I remember sitting on a call with Steve Chandler years ago, asking him how to get my book out into the world. I reasoned that I needed to sell as many books as possible to have the biggest impact with my book. I wanted to ask him about Amazon rankings and marketing strategies, which I thought was the key.
And Steve said something surprised me but perhaps shouldn’t have:
“Kush, you’re not going to make money by selling lots of books. You make money from a book by giving it to a prospective client, having them read it, and them becoming a client because they want more of what they read in the book.”
It seemed almost too simple, but then most of Steve shared was. And it worked. To re-iterate the point that you don’t need to be an expert, Steve Chandler once told me he was using my podcast to create clients for him. It was my content! This was the same podcast I did for fun and didn’t think would ever create clients for me.
I thought, “I’m doing all the work and he’s enrolling people with it.”
But that’s the point. It doesn’t matter if the book or resource is mine or someone else’s. The most important thing is how I use it in my conversations with people. Every time I share something, whether it’s something I created or not, I want it to really help the person I am sending it to.
For example, I may send someone a book in the post but ask them to read a certain chapter first that addresses a challenge they are going through and once they have to share their insights with me. I’m not sending them “swag” but it’s a high form of service through that resource.
I have seen over and over again that when you give generously, when you create real value, it comes back. Not because you’re manipulating people, but because you’re serving from your heart and you cannot outgive the universe.
You don’t need to have written a book. You can share someone else’s. You never need to create any content if you don’t want to. You can share other people’s podcasts, articles or videos. The question is: are you creating context and value everywhere you go?
Because that’s one way you can build a practice that’s rooted in service.
If that resonates with you, here’s a video from AJC to help you put this into practice:
With love and appreciation,
Ankush Jain
Coach and Author of Sweet Sharing – Rediscovering the REAL You