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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
Classic and outside-the-box tactics for taking your company to the next level
The UnNoticed Entrepreneur: Step Into the Spotlight gives you practical advice for drawing customers into your vision and rising above the rabble. Specifically, this book shows you how you can share the vision for your company, the why behind your product or service. If you can do that, customers will come. The secret? You already have everything you need to become famous in your market. You don’t need expensive ad agencies and faddish strategies. After all, you started your business, so you have the best understanding of what you're doing. This book shows you how to communicate your purpose creatively, simply, and authentically through telling your story, personalising your marketing, engaging with customers and prospects, and getting the attention of the right people in the right channels.
If you’re passionate about creating value, making a difference, and benefitting others, this is the book for you. This collection of essays will give you ideas, help you make connections, and motivate you to put in the work you need to get noticed for all the good that you do. You’ll learn how to:
- Construct a unique story around your business and communicate that story through effective branding
- Stand out from the competition by creating more compelling marketing materials and reaching out in a more targeted way
- Generate buzz around your business with creative offerings like podcasts, media interviews, surveys, AI content, and more
- Rise to the top of your market by using marketing technology, leveraging digital platforms, and understanding today's marketing work
This is the perfect book for business owners and budding entrepreneurs looking for no-nonsense advice on how to really get ahead. You've got the ambition, and The UnNoticed Entrepreneur can help you realize it.
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Seitenzahl: 550
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Table of Contents
Cover
Praise for The UnNoticed Entrepreneur
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue: Fulfilling the Promise of The Entrepreneur
Why PR?
PART ONE: STRATEGY
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Which of the Four Villains Are You?
The Importance of Listening
The Four Villains of Listening
On Self‐Awareness
A Little Neuroscience Hack
The Three Questions You Need to Ask
On Being an Entrepreneur Himself
Online Tool for Listening Scoring
Chapter Three: What is the Attitude You Can Lead With?
What is Chutzpah
The Chutzpah Advantage
Chapter Four: Should You Invest in Corporate Headshots?
How to Take a Great Photo
Focus on the Eyes
The Three Important Shots for Your Brand
Chapter Five: Why is What You Wear Important?
Clothing and Accessories for the Confident Business Owner
You and Your Staff Dressing for the Occasion
Appearance Matters, Even (or More So) in Virtual Meetings
Chapter Six: The Key Considerations for Choosing a PR Agency
The Kind of Agency You Want
Always Ask Questions
Chapter Seven: How to Be Seen as an Authority in Your Industry?
Removing Your Invisibility Cloak
Picking Your Field
On Being Pigeonholed in One Area
Factors Affecting Niching Down
Letting People Know You're in a Particular Pigeonhole
Not an Easy Task
How will You Sound Authoritative?
On Getting Himself Noticed
Chapter Eight: How You Could be Speaking Out?
Consistency is Key
Establishing a Routine
Speaking and Reaching Out
Going Live
Monetising Speaking
Chapter Nine: Who is Your Secret Army?
Understanding What the Audience Wants
But Why is This Not Happening? An Issue of Confidence and Certainty
Getting Feedback at Scale
Comparing Models of Communication
How to Do an A/B Test
On the Fear of Failure
Communicating Meaningfully
What Gina's Company Does
Honesty with Your Brand
How She Gets Herself Noticed
Chapter Ten: What is ‘Repurposing Content?'
Efficient Content Creation
It's About Value
Managing Schedules of Content
Engaging in Social Media
The EO Media House
Reframing How Slides Should Be
On the Fuck the Slides Book
Getting Noticed While Locked Down
Chapter Eleven: When to Use Your Passion to Promote Yourself?
Doing Something that You're Passionate About
Being Visible and Consistent
On Corporate Shots
Photography in India
Chapter Twelve: Are You Losing 31% of Sales?
Personalisation at Scale with Transformania
Insights Reports and Transparency
Data Segmentation and Mixed Language Campaigns
Chapter Thirteen: What is The Power of Authenticity?
Sharing Authentic Stories
Helping Authors Get Published
Writing for Your Readers
Keeping the Momentum
The Making of a Best‐selling Book
Overcoming Challenges
Tips from Her Experience
Get Noticed by Being You
Chapter Fourteen: What is Adjacent Marketing?
Getting Noticed through Adjacent Marketing
Coping with the COVID‐19 Pandemic
How Content Writing Helps
Focusing on Writing
Working with Traditional Media Reporters
The Challenge of Keeping in Touch with Employees in the Lockdown Era
Connecting with Partners
Chapter Fifteen: How to Talk Money With Investors?
Approaching Clients
What Investors are Looking At
Reaching Out to the Right Investors
On Being Resourceful
How to Make Your Company Different
On Building Tip of the Spear Ventures
Chapter Sixteen: How to Animate Your Audience, Not Your Slides?
Knowing and Profiling Your Audience
What Separates a Great Presentation from a Bad One?
Creating a Logical and Compelling Narrative
What About Presenting Without PowerPoint?
Finding and Conveying a Topic for Your Audience
Chapter Seventeen: LinkedIn Video Tips
From Sales Manager to Content Creator
Making Content and Overcoming Excuses
Finding Your Own Rhythm
Tools for Editing
On Backgrounds, Content Subjects, Language Used
Chapter Eighteen: You Can Overcome SEO Challenges
The SEO Challenge
On Link Building
How Comet Fuel Chooses Clients
Speed, Not Scale
Going Mobile and Geography‐Specific
On Outsourcing Content Creation
How Comet Fuel Finds Leads
Chapter Nineteen: Can You Overcome Stage Fright?
