Brand Architect

My today's guest is Jyotsna Ramachandran. She is a stay-at-home mom and an online entrepreneur. Her kindle publishing business Awesome Life Resources has given her the freedom to earn a full-time income from home. Jyotsna shares her experience of building a home business through her book Job Escape Plan.

In a short period of one year Jyotsna managed to set up her Kindle publishing business, which brings her $4.5k monthly passive income. She has portfolio of 45 published books in 7 different niches. The most amazing part of it is that until now she had not even had written any of the books she published. I tried to dig into the details and show you the business model she is using. You could go ahead and try it too.

Kindle Publishing Business Model 

The team that is needed to keep the kindle publishing business going 

7 Steps to Start Business from Home, Grow It and Quit Your Job

The whole week I’ve been thinking a lot. The more I thought the more I got confused. Well thinking too much is a dangerous thing I have to say. Sometimes overthinking keeps you from actually taking action. You keep thinking and analyzing and coming up with outcome scenarios and after that coming up with back up plans… then back up plans for the back up plans which would not work… In short I was totally confused and lost.

I was thinking about my personal brand, about my presence online… about what to do next, about what to change and what to keep the same. I got in touch with good friends, who spent their time listening to my stories and plans and hopes and stuff.

I guess I wanted to know what I had to do… I was trying to map up my desired future and retro-plan it coming up with a plan how to get there. And as a result I learnt few things which I want to share with you today.

The first thing I realized after speaking to many people, and most of them are quite successful and prolific - is that I am not alone and many of them don’t have a clear vision either. And that’s ok… You see as far as you can see and you are able to see further only if you move forward. So by staying in one place and not moving you won’t see the future I’m afraid. No one knows where he or she will end. We can’t predict how life will turn out. But what we can do is act, try, experiment, do our best and walk  one step at a time.

The other thing that I understood was - I was stuck because I felt overwhelmed. And I was overwhelmed because I was dreaming big. Please don’t get me wrong, dreaming big is good. The thing is when you are planning your actions looking at the big dream it may feel impossible. Reaching that big dream may feel very complex and complicated. And when that happens you may get stuck at one place.

So I would rather say Dream Big but Start Small. As Lao Tzu said the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. No one reached enormous success immediately. The success we see and think is an overnight success is cumulated result of many consistent small victories and accomplishments. So instead of feeling confused and instead of panicking because I did not know what to do next, all I had to do was take the first step and see where it takes me.

Putting these lessons into the more specific writing sphere I could say that don’t think too much whether you are good enough or not to write a book, don’t think too much whether people will like it or not, don’t overthink about how to promote, market and sell it. And also don’t think about a 600 page novel right away. Simply take action and write your first page.

Ok so that’s it for now… Move forward by writing one page at a time and enjoy the process!

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My today's guest is Liston Witherill.

In 2014 Liston walked away from a CMO position at a $10M company to start my own thing. He was already totally booked in his consulting business two months before leaving. That is because Liston is a proudly trained conversion copywriter and he is no joke when it comes to sales. He spends most of his time trying to understand how people are making decisions.

In this interview we talk about the copywriting, as well as writing book description and sales page.

Below are just the few highlights of the interview. Yes, I do this on purpose. I don't provide you with a transcript so you go and listen to the show.

Highlights

Present the book in such way that it resonates with the people, who read about it.

Copywriting is NOT a creative writing.

With copywriting we always have a goal of getting someone doing something very specific.

Number one mistake in copywriting is that people talk about themselves.

The copy should be focused 90% of the time on a reader and what he wants.

Want to know more?

Check out the special free resource Liston has created for you!

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Today I would like to talk about numbers… No, no - we will not go into maths or any calculations.

I want to talk about how the digital numbers sort of determine how cool we are…

Let’s see how people who don’t know you judge about your reputation online? They look at how many followers you have on Twitter, how much traffic does your website get, how many likes your Facebook page has, etc. They check who your Facebook friends are and how many of those are well-known and influential people.

It becomes a game of large audiences, big e mail lists and download numbers.

Let’s look at the traditional publishers. They don’t care about what kind of book you have. All they care about is how large is your audience and how many of your book you could sell to them… Which makes me think - hey if I had a large audience and could sell many books why would I need you anyway?

