In this special episode of the Transform Your Future Podcast, host Eddie Isin engages in an enlightening conversation with renowned author and personal development expert Michelle Prince. Together, they explore the profound impact of storytelling on personal growth, empowerment, and fulfillment.
Episode Highlights:
Links to Resources Mentioned:
Join Eddie and Michelle as they delve into the transformative power of storytelling and uncover how unlocking your story can shape your future and inspire those around you.
Subscribe now to the Transform Your Future Podcast for more insightful discussions and actionable strategies for personal and professional growth. Don't forget to leave a review and share your feedback!
Subscribe to Transform Your Future Newsletter for personal development tips and information to Reinvent & Dominate your industry: http://transformyourfuture.com
In this special episode of the Transform Your Future Podcast, host Eddie Isin engages in an enlightening conversation with renowned author and personal development expert Michelle Prince. Together, they explore the profound impact of storytelling on personal growth, empowerment, and fulfillment.
Episode Highlights:
Links to Resources Mentioned:
Join Eddie and Michelle as they delve into the transformative power of storytelling and uncover how unlocking your story can shape your future and inspire those around you.
Subscribe now to the Transform Your Future Podcast for more insightful discussions and actionable strategies for personal and professional growth. Don't forget to leave a review and share your feedback!
Subscribe to Transform Your Future Newsletter for personal development tips and information to Reinvent & Dominate your industry: http://transformyourfuture.com
One particular author of ours we've done multiple books for is a doctor, a holistic Practitioner, and they have a destination practice, which means people come from all over the world to see this doctor. And typically what they're offering are packages of how to work with them over a long period of time. And in the past it was just a simple conversation, maybe a proposal, here are the packages, that kind of thing. And once we wrote the first book for him, he used that in all of those sessions and just literally, instead of trying to say, here's why you should work with us, he's like, read this book. These are all the case stories. Go to chapter eight. Those are all the case stories of the people we helped with exactly your condition. And he said that that first book, that one book went on to create seven figures in his business. So the return on investment with him was amazing. He's gone on to do multiple other books, now he's helping other doctors to do similar things. So that's a great example of how somebody's leveraged it in their business. Papa, hello all, and welcome to another episode of Transform Your where I sit down with entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and high achievers as they identify areas I can improve on and guide me to further my self-improvement practice. For more information, insights, and strategies about winning at the game of life, join the newsletter@transformyourfuture.com. Our guest today is Michelle Prince. Michelle is a bestselling author, sought after motivational speaker, self-publishing expert leadership coach and CEO, founder of Performance Publishing Group, a partner publishing company dedicated to making a difference one story at a time. She's an advanced certified human behavioral consultant and dedicates herself to helping leaders impact the world using the strengths and talents already within them to create an extraordinary life and exponentially grow their businesses. She's helped thousands become published authors through her consulting courses, seminars, and publishing services. She also founded the Book Bound Academy. She also published many successful books including her bestselling, winning in Life. Now, the Power of Authority, and her most recent book Shine Through Your Story. So welcome, Michelle. Let's jump right in. Let's start talking about your very influential book, the Power of Authority, and let's lead right into that. Yeah, you bet. So the power of authority I wrote back in 2019, and it's a play on words. You can't spell authority without author. So I believe that a book is one of the greatest business cards you're ever going to have. So why not use your book to build your authority, build the leverage, and gain the revenue respect and the results business owners deserve. And you can do that by writing a book. Absolutely, absolutely. And I've talked to you a lot. I understand a lot of these ideas and I think it's influential. Maybe you could just kind of expand on that to help our audience catch them up to speed, to understand what you mean by them gaining authority over a certain area. Yeah, you bet. What is authority? Authority really is just for all of us. With competition, it means, or your prospects, they stop shopping because we all want to work with the authority. We want to work with the best. One of the easiest ways to really establish yourself already are, but in the minds of your prospects is to have instant credibility. And writing a book is one of the easiest ways that I know how to do that because when you write a book instantly, you're perceived differently. You're a published author and the authority comes along with that. And so when you think about all the things, at the end of the day, authority is just taking what you know and what you've done and