Full Transcript for Richard Lowe- Why Creative Entrepreneurs Undercharge Without Knowing It

doing interviews to find to re understand what he wanted through an interpreter, his wife, and then he flew off to Afghanistan and I never heard from him again. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:28.879 So that book was over and done. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:29.680 Wow. 00:04:29.920 --> 00:04:35.920 And then my boss and I got into it because I was like, this is not enough money, and he said, Well, you know, whatever. 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:41.040 Uh you know, you can always go somewhere else, and I started my own company. 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:46.560 The very next day after I quit, the very next day, I got a contract for$10,000. 00:04:47.519 --> 00:04:50.079 The day after that, I got a contract for$15. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:55.279 And it was the 15 who didn't blink. 00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.120 Uh he said, oh sure, that's that sounds like a good price. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:02.879 And I realized at that moment I could have asked for a lot more. 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.399 Um that's one of the ones that I could name. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:08.879 Um, it's a company called No Before. 00:05:08.959 --> 00:05:14.079 They do security, cybersecurity, and I wrote their or actually updated their existing book twice. 00:05:14.240 --> 00:05:16.079 Uh it's called Cyberheist. 00:05:16.800 --> 00:05:18.720 And the first one was an update. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:22.639 The second one was mostly it was called a developmental edit. 00:05:22.800 --> 00:05:25.199 It went through and basically completely rewrote it. 00:05:25.360 --> 00:05:26.879 And after that, it was all over. 00:05:27.120 --> 00:05:29.680 I was I was just I was having fun. 00:05:30.639 --> 00:05:31.439 Excellent. 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:37.680 So you stepped out of a director level role at Trader Joe's and into ghostwriting, and something was waiting for you. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:45.680 A quiet voice that sounded exactly like market wisdom, telling you that creative work is worth what the market would bear and why you should start low. 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:47.839 Actually, it sounds like you worked for that guy. 00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:58.160 So when you first realized that voice wasn't, when did you first realize that voice wasn't giving you the real data and that your workshop had been infested by these cheap ones? 00:05:58.879 --> 00:06:02.399 The the when I got those two contracts, I didn't expect them. 00:06:02.480 --> 00:06:03.600 They just came into my lap. 00:06:03.680 --> 00:06:05.120 I didn't have to work for them. 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:17.439 Uh and it just it became it was like, wow, uh, I just made$25,000 and it came to me, and they paid in advance. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:18.079 Wow. 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.839 And I mean that they kept a small amount for the end, but most of it they paid in advance. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:31.279 So I just I was thinking somebody just dropped that I barely know dropped um a ton of money in my account and he trusted me. 00:06:32.079 --> 00:06:37.920 And

that was that was a big thing, and it is a big thing in ghostwriting, uh, and probably any freelancer field. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:41.360 You get trusted, and you never break that trust. 00:06:41.519 --> 00:06:42.480 That's an important thing. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:44.160 You have to keep the trust. 00:06:44.399 --> 00:06:44.879 Yeah. 00:06:45.120 --> 00:06:47.680 And uh it's it's can be difficult to do. 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:49.040 It absolutely can. 00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:54.560 And my entire my other business is palpape designs, and I it's completely freelance design work. 00:06:54.879 --> 00:06:56.399 And those moments are good. 00:06:56.480 --> 00:06:59.279 I've had the exact experience whereas they're like, oh, name your price. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:00.000 I named the price. 00:07:00.079 --> 00:07:01.759 They're like, sure, yeah, yeah, let's do that. 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:03.600 And you're like, man, alive. 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:05.920 Throwing the money on the table that could have gone for. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:10.800 So fortunately, I've had the opportunity to work with them long enough uh that I can now ask them. 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:12.800 I said, So what's the what's the ceiling here? 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.360 And I'll stay underneath it so that they keep me around. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:25.439 But I'm like, you know, because when you're starting out, you know, I was doing the same thing at$500,$100, you know,$800, just in when they came back to me and they said, uh, she actually pulled me aside. 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:30.720 She's like, it should be like$3,500, Paul, or it should be$5,000, or should be quoting a lot more, you know. 00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:35.519 And I was like, people pay that because it had never been my experience, much like you when you got into ghostwriting. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:40.800 It's like to have that opportunity, and you're like, wow, there is there is so much more that can be there. 00:07:40.879 --> 00:07:43.040 And you know, it all depends on where they're coming from. 00:07:43.120 --> 00:07:46.959 You know, like you said, those companies, they're like, Yeah, here you go, and they drop that money into you. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:55.839 But for some people, when you're making, you know, 900 bucks a book, you know, when somebody's like, yeah, it's gonna cost you fifteen thousand dollars, you're gonna hold back. 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:58.000 You're gonna be like, ah, that's that's too much. 00:07:58.079 --> 00:07:59.839 So you're afraid to step into that. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:08.639 But to fully recognize that those people are out there, those companies are out there that are willing to pay that amount, and it doesn't really matter to them. 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:18.000 It's like it's not that huge of a difference, even though it might be to you, is something that we have to grow and get used to as we're uh moving into the entrepreneur business. 00:08:18.560 --> 00:08:22.319 Well, actually, let's step back just a little bit and I'll tell you my first experience at that. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:22.959 Please. 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:27.519 Was um, I was a photographer also before, while I was at Trader Joe's. 00:08:27.680 --> 00:08:33.039 I picked that up because my wife passed away, and um, I wanted to get rid of the grief, and photography helped do that. 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:39.919 So I photographed Renaissance fairs and and um belly dancers of all things. 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:41.679 Uh they go together well. 00:08:42.639 --> 00:08:57.360 And while I was at the fair dressed in my my costume, um photographing the whole fair, and I'd usually take thousands of photographs at a single fair, somebody approached me, uh, one of the dancers, and she said, Um, I am having a wedding tonight. 00:08:57.519 --> 00:08:59.519 Um, would you like to photograph it? 00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:02.799 And I'd never photographed a wedding before, and I said, sure. 00:09:03.039 --> 00:09:05.519 And she said, Well, I'll give you 150 bucks. 00:09:05.840 --> 00:09:09.840 So I thought, okay, that sounds fair, naive me. 00:09:11.200 --> 00:09:14.000 And got my camera and went out there and took some pictures. 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:16.000 It turned out to be a pagan wedding. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:17.200 Wiccan. 00:09:17.279 --> 00:09:25.919 Um, very interesting um background to pagan weddings and and Wiccan weddings that I didn't did not understand. 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:27.440 It was a little shocking. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:35.039 And definitely not uh something this little bit more conservative person had experienced before, but it was fine. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:35.840 It was fine. 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:40.720 I mean, I was surrounded by beautiful women, and I didn't care, all in costume, all having a good time. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:49.519 And she was a singer, she's a fairly famous singer, you know, low-level famous singer, and uh in addition to being a dancer. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:57.519 And then I told my photographer friend I was so happy I got$150 for her after the wedding, and she said, dude, wedding started at$5,000. 00:09:59.279 --> 00:10:00.879 You got ripped off. 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:08.399 Yeah, yeah, how do you how do you like when your friend told you that, what's the reaction? 00:10:08.559 --> 00:10:10.240 Like what what's happening internally? 00:10:10.399 --> 00:10:12.240 Because we we've all been there at some point. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:13.679 So what's that internal reaction? 00:10:14.159 --> 00:10:23.360 Considering that she couldn't stop laughing for about four minutes, um, she said, You got away lucky because you you sound like it was a good experience. 00:10:23.519 --> 00:10:24.720 And I said, Yeah, it was a good experience. 00:10:24.879 --> 00:10:30.639 She said, Normally weddings are the biggest pain in the butt that you've ever seen because everybody's all stressed, you've got to get the perfect picture.

