#138 The Spiderweb Effect: How Writing A Book Will Grow Your Business, with Brian K. Wright

Brian K Wright is the host of Success Profiles Radio and publisher of Success Profiles Magazine. Over the last 6 years, Brian has interviewed world-class achievers such as Darren Hardy, Jack Canfield, Loral Langemeier, Kevin Harrington, Sharon Lechter, and many more.

A lot of people, when they think about writing a book, they think of selling millions of copies and it’s a really nice idea but unless you’re really famous or well known that may or may not happen.

It’s what you can do with the book once it’s done that’s the goal, whether it’s speaking on stage, having a coaching program, staging a live event, or being invited to do shows. It will present opportunities to sell your book and make a lot of money at your bookstore signings.

There are a lot of opportunities to go beyond the book but the book is the springboard by which you can do everything. Brian’s radio show was the springboard that created a lot of opportunities and then the book spun from that and the magazine spun from that. Start somewhere, master or something I know I’m going and then figure out how to spend it.

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to start a bunch of things at once and end up not doing any of them very well.

A book is a credibility piece. If there are let’s just say hypothetically 10 people in your industry and somebody is trying to decide who to work with. If you’ve got a book on the other nine don’t guess who automatically has the the first opportunity the person with the book because you you must be the expert.

People will make that assumption and so they’ll check out your book. They like to do their research and figure out who people are. If they see your book it can be a nuclear business card.

You can find out more about Brian, his books and Success Profiles here. (https://briankwright.com/)

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Melinda: Welcome to another episode of Writer on the Road. Today we're travelling to Arizona which is a little bit far away from where we are here in Oz. I'd like to welcome Brian Wright. Brian is a guest that I have been recommended to by Brian Burkard. Hi Brian. This one's for you. I have been encouraging my friend Brian from the Marketers Mindset to write a book for a long time and I believe part of your expertise is in book writing.

Brian: It is. I've done three of my own books and I go through my books for other people and I also host a meetup group here in Arizona for offers and side started that a couple of months ago I had my third meeting earlier this week with my group and it's been a lot of fun it's been a great journey.

Melinda: I always go straight to the top when I need my experts. Brian, I've got to tell you that with my research that I've been carrying out tonight you are the expert of all experts. You have a wonderful book out and it's a new book released this month and it's called Success Profiles, Conversations With High Achievers. You can have a podcast success profiles radio.

You also publish the Success Profiles Magazine.

Brian: Yes. It's a spinoff of my radio brand. When I started my radio show back in 2012 I realized after a while I had so much content that I could repurpose.

I think this is really important. If you are creating content repurposing in as many ways as possible. Some people will listen to you do a radio show or podcast. Some people read but some people will read your magazine. Some people will meet you in person but they won't find you everywhere unless they're a super fan. But you have to reach people where they are. Some people prefer to read. Some people prefer to listen and so repurposed content to appeal to as many of the senses as possible so that people have a greater opportunity to find you.

Melinda: Brian is an expert at this everybody. I'll confess it's four o'clock in the morning here and I started researching Brian's work at midnight and I...

Brian K Wright is the host of Success Profiles Radio and publisher of Success Profiles Magazine. Over the last 6 years, Brian has interviewed world-class achievers such as Darren Hardy, Jack Canfield, Loral Langemeier, Kevin Harrington, Sharon Lechter, and many more.

A lot of people, when they think about writing a book, they think of selling millions of copies and it’s a really nice idea but unless you’re really famous or well known that may or may not happen.

It’s what you can do with the book once it’s done that’s the goal, whether it’s speaking on stage, having a coaching program, staging a live event, or being invited to do shows. It will present opportunities to sell your book and make a lot of money at your bookstore signings.

There are a lot of opportunities to go beyond the book but the book is the springboard by which you can do everything. Brian’s radio show was the springboard that created a lot of opportunities and then the book spun from that and the magazine spun from that. Start somewhere, master or something I know I’m going and then figure out how to spend it.

A lot of people make the mistake of trying to start a bunch of things at once and end up not doing any of them very well.

A book is a credibility piece. If there are let’s just say hypothetically 10 people in your industry and somebody is trying to decide who to work with. If you’ve got a book on the other nine don’t guess who automatically has the the first opportunity the person with the book because you you must be the expert.

