Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (00:53)
Welcome back to another episode with us today is the editor in chief at Indie Books International, Lisa Apolinsky. She'll be talking today more about leveraging your area of genius to become the go-to authority everyone wants to work in. Lisa, so excited to have you on. How you doing today?
Lisa Apolinski (01:07)
Good Chris, I'm so glad we were able to get this on the books. I know I was sick and then you were sick. Flu's all around. Yeah, just horrible. ⁓
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (01:13)
We're all getting sick. It's that time of year. Yeah,
so excited to have you on, We're both somewhat healthy-ish. We always like to ask our entrepreneurs, tell us about your journey. What were you doing before that kind of led you in the direction you are on now?
Lisa Apolinski (01:22)
Yes.
Yeah, so ⁓ my journey started about 30 years ago when I kind of stumbled into marketing, if you can believe that. ⁓ I was actually a ⁓ job coster. I did job costing for production lines for ⁓ packaging.
of all things. And I started writing, I started creating thought leadership ⁓ pieces, I didn't know that they were called that at the time, And it just kind of morphed into this focus on content.
⁓ I was able to, I had no budget for marketing when I first started out in one of my first jobs. ⁓ You know, fast forward to now, ⁓ you know, I am editor in chief at Indie Books International. I also still do authority power work ⁓ as a side business, because leaders always lead, And ⁓ I have found that sharing my area of genius does two things.
It helps me attract right fit clients, So clients that are happy to work is me, respect what I do, are willing to pay, pay on time, show up ready to do the work. And also, it helps right fit clients to quickly find someone who can reduce their risk and help them do their job or their business better.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (03:03)
Absolutely. And for those who are listening, and haven't read the materials or the books about what an area of genius is can you tell us more about what that is?
Lisa Apolinski (03:11)
Yes, I believe every single person has an area of genius. You have something that if I told you, hey, you're only going to be allowed to do one thing the rest of your career, it's not going to happen. But I want you to visualize it. If you could only do one thing, one thing that you know you can do completely, transformatively, ⁓ uniquely in a way that disrupts the industry.
and you feel really good at the end of the day about what you've done. It's not one of those tasks where you're like, I don't want to do this. If you could do one thing, what would that be?
That's your area of genius. That's something that you bring to the table that really no one else can do the way you do it. And by tapping into that area of genius, you unleash that authority power to be able to help those clients move into their future state of success. ⁓
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (04:13)
Absolutely. And for those who are interested in kind of leveraging that area of genius, and they want to become that go- to authority, you know, the thought leader, how do they go about that? Is it as simple as let's make some content and we can, you know, maybe get published or write a book? What does that look like to you? Because I'm sure you've done a little bit of everything and you've seen what works.
Lisa Apolinski (04:33)
Yes, and I'm laughing, so, and I shouldn't laugh. Obviously as an editor in chief, I think the fastest way to authority power is to become an author, because you can't spell authority without the word author. However, I live in the world of multiple right answers. Authorship can mean many things to many people. It can be publishing a book, I have published five, I have four in the works this year, four.
I don't recommend that for anyone at all. ⁓ You can do an ebook. You can do ⁓ an audible book, where you're narrating something. It can be something very simple that you self publish. There's so many ways to becoming an author. Authorship is really about providing some sort of physical, tangible piece of content.
that your audience can carry with them. They can have it on their desk, They can have it in their briefcase. They can take it on a plane, They can reference it. That's all that authorship really is. And again, it can take many, many forms. ⁓ When you're looking at thought leadership and you talked about content, content for content's sake is not thought leadership. And I was giggling because I was working at one of my four books.
that I'm working on. just worked on a chapter is one of my co-authors, Colt Briner, and he talks about in there, and it's so true, think about what you're providing, what content you're putting out in the world. If you stop doing it, would your audience go, hey, where are you? What happened? Come back. Or would they go, meh.
and move on to something else. The former is thought leadership. The latter is just content. And content can, again, it can take many, many forms. But as your area of genius, maybe even interview yourself, Talk about something that you're passionate about, Talk about something that you see in the industry that you're like, man, everyone should really try to do it this way. Because if you did it this way, I think you'd see some real results.