00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:35.919 If you happen to miss and miss the big one, the kissing picture, um, you're dead meat. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:41.679 And uh they don't want to pay fifty five thousand dollars, they want to pay more like five hundred, if that. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.120 You got people standing up, shooting pictures with their cameras now. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:47.440 I mean, I could go on and on and on. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:57.360 And I said, Yeah, none of that really happened except for you know, they were all singing and dancing and having a good time and doing funny stuff that I didn't that was shocking to me. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:00.240 And wicked stuff. 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.279 Probably not what you're picturing, different stuff. 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:05.200 I don't know. 00:11:05.279 --> 00:11:10.080 I mean, I come from this world here, so you're like, I probably have a good pretty good idea, but I'm sure my listening audience doesn't. 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:11.200 You probably do. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:16.639 Just just like for the wedding, they they bound themselves with vines, stuff like that. 00:11:16.799 --> 00:11:26.960 Not as mild, they had a uh concrete pad with eight pentacles with eight little statues at each end and stuff, and it was permanent. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:30.080 And all kinds of stuff like that. 00:11:30.240 --> 00:11:32.000 Um it's okay. 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.080 But that's what that's where I really learned. 00:11:34.320 --> 00:11:35.840 First of all, test your market. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:37.519 Absolutely, yeah. 00:11:37.759 --> 00:11:39.919 And second, when they come to key with the number, yeah. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.759 That's that's something you gotta question right off the bat. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:45.039 Start high and work low instead of start low, work high. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:47.120 Yeah, that never works. 00:11:50.000 --> 00:11:50.799 I had it work once. 00:11:51.120 --> 00:11:55.840 I had one project, I walked in, calls me up January 4th. 00:11:56.559 --> 00:11:59.279 Uh I was off, no, January 1st, excuse me. 00:11:59.360 --> 00:12:00.639 It was January 1st. 00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:02.879 He calls me up in the morning, two in the morning. 00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:03.679 I pick up the phone. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:05.679 I happen to be awake because I'm that kind of guy. 00:12:05.840 --> 00:12:12.320 And I pick up the phone and he says, Um, I gotta, I gotta, I've done work for him before. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:13.519 I said, I got a project for you. 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:17.120 And I said, Oh, that that's good, because he kind of dropped the one before that, COVID. 00:12:17.519 --> 00:12:20.639 And uh he was terrified of COVID. 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:23.279 And um I said, sure, um, what kind of project? 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:24.720 He said, Well, I got this and this and this. 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:29.120 And I was thinking in my head, uh, you know, that's that's that's a$5,000 project. 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:30.399 And he kept outlining it. 00:12:30.559 --> 00:12:33.600 And then he said, and I want to pay um how much will that cost? 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:34.320 And I said, uh. 00:12:34.559 --> 00:12:35.759 And he said, Well, don't tell me. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:40.080 Um, why don't I just give you um sixty thousand dollars for it? 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.639 And I I didn't, I was shocked, so I didn't say anything. 00:12:42.720 --> 00:12:44.080 He says, Okay, 75. 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.879 He's going like, well, this has never happened before. 00:12:50.720 --> 00:12:52.960 I wound up making over a hundred on it. 00:12:53.440 --> 00:12:53.919 Wow. 00:12:54.080 --> 00:13:05.600 And and that I think there's a valuable lesson in that that a lot of people don't recognize is that while you were uh silent in stupefication, that silence is actually a learned trait. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:08.000 If if you can learn it, it works to your advantage. 00:13:08.159 --> 00:13:11.360 I had a good medical friend of mine who did the exact same thing. 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:16.000 She just knew to stay quiet, and they just did everything in their power to sweeten the pot. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:17.600 And eventually she was like, Yeah, sure. 00:13:17.759 --> 00:13:17.840 Why? 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:21.440 You know, she would have said yes at the very beginning, but she just knows to stay quiet. 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:32.480 So it's it's it's something you really should learn to not just jump at the first thing, to you know, to let them sweat a little bit rather than you getting a nice fever sweat because that number sounded great. 00:13:32.799 --> 00:13:37.360 Well, most of my clients they're paying for it with their own money, so they do negotiate. 00:13:37.600 --> 00:13:39.759 This one was paying for it with company money. 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:44.399 So so it was a little, but I didn't find that out for a long time, so it was a little bit different. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:49.600 And for those listeners who are shocked at those prices for writing a book, that's good ghostwriting. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.159 Yeah, even today with AI and all that stuff. 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:55.200 AI doesn't write good books, people write good books. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:13:56.559 Correct, correct. 00:13:57.039 --> 00:14:06.879 A good book, you know, a nice book um of you know this size is probably gonna run you 30 to 40,000. 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:12.639 And you before you go die in shock, that's six to eight months of my life. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:13.679 Sure. 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:20.480 And I'll overlap two of them at a time, maybe three, and I'll get maybe you know, four of those a year. 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:21.519 So it's a good living. 00:14:21.600 --> 00:14:22.960 I'm not getting rich from it. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:23.679 Right. 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:26.320 Um that's what you're after. 00:14:26.639 -->

