Coffee with Carma

Coffee with Carma | Episode 468

What would happen to your business if you got hit by a bus tomorrow? In this episode, I use a 1966 caveman movie to explain why every business needs systems you can hand off. Don’t rely solely on instincts you alone understand. I share three steps for turning what you do by memory into something your team, or even AI, can pick up when you can’t. If your business only runs when you’re in it, you need this.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* What happens to my business if I’m suddenly unavailable?

* How do I turn what I do by instinct into a repeatable process?

* What’s the difference between an SOP for a human and one for AI?

* Why do I need backup systems even when my current process works fine?

Ready to implement what you learned this week? Every Friday, Reserved Table members get a tool or resource built to help you take action on the week’s topic. Simple enough to complete over the weekend, powerful enough to move your book forward.

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 467

I’m celebrating my 60th birthday this month. To celebrate, I’m adding a special touch to every episode through my birthday week. Each one features films released the year I was born.

In this episode, I share five lessons inspired by Fantastic Voyage. The shrink-yourself-down-and-do-brain-surgery plot gave me an unexpected lens for talking about business systems. If you’ve ever felt like you’re improvising your way through your own business, this one’s for you.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* What can Fantastic Voyage teach me about business systems?

* Why do businesses need a plan A and a plan B?

* How do deadlines reveal what’s broken in a business?

* Why shouldn’t everyone on my team have five jobs?

* What happens when you don’t understand your own business systems?

Ready to implement what you learned this week? Every Friday, Reserved Table members get a tool or resource built to help you take action on the week’s topic. Simple enough to complete over the weekend, powerful enough to move your book forward.

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 466

Have you ever tried to outline your book with the Roman numeral structure you learned in school? Did that make you feel completely stuck? In this episode, I use Plato’s Allegory of the Cave to explain why. I show you why that rigid, inherited outline might be the wrong shadow you’ve been staring at your whole writing life. I walk you through a couple of structures you can use instead. And I share why most books blend more than one. If outlining has always felt like a chore, this episode will change how you see the whole process.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* Why does the traditional essay outline feel wrong for writing a nonfiction book?

* What are some alternative ways to structure a nonfiction book?

* Should my book follow one structure or can it combine several?

* How do I choose a book structure that matches my natural way of thinking?

* Is it normal to enjoy the outlining process instead of dreading it?

This week’s Reserved Table tool is already live. I built it to help you take what you’ve learned this week and move your book forward over the weekend.

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 465

You may think you hate outlining. But I’ve found that what most people actually hate is the version no one taught them how to skip. In this episode, I share the three-step outlining process I use with my own books. It starts with your book promise. Then it moves into what I call a “mind storm” of ideas and stories. Finally, it ends with organizing everything into chapters you can write from. If outlining has always felt like filling out a form, this episode shows you a version that feels more like an art project.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* What is a book promise and why does it matter for outlining?

* How do I start writing a book outline if I don’t know where to begin?

* What is a mind storm and how is it different from a regular brainstorm?

* How do I organize scattered notes into a book outline?

* Can AI help with the book outlining process?

Ready to implement what you learned this week?

Every Friday, Reserved Table members get a tool or resource built to help you take action on the week’s topic. Simple enough to complete over the weekend, powerful enough to move your book forward.

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 464

If you think an outline stifles your creativity or plan to “figure out the structure later,” this episode is for you. In this episode, I bust five myths about book outlines and structure that slow down nonfiction authors. These false beliefs cost them tens of thousands of wasted words and time. I share:

* why an outline works more like a roadmap than a cage

* what really happens when you skip planning altogether, and

* why veering off your outline mid-draft is often your book telling you something important.

You’ll walk away with a clearer, less fearful way to think about structuring your next book.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* Is there one correct way to structure a nonfiction book?

* Does outlining a book limit your creativity?

* What happens if I just start writing my book without a plan?

* Can I change my book outline after I’ve published it publicly?

* Is it a problem if I veer away from my outline while writing?

Resource Mentioned:

* How to Structure a Nonfiction Book: 10 Proven Options and How to Choose

Ready to implement what you learned this week? Every Friday, Reserved Table members get a tool or resource built to help you take action on the week’s topic. Simple enough to complete over the weekend, powerful enough to move your book forward.

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public, so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

I love using stories from film to make a point land. In this episode of Coffee with Carma, I draw from Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. I use it to share an important truth for every author with multiple book ideas: Only one idea is ready to become your book right now. I walk you through:

* why your right idea already exists,

* how to recognize it among the lookalikes, and

* the validation process that proves it’s the one.

If you’ve got a stack of book ideas competing for your attention, this episode will help you figure out which one deserves your energy today.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* How do I know which book idea to write first?

* What does it mean to validate a book idea?

* Why do I have so many book ideas but can’t pick one?

* Is it bad to have book ideas I’m not writing right now?

* How do I test if my book idea will actually attract clients?

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 462

I’ve watched too many people find out their book was wrong only after it was published, so in this episode, I walk you through the three-step process I use to know, not hope, whether your book idea is worth writing. You’ll see how to check your idea against your customer transformation roadmap, how to find real evidence that people are searching for the problem it solves, and how to hold it up against your brand promise before you write a single chapter.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* How do I know if my book idea is actually the right one to write?

* What is a customer transformation roadmap and how does it relate to my book?

* How do I find out if people are searching for the problem my book solves?

* What does it mean to hold a book idea up against a brand promise?

* Why does writing the wrong book make marketing harder?

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 461

In this episode, I share the five principles I use to help experts figure out which book to write next. Watch now so that you can stop circling between ideas and start writing the one that will grow your business. If you’ve got more than one book idea competing for your attention, no worries! I walk you through how to rank them. I also explain why writing out of sequence still costs you, and how to know when you’re ready to commit.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* How do I decide which book idea to write next?

* What if I have too many book ideas at once?

* How do I know if I’m choosing the wrong book to write?

* Why does my book idea keep stalling?

* How do I rank competing book ideas for my business?

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 460

I pull three lessons from the classic film Dr. Cyclops (1940) that expose a common author blind spot. This blind spot may be derailing your own book marketing strategy. In this episode of Coffee with Carma, I share:

* why chasing perfect details can drain the soul out of your content,

* why third-party validation, like book reviews, matters more than most authors think,

* and why Amazon optimization is only one piece of a much bigger picture.

You will also walk away with one small, concrete action you can take this week. This simple action will help you spot your own blind spot before it costs you. Don’t miss out on the readers, clients, and stages you are working so hard to reach because of a simple oversight.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* Why does AI-generated book marketing content often feel like it is missing something?

* Is optimizing my Amazon listing enough to grow my book marketing strategy?

* How do book reviews for authors actually help my own visibility?

* What is the blind spot most authors don’t realize they have in their book marketing?

* How many book reviews do I actually need before readers trust my book?

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

Coffee with Carma | Episode 459

In this episode, I walk you through the three places you need to optimize if you want AI like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity to recommend you instead of your competition. I used to think Amazon and your website were the only two spots that mattered. That’s changed. I share why your podcast guest appearances, media mentions, and other people’s platforms now carry more weight than ever, and how the right book makes all three of these discoverability engines work together instead of against each other.

Questions This Episode Answers:

* Why doesn’t ChatGPT read my Amazon book description?

* What should I put on my author website besides a books page?

* Why do podcast interviews matter for AI discoverability?

* How does AI decide who to recommend to an author’s ideal reader?

* What’s the difference between optimizing for Amazon and optimizing for AI?

Thanks for reading Authority by Design! This post is public so feel free to share it.

Authority by Design is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.