072 | Turn Your Expertise into a Revenue-Generating Book – Paul McManus Breaks It Down

[00:00:00] Patrick: Have you ever thought about writing a book but felt like you didn’t have the time, the expertise, or just didn’t know where to start? Maybe you’re wondering who would even read it. Well, what if I told you that a book could be the ultimate tool for building authority and tracking high value clients, and even adding millions in revenue to your business?
[00:00:22] Patrick: Welcome back to another episode of the Vital Wealth Strategies Podcast. I’m your host, Patrick Lonergan, and today we’re diving into what it takes to write and publish a book that positions you as an expert in your industry. Today I have a guest who is an expert in helping leverage the authority of being a published author.
[00:00:38] Patrick: Paul McManus is a bestselling author and the creator of the short book Formula. His helped financial advisors generate over $50 million in fees and commissions through book publishing, and today he’s going to break down exactly how you can do the same. If you’re an entrepreneur, financial advisor, or business owner looking to stand out, attract premium clients and grow your business, this episode is packed with real strategies you can apply today.
[00:01:02] Patrick: Plus, Paul shares the exact steps to get your book published, how to market it, and how do you use it to generate serious revenue for your business. Now, a quick heads up before we get started. At vital strategies, we help high income entrepreneurs keep more of what they earn. If you’re tired of handing over six figures to the IRS.
[00:01:19] Patrick: Head to vital strategies.com/tax and let’s change that. So stick around. You’re not going to want to miss this. Now let’s dive in. Paul g McManus, thank you so much for joining us here today. I’m excited about this conversation. You are a bestselling author and trailblazer in the financial services realm, and uh, as we were talking, I’m a financial advisor that, uh, services entrepreneurs.
[00:01:42] Patrick: You’re an entrepreneur that services financial advisors, but, uh, I appreciate that comment you made. I think there’s a ton of wisdom in that and I, and I think this is gonna be an interesting conversation for. Uh, our audience, I know we have a number of of advisors that listen to the show, just looking for, uh, the best strategies and, uh, how to serve clients from a, a cashflow perspective, tax, investment, and protection.
[00:02:05] Patrick: And so, um, you know, I think this will be something that’ll be, I. Be worthwhile for those folks and, uh, also the entrepreneur clients that are just looking at, you know, how do I, how do I grow and expand my influence? Yeah. So thank you so much for joining us here today. Yeah,
[00:02:18] Paul: my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
[00:02:19] Paul: And it’s, it, it’s interesting. I’m, and as we’re talking about, I, I, normally, all my stories and examples are really. Um, aimed at, um, financial advisors. I’m thinking, okay, I wanna make sure that what I say is it adds value for entrepreneurs. I’m like, wait a minute. I think I know one. That’s me.
[00:02:34] Patrick: That’s right.
[00:02:35] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. No, this is, this is great. So I just wanna, I just wanna walk through a few of the things that, uh, I think you, you’ve done that I are, are impressive. So, uh, you’re an author of the Short Book Formula. You’re also going to be releasing from Author to Authority. I love that title. And, uh, you’re just the go-to expert for mastering LinkedIn.
[00:02:54] Patrick: Gaining visibility and attracting premium clients. I think, uh, no matter who’s listening, they would love to have more premium clients. So thank you for joining us here today. I think this is, uh, this is going to be good. So I’d like to start off, if that’s okay, and just think about, like, you, you help financial advisors, uh, write books, get published and.
[00:03:14] Patrick: I’m just gonna think through some of the things that run through my head, uh, when, when it comes to that. So I’m like, first off, uh, writing a book sounds hard. I’m a busy professional. We’re serving our clients. I’ve got a family I love and care about. And it’s like, okay, uh, where am I going to find the time to, you know, carve that out.
[00:03:31] Patrick: Now I think there’s, I. Uh, to some level it’s like, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And I think it’s a little bit to discipline along the way. Uh, go a long ways. So that’s, that’s the first thing that, that comes to mind. The second is like, who’s gonna read this thing? How do I get into the, you know, Ryan holidays, um, of, of the world from a, a business?
[00:03:49] Patrick: Book perspective. Uh, and then, you know, I think there’s some, some internal things that can come along, like, man, am I expert enough to write a book? Uh, do I have the, the wisdom and knowledge to, to share something that, uh, people would find, find valuable? So yeah, I’m, I’m looking forward to, to hearing your answers to, to some of those questions.
[00:04:07] Patrick: Yeah. Do you wanna just, uh, chip away at, you know. Sort of my, my first fear, uh, what does it take to write a book like that? That sounds like an overwhelming type.
[00:04:16] Paul: Yeah, yeah. No, of course. And I think you nailed probably three of the biggest questions that I get that people come to me and ask about. And the first one, of course is time.
[00:04:23] Paul: Right. I think for,
[00:04:24] Speaker 4: mm-hmm.
[00:04:25] Paul: For, for professionals, you know, it’s really entrepreneurs, you know, we’re always looking for ways to grow our business. We’re typically fairly. Busy people. And so, you know, I know myself, you know, before I got into this, I thought of writing a book as something that I’d have to go and, you know, take a year sabbatical and rent a cabin in the woods, start smoking cigar and, you know, and, and, and that, and that wasn’t in the cards for me.
[00:04:48] Paul: So, um, I, you know, never did it up until a number of years back when I got, um, inspired to do so. I’ll, I’ll tell you a quick, interesting side, is that. My first book, and this was I think back in 2019 that I wrote myself, um mm-hmm. Was I started with the book cover. So I, I hired a graphic designer. They, you know, I, I had a title of mine.
[00:05:11] Paul: I hired a graphic designer. They created this really, you know, nice, um, book cover for me and I posted on social media. Suddenly people are like, wow, congratulations. This is so cool. You know, you know, all these things. I’m like, you know, I started feeling, you know, good and everything, but unfortunately it satiated my actual desire and motivation to actually write the book for another maybe six to 12 months.
[00:05:32] Paul: And so it probably set me back a little bit, you know, because the question is, is if you know today what you knew, you know, if, if you knew then what you know now, I would be running, I would be writing my, my first book so much quicker, so much sooner. ’cause there’s so many different benefits that accrue to it.
[00:05:45] Paul: But to your question, time. So for anyone watching this, they can see my shirt. It’s the short book formula. Um, and mm-hmm. That’s the, but that’s the name of my book or, or one of my books. It’s the Short Book Formula. And the key idea or insight that I had is that to most books, or at least the way we construe ’em, are these long tomes that are are fine.
[00:06:09] Paul: But at the end of the day, I come, I come at this from a marketing point of view, or you know, a marketers point of view, and I believe strongly that in order for a book to do its job from a marketing standpoint, in other words, how do you, how do you attract the right attention and then get people to come to you and then become clients.