sharing it with other people, but that establishes your platform of authority. And again, people want to work with the authority. So we make it easy for our prospects when we take what we know and put it in a book. And so can we go over maybe at first, just like a 10,000 foot view of this process of what a business owner or someone who is an expert in a certain area would go about this process of transitioning from talking about something and having a market share into being the authority and actually writing a book? Yes. Well, and I know a lot of people think writing a book is this huge mountain to climb in a milestone. And it's one of the things I love to share with people. It's really not because everything you would ever put into a book, it's all in your head first of all. But it's the things that you're already sharing with your clients, your prospects, the people that you know can serve. So what a book does is it establishes you as the authority, not because you're any different, it's just a perceived credibility that comes with writing a book. And so when you have all that information, I'll give you a great example. I have a client that has been providing IT services for years and years and years, and all of the information that they would share with a prospect, all the information they would put into a proposal, all the things that are on their website as far as what sets them apart, all of the blog posts and articles they wrote about why a company should consider these services are all combined into this book. And what happened was when this person became a published author with again the same information, it instantly changed the viewpoint of a lot of his prospects. In fact, one of the prospects he had been trying to work with for years, as soon as he sent him the book in the mail, instantly signed up for the service. Because we as people, we hold a lot of clout with people that write a book because it does take time, it takes resources and it takes guts, frankly. So when somebody goes through all that effort, you instantly perceive them as different in some way. And I joke about it, I've written several books now, but my very first book was the book that really opened up my whole entire career of speaking and training and doing all the things I get to do now and now owning a publishing company. But I joked that I was the exact same person the day before I wrote my book, and I'm the exact same person today. The only thing that changed was the title published author, and it changed everything. Wow. So understanding the process a little bit now, how does one go about actually honing in and choosing the story, choosing the area, things like that? Well, first you have to figure out what kind of a book do you want to write? And there's no right or wrong type. Some people write a book, like for example, business owners should have a business card book, a book that's really going to elevate them in the eyes of their prospects. So sharing their thought, leadership, sharing things that make them stand out essentially. That's one type. The other type would be somewhat of a legacy book, so a book for family, for kids, grandkids. I'm working with a client right now and they want to pass on all of their wisdom and all the things that they've learned through the years about business and finance and faith. They want to pass that down to their kids and their grandkids. So that has a different purpose and process too. And then there's children's books, cookbooks, things like that. So first is figuring out, well, what type of a book do I want to write? And then the second thing is then what do I want to have happen as a result of having this book? So for example, if you want to gain more revenue or more clients for your business, well that's really a business card book and that should be written as such. If you want to just have something to share, friends, family, community, that kind of thing, well then that is more of a legacy book. So that's really the first step in determining that. And then it's really just taking, again, everything you would ever put into a book you already know. So it's the process of getting it out of your head onto paper, which can be a really difficult part for a lot of people. And this is one of the areas we help the most in because most of the time we can't see what our story is, but when you get somebody to help you pull it out and then write it for you to get that first draft a lot easier, those are the first two things to consider. What kind of techniques help to draw that out? I know that you have the questions and answers and the guides, which is extremely helpful. You make it so easy for people. But what is just some of the frameworks that they need to consider? Well, first is determining, again, once you know what type of book, then it's creating the outline. And the outline is really just the framework. What is it that you can share with someone else personally or professionally that will help them? And so starting with that framework, which is the big picture, I like to use mind mapping as a tool to really get a solid outline for a book. I didn't create mind mapping, but I've been teaching this since 2010 to use it to create your book outline. And it really helps because it just sorts your ideas. And so you can get 'em all on paper first and then go back through. The other thing I'll say, most books are not written in order, so don't struggle over the first chapter when you know what you want to say in chapter 10. When you create the framework, the