00:14:27.279 I'm comfortable. 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:32.320 I'm you know, it it's it pays the bills and the cat gets fed. 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:34.080 There you go. 00:14:34.320 --> 00:14:34.799 Absolutely. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:42.879 All right, so you quoted a number originally that made you flinch, certain that it was too high, but that client didn't blink. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:45.039 So he said he would have paid double. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:46.559 So walk me through that moment. 00:14:46.720 --> 00:14:51.440 What happened that uh when you realized how much you had left on the table? 00:14:51.519 --> 00:14:57.200 And what did that moment tell you about how long the chieflings had been adjusting your scale? 00:14:58.480 --> 00:14:59.759 All my life. 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:14.720 I I realized at that moment I had one of those moments where I look back on the past for when I first got a job when I was 17 up till now, or actually before that, when I was like five, everybody gave me what the least they could get away with. 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:18.879 And I didn't think I had much to say about it. 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:25.360 But now it's like I don't have to put up with it. 00:15:25.759 --> 00:15:31.519 I've got savings, I've got you know emergency funds, I've got investments, I've got all kinds of stuff. 00:15:31.679 --> 00:15:34.879 If I don't get your gig, I'm not gonna die. 00:15:35.759 --> 00:15:41.919 I want your gig, you know, it sounds like a great book, you're a nice person and stuff, but you're gonna pay me fairly. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:46.879 And the fairly is what I just said, because it is a lot of work. 00:15:47.600 --> 00:15:52.480 It's not even even with AI in there, it's and I don't write books with AI. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:16:04.799 I read I use AI as a tool to help me with certain just like I would hire a VA for it, a virtual assistant for it, right hire artificial intelligence to do certain things. 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:13.039 Um it was it was like, oh, for my entire life I've been underselling myself. 00:16:13.759 --> 00:16:17.360 I've been taking less pay than I should have at my jobs. 00:16:17.519 --> 00:16:30.960 I've been boss would say we don't have the money for for promoting, you know, to give you a raise this year, yet the company profits increase by 20% or whatever, etc. 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:35.360 And it was like my whole life just went, I gotta change. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:37.759 Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:39.200 And it's good to have that wake-up call. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:45.840 I mean, depending on where you're at in your life, but I mean, at some point we all have it, and it is good to have it to have that wake-up moment. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:54.080 And some people they they fall into a pit of despair because of it, because they look at they have that reflection moment and they think that's where they have to live. 00:16:54.159 --> 00:16:59.519 And it sounds like you had that moment, but then you're like, okay, going forward now, I now know to correct. 00:16:59.679 --> 00:17:07.519 And so you you actually learn from that as opposed to held yourself back because of the however you felt about it when that came up. 00:17:07.920 --> 00:17:12.319 Well, I've this I don't know if this is scientifically true, but it's true for me. 00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:16.240 Depression is keeping your focus on the past for me. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.599 Anxiety is keeping my focus on the future. 00:17:19.920 --> 00:17:23.839 So you get anxious about things that it might happen and blah blah blah blah blah. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:32.160 For me, the more calm place is wearing being worried, being concerned with right now, and that seems to work very well. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:35.680 Yeah, I've got enough to pay the bills, I've got enough in the bank, I'm not worried about it. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:38.319 Um, I got you know a comfortable place. 00:17:38.400 --> 00:17:45.599 Um, I actually live inside a nature preserve, which is interesting because there are bobcats and alligators. 00:17:45.839 --> 00:17:47.119 It's Florida after all. 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:47.839 Yeah. 00:17:48.079 --> 00:17:52.480 I'm on the shores of a lake, it's 20 feet outside my door, my window, it's actually in a swamp. 00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:54.319 And there are alligators. 00:17:55.039 --> 00:17:59.440 Um it's best not to be walking out there at night and don't let the cat out unless you don't like the cat. 00:17:59.839 --> 00:18:00.480 Right. 00:18:02.799 --> 00:18:03.519 Absolutely. 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:14.079 So the same brain that ran enterprise systems for Trader Joe's eventually looked at your creative business and asked, why are you letting something that small set your prices? 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:19.039 So, what does it take for creative entrepreneurs to wake up the operator's brain? 00:18:19.200 --> 00:18:25.279 So, how do you start running a creative business like a real operation instead of a wing and a prayer? 00:18:26.720 --> 00:18:28.079 You treat it. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.119 You have to treat it as a profession. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:37.039 You have to be professional, and that's a whole set of things. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:39.279 Um, come up with a brand. 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.000 That brand Hawaiian shirts are part of my brand. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:45.440 It means that I'm because I want to be easy to communicate with. 00:18:45.519 --> 00:18:49.440 It's a lot easier to communicate with somebody in Hawaiian shirt than it is with somebody in a suit. 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:52.240 Uh at the customers that I have. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:18:55.599 Now, if I was in a lawyer business or something, I'd probably wear a suit. 00:18:55.839 --> 00:18:58.720 Specifically, a blue suit is what I'm told lawyers wear. 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:01.839 There's actually a code almost. 00:19:02.559 --> 00:19:04.160 Um I haven't done a lawyer book