or I'm seeing this mistake over and over, and over and I'm getting tired of seeing it. Stop, no more. I need you to stop doing that. Whatever it is, put that out, that kind of assistance where you're helping reduce risks, where you're helping make their job easier, where you're helping them make more revenue at the end of the day. That's what people are looking for and that cuts through that digital noise.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (07:27)
Absolutely. And when you're working with clients, let's say as an example, you finally have their published piece together, you're about to launch. How are they going to then leverage that book? Because it's like, can put it on your shelf and just let it sit there. How do you actually talk to people and leverage that to say, I am kind of a thought leader here?
Lisa Apolinski (07:49)
So the book is the starting point, not the finishing point. It's the start of the journey, not the end. ⁓ Either you are working on a book, you've published a book, you're preparing for the next book. Think about authors that you follow all the time. ⁓ Stephen King, Sue Grafton was one I used to follow all the time, constantly putting something out. Now, again,
I know it's a lot to say, put out a bunch of books. I've done five, where are yours? I totally get it. But at least start with one. Start is one. And again, it can take many forms. As you are producing your book, have conversations with your community, is your clients, Talk to them about the book, Talk to them about how it will impact them, Ask them to read it and give you a testimonial, ⁓ Interview them.
and see what they got out of the book and put that content out. And then as you're helping people with your book, you can also get on the stage, you can get on a podcast, you can do a webinar. Again, it's the starting line of your authority journey.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (09:08)
And considering that, it's almost like people also need to rethink, like, okay, if we go into a certain topic, this is my area of genius, they should probably have an offer that aligns with that authority as well, because if you get people excited about one certain topic, and then suddenly your offer is kind of seems like out of left field, like how is that related and gonna help me? I feel like it should like just naturally transition into what you offer. So I feel like those kind of go hand in hand and people should consider that.
Lisa Apolinski (09:38)
Absolutely, I could not agree more, Chris. The buyer's journey has to make sense for them. And I'm sure there are several things you can do really well. There's no doubt in my mind. What's that one signature thing that you can lead is? And then they can explore other aspects of it. But think about your favorite restaurant. ⁓
What's the one thing you go there for? Because there's probably one thing that you're like, yeah, I really want that. It's that signature dish, it's that dessert, it's that drink, whatever it is. They have a ton of other stuff, but you're walking in the door with the intent to buy because of the one thing. I'm not saying that you can't provide choice, but I believe in making the path really clear. If it's a no-brainer offer and people are like, yeah, I can do that and...
that's very clear to me, then they'll do it. Your book should align is that, absolutely. And that's why I also think there's more than one book in you. Because you have this absolute wealth of knowledge, if you tried to put it all in one book, you would fire hose your audience and they would drown in the information. Pick one problem, one problem that you're gonna solve for them and walk them through it.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (10:58)
bright and well.
Lisa Apolinski (11:03)
and pick the next problem and walk them through it. And your offer can tie into that. And your offer can have many facets, you know, like a box, right? It can be three dimensional. It doesn't have to be, you know, two dimensional. And it can still make sense. ⁓ I'll give you an example. For Indie Books International, our big thing is ghost writing. Ghost writing is our signature piece. I really think there's very few publication houses
that can ghostwrite the way we do. And we do it really in an affordable manner. We offer soup to nuts, but ghostwriting is our silver knife special that people come for because they know it works well. And then they can add on other things as they want to. ⁓ For my side business, ⁓ authority power absolutely is my area of genius.
But I have one client that I'm actually helping them to position for a rental property, which sounds odd, like rental property. Where's that from? But it's marketing and having ⁓ setting up an experience for a prospect, targeting a certain market, making it appealable to them. And I'm helping them navigate that. And I actually have experience in it. So it
It isn't what I offer on my website, but we started talking and it's a natural dovetail. So again, you're thinking about that buyer's journey and I also, you I love choosing your own adventure, but if you give them too many choices and they don't want to choose anything, make it really clear. They read the book and then they say, how do I work with you? And then you go, here you go. And then they work with you.
