Your story matters.

Welcome to the Kingdom Marketing Mindset series. My name is Shelli Hitz and my husband CJ and I are so thrilled that you have joined us for this series. I really believe this is going to be a landmark series for many of you, helping you to get your message to more people, to really be able to do what God has called you to do in a way that is so freeing and that actually works. And so we are excited. And the foundation of this entire series really starts when you start having regular business meetings with God. And I have a free training for you on this that walks you through the steps. I've been doing this regularly myself for the last few years and it just works. So go get this training for for free@trainingauthors.com businessmeeting. I guarantee if you start having weekly business meetings with God, your life is going to change, your marketing is going to change and there's going to be some amazing things that happen. So go get that training@trainingauthors.com businessmeeting and I hope that this series is a blessing to you and your book marketing. Welcome to this week of our live videos, the Kingdom Marketing Mindset series. Today I have a very special treat. We have our friend Shay Vines here. She's going to be sharing with us. And for those of you that don't know Shay, you need to know Shay.

She is the chief fire igniter at Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur, so. So I definitely recommend connecting with them on their podcast, their website, and they have tons of youversion plans for you guys and all sorts of resources. But today, Shay, we just wanted to have you on here and talk a little bit about Kingdom Marketing Mindset in regards to writers and authors. I wanted to first of all have you just share like, how did you really even start getting into this whole area of being like kingdom driven when it comes to marketing and sales and business.

So I guess the kingdom driven marketing thing happened as a subset of becoming a kingdom driven entrepreneur because everything has to line up.

So when I made the shift to saying, okay, I'm going to not just do business and say for God, be the glory, but just do business any old way that I learn it and you know, whatever, but I'm going to do business in partnership with God. And I'm going to be motivated by seeing an advancement of his kingdom and having eternal impact that changes everything. And so a part of the big picture of making that shift in business is that every operational aspect of doing business also must line up with that mindset of being kingdom driven. And the area of marketing, I mean, if you think about all the various aspects of business, there's certain areas that are the ones that tend to be the ones that are the easiest to fall out of alignment with the ways of God. Right, right. I think marketing is one of them. I think is a huge one. And then the finances is another one. And I would say marketing and sales together. Marketing and sales. And in the area of finances, that I think are areas that the ways of the world that are taught can be so wrought with manipulation. Even like, like not overt manipulation, but like, it's still manipulation. So it seems like it might be okay, but it still isn't. I just think that those areas have a lot of that. And so the journey for that and really having like, like purify everything about my business, Lord, that all came from the context of just deciding that this is the way around about doing business in general.

Yeah. So, you know, you work with entrepreneurs, which is a huge, you know, I get a range of people. But as we talk about writers and authors in particular, like you and I have chatted, you know, offline before, but, you know, what are some of the common things you see authors getting caught up in when it comes to the worldly or traditional way of marketing? And that maybe they don't even, you know, we don't, we don't even realize what we're doing.

So I saw this quote. I wrote it down because I didn't want to mess it up. So I saw this quote from Peter Drucker and he's just like, I mean, he's no longer here with us, but he is like an expert in management and stuff like that. And he had this quote about marketing that I thought was so good. And he said the aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself. Or if you want to think that from the perspective of an author, the aim of book marketing would be to know and understand the reader so well that the book fits him or her and sells itself. And I think the problem that we get into in marketing is that as opposed to being focused on the service of the reader and the transformational impact for the reader, we get so focused in on trying to sell ourselves. And so the way that can show up is what we can exaggerate or we can try to create perceptions. I'll give you an example. Cause I give this example all the time. Cause I see it all the time.

Yeah, that's great.

So there are strategies that are connected to helping you to do a great launch. And I love all that stuff. Right. To launch a book. Well, and even strategies for reaching, let's say a bestseller category list on Amazon or something like that. But here's what'll happen. And I know this to be a fact because I have been on the number one best selling list and in a category on Amazon, having sold 100 copies or less before. Okay.

Right.

So if I, so if, if what happens is let's say you sell 30 books and for two seconds, like for two days. No, not usually. Not even, not even today or like 24 hours or less. You saw that snippet for that two seconds of your book was number one in some category, whether it's a relevant one or not, but even if it's a relevant one. And then it's like, oh, I got my screenshot and now I'm going to tell everyone. I'm going to introduce myself to everyone. I'm going to put on, on my bio and all of my social media number one best selling author such and such. Why? What perception are you trying to create when you know the truth? Now the fact is you were a number one best selling category author in that category for two seconds. That is the, that is a fact. But the truth underneath it is you actually sold like 20, 30 books. Like I really seriously been on the bestseller list selling very few books.

Yeah, I've done that too.

And I've had. And the book that I have that has sold thousands upon thousands upon thousands, thousands of copies has never been number one in any category. Okay. So.

You have to check our hearts and our whys behind what we do. And so that is the number one. We strive to get this weird label of number one just so that we can then put the stamp on and say number one bestseller author. When really if you ask yourself why the answers to that are not usually have anything to do with anything that's important or useful. And it's actually really in truth rooted in manipulation because you're trying to create perceptions. But if you ask anybody, if you, if, hey, how many books do you think I sold as a number one bestseller? I promise you they wouldn't say 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 or 50. Right. So we're trying to create these perceptions and chasing after this title that really doesn't have a lot of weight to it, truthfully. You know, So I see that as a number. I see that as probably the biggest offense among authors.