yet. 00:19:04.240 --> 00:19:07.440 That'd be and uh hey, people out there, if you're a lawyer, you need a book. 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:08.880 There you go. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:10.160 I gotta write it. 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:12.319 Um where was I? 00:19:12.559 --> 00:19:15.440 Um you gotta treat it as a business. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:16.000 Okay. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:19.440 And you have to separate the business from the personal. 00:19:19.599 --> 00:19:28.000 So I have a space in here, in my I I converted my dining room because I live alone, I don't need a dining room, um, to my office. 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:30.160 And when I'm in my office, I'm working. 00:19:30.400 --> 00:19:32.799 When I'm not in my office, I'm not working. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:35.039 And it's a good separation. 00:19:35.119 --> 00:19:45.119 There's a there's not a door, but there's a big space there, and then I got books behind me, I got butterflies above me, so if I get depressed, I can just look up at the butterflies. 00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:51.119 Literally, butterflies, you know, big ones in cases that are from a butterfly farm in South South America. 00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:53.279 Legal butterflies, you know. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:20:01.680 They didn't butterflies only live a week anyway, so it's not really bad to kill them, but they're in plastic and they're in acrylics and things. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:03.920 It's all set up for me to be a writer. 00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:08.319 Got my writing books right here in a circular shelf. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:12.319 And everything's professional. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:18.319 And that's that's the key, is you you have to realize you're not an amateur. 00:20:18.559 --> 00:20:19.359 You're professional. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:28.640 And if you're not, if you don't feel like you're a professional, then what's what's going on to cause you to feel that in your life? 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:31.200 Do you are you are you not dressing right? 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:32.559 Do you not have your brand set up? 00:20:32.720 --> 00:20:35.119 Are you not asking high enough prices? 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:39.279 Are you um not achieving your goals? 00:20:39.440 --> 00:20:42.240 I mean, whatever the problem is, debug it and fix it, debug it. 00:20:42.319 --> 00:20:45.359 I'm a computer guy if it's the best, fix it. 00:20:46.799 --> 00:20:47.359 Yeah, yeah. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:49.839 I mean, it's and that's that's brilliant advice. 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:55.119 Uh, and I love the idea of uh setting up a sanctuary and not it doesn't have to be in a closed room or anything like that. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.119 A place that says I am at work versus I am at rest or I'm at play. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:05.599 And then also like doing that introspection to look at what you're doing and saying, you know, am I taking this seriously? 00:21:05.920 --> 00:21:07.119 Do I feel like a professional? 00:21:07.200 --> 00:21:10.079 And if not, what steps

do I need to make to get myself there? 00:21:10.640 --> 00:21:11.920 It's all brilliant advice. 00:21:12.319 --> 00:21:15.599 It's also important not to take not you said take it seriously. 00:21:15.839 --> 00:21:21.119 That's different than hurting yourself with anxiety and stuff over it. 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:27.200 You want to treat it seriously, but not necessarily take it seriously as in internalize it. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:27.920 There you go. 00:21:28.319 --> 00:21:34.160 Because then you're gonna give yourself um uh uh you know stomach problems and all that kind of stuff. 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:35.200 Yeah. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:35.680 Yeah. 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:40.240 Money's always gonna be an issue for freelancers because it's a feast or famine. 00:21:40.640 --> 00:21:41.039 Yep. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:43.839 And and very few freelancers solve that. 00:21:44.079 --> 00:21:48.480 Usually they solve it by turning turning their business into something more than just them. 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:50.559 And then even then it becomes feast or famine. 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.599 Especially if you're feasting famine on a different scale. 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:53.839 Yeah. 00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:54.559 Exactly. 00:21:54.720 --> 00:21:56.319 Because then you then you got people to worry about. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:57.839 Right, right. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.759 And that's a different kind of stress altogether. 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:00.720 Oh, yeah. 00:22:00.960 --> 00:22:10.400 So most creative entrepreneurs will tell you that their work can't be systematized, that writing, designing, or making is inherently unpredictable and personal. 00:22:10.559 --> 00:22:13.359 But you built custom software for your production pipeline. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:15.279 You're 160 books in. 00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:18.559 So what do you say to a creative who insists their work is different? 00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:21.599 That systems will kill the soul of what they make? 00:22:22.079 --> 00:22:23.839 That they're looking at it wrong. 00:22:24.640 --> 00:22:36.160 They're looking at the creation, which is something that is personal and introspective and important to them, but they're expanding that through the whole business. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:43.039 So you want to you want to um you want to have a lead generation pipeline. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:44.319 So you want to have leads coming in. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.000 That certainly can be systemized. 00:22:46.160 --> 00:22:47.839 That's no creativity there at all. 00:22:47.920 --> 00:22:51.440 That's just finding out how you get leads and getting them in. 00:22:51.680 --> 00:22:59.200 You want to have a checklist for when I finish a book or when I'm working through a book, did I meet milestone one? 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.680 What are the goals for meeting one, two, three, four, five? 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:03.200 Because I get paid by milestone. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.599 So I want to make sure I meet those milestones and do them on time because I want the money. 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:10.400 And you know, have I submitted the invoice? 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:11.599 Have I finished the book? 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:13.519 Have I all these things? 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:15.839 So you systemize systematize things. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:20.400 Yeah, the book is creative, but all the systems around it aren't. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:22.480 And just build those properly. 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:23.839 I can't use a CRM. 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:25.680 I've never been able to use a CRM. 00:23:25.920 --> 00:23:28.240 A customer something management. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:31.359 Let's you manage your custom customer database. 00:23:31.599 --> 00:23:31.920 Yes. 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:33.759 Um I can't. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:35.279 I've just never been able to do it. 