[00:06:28] Paul: What you really want is a book that your ideal reader slash prospect slash client is gonna take the time to read from cover to cover. Right? And I don’t know about you, but I have a bookshelf behind me. Um, you can probably see it there and you know, it’s filled with books that I’ve probably never read, um, just because mm-hmm.
[00:06:46] Paul: You know, if I get the physical book and it’s too long, I might start a chapter, but then I, you know, I have shiny OB object syndrome. I start looking elsewhere. Yeah. And so my big insight was called the Short Book Formula, and what that really translates into is a book that’s about 12,000 to 25,000 words.
[00:07:02] Paul: A book that can be, um, read in about one to two hours. But now if you flip it and say, okay, so now I’m the busy person, okay, you know. Where do I get the time to actually write that? Um,
[00:07:14] Speaker 4: yep.
[00:07:14] Paul: The methodology that we’ve, um, or not created, but that we have found and use and it works, is that the, is that the, the thing that our ideal clients have in common is that they tend to be good talkers and by good talkers, I mean, they have experience, they have stories they can take concept or, um, uh.
[00:07:33] Paul: Abstract concepts and turn them into things that your, you know, average person can understand. And those are really the qualities that probably most of your listeners possess. Um, those skill sets. And if you can do that, then our actual methodology is not taking that year off and going and, you know, getting the cabin in the woods.
[00:07:51] Paul: But instead of, we’re about six plus weeks, we help our clients. Talk out the content of their books. Mm-hmm. Um, through a series of coaching sessions so that they can capture the wisdom that they’ve developed and, you know, over years and that’s in their heads. Mm-hmm. And essentially get that down on paper, but without the excruciating pain of having to sit in front of a typewriter and type it out.
[00:08:12] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I love that. And, and I’m curious too on, like, it’s been interesting over the last 12 months how I’ve started to use, uh, I’ll call it AI chat, GBT to help, uh, not, not write things for me, but to collaborate and help refine my thinking. I’ve not spent a lot of time talking to chat GBT yet, but, uh, I know that’s absolutely an option.
[00:08:33] Patrick: But, uh, I, I think about the, I am so good. Um. It’s, it’s funny, I have a couple administrative assistants that help just like keep me, you know, they’re, they’re, for lack of a better term, adult babysitters, right? Like, I need somebody to corral all of the, the thinking and the things I have going on and sit down and help me focus, right?
[00:08:51] Patrick: And it’s like, I think there’s some serious value to having an appointment on the calendar, and we’re gonna sit down. And we’re going to get this thing done. And, and I can just give you a personal example of that. There’s, uh, some webinars. We, we work with, um, this advisor service, it’s called lineberg.
[00:09:09] Patrick: They’ve got a couple million people on their email list. They’ve approached us about putting together some webinars, and I’ve got those on the calendar. And the fact that those are on the calendar, those presentations get done on time. Where if I was like, Hey, you know what? I’m gonna produce this webinar at some point in the future, it would be so easy to go, man, I’ve got a busy day.
[00:09:28] Patrick: I’m going to kick that down the road till next week. And then all of a sudden it, it just never happens. So I think there’s some. Some tremendous value into the fact that, uh, you set up a coaching call and you have some accountability with, with somebody to get that work done. Is that, is that Yeah,
[00:09:43] Paul: yeah.
[00:09:43] Paul: Yeah. Part of the, the process. It’s a big part of it. Um, and, and just to kind of highlight, one of the things you said is about ai. I mean ai. Mm-hmm. I love ai. Um, and I’ve been using it. Even before chat, GPT. So I got into AI back in 2022 when there was a company called Jasper. Um, I don’t know if that name rings a bell or not, but they were kind of the precursor to chat GPTI started using it.
[00:10:07] Paul: Um, you know, you know, and I’ve been in love with it ever since. So AI does a number of things, but to your point, the one thing it can’t do. It’s forced us to keep our appointments because, you know, it’s probably a sad, you know, reflection, commentary on, you know, my, my life. But, you know, I’m lonely, I’m bored.
[00:10:22] Paul: I, I sit there and I talk to my AI friend and it, you know, gives me positive feedback. It affirms my, my thinking, right? Um, and all those good things. But the one thing it won’t do is that it won’t, you know, it won’t provide that accountability. It’s not gonna say, Hey. We have an appointment, you gotta sit down and meet with me for right this time.
[00:10:38] Paul: And so there’s many aspects that we can get into in terms of the process, um mm-hmm. But one of them is just accountability. You know, it’s, it’s, right. Doing anything that’s outside of your comfort zone is by definition, uncomfortable. And so, mm-hmm.
[00:10:52] Speaker 4: You know.
[00:10:52] Paul: Writing a book and you’ve used the analogy before, it’s like eating, you know, how do you eat an elephant?
[00:10:57] Paul: One bite at a time. Mm-hmm. If you don’t have a clear process and path and ultimately support to help you go from point A to point B, chances are it’s just not gonna happen. It’s been one of those things that you aspire to do one day, but you end up never get into. I have a client, um, who comes to mind.
[00:11:12] Paul: His name is Jim, and Jim is a financial advisor and, um, super smart guy. He is probably in his sixties. He has two law degrees. He has every certification under the sun. You know, when he first came to us, I’m like, Hey, so you know how long you been thinking about this? He says, I’ve been writing a book for the last 20 years, and that, and that leads into imposter syndrome, which is another topic we can explore, but I’ll.
[00:11:34] Paul: Yeah, pass it back you.
[00:11:35] Patrick: Yeah, yeah. No, this is, uh, this is fantastic. And you’re right. ’cause I, I think one of the, the questions I have, even putting together a webinar for other advisors, this podcast at times, um, I try to approach it from a perspective of like curiosity. Uh, there’s a, uh, I don’t know if it was Socrates, but uh, uh.
[00:11:56] Patrick: It, it it, he makes a comment about, you know, the more you start to know, the more you realize you actually don’t know anything. And so it, uh, it becomes awfully scary. It’s quite Oh, you to learn. It’s quite
[00:12:06] Paul: frustrating, isn’t it?
[00:12:08] Patrick: It’s, it’s like I start to learn some things about tax and trust structures and legal structures, and it’s like.
[00:12:13] Patrick: Wow. I now know that, uh, I don’t know all sorts of things and, um, I heard this analogy once that I thought was brilliant and, uh, if I, if I have a white piece of paper and I draw a pencil dot on it, okay, uh, that pencil.is what I know and all of the white edges touching that pencil dot or what I realize, I don’t know.
[00:12:33] Patrick: Yeah. So it’s like, actually we don’t, I, I’m, I’m. Pretty ignorant to the things I don’t know. But as my knowledge expands, so does the surface area on that dot, and now I realize it’s like, wow, there’s a, there’s a whole level of things that, uh, I don’t know. So imposter syndrome, I feel like is a, is a real thing.
