Bryan Heathman's Blog, page 3

Is Social Media a HUGE Waste of Time for Authors?

As a book publisher, I’ve seen a boatload of creative promotional methods for driving book sales. Some methods are ingenious and highly effective. Others methods… not so much.

The fact is there are many ways to spend your time to promote a book. Some of these are a great spend of time, others… not so much. If you’re going to do social media you need to be investing your time, not just spending it.

In my career of promoting best sellers, I’ve developed a book marketing resource with 107 effective marketing tactics to support a book launch. Knowing that there are thousands of marketing options to choose from, I felt it important to build a database of knowledge on what is actually working today. All of these ideas are not for everyone because all of them take either time or money to implement.

The question then becomes, which method offers the most bang for your buck? In other words, where can you get the highest return for the time or money you apply?

Without a doubt, one of the obvious answers to successfully promote a book is using social media to generate awareness. From Facebook to YouTube, Pinterest to Instagram, marketing with social media is the new normal. In fact, it’s so prevalent that even Presidential candidates relentlessly use networks like Twitter for engaging their constituents. Often, their results are impressive when used in such a manner that is consistent with the social network. For instance, what works on LinkedIn will not work on Pinterest.

When Social Media Works (and When It Doesn’t)

Let’s face it: social media is powerful. Social networks have allowed us to connect with friends and family around the world, discover innovative products, support cherished causes, and promote our ideas like never before. Whatever your fan base, you can get the word out about your most recent developments and reach a massive amount of people in seconds—if you use the right tactics.

Many pundits suggest using social media to promote books, but the rules keep changing in the industry. As the social media platforms focus more on profits, the opportunities to leverage these networks for low-cost exposure is shrinking. You just can’t reach as many people as you used to as the rules for posting content are changing rapidly.

For instance, Facebook will not circulate your posts to all your LIKES unless you pay them to BOOST your Post. Some experts estimate that only 2% to 5% of your LIKES will see your posts. If you want to reach the rest, you need to pay Facebook to advertise (or Boost) your post to your fan base.

And what about the quality of that message? Whatever you post needs to be a) in-line with your message; b) an enhancement to your reputation; c) unique enough to inspire sharing. Anything less could be the kiss of death.

For example, if your book is about wildlife photography, you could turn off your fan base by posting a dinnertime pic of the wild elk special you are trying in Park City at Robert Redford’s restaurant. Think before you post, and make it count. You won’t get a second chance if you screw it up.

What is Your Time Worth?

If you are already in motion using social media and love it, then this is a great tool to promote your book. Go for it, and use the medium to showcase your writing, post images, and share video. There’s every reason to take advantage of this ubiquitous tool.

However, the reality is that social media can be pretty time consuming. Making the most of social media marketing means being consistent with your scheduling and your topics. If you’re posting comments, images and videos at off-peak hours for your fan base, you’re singing in the wind. Use one of the many apps available to analyze your fan base and see when your friends and followers are online. Post your most valuable pieces during those times.

Likewise, look at the best use of your time as an author working towards building a platform for your book release, namely your fan base as an author. If you’re committed to accessing your platform with social media, consider hiring an assistant or social media manager to help you stay in stride.

Video is hugely effective, so don’t ignore this opportunity. Video posts get phenomenal circulation, and they are rapidly taking over social media sites such as Facebook. It goes without saying that YouTube is the monster in the room here, with billions of hours of new video posted each month. The funnier your video, the better the circulation you can expect.

In the end, all that counts is that you push your message to your public by whatever means you have at your disposal. Every day I encounter authors who have written successful books but do not even have a Facebook account. They confide in me that they read articles telling them they must use social media to promote their books. However, they use other methods to promote their work successfully.

Is this true? Will your writing career tank if you don’t feed the social media monster at breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Is the only path to success to climb on the bandwagon and do what everyone else is doing?

Absolutely not! There are so many ways to invest your time and promote your book. Social media is just one of the many marketing tactics I’ve documented to support a book launch. It’s true that all of them take time or money to implement. As an author, you can let your inherent creativity guide you to your best marketing options.

However, one truism holds fast: unless you get the word out, no one will know what gems of knowledge your book holds. Start beating your own drum today, and reap the rewards tomorrow.

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Legacy and the Long View of Relationships

Maestro Eubie Blake once famously said, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” He lived to be 96 and left a legacy of music that changed the way we listen to the world, including highly influential pieces of ragtime, Broadway tunes and early jazz.

Besides my career in publishing, I’m a jazz trombone player. Eubie Blake’s story inspires me because I’m intrigued with the ability that each one of us have to leave a legacy and make a difference in the lives of others. Especially in my line of work, developing professional speakers and authors with high visibility products, I am keenly attuned to the task of leaving a mark on the world.

Blake did much more than merely make a joyful noise in his time. His most famous song, the upbeat Foxtrot “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” was sung by dozens of celebrities in its day, such as Judy Garland. It was even adopted as the presidential campaign theme song for Harry S. Truman during his White House bid in 1948.

