Reinvent Down Under is a practical guide to navigating life’s major transitions, using a decade of lessons from moving across the world, rebuilding a career and creating a new sense of belonging.

In May 2016, I arrived in Sydney with a large suitcases and a resume that made sense somewhere else. Like many people starting over, I had a plan. What I didn’t have was certainty.

Over the following ten years, Australia became much more than a new home. It became a laboratory for change. Along the way I experienced career transitions, corporate layoffs, consulting assignments, volunteer leadership roles, startup communities, Board positions, new friendships and countless conversations that challenged my assumptions about success, belonging and identity.

When people hear the title of my latest book, Reinvent Down Under, they often assume it is about migration with checklists and prompts for the practical side of moving into the South Pacific. In reality, it is a book about transformation.

Moving countries is simply one example of reinvention. The same principles apply when changing careers, rebuilding after a setback, starting a business, ending a relationship, or entering a new stage of life.

As I approached my tenth anniversary in Australia, I started reflecting on the lessons hidden behind those experiences. Looking back, I realised that meaningful change rarely happens by accident. It tends to follow a recognisable pattern.

That insight became the foundation of this book.

Reinvent Down Under – 7 Steps to a New Life follows a practical framework built around seven stages: The Break, The Pause, The Pull, The Preparation, The Network, The Reset, and In Balance.

Rather than presenting theory alone, the book combines personal stories with practical observations and contributions from others who experienced their own “Parallel Crossings” – moments when life unexpectedly took them in a different direction.

A central theme throughout the book is the idea of bridges – not a surprise as I can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge from our apartment.

Many people think reinvention requires leaving everything behind. My experience has been different. The most successful transitions often happen when we build bridges between what we know and what we are about to discover.

The purpose of the book is not to convince readers to move to Australia but to help them move forward wherever that might be.

Because reinvention doesn’t begin with recognition, not relocation.

Q&A with myself

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

The idea emerged during the lead-up to my ten-year anniversary in Australia which would fall on my birthday, perfect for a launch event. I realised that many of the conversations I was having were no longer about LinkedIn, marketing or technology. People wanted to talk about change.

Some colleagues were facing layoffs as I had as well over the years. Others were considering a move overseas. Some felt successful on paper but knew something needed to change.

I realised a common pattern between their stories and my own journey from Germany and Switzerland to Australia. Instead of writing another business book, I wanted to capture the lessons of reinvention itself.

The ten-year milestone with an upcoming birthday on a Monday provided the perfect opportunity.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

The concept had been sitting in my notes for several years, but the active writing phase happened surprisingly quickly.

Much of the material came from journals, newsletter articles, speeches and stories I had already shared over the years. Once I identified the seven-step framework and selected the stories to share, the book almost wrote itself.

The project moved from structured outline to publication within six weeks, culminating in a launch event that coincided with my ten-year anniversary in Australia.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

The primary research was life itself. The book draws from experiences across five countries (including New Zealand and Czechia), multiple career changes, volunteer roles, Board Director positions, startup communities and thousands of conversations with professionals from different backgrounds.

I also reflected on lessons from habit formation, leadership, networking and personal development. Many of those themes appeared in my earlier books such as Happy Habits, Connect & Act and Lead Not Manage.

Most importantly, I included stories from professionals from my network who experienced their own forms of reinvention. Their voices helped confirm that the process is universal, even when the circumstances are different.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The biggest challenge was deciding how personal to make the book. The inspiration was the likewise personal book The Flight Home by Veronica Llorca-Smith. I’m grateful that she kindly wrote the foreword.

For me it is easier to write about LinkedIn or networking because the focus is on methods and frameworks. Writing about reinvention means exposing moments of uncertainty, mistakes, setbacks, failure and vulnerability – in public!

At some point I realised that readers do not connect with perfection but with honesty. Once I accepted that, the writing became much easier.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I discovered that many events I once considered isolated incidents were actually connected.

The layoffs, the move to Australia, the consulting work, the networking events, my published books and the opportunities that followed all formed part of a larger story.

The process of writing this book helped me appreciate that reinvention is rarely one big decision. It is usually a series of smaller decisions that only make sense when viewed in hindsight.

Looking back, I realised that some of the most important moments in my life initially looked like setbacks. The key is how to come back and shift the identity to the better.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

This book serves as a marker on the journey capturing a decade of lessons with a framework I can share with others who are navigating change.

Professionally, it expands my speaking and workshop topics beyond LinkedIn, networking and business growth into areas such as resilience, career transition, relocation and personal reinvention.

Personally, it allows me to contribute something meaningful to people who may currently be standing at their own crossroads.

If the book helps one person take the next step with greater confidence, it has achieved its purpose.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Start with the transformation, not the chapters. The book is not the end product! Ask yourself what changed in your life, what lesson you learned and who could benefit from hearing that story.

Many aspiring authors focus on what they want to say. The better question is what readers need to hear. Once you identify the transformation, the structure becomes much easier.

In my case, the seven-step framework came after the experiences. The framework simply provided a way to organise what life had already taught me.

Not to forget: a book is not about documenting everything you know, it should rather help someone else move from where they are to where they want to be.

I will go deeper into this topic helping fellow writers in my next book, Write Your Book Backwards, which begins with launch and impact before writing a book that leads to that desired outcome.

Gunnar Habitz: “Reinvent Down Under”, Connect & Act Media 2026, ISBN 978-1-76465900-0 (Paperback) or ISBN 978-1-76465901-7 (eBook)

More about the book: www.reinventdownunder.com/amazon

Have you ever reached a point where trying harder stopped working? Think at more effort, more thinking, and more control.

But somehow, the results moved further away instead of closer.

After reading the book The Frame earlier, where authors Justin Michael and Jonny Staker explored power, status, and influence through the concept of being, Justin’s new book takes that idea one step further – into a space that millions of readers believe they already understand:

The Law of Attraction. Or more precisely, why it never quite worked the way we were told.

From Frame to Identity

If The Frame was about how presence shapes influence, this new book is about something even deeper: How identity shapes reality.

Justin challenges one of the most widely accepted ideas in modern self-development – that thoughts create reality.

Instead, he introduces a shift that feels simple on the surface but lands with force:

• Not thoughts → results.

• But identity → everything.

This is not a refinement of manifestation; it is a reordering of it.

The hidden problem behind manifestation

For decades, readers have been taught to:

• visualise outcomes

• repeat affirmations

• maintain positive emotions

• “raise their vibration”

And sometimes, it works (I use it for book writing for years).

But as Justin describes, something eventually breaks as the effort increases, the tension builds, and the outcomes feel forced.

This book addresses that uncomfortable gap and explains why the more people try to control reality, the more resistance they often create — and why that resistance quietly undermines the very outcomes they seek.

Forcing vs. becoming

At the heart of the book sits a clear distinction: manufactured manifestation vs. becoming.

The first relies on effort, techniques, and control. The second relies on identity.

Justin reframes the entire process:

• Being shapes thinking

• Thinking shapes action

• Action shapes results

Most approaches try to fix the middle but Justin’s new book moves upstream.

Once you see that shift by yourself, it becomes difficult to look at manifestation the same way again.

A short book with a deep shift

Unlike many books in this space, Rewriting the Law of Attraction is intentionally short. You can read it in one sitting as I did first.

See it more as a philosophical correction — a provocation that invites the reader to question something widely accepted.

Each of the 13 chapters ends with a short ritual as a doorway into awareness, not a hardcore homework to move to the next chapter.

This approach aligns perfectly with Justin’s writing style already visible in The Frame and some of his earlier books: short sentences, minimal explanation, maximum impact.

Real life adaptability

What makes this book interesting is how quickly it reframes everyday experiences — regardless whether you agree with every argument.

After reading, you begin to notice patterns such as:

• why forcing outcomes creates tension

• why some opportunities appear without effort

• why identity shifts often precede major life changes

• why trying harder sometimes weakens your own position

For readers in business, sales, leadership or creative work, this becomes especially relevant because the idea of “signal” (what you emit through your identity) directly connects to how others respond to you.

