Show Transcription:
Tina
Last week, my book, Million Dollar Micro Business launched itself out into the world. And if you were one of those hundreds and hundreds of people that purchased it, thank you so, so much. We hit the bestseller list within a couple of hours of release, and have stayed there. So I'm just so excited and so grateful to you because it only happens with like every one singular book purchase. So I just want to say thank you so much. If you don't have a copy yet, you can go to milliondollarmicrobusiness.com or anywhere where you get books.
But I wanted this week to kind of get interviewed myself on the podcast, about Million Dollar Micro Business, and I was thinking who do I want to have interview me and interviewing me today is my wonderful EA Jarrah Wallace. So she'll be joining us to ask her questions and all of yours. So we put it out to our members and to our social media and in saying does anyone have a question that they want to ask? And that's what should we ask me today? So she’s never done a podcast before so who knows how it's gonna go. But let's get into it all about Million Dollar Micro Business on Episode 133.
Jarrah
Hello, everybody. My name is Jarrah Wallace. And I am Tina's right hand girl. And yes, this is my first time on a podcast. So here's hoping it all goes well.
Tina
It'll go great. You know we just had our retreat a couple of weeks ago. And I got Jarrah up on stage for the first time. So I'm like it's alright, working with me can just be one permanent out of your comfort zone.
Jarrah
It literally is, although it was very fun. So he's hoping this is just on this one.
Okay, so we asked our beautiful members inside the mastermind some questions and if they had any to ask you about Million Dollar Micro Business, and I will get straight into it. So the first one I have is from the beautiful Sammi Jaeger from Fuel Collective. And she says,
Are you anticipating that Million Dollar Micro Business will become the next Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. And what do you plan on saying to Tim Ferriss when you overtake him?
Tina
I have a feeling Sammy, right? This is a joke, but I'm going to answer it anyway. Because yes, yes, I do. Look, Four Hour Work Week would be in my top three favorite books of all time. It's, I remember the first time I read it, and I just post it noted the bejesus out of it and highlighted everything. And it really did change the way I operated in business. And I read it every single year. And I always get something different out of it. And yeah, I would love this to be like the new Four Hour Work Week. And I would be very happy to be on the Tim Ferriss show.
Jarrah
Hmm, yeah, see this? Yeah, sorry. It's overtaking me
Tina
I’ll be like do you want to be my friend, Tim?
Jarrah
I love it. I love it. Ah, okay. Next one is from Brionny Benjamin, author of Life is Tough. And so are you recent release yet?
Tina
Oh, no, no, it's coming out in August. August.
Jarrah
Really? Yeah. Yeah. Um, and she has a couple of questions. So her first one is,
What's been your most effective marketing strategy so far?
Tina
We've done so much marketing. I guess the hardest one is the book tour that we're having to reschedule everything because of COVID.
Jarrah
As of right now,
Tina
As of today, yes. And that was something a few people have said to me was it worth doing that with all the uncertainty that's coming around, but I really think you're only going to write a few books in your lifetime, if that. And so, I like to give it every opportunity that it can possibly have to fly. And so I wanted to do the tour with that and you know, it was worth it. And hopefully we will get to reschedule and do a trip around Australia and see everyone because I think nothing really beats live events. So I want to be able to do that.
But the best marketing thing that we've done so far is social media.
Jarrah
100%. Yeah.
Tina
And so we did a photo shoot, especially for the book to get a whole heap of images for the book, in all different weird and wonderful ways. So that we had a lot of kind of social assets to be able to share and say different things and talk about it. Because there's only so many times that you can kind of post and go, Hey, buy my book, hey, buy my book. Have you bought my book? So the more variety that you can have in that to get the word out is going to be better. And you know, we've run some competitions, which has been really good and getting people to share it. I think the other thing in pre-orders that really, like I think was the key to getting it on the bestseller list on the day that it came out was pre-order bonuses. So all through socials, we said if anyone bought the book, they could go to the website and get all of their bonuses, which included good things like we had a short training, we had Canva templates people could use in their business. We had a masterclass that was live with me. So it was worth it to pre-order it so that they could unlock those things. And I don't know whether we would have had so much traction, if we hadn't have done that. Because pre-orders are hard. Like they're essential to get on that bestseller list. But it's hard because no one's read the book yet. So people have to just purchase just like on a women a prayer going, I hope this is any good. So it was, it's hard to get people to do that. Yeah. Yeah. So I had to give enough value to go well, it's worth spending $29.95 at Booktopia. Because I'm going to get like $500 worth of bonuses. So I think that was probably the best thing.