outline, it's created in a way that you could start anywhere and then on that particular chapter and then go back and pull 'em all together and weave them together. But that is really important. And mind mapping is a great tool to help you get it out of your head and onto paper. Yes, very helpful structure, organization of thoughts and helping people to do that who are not used to writing every day or didn't go to school to become an author or a writer. So tell me a little bit about, I know that you mentioned, for example, the IT gentlemen, your client with the it. Can you name some other case study type of information and the successes they might've had as of releasing the book? Absolutely. So one particular author of ours we've done multiple books for is a doctor, a holistic Practitioner, and they have a destination practice, which means people come from all over the world to see this doctor. And typically what they're offering are packages of how to work with them over a long period of time. And in the past it was just a simple conversation, maybe a proposal, here are the packages, that kind of thing. And once we wrote the first book for him, he used that in all of those sessions and just literally, instead of trying to say, here's why you should work with us, he's like, read this book. These are all the case stories. Go to chapter eight. Those are all the case stories of the people we helped with exactly your condition. And he said that that first book, that one book went on to create seven figures in his business. So the return on investment with him was amazing. He's gone on to do multiple books. Now he's helping other doctors to do similar things. So that's a great example of how somebody's leveraged it in their business. Another one that comes to mind is a woman that she's written multiple books. In fact, she had already written a book when we met her, but we did her second and third book for her, and her third book was the one that was what we call a small little business card book. So something that is intended to be given away versus a full book is something that typically you sell and have available when you speak. Well, she wrote this little mini book, business card book, but that book landed her a TEDx talk. And the TEDx talk is what really expanded her authority, if you will, and positioned her as the authority in the niche of diversity and inclusion. And that created business, unbelievable amounts of training and consulting in that particular area, all because of that book. So the point of it is it's not the size of the book that makes you the authority. It's not the title or the genre of the book that makes you the authority. It's the fact that you're a published author. So whether or not you write a full book, a little mini book, or maybe you just put a chapter in somebody else's book, all those three things give you the same title, published author to be leveraged in everything you do. Interesting. So I'm thinking about all this. So how does somebody start? And by the way, you mentioned it twice actually, but we should probably talk about it, that you also have the service of actually helping people to get the book out of them, to pull the book out of them. Right. So our publishing company does all aspects of publishing. And so for writing is the first stage in all books. So we have writers, we have ghost writers, collaborative writers that will help literally get in the questions to pull it out of you. Sometimes again, for some people, that's the hardest part. And then once we have the book on paper, whether the author writes it or rewrite it, then it can go into the production process. And production is the editing, the cover design, the laying out of the book, putting in the graphs, the pictures, all the aesthetics of what it's going to look like, hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, all of those things happen in production. And then of course, the printing, the launching of the book, the distribution of it, all over online, Amazon, et cetera. That's all part of the production publishing process that we do for authors. And then beyond that, we do beyond the book too. So for people that really want help with launching their book, I mean, there's a whole process to launch your book. There's bestseller campaigns, there's ads, there's giveaways, getting testimonials, reviews. All of those things are part of marketing the book, and that is something we help with as well. So full service. And another thing that I'm thinking about is the benefits of self-publishing as opposed to writing a manuscript and sending it to a publishing house. Do you want to just speak to that a little bit? Yeah, because there's no right or wrong way to publish a book. There's actually three roads to the same path to the same destination. One is the traditional publisher, which is the big publishing houses that we're familiar with, where you get picked up by them, but then they pay the resource, they take care of everything. The downside is the likelihood of a first time author getting picked up is extremely low in nonfiction, but also they take 80 to 90% of your profits and they own the rights to your work. So first time author usually wants to go either self-publishing or the third option is called Hybrid publishing. We call it partner publishing, but it's the concept of all of the full services that a traditional publisher will do for you. But the author retains the benefit, they own the rights to their work, they get a hundred percent of their profits, their