It makes that yes so much easier.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (13:04)
It does, absolutely. just like you said, throughout their buyer's journey, if they encounter friction, you know, whether they have to think real hard about something, it should be a logical next step. It should just make sense. They should want to say yes, as opposed to giving them more work, more to process. So yeah, too many options, too much information can just be overbearing.
Lisa Apolinski (13:24)
Yes, absolutely. And I love that you talked about it, that it's friction. ⁓ It's this trying to push something through or like, if you think about when you take clothes out of the dryer and there's like some static and you're trying to pull stuff apart and you're getting shocked and you're doing it because you have to, your buyer might go, that's too much work and they'll move on to somebody else. Not because you can't solve their problem, but because...
It feels like there's too much work involved to get there.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (13:55)
Absolutely. And with your experience, because you've been in the world of authority building, you're having conversations, you're meeting and networking with other people, ⁓ is there any trends or changes that you've seen within marketing, ⁓ whether it's the PR aspect or the authority? I mean, what's changing now that used to be the status quo before?
Lisa Apolinski (14:23)
won't say it was a status quo before, but something that is absolutely disrupting content and authority is AI. And we gotta address the AI elephant in the room. And I talk about this, I actually get on stage and talk about this a lot, which is ironic. ⁓ I believe that AI can help with ⁓ pulling out ideas, cleaning up content, ⁓
producing different versions of a piece. But where a lot of companies miss is they use AI to generate the idea. All they're doing is taking everybody else's idea and just regurgitating it. Again, ⁓ leaders always lead. So when you talk about your area of genius, when you have your authority and you're talking about it, what about your process?
what about your way of doing it really is disruptive and transformative. And you notice I'm not saying or language and I'm not saying better, faster, cheaper. No, that's AI's ⁓ job to do it faster and cheaper. And we're not AI, we're actual intelligence, right? And we want to showcase that actual intelligence. And that's where that area of genius comes in. A lot of people will...
just say, you know, write a piece for this instead of again, you can interview yourself, I've done it. Get on a zoom, record it, talk into it. ⁓ Do talk to text and transcribe it and then throw that into your AI platform of choice and ask, you know, what information do you see? What trend do you see? What, you know, how does this relate to these other pieces that I've written? That's always a fun thing to do. ⁓ To see
what your soapbox is and how you're pulling that soapbox through your content. ⁓ And again, I think AI is great in terms of taking your area of genius and making it into video, ⁓ call-outs, graphics, articles, blogs, white papers.
newsletter, email. I mean, the list goes on and on, right? And it's taking that and putting it into different forms. I always go back to food. I know that's weird. I always go back to talking about food. ⁓ If you think about, if you typically like to have chicken, there's different ways to make chicken. You can do it a variety of ways, but the foundation is still chicken.
Your area of genius is that chicken. And you can make it into different dishes. You can add spices to it, You can cook it a certain way, You can ⁓ slice it a certain way. You can add elements to it. ⁓ Side dishes and all sorts of stuff to make it super fun and fancy. Or you could just have chicken. But that foundation is still there. That's your area of genius. And that's what you should be pulling through for your different types of content. Because people will...
Engage is you in different ways.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (17:47)
Absolutely, I totally agree. Now for those who are interested, where can they find you and connect with you online?
Lisa Apolinski (17:53)
The easiest way to connect with me is to connect is me on LinkedIn and I do a monthly newsletter. And this is my PSA. For the love of all things holy, subscribe to my newsletter. I give away so much free content. And I also do what in this book is Colt Breiner, we do thought follow ship. I bring in an expert who has a different area of genius than me.
and I interview them and I learn about what they do and I provide that information to my community. There's so much information you can get from my newsletters. Do it. Sign up, connect is me, sign up for my newsletter. The other thing that I always like to do, I always offer, is I always like to do a free consult call. I love learning more about what you're up to, what problems you're hitting, ⁓ how I can support you.