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:36.720 But if you can, use one. 00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.119 If you can't, I I use uh use Excel. 00:23:39.839 --> 00:23:41.680 I'm an old-fashioned dude. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:42.480 It works. 00:23:43.440 --> 00:23:46.640 But then but then I have a hundred or two leads, you know. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.160 I don't have a lot of leads. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:50.319 I don't need a lot of leads. 00:23:50.880 --> 00:23:51.920 I mean, right. 00:23:52.160 --> 00:23:54.559 Yeah, and I think that's an important thing for a lot of people. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:59.839 And I and I say it I think on every single time I'm on air, is that you don't need millions of people. 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.640 You need enough to keep you busy and enough to keep you comfortable. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:08.720 If you're charging right and you're comfortable, you've got that, then you don't need a ton of leads to to make it happen. 00:24:09.119 --> 00:24:11.279 Well, and you got to choose your business right. 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:15.519 Are you gonna be on Fiverr and are you gonna be making$10 per gig? 00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:20.319 That's gonna take you a long time to make a lot of money, and you're gonna be working your ass off all the time. 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:28.160 Probably gonna have a little staff that you you know you subcontract to, probably contractors, and you're gonna be really busy because they're little leads. 00:24:28.400 --> 00:24:35.119 Me, I I only need you know, four to six of those contracts a year, and I'm doing pretty damn well. 00:24:35.759 --> 00:24:36.160 Yeah. 00:24:36.400 --> 00:24:42.319 And it's just as much work to get a$50 lead as it is to get a$50,000 lead. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:43.920 Absolutely. 00:24:44.079 --> 00:24:44.400 Absolutely. 00:24:44.880 --> 00:24:45.920 Close them and stuff. 00:24:47.119 --> 00:24:57.920 So that actually leads into this perfect lead into the next question, which is you said that raising your prices changed who showed up, not just what you earn, but who the clients were. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:06.559 So

for creative entrepreneurs who are terrified that charging more will drive people away, what actually happens on the other side of that price increase? 00:25:06.720 --> 00:25:08.880 Who leaves and who arrives? 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:11.839 Well, it changes who you're looking for. 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:18.000 If I was doing$500 books, I would be out on Facebook and Fiverr and things getting$500 books. 00:25:18.079 --> 00:25:24.160 And it'd be an entirely different kind of Legion and an entirely different kind of process. 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:33.200 And those for a$500 book, I'm gonna write it with AI because I can't write a$500 book in any respectable amount of time. 00:25:33.519 --> 00:25:33.680 Sure. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:37.839 That's one reason why I don't do it, because I don't like writing with AI because it makes crappy books. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:40.160 I mean really crappy books. 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:54.640 Um, but when you have a higher price, you start it and you start pitching to those people, you start attracting people who have money and who are willing to spend it. 00:25:55.039 --> 00:26:05.119 Now, when you put together your um your ideal customer, there's several things, there's there's a concept called the ideal customer in sales, and you you you build that. 00:26:05.279 --> 00:26:06.400 Okay, who's my ideal customer? 00:26:06.559 --> 00:26:17.920 Well, it's it's somebody who's well, I'm just making this up, who's male and conservative or female and liberal or whatever, and who wears green pants and you know, whatever. 00:26:18.079 --> 00:26:24.480 One of those criteria has to be, and has the money for my services and is willing to spend it. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:30.799 So if you're going after a market that doesn't have the money, what are you doing? 00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:31.440 Right. 00:26:32.000 --> 00:26:32.799 Yeah, yeah. 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:39.279 And it's a hard lesson to learn because it, you know, at when when you're first starting out, you want to help every anybody who would want your services. 00:26:39.440 --> 00:26:42.480 You're like, I I want to be useful, I want to be helpful, I want to help everyone. 00:26:42.559 --> 00:26:55.039 But then you get the$500 jobs, you get the hundred dollar jobs, and you're like, I I feel like I'm giving it away for free, even though I know making something, but it's not enough is definitely not all you know what my time is worth. 00:26:55.200 --> 00:27:12.160 And you start to get embittered by it, uh, as opposed to you know like changing gears and then trying to make that adjustment from going from you know charging$100,000,$500,000 to try and then try to find completely different people that may not even be in the circles that you're familiar with. 00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:15.759 So you're like, how do I entice those people when I'm a$500 person? 00:27:15.920 --> 00:27:18.319 How do I find that$50,000 person? 00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:23.839 And creating that character sheet and really digging into like who are my ideal clients? 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:31.759 And it's it's uh I think the best advice I ever got was your ideal client, when you're thinking about your ideal client, picture that they have kidnapped your children. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:37.599 Like, what lengths would you go to to find out everything you need to know about that person to get your kid back? 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:39.039 That's how you should approach it. 00:27:39.200 --> 00:27:45.599 So if you are unfamiliar with who your ideal client should be, if you're unfamiliar with that lifestyle, whatever, research. 00:27:45.839 --> 00:27:46.559 Dig into it. 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.240 You know, the information is out there. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:54.720 There's a book by a guy named Larry Wingett, and he's called The Pitbill of Coaches or something like that. 00:27:54.880 --> 00:27:56.880 And he writes books that are in your face. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:27:58.559 Oh, he curses in there, it's all good. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:03.759 I mean, they're they're if you do if you if you get hurt, your feelings hurt easily, don't read his books. 00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:08.000 And one of them is time, and you can tell from the title, one of them's called People Are Idiots and I Can Prove It. 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:16.880 And one of the things he says in there is if you want to make it, you want to be rich, stop hanging out with people who aren't rich. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:18.559 Hang out with rich people. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:20.240 They will pull you up. 00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:20.799 Yep. 00:28:20.960 --> 00:28:26.799 It's like um if you're an alcoholic and trying to get over being an alcoholic, you don't hang out with alcoholics. 00:28:27.039 --> 00:28:27.359 Right. 00:28:27.599 --> 00:28:32.559 If you're a smoker and you're trying to get rid of kick the habit of smoking, you certainly don't hang out with smokers. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:35.759 You cannot quit smoking if you're hanging out with smokers. 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:40.000 I know my wife was a smoker, so it's crabs in a pot. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:41.920 I don't know if you're it's the same analogy. 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:46.480 You know, if there's a crab, if a bunch of crabs in the pot, one's trying to crawl out, the other ones will pull it back in. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.880 And it's the exact same same situation. 00:28:49.039 --> 00:28:57.519 If you're in that, if you're a smoker, if you're a drinker, if whatever you're into, if you're if you're around people who can't afford your services, and you keep surrounding yourself with those people, they're going to keep you there. 00:28:57.599 --> 00:28:58.400 And they're gonna do it. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:00.799 And unfortunately, humans are the worst, they're worse than crabs. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:11.680 Crabs just grab you and throw you back in, but people are worse because they'll start to like defame you, they'll start to put you

down, they'll do everything that they can to keep you in your place, and that place is amongst them. 00:29:11.839 --> 00:29:12.319 So, yes. 00:29:12.720 --> 00:29:14.640 Uh, had a band instructor when I was young. 00:29:14.720 --> 00:29:19.359 He used to say that doctors hang out with doctors, and I was like, we didn't understand what that meant. 00:29:19.440 --> 00:29:22.240 And he's like, Well, this drug runner just went to jail. 00:29:22.319 --> 00:29:26.319 He was a student that was in the band and he's gone because he was hanging out with drug runners. 00:29:26.480 --> 00:29:28.559 He wouldn't have that problem if you hung out with band kids. 00:29:28.960 --> 00:29:30.640 Like, oh, that makes more sense. 00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:31.279 Right. 00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:38.079 So if you want to, if you want to be richer, you want to have a better business, hang out with people who will pull you up. 00:29:38.319 --> 00:29:43.039 Hang out with people that you feel like I'm less than everybody in this room. 00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:47.359 Not people like, oh yeah, I'm better than anybody in this room, or I'm not equal with anybody in this room. 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:51.759 You wanted them to be better than you because they'll pull you up if you can survive. 00:29:52.720 --> 00:29:53.200 Right. 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:55.440 Yeah, it's uncomfortable, don't get me wrong. 00:29:55.599 --> 00:29:56.559 It is uncomfortable. 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:57.920 But you'll get used to it, you know. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:29:59.119 And it's uh, what do they say? 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:02.960 That you know, your your floor used to be your ceiling, your glass ceiling. 00:30:03.039 --> 00:30:04.240 You broke through that that ceiling. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.359 Now you're standing on that floor. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:10.559 So the next one, there's gonna be a level of um of being uncomfortable when you elevate to that next level. 00:30:10.640 --> 00:30:14.160 And but eventually it becomes your new floor, and you'll just keep growing that way. 00:30:14.720 --> 00:30:21.599 My next book that I'm gonna write is gonna be called it's I don't have a title yet, but the concept is we're all in a box. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.279 Everybody has a box around them. 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:27.440 And my the it the concept is why get rid of the box. 00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:30.319 You shouldn't you should why are you building these boxes? 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:32.880 Just get rid of it and go out and do stuff. 00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:35.200 I mean I think that's how I live my life. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:37.119 It's boxless. 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:38.319 So I understand. 00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:39.920 Yeah, but even you got a box. 00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:42.240 There's places you won't go, there's things you won't do. 00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:46.640 And you know, there's there's of course the reasonable stuff. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:50.319 I'm not gonna go hang out on a street corner where

I'm likely to get mugged. 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:52.000 That's that's just stupid. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:30:53.680 But that's part of my box. 00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:54.400 Right. 00:30:54.720 --> 00:31:00.319 I also tend to be a bit of a hermit because I'm a writer and I'm very I'm I'm introverted but not shy. 00:31:00.480 --> 00:31:01.440 Does that make sense? 00:31:01.759 --> 00:31:02.079 Yep. 00:31:02.240 --> 00:31:03.839 So extroverted, introvert. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:04.480 Yep. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:06.319 Yeah, yeah. 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:09.920 So it it uh also severely ADHD. 00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:15.920 So it makes that's a very interesting story, by the way, being ADHD. 00:31:16.880 --> 00:31:18.000 Yeah, feel free to explain. 00:31:18.240 --> 00:31:22.559 I learned I was 97 percentile ADHD when I was 64. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:23.599 Wow. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:25.200 Which is last year. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:34.400 And my my whole concept of my entire life, as soon as I found that went, oh yeah, that makes sense. 00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:38.480 Because the pattern, you remember one of those things where you learn it and the whole pattern goes. 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:40.960 And that was one. 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:43.759 I was like, oh yeah, that explains everything. 00:31:44.640 --> 00:31:53.279 The scatter, you know, why I can work on 50,000 things at once and and so scattered and everything. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:31:57.200 And which is interesting, it actually that does lead into my next question. 00:31:57.680 --> 00:31:59.519 Yeah, don't read my don't read my don't read mine. 00:32:01.279 --> 00:32:09.119 So you're go you've ghostwritten over 54 books and published over 113 under your own name, and that is staggering output. 