royalties. We just do the work to help them. Self-Publishing is still a great route, and self-publishing is the way to go for someone who is willing to take on the learning curve to know what to do. We teach people what to do, and that's what our Book Bound Academy is. And it's also a more affordable route to get a book done. Now for people that value their time and have a little bit more to invest, that's where they, many, many people use the hybrid model because they want it done. They don't want to have to learn the whole process. They don't want to learn everything and take on a full-time job of publishing a book. So they're willing to spend a little bit more to outsource that. And we fall in the middle. We are a publish, or I'm sorry, a hybrid publisher again, we call it partner publishing. We lock arms with our authors and we get the book done professionally and the same as you would with a traditional publisher, but the benefits all go back to the author. Excellent. So in this process of all this, when did you write your first book? The first one that you remember? My first book I wrote in 2009, and it was called Winning in Life. Now, how to Break Through to A Happier You. And the Truth on that book is I wrote it for my kids. I never intended for anyone to ever read that book. I just wanted them to know my story. And they were in kindergarten and second grade at the time, Zig Ziglar, who I worked with and for many years wrote the Forward, and it was such an honor. But I still, even after publishing the book, even after printing the book, having it, holding it in my hand, I still really didn't tell anybody about it except for a few people family. But then it occurred to me that I do want to make a difference. I do want to help other people and can't make a difference if you don't share your story. So I decided to take a leap of faith and share it, and we launched the book and it hit Best Seller in a couple categories. It opened up opportunities to do speaking and coaching literally without me looking for it. So that's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about a book done because I unintentionally started a business, but it happened because I wrote a book. So if you really want to cement yourself as the authority, a book is the easiest way to do it. And that's why I love helping people to do this. Yes, I mean, I think it's a great opportunity, and I certainly see the benefits, especially when we talk about business and about having an area of expertise and being a leader in that area of expertise. Absolutely. So what do you think it's been like now after 2009, writing the book, getting it out there, and then people wanting you to speak and people wanting to learn more and want you to train them and coach them? What do you think about this the last 10, 20 years since 2009 and launching that? It's been a long journey. It has. Yeah. I mean, there's been a lot of, again, I didn't set out to have a business at the time. I was working full-time in sales and software sales, and it was just something kind of a pet project for my kids. So when it did start to take off, the truth is when I worked for Zig right out of college, it was always my dream to have a business or to be a speaker and an author and a coach. It just didn't occur to me that I could. So when it started to happen, it was really exciting, but also it was faced with the fact that I knew nothing about running a business and I had to become a student of all of those things and balancing p and ls and all of the things that I wanted to speak and share and motivate. I didn't want to do all the other things, but it was such a great learning curve for me because now I can so relate to business owners and entrepreneurs who it is a journey and the struggle and it's the ups and the downs, but it's so worth it. I know for myself, I feel this way, but I believe almost everyone who's ever written a book would never regrets doing it, meaning, and it's not about a book I should say too, it's almost who you become as a result of writing a book because you realize something in yourself, and it is kind of like, I know you've never had a birth a baby, but when you have a child, it's a journey. It's the nine months of getting there and then the excitement and the fear and the, oh my gosh, what if my baby's ugly? Well, writing a book is very similar in that it's so close to you, it's so personal, but when you finally get through it, your life is totally different and all for the better, just like what a baby brings into the world. And I know that your process of working with authors in your book Bound Academy is very rewarding, seeing this transformation that people go through. You want to speak a little bit about some of the transformation that you see? Oh yeah. So Bound is actually an event that I started in 2010. That's the same year we started the publishing company, and I used to do it as an in-person event four times a year, and then it became twice a year with Covid. It kind of changed some dynamics, and now we do it as an online course and community. And so what I love to see though is that when people finally realize that everything that they need to be successful in life, it's already within them. They just have to see it and they have to believe it and tap into it and then get it out of their head onto paper. And so I love people first that transformational, because you have to make the decision. Everyone can write a book, truly everyone. I've yet to meet, anyone ever that doesn't have a story, but more of