As for Blake, his career began before the turn of the 20th century and spanned more than 80 years. Blake was a “rock star” before there were rock stars! His performances ranged from the Baltimore brothel, where he got his start playing piano, to a stint on Saturday Night Live in 1979. Eubie was also a frequent guest on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. In the course of time, he was awarded a dazzling array of honors, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan in 1981.

As I reflect on the legacy of people like Eubie Blake, my thoughts drift to my Aunt Dolores whose legacy recently came to an end. Whether your legacy includes dining with US Presidents or baking a peach pie for your teenage nephew, your imprint on the world lives in the memories of those you touch with your actions.

Taking the Long View of Relationships

When I was a kid, the idea of living to be 100 was a novel fantasy. Few ever made it. It was a kind of pipe dream. Now living that long is commonplace as morning talk shows frequently remind us when they celebrate yet another centenarian’s birthday amid cheers and balloons on live TV.

It’s hard to know what kind of impact we can make on the world around us, even if we do manage to live a hundred years. Few take the time to anticipate the kind of legacy they might leave. But it’s never too late to contemplate it or set goals to that end. The time that’s given to us can be used in idle pursuits, or we can make it mean something for the generations that come after us. It’s a simple choice to make.

Leaving a legacy is much easier to contemplate when we take the long view, considering the kinds of relationships we choose to cultivate. It’s clear that Eubie Blake didn’t go it alone. The relationships he enjoyed during the span of his career made all the difference in his longevity as an artist and as a man.

Blake married his childhood sweetheart, Avis. Though he outlived her by 40 years, she nonetheless helped launch his career. He also enjoyed a long-standing partnership with Noble Sissle, the lyricist who helped take his compositions to Broadway and beyond.

Your Circle of Friends

There’s a saying among the Personal Development crowd I’ve heard: “If you have nine broke friends, odds are you’re the tenth.”

The quality of the company you keep is a direct reflection of the quality of your attitude. Think about that for a moment….one greatly affects the other.

Take a look at the people you spend the most time with. Do these people deserve so much of your precious time and attention? Are they like-minded souls who are pursuing the best in life? Will they support your journey or enhance your legacy?

There are few people in this world who leave the kind of legacy that Eubie Blake did, but who touches your heart like an Aunt Dolores? Make your journey worthwhile and worth the effort to those you encounter. What kind of pages will fill the book of your life? What will future generations glean from your master work? Whatever the outcome, make it a good read!

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Innovating on Demand

One of today’s top buzzwords is innovation. Everybody wants it. Few know how to harness it. Some say that innovation-on-demand is just a fantasy, something born of wishful thinking in polished boardrooms as top executives figure-out how to motivate their Millennial workforce.

Other say innovation is a skill, not a talent. They say it can be honed to a fine point and wielded like a weapon. Yet even the models of corporate innovation, such as Apple, have their tepid days. Embracing the concept of innovation-on-demand is no guarantee of producing it. The desire alone is not always enough to get the result.

So let’s talk about that. How can you as a leader cultivate innovation, as a matter of habit?

Innovation isn’t just about creativity. It’s taking something that already exists and making it better through new ideas, methods or products. It’s very root means “new” – nova. Nova also refers to the monumental explosion of a star, releasing tremendous energy. Innovation can be a lot like that, particularly as new technologies and ideas enter our modern culture.

As a leader, whether you are an author or a speaker, how can you capture this cataclysmic power of lightning in a bottle? Is there a way to reliably inspire yourself and others to create disruptive systems at will? What is the key to innovating on demand? Nothing exists without first having the idea of it.

Teasing Innovation Into Being

One thing we know for certain is that everything we know is in a state of flux. The only constant is change. Harnessing that change and putting it to work on our behalf is the most potent key to success. Deciding just how things will change is your golden ticket to having things go your way.

If you want to encourage innovation, it can’t be forced. It has to be teased out of its shell. This means setting up an environment where there is freedom to make mistakes, to think differently, to follow new ideology for the sake of seeing where it leads. It implies risk taking, relaxation, self-acceptance and stream of consciousness. Fundamentally it encourages tapping into the inner child, taking time to think, or even an adrenaline-packed offsite event in the wilderness.

This is one reason so many start-up environments feature fun workplaces like beanbag chairs, stand-up desks, in-house chefs for all employees and well-stocked bars. Fridays are often free from formality, even including bans on Friday meetings.

Take a second…can you imagine this type of work environment at a Big 3 automotive manufacturer? I didn’t think so either.

These features may seem trivial or even cushy to an outsider. But in the heat of white-hot creation, such amenities become necessities. They allow the sub-conscious mind to problem solve, while the inner child comes out to play. The imagination is fueled by relaxation.

This is the territory of what investors call Unicorns…those illusive start-up companies who create a billion dollar valuation.

5-Steps For Innovating On Demand

Inspiration on demand means continually asking “What if…?” This single phrase spawns the cycle of creativity from birth to launch. What if a personal music device could be used as a phone? What if a car could drive itself? What if that same car could fly…and drive itself?

