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Transcription:

Dawn McGruer

Welcome to Dawn of a New Era where we talk all things millionaire mindset and scaling strategy so you can think, feel, and scale like the top 1%. I’m Dawn McGruer, the business growth coach, Forbes mentor, and serial entrepreneur.

Each week, we’ll ditch the fluff, dive into the neuroscience of success, and share the good, the bad, and the ugly of building wealth, impact, and freedom. If you’re ready to play bigger and rewrite the rules of business, you’re in the right place. Let’s go.

So today we’re talking about one of the most underestimated and yet most powerful moves you can make in your business, which is writing a book.

Now, I did my first book when I was 21, when I first started my business, and then I did my second book in 2019, 2020, I published with Wiley Dynamic Digital Marketing. My first book was very different. It was called Character Building. It actually had 37 different authors.

And I created and edited the book, and it was all about overcoming adversity.

Now, character Building’s purpose was for me really to deal with some trauma that I’d had in my life, and it was all around losing six people in six months. It was kind of my way of giving back and paying forward and remembering those people.

And the authors I had, they all shared amazing stories of adversity and overcoming challenges that they’d had in lives. It was almost like, you know, every cloud has a silver lining. And actually, that book is a very cathartic part of my journey because that’s the.

The only book that I know in history that had the publishing rights to Rudyard Kipling’s famous poem if. And obviously some of the authors who contributed to the book did not survive their journey through to publish.

And many of the lives were touched by cancer. The. The book was to raise money for cancer research, but for the families and for the people that they left behind.

One thing that I am super proud of is that it left its mark, because in the public library, you know, and the National Library, their names will forever be recorded. And it was almost like my gift back to. To them and their memory and. And their families of, you know, the magical lives they lived.

So books are very special. My second book was different. Dynamic Digital Marketing was all about my framework in marketing.

I had an agency that I started when I was 21, a marketing agency. And then in the early 2000, I started my academy.

And again, it was a super proud moment of my life because to get to a status point where, in essence, I had a private university, we Were training thousands of students globally and awarding them with degrees and you know, celebrating graduation with them at Westminster.

You know, this for me, for someone who got expelled from school or asked to leave from school, who didn’t finish college conventionally, who did degrees and diplomas and qualifications, you know, in my working career in a non regular fashion, this again was almost my gift back to society. To make education affordable and accessible for all students globally. I wanted to empower people to get a degree in digital marketing.

These people could be the first people in their entire bloodline, in their entire heritage that you know, had got a degree. I wanted it to be something that was fast track and for professionals.

But it was a big stage, you know, to go through because we went from providing, you know, certified courses to being a private university accredited, um, you know, we were off ball regulated and the qualification we were delivering was accredited by the Charter Institute of Marketing. So we had a lot of things to do and we had to jump through a lot of hoops to, to get that done.

So it was one of the most challenging times definitely in business because I was still very early on and it was, it was a very difficult process and something that just took so much time, so much effort that it was draining. And at points I was like, why are we even doing this?

Now I look back on it and I’m super proud because even now, you know, my agency is thriving, my academy is thriving and you know, we’re still empowering, you know, students and helping them develop their digital marketing skills and, and careers and journey. So when I think about my book and its positioning, I think about why I did my book. I wanted my book to be on the reading list.

I wanted my book to be available in the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s bookshop. I wanted it to be something that people globally bought and learned digital marketing and best practices.

And when I wrote my proposal, I was really passionate about bridging the digital skills gap and really kind of, I suppose, bringing an ethical way of marketing and a regulated way of learning marketing because people could go on the Internet and they could, you know, try and learn something, but they might not be learning the best practice.

And I remember at the time hearing a story, I think it was like BMW who had been disqualified from Google because they’d used an agency and tactics that was all black hat and you know, they’d face this band.

So for me was super important to bring the education and also to bring this amazing knowledge that I had and best practice to businesses and not just the corporates. But business owners and empower them.

And again, that was the essence of my agency, to allow people who maybe didn’t have dedicated marketing teams or agencies to market the businesses successfully online. So I wrote the proposal. I remember being in my hotel room and I got a template. I downloaded it from the Internet and I merrily filled it in.

It was really thorough. I actually really enjoyed the process of doing it. And then as soon as I did it, I went online and I started researching publishers.

And I was so committed to finding the right publisher for what I did and the basic, the best outlet for my book. So I found Wiley and I went onto the, the website and people always say, you know, did you have a literary agent?

You know, how did you get your contract? I literally downloaded a template, filled it in, went online, found an email address and pressed submit. And honestly, that’s my journey.

But it wasn’t like, you know, I did that process and instantly I got a deal. No, it wasn’t, it wasn’t that easy. My email went into spam and it sat in that junk folder for like six months until the editor, Wiley, fished it out.