it's up here of, well, who do I think I am or what would people think? Or I don't have a story, who cares about my story? But when you can get through that mind shift, it changes everything. And we've seen it hundreds if not thousands of times through the years, and it's powerful. And I love helping people no matter what route they go, I mean, whether they work with our publishing company or they want to self-publish, at the end of the day, I want them to have a book. So we work with Book Bound Academy is really designed for people that want to engage in the process, they want to learn it and maybe go down that self-publishing path. At any time you can decide to work with a publisher, but it's intended for people that want to learn what they can and dive headfirst. Yeah. So let's say I want to write a book based upon my experience in business and sales, where do I start? So you want to. Write a book that's a good place to start. Yes. Well, you have to figure out why you're writing the book and what type of book. Is it a full size book that you want to have available for sale? Is it a business card book with the intention being that it creates a call to action, such as scheduling a strategy call or attending an event or something like that. But then it is the first step is creating that outline. It really is. And one of the best ways to do it is to step back and think about who do you most want to help and what can you help them with? This is a tactic that I've used with my books many, many times, and we've done this with so many authors, is we get in our heads sometimes when we think about writing a book like, well, what would I say? But the truth is everything you would put into a book is just naturally, you just know it. So think about what kind of advice are you giving people? What would you offer to someone who came to you and said, Hey, I'm getting into sales. I need some help. What would you tell them? When we come from the place of thinking, how can I help you? We don't ever question our thoughts. We don't question the advice we give, we just question it when we sit down and write it in a book. So start that way. What would you share with someone that you know could help in the area of sales or in the area of business or whatever it is, and what would the most important things be that you would share with them? Yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. And then just develop your outline from there, whatever that leads you. And the outline. Some people this comes really easily, oh yeah, here's my main points, here's my ideas, here's the stories I want to add. For a lot of people though, that's still a little, I don't know where to start, and this is something that I personally love to do, is to help people to figure it out. And a lot of times we'll do this in a half day whiteboarding session. Sometimes it can be done on a Zoom call, but it's really just sitting down and thinking about what is my story? And your story is actually a combination of two things. It's your passions, what lights you up, what do you love, what excites you and your experiences. And experiences. Could be job experience, it could be experience as a parent, it could be experience traveling, whatever the experience is. The thing about experience though, for most of us, we've also had experiences we didn't like or didn't want to experience, but it's a part of our story. So this exercise, and this is actually an exercise we do with all of our authors, is having them write out their passions, their experiences, and then try to find a connection between the two. The best book to start with a book that you're passionate about, the topic, but you also have the credibility because you've gone through some experience. That's a winning book right there. It's one that's also easy to write. It just kind of comes out of you passionate about it. So if I want to write a book about traveling the high on a schooner, I should probably make that fiction and not nonfiction. Well, just as much work goes into fiction. So what is the passion behind driving that? Again, for everyone, it's a little bit different, but sometimes we think, I'll give you an example though. A lot of times we think that you should write a book in a certain area. My whole career was in sales. I've worked for Zig in sales. I was in software sales. I did a lot of sales. So for a long time when I thought about writing a book, I thought, oh, I'll write a cold calling one-on-one type book teaching people how to cold call because I could do it. I was good at it, but I had absolutely no passion. Literally, the thought of even sitting down and writing it was like, Ugh. So that's why you have to first get clarity to yourself is what is it that you love? Here's the other thing I tell people is whatever you write about, you're going to be talking about for a long, long time. So you better enjoy the topic. Don't write it just because you think you're going to make money on it or because that's what make sure it has. Again, passion and experience, not one or the other. Yeah, I like that. That's very good advice. Very good advice for you. I would like to know, what was the number one book that influenced you the most in your life? Well, without. Question, I'll let you do more than one. Okay. I was going to say without question, it's the Bible. I mean, that truly is the framework of my life, and without it, I would not be who I am today. So I have to say that from a personal development standpoint, though, I met Zig when I was 18 years old, and