One of the most recurring comments we hear from the entrepreneurs we meet is how much they’d love to write a book, yet what little time they have to do so. Many of them wonder if taking their focus away from running their business in order to finally finish their book will actually be worth it in the grand scheme of things.
Well, judging by some of the world’s biggest entrepreneurial names – we’d have to say a BIG yes. It’s no secret that notable leaders such as Tony Robbins, Guy Kawasaki and Gary Vaynerchuk found significant success thanks to the invaluable content they provided to the public via their books.
Here are five reasons why you should take a page out of their books (no pun intended!) and write one of your own.
A book will generate leads
If you’re enough of an authority within your field, the people reading your book will recognize you as much. This is your opportunity to share the tip of the iceberg in terms of your professional knowledge, with the goal of drawing readers in and converting them into potential leads for your business. You’re providing just enough content to engage people while also leaving them wanting more. If they feel as though they’ve learned something on a personal or professional level after reading your book, they’re more than likely to go hunting for more information about you. That search will lead them to your website, where they’ll add their e-mail address to your mailing list, purchase your products or sign up for your services.
To put it simply, writing a book as an entrepreneur will flood you with leads, leads, leads! Just make sure that your final product is properly executed and well written in order to draw in high quality ones that will convert into sales.
It will position you as an expert and boost your credibility
Okay, so technically everybody can write a book. But writing one that is well-researched, informative, helpful and valuable is slightly (read: MUCH) more difficult. If you can successfully manage to impress your peers within your niche, your credibility will shoot through the roof. You’ll also emerge as a leading expert in your field, opening the door for a steady stream of paid appearances, speaking gigs, collaboration requests and more. Heightened credibility and a positive reputation are the key foundations of trust, and once you’re trusted within your industry, your opportunities to achieve heightened success are seemingly limitless.
It will welcome opportunities for partnership
What better way for a potential partner to vet your skills and personality than by reading through the book you’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears into over the past few months (or years)? Your book acts as their mini-guide to getting to know you. It will quickly allow them to determine whether a partnership with you would be valuable to them as a company or brand while also allowing you to expand your reach. While you might formerly have only been able to draw in potential business partners through your personal networks, selling a book on platforms such as Amazon will enable you to build an increasing number of new bonds without having to rely on your existing 1st, 2nd and 3rd party connections.
It will help you expand your market
Much like writing a book will help you build new partnerships, it will also expand your market for potential sales. If you’re a life coach who’s been selling your services online, how are people finding you? Sure, you have a business website and are active on your social platforms. Perhaps you’ve even paid for digital ads. But those efforts will only allow your marketing efforts to go so far. All-encompassing book sale platforms will allow you to reach an unprecedented number of readers and buyers using clever SEO tactics, not to mention the word of mouth buzz that your book will create. Before you know it, your market size will be multiplying before your eyes. You’ll then have a sizeable audience for when you launch new services, products or subsequent books.
It will help generate future business ideas
Based on how your readers respond to the content in your book, you’ll be able to gauge whether that business idea you’ve been contemplating has a real chance of working out or not. Maybe you’ve been thinking of branching out your life coaching business into marriage counselling. Did your readers comment on the chapter in your book that you dedicated to relationships and ask for more advice? Did they highlight which of your suggestions worked for them or say that you helped them make a decision they had long been avoiding? Well, we’d say that’s a pretty clear sign that you’d be wise to dabble in marriage counselling. Alternatively, maybe they didn’t respond to your content about relationships whatsoever and were instead fixated on the chapters dedicated to helping them achieve their career goals. There is truly no better way to test out business ideas than with the active audience reading your book.
Happy writing!