Joining Industry Groups
Bringing Out Your Inner Extrovert
The Problem with Public Speaking
Deliberate Practice is Needed
Becoming an Industry Facilitator
On Emceeing and How You can Leverage It
Understanding and Working on Your Strengths
Chapter Twenty: Do You Have What it Takes to Be a TEDx Speaker?
Speaking on a Prestigious Stage
TED vs TEDx
How to Get onto a TEDx Stage
How to Prepare for a TEDx Talk
Tips for Your TEDx Talk
What Compelled Elaine to Be a Speaking Coach
Chapter Twenty One: Self‐Publishing 101 : The Book Broad Explains Self‐Publishing Success
The Mission of Book Launchers
The Right Mindset
The Spine of Your Book
Writing for Your Reader
On Compilation Books
What Should Your Book's Title Be?
Traditional vs Self‐Publishing
Pricing Your Book
The Cost of Self‐Publishing a Book
Building the Book Launchers' Brand
On Managing Her YouTube Channel
Chapter Twenty Two: When Should You Use a Ghost Writer?
The Challenges
Building a Brand Through Content
Helping Clients Working in Emerging Tech
How can Clients Support Their PR Agency?
Creating Audience‐Centric Content for Clients
The Importance of Teaming up with Other Industry Forces
What About Going Global?
From a PR Agency's Point of View: Working with People with Different Roles
Working with Sales Teams
Having a Monthly Plan is Important
Owned vs Earned Media
The Value of Good PR
Chapter Twenty Three: Who Can Run Amazon Ads for You?
Running Ads on Amazon
The Best Time for Advertising Your Book
Keyword and Product Targeting on Amazon
The Importance of Book Codes
Targeting Books Outside Your Niche
Tools You can Use
The Cost of Running Ads on Amazon
Enticing Non‐Amazon People to Buy Your Book
On Building Your Amazon Author Profile
How Much Should You Spend Promoting Your Book?
Getting His Business Noticed
Chapter Twenty Four: What to Look For in a Virtual Events Platform?
Make Sure Your Virtual Event has These Three Features
How to Get Your Brand to Stand Out in Virtual Events
The Five Strategy Boards Your Business Needs According to Sonali
PART TWO: TOOLS
Chapter One: Introduction
Note
Chapter Two: Advertising: Creating Consistency Across Franchise Networks
Helping Franchise Organisations and Multi‐Location Businesses
The Case of a German E‐Bike Manufacturer
How it All Started
How Adplorer Works
On Local Franchisees' Web Presence, Language Use
How Adplorer Markets Itself
A More Proactive, Dedicated Strategy
Chapter Three: Media: Bringing Good ‘CARMA’ to Your Sales Funnel Through Proper Measurement and Media Monitoring
Why Measure
How the Monitoring Landscape has Changed
Monitoring Helps Make Future Decisions
Beyond Metrics
On Content That Directly Leads to Engagement and Traffic
Adapting to Changing Trends
A Necessity Even for SMEs
Chapter Four: Text: Create Better Copy Faster – Without Losing Human Creativity – With This AI Copywriting Tool
How Do You Start Creating Stories?
A Big Help in Idea and Content Generation
Keeping Long‐Form Content Relevant
Analysing Content Performance
Storifying Your Brand
Amplifying Your Content
On Your Content's Visuals
Storylab.ai's Pricing
Chapter Five: Text: AI‐Powered Tool Increases Engagement By 12,000%
How to Effectively Repurpose Your Content Using Lately
Lately can Work with Text, Audio, and Video
What Lately is Doing for Gary Vee
Pricing and Other Features
Chapter Six: Text: What if You Don't Have Time to Write?
Why Outsource Content Creation from Pepper Content
Ensuring Domain Expertise
How to Use Their Platform for Content Creation
How Pepper Creators Get Chosen for a Project
Content Trends
On AI Writing
Pepper Content's Portal Experience
Chapter Seven: Text: Citation‐Rich, SEO‐Friendly Content Writer
Citations for Verification
You Don't Have to Start from Scratch
Knowing Intent and Perspective is Key
On Controlling Length
On Avoiding Plagiarism
Pricing
Producing Content in Another Language
Being a One‐Man Entrepreneur
On Making Shorter Content, Checking Grammar
What the Future Holds for AI Writer
Chapter Eight: Text: Predictive Text Writing Tool
What is neuroflash?
How it Works
Going Beyond What Headline Analysers Do
Predicting Automatic Thoughts and Emotions
Helping Your Business with Positioning
Creating Channel‐Specific Content
Keeping the Software Updated
On Humility and Trust
How neuroflash Attracts Leads
Chapter Nine: Social: Mobilise Your Whole Team With Shared Content
The Whole Company as a Marketing Team
Controlling Content
How Mobibi Works
Motivating Employees to Create Content
Sharing Company Content
Sticking to Brand Guidelines
On Pricing and Promotion
Chapter Ten: Social: Blockchain‐Powered Hashtag Service
How Zilliqa Works
What to Expect from Zilliqa in Their Pilot Phase
Zilliqa can be Used on Any Platform Anywhere in the World
Chapter Eleven: Social: Engaging the Team With Internal Social Recognition
Increase staff engagement with Mo.Work
Mo.Work: a global solution for businesses of all sizes
Meaning Over Money
Chapter Twelve: Social: How to Evaluate the Credibility of Content in the Digital Space?
The Rotten Tomatoes for News
Communicating with Different Stakeholders
On Their Corporate Identity
Solving Credder's Distribution Challenge
On Upsetting Journalists
Investments on Credder
Media Relations for Credder
Raising Brand Awareness
Chapter Thirteen: Video: This Free Text‐Based Video Editing Application Developed by Four German Students is Worth Considering for Your Content Production
How Type Studio Works
Simple Tweaks Matter
Creating Multiple Content
Trends and Observations
Democratising Content Creation
Chapter Fourteen: Video: The PowerPoint of Online Video Creation
Lumen5: The PowerPoint for Videos
Lumen5's Beginnings
How Lumen5 Works
Keeping Your Lumen5‐Produced Content On‐Brand
Localising for Language
On Sonic Branding
More Efficient Content Repurposing
The Best Technology is Invisible
How Lumen5 Grew Their Subscribership
Lumen5's Freemium Pricing Model
How Many Videos Should You Make?