[00:12:49] Patrick: And uh, you know, I think about the internal struggle, like, am I. Am I expert enough to write a book? Yeah. And so, uh, I know you touched a little bit about on that, on, you know, hey, when we talk on a topic, we can, we can turn it into to something that applies, but how do we put a spin on it that’s unique like that?
[00:13:04] Patrick: It’s like my message that, um, you know, I, I put out there into the world and resonates with people and actually provides value. Yeah.
[00:13:11] Paul: Great. Um, and, and, and just let’s start with imposter syndrome more broadly. So, um, I heard this term a number of years ago, and. I’ll never forget the story where it was actually, I think my first, and this is maybe 10 years ago, maybe, I don’t know.
[00:13:25] Paul: But I was doing like my very first podcast where I was the host and I invited someone to, to join me. And you know, of course I’m feeling imposter syndrome ’cause it’s like, who am I to sit here in my living room and do this? But the guest, I was like very, I was really impressed with them. They, I forgot their name, but they were known as the penguin lady.
[00:13:39] Paul: And this was like one of the, you know, four people in the world that the UN called when there was a disaster somewhere and penguins were at risk. And so, you know, I’m like, wow, you know, this is so cool. I scored the penguin lady. Um, and you know, I’m feeling my imposter syndrome and she comes on. And she like has total co imposter syndrome.
[00:13:55] Paul: She’s like, oh, who am I to, you know, talk about these subject matters. You know, she’s like written books. Mm-hmm. You know, she’s on, you know, she’s like in the shortlist for experts in the world. And I’m just like, really? And so, you know, it’s, it’s interesting, especially in what I do and just working with people and writing books and I think a book really.
[00:14:12] Paul: Brings out the imposter syndrome in people and we probably all have it to some degree, right? I mean, I think maybe some have more, some of it less, but one of the behaviors that I see, you know, and, and you alluded to it, so it’s either. Failure to start, which is what you said is that, who am I to write this?
[00:14:28] Paul: I mean, there’s so many other books out there. You know, what unique contribution can I make to this? And, and that’s what it’s very, so first of all, let’s just acknowledge that that’s very common, right? Mm-hmm.
[00:14:37] Speaker 3: Um,
[00:14:38] Paul: when I’m talking to an advisor, the frame that I like to give them. Is that for 99 or or so, for, you know, if you’re comparing yourself out of the gate against well-known authors, just in the financial advisory space, you know, I could say Dave Ramsey, SU Orman, Robert Kiyosaki, right?
[00:14:54] Paul: And you’re like, ah, you know, who am I to compete with them? It’s just the wrong frame to think about. Right? You know, aspirationally, if one day you want to get to that level, then you know, I’m all, I’m all about supporting that vision. But for your typical financial advisor, what they really, I. Could benefit from a book for is just a little bit of different differentiation in the marketplace.
[00:15:14] Paul: And so what I tell them is that if there’s, you know, you know, any, you know, choosing an advisor is a huge decision for someone because this is one of the most important decisions that a person can make, right? I mean, you don’t wanna get this wrong. This can impact someone’s future. And so typically people will do their due diligence and they’ll probably go and they’ll interview a couple different advisors, and all things being equal, you know, if each advisor has the same amount of, uh, experience, roughly same, qualify, you know, credentials, et cetera, same access to, you know, I.
[00:15:44] Paul: Products, et cetera. You know, what is that difference maker where I now feel more comfortable choosing advisor A versus B or C? And what I find is so amazing about becoming an author, and this is like the, the one big idea in my book, the short book formula, is that fundamentally authorship accelerates the speed of trust.
[00:16:06] Paul: So authorship accelerates the speed of trust, and so. In that scenario, when you’re thinking about writing a book, it’s not comparing yourself to these big names that are intimidating. Instead of saying, I wanna be better, or I wanna be seen as more authoritative and more expert, the advisor B and C. So suddenly that’s a different frame, that’s much more achievable and then suddenly you can start thinking about where you’re actually really good and strong and you’re brilliant that you’ve, you know, accumulated over probably, you know, years if not decades.
[00:16:33] Paul: Mm-hmm. Starts to really shine through.
[00:16:36] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. And I think one thing that I’ve noticed when I’m creating content that helps with the imposter is, um, the process of creating the content really helps us refine our thinking, uh, organizationally. It’s like, wow, okay, let’s, let’s make sure, let’s expand out on that topic.
[00:16:56] Patrick: Let’s look at it from a macro point of view compared to all these other things we’re talking about. And it’s like, yep. How does that fit in? And, and I think it’s also okay to go, um. This is, this is who I am, this is what I believe. These are the values that I have, and. I’m sort of planting my flag here, and it’s okay if you don’t like me.
[00:17:15] Patrick: Right? And I think Robert Kiyosaki does a great job of that. Uh, Dave Ramsey. I think they’re all to some level polarizing in the context of like, Hey, uh, I either love that idea or hate that idea, you know? Uh. You know, Robert Kiyosaki, I, I has gained, uh, I’ll say notoriety for saying your house is not an asset.
[00:17:35] Patrick: You know, and when you look at how he defines an asset, and I agree with him, um, you know, it, an asset puts money in your pocket, right? So that house becomes an asset when you sell it, but it’s not an asset while you live there. But people are losing their minds ’cause it’s like, no, my house is my largest asset actually.
[00:17:51] Patrick: And, uh, I don’t like the fact that you’re taking that outta my asset column. I think there’s something to. You know, the fact that, you know, we can, we can really plan a flag like, Hey, this is who we are. And somebody reading that book and, and just thinking about trust goes, yes, this is exactly who I want to be aligned with.
[00:18:07] Patrick: Or, no, I don’t wanna be aligned with that person. And it’s almost okay. Like, I, I think that’s better than okay, because we’re. We’re sort just getting rid of the people that aren’t going to be a great fit long term Anyhow, and we’re, we’re bringing in what I’ll call our, our ideal clients. I dunno if you have any thoughts on, on that, but, uh, you’re
[00:18:24] Paul: speaking my love language.
[00:18:25] Paul: I mean, these are all, these are all things that I, I, I love talking about first. Okay. Building, building on the idea of imposter syndrome. So I think you nailed it, right? Mm-hmm. I think actually not just writing the book, it’s ’cause here’s the other thing. I’ve observed a lot of people, they write their book or their manuscript.
[00:18:42] Paul: But then they don’t publish. And it goes back to that imposter syndrome. And it really, you know, it’s, I think it’s just the fear of being criticized, right? It’s like, ah, it’s not perfect yet. Oh, I need to refine it. I need to do this, that, and the other. And you know, especially if that’s you doing it, you know.
[00:18:57] Paul: You know, doing it in a vacuum is not good. Right. You absolutely need mm-hmm. Support systems to, to help you get to the finish line and, and get it out there. Um, the examples you brought up, Robert Kiyosaki, Dave Ramsey, I mean, they’re both, you’re right. They’re both polarizing figures and at the same time, here we are.
