week 64: how i wrote 3 books and how can you too
many start but only a few finish and even few finish well
thank you to over 11,000 of you who read this weekly and share with your friends and family for behind the scenes on building a million dollar business from scratch and beyond.
i also include a personal note in the end so i am grateful that you let me do that without judgement.
having started 3 companies and also having written 3 business books, the most common question i get is this:
how did i get time to write books and build a business and have family time?
how do i hard shutdown from Friday night to Sunday with so much going on?
how do i prioritize?
well, to tell the truth, it’s a daily battle.
but for today, let’s put the book topic at rest.
the first book, i wrote was called Account based Marketing published by the dummies brand of Wiley, was also the first year of me starting Terminus.
we also hit a $1M in revenue that year so a lot was going on to say the least.
i hired a well know marketing person in Atlanta who i have admired (happy to intro her if you like) and pretty much gave her the next 6 months to work with me with 100% of her job was to write the book.
yep! i had written so much by that time on this topic online and what was in the mind, i simply needed someone to take the time to put it in a book.
so i hired her and spent most early mornings and evenings sharing my thoughts and brainstorming outline, ideas, details and then go run our business while she would put pen to paper and i will review it later the next day.
when we got stuck, we would interview a subject matter expert to gain clarity and the process continued.
well, the same thing with the 2nd book - ABM is B2B. where i already knew what i want to write and the format, so it took me about 3 months to go from idea to book which is still sold daily and has 300+ reviews on amazon.
my latest book in 2019, is MOVE - a 4 questions go-to-market framework with co-author Bryan Brown and that we worked together for almost a year and then when we were ready, we hired a team to work in for a week (4 hour daily calls since we knew the content, framework, format, and outcome very clearly) and guess what, the book became a WSJ and USA today best seller.
my lesson - get a team together early to move faster and better and you will go future.
on a personal note, Thursday night we had a storm that kicked out our lights for about 6 hours in the evening.
well, that was a great blessing.
as a family, i need something like that to put my priorities in my face.
we went and got Starbucks and then went a late night dinner at iHop —- don’t judge me, they have changed their menu and it was the only place near by that will accept the Vajre family at 9:30 pm at night. Crazy, i know!!!
candidly, the day did not start well for me with some work and personal challenges.
but i sure felt that we finished the day well, will laughter and making memories.
leaderpoint: many start but only a few finish and even a fewer finish well.
on the topic of book - if you want to write a book, comment below or DM me for i am having a 15 people cohort in Jan to come to weekend trip to write a book in a weekend and then coach them to finish it in the next 12 weeks, step by step. again, let me know if you are really serious about writing your next book in publish it in 2024.
3 books and 3 business amazing 👏! Book is not something I have on my to do list, though I write daily and post regularly! I some how like slowing down on the weekends and having work time, thinking time and just chill time ! Great post
Its not often you hear the true story about how books are written. Thanks for sharing.