Lumen5's Affordable Pricing
Chapter Fifteen: Video: ‘Gather Voices' to Make a Compelling Story
How Gather Voices Works
Why Gather Voices is Unique
Let Gather Voices Guide You on the Path to Making Great Videos
Chapter Sixteen: Customer Service: Better Insights From Customer Feedback
‘Causal’ is Something Fundamental
On Getting Noticed as an Entrepreneur
Building Relationships
Content Marketing as a Scalable Strategy
Future Plans
Trust is the Key
Chapter Seventeen: Customer Service: AI Software to Analyse Sentiment of Digital Content
Why Analyse Words
Cyrano's AI vs Sentimental Analysis
The Need to Build Cyrano
Making Cyrano Sustainable
An API‐First Company
On Getting Noticed as an Entrepreneur: It's All About Community
Cyrano's Vision and Mission
Going Multilingual
PART THREE: CASES
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Shangri‐La and Other Stories
Telling Stories
The Story Behind the Bhutan Wine Company
Different Stories for Different Audiences
The Story Behind SoCal Rum
On Creating Content
Curating a Book
The Moral of the Story
Getting into Bhutan
Taking a Different Perspective
Chapter Three: World Rowing and WWF's Kafue River Project in Zambia Aims to Provide Clean Water and Help Hone African Rowers
World Rowing and World Wildlife Fund Team Up
The Kafue River Project
Securing Funding
A Trade‐Off
Promoting Rowing in Africa
Chapter Four: Rolls‐Royce is Driving Their PR With Video in Asia
Andy's Best Examples and His Top Tips for Video Creators
Copy‐writing is key
Keep It Simple, Stupid
Do's and Don't's in Videomaking
Why One of the Most Powerful Tools for Video is Your Phone
Chapter Five: What is the Benefit of Giving Back?
What's Missing in the Charity‐Giving Space
Connecting Companies and Worthy Causes
Choosing Who They Work with Based on Impact
The B1G1 Model
Chapter Six: When is a Newswire Service Good for PR?
What Does eReleases Offer?
Pursuing Big Media
The Importance of Newswire Service
Boosting Credibility
Crafting a Strategic Press Release
Advertising eReleases
How Frequently Should You Issue a Press Release?
Chapter Seven: Indian Film Festival for Kidz Reaches the World
How KidzCinema was born
A Film Fest for Kids
An Overwhelming Response
KidzCinema's Film Categories
Learnings from the First Edition
Evolving in the Second Edition
Promoting the Festival
Making it Financially Sustainable
What the Future Holds for KidzCinema
Chapter Eight: How Foreign Brands Can Compete With 60 Million Online Merchants in China?
Let the Experts Do the Work for You
Bringing the Business to China
Chapter Nine: Travelling Through the US in an RV, This Entrepreneur Will Take You on a Journey to Financial Freedom
A Piece of Financial Advice
Growing Your Money, the Smart Way
How Entrepreneurs are a Different Breed
Building His Programme
Rebranding Himself
His Course's Platform
His Vision
Chapter Ten: Why is There no More Kimchi for Korean Media, Instead it's KakaoTalk and Naver Search?
Dealing with Korean Media
KakaoTalk and Naver
Chapter Eleven: Why a Podcast Could Be Part of Your Strategy?
What is ‘Consulting Lifestyle'
Producing ‘Consultancy Lifestyle'
Learning from Others
On Frequency and Duration
A Podcast for Francophones
Why Podcasting?
Chapter Twelve: Building an Entrepreneur Ecosystem
The Glass Ceiling Problem
Building MBH's Brand
Systemising His Service
On Investor Relations
On MBH's Investee Companies
Communications Between Companies in MBH
Conclusion
About the Author
Guest Directory
Bibliography
Podcasts I listen to about PR and business:
Books
Index
End User License Agreement
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Praise for The UnNoticed Entrepreneur
Title Page
Copyright
Prologue: Fulfilling the Promise of The Entrepreneur
Why PR?
Begin Reading
Conclusion
About the Author
Guest Directory
Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
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Praise for The UnNoticed Entrepreneur
Highly recommended for people who need to make their businesses and themselves stand out from the crowd.
Richard Robinson. Serial Entrepreneur. Bali.
“It is an invigorating and illuminating read that should be of practical use to business leaders all over the world.”
‐Giles Fraser. Founder of Brands2Life. UK.
“I would urge any budding entrepreneur to study this book and take action.”
‐Neil Moggan. Founder Future Action. UK.
“I read the book to find out how agile owner‐led companies thrive using digitalization so that we can adopt these practices into our large organization. 50 short essays from experts makes this so easy to digest and to apply.”
‐Karl Stillman. International Sales Director. China.
“Nice book and must read for a Startup.”
‐Amazon Customer India
“You will learn many new things and get positive reinforcement on much more! So, get this book and get noticed!”
‐Alex Greenwood, Host and Producer, the PR After Hours Podcast. USA.
THE UNNOTICEDENTREPRENEUR
STEP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
JIM JAMES
This edition first published 2023
Copyright © 2023 by Jim James. All rights reserved.
Edition History
Copyright © 2021 by Jim James.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Jim James to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
Registered Offices
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
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While the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data:
Names: James, Jim (Writer on entrepreneurship) author.
Title: The unnoticed entrepreneur : step into the spotlight / Jim James.