Yeah, well.

Yeah, one of the things I talk about, because I was probably guilty of that as well, you know, you want to get, you know, know, number one in your category or whatever.

But I tell you want to get that screenshot on Amazon, you gotta get the screenshot.

You gotta get the screenshot. But the truth of it is, if you can get to the top of a bestseller list on Amazon, then Amazon will see, oh, you know, this book is selling. And they might start, you know, showing and promoting your book in other ways. So there is a benefit to getting that. But it also. It all goes down to what you were saying of the motive. And so what's the motive? Yeah. Those of you that are here live, make sure you're commenting, make sure you're interacting. We want to hear from you. What are your reactions? What are your thoughts? Have you seen people that do this that you know? Or have, you know, have you fallen into that trap before as well?

And I know I certainly did in the beginning, because the way I learned was, oh, that's the thing to do.

Yeah.

And so that's the thing to achieve. And so that's what I'd go for. But it didn't take long for me, when. When I saw how little it took, I was like, there's something. Something's weird about this. Like, this isn't. You know, this is not, like, what is my motive? I really had to ask, like, what is my motive? What is this really about? You know, and so. And there's so much freedom. So even now, like, I don't call myself a bestselling author. I've had multiple books at the number one bestseller list for two seconds, you know, And I don't. But that's a personal decision, because I don't feel the need to add that as. As a thing. Cause my. You know, now, let me tell you, if I hit a New York Times bestseller list or if I actually sell thousands of copies, if this. If Grace Over Grind put me to the number one bestseller thing, I'll take it. Right? Because to me, I'm like, no, I legitimately have had maintained a great level of sales, and this is really doing something, but not like the ones where I launched it. And for two seconds, there it was. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

So I think the heart motive is Everything. So that's one of those things. And this actually goes beyond number one bestseller stuff and just even how we describe ourselves in our bios and all of those things. What are we focusing in on? Are we trying to create perceptions or are we rooted only in fact but trying to create perceptions or are we really rooted in truth? And I think we have to check our hearts, check our intent and really partner with God around. I want to highlight the absolute best, but I want to do it in a way that's coming out of your purer place. And I have proper identity and who I am. I'm not trying to create perceptions for anybody because I'm already enough. So I'm just going to focus in on what is this goodness that I can put out here that is true. That is really true. And put that out there and just trust that God you've got, you know, what's for me is for me. And what's going to draw to people will draw to people. And if we flip the focus from me trying to prove myself as worthy of you purchasing this book and focusing on knowing who you are and how I can serve you and solve your problem, a lot of this stuff goes away, to be honest.

Yeah.

If we just take the focus, turn the aim for why are we even marketing in the first place? It really has nothing to do with us and everything to do with knowing that reader, that potential reader who will become a reader so well that that book sells itself because they see transformation for themselves or if it's a book for entertainment, they see the entertainment that they're looking for or whatever in that. And so it sells itself. It's just kind of flipping that script and checking our hearts and motivations.

Yeah, I love that. And I also think that in what you're talking about, and I know you talk about this a lot anyways, is a little bit of identity. Like.

Yeah.

Knowing our identity. Right. Because if we know our identity and in Christ, we're not going to try to put up this perception that you know of or try to elevate ourselves. Right?

Yes. Feeling like that's the only way for someone to pay attention is if I can show them. Well, I'm a number one best selling author.

Right. It's like if you have to have that or you need that and that's so important, you really got to. You got to really check the intentions of your heart. And I think that's really important. So I think that that's probably the biggest thing in the area of. For authors specifically as it relates to marketing. But I think generally if we have that mindset of how can we best align ourselves with the problem that somebody's having, that this book is a solution for the better off we're going to be.

Yeah. So I liked too what you were saying about the bios. Do you have like an example off your head or can you give us an example of like what one would look like and then how could we maybe change it to be more kingdom marketing minded?

Yeah, so I'll give the examples of stuff that I typically see because a lot of authors are speakers too, Right. So I'm really kind of talking about author speakers. Sometimes it's like author speaker, coach types, right?

Yeah.

And a lot of times we'll see things like the person just showed up on a scene, like just showed up on the scene, but they're already saying, I'm a highly sought after speaker.

Right.

But no one's highly seeking after you because you just showed up. But you're saying that because that's the lingo and that's what you feel you need to say. And you might even try to Christianize it and say, well, I'm speaking those things that be not as though they were. No, you're lying. Oh, I'm prophesying over my future. No, you're lying. So let's be really clear. Like you can speak that over yourself, but as soon as you put it on paper and it's marketing for someone else, now you're lying. So let's be clear.

Right?

So that's another thing that tends to show up. That's another thing that tends to show up. Right. So I think that when we get to. I think it also happens in the length of bias when people feel the need to go on and on and on and list every single thing, every place they've been, every single person who's hired or all. You're building this case. Why is it that you feel like you have to share with all of that for someone to see the value and what it is that you have to offer when. If you're focusing on the message that you're carrying, the message that that book carries, if that resonates with them, that's all that's needed. You don't have to build this insane case for that. So I'm all about, like, I'm all about telling the truth, you know, and sharing the goodness of things that you've accomplished. I'm not bashing that at all.

