Your Book is Real Estate: Why a Visionary Executive Should Write a Book

From Rachel Asikpo, Elite Ghostwriter, Mangus Media Group

 Are you a professional with years of experience in an industry that requires authenticity, competence, precision, and tenacity? Have you applied your self-taught techniques to conventional templates to achieve better results? To the extent that you now have a systemized template that works for you? Your very own secret recipe that is unique to how you achieve excellence on every project?

If your answer is a solid yes, it means you’re the type of driven individual who prioritizes having a signature excellence to your brand of business. Such a personality has all the right makings for thought leadership.

What is required for Thought Leadership:

1.      Undeniable Experience over Credentials

2.      Innovative Vision

3.      Clarity of Message

How they come together:

Too many brilliant thought leaders measure themselves short when they lack the traditional standards of success. When people think about experience and credentials, the lofty image that comes to mind might include an education at an Ivy League school and experience at Fortune 500 firms and companies. However, the wheels of time have repeatedly shown that underdogs disrupt industries and become surprising models of resilience and vision. I am not about to list famous names attached to Fortune 500 companies, but here are some stories of amazing individuals who fell short of academic success, but still built renowned businesses:

Richard Branson

Many know Richard Branson as a billionaire, philanthropist, and founder of the Virgin group, renowned for his business acumen across several industries. But few know his beginning was fraught with struggle, and unbecoming of the reputation he now commands. As a dyslexic student in college, he always came in last until he made the greatest decision of his life: to drop out of a public school at the age of 16, not as a failure, but as a visionary paving a different path to success.  He is popular for the saying, “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your business,” a key philosophy behind his success, embraced by all who read his books and follow his tutelage. Today, his books serve to shape bright minds with his philosophy, teaching entrepreneurs to approach challenges with flair, determination, and calculated risk.  

John Mackey

John Mackey is another splendid example of a man lacking the traditional credentials required for success, but instead, was driven to acquire knowledge in school solely to fulfill his innovative vision, forsaking his studies once his thirst for a particular subject was quenched. John Mackey dropped out of school more times than he could remember, only attending the classes that interested him most as he gathered momentum for his main venture – revolutionizing the grocery and food industry. He went into debt to start his first tiny food store, armed with nothing but the conviction that people needed cleaner, safer foods. Today, as the Co-Founder and former CEO of Whole Foods, he continues to preserve his leadership doctrine in the books he has authored and co-authored, no doubt serving to further the spirit behind his company.

Sophia Amoruso

Another enigmatic example is Sophia Amoruso, a celebrated businesswoman who never earned a college degree and even flunked high school. She boldly admits that she never excelled academically, but fortune found this young scraper with nothing but grit and her gathered wits. In her younger days, she earned a living by selling used items from dumpsters, doing menial jobs, and even selling stolen items on eBay. Life’s crucible of survival formed a true entrepreneur who taught herself every required skill needed to succeed: copywriting, photography, and content creation. Her determination, sacrifice, and adaptability led to the success of her business, Nasty Gal Collections, which was named one of the fastest-growing companies of 2012. She is the author of the book GirlBoss.

People reading books by such exceptional individuals are convinced not by credentials but by the challenges they have harnessed. Of course, these are a few examples from a wider variety of similar examples. What makes each of these authors stand out is a common denominator: the shared causality of remarkable experiences. One went from a state of handicap to a global conglomerate. The other went from academic inconsistency, debt, and a dream to a national household name, and the other went from living off dumpster diving to establishing a successful national retailer business. All three lacked academic credentials to match their invaluable knowledge, yet they wrote books after years of trying and failing, learning and ultimately succeeding. For each one, there was a triumphant array of authentic experiences, driven by a vision which later produced a brand, a coherent message of personality communicated through books.