And I got this email saying, hi, Dawn, I’ve just found your email in my junk folder. Do you still want a publishing deal? I was like, hell yeah. I jumped at the chance and literally got on a meeting. They gave me the terms.

I used the Author Society and their legal team to negotiate my contract.

And honestly, absolute kudos goes out to them because I think my membership or something was like £130 for the year and I’m still a proud member and they got me the best deal. Everything I asked for, they managed to get and Wiley gave it and literally 72 hours later I had my publishing contract.

And I think the magic here is, is that when I think about my book and I think about why my book kind of came out, these are all important parts of the journey. Because people think that, oh, I can’t do a book, it’s too difficult. I had no prior knowledge, none. I self published my first book.

My second book I wrote, I didn’t have a Ghostwriter. I did 400 pages. I had to Harvard reference it because it was a business book. So I literally had to then get all of the imagery.

I’m laughing at it because it was a very painful process. I had to get a graphic designer to take all of my hand drawings and make them into images all the way through the book. And guess what?

I had four weeks to write it because they wanted to get it out in Christmas, this was the Easter bank holiday. They needed it. And four weeks later, I did it. I mean, I talk to authors now. I was so naive. I just thought that was the normal process.

I was like, well, you know, four weeks seems reasonable. Why not? Like, I’ll just go and write my book And a business book, you don’t write before you get your deal.

So I had to write the whole thing from scratch. The good thing was I had a framework which was the dynamic digital marketing model. It was all about eight powerful ways to market business online.

And, you know, that gave me the structure for my proposal, et cetera. So for me, again, I look back on the process, painful, joyous, scary, all at the same time.

But it just means that if I can write a book, anyone can write a book. I had no knowledge, none. No. No mentor, no nothing. Just literally pure gumption of, I want to write these books, I’m going to write these books.

And that’s kind of where it was. So this whole episode isn’t about being a writer for the sake of it. It’s about leaving your legacy or creating something around your passion.

And this is really what it was. It wasn’t about a book for me. It was a far bigger journey on both of them.

And it was about, yes, positioning and, yes, visibility and, yes, to a degree, I guess, leaving a legacy, especially with the first one. But it was a strategical tactic, for sure. There was an essence around how it would special my second book aid my business with my academic academy.

And for my academy, obviously, you know, every single student gets a copy of my book. So I did have an alignment of how it was going to transform kind of like my business. But that’s not the be all and end all.

And I think the thing is, is that part of it is to do with a credibility leap. And, you know, when you think about how you can take your knowledge and, you know, use it for credibility, I think it’s quite special.

And when you publish a book, you instantly shift in people’s perception. You definitely do. So for me, I would say my books were like a door opener.

And again, it was very useful to establish myself as an industry and thought leader in the world of digital marketing. Definitely enhanced my speaking opportunities, the podcast and things that I went on to. And it’s not just about the perception.

You know, you’ve got to think about it. It changes the way that opportunities present themselves. And, you know, journalists definitely seemed more open.

I had more sort of of a PR story to talk about again with speaking gigs and Event organizers, it was a positioner, and it definitely enhanced credibility. And people often ask about, you know, should you self publish? Do you get publisher? It’s totally down to what your objectives are with the book.

There is no right or wrong. And don’t let anybody tell you that, because credibility can happen either way. It doesn’t just have to be with the publisher.

And the thing is, is I’ve done it both ways and I’ve had success in both ways. And there was different reasons for doing those processes because of the type of book.

So again, you know, for me, yes, it was great for clients because it was a natural evolution for students that, you know, they would come to an academy with someone who’d write. Written a bestseller. I had a podcast and still do.

I have Digital Marketing Made Easy, which is in the top 50 globally, everywhere in the world, which is amazing in itself.

And these are things that you have to be open to and, and don’t let people put you off by saying it’s difficult because honestly, if you know what you’re writing about and you can create a proposal and you know who the publishers are, it’s as simple as just going for it and biting the bullet. Because, yes, you’ll get no’s and you have to be resilient to it. I didn’t actually submit my second one to more than one publisher.

I was just damn lucky there that it was the right book at the right time. So when I published Dynamic Digital Marketing, it wasn’t just about sort of sharing this framework.

It was about opening the doors to, like, international speaking gigs, media features and collaborations that, to be honest, would have taken a lot longer to land. And, you know, for me, it wasn’t about selling millions of copies.

And when you actually look at the stats of how many the average author sells, it’s not that many.

It was about having this sort of tangible authority and, and building an asset that I could literally put into someone’s hands and I could deliver to people’s doors. And, you know, I think the joy is never gone that even now, you know, we’re still selling books every single day.

And then someone sends me a photo of my book on a beach in, you know, Singapore or, you know, somewhere like that.

And it’s just crazy because, you know, this is something that came from me and I. I want you to understand that if you have the compulsion and you really know that you have a book within you, do it and, and just don’t wait. Just like, take the opportunity. Because when you do a book, it can absolutely help position. It can help, you know, escalate your business.