The problem is - When we get into that swirl we forget one simple truth and that is - those numbers represent people. Every single one is a human being who lives, feels and thinks.  Our e-mail list is not a  list of e mail addresses - it’s a list of people. When we look at our website traffic graph - it’s not clicks - it’s people who made those clicks and ended up on your website.

Many don’t realize that it’s not about the size of your audience. It’s about the engagement of that audience. It is about the quality of that audience.

So how do you create a high quality audience. I think it can be built only through relationships.

Honest, sincere and human relationships…

And I do believe that human relationships can be built in the virtual space. You may not be meeting those people in person, but you have the opportunity to connect with them.

At the beginning I was chasing numbers too… I logged in to my Amazon KDP dashboard and tracked the book sales. Those numbers impacted my day’s mood and low numbers made me feel like a failure… But then I looked at it otherwise… Even if only few people gave my the precious gift of their time and attention and if they spent hours and days reading what I wrote and it made them feel something - that’s already impressive and great.

If I compare my podcast stats with the very popular podcasters I may get depressed at some point. But it doesn’t happen because I don’t do that.

I look at the stats and try to remember that on the other end of the word, there are people, who listen now and hopefully get inspired and encouraged by what I’ve got to say. And if this podcast helps even only few of you - then I’ve accomplished my goal.

I truly believe that it’s all about relationships. Relationships are not built overnight and it is a long-term thing. But believe me, it’s absolutely worth it.

It may seem difficult but it is not really. If you care about your audience and provide value to them you’ll be fine. So many successful people during our interviews repeated over and over again that the key to success is helping people. So I guess  it’s time to listen.

The thing is - It’s not about you… it’s about them.

By shifting your mindset from “what is it for me?” to “how can I help them” things will start changing.

Ideally there should not even be “me” and “them”. If you manage to create a community, which will be called “we” then you’ll totally nail it!

So don’t chase numbers. Instead have a goal of creating a loyal audience, who will be around and who will support and encourage what you.

So today I wanted you to Think about those things - because I think that it’s crucial.

That’s it for today. Take care and keep building your dream!

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Today I have a very special guest. If I had not met him online most probably the Write 2B Read podcast would not exist. My guest is Meron Bareket. He is the host of the Inspiring Innovation podcast -  and the Podcast Incubator - The World's Best Step-By-Step Podcast Training & Community To Take You From Zero To Launching A Successful Podcast. The Podcast Incubator was the only resource I used when I launched my podcast in only 3 weeks.

I knew nothing about podcasting 3 weeks before my podcast launch so I had to learn everything from scratch. I know that there are many famous brands to go to but where I personally went to and got everything I needed was at the Podcast Incubator. There are step-by-step videos, I have access to Meron Bareket, who ensures over the shoulder support and the community is absolutely amazing. For me personally relationships are important and Podcast Incubator is where I found high quality relationships with the mentor and other members. I not only go there when I need answers to questions, or help with technical issues, but also when I seek encouragement, inspiration and moral support.  I am absolutely convinced that Podcast Incubator is a unique place, where you get answers to all your tailored needs.In this interview we will be covering the exciting subject of podcasting and find out how authors can use that marketing platform in order to get exposure and gain new readers. 

[spp-tweet " Podcasting is the most exciting marketing platform on the Internet."]

In this interview we cover the following:

How much do you have to invest to start a podcast 

What podcast types you can choose from 

How to get audience from scratch with podcasting 

The future trends of podcasting 

Free resources and bonuses you can get 

By getting the lifetime free access to the resources you will find out about how to:

Meron was kind enough to offer 2 bonuses on top of it all

Resources mentioned

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. It means that I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase at no additional cost to you. But that is not the only reason. I could have made a long list of different things I don’t believe in for commission’s sake. But I featured here only those products and services, which I truly believe are helpful and useful.

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While many of those who live here are over excited about Kim Kardashyan’s visit to Armenia I instead make sure that you have fresh audio content that will encourage and inspire you.

Today it will be just me pouring out the thoughts that I decided to share with you. So we’ll have a short solo piece this time.

Did you know that if you close your eyes facing towards the sun you’ll see very nice bright colors inside your  head. The colors will be changing and vary from yellow to bright red with a bright orange and all shades  in- between those. You will enjoy the esthetically pleasant sensations.

Well I didn’t know either, until one day when I was writing in the balcony just before the sunset. When the  sun came out and started kissing my face I decided to take a moment and concentrate on the nice sensations. So I took out the sunglasses and closed my eyes facing the sun.