Can I make an introduction? Can I connect to you is somebody? Can I offer a little piece of free advice to help you move that needle? My brand is being relentlessly helpful and that's part of it. So when you connect is me, say, hey, I'd love to set up that free 20 minute console call is you. How do I do that? And I would love to learn about you and your story and just see how I can support you.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (19:15)
Wonderful, and we'll have those links available down in the show notes and the description so everyone can get connected is Lisa here. Wanted to ask you, your years of building yourself up, I've always found myself being very influenced by mentors, just people who saw something in me, they provided me information, knowledge, or opportunity. Are there any mentors in your life that have just been so ⁓ impactful for your success? You maybe want to give them little shout out.
Lisa Apolinski (19:42)
absolutely, so ⁓ this is in no particular order. ⁓ My mentor, my publisher and my boss, Henry DeVries, who actually is the one that invited me into becoming editor-in-chief and a partner at Indie Books International, number one. Number two, Marc LeBlanc, who is a, ⁓ he's a co-partner is me at Indie Books International, he's chairman of the board, and he's also my business coach and he is phenomenal.
And then number three, Mark Schaeffer. I don't know if you know Mark Schaeffer. He, to me, is the gold standard of personal branding. He is one of the top LinkedIn voices. ⁓ He's published like 15 books. He does a, I'm also gonna give a shout out, he does a conference every year called The Uprising, where experts come together in Knoxville, Tennessee, and they share ideas and the future and they support and
create what that future is going to look like because they are the movers and shakers. And I love attending that conference. I can't go this year, but I'm absolutely going to go next year. I even if I have to walk there. ⁓ So if you're in marketing, even if you're in business, follow one or all of those individuals because again, the amount of information they provide for free is astronomical. And that's what caused me to be this brand of relentlessly helpful.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (21:10)
That is fantastic. Lisa, we have one final question we always like to ask. you we just wrapped up 2025. I'm sure you you know, got excited for 2026. Are there any either new products, things you're gonna do different, or are you kind of sticking with everything that's been working for you and kind of scaling and growing that piece?
Lisa Apolinski (21:30)
I'm always open to seeing what might come along. ⁓ I am perfectly execute just so that if there is something that I can do a little bit better, I will. ⁓ And like I said earlier, my big thing other than really getting into my new role as editor in chief, because you know, no small feat there, ⁓ producing four books again, I'm not saying do four books, but
One thing I would recommend to any business owner, if you thought about having a book, if you thought about authoring a book, explore it. And again, contact me. Let's have a conversation around it so we can see what it is that you want to write about and why you want to write about it. ⁓ I think it's a great thing to do. And honestly, I'm just trying to keep all my plates spinning.
as I'm doing all these new roles and responsibilities. And I think it's good. I really think it's going to be a great year. I think that ⁓ no matter what might be coming down the pike, ⁓ people who invest in their authority power and are the clear go-to always cut through any kind of concern or risk aversion or anything. So I'm absolutely going to be doing all of that.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (22:58)
That is fantastic. Lisa, I wanted to ⁓ just open the floor. Last couple of minutes are yours. Maybe if there's either a piece of advice for other entrepreneurs, business owners out there, or just something to help them think or motivate them a little bit.
Lisa Apolinski (23:14)
What I would say, if I could leave you with one thing, it would be this. Your marketing journey is like a climb with no summit. Wherever you are, you still have a hundred percent to go. Each day, you should just keep going. Try something new, connect with someone new, have a conversation, work on one aspect of your business.
Have a storm starter where you're doing tiny marketing actions to move the needle forward. Every single piece of that moves you up that summit, up that hill, up that mountain. And don't worry about, well that person has a bunch of followers or that person, don't compare yourself. Everyone's journey is unique and it doesn't matter. Because tomorrow's a new day. It just doesn't matter. Just keep going.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (24:14)
That's some great advice, Lisa. We appreciate it because you've accomplished so much. You're in a fantastic direction. And again, I feel like there is no summit for anybody. You can continue growing and expand beyond all of your wildest dreams. Wonderful. Lisa, thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it. Congratulations on all your success. Looking forward to what 2026 is gonna bring. I know it's going to be ⁓ a great, great year for you. So keep up the great effort.
Lisa Apolinski (24:27)
That's right, absolutely.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Chris. This was awesome.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (24:44)
Absolutely. Thank you.