Knowing Justin for his sales books, I see this book as the fundamental underlying layer he was finally ready to write.

Useful quotes out of the book

While reading this book I stopped quite often as some sentences directly jumped out of the book to stand for by themselves. Here are some of my favourite examples:

Chasing is the vibration of absence. It says, ‘I am separate from what I seek’. Becoming is the vibration of wholeness. It whispers, ‘I already am.’

Your identity is the engine of your destiny. When you shift who you believe yourself to be, your outer world becomes obedient to that belief.

Miracles don’t come from mastering techniques. They come from falling back into rhythm.

As in his earlier books, memorably sentences are short to work also outside the intended context.

Inspiration for fellow writers

From a writing perspective, this book follows a very specific approach: It creates impact through clarity without trying to convince through length.

Justin deliberately keeps the book short, almost like a long-form essay which could easily be an article series on Substack. Once the core idea becomes visible, repetition becomes unnecessary.

When I read an early version, I have been stunned by an element rarely found in books: rhythm.

A powerful reminder for every author: Not every book needs to explain everything. Some books only need to reveal one mechanism clearly enough so that the reader can do the rest for their own situation.

Final verdict

This is not a traditional manifestation book as it does not give more techniques to apply. It even removes the need for many of them.

By shifting the focus from thinking to being, Justin Michael challenges one of the most popular ideas in modern self-development — and replaces it with something both simpler and more demanding.

Because if identity is the real driver, then outcomes are no longer something to chase. Instead they become something to grow into. Once you start seeing life through that lens, it is difficult to return to the old model.

Just like with The Frame, this book doesn’t just offer ideas. It changes how you observe what’s already happening.

Q&A with Justin Michael

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I was deep into writing The Frame, and every time I touched anything spiritual, it got cut. It didn’t fit the structure, but it wouldn’t leave me alone. That tension forced me deeper into ontology, the science of being. Around the same time, I was absorbing The Surrender Experiment and the distinction between surrendered and manufactured manifestation. That insight broke something open. It showed me there was a deeper law underneath everything, not attraction, but becoming.

I wrote the first version in a single weekend. It felt less like writing and more like uncovering something that was already there. The original title was Phoenix Rising: The Hidden Law of Becoming. But then I had a realization that changed everything. There are hundreds of millions of Law of Attraction books in the world, and not one directly challenges the premise. That’s when it shifted from a book into a position.

A call with Mark Victor Hansen sealed it. He said, “Drop Phoenix Rising. Call it what it is: Rewriting the Law of Attraction.”

That was the moment it became dangerous. And that’s when I knew it would work.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

It looks simple. It isn’t. The book is only about 17,000 words, but it took around 100 focused hours to get right. The difficulty wasn’t writing. It was restraint. Every sentence had to carry weight without force.

I had it edited in England by Rebekah Carter to ensure it breathed properly. No excess. No noise. Just signal. Every decision, structure, flow, even the practices at the end of each chapter, was built around one principle: surrender.

What started as exercises became rituals designed to dissolve identity. The phoenix remained, but it stopped being symbolic and became experiential. I grounded it in my own ego death and three extinction level events that shaped the message.

I also wrote it with a very specific intention. It had to work in one sitting but still matter in 100 years. That meant stripping it down to something timeless. Not tactics. Not trends. Something fundamental.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

This wasn’t research. It was a 20-year obsession. It started in 2006 after meeting Jack Canfield, which led to time with Rhonda Byrne and exposure to the original Law of Attraction lineage. From there, I went deep. Wallace Wattles, Neville Goddard, James Allen, Maxwell Maltz, Byron Katie, Joe Dispenza, Syd Banks. Not casually. Repetition. Integration. Application.

But the real work happened in the field. Over 1,000 clients. High performers, founders, executives. Testing what actually creates change versus what sounds good. I built my own framework, Musifestation, rooted in solfeggio frequencies and visualization, and supported it with neuroscience and quantum mechanics where useful.

The pattern became undeniable. People don’t fail because they think wrong. They fail because they are being someone who cannot hold the outcome. Once identity shifts, everything else reorganizes. Thought follows. Action follows. Results follow.

That’s when I knew this wasn’t another mindset book. It was a correction.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The hardest part was exposure. Not intellectually. Personally. I had to put my real life into the book. My father’s bankruptcy and incarceration. Losing custody of my daughter. Addiction. Things most people hide or soften.

But I realized something. If I diluted the truth, I would dilute the impact. And this work only works if it’s real. So I made the decision to tell it clean. No protection. No positioning.

The second challenge was even bigger. Challenging the Law of Attraction itself. When you question something millions of people believe in, you create immediate polarity. Some people feel instant clarity. Others reject it instantly.

That’s how you know you’ve hit something real. Neutral ideas don’t spread. Truth divides before it unifies.

And underneath all of it, the core lands. Surrender. Faith. Letting go. Reinvention. These are not opinions. They are human necessities.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

The most surprising part was the emotional response. I hit Chapter 7 during editing and stopped. It got me. Then I started hearing the same thing from readers. People don’t just read it. They experience it.

Personally, I’ve shifted. More surrender. More awareness of synchronicity. Less force. More trust. What I call pronoia, the quiet sense that things are working for you, not against you.

But the real reflection came from the data. People read it in one sitting. Then they read it again. And again. That’s when it became clear. This is different. This is my first true breakout book.

It’s my tenth public release. The eleventh I’ve written in a decade. And the first that creates an immediate internal shift.

The lesson is simple. Never give up. The most powerful ideas are almost always the simplest. This is a reframe you cannot unsee once it lands. It takes minutes to understand and years to fully live.

And one more realization. Writing is a small part of it. Maybe 20 percent. The other 80 percent is distribution. Getting it into the hands of people who are ready.

So now the mission is singular. Scale it. Relentlessly.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

People are changing fast. Not gradually. Immediately. I’ve had people tell me decades of internal patterns started collapsing after a single read.

This is also the first book I’ve written that isn’t confined to business or sales. It applies to anyone. That’s expanding everything. Audience, reach, perception. People are seeing that the work underneath what I do is much deeper than tactics.

It’s also creating a movement. Because millions of people have tried to think their way into results and quietly failed. This gives them a different path. One that doesn’t require force.

And when something works without force, it spreads.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Start with one idea. Not ten. One. Something clear, undeniable, and expandable. The best books are built on a single core truth explored from multiple angles.

Keep it short. People don’t want more information. They want something that hits. Something they can finish in one sitting and carry with them.

Put your life into it. Not as decoration, but as proof. If it didn’t happen to you, it won’t land for them.

Test it early. I had hundreds of readers shaping this before it was finished. I crowdsourced feedback, iterated constantly, even tested design direction. The crowd will tell you what resonates if you know how to listen.

And if you have a radical perspective on something widely accepted, don’t soften it. That tension is the book.

Because when it works, it doesn’t just get read. It moves.

Justin Michael: “Rewriting the Law of Attraction”, Jones Media Publishing 2026, 979–8–25184102–2 (Paperback) or ASIN B0GSBYCGXZ (Kindle eBook)

More about the book: www.newbecoming.com

Did you ever meet someone face to face for the first time and feel like you already know them from years of Zoom conversations?

That happened to me nine months before the publication of Closed Circuit Selling when I met and at my favourite bookstore café Ampersand in Sydney. They became the 75th guests in my engaging #42coffees series on LinkedIn.

Our conversation quickly turned to a topic many revenue leaders quietly struggle with: the disconnect between marketing and sales. In my simple view, marketing talks to an audience and thus generate leads, sales talks to self-sourced or converted individuals to get them over the line while the customer success teams try to retain those clients.

The challenge: the intelligence flowing through those departments often stops somewhere in the middle. And this is exactly the structural problem Adem and George address in their new book, Closed Circuit Selling.

Their argument is simple but powerful: most organisations do not miss revenue because of lack of effort, talent, or tooling. They miss revenue because the commercial system itself is broken.