Right.

I'm all about checking the heart motive and having Proper identity so that you don't feel like those are the things that have to be said or you have to go in so such great detail. The other thing that happens a lot, like something flying around here. Another thing that happens a lot is people will say as seen on. As seen on. And so they'll list all these places that they were seen on. But were you. Did this. Did this publication or did this television station or did. Did they really reach out to you for your insight on something, or did you pay for an ad on something or you had a link on something that you could say? Well, I was seeing there. It's another, like, typical thing that shows up. Why? Because we feel like we have to build a case for our value, and it's really, actually not even rooted in any. Any truth and maybe fact. Your name was seen on that. On that website. I was on NBC.com and I saw that little. But you weren't really, actually featured. You weren't really asked for your input. And there's people who actually sell services who help you do all of this stuff that's not even rooted in truth. And people pay thousands of dollars in good money to people to help them market stuff that is straight up manipulation.

Yeah. And, you know, it's. It's stuff that we've all seen. We. We've probably, you know, a lot of us have probably participated in some way, but that's. Yeah, that's why we're doing this series. That's why I'm having you here so that we can take the veil off. You know, let's be honest. Let's. Let's, like, let's just talk about it and that's.

Right.

You know, what do you. What do you say to an. An author who, you know, on the flip side, like, some people are trying to prove their value. Some people are just trying to hide and they.

Correct.

They're not wanting to share anything. Like, I had a client recently. I was talking or a member of cba, and I was like, you need to share that. You are. Have been a therapist for 30 years, and that's why you have experience to. To share this. And she wasn't even sharing that. So on the flip side, you know, what do you have to say about that?

Yes, I'm glad you went there, because. So my personality type always goes for the first one first.

Yeah.

But the flip side of that is also super duper important because we see that as well. So that's not stuff that's rooted in manipulation. This stuff's just Rooted usually in a false sense that. Like a false humility.

Yes, exactly.

Or something like that. Right. And so on the other side of things, it's like, no, like there's. There's goodness that you've experienced and there's value in that. So you're really doing a disservice not sharing that because there's people on both sides of the equation. I've met people on both sides of the equation. A lot of entrepreneurs tend to bend more on that side than the other. But I think probably a lot of authors may. May be on this side.

Yeah, I think a lot of. Of my audience would be more on the. Let me just hide, because I don't. And then I think a lot of what I've heard is they also are afraid of what people will think if they start talking about themselves as an author. And how will people perceive. Will they think? I'm prideful. Those types of things?

Yes. No, I mean, again, because if we go back to the aim of. If we believe that our aim of marketing is to get to know the person so well, our readers so well that they see themselves in what we're sharing and the book sells itself because we are solving a problem if we focus our effort there, then if you don't show up, you're not serving anybody. So you've still got to show up if you're going to serve. Why would you write the book if you're not going to share it? Right. There's a reason God placed that on the inside of you to release because there's people on the other side of it that need it. And so if you don't share, you're an author. People don't know.

Right.

They can't. They can't know what you don't share. So it's very important to be. And it's not like a share at one time and then never share it again. Yeah, it's one of those things. It's like if you think again, if you focus on your aim of marketing as serving people, then this stuff should be always serving people. I'm always looking to connect with that potential reader. I'm always looking to connect with the problem that that person has. I'm always looking to connect for the breakthrough that God's put on my life to release to that person or whatever the situation is as a reader, if you're focusing on that, then you should be looking at your writing as absolute ministry, whatever it looks like. And so therefore you're doing a disservice by not Showing up.

Yeah, that's good. And I think that that's something that we all need to hear, you know, a lot.

Yes.

It's like. And like you said, you know, why even write the book if you're not gonna then show up and serve your audience? And so.

That's right.

I love that.

Huge part of it. It's a huge part of it. And some of the things that I've. Some of the things for people who are really kind of nervous about that and they're trying to figure out just like kind of get how to get their feet wet. I always say share the journey. Share the. Do the. There's like direct marketing and then there's indirect marketing. And I like to do both. So for someone who's like not comfortable yet with the. What feels like overt sharing, then you could do like the, the indirect sharing. And what I mean by that is as I'm. When I'm like writing a book, I share kind of along the way. When I. When there's. If I'm making progress on something, it's like, oh, wow, like I finished a chapter or something like that. I'll share. So excited. Finally finished a chapter or, you know, whatever. Oh, chapter of what? You're writing a book. You know, it's just, you're just sharing. When it came time to. When it was time to do the COVID when I was getting. Every time there was like a milestone met, I would share that publicly. It's like bringing people behind the scenes of the process. I remember. And in a way, it serves also as public accountability because people will start asking, so when's that book going to be done? You know, so by sharing that, you're not sharing directly, but you are still sharing. And so sometimes that part is easier for someone who's still getting a little bit comfortable. Like for me, I do both regardless, because I like to share the behind the scenes. But for someone who's uncomfortable, I'm like, get your feet wet by just sharing. Like some behind the scenes. Share something exciting. Like when you share the book with somebody and their reaction, something that's not talking to the customer per se, but just sharing your experience as an author. And if you do that and just get used to communicating that you're an author without doing the marketing, you're actually still marketing.