Jarrah
Yeah, definitely. Tangible takeaways. She also asked,
How long did it take you to write?
Tina
so much longer than I thought?”
Jarrah
Way back when in December?
Tina
Yeah, yeah. I think on and off, the writing was about five months from when I started to when I finished. But there was a month there where we were launching. And so I didn't write that month and kind of dipped in and out and then went fully solid over. So initially, I had the book due at the end of November, and then pushed it back to be I think it was the fourth of January was the end. And I was trying to get it done over November so that I could really enjoy the summer holidays and Christmas and everything like that. But work was just too busy. And so I had to keep like pushing it back as far as I could and then really just dove into it over Christmas. So I didn't really get a holiday last year I was writing and writing and writing and writing. So yeah, it took longer than I thought.
Jarrah
The next one from Briony is
How long did you spend planning versus writing?
Tina
Hmm, good question. Probably about 20% planning 80%. Writing, I spent a long time planning because with this book, it's more a guidebook. So it wasn't like when I wrote my first book One Life, which was more of a story I spent about three or four hours planning. And I wrote everything down on post it notes and kind of stuck them on each thing. And then I sat down and I blue tacked a four pieces of paper to the wall and wrote down the chapter headings, and then every topic that I wanted to talk about and put it under the chapters. So I could kind of see it all visually. With this one, it was a lot of moving because I was really trying to figure out how to take what I knew and put it in a linear fashion that anyone that didn't know anything about online courses could pick it up. And it made sense going through it. And that was hard to do. Because I'm always in such a hurry with everything. So I like just do this, like and done.
So I had to put a bit more thought into how to break things down and put them through. So there was quite a bit of planning in there. But then once that was done, it was just like full steam ahead having to get those those words out.
Jarrah
Yeah. And I remember looking through it and Matt did too and we were just like yep, it all makes sense or No.
Tina
Yeah, there was a couple of bits that you were like, you know, we need to change this to here or elaborate on that and do that. So that was good.
Jarrah
Yeah. Okay, so the next one we have is from Jane Cavanagh, the owner of the Flute School.
Did you have any distinct moments when you let go of some of your imposter syndrome? And she says, I'm assuming everyone has imposter syndrome or does it just fade as you become more experienced in your business?
Tina
Yeah, Jarrah is looking at me right now cuz she knows the moment I crumbled with imposter syndrome. For writing, the writing of this was hard, because I had such big goals because I want this book to, which I know sounds to a lot of people like, Oh my gosh, but I do want it to be a global phenomenon.
Jarrah
It's shooting out into the stratosphere. And for the next one.
Tina
I want it to be incredibly helpful to people, I want it to start new conversations and inspiration and all of that sort of thing. And so I was writing that, not just with the goal of like, I'll just do the best I can. But I really was looking at it going, is this going to transform people's way of thinking? Is this going to provide something that's going to be a value, and tangible? And can it compete with some of my favorite business books in the world? And how can I make it better? And so yeah, I had a lot of pressure on myself. And you know, I'd get through half the page and read it and go, No, that sounds like shit, delete it, go again, like there was so much. And I wouldn't say like negative self talk, there was just an expectation that I was holding myself to and anything substandard, just wasn't good enough. And I think that was, I don't think that was a mental thing. I think that was pragmatic in going no, be better, like it has to be better. So that was really hard. And then and then once I submitted the manuscript, though, I had like, a few months of respite where I was like, books coming out. And then when the first person read it, and loved it, and came back to me, I had the biggest panic attack, ever. ever, like, Oh, my God, like just, I just totally lost it. Because then I was thinking, well, hang on a minute, like all of this was a little goal. But I don't know whether I truly visualized all of it. And I'm going well hang on. If this does come true, and it does become a massive success, and it goes throughout the world, then I've been able to build a really successful business with anonymity. No one knows who I am. And that's been really nice. And do I want to be known? And do I want people talking about it? And do I want to be open to all the criticism as well as the praise and everything that comes with the positives and negatives? And so then I went on this massive spiral of going, Oh, my gosh, who am I to even be dreaming this? I shouldn't have done this. And what have I done?