Description: First edition. | Hoboken, NJ : Wiley, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022059061 (print) | LCCN 2022059062 (ebook) | ISBN 9780857089571 (paperback) | ISBN 9780857089632 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9780857089649 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Entrepreneurship. | Branding (Marketing) | Business planning. | Success in business.
Classification: LCC HB615 .J36 2023 (print) | LCC HB615 (ebook) | DDC 338/.04—dc23/eng/20221209
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022059061
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022059062
Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Image: © Alhovik/Shutterstock
Prologue: Fulfilling the Promise of The Entrepreneur
This book is to help any business owner to fulfil their promise to themselves to build a better solution to a problem which exists. As an entrepreneur myself I know that just because I can build something, there is no guarantee that my idea will become a successful business. As entrepreneurs we introduce new products and services which we believe will help people, but a central barrier to that happening is for these potential clients to know about us and what we do.
One solution is to hire external consultants to help. That can lead to frustration as it can take longer for consultants to understand the business than it takes to explain it to the real customers. Then of course there is the expense of hiring part‐time consultants who cost as much as a full‐time member of staff. Keeping the growing team aligned is also key, but external consultants aren't part of the team and so this leads to another set of problems.
As the Founder you are the visionary, you define the brand, you engage others with your mission, but in time you actually become a bottleneck. You also reach the limits of your skill sets and your bandwidth, and this limits the growth of the company. To fill the sales funnels, the Founder needs to build a company brand not a personal profile. If you have investors, there will be investor relations and their expectations to meet also. If you are introducing a new technology or way of working, time is of the essence.
A central question facing all entrepreneurs, then, is how to get noticed quickly, effectively, and efficiently so that they can scale the business from startup to a sustainable market leader without the luxury of a big budget. If the ambition isn't market leadership, it is surely to become cash flow positive before the funds in reserve are used up. In some cases, it is to become attractive enough to attract more investment, or to be a target for an acquisition.
The good news is that fellow entrepreneurs are solving this problem already, and this second volume of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur is going to show you how. My background is that since 1995 I have started my own companies in Singapore, China, India, and the UK, including an international public relations consultancy. I launched The UnNoticed Entrepreneur podcast to interview experts and entrepreneurs and decided that there was so much great knowledge in these 20‐minute episodes that I had to curate them into volumes to be read at leisure.
Being an entrepreneur isn't the simplest career choice, but it is the life path we've chosen because we believe we can make a difference on our own terms. In this book, my promise is to share practical, sustainable, and creative ways which can be used to build the value of any brand. If I fulfil my promise, then you will deliver on your potential, and together we will make the world a better place.
Why PR?
“If I was down to my last dollar, I'd spend it on public relations.”
‐Bill Gates
Why would one of the world's most successful entrepreneurs and richest men choose to invest his money into public relations? The answer is that when done well, getting noticed can be free and extremely effective, and in this book you have a masterclass with 50 fellow entrepreneurs and experts who will share with you how to do it. This is a really‐time efficient way to get up to speed with the latest thinking and tools for your business.
The articles are as the conversations, and I've kept the style and idioms because then you will also have a sense of the person behind the piece. In the first volume of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur, I introduced the concept of SPEAK|pr[tm] and imposed that structure on the articles. In this volume, I simplified the arrangement to make it easier to navigate.
My goal is to provide you with short and easy‐to‐read articles which provide strategies, cases, and tools which you can readily apply to your own business. All the contact details of the authors are in the Directory at the back of this book.
The strategy section will lead you to the realisation that every activity has potential value to your publicity campaign.
The tools section includes a selection of martech applications so that you discover just how accessible and powerful technology is now for the business owner.
The cases section illustrates how other entrepreneurs have taken initiative to create publicity for their organisations above and beyond conventional media relations. I am sure that you will find them as inspiring as I have.
PART ONESTRATEGY
Chapter OneIntroduction
One of the most interesting aspects of The UnNoticed Entrepreneur project is that everyone has their own take on the subject. There really isn't a right or wrong way to promote a business. Some are more successful than others, and some entrepreneurs are superb at certain aspects of marketing, e.g. speaking at events, and ignore other aspects, e.g. writing contributed articles. What is true is that there comes a time when an entrepreneur needs to establish their own credible brand and then build one for the company too.
This section has 24 articles dedicated to approaching this stage in the building of a business; establishing the credibility of the Founder. I've included interviews with photographers, stylists, and people who discuss the importance of authenticity. The articles address the building blocks of personal branding and also some handy business development practices because in the early days we are always selling to our networks. I go to experts who talk about getting on stage, being on TEDx, writing books and hosting a podcast, or virtual events.
Remember that all the people I interview are entrepreneurs too; these are not sales pitches, rather handy tips for you and your team to use straight away and most of them at little to no cost.
To make it easier to decide which articles are going to be the ones you want to get to first, let me give you a summary of the people who are going to share their insights with you in this section.
Oscar Trimboli in Australia introduces the four villains of listening.
Mason Harris talks about the importance and power of Chutzpah.
Marcus Ahmad explains the importance of your eyes in building rapport through photography.
Nick Hems introduces sartorial statements as part of how you engage your audience.
Robert Da Costa, former agency owner turned coach, explains the key considerations for choosing a PR agency.
Alastair McDermott in the UK explains how he found the value of being in a niche.
Adrian Starks makes lessons from stories learnt inside a hospital trauma unit.
Gina Balarin in Australia accuses marketing people of being liars (now that's a story).
Entrepreneur and storyteller Nir Zavaro from Israel, on repurposing content more efficiently.
Akshay Jamwal in India explains how a passion project created a lead magnet.
Danny Levinson on the east coast of America explains the importance of anthroponomy.