Yeah, I have a blog post that is older, but it still is applicable. It's just seven ways to build buzz for your book without hard selling. And I heard a friend say just bubble. Like, just bubble about it. And it's the same thing, like share your progress, share quotes from your book, share your obstacles and frustrations. You know, you're sharing in real time. You're sharing the insights that you get as you write and your plans. And it's, it's easier, I think, sometimes to, to share some of those things. But I think like you said, I think it's great to do both. So, you know, but you're, you're, you're bringing people in on the journey with you, and that is a part of the marketing.

Yes. So it's like, it's a, it's like the lowest hanging fruit. If you're still like, I'm trying to do something, I'm a little bit scared. It's the lowest hanging fruit. And then when you see that people are actually interested in the fact that you're sharing that, it's like, oh, that might build a little bit of confidence for you. But I, but I seriously do believe that the best approach is sharing, is sharing both. I really do.

Yeah.

Just sharing. And even after the book's release, when God's just doing really cool stuff, you know, and a message that you got a review that somebody posted, like all of those things in a way and in essence are marketing and sharing. And, you know, and I think that there's goodness and all of that. So there's so many different ways to continue to, to share. And then of course, there is the direct marketing and also focusing in on whatever is the message behind the book and just sharing based off of that. I love to share quotes from the book. I love to, you know, it's a quote from the book, it's a message from the book, and then it links to the book. There's so many different ways that we can just consistently show up and share. And it's authentic. It's sharing, it draws people in and it serves people. And so I'll tell you what, the other thing that's happened too is that when you share the behind the scenes, you're not only getting the attention of people who might be interested that could be potential readers, but you're also in a way encouraging other people who God's put on their heart to do a book too, and they've been sitting on it, and when they see it, oh, wow. Sometimes it's just inspiration to somebody, whether it is a book or anything else that God's put on their heart that they're not doing. Just seeing forward momentum that someone else is experiencing can be an igniting thing for them too. So there's so many. Just not even direct benefits, but these indirect benefits that come from a place of service for others when it comes to marketing. So Absolutely. Absolutely. Show up and show up consistently.

Yeah, I love that. And you talked in the beginning a lot about thinking about serving your reader, serving your audience. What are some practical ways you think that writers can do that and to really start changing their mindset when it comes to marketing?

Yeah. So when you think about the reasons why you wrote the book, there's particular reasons. Prayerfully you ask that, like, what's the outcome for the reader? Why am I writing this book? What is the outcome? And then if you've already written the book and you already have all of that, you already have kind of the pieces to. To that in the book. And so one of the easy ways of continuing to share that is just taking each of those pieces and just sharing little nuggets, little teaching points, little sharing points. If you wrote a fiction book, I don't know if your group is both fiction and nonfiction. Is it? Is both. Yeah. So if it's fiction, like, you can even be telling stories, snippet stories from your character's perspective that are interesting and fun, that draw people into the story. Right. And so I think it's just getting to a place of figuring out what's in here for the reader and what pieces of that can I, like, tease out that share that provide value and create curiosity on the other side for a potential reader. And if we do those things consistently, it's just like planting seeds, you know, if you just consistently plant those seeds, and I don't mean plant those seeds. And never tell people that there's actually a book. No, you should tell them that there's a book. You know, tell them that there's a book. But doing that consistently really does.

Bring a harvest from planting those seeds. And so I think it really is a matter of consistency. I think a lot of authors struggle in the area of consistency. They'll do something really great for launch, but then after the launch, it's like it just dies down. And so we're not sharing anymore. But it's not about just launching it. It's about continuing to get that message out even once it's already there. And so to me, the things aren't hard. It's the consistent consistency that people most struggle with. Doing the things is actually pretty easy. The things to do is actually the easy part. The hardest part is continuing to show up, to be consistent in doing so.

Yeah.

So whether it's a video, a Post article. A simple little post on social media, a simple email message that goes out like those. There's so many little things you can do but can't. What can you do consistently?

You know, Shea, it kind of reminds me just an illustration of this. You know when you go into a mall or maybe even a. An outdoor market, and you smell those sweet roasted nuts, you know, the pecans that they're roasting in, cinnamon and sugar, and you name it draws you in. So imagine being drawn in, and then you go to buy some. They basically give you, you know, like this horrible tasting, doesn't resemble sweet at all. They even give you a sample and you taste that and you're like, I'll take some. And then they give you the bag. After they sell it, you take it home, and it's basically plain. They didn't roast any of it. It's just plain, say, cashews, which are good in themselves. But it's not the consistency. It's like you got something that was totally different than what drew you in the first place. The smell, the taste, the sample they gave you, the smile. Except you get home and you're left with this horrible feeling. And it's like sometimes we put these great feet forward in our marketing, but then somebody reads the book and it's a totally different thing. So I think it's so true that we need to just be consistent and honest up front rather than trying to have a clever little quote that draws people in. But then they read the book and they're disappointed.