Would you be surprised to learn that Airbus is currently working on commercializing self-driving air taxis?

One hundred years ago, these questions would have been laughable. Today they are realities, innovations born of daring imaginations. These ideas were once someone’s sci-fi novels. Magic happens when innovation is teased into being.

With that in mind, here are 5-steps for innovation-on-demand in your business.

DEFINITION: Define the problem you wish you solve with your innovative idea. This is the issue that needs to be fixed with your creative solution.
IDENTIFICATION: Identify the people who are having this problem. This is your primary marketplace – your avatar. What do they look like? What is their income? How do they spend their time? Is your solution going to present a financial decision for them?
COMPASSION: Understand the problem from the perspective of your avatar. How can you provide a seamless solution for them at a price-point they will embrace?
CLARIFICATION: Clarify your solution. What have others done before you? Where have they failed? How have they succeeded? If it’s a product you’re after, now is the time to make up specifications and blueprints. If it’s your book, write your Table of Contents. If it’s a TED talk, generate the discipline of rehearsal to refine your delivery. Work out any kinks in your model before you create a finished product.
INNOVATION: Now it’s time to get to work! Create your finished product. Market test it. Get feedback from your core demographic, and use it to refine what you’ve created.

It’s true that innovation-on-demand may be a fantasy. It’s also true that fantasy can become reality. All it takes is a map and a compass, plus the gentle breeze of encouragement. You’ll be on your way in no time.

Whose life will you change with your innovative breakthroughs?

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Failure and the Cycle of Achievement

I’ll never forget “that day.”  That day of failure when my life took a turn to transform me from a working stiff to captain of my destiny. The moment is clear to me now, though a full decade has passed since then. The value of the experience has compounded over time, like your savings in a 401k plan.

I was walking down a dusty road on a spring afternoon, feeling the gentle breeze touch my hair like a reassuring touch. The sun sparkled on Lake Sammamish to my right, but thoughts of waterskiing those glassy waters was far from my mind. Despite the exquisite weather and world-class setting, I was in a dark mood.  Wondering what to do next. Questioning everything….looping.  I had just lost my cushy corporate job and the crush of providing for the family was on my mind.

There are a thousand reasons it happened. Any one of them would be good enough to explain the situation. But in reality, there was only one thing that mattered. I didn’t work there anymore. I was no longer responsible for the outcomes I’d been sweating over for the past four years. I no longer had to spend weeks away from home, closing deals on the road, traveling through Europe while my kids grew up. Suddenly I had all this time and freedom on my hands.

I also no longer had a paycheck! I had to find a new way to feed my family, keep our home, and set-up the teenagers for college. There were also braces and Karate lessons to pay for, prom dresses and not to mention the all-important date nights with my wife.

I didn’t know how to deal with these demands, and I found my confidence flagging – the kiss of death for anyone in Sales or Leadership. A quote from my mentor was echoing through my mind that afternoon, “Son, Sales is a great career.  But you live by the sword and you die by the sword.”  And there I found myself…dead.  This was my state of mind as I wandered down that dusty road by the lake, trying to get a handle on the moment.

Failure and the Path to Challenging Your Inner Critic

Beep beep! A passing driver honked her horn at me, rousing me from my reverie. Was I walking too close to the road? Was I going to walk straight into a telephone pole? Did I have a piece of toilet paper stuck to my shoe? The answer was “None of the above.”

The driver was Liv Montgomery, one of the authors represented by my publishing start-up, Made For Success Publishing. She lived in the next town and randomly passed me as I was wandering down the lakeside highway. In a moment my cell phone rang. Later that week, Liv was sitting across from me over coffees, with Frappuccino’s whirring away in the background above the din of the early morning crowd. My shoulders were slightly slumped over a tall drip.  “A tall drip” I think, “How appropriate!”

“You haven’t failed,” she states assuredly. “You’ve merely postponed success.”

She sounded like a motivational poster.  I shrugged, taking the lid off my piping hot brew. I’d been steeped in Personal Development books from the time I was old enough to drive. I didn’t need a pep talk. I needed opportunity. But she went on anyway, scrappy and annoyingly unflinching.

“This problem you’re having is actually a good thing,” she quipped. “It holds the answer to your successes. All you need to figure out is where the solution is buried.” “Jeez, she was peppy,” I thought. She could afford to be. It wasn’t her mortgage on the line.

“I suppose I could give more bandwidth to this start-up now,” I conceded, “you know, ramp up sales on the audiobooks. I’ve got leads in Australia that I haven’t followed-up with yet.” I had about as much zest as a bear coming out of hibernation.

“Not with that attitude,” she said. “You couldn’t knock over a stack of dominoes right now, let alone a stack of pallets headed for Costco.” I had to agree. “You can’t let the world push you around, Bryan. Push back. It’s time for you to dig deep and find your resolve.”

I raised one eyebrow and looked at her through a wisp of steam. A light turned on. Somehow she had cut through the fog of my flagging ego and thrown me a lifeline. “You intrigue me, stranger. Go on.” And she did.