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:16.799 So for creative entrepreneurs who struggle to finish one project, who start strong and abandon, what does your production discipline actually look like? 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:23.440 And what's the system that keeps the work moving when the cheaplings are gone and the real work begins? 00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:25.039 Focus. 00:32:26.000 --> 00:32:29.279 Um ADHDs have something called hyperfocus. 00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:38.480 So, like after this, I have to work on a client and I have to finish two chapters, which is 7,000 words by Friday night. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:40.079 I haven't started yet. 00:32:42.160 --> 00:32:43.119 And that's normal. 00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:51.839 So I will I will turn out the lights, turn on some music, sit down and just focus on it. 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:56.160 And I'll bang those out in the first draft in probably six hours. 00:32:56.640 --> 00:33:03.759 Then I'll do a second draft and a third draft and send it off to the client and he'll rip it to shreds because he's like that. 00:33:04.960 --> 00:33:06.000 Send it back to me. 00:33:06.160 --> 00:33:12.720 He's fine with it too, because he's he's he's realized that I'm the writer, he's this he's the knowledge expert, he knows the subject. 00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:13.680 I don't. 00:33:14.079 --> 00:33:16.160 So of course I'm gonna write it wrong. 00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:19.599 But I put in the scaffolding for him so he can write the story around it. 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:21.759 So we have a pretty good working relationship. 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:28.000 And uh that hyperfocus really pays off. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:30.240 Yeah, absolutely. 00:33:30.400 --> 00:33:35.519 I I was diagnosed at 50 with ADHD, and again, all those bricks kind of fell into place. 00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:36.559 Ah, that makes sense. 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:37.359 You know the feelings. 00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:43.200 Uh yeah, it I always tell people, you know, I work six times faster than most people, and they're like, we don't understand how that's possible. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:45.680 My wife says it all the time, nobody works at the speed of Paul. 00:33:45.920 --> 00:33:46.799 And it's like, yeah. 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:48.799 I understand that too. 00:33:49.279 --> 00:33:50.880 I mean, I can hyperfocus. 00:33:51.119 --> 00:33:56.400 I'll bang out a full novel, a hundred thousand-word novel in a week. 00:33:57.359 --> 00:33:58.319 The first draft. 00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:03.359 And then I'll go through and I'll I'll edit it and stuff, and then two weeks have gone by and it's done. 00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.799 And and then it goes out on Ingram. 00:34:07.119 --> 00:34:11.840 I don't publish on Amazon, it goes out to Ingram Spark, which then puts it on Amazon. 00:34:12.239 --> 00:34:13.840 Yeah, but then you're going through Ingram. 00:34:14.000 --> 00:34:16.239 Then you can get into bookstores, then you can do other things with it. 00:34:16.320 --> 00:34:17.920 You know, Ingram's a better way to go. 00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:20.880 Well, Amazon publishes through Ingram anyway. 00:34:21.280 --> 00:34:21.599 Oh. 00:34:21.920 --> 00:34:24.000 All of its paperbacks go through Ingram. 00:34:24.800 --> 00:34:25.440 Interesting. 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:28.960 Yeah, so why not just why not just go to Ingram to begin with? 00:34:29.119 --> 00:34:31.599 Ingram's a much less hostile place anyway. 00:34:32.000 --> 00:34:32.320 Agreed. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:35.519 Ingram is Ingram is a publisher. 00:34:36.320 --> 00:34:40.079 Amazon is a platform, and Amazon is an advertising platform. 00:34:40.559 --> 00:34:43.360 Ingram doesn't have any real advertising. 00:34:43.760 --> 00:34:44.320 Right. 00:34:44.559 --> 00:34:44.960 Right. 00:34:45.679 --> 00:34:47.599 Look at those pearls of wisdom that came out of nowhere. 00:34:47.679 --> 00:34:48.079 That's wonderful. 00:34:48.159 --> 00:34:48.239 Great. 00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:50.639 I've published over 160 books. 00:34:50.719 --> 00:34:54.239 They're all sell well three of them were traditional published. 00:34:54.320 --> 00:34:57.039 All the rest were self-published. 00:34:57.440 --> 00:34:58.320 Nice, nice. 00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:00.400

And you found obviously you found success with that. 00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:04.719 And so that's in so if you're listening, follow the advice. 00:35:05.360 --> 00:35:07.920 Literally leaving breadcrumbs for breadcrumbs for you. 00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:10.000 Three of my clients did traditional. 00:35:10.239 --> 00:35:15.840 The problem with traditional is it take that's the one of the big five publishing houses, is they take a long time. 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:24.960 That's a multi-year long process, and you by their rules, you get lower royalties, but you will get more sales. 00:35:26.320 --> 00:35:32.719 But if you do if you do self-publishing, you can publish it today, no matter how crappy it is. 00:35:33.679 --> 00:35:38.400 And you'll get less sales unless you promote it. 00:35:39.280 --> 00:35:43.679 My biggest bestseller got 15,000 copies and sold in three days. 00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:44.719 Oh, nice. 00:35:44.960 --> 00:35:48.079 That was a difficult task, but I wanted to prove I could do it. 00:35:48.559 --> 00:35:52.239 Um, I don't really bother now because that's not really my job, my what I do. 00:35:52.400 --> 00:35:55.360 I write these books, I put them out there, people buy them, they buy them. 00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:56.880 It's more fun. 00:35:57.280 --> 00:36:01.039 One of the ones I'm polishing up now is called Collision with Andromeda. 00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:05.679 It postulates um intelligent galaxies are intelligent. 00:36:06.880 --> 00:36:12.159 And of course, Milky Way is gonna collide with Andromeda in two and a half million years. 00:36:12.239 --> 00:36:14.480 Well, what if Milky Way doesn't want to? 00:36:15.679 --> 00:36:16.400 Interesting. 00:36:16.639 --> 00:36:19.360 So it has a kind of a war. 00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:20.880 Huh. 00:36:21.199 --> 00:36:22.800 Humans are stuck in the middle. 00:36:23.280 --> 00:36:24.480 Of course. 00:36:25.440 --> 00:36:27.280 Yeah, it's like just finishing it up. 00:36:27.360 --> 00:36:29.920 It's gonna probably go on sale this this weekend. 00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:30.800 Oh, really? 00:36:30.960 --> 00:36:32.000 Like just finishing it up. 00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:32.320 Excellent. 00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:32.639 Excellent. 00:36:32.719 --> 00:36:33.360 Yeah, it's going to save it. 00:36:33.599 --> 00:36:35.119 We'll make sure that we put that into links there. 00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:36.960 The last edit, yeah. 00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:37.920 Wonderful. 00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:40.159 Yeah, and then I'm I'm publishing another one this weekend. 00:36:40.239 --> 00:36:44.000 Uh what I what I do is I work on several things at once, and then they all go published all at the same time. 00:36:44.079 --> 00:36:47.679 It's um it's called the death of your website is dead. 00:36:47.840 --> 00:36:57.199 Um the the death of your website and the um how to use AEO to improve your your traffic. 00:36:57.920 --> 00:36:59.119 You know what AEO is. 00:36:59.519 --> 00:37:00.480 I do not, actually. 00:37:00.639