Yeah, there should definitely be that level of consistency. We want to bring excellence to the work we're doing and making sure those things are aligned. And the other thing that also happens is from. From the consistency of sharing is the shareability of it. So what I'm experiencing, like, right now with grace over grind. So that wasn't even the latest book I wrote. It was the one before that. But I see the ripple effects of all over the place from people I'm not. I still share, but I'm seeing more people share it than I'm sharing. And that shows up. Oh, wonder someone said, I just bought your book. Good. I hope you enjoy it. But it's. It's. It's the. It's like my consistency and showing up and sharing is creating what it inevitably creates. If you have a product that matches what you've shared and they enjoy it, then now you basically have a whole bunch of evangelists that are, like, on your marketing team that you never hired that are sharing it just from word of mouth, I can't tell you. Like, every day I have, somebody's tagged me on something, people are tagging, telling people that they're connected to on Instagram or whatever. Oh, well, you need to read. It's just like all these people talking behind your back. You know, I mean that in a positive way, but that. But that happens from just that consistency of showing up with the message that you have.

Yeah.

So important.

I highly recommend that you read that book, by the way, and I share it in one of the lessons in CBA Christian Book Academy, but it's called Grace Over Grind. And yeah, I think consistency in our message is crucial, but also consistency in day in, day out, you know, continuing, not just giving it up. I say marketing is like parenting. So you give birth and then you don't stop there.

Right. You got to raise the kid, you.

Parent them for the rest of their lives. My mom's still parenting me. I'm 45.

Right. Nurture the baby. Nurture the baby.

Yeah. But, you know, talking about grace over grind, how do you think that relates to that whole message of grace over grind? How do you think that can relate in our marketing?

So that's a good point, because just like I say, show up consistently, and what can you do consistently that can easily turn into someone creating this burden for themselves of, I have to do all the things every day I need to be on every social media platform or posting five times a day, and it's just too much. So what I say is, what can you do in a space of rest without overdoing it consistently? I will add that context. So if it gets you to a point where you're just like, where you're just doing too much, you're grinding it out. It's creating stress, it's creating all kinds of stuff that you're not supposed to be carrying, then you're probably doing too much. So what can you do consistently that allows you to consistently plant those seeds in, however, whatever platform or whatever way you choose to do? I'll tell you what, like, I mean, I'm almost eight years. I've been writing books for I don't know how many years now. I guess eight years or something like that. But there's seasons where it's like, I'm saying I can consistently show up here, but I can't consistently show up in these several places at once. And so I grew, like, kind of one thing at a time. And then when I could have help in certain areas, I'd have that person do that Then I'd add something else. But I never wanted to create this space of I have to do all the things because all the results depend on me. No, I've seen God do some amazing things. I've taken. I've taken what little I can do consistently and diligently and. And seeing God do way.

Exponentially more than what I could have done. And I think there's so much goodness and trusting God and allowing God to do all the amazing, awesome stuff that he does. But we have to show up with consistency and with diligence.

Yeah. So share a little bit about after your youngest daughter was born and you were only working like, what, a couple days a week?

Like, I was working 10 to 15 at the most hours a week for the first year of her life.

And you're the CEO, you're the, you know, of kingdom driven entrepreneur.

Yep.

And what did you see God do during that time when you were working those little itty bitty hours?

Oh, my gosh, that is crazy stuff. Like, we saw the greatest increase in our business in the time that I had 10 to 15 hours a week to work. What happened? I'll tell you, kind of the full testimony of what happened is that.

After the book was released, then a few months later, I get a message from a woman on Facebook who had read the book and was just like, wow, this book really was a blessing to me. Have you considered putting a reading plan for it in the YouVersion Bible app? And I was like, no, not really. I've considered that with other books, but they weren't looking for content partners. She goes, well, I think you should do it. I think you should do multiple plans, and I think they shouldn't be any more than five days. And I'll connect you with the person I recommend, and here's what I think you should do. And I'm like, okay. So I go into the YouVersion Bible app and I'm looking and I'm saying, oh, I can see that. You know, a message that I have. I don't see a bunch of it in here. So I was really literally just looking at it as, oh, here's another place to serve people. I did had no expectation of the craziness that ensued afterward. So I did that. She hooked me up. They can. They got the stuff in the reading plan. And then about a month later, I started seeing like, a lot of people showing up in our community. And then another month later, it started to increase what I used to spend $200 a month in marketing around. We were seeing up to anywhere between 5 and 10 times the number of leads coming into the community based off of these reading plans. Now, I want to be. I always tell this caveat when I tell this story, because when I tell the story, because our minds are. Because of the way our minds tend to work, we're like, oh, let me go make sure that I put you version reading plan for my book. That wasn't the point. The point was because what God did, this is what God did. I mean, there's lots of plans in the Bible app, but what God did is that he put one of those plans in particular in the top position. You can't. There's no SEO strategy. There's nothing that you could do to put it there. But he put one of them in the first place category and worked. It is still there. It's been over a year. It's still there. The other ones they get, we get reads for those things and subscriptions for those two. But this one that is in this favor position that I could not have put there myself brings in over 80%, probably over 85, maybe close to 90% of the activity. Then a couple months later, YouVersion sent out an email highlighting another one of the plans. I couldn't have asked them to. They wouldn't have cared if I did. It was just the favor of God over the situation is nothing that I could have done, done on my own. Nothing. Okay. Which is why I'm like, this is not the blueprint. I'm not giving you a blueprint. I'm simply talking about what God does when we give him what we've got. Okay. And so what happened then is that as a result of all of those leads coming in and a lot of people being interested in, we were giving them a free miniature mini course. We had a little link and the plan. So all these people were getting our mini course. And then a lot of them then ended up joining our mentoring programs or purchasing other courses or whatever. We ended up, I think we went two and a half times. We Two and a half times our revenue that year and the year that I had. This is the most. These were the least hours ever that I worked in Kingdom Driven Entrepreneur history. And in that. And in that year, we had the most increase we had ever, ever experienced. And it has not stopped since. And it was, it was in that moment after years of just consistency and diligence. But it was what God did, you know, it's what God did. I couldn't have done that. It would have cost me a lot more Money that I did not have for that to happen. And quite honestly, some of it, I just don't even. I mean, it would have cost me a lot of money to get the number of people that came in for free. I would have spent lots and lots of marketing dollars for that. So, I mean, that's God. That's God in the midst of it. That's his grace and his favor in the midst of taking the little that you've got to be diligent and consistent to offer that to him and let him breathe all over it.