his books really had a huge impact on me. And one of the first books I read that I really enjoyed, I had school reading, but I didn't enjoy That was his CU at the top, and it's one of his classics. It's his first book. And it truly was so transformational for me when I first read it at such a young age. But here I am decades later and I'm still working with the Zickler family, I'm still representing the values and I'm still just as passionate about what he teaches and see at the top today as I was then. So that I would say is probably my number one choice. Yeah, this is one of the areas, this is why we're talking because we both have been influenced highly by Zig Ziglar's work, and I remember the first time I met him in Dallas in 1993, and it changed the direction of my life, which I'm very grateful for. There's something to be said about being inspired by something that leads you to action because not all inspiration necessarily leads to action, but clearly inspired you and led you to action in your life to do some things, which is the most profound example. What about, I was just curious in this process and your book Bound Academy and publishing and how you help people get that book out of them and get it out there into the world, what for you is the part that you're most passionate about? I always say it's not about a book, it's about your story. And that's what I am passionate about. When people realize that we were created to make a difference, and we are created to share our stories. Our stories are the experiences and the things that we've been through good and bad. And so we're taught that at a young age is to help people and share your story and share what and share your testimony and all that. Well, that's in a book. At the end of the day, even if it's a business book, you're sharing a piece of yourself. And so that is my favorite part is when people recognize that they have what it takes and that they have a story that matters. When you realize that, fully realize that it changes things, it just changes things. And going back to that passion, experience, exercise, passion's important. And I believe that passion is a clue in life. It's not everything people say, follow your passion. And while that could be a good starting place, I don't think it stops at passion, but I think it's a clue and it's a clue to your purpose. We may have different beliefs, but I think we all believe we're here for a reason. We may not know what that reason is for decades and decades, but we're here for a reason. And I just believe that a clue to that reason is probably something you're passionate about. I just don't think God's going to give you a purpose in life that you hate. That would be mean. So if that's the case, find what lights you up, find it, because that is a clue to something that you're likely created to do, called to do. And for me, that's what happened. I mean, I've always, always been drawn to personal development. The three words that I held onto my whole life long before I wrote a book, long before I had a business or followed my passion at all was motivate, inspire, encourage. I didn't know how, I didn't know where, how it would happen, but I just knew I was created to motivate, inspire, and encourage people even if it was just my best girlfriends. And that's what I did, and I loved it and I was passionate about it. And so it's so amazing how we overlook these simple little gifts that we've been given these passions that are a clue to our purpose. And so when we just stop and pay attention and then develop the confidence to believe that it matters, that's when you can step out and really make an impact in the world. And it's not because we're any better, it's just because we're more in tune with, okay, well maybe this is a gift and maybe I'm supposed to do what you're supposed to do with gifts and that's share them. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I tell people the clues sometimes are that probably people have told you things over and over and over again in your life. You've been known for some specialty, some area, and people bring it up to you all the time. This is probably something that you should be focusing on if you're focusing on something different than what the message is that you're getting, that people are saying that they come to you all the time. For example, about accounting, let's just say they come to you about accounting or information or math or whatever. I mean, this is a clue. You're known for that. And so that could be your special gift. That could be the gift that you share with the world, right? So yeah, I like that combining the passion and the purpose is definitely rewarding. It's definitely rewarding for sure. And I was also thinking just off this totally weird topic, but when you mentioned about p and l and didn't know how to run a business and everything, I was thinking about how when I started my career, it was all about film and video producing and directing and writing. And I had a very successful career, worked with a lot of top people, and I closed everything down, sold it all out, and I took two and a half years to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. But during that process, I remember for the first couple of years, I wanted to find somebody else who can handle all the just be the creative guy to just create the stuff and you take care of everything else. I don't want to deal with it. But unfortunately, that's a fantasy. And while it may be possible to find relationships like I did, to give specific