That afternoon, I faced the hard truth that I had been doing just that – letting circumstances push me around. It was affecting my job, my start-up business, my relationships – my life. In the interest of not making waves, I had allowed my ego to get squeezed. I’d lost touch with the fact that having a sturdy, resilient self-worth is an essential ingredient for success.  Today, I call it swagger.  But on that day, I had forgotten that.

It was time to use the resources I had, ruffle a few feathers and create some wins. I set to work and drafted a plan to double the business in the next 12 months. It was ambitious – definitely a reach – but it was the start of fulfilling a dream.

Discovering Failure’s Purpose in the Cycle of Achievement

Nothing is ever wasted. All experience is useful. Just as every problem contains the seed of the solution, every failure contains the seeds of success.

Failure is feedback. It shows you your weakest links, lets you see where you need to shore things up. When you act on that feedback, it begins a cycle of achievement. When you lose your fear of failure, you can stand with poise, unafraid to take risks. When you learn to control it, failure is a by-product to be casually recycled instead of a calamity waiting to be overcome.

Time has winnowed away the pain of my failures, though I couldn’t see their value at the time. The wisdom contained in them now stands in brilliant relief. We keep the lessons and lose the baggage. We set new goals, get energized from a brief time out, and get back on the road to success.

It’s been a full decade to now, since my walk along the lake. The publishing start-up succeeded and the prospects continue to blossom.

We’ve all had our eyebrows singed by the fire of failure. Having faith in yourself and the strength to shake-off the funk can make all the difference.  Remember, failure is the very fuel which will shape your journey to success.

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

On Becoming an Idea Factory…and Communicating Ideas to Millions

As a publisher, I work with a wide array of professional speakers, some of the best in the business. Frequently I hear from the platform ideas and philosophies that are what I call “truisms” and have been used over generations. If you’re in the information business, you probably know just what I’m saying.

Many messages you hear from thought leaders resonate with the ring of truth today, just as those same messages rang true when I was starting my career – and even when my dad was starting his. The fact is, what holds true today also held for decades.

I love the Personal Development business, always have. I developed my career on the finest morsels from the likes of Earl Nightingale and Zig Ziglar. While other coworkers were watching “Cheers,” I was engrossed in Zig’s tales about The Redhead on cassettes and Nightingale’s inside wisdom about The Strangest Secret on LP’s.

These gems from seasoned professionals sparkled brighter than most, both in terms of their business acumen and personal philosophy. Even so, what they had to say wasn’t entirely original.

What makes their messages compelling – the reason they have stood the test of time – is the unique point of view of the presenter at that moment in time. No one else could say it the way they did. Today’s speakers package their messages in innovative ways which are relevant to the times. For example, today’s hottest speakers are using video channels, podcast shows and live social media broadcasting methods to be relevant to their audiences.

The legends in this business are stewards of ideas, not owners. They are the keepers of the light, a light that has been passed down through the generations in the form of their words and writing. Each one has added his or her own unique perspective.

What makes these ideas powerful is their application to daily life. What makes it relevant for you is your ability to apply them to your business and pass them along to others, leaving an exceptional legacy.

From Idea to Action

The reason to publish a book and speak is to spread the wealth – the wealth of ideas. We have the power to shape others’ lives with the words we choose. But the words are not enough in and of themselves. We have to influence others to act, motivate them from within to make a significant change. It starts with touching their philosophy.

How we look at things matters. Our philosophy is the cornerstone for our actions, and our actions determine our results. Nothing in the world existed until the idea of it first took hold, and the idea moved into action. So if we want to improve our results, we have to look at our philosophies-the core of what we believe.

Even this idea isn’t new. It’s ancient, and it applies to everyone.

Choosing Your Platform

During the past 40 years, a significant amount of research has been conducted on the topic of communication. This research can be a treasure trove if you apply it strategically.

We know that everyone is different. We all have a unique perspective because we have different experiences, different points of view, different philosophies. Our perception of the world dictates our beliefs.

Our learning styles have a significant effect on our view of the world. There’s always one style of learning; visual, auditory, kinesthetic that is stronger than the rest, and that means we rely on it more than the others. With each of these types, your message has an opportunity to reach an entire market segment you might otherwise miss, just by changing the modality of your presentation.

If you’re speaking to a group, the segment of the audience you’re reaching most effectively is probably the auditory learners. However, this too is determined by your style of speaking.

Let’s explore some new ideas:

Are you including material that’s engaging – such as animated gestures, professionally developed slides, video or adult coloring books? What are you doing to reach the rest of your audience?

Consider this trend – corporate trainers and speakers are discovering that retention of new information increases 62% when you engage multiple senses. Early adopter speakers are developing adult coloring books to accompany their keynote speeches. As people listen and color, they will recall more of what is said. Imagine how a CEO can use this technique to help employees retain the corporate mission and core values.

You can communicate your ideas in a variety of ways. Blending your research and case studies is one method of delivering unique conclusions. Others may take advantage of storytelling, using the power of the parable. If you cannot find a compelling example, crafting a parable is another method of presenting your point of view.