Welcome back to another episode with us today is the editor in chief at Indie Books International, Lisa Apolinsky. She'll be talking today more about leveraging your area of genius to become the go-to authority everyone wants to work in. Lisa, so excited to have you on. How you doing today?
Lisa Apolinski (01:07)
Good Chris, I'm so glad we were able to get this on the books. I know I was sick and then you were sick. Flu's all around. Yeah, just horrible. ⁓
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (01:13)
We're all getting sick. It's that time of year. Yeah,
so excited to have you on, We're both somewhat healthy-ish. We always like to ask our entrepreneurs, tell us about your journey. What were you doing before that kind of led you in the direction you are on now?
Lisa Apolinski (01:22)
Yes.
Yeah, so ⁓ my journey started about 30 years ago when I kind of stumbled into marketing, if you can believe that. ⁓ I was actually a ⁓ job coster. I did job costing for production lines for ⁓ packaging.
of all things. And I started writing, I started creating thought leadership ⁓ pieces, I didn't know that they were called that at the time, And it just kind of morphed into this focus on content.
⁓ I was able to, I had no budget for marketing when I first started out in one of my first jobs. ⁓ You know, fast forward to now, ⁓ you know, I am editor in chief at Indie Books International. I also still do authority power work ⁓ as a side business, because leaders always lead, And ⁓ I have found that sharing my area of genius does two things.
It helps me attract right fit clients, So clients that are happy to work is me, respect what I do, are willing to pay, pay on time, show up ready to do the work. And also, it helps right fit clients to quickly find someone who can reduce their risk and help them do their job or their business better.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (03:03)
Absolutely. And for those who are listening, and haven't read the materials or the books about what an area of genius is can you tell us more about what that is?
Lisa Apolinski (03:11)
Yes, I believe every single person has an area of genius. You have something that if I told you, hey, you're only going to be allowed to do one thing the rest of your career, it's not going to happen. But I want you to visualize it. If you could only do one thing, one thing that you know you can do completely, transformatively, ⁓ uniquely in a way that disrupts the industry.
and you feel really good at the end of the day about what you've done. It's not one of those tasks where you're like, I don't want to do this. If you could do one thing, what would that be?
That's your area of genius. That's something that you bring to the table that really no one else can do the way you do it. And by tapping into that area of genius, you unleash that authority power to be able to help those clients move into their future state of success. ⁓
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (04:13)
Absolutely. And for those who are interested in kind of leveraging that area of genius, and they want to become that go- to authority, you know, the thought leader, how do they go about that? Is it as simple as let's make some content and we can, you know, maybe get published or write a book? What does that look like to you? Because I'm sure you've done a little bit of everything and you've seen what works.
Lisa Apolinski (04:33)
Yes, and I'm laughing, so, and I shouldn't laugh. Obviously as an editor in chief, I think the fastest way to authority power is to become an author, because you can't spell authority without the word author. However, I live in the world of multiple right answers. Authorship can mean many things to many people. It can be publishing a book, I have published five, I have four in the works this year, four.
I don't recommend that for anyone at all. ⁓ You can do an ebook. You can do ⁓ an audible book, where you're narrating something. It can be something very simple that you self publish. There's so many ways to becoming an author. Authorship is really about providing some sort of physical, tangible piece of content.
that your audience can carry with them. They can have it on their desk, They can have it in their briefcase. They can take it on a plane, They can reference it. That's all that authorship really is. And again, it can take many, many forms. ⁓ When you're looking at thought leadership and you talked about content, content for content's sake is not thought leadership. And I was giggling because I was working at one of my four books.
that I'm working on. just worked on a chapter is one of my co-authors, Colt Briner, and he talks about in there, and it's so true, think about what you're providing, what content you're putting out in the world. If you stop doing it, would your audience go, hey, where are you? What happened? Come back. Or would they go, meh.
and move on to something else. The former is thought leadership. The latter is just content. And content can, again, it can take many, many forms. But as your area of genius, maybe even interview yourself, Talk about something that you're passionate about, Talk about something that you see in the industry that you're like, man, everyone should really try to do it this way. Because if you did it this way, I think you'd see some real results.
or I'm seeing this mistake over and over, and over and I'm getting tired of seeing it. Stop, no more. I need you to stop doing that. Whatever it is, put that out, that kind of assistance where you're helping reduce risks, where you're helping make their job easier, where you're helping them make more revenue at the end of the day. That's what people are looking for and that cuts through that digital noise.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (07:27)
Absolutely. And when you're working with clients, let's say as an example, you finally have their published piece together, you're about to launch. How are they going to then leverage that book? Because it's like, can put it on your shelf and just let it sit there. How do you actually talk to people and leverage that to say, I am kind of a thought leader here?