[00:19:13] Paul: Talking about them, right? Mm-hmm. You know? Yeah, absolutely. They’ve, they’ve broken through the noise. They have a point of view, uh, whether you agree or disagree, you know, it’s, they’re, they’re thought leaders. They’re part of the conversation. Um, and then finally, just to react to what you said about marketing, I think the best marketing I.
[00:19:29] Paul: Is marketing that does just that, it’s, it’s something that someone looks and say, wow, this person, you know, I, I like what they’re saying and they align with my values. They, this is someone who, you know, I like, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, ultimately this is, um, trust at scale because, you know, why do most advisors and probably entrepreneurs more broadly like referrals, it’s because there’s a transference of trust.
[00:19:49] Paul: And so what a book or thought leadership, having a podcast, et cetera, helps and allows us to do is to basically scale that. So that a larger audience can come into contact with your thinking, your personality, these different things.
[00:20:03] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
[00:20:03] Paul: And they’ll typically have one of two, two reactions. Oh, you know, this sounds good, this is interesting.
[00:20:07] Paul: Or, uh, you know, this isn’t for me. And both are okay. I mean,
[00:20:10] Speaker 4: yeah.
[00:20:11] Paul: You know, I, I, I don’t wanna spend any time one-on-one trying to convince someone or persuade someone to do something if they’ve like made a decision in advance that I’m not a good fit for them. That’s okay. So another thing that you asked, and typically I’ll get from, um, people I’m speaking with about book projects is, you know, first the first question is, okay.
[00:20:31] Paul: Is this possible to do? And so I, you know, mm-hmm. I tell ’em in our, in our approach, it takes about six plus weeks, typically six to 12 weeks. You, you don’t have to, you know, take time off from work. You know, we build it into your schedule. So it’s usually about two to three hours of time per week over that six to 12 weeks.
[00:20:47] Paul: Um, but then the next thing, and, and you asked us earlier was, okay, you know, who’s gonna read this, right? Mm-hmm. ’cause nobody, I think, wants to go through all this time, energy, resources, effort, and then ultimately. You know, crickets, right? My mom read it.
[00:21:02] Speaker 4: Yeah. You know, I hope
[00:21:03] Paul: she reads it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I hope she reads it.
[00:21:05] Paul: But, you know, really, um, when I talk to financial advisors is that this book is something that should help you generate a million dollars or more revenue. And I and I, I tell, you know, my ideal client advisors very specifically that. It’s not about book sales. And what I mean by that is that it’s not about royalties.
[00:21:24] Paul: You know? Sure. You can maybe make a couple hundred, maybe a couple thousand dollars on royalties, but that’s missing the whole point, is that you wanna write a book in my perspective, as the ultimate um, authority positioning, marketing piece. Mm-hmm. And done well. Not just in writing and publishing it, but then ultimately in leveraging it to grow your practice.
[00:21:44] Paul: This should be a tool that can help you generate a million plus, um, of business over time. Um, and ultimately, I mean, just myself, I’m, I’m a case in point. I’ve written multiple books. My first one helped me generate a million dollars of revenue. Over a three year period. The second one, I was able to speed that up and it helped me generate a million in a two year period.
[00:22:04] Paul: And now I’m hoping my latest one, um, will help me do that in about a year if all, you know, if all things go well.
[00:22:10] Patrick: Yeah, yeah. No, I, I love that because that was, that was a little bit of that, that was the question I was going to ask was Okay. It was, it was easy for me to start my podcast because there was exactly zero subscribers.
[00:22:23] Patrick: ’cause I hadn’t actually published anything yet. Now those first episodes are still out there and people can go back and listen to ’em and they do, and that’s, that’s all fine. But I’ve gotten better as, as time goes on. And so, um, and, and I think you said a little bit of that, uh, I was impressed by the fact that, um.
[00:22:39] Patrick: You know, that investment sounds like a great investment. I think about all of the marketing opportunities out there, and if I can, if I can put a book out into the world and it generates a million dollars of revenue and even if we stretch that out to five years, right, $200,000 a year of revenue, like that’s, uh, that’s fantastic.
[00:22:58] Patrick: We’re probably looking at all of our marketing lead sources and going. That one pulls in more than anything else, right. Uh, per dollar spent. I think that’s, uh, that’s wonderful. But as, as time goes on, and I think we see this with authors too, uh, their first book does. Okay. The second book, you know, starts to, uh, really gain some traction.
[00:23:17] Patrick: They kind of find their voice and then as time goes on, the more, uh, their publishing, the, the bigger the. The audience, the faster they’re, they’re growing. And are, are you seeing that with advisors? Is this something they’re doing? Um, Hey, I got my first book out now. I’ve really refined my thinking. Let’s, uh, let’s take an approach from, from this angle on the next book.
[00:23:37] Patrick: Are, are they, are they doing more than one book? Yeah.
[00:23:39] Paul: The short book formula opens up. Um, in people’s, just mind the thinking that they can do more than one. You know, again, for most of us it’s like, write a book that, you know, when will I have time to do that? But once they see that it’s doable, achievable, and they do it, then ultimately they start thinking, okay, well maybe I need a book for this.
[00:23:54] Paul: I need a book for that. Um. In our case, it’s not so much the thinking has changed, although it can, it’s more so the way that we position the value of the books is really around the outcome of business growth and business development. Mm-hmm. Um, and so what I find is that it’s really, you know, everything’s a learning curve.
[00:24:12] Paul: And so, you know, writing and publishing the book is a learning curve. And of course we support them doing that. But then the second thing is, okay, once you have the book, how do I really maximize the value of it? And that’s also a learning curve. And I think that’s probably, maybe a little bit steeper learning curve.
[00:24:25] Paul: And so I’ll just use myself as an example. Um, one of the things that we talk about and advise, advise our clients to do is that ultimately the book is the message. But now you need to take the book and go speak about it into the world. Yeah. Or write about, you need to create publicity for it so that people are aware of the message.
[00:24:43] Paul: And for me. I find that speaking, whether it’s in person or whether it’s online, such as podcasts, is one of the most effective ways to, to talk about it. Um, I recently had the opportunity to speak as a guest on a podcast, um, which was, which was, um, huge. You may know it. Uh, Michael Kitsis, the Financial Advisor Success podcast.
[00:25:03] Paul: Yeah.
[00:25:05] Patrick: Early in my career, I listened through episode zero through 300, 400. I don’t know, I, I hit like all of the episodes ’cause I was, I was trying to figure out how I wanted my practice to look. Right. And, uh, there were so many good ideas that came out. Kit’s podcast that, uh, were, were amazing. So Good for you.
[00:25:23] Patrick: I’m gonna have to go dust that on episode four
[00:25:25] Paul: 17. Right. You know, it’s like milestone. I mean this is like my
[00:25:30] Speaker 4: Yeah,
[00:25:31] Paul: right. You know, it’s.