People will make that assumption and so they’ll check out your book. They like to do their research and figure out who people are. If they see your book it can be a nuclear business card.

You can find out more about Brian, his books and Success Profiles here.

Read Full Transcript

Melinda: Welcome to another episode of Writer on the Road. Today we're travelling to Arizona which is a little bit far away from where we are here in Oz. I'd like to welcome Brian Wright. Brian is a guest that I have been recommended to by Brian Burkard. Hi Brian. This one's for you. I have been encouraging my friend Brian from the Marketers Mindset to write a book for a long time and I believe part of your expertise is in book writing.

Brian: It is. I've done three of my own books and I go through my books for other people and I also host a meetup group here in Arizona for offers and side started that a couple of months ago I had my third meeting earlier this week with my group and it's been a lot of fun it's been a great journey.

Melinda: I always go straight to the top when I need my experts. Brian, I've got to tell you that with my research that I've been carrying out tonight you are the expert of all experts. You have a wonderful book out and it's a new book released this month and it's called Success Profiles, Conversations With High Achievers. You can have a podcast success profiles radio.

You also publish the Success Profiles Magazine.

Brian: Yes. It's a spinoff of my radio brand. When I started my radio show back in 2012 I realized after a while I had so much content that I could repurpose.

I think this is really important. If you are creating content repurposing in as many ways as possible. Some people will listen to you do a radio show or podcast. Some people read but some people will read your magazine. Some people will meet you in person but they won't find you everywhere unless they're a super fan. But you have to reach people where they are. Some people prefer to read. Some people prefer to listen and so repurposed content to appeal to as many of the senses as possible so that people have a greater opportunity to find you.

Melinda: Brian is an expert at this everybody. I'll confess it's four o'clock in the morning here and I started researching Brian's work at midnight and I have kept going for hours and hours. I have the most fascinating man with me here today. Brian, your new book. Let's start with your books, then work backwards on how to write one. The focus this week is on nonfiction.

Melinda: For those of you who haven't explored the opportunities with nonfiction they are absolutely amazing to build your brand and share your expertise and Brian does this with his latest book.

Brian: I've talked to some of the most amazing people. I talked about repurposing content a while ago I had this idea to present a compilation book to a publisher and I found them on Facebook interestingly enough Mortgage Giants Publishing and I had this idea for the book where I would compile some of my most favorite interviews from some of my most well-known guests into a book and they loved the idea.

They've done compilation books before. Some of them aren't very good because they're not edited very well but they said that I did a really great job of editing my book. Now here's the thing. Done is better than perfect. It took me a while to put this together because there were days I just feel like working on it.

I just you know I have to feel properly inspired to keep going and I went for weeks without being properly inspired I didn't want to finish but then I realized it was sitting out there and I had to get it done.

I decided I had to get it done right after some really amazing people Darren Hardy who published Success Magazine for many years. Jack Canfield who co-wrote all the Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Those books collectively have sold over 600 million copies I believe with various titles. It's a huge series. The Success Principles, Maya The Millionaire Maker Tom Zeigler some of the legendary Matt Gallagher. I had 11 really amazing interviews in that book and you can find it on Amazon. You can find it in Barnes and Noble and find it everywhere. And it was really a joy to put this together.

If you are not sure what contact you can create you can co-create that contact with other people via a podcast or interviews. If you have expertise in one particular topic which a lot of us do and you know experts who are in your field might be able to lend an interesting perspective that maybe you don't have. That's a great way to create contacts through a compilation book or even doing it through a virtual seminar which I get to be doing a virtual seminar toward the end of November. My coach and I are putting this together. He is a website designer and that gives me a virtual iPad which will be free Twitter. And that's going lead to a live event in the spring. Also, the whole idea that you should make your book into a business and it should be part of what you're doing.

Melinda: A lot of people, when they think about writing a book, they think of selling millions of copies and it's a really nice idea unless you're really famous or well known that may or may not happen.

Brian: It's what you can do with the book once it's done that can be the goal by for you whether it's speaking on stages whether it's having a coaching program whether it's staging a live event, whether it's being invited to do shows like your fine show here. It will present opportunities which you can then spend to income and other revenue sources so you can sell your book and make a lot of money at your bookstore signings here in town. In fact, I've done four of them and I've had a really great time. I've learned a lot. I've got two more scheduled for the near future but look beyond just selling your book.