JB Owen of Canada explains the best way to engage with self‐publishing.
Jeff Hahn in Austin, Texas, explains adjacent marketing.
Sam Palazzolo has advice for entrepreneurs raising money.
Andrea Pacini shares how to animate your audience, not your slides.
GJ van Buseck from Holland explains the power of 60‐second videos for LinkedIn.
New Hampshire‐based Jarod Spiewak explains search engine optimisation.
Richard Robinson joins from Bali to explain how to overcome the fear of public speaking.
Elaine Powell in the UK asks, “Do you have what it takes to be a TEDx speaker?”
The Las Vegas‐based “Book Broad,” Julie
Broad, explains how to be a #1 best seller on Amazon.
Nick Vivion talks about how he gets PR for blockchain companies from his RV.
Alex Strathdee explains how to get to #1 on Amazon with book promotion.
Sonali Nair explains the three key features to look for on any virtual event platform.
Chapter TwoWhich of the Four Villains Are You?
Oscar Trimboli, Author Listener & Speaker of Oscar Trimboli Pty Limited, Greater Sydney Area, Australia.
Oscar Trimboli is on a quest to create 100 million Deep Listeners in the world. He is an author, host of the Apple award‐winning podcast–Deep Listening', and a sought‐after keynote speaker. He is passionate about using the gift of listening to bring positive change in homes, workplaces, and the world.
Through his work with chairs, boards of directors and executive teams in local, regional, and global organisations, Oscar has experienced first hand the transformational impact leaders and organisations can have when they listen.
The four villains of listening are the Dramatic, the Interrupting, the Lost, and the Shrewd. When you're dealing with complex collaborative, constrained, or conflict situations, listening is one of the most important superpowers you have as an entrepreneur.
The Importance of Listening
Many of us haven't been taught how to listen. Most people know Mathematics, wines, and cheese. However, there is no language around listening.
Through his listening quiz, Oscar is trying to honour a conversation he had with a vice president, who once took him aside at the end of a meeting. The vice president told him back then, “If you could code the way you listen, you could change the world.” At that moment, it did not make sense to him because all he did was cheer knowing that he wasn't fired (he initially thought that he'd get fired).
As a marketing director of Microsoft at the time, he eventually pondered on the question: Is it possible to code how people listen? Because it can be done for Maths, English, or Chemistry.
Afterwards, he set up an assessment tool that features 20 questions as a way of coding how to listen longer term. Now, he'd also love to have automated tools or applications within Zoom, for example, that could tell one's listening ratio. For instance, he imagines a percentage bar at the top of the screen.
Listening is crucial because the more senior you are in the organisation, the more listening you should do during your day. The more sales you do, the more your listening should also be. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
When you're dealing with complex collaborative, constrained, or conflicted situations, listening is one of the most important superpowers that you'll have as an entrepreneur. Without that, you can't bring people along in the journey with you.
The difference between hearing and listening is the action you take. A lot of employees get frustrated with business owners to whom they keep telling the same thing yet get nothing. For business owners, listening is when you act on something you're told about.
The Four Villains of Listening
Oscar and his team have done a lot of work with behavioural scientists, market research companies, computer software professionals, and academicians for two and a half years. The goal was not only to create a quiz but to prove it's valid across English‐speaking cultures.
One important thing to know about listening is it's situational, relational, and contextual. You'll listen differently in many different situations. You'll listen differently to a police officer than you will to a school principal, actor, or accountant.
According to their research, there are four villains of listening: the dramatic, the interrupting, the lost, and the shrewd.
The Lost Listener. If you're a lost listener, you would forget everything you're listening to because you're drifting off somewhere else. You might be thinking about something related to what you're told about. The lost listener is completely lost in their devices or something in the conversation that triggers them to think about, for instance, a holiday that they wish they had. Of the 11 000 people who took their quiz so far, 22% belong to this category.
The Dramatic Listener.Dramatic listeners love listening to your story. They engage with you really well and often do too much of connecting with you. If you say to them that you're struggling with a staff member, they'd say that you have to wait and listen to their problem about their staff member. Simply put, they love the spotlight being back on them. Though they love having a connection, they don't understand the difference between empathy and sympathy.
The Interrupting Listener. The interrupting listening villain is the most overt listening villain. They're the quiz show contestant who presses the buzzer, anticipates the question and the answer, but gets it wrong. They value time, and productivity matters to them. They have a mindset that they've already heard something before, so they tend to jump in and get to it quicker. While their intention isn't wrong, they're still considered impatient.
The Shrewd Listener. The shrewd listeners are problem‐solving machines. Although they give you a great face and you feel like they're really engaged in listening, in reality, this is what could be on their mind: I studied this long. I'm such an expert in this field and you've got such a basic problem. I'm going to think about three to six problems that you haven't even thought about. However, speakers can sense this. They can see the cogs going on in these listeners' wheels, turning over and going through the issues. Their mindset then is to stop these listeners from trying to fix those and get them to listen to what they've got to say.
The shrewd listener could also be thinking that they're that kind of listener at work, but they're a lost listener at home. When you take Oscar's quiz, you'll get a primary type of listening and a secondary one. The former is who you are at work; the latter, at home.
He always points out that labels are good on food jars and pharmaceutical products, but not on people. That's why during the episode, he reiterated that they're not labelling you but your behaviour.
On Self‐Awareness
When it comes to listening, many people think that they're above average. Oscar mentioned that around 74.9% consider themselves as well above average or a long way above average. And this shows an issue with selfawareness.
There are five levels of listening. The first level is knowing what your barriers are.
Most people aren't even aware of what gets in their way because when listening, they're taught that the focus should be on the speaker. However, he's not saying that you shouldn't listen to the speaker; rather, you shouldn't start there. You need to start by listening to yourself.