[00:25:35] Paul: How did I get on that podcast? Why the book? Mm-hmm. I had a message and that gave me access to be on the podcast, but as a direct result of that, I can conservatively say I’m gonna generate half a million dollars, right?
[00:25:48] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm. Yep. But
[00:25:50] Paul: the book was a necessary component to be able to access that opportunity.
[00:25:54] Paul: And as you go forward, and this is where it’s like you can go from one, you know, from three years down to two, down to one, is that as you get better at this, you build more context, more networks. Um, et cetera. Well now you, you get a new book and now suddenly you put it into play and you go back to maybe the same source and say, Hey, I have a new book.
[00:26:11] Paul: You know, new relevance. I heard, um, motivational speaker, Brian Tracy, um, say that, you know, he likes to publish a book, and this is maybe, you know, a few years back. He’s getting older now, but he likes to publish a book every six months. And the reason for it is that, you know, he wants to be relevant. He wants to go back out there and have a chance to speak, you know, get earned media.
[00:26:29] Paul: Mm-hmm. You know, energizes, you know, email list community, et cetera. So just as you get better and better at that and you grow your influence, then it’s becomes progressively easier to make that revenue back sooner.
[00:26:42] Patrick: Yeah, yeah. No, I, I love this. And one of the things that you mentioned that I think is also really valuable is sort of stacking these pieces together, right?
[00:26:52] Patrick: Like, I’ve got a book, I am doing speaking engagements. Um, you know, I, I think they start to. Compound on each other. And, and then I think there’s another piece that is, um, maybe undervalued, maybe not, but like the size of my audience, you know, audience takes a minute to, to grow. Yes. But it’s all of the little things we do.
[00:27:12] Patrick: And we might have a, you know, an Oprah type moment or a kitsis type moment. And, um. Uh, those can really like accelerate our, our growth, uh, from an audience perspective. But I think having an audience that you have authority with that is listening to what you have to say that is excited about the new things that you’re putting out.
[00:27:31] Patrick: I think there’s, there’s a ton of value in that and I think it, it takes time to grow, but I, I think what you’re talking about with the speaking in the books, uh, or the books and then, you know, sort of leveraging that into speaking engagements and whatnot is, is absolutely, um. Critical to, to helping build that, that audience.
[00:27:49] Patrick: So yeah, I dunno if you have any comments on audience, but I, I think that’s
[00:27:52] Paul: it. But building an audience is hard. I mean, it’s something that I think, I mean, and you, and, and you know, this, uh, mm-hmm. I would imagine because you have a podcast and you’ve been doing this for a while and you know, it takes time to, takes time, energy, commitment, all these good things.
[00:28:04] Paul: I have a podcast. Um, and I, I think it’s been, I think I started at, it’s probably been five years or more. Um, I haven’t been as consistent with my own podcast just because it’s hard, you know, it takes time and energy to, to grow the audience over time. Um, and so just, you know, as I’m advising clients, ’cause I think starting a podcast is fairly popular nowadays, and I think it’s one of those pillars of.
[00:28:26] Paul: Influencer Authority marketing. And so I, you know, I’m, I’m a fan of hosting your own podcast. If you do it for the right reasons, meaning you actually enjoy doing it, you enjoy, you know, being a good host and interviewing people. Um, but for me. What I, what I typically recommend to the average advisor is that if you’re looking to build, you know, differentiate yourself, build authority ultimately to mm-hmm.
[00:28:48] Paul: Build your practice that my recommendation order is start with a book because you really capture your core message and you do what you said, which is you really refine your thinking. You know, one of the ancillary benefits of a book is that it forces you to refine your thinking. Okay, you know, what do I do?
[00:29:03] Paul: Why do people come to me? Why should they care? All those good things. And then the next step is what I would call guest podcasting, is that you now have a message that you can take and get essentially what’s known as earned media, which is, you know, you can say, Hey, I’d love, love to be in your show. Um, but the, but from a, from an audience perspective, the beautiful thing there is that the host that you’re approaching typically has done, I would say the hard work of, you know, mm-hmm.
[00:29:30] Paul: Building the audience, building and following, et cetera. And so now you’re leveraging that to be able to more quickly create awareness in the marketplace. And then I think the third level is that, so in my recommendation, start with the book, the Message, then get into guest podcasting. And then the third thing is optionally determine if hosting your own podcast is a good fix.
[00:29:51] Paul: I think that also has its place, but it’s probably one of the hardest things to do when it comes to, um, really maximizing the value of it.
[00:29:59] Patrick: Yeah, yeah, no, that’s, it’s true. And the inertia, you know, uh, it’s one of those physics terms, you know, a body in motion, right? Or body rest likes to stay at rest. And a body in motion likes to stay in motion.
[00:30:10] Patrick: And it’s like getting started on the podcast, it was so hard. Now it just happens. And we’ve got, I don’t know, I think a couple months of episodes sort of in the bank. So over the summer I can travel and I don’t have to worry about, you know, publishing every week. But we’re moving along in, in a pattern that, uh.
[00:30:27] Patrick: Is easy ’cause we’ve got the ball in ocean. Exactly. Exactly. But you look at the podcast data around the number of episodes that make it past 10 or the number of shows that make it past 10 are hardly any because it’s uh uh, people, you know, they interview their friends and family for the first few episodes and they’re like, now what do I do?
[00:30:43] Patrick: So it’s kinda like New Year’s resolutions.
[00:30:45] Paul: It’s like, yeah, this is gonna be great.
[00:30:48] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. No, this is great. So now, now I’ve got questions about, um, this, this process. Like, do I need a a, some huge random house? How do I get my book out into the world like that? That also seems like a, uh, part of the puzzle that sounds super scary to me and it’s just easier to keep doing what I’m doing than go try to figure that out.
[00:31:10] Patrick: So can you talk to us about how we get published? Yeah.
[00:31:14] Paul: So I think there’s maybe less than 1% of people that trying to get a quote unquote book deal would make sense. Mm-hmm. I mean, this is less than 1%. These are people that you know, are already, you know, celebrities. Either they’re a celebrity, um, meaning that maybe they should, you know, they’re on, you know, CNN, Fox News, whatever it is on a regular basis.
[00:31:34] Paul: You know, pe they’re household names. It’s like, ah, I know that person. Right. Um, if you have that level of celebrity in the marketplace. Then that, you know, getting an actual traditional book deal might be a good fit. Um, or, and you mentioned Ryan Holiday before, you know, if you have a massive email list and you have the ability to promote a book via email to a, you know, huge database of loyal subscribers, then you could go either way, but you’d have the ability to get a book deal.
[00:32:01] Paul: I find though, that for the 99 point. 8% of us that simply see the benefits of a book, but don’t want to be constrained by any limitations that simply getting it published to Amazon by, you know, for all intents and purposes, is really all anyone should be looking to do. Um mm-hmm. Our process is it’s, we help people.