Will traditional academic credentials appeal when the reader looks you up? Yes, for some rigid fields, this is true, but far surpassing is the human factor in connection and conviction through experiences and results. In the medium of a book, and armed with the results from your journey, you have the latitude to convert any mind reading your book: make them understand what makes you tick, what drives your tenacity, and what values you place first above all else, all engineered by the challenges you surmounted.

A book is an inanimate, all-inclusive value offering to propel your brand. One book could be the distance you need from uncertain prospects, second-guesses, cold-feet relations, and dry spats in your fiscal year, and the best thing about a well-marketed book is that it bears long-term rewards. The book serves as a beacon of value you can build a community around and attract the right opportunities.

How will a Book Help Your Business:

1.      An Extensive Value Offering

2.      A Clear Marketing Tool

3.      Proof of your Authority

4.      A Portable Recruiter and Opportunity Finder

An extensive and Portable Value Offering:

As an entrepreneur, your race will take you to various places to meet people of different backgrounds. By writing a book, you can convey every detail about your vision, philosophy, and personality to prospective clients, followers, and partners. Your book is a one-stop, exhaustive offering that communicates the Spirit of your entrepreneurship, converting minds and brokering deals without your presence. By having a book to offer, you can consolidate continuous followership whenever you speak at events, without having to organize workshops, seminars, etc., thereby adding a passive income stream to your revenue. Your book will save you time by promoting your business while you’re busy building said business.  

A Clear Marketing Tool:

Across platforms like your social media profiles, websites, and other portfolio platforms, you may struggle to make your brand visible in defined systems without the buffering effect of a book, which will provide content strategy to win readership across these platforms, with the bonus of a book offering to learn more about the solutions you provide.

The digital branding journey limits how much of your brand you can communicate at varied times and yields no valuable returns. A book is an exhaustive medium that can communicate every facet of your codified methods without the limitations of time, format, or trend. You don’t want your years of smart and hard work to be reduced to the number of likes awarded to you by an algorithm on platforms, or to be beholden to how many thousands of dollars you have spent on promotional ads. A book is a tool that works for you when you’re awake or asleep, once you have promoted it to the right market group. By reading your book, your reader can go on a journey with you and about you, so that when they put down your book, they know if you’re the one to call, follow, and promote within their circles.

Proof of Authority:

There are three ways your book helps you build authority: 1. By converting your readers and improving your image across platforms through their following. 2. By convincing your reader by showing them the gritty truth behind your experiences in becoming who you are. When they read your book, they can connect with your trials, be inspired by your choices, learn from your mistakes, and be gratified by your achieved results. Every successful chapter primes expectations to see you in a different light, building a level of assurance about you. 3. Your book also heralds your achievements whenever someone searches for you. A book that does well in the market and garners awards, remarks, or titles speaks volumes about your perceived value.

A Portable Recruiter and Opportunity Finder:

Your book has a secret power you only pay for in ad promotion. Suppose you effectively communicate your systemized methods in an enrapturing storytelling discourse that feels more like a chat with a friend than a textbook. In that case, your readers will promote your book in their circles, increasing the reach of your vision and attracting the right personnel or opportunity for your business. There is no reason to second-guess the utility of a well-written book because, notwithstanding what stage of your career you are in right now, your book has the potential to build a reputation for you even as your business flourishes.

 A book not only attracts and connects with the right clients and opportunities; it also establishes a lasting template for all who share in your vision and have contributed to building something iconic. When people achieve great things, they often want to collaborate with like-minded individuals. You can preserve years of hard work by setting your book as a requirement for new hires in your company; By reading your book, your employees and business associates will embody your mentality in the face of adversity, thereby consolidating the integrity of your company, and replicating your mindset in new hires even in your absence.

 You should capture your vision and methods as a resource for many aspects of your business. If this article describes you as an entrepreneur or professional, here’s your signal to solidify your years of experience in a format that one can preserve, inherit, and continue even after you're gone.

Please speak with our team (Click here) about your book idea and schedule a no-pressure Free Consult, and let us explore the possibilities