So yes, I did. And then I got over that. And since that point, I've been like, you know, what, screw it. This life is short. I'm here for one time, I'm gonna give it a good go and go for it.
Jarrah
Here for a good time. Not a long time. Yeah, you think about that, actually, at our retreat. And it's a decision, I think that a lot of people face where, you know, you have to go into this and you have to be willing to be exposed. If you're going to go all in bigger and better. The exposure that scary.
Tina
It is. It's totally scary. And that was the thing that had come up for me the most was that word exposed and that feeling of? And we all have that, that feeling of, Oh, my gosh, are they going to find me out that I'm not as smart as what I think I am? Or what other people perceive you out? Because once people read books or see you speak or anything in that sort of level, they kind of look at you and hold you to a different level of expectation. And I don't want to disappoint people.
Jarrah
That's your one biggest fear.
Okay, so our next one is from the gorgeous Victoria Edmond at Bighearted Education. And she says,
As soon as it got published, was there something that you wished that you'd added? You know, that we all have those conversations where we walk away? And then this amazing idea comes to you, but then it's too late to add? Is there anything that you thought of after the fact?
Tina
Nope. Nothing.
It's got everything. Yeah, It is what I wanted to, if anything, because the book brief was supposed to be 60 to 80,000 words long. And I think after editing, I think we finished on about 96-98,000 words. So it was much bigger than what it should have been.
But I didn't want to take anything else that. It all had to be there. But yes, there was nothing else that I wished I had put in, I think because it was such a long process. So I got to think about it. When I self published I wrote it in August, and it was on the shelves in November. So it was pretty quick. There wasn't much time for like going back and forth. But with publishing. I handed the manuscript in in the January and it didn't finish through the editing process until late March, early April. So it was, there was a lot of time to second guess and add things in and go back and forth and reread it and reread it to the point where on the last day when it was sent back, I was like I can't write this again. I'm done. I'm sure it's fine. Yes, send away. Yes.
Jarrah
So the next one we have is from our gorgeous Svet Thorpe, Svetlana Thorpe of Thorpe Conveyancing, but I'm going to preface her question because I want to ask this.
Why did you decide to have our success stories in the book?
Tina
Ah, yeah. Because I didn't want one, I didn't want it to be a full guide book that it was boring and dry. Because sometimes like a step one, do this step two, do this can be a bit dry. So I wanted to inject a bit more personality and movement kind of thing in there. And two, I didn't want it to be my story only. Because the people that are in they're all very, very different. And so it gives everyone an indication to go, Hey, it's not just people like me, Tina, that can do this. But it's people so different from different walks of life that can all do it and do it in a different way. So if people are reading it, and they're different, they can identify with one of the people in there.
Jarrah
Yeah, it's not a one size fits all. No, no. Okay, so Svet does ask,
What criteria did you choose or select the business owners that you featured in the book?
Tina
Yeah. So what I already had my heroes that I wanted, and I had initially there was 13 people on the list that I was trying to get. Some of them I know, I've never even got through gatekeepers. I never even got a response back. Some people since that I got a response back of like, written to me and goddamn, I'm kicking myself, I should have gone in that I like, yeah, I told you.
But so what I was looking for was people that have had like, from a variety of walks of life. And then I was looking for a mixture of people. So more young, more old, more different cultures and different things, which was actually really hard to find, because a lot of different people said no.
So we ended up with people that I had, like some sort of second degree personal connection with. So it made it a little bit more insular than what I would have liked. But the people that I have in there are people that I greatly admire. So they've done things that I go, you know what, that's really cool. And that is a beautiful example of what's possible.