[00:32:23] Paul: Um, do everything from, you know, from blank sheet of paper to essentially getting published on Amazon, but ultimately we’ll publish people on Amazon just for the benefit, you know, just because it’s such a. Um, simple platform to publish on. Um, couple of key things that I always like to tell people is that, and I find quite amazing, is that once you know, you can literally print your book on demand, right?
[00:32:45] Paul: So one of the things that I’ve heard advisors tell me over the years and just others more generally is that, you know, I, I got 200 copies of my book collecting dust back here. They’re on date. What I do. And so, you know, that should not be the case, you know, in today’s world. I mean, I literally print my book on demand, book by book.
[00:33:05] Paul: Um, nice. And another thing is, is that, you know, I use mine as the ultimate, I call it a sales conversion piece, right? So I use my book to create awareness, messaging, et cetera. But ultimately, the way that I use it at a very practical level is that when someone becomes aware of me, because say I’m on a podcast, they schedule time with me, um, we’ll schedule, say an initial 15 minute call.
[00:33:26] Paul: And then if it’s seems like it might be a good fit, I’ll then proactively get their address and then send them at my own dime, a copy of my book or books. Um, the reason that I, you know, I do this because I know the power of the book in terms of accelerating the speed of trust. So by the time we speak, again, I don’t need to present, I don’t need to try to convince, persuade, et cetera.
[00:33:47] Paul: It’s like I simply go, what questions do you have? What stood out to you? Yep. What would you like to go now? And it just makes the whole sales process. Enjoyable, smooth, seamless, um, but back to Amazon is that not only can you print on demand, but because they have the service called Prime, which everyone knows about, I can literally, for five bucks, print a book on demand, send it to you for five bucks.
[00:34:10] Paul: Now think about the traditional way of doing that. I go buy my book for five to 10 bucks, take it down to FedEx, spend 10 bucks my time. You know, it’s, it’s like so simple that. I couldn’t have imagined doing what I do without a book as part of that process.
[00:34:25] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. I love that. So, I love audio books.
[00:34:29] Patrick: Yeah. Oh yeah, totally. Now send, I send people books all the time. I sort of take the, uh, I, I listen to probably at least a book a week, but when I listen to a good one, I buy hard copies. Yeah. Because I’m like, I’m starting gonna hand this out to people and I don’t care if they necessarily read it. I mean, read that copy.
[00:34:46] Patrick: They can download the audio copy, they can get the Kindle copy. But it’s like, I think there’s some power to like, Hey, I think this, this idea is worthwhile and you should explore it. Yeah. And uh, and I think people appreciate, I don’t know, physical things. There go, it’s kind of nice to get something in the mail that was like curated.
[00:35:04] Patrick: For you. Yep. Can you talk a little bit about audio books? Yep. I assume Amazon owns Audible. Yep. I have my Audible account. Um, can I just audio record my book Yeah. As well and make it available that way for people if they wanna check it out? Yeah.
[00:35:18] Paul: I’m a big believer in audio books. Um. Just like you, I, I listen to audio books all the time.
[00:35:22] Paul: I, I, I listen to books more than I actually read books. Mm-hmm. I’m a big believer that at the end of the day, the, the message that you create for your book, ultimately it doesn’t matter if they listen to it, if someone listens to it, if they read it, don’t really care. I want people to consume the message, and that’s where the magic happens.
[00:35:39] Paul: So I’m a big believer is once you write your book, publish it the next step. Is to create an audio book. Um, so the most popular platform is Audible, which is part of Amazon and a couple different ways to do it. Um, and interestingly, we talked about AI a little bit earlier. So I have three versions of my book.
[00:35:58] Paul: I have mm-hmm. The version that I pay, the uh, uh. What’s it called? A, a, a professional speaker, whatever. A, a, a narrator to do for me. Um, so I have that version. I have the version that I read ’cause I wanted to, you know, do it myself. And then I have what I actually like the most, which is AI Paul. So this is the cloned version of my voice.
[00:36:20] Paul: And one, it’s much easier to create because I can actually mm-hmm. Delegate this to someone else to create. But what’s funny is that I’ll even show like a sample. It’s like, it’s like the old Pepsi and Coke, you know, comparison, blind taste test. I’ll say, okay, listen to this for a minute. Listen to this for a minute.
[00:36:37] Paul: And I don’t give ’em context. I just say, which one do you like better? Mm-hmm. And invariably they’ll, they’ll choose AI Paul over real Paul. Wow. And I’m, I’m like, hurt. But I’m also excited because, you know, if, if the AI version of these better than the real version, that just frees me up.
[00:36:52] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. No, it’s so interesting ’cause we did a whole AI episode and, uh.
[00:36:57] Patrick: We let chat GPT generate the content. We uploaded some transcripts so it knew my, like voice, right? Uh, chat, GPT uh, generated the content, uh, on AI and why people should adopt it. And then I used the service that could read that transcript using samples of my voice. It created a, a, a recreation, was it 11 labs?
[00:37:20] Patrick: Uh, I don’t remember exactly the service. Uh, and just as
[00:37:23] Paul: a side, that’s one I use is probably one of the best ones out there. It’s 11 labs do io, I think.
[00:37:29] Patrick: Great. We’ll make sure that’s in the show notes. But, uh, I, I, it was pretty fun to sort of have AI put this, this whole episode together and, you know, there were some things that I thought were interesting.
[00:37:40] Patrick: Like AI couldn’t say ai, it would go, uh, hi. It was, it was like he was trying to, I’m like, come on, you’re smarter than this. You should know. Uh, you should know your name. That was kind of fun, but it’s interesting to hear you say that. So can I just ask why you do three versions? Uh, just over time, you know,
[00:37:58] Paul: just, I mean, like, so for me, I have imposter syndrome when it comes to mm-hmm.
[00:38:01] Paul: My voice, right. And so the first version I’m like, I’m just gonna have a professional do it. And this was before I got into the ai. Voice cloning part. And then over time I’m like, Hey, you know, I need to lead by example. ’cause I’m telling other people that they should, you know, read it, you know, narrate it themselves.
[00:38:17] Paul: So, so I wanted to lead by example, so I recorded it myself. And then probably after that I discovered, you know, the AI got to a point where it was actually really cool. Um, and so at this point my, I, I have a preference for, for something like that to do the AI version. Although there is one caveat, at least currently, um, audible.
[00:38:35] Paul: And, and the rules aren’t really clear, but as far as I can tell, and I, I pay attention to this.
[00:38:41] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
[00:38:42] Paul: They will not accept for most, for most people, an AI clone version as an audible book because, so they have certain, you know, standards in place.
[00:38:51] Speaker 4: Sure. And
[00:38:51] Paul: currently, and this could be changing, they don’t allow for you to upload an AI version.
