By the Ocean
Sunny 78 Degrees
6:08 a.m.
I’m in the final stretches of writing a book for a client and am always struck at the value proposition presented by creations like this.
Imagine spending 30 years of your life in pursuit of some level of excellence in a specific industry and then offering the result of those decades to the world for $15 or $20 or even $30.
Why books are not revered as one of the most valuable assets on the planet I will never understand. Ask someone to pay $200 for a “book” and you will quickly discover how strong the conceptual training is about the boundaries of value when it comes to this specific type of packaged information.
There are three primary benefits that come from being willing to go through the trouble of writing something like this:
First, you will be forced to get extremely clear on what you’re about and how to articulate that in a way that makes an impact on others. A lot of the writer’s block and “I don’t know what to say” problems with publishing are created, not by a lack of ability in writing or speaking, but by a lack of clarity about what you stand for and how that leads to improving the lives of others.
When you have to write it down in a digestible form, you have to get clear. Otherwise you have a mess.
Second, you will be rewarded by the attractive force that having such a tool out in the world can create for you.
If you’ve ever worked with someone who has “read your book,” you know there’s no better quality prospect or client. You can’t buy that kind of quality, you have to grow it.
The real challenge in business isn’t selling what you have, it’s finding the people worthy of buying what you have and working with you. Once you begin to make sales, you quickly realize that it’s not all about money. If you’ve ever worked with a crazy person, you know this.
In this day and age, when most people are addicted to the mind crack provided by “social” media, the real winners, deep thinkers and effective humans are reading good old books.
The real work comes from writing a book with enough meat to be a book. Ever since the dawn of the “book as business card” epidemic, most books have only enough real substance for a long article. That’s why reading them is often so painful.
The last benefit, depending on your unique situation, might be the most overlooked and also the most valuable.
Because it’s hard to create an amazing book about yourself or your work, read it, and not experience a fundamental shift in HOW YOU VIEW YOU!
“I really am amazing,” is something you feel. Something that gets imbued into every bit of interaction with the outside world.
This is really the secret to everything. How you view you is what creates the reality you see.
Do the deep work. Not only because of what you get but because of who it can help you become.