“Being an author shifts the world’s perception of you.”
– Trevor Crane
Welcome to the Steve show today I have Trevor Crane on the show. Today we are talking about how you can share your expertise in a book, and how that will help you increase your business, start having more the life you want.
(We’re also going to talk about nine books his daughter has! Amazing amazing amazing)
In this blog post and video, Trevor and I talk about how you can become a best-selling author quickly and with ease.
Tip 1: Get a Mentor
Writing a book has helped me build my brand, impact more people’s lives, and secure more paid speaking gigs. I knew my expertise was valuable and before I met Trevor, I was meaning to write my book so I could share all the breakthrough tips I discovered in business and life. But I kept putting it off.
One day, I met with Trevor, and I found out that he and his daughter authored several books already! I called him and said, “Okay, I have no excuse. I really need to get mine because I have only been talking about it for a long time but not taking action.”
I decided I really needed to sign a check and pay Trevor to help me get my book done. So, I paid Trevor money and he coached me and in six months I hit number, best seller in four countries.
The reason I want to bring this up is because kind of what of the topic I want to talk about is how being an author can make an impact on business, how, I know, for me but, this experience can help so many clients and you’re helping more. How that makes business more, because you can grow more strategically right? You can earn more in less time, thereby giving you more of the lifestyle.
Here’s what Trevor had to say about that:
“I didn’t start off an author by any stretch and I arrived at finally figuring it out because similar pain of not getting it done. So, for over 20 years I wanted to write a book and it had gone on my new year’s resolution list of do this and I was so disgusted with myself for not getting it done.
I knew that if someone like Larry King is going to interview someone, you know unless they founded Uber or Nike, you need an alternate way to position your authority. For example, like being a bestselling author. Being an author shifts the world’s perception of you.
I was so pissed off that I hadn’t figured it out. And it seemed so simple. It’s words on a page. I’ve done that. I can write and I can speak.
I finally had had enough and one of my mentors developed cancer. And when he was going through chemo he went, he was like, “What am I leaving behind?” He was upset about the difference, usually what he would leave as far as a legacy for his children, for his own.
He pulled out his phone and he recorded a story. He recorded his book into the phone and it still took me a year past that to write my first book. He’s made a full recovery by the way, and his book helped him grow a seven-figure business.”
Absolutely beautiful. Step 1 is to get a mentor.
I spent years of trying to build a business without like just figuring it out on my own and. It’s important to find someone that’s already done it and then just learn, learn, learn, learn, learn. I won’t do anything in my life without it.
Tip 2: Make Sure You Follow A Proven Process
One thing that Trevor helped me do as a book coach, is he walked me through a process that clearly identified who the book should go to, what I needed to communicate to my audience, and what action I wanted them to talk. We tested it in the marketing.
By having a process, we didn’t just make me a bestseller in 6-months, we also made sure that the message I was sharing would engage the right audience and customers for my business. In fact, by following the process, I made more money before even publishing my book!
People don’t get their book done because they think it’s going to take too much time. But they don’t realize that it is time well-spent because it helps them grow their business and in the long-term, leverage their time.
But with a process, you don’t have to spend that much time. For example, our mentoring calls went down like this…
Trevor: “Okay, Steve, if you just do this each week, I’ll tell you what to do and step by step.”
Me: “Dude, we’re not going to get this done man.”
Trevor: “Listen. “Steve, did you do this and this? Yes, you did? Great. Stop talking to me and go play with your family.”
We finished the book on time and then in one day of launch we hit number 1 in 14 categories. In the next section of this post, I will share the third tip that Trevor shared with us straight from the man himself!
Tip 3: Clarify The Why, Who and the What (Trevor Speaking)
The first thing that I do when I’m working with someone with their book like I did with you, is we get strategic about what’s going to go into the book and why.
‘Why this book is important’ is it’s the best marketing and branding exercise that I’ve seen. Because when you ask and answer these questions, it helps you understand better who to address your book to.
- Who is the book for?
- Who is your ideal person that you want to read it?
- What is it about?
When you are clear on the above, you can describe that in a short period of time, like in a condensed way so people understand why it’s so important.
- Why do they care?
- What are the problems that this book addresses?
- What are the results that is going to give them?
- What do you want them to do next?
I helped Steve clarify the above. Once he was clear, what Steve did is he went out and he shared that with his audience, asking them, “Is this what you want?” He didn’t guess, he tested!
Then by using their language he is able to engage and connect with his audience with better.
Tip 4: Don’t Wait for Perfection (Steve)
One thing I want to say is, you don’t have to have the book written or do things perfectly to grow your business. You can already be growing your business around the book even before it comes out. I went number one before the book even came out. The day that my book went, number one was during the prelaunch.
Because I got clear on my message, I told everyone about the fact I was launching a book three months before it came out! That’s three months of marketing before the book came out!
Every launch is another marketing exposure for your business. And so. And then even the pre-stuff like hey this is my title, this is my tagline, like all these things.
That’s all I must share for now.
Are you thinking of writing a book? What questions do you have? Let me know because I would love to help you out.
Until the next episode…
Choose Gratitude Create Freedom
Steve Napolitan