Until you know your villains, you can't introduce yourself to your superheroes. And for each listening villain, there's an alternate superhero. If you take his quiz and sign up for the 90‐day challenge (which can be found at the bottom of their five‐page report), you'll start to discover which one of those superheroes can emerge from you as you explore the world of listening.
A Little Neuroscience Hack
Oscar mentioned three numbers you need to know: 125, 400, and 900. On average, a person speaks at 125 words a minute (If you're an auctioneer or a horse race caller, you can probably speak at 200 words per minute). Moreover, an individual can listen to up to 400 words a minute. These show that there's a disconnect between the speed at which people listen and the speed at which they talk.
Genetically and neurologically, you'll get distracted. However, Oscar isn't talking about mindfulness; he won't teach you how not to get distracted. Because, ironically, if you'll get distracted, it will help you reset your attention much quicker. Keep in mind that you can only listen continuously for 12 seconds.
The number 900, on the other hand, refers to the number of words you can think of per minute. If you're an entrepreneur talking to a customer, investor, or supplier, the other party is thinking of at least 900 words per minute. If you speak at 125 words per minute, it means that your listener is only listening to 11% of what you're thinking about.
The Three Questions You Need to Ask
You can get a fair advantage and get the next 125 words out if you learn three simple questions. And these will be significant in knowing your customer's problems. As an entrepreneur, you can get a customer for life if you know your customer's problems.
The first question is: Tell me more. The second is: And what else? The latter, especially when saying ‘and’, should be done in a respectful way.
If you notice that your listener takes a breath in, their spine gets erect and their shoulders go back–that's when you can use, ‘actually’ or ‘so’. This will help you talk about your proposition better (e.g. ‘Actually, now that I think about it a little longer, I think it's more important that we talk about this'.)
The third question is the shortest yet the most powerful: silence. If done poorly, however, it can intimidate.
In Mandarin, ‘ting’ means ‘to listen'. If it's not pronounced correctly, it can mean ‘to stop'. When it comes to China, listening is six‐dimensional. It's about seeing, sensing, feeling, respecting, being present, and being focused. This is what ‘ting’ means.
One of the critical skills that the East teaches us is silence. If you can practice that, you can hear things that other people will never get told about. And it's because you took the time to listen to something that's not said. With it, you can uncover things much more than the next person – who merely engages in a dialogue – can.
In the West, there's this thing called pregnant pause, or the awkward, deafening silence. In the East, this is viewed as a sign of wisdom, respect, seniority, and authority. It's not uncommon for there to be long pauses.
Silence needs to be skilfully used because it can be intimidating. It needs to be skillfully done especially when you're in some kind of a relationship and trust is being developed.
Most of Oscar's clients, particularly those who are entrepreneurs, often say that they don't have the time for all the listening stuff. However, he counters it by saying that it also takes up time if you launch the wrong product, or if you lose a great staff member. All these are unprofitable ways to spend the day and make use of your time and money.
Although listening takes a bit longer, especially during the beginning, what you can do is to start to listen to what speakers are thinking and what they mean, rather than merely listening to what they say. If you're an entrepreneur and you listen to what your customer, investor, supplier, or employee says and what they mean, you'll have them for life.
On Being an Entrepreneur Himself
When asked about the entrepreneurial aspects of business, Oscar discussed his failures first.
For example, when he was attending an industry conference about seven and a half years ago, sitting next to him was someone named Dermot who was originally from Ireland (He eventually became his good friend). During a workshop, they were asked to share a problem that they're working on. Back then, he had been blogging for two and a half years straight on the topic of listening and nobody was engaging with what he was doing. What Dermot said is, “If you're talking about listening, you do a podcast. You don't blog.”
He realised that if people are interested in listening, then they'd probably want to listen to it.
He then started one, which was another ‘spectacular failure' – until he discovered a wonderful book called Selfish, Scared, and Stupid by Dan Gregory and Kieran Flanagan. They hypothesised that you can do all the ambitious, inspirational, and aspirational work you want. But take note that most people relate to their weaknesses more rather than their strengths. Thus, his creation of the villains of listening.
Initially, he thought about talking about aspirational listening superheroes. But nobody could relate to them because they're artificial gods of listening. On the contrary, he hasn't met yet a single person who can't relate to his four villains of listening.
Oscar also considers publishing as a thing he does well. However, it doesn't simply mean publishing a book. It also encompasses sharing ideas with somebody else.
In this aspect, publishing can mean doing webinars. In his practice, he also runs a community where people in his newsletter lists can attend webinars once a month for free. He also uses this as a way to test ideas and get feedback.
Additionally, these people also share with him contemporary problems that they're dealing with in their workplaces. If he'd listen carefully, he'd be given a lot of great opportunities to think about.
One of the things that emerged from that is the deep listening playing cards. When people asked, “Why don't you put all those tips you talk about into a set of playing cards?” He did as such. When the idea of making a jigsaw puzzle was brought up, he and his team also made a jigsaw puzzle. The same with the assessment quiz and his book.
Another thing that he'd done well is the podcast. A few years ago, it won an award from Apple for the category that it's in. The podcast offers a different take on the communication topic. It talks about listening and features interviews with expert listeners to deconstruct what good listening is and how to make that commercial. Now, a lot of his clients came from those interviews that he'd done two to four years ago. These are people who heard and continued to follow him.
Publishing, for him, is also about going through that process of speaking to people out loud. It's important because someone can eventually connect with what you're saying.
In the old days, Oscar used to speak at public events. Now, even up until midnight to 2 o'clock in the East Coast in the US, he has sessions. He also has evening sessions in Hamburg, Munich, London, and even Copenhagen. Amidst the pandemic, so many opportunities have come about, extending his work around the world.