Yeah, I love that too, because first of all, you had less time.

And it was free. Like you weren't paying money and you had the biggest increase, but that it was things that you couldn't have orchestrated. It was simply the favor of God. And so pray for those divine connections that lady that came to you and gave you that connection, divine connection, you know, favor from God, you know, and pray that God began to do things and instead of us scurrying around doing every shiny, bright, shiny object marketing thing that, you know, the next person saying to do to sell more books.

Yes.

Ask God.

How do you want me to spend my marketing hours?

That's right. I mean, because I really did. When you have so few hours, I mean, I, I mean, I always do my to do list with the Lord at the beginning of the week. But I mean, seriously, when you only have 10 to 15 hours a week, I'm like, okay, Lord, I don't have time to do much of anything. So what's the focus for this week? Right. And it was just really just trusting that. It's like I've released the outcome to him, like he is the God of the outcome in this thing. But I'm going to offer up what I've got and I'm just going to show up and I'm going to commit myself to that. But I'm just believing that God's got the outcome on this thing and that he's got it. This doesn't rely on me. It's not like, well, if it's going to be, it's up to me. Well, yeah, I got to show up. But really, for what? For, for what I'm believing for. It takes a whole lot of God. Like a whole lot of God.

Yes.

And so our ability to partner with him, even when it comes to choosing the strategies that you want to employ with your, with your book marketing, I mean, God's got ideas too. I mean, there's been times when I was thinking I was going to do something one way. Holy Spirit would give me another idea, and it's like, oh, actually, I'll try that. You know, And I would go do that instead. So as opposed to being led by the expert that says this is the way to do it, it's like, okay, there's wisdom. Okay, that's cool. That's wisdom. That's experience or something. But I'm going to yield that to God. So when God's got another idea, I'm going with God, right? I'm going to go to him first and let him be like, oh, that's your resource. That's the strategy for you. But I operate as he's my source. Everyone and everything else is a resource. Whatever blueprints, whatever wisdom, whatever guidance that they've got, awesome. But it's all yielded to him, so he's my source. And wherever he leads, that's the resource that I will employ, or that's the strategy to employ or whatever. So I don't disregard, you know, the goodness that people have that teach and share and all of those things. I don't disregard that at all. I value that, but I don't value it above God's wisdom in a matter.

Yeah, yeah. This is such, such good stuff. And I recommend you guys go back, listen to it again. Let it soak in. Someone said we're not chatting as much because we're so busy taking notes.

It looks like things have picked up.

Though, you know, you know, it happens sometimes.

But, yeah, Pam says, you know, it happens in my life when I finally stop striving and give up and let go. Then it's like he says, finally. And this isn't a marketing example, but I was just sharing this testimony recently that when I was in college, you know, I was in this, like, I hunt for a husband, you know, and I was driving to find a husband, and I was doing all the things, like trying to, you know, I even asked out a couple guys and nothing would work. And it was like.

Finally, finally. I was like, all right, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done trying to figure it out myself, trying to make it happen myself. I'm done. And, you know, that was like, literally, like the next month is when CJ Came into my life.

As soon as you let go of the reins, it was like, God, you got this thing out here. I'm open.

That reminds me of a story from college. We had a friend named Milan that we took out an ad in the campus newspaper, you know, for probably three or four months. Straight. And with each one we got a little more desperate in his tone. And we said, basically from Mylan's perspective, less than two months to graduate, desperately need wife. You know, we just say, you know, one week left, we'll do anything to secure wife.

Yeah, but whether it's like trying to find a spouse or you know, grow a business, sell more books, we can try in our own strength. We can do all the things that the gurus say, we can follow all the blueprints, we can be self sufficient, try all the strive, strive, strive. Or we can say, okay, God, what do you have for me? And it's so much easier.

