I grew up in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I had a great childhood, but we didn’t have much. My dad was a janitor, and my mom cut hair out of our basement for extra cash.
After high school, I went to the University of Pittsburgh for three years but dropped out of school in my senior year to start my first business.
Yep, without any experience, I was cold calling business owners to sell them my products. Everyone thought I was nuts. I can’t tell you how many times I heard, “What are you doing? You only have one more year of school. Are you crazy?”
The truth is I had the same thoughts. I remember thinking, “This is crazy. What if this doesn’t work? What if I fail? What will people think of me?”
I remember feeling stressed out and anxious about the whole thing.
Have you ever felt like that at any time in your life? Has anyone ever called you crazy for thinking like an entrepreneur?
I also remember feeling a lot of guilt at the time. After all, my parents had to scrape together enough money to help me go to college. A small part of me felt like I was throwing away their money.
But here’s the thing. Even though I had those feelings, I had a stronger calling to become an entrepreneur.
To not work for someone else. To own my time and have the freedom to do what I wanted… when I wanted… and with whomever I wanted.
So, against the odds, I dropped out of school and started my first business. And do you know what happened?
That business failed miserably!
Why? Because I didn’t know the first thing about marketing. I relied on cold calling, prospecting, and going to haphazard networking events.
In hindsight, dropping out of school to run a business centered around cold calling—something that made me experience panic attacks almost every day—wasn’t the smartest move.
And I’m serious about the panic attacks. I remember sitting on my bed (in my parents’ house, mind you, because I couldn’t afford a place of my own) and literally crying most evenings after being verbally assaulted on the phone.
I can’t tell you how low I felt. To be treated like trash. To be rejected, hung up on, and verbally abused by someone I was trying to help.
Someone who didn’t even know me or the type of person I was. To them, I was a pest, a nuisance in their day.
To make matters even more interesting, my girlfriend and I found out we were pregnant. I was only 21. And she… well, she was only 17 years old.
So, as you can imagine, my stress levels were at an all-time high.
Needless to say, it was time to pivot.
If at First You Don’t Succeed…
Now, at this point, you may be thinking, “You got a job, right?”
Everyone wanted me to. And maybe I should’ve.
But like I said before, I had a strong calling to become an entrepreneur. And once I got the taste of working for myself, there was no way I was going to work for someone else.
So, I had a bright idea. I decided to quit my failing business and start another business from scratch. But this time, I wanted a business I had more passion for and experience with.
And since I worked as a personal trainer in college, I decided to open a fitness training business where I could help women get in shape—no gym necessary. I didn’t have the money to start a gym. Just me, my client, and exercises that didn’t involve “weights, machines, or as-seen-on-TV contraptions.”
As for marketing, I refused to cold call anyone or go out and prospect. I knew there had to be a better way. And that’s when fate intervened.
Have you ever felt “a touch of fate” at any time in your life? You know, being in the right place at the right time. Almost as though someone or something was steering you in the right direction.
So, what happened? My mentor, David Holzer, handed me a book by Dan Kennedy that changed my life.
And I’ll never forget the feeling I had in my gut when I turned to page 123 of No BS Sales Success and started reading the chapter titled, “Positioning, Not Prospecting.”
I was intrigued. After all, I knew cold calling and prospecting weren’t right for me. Those activities made me feel anxious and stressed out.
But positioning? I thought, What’s that?
Inside the chapter, the author explained that when you cold call and prospect, you’re viewed as “just another salesperson.”
Nothing separates you from your competition. And the people you’re calling on or talking to have no reason to trust you.
I knew that feeling all too well!
Instead of putting yourself in that position, the author made a case for writing a book and creating a better scenario.
A scenario where you raise your status and position yourself as an expert and authority.
A scenario where you stop chasing prospects and prospects start seeking you out.
And a scenario where prospects already have trust and confidence in you or your service and are more open and willing to do business with you.
Let me ask you…
Would you like to have prospects see you as an authority in your area of expertise?
Would you like to have prospects seek you out?
Would you like to have prospects come to you with a mindset of doing business with you?