Two Practitioners Building Revenue Architecture

Both authors bring complementary perspectives to this challenge. Adem Manderovic spent more than two decades building and repairing revenue systems across industries – from luxury retail to SaaS and enterprise deals. His experience includes leading revenue teams, closing multimillion-dollar contracts, and refining the cataloguing and validation systems that ultimately became the foundation of Closed Circuit Selling.

What makes his story remarkable is that the system was born in the field, not just in theory. Adem began capturing insights about prospects in a simple notebook, such as tracking timing signals, motivations, and buying readiness. Over time this evolved into a structured method that helped him achieve close rates far above industry averages.

George Coudounaris complements this field experience with a strategic lens. As co-founder of The B2B Playbook and the B2B Incubator, he has helped hundreds of companies design demand generation systems and align marketing activity with revenue outcomes.

When George saw Adem’s cataloguing system in action, he realised something fundamental: this was a missing layer in modern go-to-market architecture, not just another sales methodology.

A Story Told in Three Movements

The book unfolds in three distinct parts: The Break, The Pattern, and The System.

The first part examines the uncomfortable reality many organisations face: full pipelines worked by busy teams, yet revenue targets remain out of reach. Instead of blaming individuals or tools, the authors argue that the underlying commercial structure is flawed.

In the second part, the book explores the signals across high-performing organisations. Through stories and observations gathered over decades, the authors show that successful companies share common behaviours: they catalogue their markets precisely, recognise buyer timing signals, and operate on validated intelligence rather than hope.

The final section introduces the actual mechanics of Closed Circuit Selling. Rather than focusing on isolated sales tactics, the system integrates marketing, sales, customer success, product, and leadership into a continuous feedback loop.

The result is what the authors describe as Revenue Architecture: a structure where information flows continuously across teams instead of disappearing between departments.

Useful Quotes From the Book

Even without turning the book into a collection of sound bites, several sentences stand out in a partially shocking way:

“Systems don’t fail because individual parts are broken. They fail because the parts stop talking to each other.”

“By the time a client talk to your sales rep, they’re not looking for education. They’re validating their decision or negotiating price.”

“You have a system that prevents the people in one part of the business from knowing what people in another part of your business have learned.”

Real-Life Adaptability

What makes Closed Circuit Selling particularly relevant is its practical orientation.

The book does not try to compete with existing sales methodologies or frameworks. Instead, it focuses on how organisations structure the flow of information between teams.

Sales leaders improve the quality of conversations and recognise timing signals earlier. Marketing teams escape the trap of being reduced to a lead generation function. And for leadership teams, it means designing systems where marketing, sales, product, and customer success operate around shared intelligence.

This approach ultimately shifts the focus from short-term activity metrics toward long-term commercial alignment – surely with a political aspect that the Chief Revenue function has to solve to break the existing silos.

Inspiration for Fellow Writers

From a writing perspective, the book is interesting because it translates decades of operational experience into a structured narrative.

Rather than presenting the system purely as theory, the authors anchor their concepts in stories from real life experience. I can vouch for that as I worked within those silos at corporate tech vendors where I observed many of the mentioned challenges. This approach gives the book a practical rhythm that makes complex revenue architecture easier to understand.

For authors working on their own expertise books, it offers a useful reminder: the strongest frameworks often emerge from lived experience rather than abstract models.

Final Verdict

In many organisations, the gap between marketing, sales, and customer success remains one of the biggest barriers to predictable revenue.

Closed Circuit Selling tackles that problem at its root. Instead of optimising isolated tactics, Adem Manderovic and George Coudounaris propose a broader architecture that connects the entire revenue organisation.

For leaders responsible for go-to-market strategy, revenue operations, or commercial alignment, this book provides a fresh perspective on how demand, conversion, and expansion can work as one system.

And for anyone who has ever wondered why a full pipeline still fails to translate into predictable revenue, the concept of closing the commercial circuit may offer the missing piece.

Q&A with Adem Manderovic and George Coudounaris

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

AM: The seed was planted in 2014. I was working under Daniel Jensen at Sinclair, trying to do two hours of cardio every day, and I wrote the whole thing out on my phone while I was on the bike – the accident, the recovery, what I did, how I got through it, what it felt like. I sent it to everyone at Sinclair and the unanimous response was: this needs to be a book. I started posting about it on LinkedIn, writing articles, building traction from that story around mindset and injury recovery – and that ran all the way through to 2017. But the deciding moment to make it a business book, and to make it happen now, was when I started seeing sprinklings of people in the market mirroring what George and I were saying in 2025. I knew we had to get the piece out that gave the backstory – the thing that cemented it in time and showed where this all actually came from.

GC: From my side, it became undeniable when the people we were working with – and plenty who weren’t – kept validating everything Adem had been saying. Podcasts and self-serve programs help people get across what we’re doing, but there’s nothing like a book. Especially in the sales sphere, a book with proof is paramount as a source of authority. But there was also a very specific gap I kept seeing when working with companies through our demand gen program, The B2B Incubator: marketing being completely reduced to the lead gen hamster wheel, and nobody clearly naming the real reason why. Everyone in marketing talks about measurement, but they don’t talk about the fact that marketing is measured on MQL because of how sales are measured – and the downstream consequences of that. I could see that pattern across 300+ companies. But I couldn’t be the marketer going out and telling marketing and sales it was the CRO’s fault for how things are structured. That message had to come from Adem. I would never have fully realised it without him either.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

AM: Honestly, if you count the original concept it goes back to 2014. I tried a version in 2020 – wrote it one way and people said it was too full on, wrote it another way and they said there wasn’t enough detail, so I went back to the first version. I cold DM’d six publishing houses, got meetings with all of them, and they all passed – said it wasn’t a business book. George saw one of those earlier versions and it was pretty heavy. Without his idea to turn each story into a learning lesson – to give the lived experience as receipts rather than just narrative – it stayed in that in-between place of too much and not quite right at the same time.

GC: Adem had been sending me points and extracts from early last year, but I kept pushing back because I genuinely didn’t see it as the priority yet. Once we both locked in that it absolutely had to happen, that was around August 2025. From that point – really fleshing out the manuscript, working through the structure, all the way to be published on 2 March 2026 – it was about six months. So depending on how you count it: ten-plus years of concept, or six months of serious execution.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

AM: The New Year’s Eve going into 2024, I sat down for two weeks and just wrote out every single story I could remember. That’s the foundation – 24 years of lived experience across 12 industries and multiple countries. Real companies, real deals, real names. We didn’t fictionalise anything. I also sent the relevant sections directly to the people involved for their approval. I gave the section about Mark Reval to Mark Reval himself. Mark was my boss at EPAC Salary Solutions, which became RACV Finance and was eventually bought out by Smart Salary. He was my mentor and a hard man – he would not tolerate any stretching of the truth. If something was off, he would have told me to rewrite it. Full stop.

GC: The research is the stories. That’s what makes it different from most business books. Adem’s experience spans over 24 years, 12 industries, multiple countries – and it’s all named and detailed in the book. I drew on my side of things too – working with 300-plus companies through the Incubator, plus everything on the agency side – to identify the patterns of what consistently worked and what didn’t. And then we deliberately went and sought third-party validation. Adem’s idea to get 12 or 13 of the biggest names in revenue on the podcast last year – to talk through this with them and show that many had independently arrived at similar conclusions – was a masterstroke. That’s not just content. That became a structural part of the book itself.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

AM: I think it was figuring out which version of the story to tell and what structure to use to tell it. We knew the book had to be bulletproof – the framework represents a significant departure from where most of the market is right now. Even though others have written impactful books based on less, we had to make sure the structure was right. It needed to carry the weight of 24-plus years of lived experience without collapsing under it.

GC: There were versions that read almost like a memoir – genuinely fascinating, but they risked people getting so caught up in the emotional journey that they missed the core message. We didn’t want that. We needed the stories to teach, not just to entertain. So the challenge was finding the balance: the origin stories that give the framework its credibility and context, followed by the detailed framework itself. From the early feedback, I think we found it. People are engaging with how Adem came to realise all of this, right from the very beginning, from when he worked with Mr. Christopher Chronis, and they’re carrying that through into the framework. The other big challenge was demonstrating that this isn’t some kind of magic potion that got whipped up. It’s built entirely from first principles. That’s where the podcast interviews became critical – serious revenue leaders across the industry independently arriving at the same conclusions. That third-party validation didn’t just support the book, it became part of its architecture.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

AM: George has heard a lot of stories. It feels like a monumental task until it’s not. And then once the market starts talking about circuits and closed loops and first principles, which they were starting to, you just have to put the skates on and get it out there.