It is the best way ever. And the thing is that it doesn't mean that it's always going to be perfect. It doesn't mean it's like we have to release this expectation that the results as we're following God are going to be this specific type of result and then be disappointed if it doesn't work out the way that we've prescribed. And because I always look, whenever something goes beneath what I hopes for, I'm always looking back at it to say, okay, I want to look for the goodness. What was the goodness in all of this? Because there was always goodness in it. And I'm going to celebrate the goodness in it. Whether it's a lesson learned, a tweak that's needed, or just celebrating progression. And whatever the form is, I'm going to go and focus in on the goodness of that proceed as opposed to starting to question whether I heard God right or question like, you know, or be dissay in disappointment or anything like that. I'm always going to go back and look for the good. And the timeframe that it takes for me to do that has shortened dramatically over the years. In the beginning, I had to force myself to not be disappointed, to look at the, like it took a while, I'd say in disappointment for a while and stay in, oh gosh, like condemning myself or wondering, what did I do wrong? Well, Lord, what did I do wrong? And I'd be in that weird space. But as I grew in relationship with him, that timeframe for me to be able to go from, oh, I kind of wish for more than that, but hey, let me, let me go look at the goodness of that. Let me go celebrate that. That timeframe is now really short. And so I thank God for that. But that just came in the continuing of walking this thing out with him.

You know, and I've talked to you about this a lot, but you know, I get sometimes caught up in like, you know, wanting certain numbers or time frames. And what I'm realizing is that I just have to release all of that to the Lord. And yeah, it's great to have goals, but we have to like, you know, have very loose grip. And God is doing things behind the scenes a lot of times that we cannot see. Sometimes his timeframe is not in the same as ours. Or I'll get expectations. I'll sense he'll say that I'm going to provide for you. And I take it to mean, oh, it's going to be in this way.

Yes.

And it happens in another way. And he's still keeping his promise. But sometimes we get expectations of what it's going to look like, this marketing campaign or this book launch or these things. And so just releasing that and being, you know, for his timetable is really good. But I like what deanne said. She says the Lord spoke to my heart just now and said he would help. Help me to parent my book and not to abandon my baby.

Oh, I love that. That's so good.

That's so good.

So good. Yeah. I think that that consistency of just showing up is. Is really important. And I know I. I mean, I see authors do it all the time. It's all the excitement around the launch and then after that it's like, where'd you go?

Yeah, yeah, I think that's important. And that timing thing too, that timing thing that you said is really key too, because what I have found, I mean, there's books. I think I've got 11 books out there. Right. And the numb. The book number 10 and one year did more than five years of sales of all the first nine books combined. It was just a divine timing. It was God's timing on that thing. It was just a moment of acceleration. It was just God breathing on that particular thing. That doesn't mean that the other things weren't any good. It doesn't mean that I shouldn't have done them. No. I really believe I released every book I was supposed to release and that's it. But it's just like being patient in that I think is really important. Sometimes something's prime time isn't immediate and sometimes we're at. Now I'm actually seeing some things that were the older things that didn't do as great then, now all of a sudden picking up momentum because of the momentum from the grace of a grind book, you know, and there's been a book released since then. And that one doesn't get nearly as much love as the one, you know, the number 10. Right. And so it's just, you know, releasing the things that you're supposed to release, share consistently and allow God to just do what God does. Yeah.

So as we're kind of wrapping up, what would you like to just kind of speak as encouragement or just what would you like to say to. To Kingdom writers that are out there that, you know, are wanting to market in a way that honors God?

Yeah. So I think that what I want to share is.

That you can't really underestimate the value of the impact of a message of the book that you release. I know that's something that I have. I have learned. Like, when I wrote it, I didn't know what God was going to do with it. When every book I write, I don't know what God's going to do with the book that I write. But what's so awesome is to see how, in whatever timing it looks like or whatever the impact that that message, that one thing that you chose to be courageous enough to go ahead and release without concern about all the other stuff and to show up and to see the impact that it has in other people's lives. If what you need to do is focus in and remind yourself if you have one awesome testimony from one person. Back in the day, I used to keep this Awesomeness folder because I needed to have that space where there were days where I needed to remind myself that God's moving in this stuff and it's making a difference even when I don't feel like it is. And I'd have this little folder and it would have this one little testimonial email that someone sent me, or this one review that someone said that it was an impact. And I would, every time I had those feelings of like, yeah, why even bother today? Or I don't know if this is really moving, or I don't even know if this matters. I could go back to my Awesomeness folder and I'd buy 1, 2, 3, and over time. And now I can't even keep the folder anymore. It's just so much. But I did that because it was so important for me. It was like fuel for me to continue to show up even in the times that I wasn't sure that the. When you're not seeing the harvest in the way that you're expecting or thinking in the moment. And then I could just value what God did in that one person's life, knowing that he's about to do that and others, if I Just continue to stay the course. And I feel up. Okay, I'm gonna say this one other thing because I said something, then I heard something. So I'm gonna say this too.

Okay.

Some people will say. Some people will say, well, I wrote this book and if only. If this is. If it was only for that one person who reads it, then I'm. Then this is good. And I want to encourage you to. Because sometimes people say that and what they're. But what's really happening is they're lowering an expectation of what God can do with that message. And. And so it's almost becomes a. I'm going to lean on. I'm not going to keep showing up consistently because when I launch it, I wrote for that one person. It's like, well, God did everything that he was going to do and that's not the way this thing works. Right. So as opposed to trying to make it sound like, oh, well, oh well, he did it for that one person. How about God wants to do it for more people? Right. So don't stop because you feel like, oh, God did what he was going to do with what you did in the past. And believe for what God will continue to do as you continue to move.

I like that. Because it could become an excuse to not. To not show up consistently.

Correct. Or to show up at all.

Yeah.