If you answered YES to any of those questions, you’re not alone. That’s exactly what I wanted too! And that’s why I made the decision to write my first book.
And do you know what happened?
Everything finally started to change!
By leveraging my book as a business tool, my pipeline started to fill up faster than ever before. My conversion rates skyrocketed. I was able to be more selective with my clientele.
And within 18 months, I was able to triple my fees and bring on bigger clients.
As you can imagine, I felt like a million bucks. While the success I experienced didn’t happen overnight, it was night and day compared to what it was before I wrote my first book.
Instead of chasing prospects and coming up empty-handed, people were starting to find me. And that was just the beginning.
Do you know what else I discovered after I wrote my first book?
A Book Makes It Easier
If you want to speak at events with your perfect prospects in the audience, a book makes it easier.
If you want to be invited to be interviewed on TV, radio, and podcasts, a book makes it easier.
If you want to start taking on bigger, more profitable clients, a book makes it easier.
In fact, I’ll never forget the first time I decided to go after a commercial client for my fitness business.
I remember walking into the CEO’s office—my book was already on his desk.
He looked at me. Then, he looked at my book. Then, looking at me again, he said, “So, what are we going to do for my employees?”
That’s it. The conversation was that easy. No pitching. No squabbling over price.
He asked me for my plan and handed me a check FIVE TIMES bigger than I was getting for my private clients.
And at that moment, even though I knew what my book had done for my business, that’s when I truly realized the power of a book.
The CEO didn’t have to feel me out or “think about it.” He instantly had trust and confidence in me because of my authority position and expert status.
Stop and think about that idea for a moment…
How would you feel if you had prospects come to you and instantly have trust and confidence in you?
How would you feel if you didn’t have to squabble over your price?
How would you feel if you had prospects eagerly handing you bigger checks?
You’d feel pretty amazing, right?
Listen, to say it was an exciting time in my life would be an understatement.
A few years earlier, I was stressed out beyond belief, having panic attacks regularly, and wondering if I had made the right decision to become an entrepreneur.
After writing my book, my business not only became profitable, but it also became fun and energizing.
And I knew I had made the right decision.
What Does All This Mean for You?
At this point, I hope you have a better understanding of who I am and why you should listen to me.
But just in case you’re getting the wrong idea, I don’t want you to think this section was about me stroking my ego.
Yes, I’m proud of the success I’ve had in my career. And yes, I believe that writing a book was the key to my success.
But I hope you can sense from my words that I didn’t write this section to impress you. That wasn’t my goal.
Instead, my goal was to impress upon you the transformation that writing a book had on my business and in my life.
And more importantly, the transformation that writing a book can have on your business and in your life.
So, let’s talk about that. What can a book do for you?
For starters, having a book can help you…
Position yourself as an expert, authority, and thought leader, so you can charge higher fees
Attract more prospects, so you’re in control of your business and profits
Lower buyer resistance, so you can convert more prospects into paying clients
Create a new revenue stream, so you can increase your profits without trading hours for dollars
Open up speaking and media opportunities, so you can grow your platform and expand your reach
In addition, writing a book can also help you…
Clarify and strengthen your ideas
Boost your confidence in your message
Inspire others to make a positive difference in their lives
Leave a legacy and make an impact on future generations
And so much more!
You’re Only One Move Away
When I was younger, I played deck hockey. And I had a coach who was big on teaching each player “one move” to help them become a better player.
For example, my buddy, Matt, was a bigger kid. So, his “one move” was to get his body between the shooter and the net.
When someone went to take a shot, Matt would slide in front of the other player and take up as much space as possible. Matt was a great player, and his one move was really effective.
I wasn’t big. But I was quick. So, my “one move” was to flip the ball over the defensive players’ sticks and run like hell right past them.
Believe it or not, this “one move” worked so well that it helped me score twice as many goals as I did the year before.
So, why am I telling you this? Because writing a book to grow my business was the “one move” that changed everything for me.
And maybe—just maybe—writing a book is the “one move” that changes everything for you!
But you won’t know until you get your book done. So, let’s talk about that.
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