Lisa Apolinski (07:49)
So the book is the starting point, not the finishing point. It's the start of the journey, not the end. ⁓ Either you are working on a book, you've published a book, you're preparing for the next book. Think about authors that you follow all the time. ⁓ Stephen King, Sue Grafton was one I used to follow all the time, constantly putting something out. Now, again,
I know it's a lot to say, put out a bunch of books. I've done five, where are yours? I totally get it. But at least start with one. Start is one. And again, it can take many forms. As you are producing your book, have conversations with your community, is your clients, Talk to them about the book, Talk to them about how it will impact them, Ask them to read it and give you a testimonial, ⁓ Interview them.
and see what they got out of the book and put that content out. And then as you're helping people with your book, you can also get on the stage, you can get on a podcast, you can do a webinar. Again, it's the starting line of your authority journey.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (09:08)
And considering that, it's almost like people also need to rethink, like, okay, if we go into a certain topic, this is my area of genius, they should probably have an offer that aligns with that authority as well, because if you get people excited about one certain topic, and then suddenly your offer is kind of seems like out of left field, like how is that related and gonna help me? I feel like it should like just naturally transition into what you offer. So I feel like those kind of go hand in hand and people should consider that.
Lisa Apolinski (09:38)
Absolutely, I could not agree more, Chris. The buyer's journey has to make sense for them. And I'm sure there are several things you can do really well. There's no doubt in my mind. What's that one signature thing that you can lead is? And then they can explore other aspects of it. But think about your favorite restaurant. ⁓
What's the one thing you go there for? Because there's probably one thing that you're like, yeah, I really want that. It's that signature dish, it's that dessert, it's that drink, whatever it is. They have a ton of other stuff, but you're walking in the door with the intent to buy because of the one thing. I'm not saying that you can't provide choice, but I believe in making the path really clear. If it's a no-brainer offer and people are like, yeah, I can do that and...
that's very clear to me, then they'll do it. Your book should align is that, absolutely. And that's why I also think there's more than one book in you. Because you have this absolute wealth of knowledge, if you tried to put it all in one book, you would fire hose your audience and they would drown in the information. Pick one problem, one problem that you're gonna solve for them and walk them through it.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (10:58)
bright and well.
Lisa Apolinski (11:03)
and pick the next problem and walk them through it. And your offer can tie into that. And your offer can have many facets, you know, like a box, right? It can be three dimensional. It doesn't have to be, you know, two dimensional. And it can still make sense. ⁓ I'll give you an example. For Indie Books International, our big thing is ghost writing. Ghost writing is our signature piece. I really think there's very few publication houses
that can ghostwrite the way we do. And we do it really in an affordable manner. We offer soup to nuts, but ghostwriting is our silver knife special that people come for because they know it works well. And then they can add on other things as they want to. ⁓ For my side business, ⁓ authority power absolutely is my area of genius.
But I have one client that I'm actually helping them to position for a rental property, which sounds odd, like rental property. Where's that from? But it's marketing and having ⁓ setting up an experience for a prospect, targeting a certain market, making it appealable to them. And I'm helping them navigate that. And I actually have experience in it. So it
It isn't what I offer on my website, but we started talking and it's a natural dovetail. So again, you're thinking about that buyer's journey and I also, you I love choosing your own adventure, but if you give them too many choices and they don't want to choose anything, make it really clear. They read the book and then they say, how do I work with you? And then you go, here you go. And then they work with you.