Or you can get that person's permission to use their name and you can say, this book changed so and so's life.

You know, for eternity. Please buy now.

He's joking. You can always screenshot an Amazon review, it's public. And share it. Let other people's words speak for themselves.

Yeah, but I, I do think, like, what you're saying too is, you know, don't despise small beginnings because.

No, right. Don't despise Small Beginnings. Just don't think that that's all that there is to.

Yeah. That that's the end.

That that's the end. Because it's not the end. It is a small beginning. And the reason why it's a beginning is because it's the beginning. The beginning, not the end. The beginning.

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. That's good. Well, we usually have a one minute reflection time, so I want you guys. Che has unpacked a lot. I want you just to take a minute. We're gonna play some music. I want you to ask God what is he saying to you through all of this? And then we'd love to hear from some of you in the comments. What is he saying to you? We're just going to give you a minute.

Sam.

All right, so share in the comments. Anything you feel comfortable, you know, just sharing what God said to you. But I was just praying during that time and I just felt like I saw a picture and it was something I actually shared on social media recently. It's our road has had a lot of construction and it was like a road closed sign. But this time I feel like what the picture was representing is that some of you have actually put up road closed signs and it's like self sabotage. Right? Or it's like what Shay was saying, like limiting what God can do and instead of continuing to move forward, there's some sort of obstacle. Maybe it's not something that you put up, but the other day I was running by that sign and this guy was taking the sign away and opening back up the road. And I just feel like for some of you today, there was something that was said, something that Shay mentioned, something that God spoke to your heart. And you realize now that there was an obstacle there. There was something that was holding you back. And you can, you know, through the Holy spirit, ask God, like to remove that road clothes sign and keep moving forward. Keep doing the things that God has called you to do and to not hold back. See, Debbie says perseverance is character building and necessary. Lola says God is saying, keep leaning on me. I am yet to fail you. April says, parent my children's book. Now that it's published, be consistent to share. Keep moving forward. Myrna says, grace over grind. Walk it out in grace. Amen. Yeah. And so thank you so much, Shay, for coming and sharing this wisdom with us. We just pray God's blessings over you and like I said, connect with shaykingdomdrivenentrepreneur.com go get her book on Amazon. Grace over Grind. Leave her a review. You know, we know how much.

How much that's powerful. Share with your friends. This is a great. I mean, I've. I've read that book several times already and I'm reading it again right now. It's, it's. It's a book you can read over and over again. But cj, why don't you just pray for us and also just pray a blessing over Shay as we close.

Yeah. So, Father, we just thank you so much for this time with Shay. And I just pray that this hour that we spent together would bear much fruit.

Yes.

I pray that you would take this message into the highways and byways.

Yes, God.

That it would get to places that we never even can imagine. That we may never see on this side of eternity. And I pray, Lord, that you pour your blessing out upon Shea and her kingdom driven entrepreneur.

Business ministry. I just thank you for what you're doing from her life. I pray you continue to give her inspiration, creativity, just the ability to connect with everyone that you put in her path. And we pray that.

You would take her ministry to the ends of the earth, that people in numerous countries would be able to benefit from these principles that are really just found in scripture. And it's just her walking with you and, you know, it just reminded me that sometimes, you know, when we think about marketing and doing business, we scurry around and it's kind of like the person that just is stubborn, that doesn't want to stop and ask for directions when they're on a long road trip. And yet if they would have just asked.

There could have been so much.

Heartache and disappointment and just a lot of wasted time trying to find the right route. And I pray that each one of us would seek you, that we would be on the same page as you. We see our business and our writing ministry through your eyes, Lord, and that this alone would help save us a lot of wasted time and energy trying to be stubborn and doing things just our own way, or maybe even just trying to fit into the the world's blueprint. And so we just thank you so much for what you've done here and we look forward to seeing the many testimonies and encouragements that come out of this episode. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Amen. Well, thank you so much, Shay. Thank you all for being here again. You know, if you appreciated this message, you know, definitely connect with Shay and get her book. Read it several times. We love everything you do, Shay. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Talk to you later.

All right, bye. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode in our kingdom marketing mindset series. God has really led us to start teaching marketing differently. So, yes, we will still teach you the skill sets and the strategies. We will give you all the case studies, but we are going to be teaching marketing from a kingdom marketing mindset, encouraging you to hear from God and get those strategies directly from him. I am just so excited for you to start going through the training that I have been creating for you in our book launch challenge. If you're tired of the same old messages with book marketing, I encourage you to join us inside Christian Book Academy. I believe it will truly be a breath of fresh air for you and you'll not only get the practical training you need, but you'll get the encouragement to stay connected with God to receive his blueprint and his strategy for your marketing. Join us now@christianbookacademy.com I can't wait to work further with you and help you reach more people with your message. I'll see you on the inside.

Thank you for listening to this episode of Kingdom Writers. We believe that you, as a Christian writer, have a specific role to play in the Kingdom of Heaven to impact lives for eternity.

And because of this, we choose to pour out our lives into encouraging writers like you to not only tell your stories, but to take the courageous step of self publishing your stories. Stories in books that will outlive you and leave behind a powerful legacy. This podcast is sponsored by Christian Book Academy, where we help you give birth to your books. We invite you to join our community of Kingdom Writers.