Jarrah
Absolutely. Yeah. She also has one follow up question,
How many kilos of maltesers do you reckon you consumed whilst writing it?
Tina
So Svet asked that because my reward for myself to get myself over the word count was every 500 words pop a Malteser. So I don't know how many I went through, but there was a lot. Yeah, yeah.
Actually, I did the math so there was like, 120,000 words at the end, and we had to trim 20,000 of them. So how many maltesers? Is that? Like, a lot?
Jarrah
It's a lot. We don't need an exact number.
It's so okay. Alright, so the next one we have is from Fiona Morris from Start my Cleaning Biz. And she says,
Is having contributors and telling other people's stories, she's noticed that it's in a few books. Is that a good way for us to, you know, filter business women to get a book out there? Or is it a good way to market it to have different stories?
Tina
Yeah, there's a lot of contributor books. I've actually been in what have I been in like three or four, four contributor books. So the first one that I was in was Dale Bowman's Secrets of Small Business Owners Exposed and he wrote a whole series of secrets, exposed books, and I was in that one, and then later I was in. I can't remember the name of it. I was in another one, as well. And then I was also a contributor in a book called First Time Mums. When my first baby was one. And recently this year, there was a beautiful book released called Postcards from Tomorrow, that I was a contributor in as well. And I do think that, you know, it's incredible to so a lot of authors will put that together to help, like, harness that person's audience as well, so that it's expanding that reach. But also, as someone contributing in there, it's expanding your reach massively. It's being able to be in a book, like for the people that are featured in Million Dollar Micro Business, they're getting all of this massive, massive exposure, without really having to do any of the effort of putting a book together or marketing it. So it's quite a good thing and, and a good way to be able to share it. But yeah, so mine was kind of little mini ones that are backing up the sections rather than just I didn't want to do a compilation of just success stories because I wanted people to see success stories and how those people got successful. So we allocated one to each part of the book. So that you know, in the part where you're getting clear on your idea, and then you've got someone with the startup story, and then you've got your when you're talking about money, and you've got Denise Duffield-Thomas talking about money mindset. And so there's a lot of different success stories are kind of backing up that part of the book.
Jarrah
How would you say like if someone wanted to become a contributor in a book, or how would someone put themselves out there too?
Tina
Yeah, I don't know. I mean, all of the ones that I've been part of other than Dale's first book,
I've been asked to do it. So the way I got in Dale Bowman's first book Secrets of Small Business Owners Exposed, which was like my first kind of personal branding foray. It was 2004. And I had read his first book Secrets of Female Entrepreneurs Exposed and emailed him saying how much I loved it. And like just total fan girls, really? And you know him? No, no, no, no, this was how I met him was, I was total fangirling on the book that I had read, because I was devouring anything that I could to help me build the business at that time. And so he wrote back and when actually, I'm putting together secrets to small business owners, and I need, like young women, because like I was talking about representation, he had no young women in it. And he said, you want to be a part of it. And I'm like, oh my god. Yes. So did that end Dale's become like one of my best friends?
Jarrah
I love that. There you go just put yourself out there. No harm enough to send that email. Yeah, absolutely.
So our next question is from the beautiful Michelle Pascoe from Second Momentum. And she says,
Now that you've written two books, are you already planning? If so, what will be the topic?
Tina
No, Michelle.
Jarrah
No more books, Michelle. We can't add anything
Tina
Too soon. Look, I, I would be very surprised if I don't write another book.
Because I'm a sucker for punishment. But I do love books. I really do. I love consuming them. I think it's incredible that you can get so much value for under $30 from somebody and get all their IP going. And I like to contribute to that, in a way like I feel like Million Dollar Micro Business is, is such a contribution to the world. And it can stay there and it's there. And and I feel like I've done good with that. So maybe a third I have no idea what it will be my actual which before we started recording Jarrah was joking with me about. But I'm going to share
my actual, like one of my lifetime goals. I've got a lot of random lifetime goals. One of them includes speaking at the General Assembly for the United Nations in New York. Another is writing like naughty novels. And so I love Jackie Collins, I'm one of those people that loved 50 Shades of Grey. And I would love to write really raunchy novels with a business woman as the heroine. And it will happen about probably when I retire. And I'm no longer like having to protect my personal brand. And can write them when I'm old and wrinkly and fabulous.