Why am I telling you this you would wander and what does it have to do with writing?

Well, while watching those nice colors I realized how important the opportunities are. I thought that we       never know what the opportunity will bring until we try something new. In the above example, just one   small and unusual act brought me to a completely new place. A place I had never been before.

I think one should pay attention to different potential opportunities. The same goes for the writing.

Sometimes the problem is that we are so obsessed with the book we are writing, that we don’t notice other things around us. We might be so focused on the initial plot of the novel that we miss the nice new twist that was not initially planned.

When I was writing my first novel I thought about the characters and re-lived the story day and night. At that period I stopped driving a car, because I sometimes forgot to look at the streetlights and signs. And what happens when we get obsessed with our book? Well, besides the fact that the chances are that we will actually finish it this time, we might also miss opportunities.

In fact, when I look back I realize that many of the exciting things that happened to me did actually happen, because I noticed the opportunity and was proactive about it.

I’ll share just one simple example so you can see what I mean. 

Not many know this but my short story Stars was published by Paulo Coelho on his blog. And that was long before I had any substantial online presence or had published any of my writings. I simply read on Paulo’s blog that he was looking for short stories and he will publish the ones he liked.

Well I have to be honest here. I am not reading every single post he puts up on his blog, so it was partly a luck too. But when I did saw the post I saw an opportunity there. If I thought too long over whether to send my story to him or not, nothing would have happened. Maybe nothing would have happened even after I did send it. That was possible too. But I would never know if I did not try. So sometimes all you have to do is ignore the self doubt, stop over analyzing the situation and simply act! That’s all I did and as a result ended up being published by Paulo Coelho and my story is still there on his blog.

I guess what I wanted you to realize is that the Life is full of possibilities. We simply need to be open and flexible enough to embrace them.

Pay attention to the opportunities that come your way and they may take you to a better place or change your life completely.

Just go ahead, write your best book, overcome self-doubt, don’t miss the opportunities that are around you and believe that everything is possible!

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My today's guest is Nathan Chan. Nathan is the Publisher & Editor of Foundr Magazine, a digital magazine for young entrepreneurs on the App Store & Google Play store. Nathan launched Foundr in March 2013 from his bedroom and in a small period of time it has become a top 10 ranked 'Business & Investing Magazine' on the app store. He has had the pleasure of interviewing some of the most accomplished entrepreneurs around the world namely Sir Richard Branson & Arianna Huffington and much more.

But surprisingly enough publishing a magazine and entrepreneurship are not the topics we have covered in this interview. I decided to talk to him about Instagram because he had amazing results using that channel.

In over 5 months Nathan started his magazine Instagram account from scratch and reached over 110k followers. Besides the brand exposure and the community around the brand he is now receiving around 1200-1500 e mail sign ups a week. How cool is that?

In this interview I tried to pick his brain and find out what are the main things we need to know about using Instagram and how could we use it to get amazing results.

Engagement on Instagram is 50 times better than on Facebook.

Serve your community by producing content.

Quotes work extremely well on Instagram.

Be very clear in your bio what your account is about.

To grow followers on Instagram

More you post faster you grow.

Instagram Domination training

Wordswag app (IOS)

Phonto (Android)

Tags for Likes

Canva

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I personally hate waiting… Waiting puts me into vulnerable situation. When I am waiting for something it feels like I do accept the fact that the thing won’t happen until a certain period of time is passed. It makes me feel weak. It makes me feel as if things depend on anything else but me…

From the very young age we are taught to wait… We had to wait for the dinner so after that only we could eat the desert.

We had to wait until we grew up… Because there are so many things I could do only then.

That was why I impatiently wanted to grow up fast when I was a child. The gown up life seemed so attractive back then.

And once we grow up we end up waiting on a bigger scale. We keep postponing things for later. We postpone building our dreams, following our passion, getting rid of certain things that make our life miserable… we wait for the right time to start doing things that we’d like to do.

How many times have you heard the phrases like “As soon as the kids grow up…”, “When I have more time…” , “When I find a well-paid job…” , “As soon as we pay the mortgage…”.

The sad things is that very often we and that “right time” never meet up. Just like the horizon… we keep walking towards it but the distance between us seems to stay the same.