GC: As Adem said, you just have to get started. Adem would send me a draft and say “it’s done” and I’d open it and there’d be 3,000 words. But that was genuinely useful, because it gave us something real to build from. You never get started waiting for the perfect version. We also went almost full circle structurally. We went one way, got feedback, went another way, then came back to something close to the original but with the right shape around it.

Broadly, we think people are starting to come around to what Closed Circuit Selling is because the environment is forcing it. When companies no longer have endless VC money masking bad go-to-market, and when so-called best practice is being published by big tech companies with vested interests and then picked up by companies that simply can’t afford to spend infinitely and get little back – the value of what we’re talking about becomes obvious.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

AM: It consolidates the category that George and I have created. Until now, everything in the market has been built around how to enhance a silo. Revenue Alignment Architecture is something different – it’s about building organisational structure and organisational success. The book gives the market the awareness and the pillars to understand what that actually means. What we’ve also built with Chief Revenue School is, in some ways, a challenger to McKinsey – not to Challenger, Gap, or SPIN, but to the full-picture strategic layer that McKinsey occupies. That’s a big task for two people to take on themselves. But the book leads with that change. It gives people the backbone to have their aha moments before they’re even in the room with us.

GC: It’s our stake in the ground. No fluff. Here are the origin stories of the framework. Here’s exactly how it works in practice. Here’s how it connects sales, marketing, and customer success back to the market. Here’s 24 years of it working. And crucially – it’s the thing that reaches the people we can’t reach directly. For those who aren’t working with us, who are going through things in their own organisations and trying to understand why things keep breaking down – this is the comprehensive view they can get in their own time. That’s what the book does that nothing else quite can.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

AM: Stay true to what you believe in, but structure it in a way that makes it palatable. And write it for the people who are going to carry that message forward – because they’re the ones who are going to lend the book to someone else with notes in the margins saying you have to read this. Those are the people whose weight of feedback and numbers will actually drive the change you’re trying to make.

GC: Write for your ideal reader. Use their language. Think about what matters to them and what format they’ll actually engage with. We used storytelling, direct quotes, a lot of white space – deliberately, because a sales audience will engage with that far more readily than a dense textbook format. Get stuff down on paper as early as possible and let it evolve from there, because you will never start if you’re waiting for it to be right first. But do think deeply about structure early – that saves an enormous amount of pain later. And practically: build your waitlist at least three months before launch with a dedicated landing page. We did that, and it made a real difference in getting the book into the right hands from day one.

Also, speak to people who have done it before. Gunnar provided an enormous amount of encouragement and guidance!

Adem Manderovic & George Coudounaris: “Close Circuit Selling”, The B2B Playbook 2026, ISBN 979-8-24910112-1 (Paperback)

More about the book: https://mybook.to/ccs and www.theb2bplaybook.com/ccs-resources

Have you ever observed the moment when a person enters a room and everyone is observing with an unrequested attention what will happen next? Many would say the entering person has charisma. But there is more as the room decides before thought, even before words are spoken.

That is what Justin Michael and Jonny Staker call The Frame. Their book uncovers the unspoken laws of power, status and influence as an approach to discover the hidden psychology to drive human behaviour.

Can we learn that from reading this book? Who are those authors to talk about that?

Two experts who learnt getting up again

I read and reviewed earlier books from Justin Michael – an internationally renowned outbound sales expert and bestselling author of ten books sharing his deep experience of creating own methodologies up to rewriting the law of attraction. For this book he joined forces and shared experienced with entrepreneur, investor and executive advisor Jonny Staker bringing two decades of founding, scaling and selling companies reshaping how his client position, acquire and drive billions of dollars.

The concept of becoming

The unspoken laws of power, status and influence are described across 14 chapters with revealing titles such as “Strategic Over Transactional”, Status is a Silent Weapon”, “Frame the First Five Seconds” and “The Qualifier’s Edge” up to the “Ten Laws of Fame”.

What connects all chapters is the idea of shifting from doing to being.

In that sense they don’t share tips about memorising clever lines, body language tricks or persuasion tactics. Instead, Justin and Jonny guide the reader through a transformation of identity from someone who seeks approval, validation or permission to someone who naturally commands presence.

The Frame is not about dominating a room as such which is often expressed by charisma. Here it is about holding your own internal position so strongly that others instinctively respond to that.

Across the chapters, we learn how humans constantly test status unconsciously, how power is communicated through calmness instead of noise and how those who chase outcomes lose influence while those who embody that certainty attract it by becoming the kind of person whose presence shifts the dynamic before the conversation even begins.

Real life adaptability

Although the concept of Frame might sound abstract at first, the book constantly grounds it in real situations.

The authors share personal failures, moments of losing status, being dismissed, overlooked or outplayed – and how rebuilding their inner posture changed the results in business, negotiations, leadership and relationships.

Readers will recognise many everyday scenarios they experienced as well, such as:

• entering a meeting where someone else already controls the tone

• being interrupted or talked over

• trying too hard to convince instead of being heard

• feeling the subtle hierarchy in rooms without knowing why

Justin and Jonny break these moments down explaining what really happened beneath the surface of those moments.

More importantly from a reader point of view, they us show how to shift those dynamics by changing internal positioning first, not by forcing behaviour.

And this is exactly what makes the book highly applicable for sales professionals as well as for founders, leaders, creators and anyone navigating influence in modern work and life.

Useful quotes out of the book

While reading this book I stopped many times as some sentences jumped out to live by themselves as if they don’t need the concrete context within the flow. Here are some examples:

“Power does not seduce through persuasion. It seduces through stillness. It does not seek to convince. It does not bend. It holds. Quietly. Unshaken.”

“The strongest signal is not having more. It is needing less. Master that, and you will no longer walk into rooms. You become the Frame.”

“When someone says almost nothing and yet owns the cadence that isn’t charisma. It isn’t luck. That’s the Frame.”

These sentences show the writing style of both authors. Short sentences. Sometimes without explanations. That sticks.

Inspiration for fellow writers

Authors who want to write a book together with someone else typically have the dilemma of selecting who is mentioned with the word “I” to tell concrete experiences. Most authors would then write “Justin did this” or “Jonny experienced that”.

This book solves it in an elegant way with a universal “I” as described in the introduction: “Some pages are mine. Some are his. Some belong to a merciless third voice we both met the hard way, one that doesn’t flatter, doesn’t console, only holds the reflection steady. From here, we let the voices merge: at times singular, at times plural.”

Final verdict

Answering my earlier question directly out of the book: Frame “cannot be faked, borrowed, or scripted. Frame is not learned. It is remembered.” Or in other words: “It is the primal inheritance of those who once had it ripped away, who have felt the humiliation of losing the room, and who have sworn in the marrow of their bones never to lose it again.

So here we have the reason why Justin and Jonny can help the reader to feel the Frame: they had it without knowing, they lost it and rebuilt themselves brick by brick and nerve by nerve.

This book achieved especially one thing: a transformation of becoming, not just a book with strategies to learn or tactics to apply. And once we reached the final Law of Embodied Frame, we don’t longer hold the frame; it holds us so that our presence precedes us.

Once you start seeing Frames, you can’t unsee them.

And if you want to learn how to write a book of full transformation from becoming to being, this is the one to grab and embody.