It makes that yes so much easier.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (13:04)
It does, absolutely. just like you said, throughout their buyer's journey, if they encounter friction, you know, whether they have to think real hard about something, it should be a logical next step. It should just make sense. They should want to say yes, as opposed to giving them more work, more to process. So yeah, too many options, too much information can just be overbearing.
Lisa Apolinski (13:24)
Yes, absolutely. And I love that you talked about it, that it's friction. ⁓ It's this trying to push something through or like, if you think about when you take clothes out of the dryer and there's like some static and you're trying to pull stuff apart and you're getting shocked and you're doing it because you have to, your buyer might go, that's too much work and they'll move on to somebody else. Not because you can't solve their problem, but because...
It feels like there's too much work involved to get there.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (13:55)
Absolutely. And with your experience, because you've been in the world of authority building, you're having conversations, you're meeting and networking with other people, ⁓ is there any trends or changes that you've seen within marketing, ⁓ whether it's the PR aspect or the authority? I mean, what's changing now that used to be the status quo before?
Lisa Apolinski (14:23)
won't say it was a status quo before, but something that is absolutely disrupting content and authority is AI. And we gotta address the AI elephant in the room. And I talk about this, I actually get on stage and talk about this a lot, which is ironic. ⁓ I believe that AI can help with ⁓ pulling out ideas, cleaning up content, ⁓
producing different versions of a piece. But where a lot of companies miss is they use AI to generate the idea. All they're doing is taking everybody else's idea and just regurgitating it. Again, ⁓ leaders always lead. So when you talk about your area of genius, when you have your authority and you're talking about it, what about your process?
what about your way of doing it really is disruptive and transformative. And you notice I'm not saying or language and I'm not saying better, faster, cheaper. No, that's AI's ⁓ job to do it faster and cheaper. And we're not AI, we're actual intelligence, right? And we want to showcase that actual intelligence. And that's where that area of genius comes in. A lot of people will...
just say, you know, write a piece for this instead of again, you can interview yourself, I've done it. Get on a zoom, record it, talk into it. ⁓ Do talk to text and transcribe it and then throw that into your AI platform of choice and ask, you know, what information do you see? What trend do you see? What, you know, how does this relate to these other pieces that I've written? That's always a fun thing to do. ⁓ To see
what your soapbox is and how you're pulling that soapbox through your content. ⁓ And again, I think AI is great in terms of taking your area of genius and making it into video, ⁓ call-outs, graphics, articles, blogs, white papers.
newsletter, email. I mean, the list goes on and on, right? And it's taking that and putting it into different forms. I always go back to food. I know that's weird. I always go back to talking about food. ⁓ If you think about, if you typically like to have chicken, there's different ways to make chicken. You can do it a variety of ways, but the foundation is still chicken.
Your area of genius is that chicken. And you can make it into different dishes. You can add spices to it, You can cook it a certain way, You can ⁓ slice it a certain way. You can add elements to it. ⁓ Side dishes and all sorts of stuff to make it super fun and fancy. Or you could just have chicken. But that foundation is still there. That's your area of genius. And that's what you should be pulling through for your different types of content. Because people will...
Engage is you in different ways.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (17:47)
Absolutely, I totally agree. Now for those who are interested, where can they find you and connect with you online?
Lisa Apolinski (17:53)
The easiest way to connect with me is to connect is me on LinkedIn and I do a monthly newsletter. And this is my PSA. For the love of all things holy, subscribe to my newsletter. I give away so much free content. And I also do what in this book is Colt Breiner, we do thought follow ship. I bring in an expert who has a different area of genius than me.
and I interview them and I learn about what they do and I provide that information to my community. There's so much information you can get from my newsletters. Do it. Sign up, connect is me, sign up for my newsletter. The other thing that I always like to do, I always offer, is I always like to do a free consult call. I love learning more about what you're up to, what problems you're hitting, ⁓ how I can support you.