[00:38:56] Paul: And at the same time, there are AI versions. On their site. And so to me, the rules seem a little bit unclear. Mm-hmm. I’m sure at some point we’re gonna be able to do the AI version just because that’s gonna become the norm. Yeah. But at this point, that that is the one drawback to using AI, is that you can create a version, you can make it available like I do on my website, but you can’t necessarily upload it to Audible.
[00:39:20] Paul: So in which case, then you’d want to do it either in your own real voice or hire a voice professional.
[00:39:26] Patrick: Yeah, and I could see maybe Amazon’s point of view there. Like, okay, people might just have the machines generating massive amounts of content and uh, it might not be worth a crap, you know? So, uh, let’s take some of the machines out without the ai.
[00:39:44] Patrick: Right. It’s so true. So true. Good. All right. Uh, Paul, one thing you also mentioned that got my attention was, uh, I’m thinking about speaking engagements, uh, being on, you know, Fox News, some of those other things. I, I, I feel like a book can be one of those things that, again, I. Uh, allows me to be an authority in a space.
[00:40:06] Patrick: And I think the more niche the space, probably the better. Uh, and when that topic comes up on a, a new show or something along those lines, I’m sure there’s ways to get my hat in the ring for, for them to go, Hey, I’m gonna call, uh, Paul when the time comes to talk about how to write a book. Right? And, um, for financial advisors.
[00:40:24] Patrick: And, uh, so, uh. Is there, I, I know this is a little outside of the scope Sure. But do you have any thoughts on like how to leverage the book into some of these other speaking engagements? Yeah. Or media presentations to, yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah.
[00:40:38] Paul: Perfect. So just to frame it briefly, um, mm-hmm. I believe that authorship, which is authority plus speaking, is a one plus one equals three activity.
[00:40:50] Speaker 4: Mm-hmm.
[00:40:50] Paul: One plus one equals three activity. And all I mean by that is that there’s a lot of synergy between the two. So. Author, you know, authorship is very persuasive, influential speaking is very persuasive and influential. When you combine them, it creates an outsized, um, outsized result. Um, and so that’s why I think you see a lot of, you know, just influential people, right?
[00:41:12] Paul: That, you know, any famous person typically that we’re aware of, typically available book, and you see ’em talking somewhere. I mean, those are like the two common denominators, uh, from my vantage point right now. And, you know, this isn’t, you know, like getting on Fox News isn’t really. I haven’t helped someone do that, so I’m gonna give that caveat.
[00:41:28] Paul: But just from what I can see, um, is there’s different, so for earned, I mean, guess what you call earned media? I think what’s much more accessible today? Um, is to get on podcasts as a guest, and then from that,
[00:41:42] Speaker 4: yeah,
[00:41:42] Paul: I think getting on bigger and bigger and bigger podcasts is ultimately the goal because then you create a bigger awareness in terms of the audience that you’re trying to reach.
[00:41:50] Paul: I mean, interestingly in this most recent presidential election, they talked about how it was actually the candidates going on podcasts that may have had more impact than them going on the traditional news sites. That being said, so okay, how do on Fox or something like that. Um, from everything that I know, um, ultimately you, you need the, the building blocks in place.
[00:42:12] Paul: I think a book is like the first thing, the first layer. Um, but at that point you probably need a professional PR person. And so there’s firms out there that you, you spend, you know, two to four grand a month and they’re gonna be looking for these opportunities for you. And, you know, they won’t guarantee that they’re gonna get you on Fox per se, but you know, they will be able to get you written up in different high profile newspapers, magazines, et.
[00:42:37] Paul: My assessment is that, that at this point, if you’re like really good, you, you create those opportunities. And so it’s not guaranteed, but you know, it’s just like anything, you have the ability to work your way through to the top if you apply yourself. Yep. And probably have a little bit of luck along the way.
[00:42:50] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that’s fantastic. Paul, you’ve given us a ton of insight into, you know, how we get a book out in the world. Is there anything we haven’t touched on? You know, we, we’ve talked about how we go about creating the content. I love the idea of a short book. It, it just seems, uh, so true and I, I can say, uh, this, this is a Robert Kiyosaki quote.
[00:43:12] Patrick: Uh, that I, I love. He was like, uh, I’m not a best writing author. I’m a best selling author. I love that. I love that quote
[00:43:18] Speaker 3: too.
[00:43:19] Patrick: Yeah. And it’s like, that’s wonderful because he writes at a level that I can understand that I relate to that is easy to just, I, when I got my hands on his book, I read it all in one day.
[00:43:29] Patrick: I was like, this is amazing. You know, I got through it and it was, it was easy and it was good. So I, I think about, you know, putting together short book, uh, we self-publish Amazon’s sort of the, the key to helping us do that. I think that’s where most people are, are buying books. I don’t have to go get a random house book deal.
[00:43:46] Patrick: Uh, there’s a, even that can be
[00:43:47] Paul: counterproductive because, because what Random House cares about, about is selling books. And if you’re mm-hmm. You know, say an advisor, you don’t really care about selling books, you care about. Leveraging the book, get your Services. Now, I’m not saying that you turned down the deal, but it’s really not that important.
[00:44:03] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. So. Now that I’ve got my book written and my book published, uh, is there anything else that I need to be, you know, and then I market that book by going out and, uh, being on podcasts that, uh, align with that, that topic and people, you know, uh, now I’m starting to establish myself as an a, an authority figure.
[00:44:21] Patrick: Yep. Is there anything else that I need to add to that equation for sort of getting my book out there into the world?
[00:44:27] Paul: Yeah, I mean, just, um, you know, the, that those are the essential building blocks, at least from the way that I see it. Mm-hmm. Um, I think it’s just as, as you see the results, um, you just start getting, I mean, I mean, you start getting outsized results.
[00:44:42] Paul: You get at, at easier and, and for most people it’s enjoyable and it’s like all these good things. And so then it’s just, you know, how do I continuously create. More opportunities and bigger opportunities. Right. Um, and so then that could be, you know, there’s different ways to approach it. I think each person needs to assess depending where they’re at.
[00:45:02] Paul: But my case, I, I do both of those. Um, I also, oftentimes I’ll, I’ll sponsor events, you know, so it’s kind of the, the, the pay to place, so to speak where, you know, I’ll, I’ll go and, you know, spend 10, $15,000 on a sponsorship where my ideal clients. Hang out and I’ll get, you know, trade booth, but I’ll also get a speaking opportunity.
[00:45:20] Paul: Mm-hmm. Um, yeah. But I think over time it’s just the more you can create earned media and speaking opportunities and network. Then you can open up bigger and bigger doors. Um, and so it just, you know, it just takes, I think, a game plan. Um, you know, it takes support. I mean, you know, I’ve figured this out over years myself.
[00:45:40] Paul: And so, you know, if you’re listening to this, you’re like, oh, I, I understand that. I, I do this already. It’s like, great, you can do it. But for probably most people, you do need support, guidance, et cetera. Um, you know, a few, a few adult babysitters as you said, um, to help you get Yeah. From point A to point B more quickly, but it’s totally achievable.