Q&A with Justin Michael

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I was originally asked to write about the overlap between dating and sales without the cringe, without pickup tactics. That thread quickly exposed something deeper. Power. Status. Control in high-stakes moments. Frame. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. We realized there was no modern manual that taught how powerful people actually move. Not tactics. Presence. Identity. The goal became clear: write the book we wish existed. Robert Greene meets Neil Strauss meets Oren Klaff. A playbook for holding power without force.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

About a year. Intensely focused. I chose to co-write with Jonny Staker because he’d lived it. Big exits. Boardrooms that felt like scenes from Billions or Succession. We wanted cinematic storytelling paired with ruthless practicality. Every chapter opens with a gripping vignette, then lands in “Holding the Frame” so readers can apply it immediately in deals, dating, fundraising, or when pressure hits and their frame is tested.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

Decades of study across neuroscience, game theory, NLP, psychology, and relationship dynamics, all cited in a serious bibliography. But the real work was editing. Far harder than writing. We cut relentlessly to make it timeless. No trends. No fluff. The book moves across Dubai, London, Paris, New York. Power expressed through silence. Poise. First impressions. Gravitas. This is about how to be when six- and seven-figure moments are on the line.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Restraint. Not repeating 48 Laws or The Game. We needed original insight. Especially around what happens when a frame cracks and how to recover it. That pressure forced clarity. We distilled everything into the 10 Laws of Frame. This isn’t mindset. It’s identity. Ontology. Most books teach what to do. This teaches who to become. That’s why people say one read changes them.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Two truths. First, frames collide. There’s always a dominant frame. Power doesn’t require aggression. Often it’s listening. Curiosity. Social aikido. Second, frame is absolute but personal. The Dalai Lama. Oprah. Branson. Rick Rubin. Mark Cuban. Power doesn’t look one way. It’s fully owned authenticity. Love is a frame. Courage is a frame. Calm is a frame. This book isn’t about elitism. It’s about alignment.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

They relate differently to powerful people. They close bigger deals. They negotiate with calm authority. They fundraise with composure. Their presence changes. They see where they’ve been leaking power and fix it fast. Confidence, magnetism, and charisma rise because they’re no longer performing. This is a book you reread because it evolves as you do.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Obsess over the edit. Cut until it hurts. Read it 20 times. Invite real feedback. We had hundreds of early readers. Tighten the pace. Build a narrative arc. Books should feel like albums. This one crescendos hard. Especially near the end. A billionaire helicopter scene. A refusal that changes everything. Short beats long. 45K words beats 90K. Entertain. Educate. Then write like it’s your last message to the world. If it still matters in 2100, you did it right.

Justin Michael & Jonny Staker: “The Frame: Unspoken Laws of Power, Status, and Influence”, Jones Media Publishing 2025, ISBN 979-8-27699615-8 (Paperback), 979-8-27709252-1 (Hardcover) or ASIN B0G4NVRG5R (Kindle eBook). More about the book: www.theframebook.com

AI is everywhere these days with the majority of social media content being either written or influenced by generative AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini & Co. The imagery we see everywhere shows a mixed world as it is hard to spot the difference between generated and reality. But how can readers build trust with content creators when all we see is a sea of sameness?

Most books about AI show either the technical side like deep manuals or they celebrate the hype raving how easy life has become (hint: it hasn’t). What’s missing was a book that explains the everyday part of AI application in the view of regular families and individual who feel they’re left behind in a jungle of jargon for insiders.

This is where the book Everyday Ethical AI by comes in; ideal for parents, founders and creators to stand out instead of hiding behind the average AI content machinery.

An AI expert speaking human language

Karen leans on her experience spanning 30 years in data and product leadership roles, having filed 14 patents in the US and delivered a range of publications about the ethical side of technology. Building own communities across her Substack newsletters (e.g. Everyday Ethical AI, She Writes AI) and her AI, Software, & Wetware podcast, Karen helps a non-technical audience understand what’s going on in the AI world.

In that sense she is an interpreter translating her technical depth into understandable chunks of relevant information for concerned families, caring parents, and curious professionals from solopreneurs to the corporate world.

A practical guide with remarkable structure

Her book Everyday Ethical AI starts with setting the scene on all things AI, followed by an introduction to AI Ethics which are “guiding principles on safety, security, human rights and justice, and environmental considerations.”

The core of the book are those three sections of five points each:

• Five Everyday AI and Data Risks

• Five Ethics Concerns In The AI Ecosystem

• Five Things We Can All Do

Under the ethical umbrella, this book balances risks and concerns with possibilities so that the readers can decide for themselves what makes most ethical sense for them.

Real life adaptability with ethical considerations

The practical approach of the third part turns this book from a reference to a guide for real life gains. As not all AI tools are the same, the book includes tips to figure out which AI tools you already use, even without knowing. Catering for those who want to bring their technical knowledge to the next level, the AI Terminology chapter comes quite handy.

Karen’s reflective questions with wakeup character raise awareness to uncover a hidden agenda behind AI tools (e.g. “How does the source benefit from saying that and advocating for it?”). The further practical steps include advice on how to protect your data, seek diverse voices on AI and define our own AI usage policy.

Useful quotes out of the book

This book is full of wisdom packaged for easy understanding with a range of sentences addressing our responsibility, such as:

“Even if you as the decision-maker use an AI tool to support your decision, you remain responsible for the decision.”

I also resonate with this quote about the workforce impact:

“As AI tools increasingly guide, rather than support, decisions, lack of human oversight raises the potential for biased decisions or liability risks.”

Finally, this is an example of the multiple comparison quotes in the book:

“Just like we as drivers need to understand basic road safety, fuel efficiency, and maintenance indicators, we as AI users need to grasp AI capabilities, limitations, risks, and ethical implications.”

Inspiration for fellow writers

As a published author myself, I admire the practical structure of three times five elements which Karen followed with consistency. This clear pattern with its predictable rhythm guides the readers and provides space to breathe while reinforcing learning in structure.

The other remarkable element for me is translating Karen’s proven expertise into a language understood by her less technical audience, especially family members across generations who don’t have her background.

Very helpful are also the green boxes with quotes from other sources like Gallup and other reputable publications.

Final verdict

AI is still a mystery for so many people, especially those not working directly in tech. The book Everyday Ethical AI arrived at the right time when the world starts doubting the hype while many organisations are applying AI in well-articulated use cases to improve their business.

If you want to find an ethical way to use AI with confidence and responsibility in mind, this book will be your guide without losing your values or privacy.

Q&A with Karen Smiley

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

When I started writing on Substack in early 2024, I already had ideas and partial drafts on 3 other AI book topics that I felt were not well covered yet. I’ve been on a mission with AI ethics in everyday life since leaving corporate life, because the hype from the 8-figure tech bros has been taking up all of the oxygen about AI.

In August 2024, I started a podcast and I’ve been interviewing people about how they use AI & data and how they feel about AI tools using their data. I’ve heard some great stories about how people are using AI well. The interviews also highlighted that a lot of people simply don’t know about the risks they’re taking or how society is being harmed; all of the hype tends to drown those concerns. And other folks I interviewed were aware of the ethical and legal risks and hesitating to use AI when it could help them.

So in March 2025, I wrote a long-form article about the ethical risks of AI. The responses I received convinced me that expanding the article into a book could help lots of people learn to cope with the risks of AI, including folks outside of the world of Substack.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

About 6 months, from mid-March to eBook release on Sept. 14. A lot of that time was me learning all of the mechanics of self-publishing and setting up my own imprint & business. My second book should be quicker! But I think some of that time will come back on ARC reviews, so it might end up about the same.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

I’d worked in AI engineering for many years before I started writing about AI full-time. I’ve been analyzing data with software for my entire career, ever since I was an undergraduate research assistant for two of my engineering professors. And I first studied AI decades ago when getting my MS degree in Computer Science. While I was working in Corporate Research, I wrote over 40 papers and presentations, many about applications of machine learning, such as for solar power inverters.

I still learn new things every week and day from other Substack writers, especially about the impact on creative people and the environment. So for the most part, I “wrote what I know”. My Everyday Ethical AI book has over 400 references, and more than 60 of them point to Substack articles. We have such a great AI community here!

I also want to publicly credit for her contributions on decolonization of AI and data, and Deborah Reynolds (“The Data Diva”) for her foreword which highlights the data privacy aspects addressed in the book.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Keeping the book as current as possible while the world of AI is changing daily. For example, I wrote about the pending class action lawsuits against the AI companies. On 5^th of September 2025, Anthropic announced a tentative $1.5b settlement. That felt important enough to squeeze in before I clicked Submit to send the manuscript to Amazon!