areas to work on, at the end of the day, we all have to take responsibility for our own involvement in things and work it and learn, like you said, we have to learn some new skills, we have to learn some other areas. We have to get some more information. But I think that process is very cool, and it's always helped me to learn more and be more and be more informed about myself and life in general. And like you mentioned, it then goes back to your experience now. So then now you have some experience to talk about through that whole process. So it all kind of goes right back around. Exactly. So in your process of talking about the power of authority, I know in the book you lay out some frameworks, right? Yep. Do you want to talk a little bit about some of the frameworks you laid out in the book? What people's appetite? Yeah. So I mean, some of it we've talked about in the beginning of it is that clarity, right? Well, exactly what am I building my authority on? I mean, if you have a business, it's probably pretty easy. But going back to those, do that exercise, passionate experience will help you with that. But you have to go beyond that. It's not, one of the things I'm a big believer in is writing stuff down. Journaling. I love to journal, not that's not a book, but it is the beginning of helping you to get clarity on your thoughts. So if you're not clear on the direction, start there. But then you also have to look at authority is not, you have to earn it. You have to earn it. And how do you earn authority? Well, you earn authority by taking action. So first it's getting the clarity, then it's doing something with that, writing a book, starting a podcast, getting on stages. You are showcasing your ability to impact other people, but unless you do that, there is no platform. And just because you want to get on a stage doesn't mean you will because you have to have performed in a way. You have to have done the work that has results to get you those opportunities. So it's definitely a privilege. And we talk a lot about the authority platform, but you can't just say, oh, I want it. No, you have to. Let's go back a little bit. How do you earn a platform? Well, you've done something that people now want to learn about. They want to ask you, well, wow, how did you build your business? Or how did Or How did you raise such amazing children? Those are things that because of your experience, you can now share. And it is the last piece of it I do believe, is it's not just coming up with what those ideas are, it's taking action. And I say publishing them, but publishing doesn't necessarily mean just a book, taking your content and putting it out in a way that other people can benefit. YouTube channel or I mentioned podcasting, all of those things. But with the intention of sharing what you've gone through, your story, your authority is what you've experienced, what you learned from it. Now you're sharing it with others to make an impact and to also let them see that you have wisdom and experience, and you've been around the block of time or two. But it is, at the end of the day, building authority is about taking action. You got to do something, right? Yeah. And the quality of those actions dictate what happens next. We build, we keep building and building and building on the thing. In film and video and tv, we always say, you're only as good as your last project. So you always want to be getting the better project next, and then now a better project and you work your way up. Right, right. So out of curiosity, what are some of the misconceptions that people might have about this process of getting published, getting the book out of themselves and actually releasing it? What are some common misconceptions? I know you kind of mentioned already a couple, you can't write about something that you don't have any experience in. Well, I'd say in the industry of publishing, I think the biggest misconception is that it's only for a select view or it's really hard to do. And while it does take effort and work, just like anything, it's not hard. It's not rocket science. I mean, it really isn't following a recipe. And you can either do the recipe yourself, or if you don't want to do it, then give it to somebody else, a publisher and let 'em do it for you. So that's a big misconception. The time it takes. Most people will also say, I don't have time to write a book. I get it. I could say the same thing, but at the end of the day, we choose what we spend our time on. We all have the exact same amount of time. How is it that Zig was able to write close to 40 books with the same amount of time we have? So it is a decision and it is a priorities. What are your priorities? And if building your authority, making an impact, helping other people as a priority, you'll find the time to do it. It's not that hard. I think for my own personal misconception, I think a lot of people think, well, yeah, but you worked for Zig Ziglar. You probably knew how to do all this. Absolutely not. I was in sales selling Zig and his books and training and all that, but I knew nothing about publishing. And when I started to write in 2009, or actually I started in 2008, I published it in 2009. I literally knew nothing about writing a book, publishing a book, and I was not a great student. I really was not a great writer. So I had to overcome a lot of the mind obstacles. But I share that because some people think, yeah, but you just know how to do all this. No, I didn't. I had to learn it. It took me a little while and it's why I