There are a lot of opportunities to go beyond the book but the book is the springboard and I tell this to my clients all the time. The book is the springboard by which you can do everything for me my radio show as the springboard back created a lot of opportunities and then the book spun from that and the magazine spun from that and so on and so forth. So I'll start somewhere master or something I know I'm going on and on here but master something and then figure out how to spend it. I think a lot of people make the mistake of trying to start a bunch of things at once and you're gonna end up doing any of them very well.

So master something and then spiderweb it up from there.

Melinda: You are fascinating in what you say and I've been making notes here and I'm not even sure where to begin unpacking what you're talking about.

The event virtual event is going to be Wednesday Thursday November 28th and 29th, which might be the next day in Australia.

Brian: Look for a print or a dark author or a live dotdot.com so look for that in the coming weeks and I'll be posting about Facebook and I know we’re connected on LinkedIn.

Melinda: I did a course here in Australia with Adam Hoolahan and it's LinkedIn influencers so there's a whole range of business people are starting to test the ground. A lot of trying to get a start. I know you work a lot with entrepreneurs and a book is key isn't it.

Brian: It's a credibility piece. I think a lot of people just use the book as a credibility piece. If there are let's just say hypothetically 10 people in your industry and somebody is trying to decide who to work with.

If you've got a book on the other nine don't guess who automatically has the the first opportunity the person with the book because you you must be the expert. You have to be some how people will make that assumption and so they'll check out your book and people you know they're savvy these days. They like to do their research and figure out who people are and is it going to be a fad is it aligned but if someone has a chance to see your book it can be really a nuclear business card and books don't have to be 200 pages. I think sometimes my clients get stuck on the idea that their books have to be long not really that old rich dad poured out rubber here psyche 20 years ago 114 pages. One of the most influential books in the last 20 plus years so he doesn't have to be very long my first two books were under a hundred pages.

My current book is 270 pages so right until you think you've said everything you want to say. And sometimes when I work with my ghostwriting clients they get so convoluted that they have so many great idea.

I had one client who I know wants to write multiple books. I told him one day I said I think you're trying to write off or gearbox at once and that made him stop. He says I think you're right. And so I said do this have four separate no pads. Every time you have an idea and put the title of all of her books on the top of each notepad page every time you've got a great idea.

Figure out what book that the idea actually belongs in so that you don't confuse yourself on your current project and by time you're done with the first one. If you've got a couple pages of ideas for your next book already outlined you're miles ahead. Now I'd like to start from zero anymore. So carpels can't compartmentalize your ideas and write them down but put them in a bucket and go from there.

So at least you don't forget what your idea was which is really important and secondly you know where the idea is that you don't have to think so hard about the next time. So if you've got all these ideas. Ask yourself Does this idea belong in my current book or is this another book some more later. Because that's a very real possibility.

Melinda: We did a series recently here on Writer on the Road with Paul Brody and he helped us all publish a book and he took us through the process and the very first thing he said is exactly what you've been saying.

They're very happy with 20000 words otherwise you'll see in two books number two three and four and a really good example of this everyone in our Indie world is Adam Croft. He is worldwide known as one of the biggest Indie fiction authors.

He wrote How to be an Indie Author. And it was really short it. I read it in an hour and thought it was meant to happen but an hour it people want it sure.

Brian: And here's the thing. People's attention spans are a lot shorter now than they used to be. And so couple that with the idea that a lot of people don't read a book after school after high school or whatever level school in that you finished because they had to do a lot of reading and so now it's not fun but if someone is reading a 64 page book and then get it done in an hour they feel like they accomplished something I wrote a book yay.

I tell people all the time it's like the bigger books aren't necessarily better books sometimes. Like I said before the most effective books are the shorter ones and you want to write something that people will read and people don't want to necessarily go on and on with their work just get in get out be done say what you need to say and be done.

Melinda: That's very much so in the business world because a lot of these people they're not expert writers they're expert in health and fitness so they're experts in whatever field where they want to get in and get out and get done as well don't they.

Brian: Absolutely. People are busy people are very busy and I mean even Why do Facebook lives I keep them to four to six minutes. I don't go on and on for half an hour about nothing. God bless everyone who does Facebook lives. A lot of them are great but if I'm really busy and I don't have any idea how long your life is I mean outstay for the whole thing I might if I really love yeah I'll stay but I want to respect my listener's time my readers time. I say my piece and dialogue and people know that I will provide whatever value I can in a shorter my time make it munch of all if you will actionable and then let's move on with our day and I'll come back again later and do this again.

