Let me be the first welcome you to our Fresh Pressed Newsletter, the very first edition of what will be a weekly dose of literary inspiration.
If you’ve been following our work for a while, Thank You and I hope this new format delivers the goods in a brand new way for you!
Each week we’ll feature an author, idea or book focused on Entrepreneurship, Health & Wellness and Self-Help.
Let’s dive in…
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
The 11-Step Formula To Make Money And Get Financial Clarity In Your Business
The term “entrepreneur” continues to gain attention as an exciting and financially rewarding career choice. However, there is a significant risk associated with leaving a comfortable position with a guaranteed salary, benefits, and pension.
But the risk of failure as an entrepreneur can be all but eliminated if you ensure that the financial foundation of your business is planned for, expectations are outlined, and the financial results are consistently monitored.
In Robert Gauvreau’s book, The Wealthy Entrepreneur, he explains that there’s an 11-step framework that if implemented, will provide you with financial clarity and extraordinary results in your business.
All entrepreneurial endeavors must start with the end in mind. So the first step to generating extraordinary results is being very clear on the outcomes that you desire as an entrepreneur. It’s important to answer the following questions:
A New Way For Women To Navigate The Menopause Years With Grace And Confidence
An empowering new approach has emerged which is helping women to master, not medicate their hormones as they shift from a time of being a caregiver to a self-care seeker.
In Dr. Mindy Pelz’s new book, The Menopause Reset, she explains how inside every human being lies an incredible pharmacy ready to heal. Dr. Pelz believes there is a 5-step lifestyle that will maximize that healing.
But it isn’t as simple as just going for a jog or doing one three-day water fast. You will need to put together several lifestyle tools to thrive during the menopause years. The five lifestyle changes that make up the menopause reset are:
Your Blueprint For Optimal Health, Longevity, And Peak Performance
The average American lifespan is decreasing, and the chronic disease epidemic continues to skyrocket. For many, the traditional path of no sleep, hard work, and an unconscious lifestyle deplete them of the health and vitality needed to be their best in their businesses, relationships, and life’s mission.
According to Kien Vuu MD, better known as Dr. V by his clients, it doesn’t have to be this way. In his new book, Thrive State, Dr V explains his ‘BioEnergetic Model’, which will help you to transition from a stress state into a “thrive state”.
Signs that you are operating in a stress state, and need to pay attention to your health include:
When asked what surprised him most about humanity, the Dalai Lama replied, “Man! Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.”
Closing thought: This is the first of our weekly Fresh Pressed Newsletter to help you discover new ideas and inspirational stories. Leave a comment and let us know what you think!
Every savvy entrepreneur who sets their sights on writing a book does so not only to share their message with the world and people on a large scale, but also to stake a claim to their thought leadership and build their business strategically in the process.
Bringing your message to a greater audience is only one part of what a book can do for your business. When done well, your book can become the vessel through which you take people you’ve never met on a transformational journey. By committing to writing The Book – as opposed to some also-ran pamphlet type book – you elevate your business prestige and have the key open doors in the media
Here are 5 ways your book can serve as an asset for your business, when done well and intentionally:
Create an Emotional Connection With Your Audience.
Well written books rely on well-told stories. Stories that allow your audience to see themselves in a world they’re longing for. The key to those stories is to connect emotionally, reaching through the pages of your book to your reader and pulling at their heart strings. When done effectively, you can close the gap in the relationships between reader and author, no matter the physical distance. That emotional arousal also gives us a piece of valuable real estate in the memory of the reader, keeping you and your book around in their mind long after they’ve put it down.
Create Multiple Touchpoints In One Sitting.
Your book should be designed with a transformational arc, that takes readers from where they are today, to where they want to go. Your book providesmultiple touchpoints in one source, bringing readers deeper into your sphere of influence with each chapter. One important touchpoint is to make the reader feel understood in their current struggles, like they have an ally in their journey, cheering them on with each page and chapter. Someone to guide them, an emotional connection to the author (you), tactical advice and strategies they can put into practice, and advise as to how to implement those things. Where else can we do all of that for our audience in one place over and over again, without having to repeat the process or increase our time commitment? Only with a book!
Meet Your Audience (and Potential Clients) Where They Are
The opening chapters of your book should be designed to meet your audience where they are, and let them know they are reading the right book, at the right time, to make meaningful change in their life. Although it may feel extensive, the point is to speak right to the journey you know your audience is in before they find you. Think of this as speaking to their “before state” trusting that the right readers will self identify with the language, stories and guidance in a way that makes them want to take their next step with you and within your business.