While he made a lot of mistakes, Oscar stressed out that it's through them that he got ideas and feedback. For him, the key to his success is persistence and some kind of plan.
Online Tool for Listening Scoring
Oscar and his team work with a third‐party software organisation called Evaluation Solutions, which does assessment tools for people around the world. The tool was integrated into their CRM system (in their case, it's Infusionsoft).
Through the quiz, they get rich information about people who take the quiz. Then they connect them to a 90‐day challenge.
About a third of the initial quiz responders opt‐in for the challenge, and 20% of those people complete all 13 weeks. And from these 13 weeks, they get to notice behavioural patterns (e.g. Which newsletter copy do people connect with and not?), which they then apply. This is why the challenge that they offer is different now than how it was a few years ago.
Chapter ThreeWhat is the Attitude You Can Lead With?
Mason Harris, Motivational Speaker, Listener, and Author of The Chutzpah Guy, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA.
Encompassing self‐confidence, audacity, purpose, and even humility, a ‘chutzpah’ approach leads to business and life success. Mason Harris, author of The Chutzpah ‘What is Chutzpah?', on what it takes to survive in the world. Are you born with it, or is it learned? Is it good or bad to be thought of as someone with chutzpah?
I don't know you, my curious reader, but I know this. You aspire to go bigger, be bolder, and do better. And perhaps you're already an entrepreneur. You face many obstacles but have chosen to move forward despite the objections, rejections, and setbacks that happen to people like us.
However, as with many tools and skill sets, sometimes we overlook our assets, existing positive traits and characteristics, while struggling to find a magic key. In this case, we're all trying to unlock the secret to leaving our unnoticed status behind.
So, let's explore the keys in our possession and solve this problem.
Which of these apply to you? Are you self‐confident, audacious, purposeful, persevering, brash at times, or humble? These descriptions and about another 40 were provided to me during my research for The Chutzpah Advantage.
Why do I have a lifelong interest in chutzpah? I have seen that a ‘chutzpah’ approach leads to business and life success.
What is Chutzpah
Most people are familiar with chutzpah though they can't define it. Chutzpah describes someone with ambition, a desire to go bigger, be bolder, and do better. I associate the term with the courage and the grit to stretch personal and business boundaries.
However, it's not all positive as the same chutzpah skill set can be used for self‐serving reasons instead of the win‐win approach most of us bring to our lives and businesses. When someone says, “I can't believe the chutzpah of that guy,” it could mean that the guy is being rude and dishonest. Let's contrast that with this observation, “I can't even imagine all of the obstacles she had to overcome to build that company! That's chutzpah.” In one sentence, we're describing arrogance; in the other, we're expressing admiration.
I've referred to chutzpah as a skill set, a blend of personality traits, and learned skills that combine to provide exceptional results. A skill set is a tool, and the user chooses to use it for constructive or destructive purposes.
For example, you and I may earn degrees in software development. We're both pretty good students and adept at creating programmes. However, while you develop software to assist in healthcare or create business efficiencies, I write ransomware and blackmail companies to pay me or lose their data.
It's the same skill set – software development, but different people use it with radically different ethics and results.
The Chutzpah Advantage
PT Barnum, an American circus owner, is credited with this quote: “There's no such thing as bad publicity.”
I'm not sure this applies to political scandals, monumental failures, or bad reviews on a dating site, but I personally have never operated a circus. Regardless, for the unnoticed entrepreneur, generating awareness through differentiation and a culture of chutzpah can be of great value.
So, what is this model, and are the characteristics relevant to your situation?
In my book, ‘chutzpah’ is an acronym for the eight behaviours and characteristics.
‘C’ is for Carpe Diem, a Foundation of Your Future
Carpe diem is a Latin term for ‘seize the day'. It's about both implementing plans and moving quickly on moments of opportunity.
In essence, people with carpe diem have an objective and move forward to make it a reality. For instance, let's say you have an idea for a book. You imagine it in your mind, and you see the pages coming to life. Unfortunately, you can't find the time to start, write, stop editing, or complete the book. Why? It's easier to procrastinate; our ‘To Do' lists are already full after all.
We're all guilty of procrastination, a constant destructive voice in our head that keeps repeating, “It's okay, you can do this when you have more time.” Your forward momentum is interrupted as your life and business wait on the sidelines. Without embracing carpe diem and seizing the moment, you're unlikely to find the time.
‘H’ is for Handling Objections
We're creative people, and we constantly generate new ideas. Some are good, others, not so much.
However, there is one constant, whether you're in sales and providing a needed solution to a prospect, introducing new procedures to your team, or trying to get your teenager to help you with something. Objections abound.
If we're working with subordinates in an organisation, they may be less willing to object. After all, they know that you'll be doing their formal evaluation. More often, we're communicating with colleagues, family members, investors, and bureaucrats who gain immense satisfaction from disagreeing with you.
Regardless of whether you propose a good idea or a bad idea, it will spark an objection from someone. Effective persuasion, a key characteristic of chutzpah, requires that you anticipate and overcome objections. If the objection is unique and can make your idea even more likely to succeed, a good series of questions and thoughtful solutions will create more opportunities for success.
‘U’ is for Uncovering Need, Pain, and Opportunity
Clients all have needs, and often we have a better solution. Sounds simple, right? We should be on a fast track to success. Unfortunately, even people who believe there are better solutions to address their needs won't act on your superior offering.
Why is that? Psychologically, many needs wait on the sidelines because they are not perceived as urgent. Pain, however, requires immediate attention. Personal pain leads to emergency room visits. Business pain leads to employee layoffs or a ‘going out of business' sale.
When we're successful in helping clients understand the pain of an existing situation instead of hoping they're smart enough to be proactive, we're creating sufficient value for a change. This is our opportunity.