The reality proves that you will never have the ideal conditions. There will never be the perfect moment. Life will continue getting on the way and things will keep happening. There will always be new things coming between you and your plans. Always!

How can you be so sure about the future? How can you take the risk of putting off the things that are important to you? What if that right moment never arrives? What if something happens in-between?

Why do we think that time is not precious? Why do we often start living only after a major paradigm shift? Do we have to survive an accident or get a cancer or lose a close one in order to understand that there is no sense to lose time waiting?

You may say that you’ve got too many obligations and time-consuming responsibilities. And I won’t argue back. Not because I know you - most probably I don’t. I won’t argue back because we all do have those obligations and responsibilities.

Do you think that all the successful people were completely free, with no family, no money issues, no problems at all? Well, I have to disappoint you there.

Most of the successful people were exactly in your shoes before. They too had things to deal with, they too did not have the ideal time to take action… but the difference is - they did not wait. They did not sit and wait for the perfect moment. They did not wait until they have time - they made time for the things which were important to them.

When I meet new people and they find out I am a writer many of them tell “I want to write a book too one day”. One day? Which day? You think you will ever get completely free 6 months to sit alone in a forest hut and write that book? You think you will wake up from a knock on the door and when you open it you’ll see that “one day” on your doorway saying“ I’ve come you can start now” ? Something tells me that might not really happen…

What if instead of waiting for that one day you start now? Sooner you start bigger the chances that you’ll actually make it happen.

But if you keep sticking to that dangerous future tense you will risk staying where you are now.

Do you really want to let your entire life become a waiting room? No?

[spp-tweet "Then stop waiting and start acting."]

My today's guest is Gabriela Pereira. Gabriela is the Creative Director and Instigator of DIY MFA, the do-it-yourself alternative to a Masters degree in writing. She earned an MFA from The New School and has taught writing both online and at writing conferences. Her book about DIY MFA is due out in Spring, 2016 from Writer’s Digest Books. Learn more at DIYMFA.com.

We spoke about writing, of course and below are the highlights of our conversation.

Whenever I see a debut author launch their first book it makes me realize that magic is possible.

I do believe that writing is a teachable skill.

There are no accidents in writing.

You should strive to reach the point when you can break the rules on purpose.

There is no right or wrong way of writing because that would mean putting your brain on autopilot and following the rules.

Every word should be in your writing for a reason.

When you're just putting your words on a page you're creating the raw material.

Putting words in a page may be a struggle.

Once you've gotten yourself into a routine and into a habit of writing fairy regularly it's a lot easier to sustain that momentum.

I believe that writers should write the thing that doesn't make them want  to break the computer.

If you hate it - don't write it.

You wanna remember the individual humans behind the numbers.

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Derek Doepker is a multiple #1 bestselling author with books in the fitness, self-help, and publishing niches.

Through his courses – which include ‘Kindle Bestseller Secrets’ and ‘Hooks for Books’ – he has trained thousands of authors on how to write, publish and market their books successfully. He’s also got a #1 bestselling book called ‘Why Authors Fail’ that reveals the 17 mistakes that stop self-published authors from achieving success and shows how you can fix them.

In this interview Derek provide self-publishing advice and shares the most common mistakes that writers make.

Put yourself in the shoes of the book buyer. Imagine yourself going through the experience of buying your book.

Become very reader-focused.

Turn competitors into companions.

1. Grab attention (by the book cover, title and description)

2. Understand who the target reader is

Look at the successful books in your genre. Read their reviews and find out why people liked it and what readers did not like.

Survey people and find out what they need

3. Get guidance

Learn from people who are already successful.  Shortcut to success is seeking out mentors, coaches and resources that will guide you through the entire process.

1. The wrong mindset

Many writers think about "How can I get value?" when getting into it instead of thinking "How can I give value?"

2. Perfectionism

Many writers spend years because they want to make their book perfect before it is published.

You can't get a perfect book until you make imperfect attempts and learn from them.

3. Distractions

Many writers let themselves distracted often while working on their book.

4. Not following proven formulas

Writers either imitate what was done before (in a copy-paste style) or they get too creative.

To get Derek's free Kindle marketing audio training visit eBookBestsellerSecrets.com

You can find Derek’s fitness website at ExcuseProof.com

You can check out Derek’s self-publishing books here on his Amazon Author Page at http://www.amazon.com/Derek-C.-Doepker/e/B00UH3IBJM

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