--> 00:37:01.360 What is AEO? 00:37:01.679 --> 00:37:03.440 Well, SEO is the search engines. 00:37:03.599 --> 00:37:03.760 Right. 00:37:04.000 --> 00:37:06.400 AEO is the artificial intelligence engines. 00:37:06.719 --> 00:37:07.440 Ah, okay. 00:37:07.679 --> 00:37:10.960 Who are scrolling, scanning through your site, so what do they want to see? 00:37:11.280 --> 00:37:11.599 Right. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:13.920 And this and anymore, that's where they're going. 00:37:14.000 --> 00:37:15.199 That's everything is going that way. 00:37:15.280 --> 00:37:17.039 So 6040 now. 00:37:17.360 --> 00:37:17.760 Is it? 00:37:18.239 --> 00:37:20.239 Yeah, and it's it's increasing rapidly. 00:37:20.559 --> 00:37:20.880 Yeah. 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:28.000 Um the SEO is basically you gotta have SEO before you can have AEO. 00:37:28.159 --> 00:37:30.480 Because the certain the crawler's got to find you. 00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:31.440 Right. 00:37:31.760 --> 00:37:35.280 But it doesn't have you're not, you don't need to worry about the search engine so much anymore. 00:37:35.360 --> 00:37:42.320 Now you need to get the goo the um Chat GPT and Claude engines over to you so that you can answer questions. 00:37:43.920 --> 00:37:45.519 And I've read a whole book on it. 00:37:46.400 --> 00:37:46.880 Excellent. 00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:48.079 And we'll check that out. 00:37:48.159 --> 00:37:52.000 So and if it's coming out this weekend, that'll be great because by the time this airs, it'll be available. 00:37:52.159 --> 00:37:53.360 So I'll send you links as well. 00:37:54.239 --> 00:37:55.039 Excellent, excellent. 00:37:55.119 --> 00:38:03.039 So for adventurers listening who want to work with you or explore your books or learn more about what you built with the Writing King, where should they go? 00:38:03.440 --> 00:38:05.760 They could go to theridingking.com. 00:38:05.840 --> 00:38:06.960 That's my website. 00:38:07.199 --> 00:38:08.880 For my ghostwriting business. 00:38:09.039 --> 00:38:12.719 If they weren't interested in my books, they can go to masterofworlds.com. 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.800 So masterofworlds.com or the writingking.com. 00:38:16.960 --> 00:38:22.880 Um, I also have a series of eight books that I wrote on geopolitics called enemiesofy.com. 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:34.159 And that that's eight books about things like um what the Russians are doing to us now and and uh who our real enemies are. 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:36.960 And they're different than you think. 00:38:38.000 --> 00:38:38.559 Perfect. 00:38:38.719 --> 00:38:39.039 Perfect. 00:38:39.199 --> 00:38:45.679 I will have all of Richard's links in the show notes, including theridingking.com, where you can book a free consultation. 00:38:45.840 --> 00:38:52.480 So if the cheaplings have been adjusting the scale in your workshop, tonight's conversation is how you find out. 00:38:52.639 --> 00:38:58.559 So I want to thank Richard for pulling up a chair tonight and naming a monster most creative entrepreneurs don't even know has moved in. 00:38:58.719 --> 00:39:00.559 Those darn chain cheaplings. 00:39:00.719 --> 00:39:04.480 They're small, cunning creatures that infest your workshop and adjust the scale. 00:39:04.639 --> 00:39:12.880 Whispering with the confidence of market wisdom what your work is worth, what people will pay, why you should start low and earn the right to charge more later. 00:39:13.039 --> 00:39:15.760 But they have no actual knowledge of what your work is worth. 00:39:15.920 --> 00:39:17.199 They just sound like they do. 00:39:17.280 --> 00:39:24.159 And in the discomfort of a new creative identity, when you're new to the lane and you don't yet have that real data, that confidence is enough. 00:39:24.320 --> 00:39:25.920 So here's what I want you to take away from tonight. 00:39:26.079 --> 00:39:30.480 Cheaplings lose their power the moment you stop mistaking its confidence for knowledge. 00:39:30.719 --> 00:39:33.119 The client who didn't blink wasn't unusual. 00:39:33.280 --> 00:39:34.719 You was calibrated correctly. 00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:37.280 Richard was the one with the infested scale. 00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:38.559 So check your workshop. 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:43.840 If the numbers you quote make you flinch before you say it out loud, cheaplings might already be there. 00:39:44.000 --> 00:39:46.320 And the operator's question is a simple one. 00:39:46.559 --> 00:39:48.800 Where did that number actually come from? 00:39:49.039 --> 00:39:52.800 So if Richard's message resonated, find the writing king in the show notes. 00:39:52.880 --> 00:39:55.920 And if you've been thinking about writing a book, book the free consultation. 00:39:56.079 --> 00:39:58.000 It's a conversation, not a pitch. 00:39:58.559 --> 00:40:03.760 And before you go, head over to gamifybusiness.com forward slash quiz and take the tavern personality quiz. 00:40:03.840 --> 00:40:08.000 Find out your class, your strengths, your blind spots, and how your brain approaches the adventure. 00:40:08.079 --> 00:40:14.800 You'll get a free 11-page deep dive into your business personality at no cost, no catch, just clarity about the adventurer that you already are. 00:40:15.039 --> 00:40:17.760 So until next time, remember business is an adventure. 00:40:17.920 --> 00:40:19.280 Don't be an NPC. 00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:22.639 And Richard, it sounds like you have one more thing to add to this conversation. 00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:26.239 Yeah, I also I also have coaching service. 00:40:26.320 --> 00:40:40.000 So if you have if you want to get, if you just need, I I just want to get some advice on how to price or something, you can come to my website, send me a message, and we can set up an hour-long coaching thing so that you don't have to it's not necessarily buy a book, but I'll also coach you. 00:40:40.159 --> 00:40:41.440 That that's at cost. 00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:50.079 There's a cost for that, but but uh if you need some help, you know, you can get a couple hours, chat on we can chat on Zoom and maybe I can solve your problem. 00:40:50.559 --> 00:40:51.519 Excellent, excellent. 00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:53.840 He'll include those notes as well in the show notes. 00:40:54.079 --> 00:40:55.679 So thank you so much again for joining me, Richard. 00:40:55.760 --> 00:40:56.880 I do appreciate it. 00:40:57.519 --> 00:40:58.400 My pleasure. 00:40:58.800 --> 00:40:59.280 Excellent. 00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:00.239 Thank you.