To help buyers of my book to have the latest info, I’ve set up a bonus resources page on my www.everydayethicalAI.com website, and I’ll post new references there as they come up. And of course, in the book I invite buyers to subscribe to my free AI newsletters.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Oh, lots of lessons learned. I probably need to write an article about it 😊. Start with Word instead of Google docs, so I can set up the first page and next page headers and footers and the endnotes the right way from the start. Use BookFunnel from the beginning to handle sharing ARC copies with people.

Next time I’ll start lining up ARC reviewers sooner, make sure I start sooner with the cover designer, and budget for proof copies. And I’d start sketching the marketing materials up front. It’s like planning a potential new software product and writing the press release first. It’s so helpful to make sure we can articulate the vision and the benefits from a customer’s perspective before we dive into building it for them. Readers are our customers!

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Mostly my goal is for people to pick up a copy of the eBook or book and read it, and realize that they don’t have to be afraid of AI or feel helpless about the big AI companies exploiting us and the earth. I am keeping the book under $5 USD, so hopefully cost won’t be a barrier. The outcome I want is for more people to know how to protect their families and businesses, and how to take advantage of the power of AI without unknowingly taking too many big risks. There are so many things we can DO, individually and collectively.

One outcome that I didn’t expect is the book being used in workshops and classes. I’ve already used it as a reference for a workshop I led for Rebecca Mbaya to guide people on writing their own AI use policies. And a friend and reviewer who is a university professor asked to use my book and workshop materials for her business ethics class. I love that.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Hmm. I don’t have any specific advice for fiction writers. For nonfiction, if you’re writing about a fast-moving topic like AI, look for ways to keep readers current after you publish, and get the book out quickly, but don’t skip the ARC reviews.

In general, I’d say: take advantage of the expertise available on Substack, from people like who have helped many others with their books, to other writers who have been through the book publishing process before. For instance, has a book on writing that’s really intended to help people to write romance novels about well-seasoned characters, but so much of the advice in her book is good for any type of novel.

And right as I heard from someone in Mexico that she had trouble buying my book on Amazon, you kindly gave me that timely tip on using mybook.to for sharing a universal link that would work for people in all countries. I appreciate that!

We have an amazing, supportive community of writers on Substack, and I’m so grateful to have found folks here. Either my book wouldn’t have happened yet without this support, or it would have been a lot more painful and less successful. My book was the #1 Top New Release in Science & Math Ethics all during its launch week, and it was the #2 best-seller in that category overall (behind a Pulitzer Prize finalist). I don’t think that would have happened without the support I found here.

Karen Smiley: “Everyday Ethical AI”, Six Peas Press 2025, ISBN 979-8-9996096-2-5 (Paperback) or 979-8-9996096-1-8 (eBook) or 979-8-9996096-3-2 (Hardcover)

More about the book and author: www.everydayethicalai.com and https://mybook.to/everydayethicalai

It’s never too late to build your own email list. This advice is valid for businesses and solopreneurs – and the best day to start was yesterday. Just found the best source to learn about the topic to get started now.

The book “Smart Email Marketing and Content Integration” from renowned author, cognitive scientist, seasoned technologist, and content strategist, . He is well-known on Substack and Medium where his ecosystem of 17 publications under the umbrella brings comprehensive articles alongside eclectic topics for a large audience.

Dr Yildiz also created a 3-tier Substack Mastery Boost program which will be a low cost education and marketing support for creators, freelancers, and content startups.

Besides his publishing expertise, he has “built and refined email marketing systems for startups, large enterprises, and content-driven businesses, seeing firsthand what works and what does not.” This book includes his approach from behavioural segmentation to automated workflows without losing the human touch.

A comprehensive view into and beyond email marketing

The comprehensive book helps beginners and professionals with the importance and practical aspects of email marketing – which became my professional life since joining ActiveCampaign. And even beforehand I tested many tools and principles while running my affiliate marketing side business. Unfortunately I didn’t have this book when I started – and ma happy that I can now learn what I discovered by accident.

The book covers all you ever wanted to know about email marketing across eight sections and 65 chapters. He found a unique way by calling the chapters in form of questions, such as:

• “Do I Really Need an Email List If I Am Already Active on Social Media?” (chapter 8)

• “Can LinkedIn Empower My Email List Growth, Substack Success, and Book Sales?” (chapter 44)

• “Can you give us a step-by-step sample blueprint for startups and freelancers?” (chapter 52)

Combining the art and science of email marketing for lasting success, Dr Mehmet created his own framework called SMART which is also included in the book title. I’m sure you have read about smart goals before – but in this context it stands for: Segmentation and personalisation, Measurable growth and optimisation, Automation and efficiency, Relationship building and trust, Targeted content integration.

And there we have the reason why email marketing is not a commodity: businesses and content creators need to define their strategic aspect first before they can look into content creation and choose the right tools. The described platforms for email marketing don’t stand in isolation as clients also need to have adjacent systems to take full leverage of the client journey (I don’t like the term “sales process”). In best case, the email system is integrated with its own CRM and open to others from messaging to calendar booking and automated workflows.

Useful quotes out of the book

This book is full of wisdom with a range of quotes worth sharing. The basic explanation in one sentence is this one:

Email marketing is a broad strategy designed to nurture and engage an audience over time.

And more in detail:

Today, businesses, freelancers, and content creators rely on specialized email marketing software to automate processes, personalize messages, and optimize engagement.

My favourite quote is a mindset shift for many readers:

Instead of sending emails based on what you want to promote, you will send messages based on what they are ready to hear.

Inspiration for fellow writers

If you want to write such a reference book about your own expertise, you can take some golden nuggets from Dr Mehmet’s approach. Especially the question-based chapter naming implies thinking about your readers first – which you can easily build by your clients’ feedback you collected over years.

What I also consider adopting is his approach of showing what happens when the readers don’t follow the advice. This way he gives the readers a decision how to balance learning and concrete circumstances instead of pushing them too hard.

Start with email marketing in a smart way

Dr Mehmet Yildiz created an invaluable resource for in-house marketers, for marketing agencies and their clients to learn the latest and greatest in email marketing and automation. The word “smart” in the title also underlines his commitment to precision, relevance, and results his readers will gain when they follow the steps laid out in this book.

Q&A with Dr Mehmet Yildiz

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

The deciding moment came after mentoring hundreds of freelance writers who kept asking me the same question in different ways: “How do I find clients without relying on social media or chasing leads?”

I realized most were ignoring email marketing—not because they doubted its power, but because no one had explained it in a relatable, practical way for freelancers. That gap became too obvious to ignore.

I knew I had to turn my decades of experience into a focused, no-fluff guide that could help them build real independence.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

While the writing itself took about three months of dedicated focus, the real answer is that this book has been in the making for over 30 years. I started building mailing lists long before the internet as we know it even existed.

Every lesson in this book comes from lived experience—writing, testing, failing, refining, and succeeding. So, while the draft came together quickly, the insights have been tested and applied over decades.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

I combined three layers of research. First, I revisited my own real-world campaigns—what worked, what failed, and why.

Second, I analyzed patterns from the hundreds of freelancers I have mentored, learning from their diverse experiences across different industries.

Third, I cross-checked these lessons with academic research and market data to ensure the advice was not just personal but backed by broader trends and evidence. This blend of practical wisdom and scholarly validation shaped the final content.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The biggest challenge was simplifying something that I know is both an art and a science. It is easy to overwhelm readers with theory or drown them in jargon. My goal was to make the book accessible without losing depth.

I overcame this by writing as if I was mentoring one person at a time—imagining their specific struggles, needs, and questions. This helped me stay grounded and human in my language, while still delivering high-value, actionable insights.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I was reminded once again that writing is not just about sharing knowledge. It is about clearing the path for others. Every sentence I wrote forced me to think, "Is this clear? Is this useful? Is this respectful of their time?" That mindset made the writing process deeply fulfilling. It felt like I was passing on a craft that has served me for decades to a new generation of writers and creators who are ready to take control of their work and their future.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

The biggest outcome is seeing readers shift their mindset from chasing virality to building lasting relationships. Readers have already told me they feel more confident, more focused, and more independent. That was my goal.