Let's look at dental care as an example. Some people go for regular cleaning and checkups with their dentist. Others wait until they wake up in agony from tooth pain. The former group addresses a need for preventative dental care; the latter acts only when pain is evident. The dental practice's opportunity? Create the patient relationship to avoid the inevitable pain that results from neglect, and focus on a healthier, non‐emergency lifestyle.
‘T’ is for Trailblazing
No one wants to fail. It's embarrassing, costly, potentially devastating, and doesn't look good on a resume.
Chutzpah requires a willingness to fail, learn from our mistakes, and do better the next time. We can trailblaze with a truly unique service, solution, or problem‐solving approach and accept that failure has a higher probability than 0%.
Elon Musk's SpaceX is an example. Reusable rockets and cost‐efficient space travel for governments resupplying space stations, along with the average person who has both a sense of adventure and way too much money, are objectives of this ambitious company.
Uber was a trailblazer. There were many existing options for transportation, and yet Uber changed behaviour around the globe with its business plan.
Trailblazers know that not every decision they make and not everything they implement will work as planned. Despite the risk, they're still willing to take a couple of losses because they know they can recover from them. They're going to get back up and try something different.
‘Z’ is for Zigzag
Some obstacles seem to be insurmountable. It's more than simply overcoming an objection or two; instead, it's never‐ending roadblocks and disappointments.
Perhaps you've exhausted all possible funding sources for your business. Or you haven't been able to get past the second interview despite applying for 100+ jobs. And yet, if not for the chutzpah of people who could have easily given up multiple times, we would be without lifesaving medications, remarkable technology, and even books that bring joy and wonderment to our worlds. Learning to zigzag around, under, or through obstacles is about persistence, grit, and determination.
There is a UK‐based author, close to poverty, whose work was rejected by 12 publishers. Most people would have given up after two rejections. For someone who was very persistent? Maybe seven rejections would have ended the search for a publisher. In this case, the 13th publisher (12 rejections!) said they don't typically do books like this one, but they gave her a chance. The publisher's young daughter read it, and frankly, most authors would not choose a 12‐year‐old literary critic to evaluate their life's work. Fortunately, this young reader loved the magical story of a boy, his friends, and their adventures at a school for fellow wizards. (It makes you wonder about the other publishers, right?) And that's how the brilliant author, J. K. Rowling, who wrote The Harry Potter series and more, zigzagged to success.
‘P’ is for Purpose
Procrastination, objections, risking failure, perseverance – good stuff, right? But these items are under our control.
Now let's add the inevitable bad luck that strikes everyone, regardless of their kindness or selfishness, race, education, or upbringing. The urge to give up, feel sorry for oneself, and identify as a victim of other people and circumstances can be hard to resist. Despite our best efforts, planning, and optimism, bad things happen and get in our way.
The COVID pandemic, for instance, has caused the deaths of millions across the world and bankrupted millions of businesses. Many people, including some of us, have been living off savings because industries and sectors of our economies have been decimated. And I haven't even mentioned the emotional issues, both short and long term.
So how do we get through the bad stuff, the setbacks, the inevitable ‘kick you when you're down' parts of life. Which chutzpah characteristic helps in this situation? It's our ‘purpose’. Oh, and I don't mean a goal like ‘I want to lose 15 pounds this year'. Purpose can change over time, but it needs to be meaningful. It's the purpose mindset that gets you through trauma and an urge to simply give up. It focuses on the long term, a more foundational objective and reason to persevere.
I recommended Viktor Frankl's Man Search for Meaning as a resource for those who want to understand purpose and how it can get people through the deepest and most challenging moments in their lives.
‘A’ is for Ambiguity Minimisation
As you can tell, success in life, both personal and occupational, can be enhanced by these elements of chutzpah.
For example, if you need to choose between multiple job offers, carpe diem is about evaluation and selection. As we can't know with certainty that our decision will be correct, we have the option of letting the fear of a mistake freeze our action. Sooner or later, the decision becomes evident because job offers are withdrawn, leaving us with one choice.
Therefore, not making a decision becomes the decision, and it's a pretty sad way to go through life. Reducing the ambiguity that holds us back or leads to consistently bad choices is paramount.
There are many models of decision‐making that can help us be more efficient and correct. Equally important, most of the decisions we make are subject to a ‘do‐over' if they don't work out.
‘H’ is for Humility
Including this characteristic in my chutzpah model sometimes puzzles people, especially those who see chutzpah as rude, selfish, or purely selfserving. Yet research and analysis of successful leaders demonstrates that humility is typical among the respected and successful CEOs and Presidents.
Those with constructive chutzpah know how to share our successes with those whose help and teamwork created a positive and winning culture for all. There's an adage, Success has a thousand fathers while failure is an orphan.
A humble person acknowledges and credits colleagues and team members throughout the organisation for their roles. The leaders who believe that their efforts alone create success, while failure is the result of mediocrity from others, have very active recruitment needs for personnel replacements instead of growth.
Chapter FourShould You Invest in Corporate Headshots?
Marcus Ahmad, Personal & Corporate of Branding Photography, Greater Bristol Area, UK.
Personal branding in photography is a relatively new concept, but it's one photographer Marcus Ahmad has already mastered. According to Marcus, everyone can have their own personal brand as long as it is authentic and has a personality. How Marcus brings personal branding and photography together is through fashion, which is about making people look good, and advertising photography, which is all about selling a product through an image and focusing on that with his business clients.
His background in photography began when he worked as an advertising assistant. Eventually, he got into commercial photography, in particular, fashion photography. His studio was in London, but he would often fly to New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and other places around the world for work. Later on, he became a senior lecturer in fashion and advertising photography at the University of South Wales.
