Landfall: Where Your Book Becomes a Business

Hey Revenue Writers,

I’ve finally finished the last chapter (official chapter still a Conclusion to go) of Mini Book Flywheel: Become the Person, Brand, and Category People Remember.

The past several weeks I’ve written sections, rewritten it 3+ times, releasing parts of it to you.

Some of this will feel familiar because of that and by the time it hits Amazon it may shift, but the core concept should be the same.

I always tell you about my struggles at writing a section or chapter to encourage you, this is normal!

“Writing is rewriting”

Or something like that.

Well this weeks chapter is a monster and the most practical of the entire book. I had to find a way to show how to create your own category, how to name it, frame it, and claim it.

This chapter shows you how to go from “Book to Business.”

Enjoy!

Landfall: Where Your Book Becomes a Business

Now it’s time to build your own business flywheel.

You aren’t going to start by exploring niches online through posting content. I won’t let you throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. That is a bad way to get started.

I’ve tried that and it wastes time.

Here is the 3 step process to actually building a flywheel and getting it to spin.

1. Idea – Start with a clear niche, problem, and point of view.

2. Identity – Name, frame and claim your category with a Mini Book.

3. Impact – Spin out products, content, and systems from your book to build the business.

I’m going to walk you through doing this practically in this chapter.

If you actually do the work you’ll come away with a Book to Business Flywheel Plan that’ll fit all on one page.

Idea

This first step is to identity what problems you are actually equipped to solve.

Most people sit down with piece of paper and go “What online business do I want to build?” or “What book do I want to write?” That’s ridiculous. The only way you make income or impact is by solving a problem you already know how to solve.

So you start by identifying who you actually can help.

Choose Your Person

This may feel overwhelming at first, but there are only 3 people on God’s green Earth you can impact with your flywheel.

1. Who you were – helping people that are dealing with a problem you solved in the past

2. Who you are – helping people who are where you are and figuring out how to get around the problem you both face and sharing it

3. Who you love – helping someone solve a problem you have never solved before, but are so passionate about you can’t help yourself

95% of people should choose the first option, who you were.

It is the easiest way to build a business.

You intimately know what they are facing. You know how they feel about the problems they face. You know how they talk about the struggles they are up against.

You know this, because you were them.

🌀ACTION STEP:

Write down who you are going to serve 1) who I was 2) who I am 3) or who I love. Then write down a bief 3-5 word description of who they are.

Who I ____________ – _______________________________________________

MY EXAMPLE: Who I was - new independent insurance adjusters

Choose Their Problem

Each person faces a lot of different problems.

Your person might have problems with their taxes. They could be struggling to be a good dad while running an online business. Maybe they just need help mowing their lawn.

Your next job is to decide what problem you are going to help them solve.

Once again, you could make a list of all the problems your customer faces, but thats too broad. Instead you need to think through what problems you have faced and solved as that person. That is the only problems you should even consider addressing. (unless in the rare circumstances you chose to help ‘who you love’.)

As you write these problems you’ve solved out keep these 3 Growth Catalysts in Mind.

1. Bigger is Better - The bigger (or more painful or costly) the problem or the bigger the pool of people that suffer from the problem, the better. Example, paying your taxes is a big deal and a big pool of people deal with it!

2. Smaller is Faster – The quicker you can solve someones problems, the better. This spins the business flywheel faster. Example. if you can solve getting someone a date in 30 days or less, that is quicker than helping someone stay married. It takes years to get to that result.

3. First in Series Bonus – The earlier you help your customer in their journey, the better. They will come back for help with all their other problems. Example, if I help them come up with the idea for the book, they may ask me to help them write it and market it.

The more Growth Catalysts your customers problem has, the better.

ACTION STEP

Write out all the problems your customers face that you have learned how to solve. Put the number of Growth Catalysts they have next to them. Choose one that has 2 or more. Growth Catalysts

• Bigger is Better

• Smaller is Faster

• First in Series Bonus

MY EXAMPLE: Independent adjusters (Person) can’t get work unless they get lucky due to experience requirements. (2*) (Big problem, First(ish) in Series)

Decide on Your POV (Point of View)

Your point of view is what makes you and your business unique.

Someone can look to help the same person, with the same problem, but came away with completely different answers. Let me give you an example.

A 24 year old man’s (person) girlfriends hates his facial hair. (problem)

Here are 3 different POV’s about how to solve this problem and what kind of business that POV would result in.

POV #1: The Shaver – Learn how to shave/groom so she likes it = shave club

POV #2: The Laser – Do electrolysis so you don’t have to shave often = hair removal company

POV #3 – The Heart Breaker – Break up with your girlfriend and find a new one = dating coach

Do you see how your point of view, how you believe someone should solve their problem greatly impacts the business you will build and book you will write?

The easiest way to do this is to look at someone dealing with the problem you want to help solve and say ,”You know what would make their life so much better? If they’d just [insert POV].”

If they’d just shave their beard. If they’d just get electrolysis. If they’d just find a new girlfriend.

ACTION STEP

Write down what your POV (point of view) is. What will make your customers life so much better? Fill in the blank, “Their (person) life would be so much better if they would just _________________________.”

MY EXAMPLE: “Independent adjusters life would be so much better if they would just start with auto claims.“

You can now pull all three of these together in one single statement.

“I help _________________________ with _________________________ by _________________________________.” [Person] [Problem] [POV]

MY EXAMPLE: I help new independent adjusters (person) with experience requirements (problem) by having them start with auto claims. (POV)

That is the idea of your business, now it’s time to turn it into something more memorable. It’s time to establish an identity.

Identity

Now that you’ve nailed down the idea behind your business, it is time to shape it into a memorable identity.

You could just run with what you’ve got, start a businesss, write a book, but it’d be so hard to stand out. You could be another coach, consultant, expert, etc. But why would you want to do that?

The point of creating a flywheel is its memorable, named, and a force to be reckoned with and that only happens if you create a new identity.

Your identity is determined by 3 things,

1. Naming Your Category

2. Framing Your Category

3. Claiming Your Category

Let’s look at how to tackle each one.