I wanted freelancers and startups to stop relying on noisy platforms and start building something they own and control—a direct, manageable, and meaningful connection with their audience. This book is now part of that movement.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

I invite aspiring book authors not to write to impress.

Write to solve a real problem for someone you care about.

Picture their face. Imagine their struggles. Then write as if you are speaking directly to them, not the masses, not the market, not the algorithm.

Writing becomes easier, more meaningful, more memorable, more educational, and more impactful when it comes from a place of service, not performance.

Dr Mehmet Yildiz: “Smart Email Marketing and Content Integration”, S.T.E.P.S. Publishing Australia 2025, ISBN 979-8-3097-5706-0 Available in Paperback, Digital and Audio formats in multiple bookstores including author's own discount bookstore.

More about the book and author.

Ever heard about the term “Generation Mute”? These are those younger professionals who don’t use the phone to call someone. Bad luck for them: calling clients and even prospects still is and remains a way to disrupt the flood of written messages with the most unique instrument we have: our voice.

Just how to learn cold calling these days? The playbook of cold calling had to be rewritten in the age of AI. These days it’s not anymore about “dialling for dollars”, AI turned every rep into a “spam cannon”. So how to win when 98% of cold calls fail, it takes eight or more touches to reach decision makers and the average rep makes 330 dials per booked meeting?

The conductors of the cold calling symphony

That’s where two cold calling practitioners joined forces in writing the latest groundbreaking book about this topic: is a master of refining data-driven processes that incorporate human psychology, created his own sales JMM methodology as the new Q in future James Bond movies who serves by giving sales reps all they need to win the game in cold calling, a battle they thought was impossible to survive.

This combination actually sounds great: Charles is a jazz musician while Justin wrote about the influence of music in his book, Attraction Selling. No surprise that they master the art of separating signal from noise.

Replacing outdated scripts with an addictive control system

Charles and Justin composed a suite of four acts: The Human Code, Psychological Dominance, Elite Access, and The Algo Advantage. The 14 chapters within those four parts cover the human side of our voice, how to command conversations on an equal level without any need for low status openers, and how to flip conversations towards closing.

Within those chapters the typical fluff is replaced by sharp examples and practical tips how to make cold calling successful in the age of AI. That includes the callback code that got a 90% response rate without chasing follow ups. Filled with prompts in additional to human voice, readers learn how to cut through attention collapse towards peer conversations which are not ghosted after ten seconds.

The two formulas across the book are RRM (route-ruin-multiply) as a chain of precision-engineered pattern interrupts and ALGO (ask-level-glitch-offer). From the dysfunctional PBO (permission-based openers) which only lower the status to pattern-breaking resonance that switches from push to pull as the rise of outbound intelligence.

Useful quotes from the book

Quite a challenge to find just three quotes that stand out – there are so many sentences which are worth sharing! Here are my favourites about AI: “AI isn’t your replacement. It’s your leverage. Amateurs spam. Pros strike.” This is about our very personal instrument: “Your voice is the most irreplaceable asset in sales. But it only works when it hits the right person at the right time through the right channel.” And finally about the top executives we try to reach: “Execs aren’t looking for sales calls. They’re looking for signal from someone who gets the game. This isn’t about rapport. It’s about resonance.”

From reading to adapting for your own practice

For everyone in a sales related role with an outbound focus, this book is for you – it is highly adaptable with a range of suggestions how to open and conduct calls with strangers on the right level without lowering yourself. A set of prompts and lists of what works and what doesn’t helps guiding the reader in mastering the craft of cold calling to command conversations. The teaching even helps in any communication with colleagues and – in that sense more important – those superiors who will be surprised about the jargon you use with confidence after reading this book.

For a book written by two authors it’s impossible to find out who wrote what. It reads as a fully integrated book in one common voice. Knowing both authors are experts on cold calling with different experiences it’s amazing to see that none of them tried to overwrite the other.

Inspiration for fellow writers

Future book writers can learn how to add speed in writing their books. Surely this is not the book to read in an armchair with a cup of tea on a Sunday evening. It is a book that requires a seat belt given its speed and adaptability in real life.

What makes it special for other writers: the script is written like a LinkedIn post with many short lines and free space on each page to breathe. The authors achieved that by eliminating any fluff. Repetitions are intended. This book influenced the way how I wrote “LinkedIn for Startups” compared to my other books with 30% less text at the same number of pages. Much more impactful and practical.

Cold Call Algo in one sentence? “Open with strength. Lead with relevance. Talk like a peer. Own the moment. Close like you’ve done it 10,000 times.”

Q&A with Charles Needham (CN) and Justin Michael (JM)

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

CN: I talk to sales development leaders all day as a function of my job at TitanX. In that capacity, I can help them improve their connect rate, but I was still seeing some alarming gaps when it came to an overall orientation toward cold calling and how to do it effectively. To that end, sales leaders are treating symptoms rather than root causes. This book was written to address those root causes.

JM: The moment hit me like a punch to the chest: I watched thousands of sales reps marching to their deaths—armed with nothing but recycled lines from Fanatical Prospecting and generic objection flashcards. Meanwhile, the gurus sat back cashing checks off misery. It was a bloodbath disguised as best practice. The industry didn’t need another cheerleader. It needed a scalpel. Something precise. Dangerous. Sharp enough to slice through the noise and expose the truth. This book is that scalpel. And yeah, I knew it would get me blacklisted. That’s why I wrote it.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

CN: In the way you’re asking…4 months. Unofficially? 18 years compressed into 1. The average rep makes 50 dials a day, talks to 2-3 people and books 1 meeting a week. In a life prior to TitanX I was at a company called Apex Revenue, where I maintained a 25% connect rate while making 150 dials a day. AKA ~37 conversations a day, every day for a year across 30+ offers and verticals. To put another way, I got 12-18 years of cold calling experience at a “standard” SaaS org in a single year. I documented my findings during this time, shared them with JM and the result was this book.

JM: Depends on where you start the clock. Technically? 24 years in sales. But the real ignition point was 2017—when a team in Silicon Valley mapped an AI model of my brain to power outbound at scale. We used it to run top-of-funnel for 100 SaaS unicorns… simultaneously. That’s not theory. That’s war. I trained 1,000 humans across 200 companies.

The only thing that kept working? The phone. So I asked the forbidden question: What if we didn’t kill the rep with AI… What if we built the exoskeleton that made them unstoppable?

Here’s the craziest part: No one had ever written a real AI-powered cold calling book. Only shallow prompt guides. Weak sauce templates. Surface-level gimmicks. So we wrote the first one. Not safe. Not polite. Not approved. Just raw signal—and results.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

CN: With everything I had in my body. Seriously though: See answer for above question.

JM: I didn’t research this book. I survived it. This is the war journal of a man who’s dialed in every known condition—boiler rooms, remote teams, enterprise command centers, you name it. Every tactic was pulled from the mouths of real buyers under real pressure with real quotas on the line.

We tested this on 1,000 reps. Inside 200 companies. With millions of calls. We tracked what moved pipeline. What got meetings. What triggered emotion. Not theories. Not “vibes.” Not LLM hallucinations. I even ran simultaneous outbound for 100 SaaS companies while having my brain mapped into an AI model—something no other sales author has ever done. This isn’t a book. It’s an executable sales algorithm. And it’s trained in blood.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

CN: Realizing the things that I think are “obvious” are in fact controversial in the sales community - that meetings don’t matter, second and third order impacts ought to be considered when making recommendations.

JM: Trying to write a book about the phone… in a world that’s terrified of calling people. Let’s face it: This era is obsessed with avoidance. Automate it. Outsource it. Slack it. Sequence it. “Let AI write it.” But nobody wants to talk. And that’s the fatal flaw. I had to stand in front of the mob and say: “You’re wrong. The phone isn’t dead. It’s your secret weapon—and you forgot how to use it.”