Can I make an introduction? Can I connect to you is somebody? Can I offer a little piece of free advice to help you move that needle? My brand is being relentlessly helpful and that's part of it. So when you connect is me, say, hey, I'd love to set up that free 20 minute console call is you. How do I do that? And I would love to learn about you and your story and just see how I can support you.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (19:15)
Wonderful, and we'll have those links available down in the show notes and the description so everyone can get connected is Lisa here. Wanted to ask you, your years of building yourself up, I've always found myself being very influenced by mentors, just people who saw something in me, they provided me information, knowledge, or opportunity. Are there any mentors in your life that have just been so ⁓ impactful for your success? You maybe want to give them little shout out.
Lisa Apolinski (19:42)
absolutely, so ⁓ this is in no particular order. ⁓ My mentor, my publisher and my boss, Henry DeVries, who actually is the one that invited me into becoming editor-in-chief and a partner at Indie Books International, number one. Number two, Marc LeBlanc, who is a, ⁓ he's a co-partner is me at Indie Books International, he's chairman of the board, and he's also my business coach and he is phenomenal.
And then number three, Mark Schaeffer. I don't know if you know Mark Schaeffer. He, to me, is the gold standard of personal branding. He is one of the top LinkedIn voices. ⁓ He's published like 15 books. He does a, I'm also gonna give a shout out, he does a conference every year called The Uprising, where experts come together in Knoxville, Tennessee, and they share ideas and the future and they support and
create what that future is going to look like because they are the movers and shakers. And I love attending that conference. I can't go this year, but I'm absolutely going to go next year. I even if I have to walk there. ⁓ So if you're in marketing, even if you're in business, follow one or all of those individuals because again, the amount of information they provide for free is astronomical. And that's what caused me to be this brand of relentlessly helpful.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (21:10)
That is fantastic. Lisa, we have one final question we always like to ask. you we just wrapped up 2025. I'm sure you you know, got excited for 2026. Are there any either new products, things you're gonna do different, or are you kind of sticking with everything that's been working for you and kind of scaling and growing that piece?
Lisa Apolinski (21:30)
I'm always open to seeing what might come along. ⁓ I am perfectly execute just so that if there is something that I can do a little bit better, I will. ⁓ And like I said earlier, my big thing other than really getting into my new role as editor in chief, because you know, no small feat there, ⁓ producing four books again, I'm not saying do four books, but
One thing I would recommend to any business owner, if you thought about having a book, if you thought about authoring a book, explore it. And again, contact me. Let's have a conversation around it so we can see what it is that you want to write about and why you want to write about it. ⁓ I think it's a great thing to do. And honestly, I'm just trying to keep all my plates spinning.
as I'm doing all these new roles and responsibilities. And I think it's good. I really think it's going to be a great year. I think that ⁓ no matter what might be coming down the pike, ⁓ people who invest in their authority power and are the clear go-to always cut through any kind of concern or risk aversion or anything. So I'm absolutely going to be doing all of that.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (22:58)
That is fantastic. Lisa, I wanted to ⁓ just open the floor. Last couple of minutes are yours. Maybe if there's either a piece of advice for other entrepreneurs, business owners out there, or just something to help them think or motivate them a little bit.
Lisa Apolinski (23:14)
What I would say, if I could leave you with one thing, it would be this. Your marketing journey is like a climb with no summit. Wherever you are, you still have a hundred percent to go. Each day, you should just keep going. Try something new, connect with someone new, have a conversation, work on one aspect of your business.
Have a storm starter where you're doing tiny marketing actions to move the needle forward. Every single piece of that moves you up that summit, up that hill, up that mountain. And don't worry about, well that person has a bunch of followers or that person, don't compare yourself. Everyone's journey is unique and it doesn't matter. Because tomorrow's a new day. It just doesn't matter. Just keep going.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (24:14)
That's some great advice, Lisa. We appreciate it because you've accomplished so much. You're in a fantastic direction. And again, I feel like there is no summit for anybody. You can continue growing and expand beyond all of your wildest dreams. Wonderful. Lisa, thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it. Congratulations on all your success. Looking forward to what 2026 is gonna bring. I know it's going to be ⁓ a great, great year for you. So keep up the great effort.
Lisa Apolinski (24:27)
That's right, absolutely.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Chris. This was awesome.
Chris Troka - Focused-Biz.com (24:44)
Absolutely. Thank you.