[00:45:56] Paul: Yeah. And it’s so worth it. I mean, I’m, I’m like living personally, this would help clients do, but I’m personally living the dream. It’s so rewarding. Mm-hmm. Um, if you haven’t, you know, don’t, don’t make my mistake and just cover your, you know, post your book cover and then wait. Waste a year not writing it.
[00:46:10] Paul: Yeah. Get the book out there. Take the next steps. Yeah. Learn in action. Accrue the benefits.
[00:46:16] Patrick: I love it. All right, so Paul, you’re leading us directly to, uh, next steps, right? Like, let’s say I’m listening to this and I’m a financial advisor and I want to publish a book. What, what, how does somebody get in touch with you?
[00:46:30] Patrick: What is the best way to do that? Uh, yeah. For them to move this process forward. Um, very
[00:46:34] Paul: simple. You can go to my website, the short book formula.com, and there you can get a complimentary copy of my audio book and if it makes sense to talk mm-hmm. My calendar information is there as well.
[00:46:46] Patrick: I love it. Uh, I’m on the website right now.
[00:46:49] Patrick: We will have show notes, uh, available for, uh. Paul’s link, the short book formula.com. Uh, and I see you can schedule a call, you can download free audiobook. I think that is all fantastic. Um, also Michael Kitsis, he does a great job. He’s an industry leader and, um, you know, can absolutely, uh, episode four 17, you should.
[00:47:11] Patrick: Check out kitsis.com, I think slash slash four 17 will get you to that episode. Uh, if I remember the Kitsis formula, it’s, you know, I mean, once I
[00:47:19] Paul: got that, I’m like, you know, I’m like, I’m gonna remember this one.
[00:47:22] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. So that’s, uh, that’s wonderful. Uh, Kitsis does a great job diving into these things, so.
[00:47:29] Patrick: Paul, I don’t know if you have any guidance for, let’s say somebody’s not a financial advisor. Yeah. Is that somebody you’d like to work with or do you have somebody someplace you could refer them to if they’re like, Hey, I need to get a book going. What’s, uh, what, yeah.
[00:47:40] Paul: I generally work with financial advisors.
[00:47:42] Paul: It doesn’t mean that, that we don’t work with other people if they reach out to us. Um, I think, I think the key distinction though is that we help, um, really. Professionals who are looking to grow their business or their practice, right? So oftentimes professional service providers, it could be an entrepreneur depending on, you know, what you’re doing and what you’re trying to accomplish.
[00:47:59] Paul: But I guess what we don’t really help with is like someone that’s trying to, you know, write their memoirs, right? Um, our books have a purpose, which is to help you grow your business. And so, you know, you know, I think any entrepreneur, for most of us, that’s that, that that’s the goal. So if that describes you and you’re looking for help.
[00:48:15] Paul: Um, absolutely. Um, feel free to reach out.
[00:48:19] Patrick: Love it. I love it. Paul and I, I think about what happens when somebody, uh, pursues this process and takes it to the finish. Right. Uh, I’m thinking about the successful results. You were talking about how it, uh. Builds this trust, right? It, it creates authority, uh, transfers the trust from, you know, this, this book, uh, to me, like now, now the person’s going, all right, cool.
[00:48:41] Patrick: There, there’s some level of, uh, authority figure here that, uh, uh, they got a book out in the world that that means something. And then ultimately what that. Means to us is just increase revenue, right? That’s the whole goal. Uh, we wanna turn this, uh, book into more ideal clients that drive revenue through our firms.
[00:48:58] Patrick: And then I think about the, if we don’t do that right,
[00:49:01] Paul: I, no, don’t, don’t send me back. Don’t do, do not send me back. I, I cannot imagine, seriously, I, I started a, you know, I started a new, I’ve gotten to the point where I literally cannot sell anything without a book supporting it. Um, I, I started a new service not too long ago and I was trying to talk to people about it, but it was just bumbling around and I could tell it wasn’t landing.
[00:49:23] Paul: And I just realized, okay, what’s, you know, what’s what, you know? And, and usually with, with what I do, it’s like, so easily and same seamless. I’m like, you know, what am I missing here? And it’s like, ah, the book. Mm-hmm. And so I had to write the book and as soon as I did the book back to what I, back to expectations.
[00:49:39] Patrick: Yeah. Yeah. No, I, I, I love this. This is, uh, this is great. So like, you know, if we don’t write the book, you know, it’s just, we’re gonna continue to struggle. We’re continue to, uh, have a hard time articulating our thoughts, getting people to trust us. So I think that’s, that’s fantastic. And it really does help transform us from, you know, the, the struggling entrepreneur into one that’s thriving and, uh, optimizing every area of their life.
[00:50:04] Patrick: ’cause it’s like, cool, I’ve got. You know, when revenue generation, revenue generation solves a number of problems in a business, right? If we’ve got plenty of cash coming in, we’re in a very healthy spot. And this sounds like a fantastic opportunity to, uh, uh, to help with that. So, Paul, this has been wonderful.
[00:50:20] Patrick: I do appreciate, uh, all of your insight and wisdom Again, I. Uh, check out Paul’s website. We’ll have link to the show notes, but he’s helped advisors generate over $50 million in fees and commissions for their clients. I think that’s, that’s fantastic. Uh, there’s, there’s obviously evidence that this is, uh, fantastic marketing tool and brings authority to the, the author.
[00:50:40] Patrick: So thanks so much, Paul, for joining us, us. Great. Have a great day. Thank you.
[00:50:43] Paul: Enjoyed it.
[00:50:44] Patrick: That’s a wrap on today’s episode. I hope you found a ton of value in this conversation with Paul McManus. If today’s discussion sparked some ideas for you. If you’re thinking about how you can leverage a book to grow your authority and attract more of your ideal clients, then I encourage you to take action.
[00:50:59] Patrick: And if you enjoy this episode, do me a favor, share it with someone who could benefit from it, whether it’s a fellow entrepreneur, a financial advisor, or just someone looking to level up their business. This information could be the catalyst for their next big breakthrough. And remember, you’re a vital entrepreneur.
[00:51:13] Patrick: You’re vital because you’re the backbone of our economy, creating opportunities, driving growth, and making an impact. You’re vital to your family, creating abundance in every aspect of life, and you’re vital to me because you’re committed to growing your wealth, leading with purpose, and creating something truly great.
[00:51:28] Patrick: If today’s episode got you thinking about how much you’re really keeping from what you earn, let’s take it further. Visit vital strategies.com/tax. Start building a tax strategy that works for you. Thank you for being a part of this incredible community of vital entrepreneurs. I appreciate you and I look forward to having you back here next time on the Vital Wealth Strategies Podcast, where we help entrepreneurs minimize their taxes, master wealth, and optimize their lives.
[00:51:52] Patrick: See you next week.