Jarrah
And you were going to do it under a fake name. But you've told everyone you fake name now, so I feel like
Tina
That name is gone.
Jarrah
It's Tina Tower. Yeah.
Yeah. Love it. Um, okay. So we have a couple now from Kate Harris from Design Life Co.
How long did it take for you to decide on the topic for this book? Did you have lots of ideas?
Tina
Yes, Yes, I did. I'm trying to think of the exact moment that so it was about about a year before was when I bought the domain name Million Dollar Micro Business. Because I didn't know it was going to be a book. Then I just the name came to me first. And I was like, Oh, that's a good name. I like that name. And then a few people that I was talking to in the book world said it was too long. But I loved it. I was stuck on the name. And so then when I decided to write another book, and ironically, when I decided to write the book, I thought, you know what, businesses that are really nice kind of even level, and I've got the time and space to write the book so this is a really good time to do that, and solidify that in there, and then like business went off and went nuts. So, you know, we ended up chasing our tail a little bit with everything. But it was for the topic, for me, I like to work with most of the clients that I work with our experienced business owners, so they're already have a lot of knowledge, have a lot of expertise have been in business for a decade or so. And already have like, their online course kind of figured out. And they're ready to like really level up and really go for that kind of next level seven figure business, but I don't work with startups. And so I thought, because that's not where I work. But people were asking me about it all the time, like, how do I get into this world? How do I get into this world, but I didn't want to, like that wasn't part of my service offering. So I thought a book would be fabulous to be able to go, Hey, if you want to know whether online courses is right for you, or enter this world, here is this whole book that will show you exactly how, and then when you finish that if you've got it going, then come and see me.
Jarrah
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Her next question is,
What is the biggest piece of advice that you would give to someone thinking of writing their first book?
Tina
Write it! Yeah. Yeah, I think that's it. I mean, books are fabulous, they take a lot of time, they cost a lot of money, they don't make you any money. Unless you like nought point 5% of the authors that really, really smash it. But there's something magical about books in terms of it's such a credible medium that I think it really boosts your credibility and your personal branding going. Once you're an author, you're in a different sort of a group than everybody else. Because it's so hard. So because it's actually not an easy thing to distill your thoughts and set them out beautifully and get a publishing deal and, and go through that whole process. It does put you in a different group of people. So I would say if you're wanting to write a book, like write an outline, pitch it to some publishers and go for it.
Jarrah
Yeah. And how did you schedule and structure your time for writing the book?
Tina
It was hard. So with my first book, I wrote it in eight days. So I took eight days, I had a bungalow over the water in a Fijian Island, and literally smashed it out, I did nothing but type, and sleep and eat. That was the that was the whole whole life was just just being able to do that. So that one was much easier with this one, I didn't have that chunk of time out. And we were also in the middle of a pandemic. So I wasn't able to go away anywhere. So I couldn't exit life, I find it much easier to kind of go all in on something. So because I had to weave it into normal life, it was really hard to go, you know, I'm writing right now. And then you get in the flow of something, but their normal business happens or family happens and the kids come in, and I didn't want to say to them like I'm writing live me alone, but at the same time, you're like, Oh, I was like mid sentence. I'm dying here. So my advice would be wherever possible, take yourself out of the environment. Try I tried. Yeah. But yeah, it didn't quite work out. So yeah, try to take yourself out batch out the time is definitely the easier way. I don't know if I did take big batches. And that's why I did it a lot over the holidays. And then my fingers got all sore. And I had problems with my wrist and everything from too much typing. So I tried to jump on otter.ai, which is a transcription thing. And I spoke some of it and then had to edit it. And it was just a big, it was a big thing.