Clarify and Claim Your Thought Leadership
The birthing process of writing a book – identifying your framework, gaining clarity on the entire customer journey, understanding how you do what you do – will undoubtedly bring you higher levels of clarity and understanding about your business. Writing your book is, accordingly, an opportunity to really stake a claim with your ideas, your thought leadership, and what you want to be known for in the market.
Open The Door For You to Share Your Message on Major Media
There’s a reason that the root word in “authority” is “author”. As soon as you’ve gone through the process of defining and refining how you help your customers and can replicate that for someone else without you needing to guide every step in person. As an author you achieve a level of authority that is recognized by the rest of the world. To be an author means you have learned valuable lessons and are now sharing them for the benefit of others. Once your name is stamped on the front of that book, doors will open and you will stand toe-to-toe with peers you once admired, reaching and serving larger audiences of people than you ever before.
Although your book is written for your audience in order to be the best asset for your business, there’s a cathartic transformation that happens when you become an author. The process will push you to the edges of your emotional limits and perhaps just a little beyond. However, once your book is complete, it has the ability to take on a life of it’s own and you get to close that chapter in your own life.
When your book is intentionally thought out to be an asset and positioned as a starting point for someone else to begin to see, feel, and understand the transformation you provide, it sells forever and lives forever.
When designed within the longer customer journey in mind, your book is just the hook, serving you to bring attention, interest, and leads into your world for the life of your business and beyond.
The question isn’t if you can write a book, or whether that book will be valuable for your readers and therefore your business; with the right guidance and intention both are true.
The question is will you write it?
If you’re ready, my team and I stand ready to support you through the entire publishing process with no out-of-pocket costs to you, the author.
The first step is to Submit Your Book Idea so my team and I can review and reach out to connect with you!
Now that the holiday season is squarely in the rear view mirror, how firmly rooted do you feel in 2020 and how inspired to be most authentically you?
Moving into this new year I intend to bring even more training and support to authors like you, and to find a farther reach for the books we publish.
To that effect, I am pleased to announce a new initiative for 2020: Quarterly Strategic Planning Calls for Authorsin concert with my dear friend, and master teacher Dale Halaway.
Every quarter we will facilitate a transformational planning session to map out the next 90-days of your author career. Transformational, because as you commit to taking action to bring your book to a wider audience, you open up new possibilities that you can’t even imagine.
In addition to these quarterly strategy calls, around the middle of 2020 we will begin leading bi-annual Author Intensives – an action-packed 3-day live event in Las Vegas, followed by 3 months of deep implementation support and accountability.
With these new ways of supporting authors at a deeper level, it is my hope that Lifestyle Entrepreneurs Press fulfills our vision to truly be Publisher for the Passionate.
What is your Best encouragement for someone who is just starting to fall in love with READING?
Is there a book you’ve read that set your life on fire?
Have you stumbled across a quote from another author, and chased it down, just to discover a new world waiting for you?
Has someone you loved recommended a book, and now it’s one of your favs too? What seems like common sense to some – that being a voracious reader has countless benefits – may not be common practice for others.
Share a story of how books have made a difference in your life and join me in saying goodbye to the 2010s
Here’s to a new decade of amazing books & inspiring authors from your favorite publisher 🙂
Here is a hard truth about becoming a successful author:
Writing a great book is not enough.
It may take you months to write your book (or even years, or decades if you procrastinate long enough).
And as good as it feels to put the finishing touches on your manuscript…
That is just the beginning of your journey to author success.
Even editing, cover design, layout and formatting your book to look and read well doesn’t get you there.
Sooner or later you (and every author) will be confronted with the hard reality of becoming a best-selling author and it almost always comes down to one word:
Marketing.
Influence, authority, leadership and respect await you on the other side of slaying the marketing dragon…
As in, actually getting out there and being the biggest advocate for your message.
As in, actually talking to people about your book and the ideas, inspiration and advice contained within it
As in, getting out of your own way and letting your light shine to the world. Getting right with the fact that if you don’t start the process of building marketing momentum there is very little chance someone will do it for you.
The good news is, even though it can be scary to switch from “writing mode” – which is mostly an individual, private experience – to “marketing mode” – which by definition involves other people, it doesn’t have to be difficult.
The key to becoming great at marketing your book (and every other offer you create) comes down to one thing:
=> Shifting your perspective from “what do I want to say” (aka writing mode) to “how can this benefit others”
Here’s what Carol-Ann Marshal realized after she attended an author training I ran:
Did you catch that sentence “I came away with a renewed sense of what is possible being an author, the gift that I have to offer the world and a number of new friends…”
Carol-Ann made the connection that sharing her message with the world is the goal, and the book is the vehicle that gets you into motion.
Great marketing comes down to sharing about what you’ve created, and doing so in language that lands with the listener.