You may be missing a whole segment of your market if you are only pursuing one style of communication. If you are speaking, you will do well to offer resources for a deeper dive into your ideas, such as a book or an audio program. Choosing only one form of content delivery reduces your ability to reach a larger percentage of your audience. Explore ways to engage using more than one learning modality and significantly increase the longevity of your message…and your legacy.

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

Technology Systems to Boost Your Speaking Career

Very few speakers and authors have staff they can leverage to manage the dreary tasks associated with managing their own publishing, marketing, accounting, customer follow-up and social media. This makes it tough to get ahead and focus on the tasks that really matter – the ones that generate revenue.

How can a speaker or author keep up with the demands of a fast paced marketplace? Recruiting an army of VA’s will help, but running a small office comes with problems of its own. Sometimes it can be a wash financially and a waste of opportunity. Much depends on the details of how you allocate your precious time.

Leveraging Cloud technology, mobile apps and systems is one savvy way to manage your deal flow. Whether you’re working on your own or you’re managing a team to help you promote your personal brand, the tools you use can give you make-or-break leverage.

Here are a few tools you can use for streamlining the operations of your speaking business. Each of these apps are available for free or a nominal fee. The dividends they offer are priceless.

Todoist

Todoist is a mobile app for projects that involve one or several people. Think of it as your electronic “To Do” list on steroids. It lets you manage To Do lists, tasks and projects from anywhere. These include mobile devices, web browsers, inboxes, tablets – basically anything that lets you connect to the Internet. You can share an unlimited number of tasks with your colleagues, social media manager, copywriter, designer, accountant and developer – and collaborate in real-time on shared projects and goals. The user interface design is minimalistic and elegant, keeping distractions to a minium. Check it out here.

Smartsheet for Project Management

Smartsheet lets you manage your projects simply and effectively. You can create simple task lists or complex processes to suit your needs. It lets you work from any device and create your own custom plans.

Smartsheet help you manage teams in a way that is transparent for everyone, and its visually-based design is especially user friendly. Features include Card View, Sights, Gantt Charts with drag-and-drop editing, Alerts & Reminders and Collaboration. Available here.

QuickBooks Online Accounting Software

QuickBooks was a pioneer in the financial software industry and has continued to pull its weight for solopreneurs and small businesses alike. Now with QuickBooks Online, you can track your income and expenses across all your devices including PC, Mac, smartphone or your tablet.

Here a handful of QuickBooks features you can use to keep your business running like a well-oiled machine.

Expenses: Track your expenses and save photos of your receipts to your phone.

Tax Accounting: Automatically categorize transactions, and submit sales tax payments and forms.

Invoicing: Send invoices to your customers, including your logo and a crisp, professional look.

Accept Payments: Once you’ve invoiced your customer, you can take their payment online. (Fees apply, so read the fine print.)

Profit & Loss: Run a P&L statement to see whether your business is profitable. You can see your Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet, and dozens of other reports with one click, and they’re in a few seconds.

Payroll: You can cut paychecks or even have an expert run payroll for you. (Fees apply, so read the fine print.)

You can get QuickBooks here.

Cam Card for Business Cards

Cam Card lets you take pictures of business cards and save the data in your Contacts database automatically. You can scan, manage, sync and exchange business cards with other users automatically. This is a great way to go paperless and stay organized at the same time.

You can even add meeting notes, add images, and set reminders. Available here.

Evernote

Evernote allows you to access and manage files from anywhere. Having your files in a central location means you can find them quickly and access them remotely, regardless of their file type. Format examples include project to-do lists, reminders, photos, graphics, and even handwritten text. Once you’ve uploaded them to your account, you can share them with others and collaborate with them seamlessly.

Evernote is available here.

Adopting new technology can seem like a slow process at first, but the rewards are truly liberating for the busy speaker on the road without a large support staff. Using technology to gain leverage in your speaking business can make all the difference in your level of success and the size of the audience you reach. It’s tough to put a price on that!

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

How to Price your Products and Speaking Fees

What’s the difference between driving a Ford Focus and a Mustang Shelby GT? Depending on whom you ask, you’ll get a variety of answers. They both have four tires and a chassis, both use gas, and they’re both designed to get you where you need to go.

You might say one is a car, while the other is an automobile. One is serviceable, and the other is inspiring. One is a set of wheels; the other is a throaty, road-hugging, gravity-inducing Experience.

If driving a muscle car – or a sportscar, or a luxury sedan – is so great, why doesn’t everyone do it? What’s the barrier to such pure, juicy, thrill-injected driving joy?

Ah… Price.

It’s the price that sets them apart. And because one costs more to produce (and therefore to own), the price determines the buyer’s perception of value.

Price equals status, whether that price is high or low. The first Shelby ever made was recently auctioned off at a record $13.8 million. No other American car has ever brought so much at auction.

Some buyers are thrilled to find a bargain and pay as little as possible for what they need. Others boast about their robust buying power and their ability to afford true luxury. Which kind of buyer do you want to attract in your speaking business?