Melinda: That brings us to the format of your book. It's absolutely beautiful. Everyone this is an idea I've had and again Brian says Done is better than perfect I'm always talking about it but I never quite get around to doing it.

Brian: I've got to mention I have 35 under my belt now and I've kept every transcript with the idea of turning them into books still not done. This thing of yours is a bunch of podcast transcripts turns in to something that is very readable even if you just want to choose one at a time.

I have an idea for you because my second book was a much shorter version of this book. I had three shows in a row where my my guests were expert in sales and it just jumped out at me.

Jeffrey Gettleman or Eric Laphams Scott Lopez and these three interviews might make a really short book a really good short book and I was 64 pages. So what I would say for you or anyone else after doing a podcast if you've got several shows on a common theme that might be a candidate for a really good short book my podcast and radio show is about success celebrating other people's successes so I get to explore different topics.

Brian: I interviewed Mark Robinson from the UK recently where he gave away a flat on television on Channel 4. I interviewed yesterday a copywriting expert but so those are completely different interview relationship experts fitness experts yeah like you said but if I've got people who have expertise in a very similar topic grouping those together in a short composition book maybe we can idea and people want it.

Melinda: People wanted everybody I know with the podcast people go to my website they're looking for something to buy and of course there's nothing there but there's going to be one day going on and it's really interesting people.

Brian: You're not pushing and selling your ideas. People actually want the content that people want to be successful and one of your I guess your mission though is it is to help people be the best they can be because you feel that they're living beneath their potential which I found was a very interesting expression.

I think a lot of people settle for what they think they can get in life and I've been there I've been there and I've done that and over the last maybe a couple of years especially the last 12 months especially I've reached that epiphany that I just have to say yes to myself and do what I meant to do in life. If you get good at something that you don't enjoy doing the world will keep asking you to do that thing and you'll be miserable.

Melinda: You were an educator. You began teaching composition. I haven't even heard that expression in many years. We call them essays now those English composition are now taken back expertise as an educator and you have moved into the corporate world and you're an expert in in leadership motivation and inspiration to 10 minutes would you have me inspired. Do you find that people are I guess with your with your magazine your success profiles. When did that come about? How do we find it and is it print or is it digital?

Brian: I do print out a few copies to give away at networking events or what I do with my Meetup groups I meet them.

I give every new person a printed copy so that they can see it. But success prop US magazinedot.com is where people can go in if they want to subscribe it is a paid subscription but it's absolutely worth it. I put out a magazine issue every single month and usually the person on the cover is someone I've already interviewed on my show and I just curated some of that interview and make that feature article I put them on the cover and they usually love it because what I can tell them no extra work is hard if you just give me your shirt via your best picture. They're happy to accommodate it.

So is that everybody that gets that gives you guests the ultimate exposure and it sets them up as an expert before they even write a book.

Because they are on the cover of a magazine. Yeah. Kevin Harrington from Shark Tank was my first magazine cover back in December last year. And when I approached him I said personal thank you for being on my show three months ago some new things are going on and putting together a magazine I want you to be my first feature and I just like I explained Norks to wear his Ricardo of you are just curate material that we've already done and I don't need to interview you again. If I can just take your best picture we can go and he's like you let's do it. He answered me in less than an hour or a half and said Yeah that sounds absolutely great and I did print some copies because I met him in person at an event that he was speaking at and he recognised me immediately. And I gave him the magazine and it was so cool because he said part of my presentation was about digital marketing.

Is it okay is this primarily digital and you just print a few free events like this. I said absolutely that's exactly what I'm doing he says. I hold this up and talk about your magazine during my presentation. Yes. Am I going to say no to the ads and the photographer the events. Had a really wise moment because a few weeks after the event I saw a picture of him approaching me and shaking my hand as he was moving as he right before he spoke and I shook my head and said Thank you Brian said You're welcome. Then started speaking somebody caught that moment on camera. And that's the cover photo on my Facebook profile now.

But the idea of where the magazine came from I had so much content to repurpose and I thought What a shame it is that I haven't repurposed this in any way so I bought the domain for success...