I remember the exact moment I decided to write my first book. I was on a flight to the west coast for a business trip, and I was reading a chapter in Dan Kennedy's No BS Sales Success book called "Positioning, Not Prospecting."

In the chapter, Dan talks about how you can position yourself as an expert and a leading authority in your field so prospects come to you instead of you going to them.

I related to the chapter title even before reading the content of the chapter. You see, I started my entrepreneurial career in the multi-level marketing (MLM) industry, where we ‘prospected’ to get customers and distributors.

I really learned a lot in that industry. From my experiences, I built a solid foundation of sales and marketing experience, as well as developed a thick skin, impervious to criticism.

Anyway, I’ll never put down the MLM industry since I got my start there; however, I was positioned very poorly in that field (and you are too if you work in the MLM industry). Most of the time, I felt like I was begging. And while this may have been my own perception, no one - and I do mean no one - likes to buy from or be with someone who begs.

That’s why positioning yourself as a leading authority is so important. Instead of begging, you’re helping. Instead of selling, you’re serving. 

See the difference?

After reading that chapter, I had a new mission. I wanted to write a book as soon as possible. I wanted to stop prospecting and position myself as the leading authority in Pittsburgh’s fitness community instead (I owned a fitness coaching business at the time).

Here's what happened: I came back home from my trip with good intentions -- but I let life get in the way (as it often does if you let it), and…

I don't know about you, but I had many fears and reservations when I wanted to write my first book. Fears like: 

• How am I going to create enough information to fill a book?
• What gives me the right to write and publish a book? Who am I? 
• How am I going to find the time to write a book with everything else I have going on? 
• I'm not a writer... how am I going to write a book and make it sound professional? 
• If I can figure this all out, why would someone buy my book? Who would buy my book? 
• And if people bought it... would they like it or hate it?

At first, all I did was think about those types of questions. I hate to admit this, but I let the fear overwhelm me. That feeling of being overwhelmed stopped me in my tracks for several months, from the time I wanted to write a book to the time I actually started writing. 

Looking back, I think these fears and emotions were natural. We're only human, right? I think most people have those types of fears when getting ready to write their first book.

After all, writing your first book is new and different. It's also a big step in your life. You know, to put yourself and your thoughts out there for everyone to see, judge, and either use or criticize.

So, how did I get over these fears? Overcoming them definitely wasn't easy or something I did quickly. I took my time to get over these fears. But I did get over them, and so can you!

The Results of Becoming an Author

Once I conquered my fears, I was able to write my book in just shy of sixty days. Now, that may seem really fast to you, but I’ll show you later how you can do the same.

Anywho, here’s where things got really exciting.

Once I wrote and published my book, everything changed.

You see, within a few short months of bringing my book to market, I immediately saw an…

• Increase in the number of appointments with prospective clients
• Increase in the number of referrals I received from my networking contacts
• Increase in both my cold leads and referral conversion rates (prospects to clients)
• Increase in bookings for speaking engagement in front of my target market

And that’s not all! I also started selling my services at higher and higher prices WITHOUT ANY RESISTANCE.

In total, I saw my business nearly double after I became an author and started marketing myself as such!

Now, these results are, of course, my results and may not be typical for everyone. But I want you to know that for me the difference between being a “service provider” and an “author who provides services” was night and day!

What Happened Next Surprised Even Me

Once all this started happening, friends, associates, and colleagues took notice and began to ask me for advice. How did I write a book, how did I get published, and how did I market myself to get the results I was getting became the most common questions I heard from my fellow business owners.

I have to tell you that this was not my intention. Nor was it a part of my overall vision for the future. But it’s funny where life leads us.

Anyway, I started helping my friends publish their books. Some I helped by giving them information on how I did it. Others I helped by co-authoring books with them.

Long story short, in just a few years after publishing my first book, I was able to help dozens of friends and colleagues write and publish their first books and change the way they conducted business.

Then, Everything Changed – Again!

During this time, things were crazy for me. I was working full time as a fitness coach while writing books with friends, writing more of my own books, and helping others write their books too.

Again, I didn’t foresee this path, but it was quite invigorating and exciting.

Slowly, I lost interest in helping people change their lives by getting in shape and began getting more and more excited about helping entrepreneurs like you change their businesses and lives by writing books, positioning themselves as authorities, and growing their businesses.

And that’s when my destiny presented itself…

In the beginning of 2010, a friend of mine asked me to help her with a book she was working on. But instead of wanting to learn the process, she just wanted to pay me to do all the work for her.

It was like lightning striking me in the head!

“What?!” I exclaimed to myself. “I can actually get paid to help my friends and fellow entrepreneurs do this?!”

We immediately dove into the project together and a few short weeks later her book was published and…

Plug & Play Publishing Was Born

From that moment Plug & Play Publishing has been growing, and my team and I have been helping entrepreneurs just like you write, publish, and grow their businesses with their book(s).

Here’s a small sampling of some of our clients and the results they’ve seen in their businesses:

Like I said earlier, it’s important that you understand that these results will vary for every entrepreneur. The above outcomes are what happened for me and my clients, and the outcome you experience may or may not be similar.

Success in any field comes down to a variety of factors; some factors we can control and others we cannot.

But that’s why you and I are in business, isn’t it? Because the risk and effort is worth the reward!

We do what we do because we’re willing to risk it all for our dreams.

Luckily for you, you don’t have to “risk it all” when it comes to writing and publishing a book to grow your business.

With our help, you can easily get started and swiftly move forward to create the business (even business empire) you see in your future.

Are you ready to start?