Product pricing is one of the greatest determining factors in how you are perceived as a speaker, author or consultant. Establishing confident pricing for your fees and products will carry your business far along the road of success.

Commanding the right price can give your career the same kind of thrill-injection you might find while hugging the curves at high speed on a country road. Gloves and goggles aren’t required here – just a little deliberation and some common sense.

Selecting Your Model for the Best Performance

Popular business models impact the Pricing and Positioning at each level of your sales funnel. Let’s take a look at some of the major types to consider when pricing your products, consulting services and professional speaking fees.

Fixed Price Model for Products: When pricing products, using this model means setting the price scale and sticking with it. There are various price thresholds for products that follow this pattern, depending on the threshold of entry. If your lowest priced product sells for $27, the next step up might be $47, $67 or $97. On the high end, if you have a $497 product, your next step up might be $997, $1,497 or more.

This table can serve as a framework for low price, mid price and high price products:

Speaking Fees: Professional speaking fees begin as low as $1,000 in some cases, and range well above $100,000 for well-known celebrity speakers. Picking the perfect price-point is not easy. I was counseling a recent Olympian turned talented professional speaker, and advised him to quote speaking fees confidently for Fortune 500 companies. The advice I give is that you know you are asking the right price when your palms sweat when you quote your fee.

Your ideal fee is based on a variety of factors which include:

Your skill from the platform
How assertively you are marketing your speaking business
The value of your content
To whom you speak (i.e. schools versus corporation)
Where you speak (locally versus International)
The duration of the speaking engagement
Your level of fame

Parting Out Your Fees for Maximum ROI

Bear in mind when you price your products and speaking fees that you will need to account for your cost of goods sold (COGS). This includes commissions you’ll have to pay to affiliates, joint venture partners, agents, managers and speakers bureaus. You’ll also want to account for your travel expenses and any additional time you spend developing your products and material.

When you set your price, consider the value you are offering to your clients and customers. Are you transforming a process for them, or are you giving them a life-changing transcendental experience? Do you have a strong opener, solid content and compelling close? Just as charging too little can work against your image, charging more than the value they receive can tarnish your reputation and make you seem over-hyped.

If you’re too busy, raise your rates. If you’re not busy enough, consider ways you can generate increased value to your audiences. Remember that there will always be someone willing to offer a lower price than yours. Be confident in your offering, and set your price accordingly.

Be sure to take into account your credentials and certifications as well as any star-power you may hold as currency. Are you a professor? A published author? A well-known celebrity? A skilled entertainer? Each one of these factors has its own price point.

Be clear about your own strengths, then set your price accordingly. You will naturally attract the prospects, clients and customers who see and appreciate your uniqueness. Your price may not set a world record, but to your clients and customers, the value you deliver will be pure gold.

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

The Product Sales Funnel and the Legacy of Ideas

One of the perks of my job is that I get out from behind my desk every so often to work with authors around the world. My work takes me across the country and off to far away continents.

These trips involve meeting world class speakers and best-selling authors who are seeking council on expanding their ideas to a worldwide stage. Last week it was a real estate expert who works with franchisees, this week it’s an Olympian who motivates corporate employees.

Communicating with high achieving authors often requires a variety of communication methods such as email, Skype calls, Messenger, text messaging, phone and LinkedIn messages. But think about your audience for a minute…what they want are a variety of ways of keeping in touch with your thinking as well.

The point is that I connect with clients through a variety of ways, not just one. Having multiple methods for connecting with them allows me to keep the energy fresh, keep them enthused, and move their ideas onto a larger stage. A wise speaker shared this perspective on a recent weekend retreat to a lake cabin…he spends 20 minutes a day building content and then spends five hours a day distributing this material. This is what keeps him relevant to a constantly shifting audience.

Stringing Together the Pearls of Success

This method is a lot like your business. The most successful of us have gotten that way by giving our customers ever-increasing opportunities to obtain value from us.

It’s never just one thing; one thing leads to another. One connection leads to another. One product leads to another. One keynote speech leads to another. One sale leads to another.

Chances are you’re already using a number of different methods in order to build your business. If you’re a keynote speaker doing over 50 speeches/year – or you’d like to be – your message is supported with a variety of tools. Stringing them together deftly in what marketers call a product funnel is the surest way to create success.

What is a product funnel?

A product funnel is a series of stepped commitments which lead your fans into increasingly more profitable services, which can be automated in the delivery. Here is an illustration of a product funnel:

The legendary names in the speaking industry understand that developing a product funnel for their brand is the key to their long term profitability. I developed this with several famous authors who were entering the “legacy stage” of their career, through which a product strategy is automated through a series of stepped commitments.

Leading customers through a funnel of products which work together will keep your brand top-of-mind for years to come. Combining the right product mix, delivery medium and pricing are all crucial to making this strategy effective.

Building your messaging platforms requires some finesse, because different people prefer different messages. Some people like magazines while other prefer YouTube videos. Some listen to podcasts regularly while others consume social media. One savvy author, Dr. Sheila Bethel, advised me years ago to build content with 3 end goals in mind with 3 simultaneous methods of delivery.