When you focus on how your reader’s life will improve when they read your book…
When you focus on solving the most pressing problem they are facing…
When you focus on inspiring others to elevate their experience of life and bring new meaning into it…
Then you ARE marketing your book, just not in a sleazy “salesy” way, but in a way that actually lands.
Because you are connecting with what is important to THEM, instead of focusing on what is important to you.
In fact, the only thing that is “hard” about becoming a successful author and entrepreneur is making this shift.
The shift from thinking about yourself, what you want, and what you need => To making your default question:
“How can I improve this person’s life or help them solve a problem and make it as quick and easy as possible for them?”
The next time you catch yourself thinking “But I hate marketing…” or “I just want to focus on writing…” or “Marketing is so much work…”
Just, STOP – pause for a moment. Take a breath.
Then refocus on “How can I help this person succeed?” or, “What can improve their day right away?” or, “How can I solve their most pressing problem quickly and easily?”
It is incredible how simply asking the right questions begin producing the right answers.
Then, all of a sudden, you are coming up with creative ways to help people, share your message, be and inspiration and build your influence with every conversation and piece of “marketing” content you publish.
That, my friend, is how to sell a LOT of books and impact a LOT of lives.
That is the path that leads to generating $10,000+ of sales before your book even comes out.
That one shift sets you on a direction of inspiration, influence and authority…
To get the step-by-step instructions, support and resources to successfully market your book, reach your full potential and make a lot of sales, watch the video on this link and join $10k Before Launch…
Having passion for your book is a prerequisite for publishing. When it comes to writing a book however, passion is only the beginning. The real work is intertwined with the process of getting the big ideas out of your head and onto the page. Creating a book outline and getting clear on how you want to structure your content will help sharpen your focus, not to mention save you countless hours of writing.
What Questions Does Your Reader Have & How Can You Best Answer Them?
To create an effective book outline, you must look at things from the perspective of your reader. Here is a quick exercise to shift into the reader’s perspective:
Question #1 => What was it about your book that caused the reader to pick it up and start reading?
Question #2 => What trajectory is your reader’s life on right now and where does your book intersect with that?
Example:She just found out she is expecting and wants to plan for motherhood. He just went to his doctor who said “you need to lose 25lbs”. Or perhaps this person has finally decided to start a business and wants guidance.
Question #3 => Your reader just finished the last chapter of your book and is thinking about their future. What is the first thought that comes to mind?
Thinking in these terms starts to give clues as to what content should be included and in which order it will best serve the reader. Determining how your book will make a lasting impression on the reader can give you a goal of what types of content you want to include.
Before you create an outline, determine what questions would your reader want answered when picking up the book. For instance, if you were writing a book about concussion recovery, you could safely assume the reader or someone they care about has experienced a traumatic brain injury.
By shifting into their perspective, you can predict the answers they want from the book. What types of recovery options are available for concussion sufferers? What are examples of the best-case scenarios for traumatic brain injuries? Answer these questions in an engaging way to hook your reader as they move from chapter to chapter.
This line of questioning is what led Dr. Dan Engle to write The Concussion Repair Manual, which has become one the top-selling books we’ve published. Like the sub-title says, it is truly A Practical Guide to Recovering From Traumatic Brain Injuries
Another part of planning the outline is to determine what extras you can include to help a reader achieve the goals you have in mind for them. Images, charts, calendars are just a few examples of graphics to use for increased engagement. Not only with these tools add credence to your content, but also can later be used as a selling point.
Write what you know is the first piece of advice you would give to your ideal reader. As you develop your content, lean on any methodology you have perfected to write about your selected subject.
If you’ve seen positive results firsthand, then craft your book to convey the steps taken to achieve success. The notes from which your outline will be created should include all the key points you want to make. Once you have these points, you can frame each book chapter around them. For each chapter, consider creating a consistent chapter framework that takes the reader easily through your book.
A Sample Chapter Framework could look like this:
* Opening Story that frames the topic of the chapter: 1-2 pages
* Introduce the topic and discuss the main idea of the chapter: 6-10 pages
* Illustrate the topic with a case study or real-life example from your life: 1-2 pages
* Concluding thoughts on this topic and Next Step the reader can take to implement it in their life: 1-2 pages
Give each chapter a name and use these titles as the basis for your book outline. You can also try mind-mapping your book and each chapter following the prompts and bullet points above. To mind-map, simply use the main topic from the chapter to create a line leading to sub-topics. Outlines can be bare bones or as comprehensive as you prefer. Some writers prefer to fill in the content as they write while others rely heavily on the research they did for the outline.
An effective outline will look different for each writer. What you need to do is find the best approach for your writing style and use the outline to create a compelling book that stands the test of time..