And it’s, I guess someone said to me once, you know, like, think of your book like a launchpad.

And it kind of is, because if you think about all of the different entrepreneurs in the world, they’re using their book as kind of like the starting point of their ecosystem. And you know, it could be like the entry point to online programs or retreats or different things.

And at the moment, I’m in the process of finishing my third book and just tweaking with the manuscript and I’m talking to publishers and seeing where it goes. So I am open to the opportunity. But I know exactly why I am doing the book. So this is something that I want you to think about.

Because every chapter can be content and every case study can be a podcast episode.

You know, you can take parts of your book and break it down in your social media and every single principle that you are covering in your book, it can be kind of like your signature workshop, it can be your signature speech, your keynote or whatever. So think about the brand with the book and the business and think about how it all aligns.

You know, does it all have that strong correlation, that strong bond where it feels congruent from.

The book talks about aspects that the signature speech takes key concepts and the podcast is again an evolution and an iteration of that, that, that book and that, those topics. And when you structure your book with your business in mind, this is when the strategy starts to come into play.

I’ve seen so many people do books that don’t relate to what they do and they struggle to see what the success factors are. And my advice would be is think of the book as the brand and bring it into that brand umbrella.

Because when you structure it that way, it becomes this kind of like marketing empire.

And I think what’s fascinating is that I’ve seen clients turn their books into multi six, multi seven figure streams without relying on book sales alone. Because that’s another thing like, yes, you’ll get royalties, yes, if you go with a publisher, you get an advance.

But you know, you have to think about commercially, what are the other bits that go with it. You, yes, there are some people in the world who are obviously just authors, but you’ve got to think about the type of book you’re writing.

And you know, if you’re writing something that is in line with your business, then it’s only going to act as the catalyst. So think of your book as kind of like this first step in the Customer journey.

So I always talk about the fact that there are five critical factors required to scale your business model mapping, which is the customer journey, mindset, marketing, and money. Think of those five aspects and think about how the book comes into and how it feeds into it, because you don’t want to rely just on book sales.

And then I guess, finally, you know, the last aspect is the legacy lens. And, you know, what I always talk about is that when you are writing your book, you are opening yourself up. It is quite a strange process to.

To put all your inner feelings out there into the world. But most of the work we do in business is quite fleeting.

And, you know, it could be like you do a social post, it could be an email, you know, a marketing campaign. But a book is different. It’s. It’s a tangible entity and it’s something that lasts. And.

And again, you know, your words and your frameworks and your ideas, you know, they live on in someone else’s minds, in someone else’s hands, in someone else’s business and bookshelf for many years to come. And I think that is something that, you know, should make everyone smile because that’s an important, you know, transformation that we’re giving.

And when somebody reads your book, you know, you. You know it yourself. When you’re reading, you’re creating this movie in your mind, aren’t you? And you’re playing it out.

And that, again, I think, is just fascinating to think that, you know, your words go into someone else’s mind and play out a vision and a movie in their head.

So one of my proudest moments was obviously having, you know, character building archived in the British Library and the fact that my work was alongside, sort of, you know, some famous authors that are no longer with us, and I was preserving the memory of people who’d written in my book. But it’s not just about building a business and a brand. You know, there’s a deeper sense here.

So you’ve got to think about why, like, what is your why behind the book? And have some conviction around it and get clarity.

Because why, when you write with the legacy lens in mind, you’re not just thinking about revenue, you’re thinking about creating assets that work for long after you know them. Just reading the book and assets that are telling your story and you’re sharing your message and you’re inspiring action.

And this can be for decades to come.

So my final thoughts on this is that if you’ve got a book, think about the brand, think about the critical factors, and think what you want it to do, and most importantly, think about what you want the reader to think, feel, and do. Because if you’ve been sitting on a book and, you know, waiting for the right time, there is no perfect time.

You know, you don’t have to know anything, you know, apart from what you’re writing about. And the right time is.

Is honestly, like when you realize that your message deserves this bigger stage and your business needs, like, I guess, a credibility boost, you know, you feel like now is the right time to. To use it as a position or a way to kind of open up more opportunities. And your legacy, after all, is. Is absolutely worth documenting.

And never kind of get the impact. Never let the imposter syndrome get the better of you, because it will always come up with reasons why not to.

And again, you can do an audit, find out what. What are the opportunities of writing this book over not. And I honestly think that there’s.

There’s less risk in writing, but there’s more recklessness in not, you know, so if you’re ready to make it happen and you. You just want to find out more about what I did, my book, reach out, you know, and I’ll gladly share my story.

I talk a lot about, obviously, my book, my journey on Instagram and LinkedIn, my social channels. So make sure you’re following. And yeah, again, remember, if the book is something that you really, really want to do, make it happen.