One key to successfully designing a lasting legacy is the ability to connect with your audience now and in the years to come. This is why it’s savvy to develop campaigns with one all-important element – a clear picture of the next ten years. In other words, plan for long term success.

You can serve the desires of your audience with a strategic system of publishing platforms to sell one idea multiple ways. This allows you to generate long-term sustainable revenues and extend these connections to a new generation.

Whether your Audience is comprised of readers, listeners, viewers, clients or an applauding audience, the object is the same. Present the contents of your Brand in a way that’s compelling and designed to convert. All it takes is a bit of perspective and a planning a good product funnel.

Planning Your Product Line

You have the right tools, and you have an abundance of information as a foundation for creating your product. Now how do you combine them to build your product line?

The first step is to understand the different types of product styles. Then you can identify your best choice and your approach to developing the product strategy.

Here is an overview of the top 12 product formats to consider adding to your product mix. While this is not an exhaustive list, these are popular types of product formats to consider.

Book – Physical book, eBook, Enhanced eBook, audiobook
Audio programs – Audio Series (30-50 minute segments), Keynote Speech
Teleseminars & Webinars
DVDs and Video (physical discs and/or online delivery)
Subscription/Membership Program – Video, E book, DVD or content on your website
Tools and Templates – Downloads which people can use daily. Day planner, PDF, spreadsheets and other similar documents
Seminars – live events, retreats, adventure trips, conferences, workshops
Speaking Engagements – Keynotes, training, workshops
Coaching/consulting – Work with people individually as a coach, or fly into a company to implement a system. One-time fee, continuity or annual programs.
Mastermind programs – Bring people together, and help them grow their businesses or improve their lives
Licensed Merchandise – Promotional products such as mugs, shirts, pens, mouse pads, leather embossed folio. The more useful and ingenious they are, the better.
Apps & Software – Create apps for iPhone/iPad and Android, or software to run on the web (software as a service, or SAAS)

These are the most common types of product derivatives that speakers use to serve their audiences with the flow of ideas. By mixing and matching them into product offerings, you too can create an effective product funnel to extend your brand and build a lasting legacy.

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

The Business of Professional Speaking: Harnessing the Power of Messaging

As a keynote speaker, you are on a mission to help your audience through the power of your words and your unique delivery. The greatest challenge you will face is having your message understood by you audience and inspiring them to convert to a new way of thinking. If you’re really good, the experience will be truly transformational.

There is a certain amount of sorcery in delivering a powerful message. Your objective is not just to motivate them, but also to inspire them to retell your message (thereby generating word-of-mouth). You want them to buy into your unique key ideas. Sounds pretty lofty, doesn’t it?

The reality is that every successful keynote speaker does exactly this – whether they are a thought leader, a product pitch, or a political platform. Successful keynoters who have mastered the business of professional speaking know how to get their audience to hum their tune long after the event is over. You might think it’s an art, but in reality it’s closer to science.

As a rule, fewer than 2% of consumers (and often less than 1%) will buy into an idea upon the first exposure to one they haven’t heard before. A bond of trust has to be achieved through the Creative Repetition of a clear, simple message.

It takes at least seven exposures to your message before it is engrained in the minds of your target audience. That is, if you want your prospect to respond to you with their heart as well as their head, you’re going to have to break through their conscious objections and seed the message deep down. One common tool which accomplished speakers use is the power of repetition.

Branding for Professional Speakers

Did you know that Australians spend more per capita on personal/professional development products than any other country in the world? In my world, speakers are regularly booking Business Class seats on Quantas, as this marketplace is robust. Tour promoters bring speakers into their audiences on a regular basis.

These high volume speaker bureaus in Australia have a couple criteria for the speakers they book; 1) Those who can change hearts and minds through the power of their words, and 2) People who can close product sales back-of-room. One method that is nestled deep within these top performing speakers’ material is something I call Creative Repetition.

The process of Creative Repetition is not new to the world of corporate branding. Successful companies spend heavily on keeping their brand front and center in the minds of their audience. The same can be said about internationally touring professional speakers, whose first impression carries a lot of weight. The way the consumer perceives you is typically through communications designed to promote a feeling. Are you seen as smart? Trustworthy? Caring? Forward thinking? The answer is the result of your Branding, whether you’ve done it intentionally or not.

How you are perceived by your audience has everything to do with the brand you put forward. Notice your own response when you think of brands like Toyota, Nike and Starbucks. Notice how you came to have those responses. It was almost certainly through repeated exposure to their message, their logo and their media.

What are the top speaker brands that come to your mind? Most people will say Anthony Robbins and Zig Ziglar. Some industry enthusiasts may reach for names like Brendon Burchard, Darren Hardy, Meg Robbins, Larry Winget or Jeffrey Gitomer. Have you ever heard of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.

How to Start Writing a Book

I’ve published over a thousand books in my career and have worked with a variety of interesting authors worldwide. Their backgrounds range from university professors and bank CEO’s to Olympic athletes and technology executives.