Jarrah
There was a lot going on in that time. Thinking back to it actually now like we had so many moving parts. And in the middle of it. You were there at your desk. You’re a superstar.
Tina
Thanks, Jarrah. Back at you!
Jarrah
Okay, so a couple more questions. One from Stacey Hughes, our fabulous Facebook expert. She says and I love this question, because I know that you self published your first book and she says,
Would you recommend self publishing versus book publishing?
Tina
Good question. It depends on what your goals are. And in a couple of weeks, I'm doing a whole episode on self publishing vs book publishing, so people can decide kind of what road is going to be right for them. There's positives and negatives to both. I loved self publishing because I love the freedom and the control with it. Regular listeners of the show will know I'm a bit of a micromanaging, control freak. So that will come as no surprise you
Jarrah
You know?
Tina
So that part, right and the speed as well like being able to decide something, do something I really like. And I'm used to that in my everyday life. So the slowness of working with traditional publishers was difficult for me and still remains difficult. I mean, even with booktopia, we found what everyone to them on release day and they sold out of books within two hours. And so like this, this still out of stock a week later, and they're getting a little bit more stock, and then they sell out a little bit more stock and sell out. I'm like, Oh, my gosh, buy more books. So like, those sort of things are frustrating when we can't control them. But I chose to go publishing this time, because you can't get the distribution, like you can with a publisher. So it was totally 100% worth it. Yeah, yep. So for all, it's all it's difficultness. Going with a publisher just has advantages, because even like you don't have the credibility without the publisher as well. So I would try to pitch to different things, whether it be marketing or whether it be bookstore placements. And you know, anyone can self publish a book, you just kind of another beer bomb in the shower. So it didn't have that same level of credibility. But when it came to having a publisher, they were like, oh, okay, so now we'll take you a bit more seriously and put you in there. So, yeah, it was worth it to go publisher.
Jarrah
I'll tell you what, it's gonna be worth it when we see it at the airport, I'm gonna lose. And the same thing goes for PR.
What do you think and having PR versus no PR?
Tina
Yeah, we need PR. I, yeah, the PR that I have at the moment, my PR guy is killing it. So that has been so worth it. The PR firm that I had on my first book didn't have anywhere near the results than the one that I have now. So I think like when you're looking to promote, like get some get personal recommendations from people, and especially book publicists. So that was what I did last time was I just did PR in general. And they weren't specialized in book releases, which I think was like that was my mistake. Whereas this time, he's specific for book releases. So he understands the whole pre release and everything after and kind of the lifecycle of it and what the goals are with that. So it's definitely more beneficial to be able to do that. But you can't do everything yourself. I try, but she can't get you to try. Try give it a read.
Jarrah
All right, so now we have our last question from the gorgeous Nick Hatherly.
Who will play Tina in the epic blockbuster movie?
Tina
Because this is a joke, but haha.
Jarrah
I have been thinking about this because I’m trying to think of an answer.
Tina
I don't know. My favorite actress is Isla Fisher. So let's go with her. Okay, that was the last one and Australian root.
Tina
I love her. Yes.
Jarrah
Well, that is all of our questions asked.
Tina
Thanks, Jarrah.
Jarrah
Thank you for having me on Her Empire Builder Podcast Episode 133.
Tina
And so now we'll wrap it up and go if you want a copy of Million Dollar Micro Business, go to booktopia, go to Amazon, go to anywhere books are sold. If you go to your local bookstore, and they don't have it, ask them to order it in for you because they will and then they'll stock it which would be fabulous. And if you have a copy of the book, share it on Instagram and tag me tina_tower. Because we've got a competition running all throughout July, the people that share the book on their socials because obviously, the way that we're going to get the book in as many hands as possible is if you share it and talk about it with your friends. So I really appreciate you doing that. It's a really hard situation to be in to be basically begging people to go, can you please share that? Please share it.
If you read it and you love it. Like if you read it and you go you know what, this is not the book for me, don't share it. But if you read it and you love it and see value in it, share it with your friends, and I would be incredibly grateful.
Jarrah
Thank you, Tina.