love to share it now because let me shorten the learning curve for you. You don't have to spend nine months researching what's an ISPN? How do I get in the library of Congress? What is Matt versus glossy and all of this stuff, I've figured that out. Now I want to share it with other people. So that's a big misconception as well. At the end of the day, I'm exactly like everyone listening. The only thing that makes me a little different if there is anything, is I just took action to do it. Even with the fear, even with the uncertainty, and even with the, what am I doing? I still did it because I felt like it was part of my purpose and I'm so glad I did. And you had no idea about what the outcome was going to be. You just knew you had to get it out of you and get it done. And what a great result that happened for you from just doing it, just taking that action. And that's the way life is, right? We have to take those actions and we have to have some faith that things are just going to work out, and then they do because we took action. That's right. We don't take any action. Nothing happens, right? That's. Right. It's like my friends David and Kanye Wright always say, you have to follow the nudge. I had no inclination of what was on the other side of the nudge, but I just knew I was supposed to document my story, and I'll leave it with this, that even if one person reads your story and it helps them, would it be worth it? And what if that one person was a family member or a child or somebody? So I would say, don't overthink the publishing part. That's step two. Just start writing and see what comes out. Get clarity because somebody can benefit from your experiences in life. I can guarantee it. So would that be, what is the number one thing you want to tell the audience you want to leave them with? What is the number one kind of idea that you want to leave them with? Well, I do think that it is that you have a story, and it does matter. So many times we don't think it does. And whether you're writing a book to build a business or for other reasons, at the end of the day, don't hesitate sharing it. I just do believe that our story is part of our gifts. I think we were born with gifts and talents and things for or at all for. And we're not supposed to keep things to ourselves. And so if we've been through something good or bad and we've learned a thing or two, we owe it to others to share it with them. If it means that they don't have to go over the pothole that we just drove over, we should be willing to share our stories. So that's really what I want to impress on everyone. Your story matters, but when you keep it to yourself, it can't help anyone else. And your story was given to you as a gift, and gifts are meant to be shared. I kind of feel like God in his infinite wisdom inspires me somehow inside of me. Like these things that I desire, these things that I start thinking about, these things that I'm drawn to, it's there because it was a, God put that in me for some reason and to deny that is not a good thing. It's not a good thing. All beauty in my life and all the wonderful stuff that happened in my life happened because I followed that voice inside of me that said, let's get more information about that. Let's go over here. Let's look for this. Let's take our time in this area and see what happens and keep moving in this direction. And all the gifts and the joy and the miracles in my life have all happened because of that. So honoring that, I think that's a really good message. To honor that. And to honor that nudge that you talked about and have the kind of mind over matter. You need to have this certain kind of, you have to be able to control your emotions. You got to be able to control your emotions and control those things of self-doubt. And you have to have faith. You have to have belief. You have to have some vision, and you just have to go through it and then leave the results up to God. Don't worry about it. That's right. Leave the results to later. Don't worry about results. Just worry about doing your part. And so it's a great way to live. It's an easy thing for me to say. And actually doing it sometimes is a little challenging because you get those negative, you get the committee up there saying, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, all the time. Exactly. But I do believe in it. I do believe in what you said and the journey of doing that, where's that going to lead you is going to be a better place than not taking the journey at all. I believe that. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Is there anything that we haven't talked about that you wanted to discuss? I don't think so. I think we covered a lot of ground. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to release in the notes some links for you if anybody's interested in learning more about Book Bound Academy and maybe getting that self-Publishing, but learn the process so they could write and release their information. I'll put that into the show notes here. And otherwise, I have to say, Michelle, it's been a pleasure. I had a great time. I really enjoy talking to you. We're going to talk more. You give me a lot of good ideas, and I think you have a very nice energy that I really like about you. Thank you. So that's why I'm attracted to you. Well, thank you. We'll be in touch. I appreciate. It. Okay, sounds good. Thank you for having me. Alright. Thank you so much. For more information and monthly topics of interest, please go to transform your future.com and join our news.