Because writing is an art, it is easy to get stuck in the process. I’ve seen many authors become paralyzed by their own over-analysis of their topic. Others will research so meticulously that they never seem to make any progress. Many authors will take 12 months or more to write a book. Some take several years to come up with a complete first draft of their manuscript. Others simply don’t finish at all.

The key to completion is harnessing the power of momentum. While each author has a unique process for completing a book manuscript, there are dozens of different methods for writing books. In response to this thorny issue, I’ve discovered a system that will cut that time down to a few weeks.

Let’s explore a couple methods.

We’ll start with the ”straight A student” when it comes to writing a book so that you can see the best-case scenario. This writer is Chris Widener, and he is a professional speaker. Besides writing a New York Times bestselling book, he is the fastest writer I know. After he conceived his book over a couple of months, he sat down at his local Starbucks for 12-days straight and wrote a 35,000-word manuscript. Most mere mortal authors have a different experience. Let’s look at a few more examples.

Many authors start their book projects by taking time off of their “day job”, or taking a sabbatical. The most common methods people use to write a book is to step away from their everyday life for 6 to 12 months, and then go off somewhere interesting and write. On average, this approach takes about a year.

Another way that’s quite common, especially with non-fiction books written by hyper busy executives, is taking a few months to draft the essence of the material, creating a cogent outline, and coming up with stories to support each point. Once this outline is in place, they hire a professional writer to do the heavy lifting of crafting the body of the book. A good ghostwriter will take the author’s ideas and concepts, then translate them into the written word, expressing the material in a style that meshes with the author’s voice.

Ghostwriting is an excellent option for authors who are clear about what they would like to say but haven’t yet honed the craft of composition. It’s an efficient way to work, and it’s completely legit. As long as the ghostwriter and the author of record speak the same language, this can produce some highly successful results.

However there is a downside to this tactic. The reason many authors want to hire a ghostwriter in the first place is that they have difficulty expressing themselves. This can make for muddled communication and imperfect results. If you choose to hire a ghostwriter, you will need to be clear about your content and your objective.

The final method for writing a book is a system we use at Made for Success Publishing called Book in a Weekend. It’s a high-velocity, time-compressed system for writing books inspired by agile product development methods. This is great for the author who may want to write a book themselves, or come up with an outline they can hand off to a ghostwriter to do the writing for them. This is the most effective method for setting up the writing project and producing a time-compressed outline of a book in a weekend.

The most important aspect of writing is to get the project started. Once you have started the writing process, it’s easier to gain momentum and complete the manuscript. It is essential to work from a detailed outline of the book, much like a Table of Contents. This helps you organize your writing and stay on track.

What we do with this Book in a Weekend process is fairly intuitive, but it’s easy to put off completion. We work with the author to break the book down into a series of small chunks. By chunks, I’m talking about chunks of writing, so each part of the book gets broken down into 800-word sections. Now, you’ve got a plan for writing each 800-word piece.

These sections of writing can be thought of in the same way you might think of writing an article or an email. In my line of work, I type a lot of emails. A really long email is usually about 800 words. If I’m writing a short email, it might be 50 to 100 words. By breaking the project down, the author might think of each section as a series of long emails.

Most people can sit down for an hour or so, write a long email and overcome any typical distractions. Carving out an hour to write is a fairly achievable goal. If the author can string together those messages into the timeframe that we recommend, the book will develop naturally like clockwork – usually in just a couple of days.

The Book in a Weekend process entails following these 7 sequential steps. In fact, I use this exact method to write my own books.

1. Conceptualize your book by answering the question of “What’s the big picture of your writing?”

2. Identify your target audience.

3. Brainstorm title options for your book.

4. Gather and organize pertinent stories that can be used to make key points.

5. Build the Table of Contents with your key ideas.

6. Assign stories to each Chapter.

7. Assign how many words you plan to write for each Chapter.

When I wanted to create my first manuscript, I went on a retreat for a few days. I rented a hotel room on a mountain lake, removed all distractions and didn’t even answer my cell phone. It may sound like a dream vacation, but believe me – I was definitely in Work mode. I’d wake-up early to write as the sun came up, and then would reward myself at the end of the day with an early evening motorcycle ride around the lake.

I found that organizing my ideas using these steps really helped me overcome my natural tendency to procrastinate on the project. Ponying up the cash for the hotel room also helped give the project the gravitas is needed. By the end of my stay, I had an actionable manuscript, which I later published first as an ebook, then as a physical book and finally as an audiobook. Since then, that book has gone on to sell thousands of copies on autopilot.

With that, there’s only one question left to ask: what are your plans for the weekend?

Bryan Heathman is the President of Made for Success Publishing. Bryan works with best-selling authors in the role of publisher and marketer, including the late Zig Ziglar, Chris Widener and John C. Maxwell. Bryan is the author of Conversion Marketing, a marketing book that condenses knowledge on website conversion from 7-years running an online ad agency. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes running high impact marketing campaigns for Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.