So I went to war with the data. I dissected patterns across industries, personas, and verticals. I rebuilt frameworks that fused human conversation with AI precision. The result? Cold calling that hits harder. And converts faster. It’s not old-school. It’s post-human.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

CN: Pride. Gratitude. Your scars define you. Earn them.

JM: This wasn’t a passion project. It was an exorcism. Twenty-four years of scar tissue. Brutal quotas. Layoffs. Missed forecasts. Stacks of losses. Glimpses of greatness. I watched the sales world get seduced by automation and abandon its soul—the conversation.

This journey reminded me why I picked up the phone in the first place: Not to scale noise. But to master signal. The voice still matters. The tone. The pause. The silence. It’s not just tactics—it’s theatre. This book gave the phone a new brain. It’s not nostalgia. It’s resurrection.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

CN: Most cold call training is self-flagellating dog shit written by people who are secretly ashamed of their jobs. This is a war cry for the last of us practicing the dying art of human-to-human communication.

JM: Excuses are dead. No more blaming the stack. No more hiding behind “intent data.” No more saying, “cold calling doesn’t work.” Now there’s proof—a tactical, AI-powered framework anyone can follow. From closers to coaches. SDRs to CROs. This isn’t a playbook. It’s a weapon. It fuses behavioral science, live call psychology, and bleeding-edge AI into one unstoppable protocol. Plug in. Power up. Watch it rip through noise like a laser-guided missile. This book doesn’t teach cold calling. It revives it. And turns it into a machine.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

CN: What do you believe so deeply that you would stand in front of the mob and say: “Every single one of you is plain wrong about all of this.” What do you lay awake at night thinking about until those thoughts chase you into the dream world? Keep those things in mind, pick up a pen…and go. I’m rooting for you.

JM: Don’t write the book that gets you claps. Write the one that gets you canceled. Write the truth you’re afraid to say. Write the things that would get you fired if you said them on Slack. The book you wish someone had thrown at you the day before you burned out. The one that could’ve saved your career. Or your sanity. Don’t chase the trend. Chase the tension. Bleed on the page until it hurts. That’s what makes it viral. That’s what makes it immortal. And that’s the only kind of book worth writing.

Charles Needham & Justin Michael: “Cold Call Algo”, Jones Media Publishing 2025, ISBN 979- 8-2878-7998-3 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the book and author: www.coldcallalgo.com.

Have you ever felt like stepping into your office feels like embarking on a safari? In the book “Navigating the Office Zoo”, Böhnke addresses the reality of working with challenging colleagues with a decent portion humour.

This book elegantly sits at the intersection of workplace self-help, psychology, and leadership, providing a practical manual rather than just theoretical fluff.

As a seasoned manager in the software industry, sales manager and my colleague at ActiveCampaign, he leverages his experience in navigating complex workplace dynamics having worked at global companies such as PayPal, Indeed, Toshiba, and others. Drawing from real-world encounters managing diverse teams, his insights reflect genuine expertise, combining deep psychological understanding with actionable management strategies.

The book is methodically structured into three insightful parts: understanding difficult behaviours, identifying workplace archetypes, and creating the Zookeeper’s Toolkit: essential interpersonal skills for effective communication and conflict resolution. Böhnke introduces engaging archetypes such as the Micromanager Monkey, the Gossip Vulture, and the Negative Naysayer Newt and more. Each archetype chapter clearly identifies behaviour patterns and also offers strategic, practical steps on how to handle these challenging individuals effectively.

A range of useful quotes throughout the book resonates well with me, such as: “Self-awareness is perhaps the most critical yet most elusive skill in navigating workplace dynamics” and “Understanding your role in workplace dynamics is incredibly empowering. It shifts your perspective from feeling like a helpless victim to recognising yourself as an active participant”. A bit of fun comes through in this short sentence: “People rarely wake up in the morning thinking, ‘How can I be the most annoying person in the office today?’”.

Having experienced diverse workplace dynamics firsthand, I found the strategies provided in each chapter highly relatable and directly applicable, especially the elements within the third part with the “Zookeeper's Toolkit”. It covers communication, assertiveness, and resilience-building techniques. Managers and team leaders will surely find the structured guidance beneficial for addressing challenging behaviours within teams.

What stands out uniquely about “Navigating the Office Zoo” is its engaging blend of metaphorical language, real-world examples, and deeply practical advice. Böhnke’s writing style is refreshingly direct and humorous, making the complex subject of workplace dynamics both accessible and enjoyable. The practical exercises and self-reflection segments after each chapter encourage active participation and enhance the book’s usability as an ongoing reference guide.

For aspiring writers, this book is a prime example of how to structure business literature in an engaging yet instructive format. The author successfully merges storytelling with actionable insights, creating a robust framework that can serve as an inspiring blueprint for similar projects.

In my view this book is more than a guide, rather a survival kit for anyone aiming to transform their workplace from a stressful jungle into a thriving habitat.

Q&A with Frederik Böhnke

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

The moment came after years of hearing the same quiet frustration from coworkers and friends across industries: “I love what I do, but the people make it unbearable.” I realised that while technical skills are taught, navigating toxic dynamics is mostly left to trial and error. The idea of combining real-world archetypes with practical survival strategies felt overdue – and deeply needed.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

Roughly six months. The concept had been forming informally for years, shaped by journal entries, coaching notes, and patterns I noticed as a team lead. But once I committed, it took about three months to fully draft the manuscript, and another three for editing, refining, and structuring the “field guide” format.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

I drew from a combination of personal managerial experience, coaching sessions, workplace conflict data, and behavioural psychology literature. Each archetype is rooted in recognisable behavioural patterns supported by research on organisational behaviour and emotional intelligence. I also cross-checked strategies against peer-reviewed conflict-resolution frameworks to ensure they were ethical and effective.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Avoiding cynicism. It’s easy to mock or vent about toxic colleagues, but that doesn’t serve the reader. The challenge was striking a tone that’s both honest and hopeful. Humour helped, as did a commitment to grounding the work in empathy and actionable solutions – not gossip or judgment.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Writing this book reminded me that most difficult behaviour comes from unhealed wounds, unmanaged stress, or unmet needs – not malice. That doesn’t excuse harm, but it does reframe how we respond. I walked away with more compassion – and more resolve to protect my energy and integrity at work.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

My hope is that it becomes the “unofficial manual” HR never gave you. A resource that people return to when facing difficult colleagues, needing to set boundaries, or simply wanting to stay sane and faithful to their values. I also hope it helps managers prevent good people from walking away due to poor dynamics.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Don’t wait to be “ready.” Start by solving a real problem for a real person – even if that person is just your younger self. Then write with the clarity of someone handing a flashlight to someone else lost in the same cave you once crawled out of.

FC Bohnke: “Navigating the Office Zoo”, 2025, ISBN 979-8-2821-1743-1 (Paperback), ASIN B0F74NLZLP (Kindle eBook).

How can you build meaningful connections which are not egocentric? Shani Taylor’s book “From Ignored to Adored” helps to ignite true connections and improve communication to attract the right prospective clients without being salesy. This personal development book covers more than just the networking aspect; it rather attempts to turn future customers into soul-mate clients.

Growing up without a biological father and raising her own son as single mum, Shani knows how to fight in life while longing for true connection to those she can trust. She got rewarded for her life challenges with the gift of reading human behaviour in a deeper way than most of us which in return helps her to communicate in a more connected way than others. Shani’s mission is to directly serve one million people in her mentoring programs teaching human connection and business growth, delivered worldwide out of Sydney.

The story flow spans across two parts: clarity and connection. The first part lays the foundation to eliminate our natural way of being I-centric towards a desire of building deep connections. Addressing mainly small business owners and leaders who lost their passion for their business, the book represents a suitable groundwork for falling in love again with their business. The third chapter covers art and science of mastering the message by applying her TRUST framework which is based on the five steps Target audience, Reach, You, Solution, and Transformation. The remaining chapters cover the journey towards soul-mate clients up to relationships that relate.

Reading Shani’s book is a pleasure because so many sentences jump into the eyes as an eye-catcher. One example quote that resonates well with me is: “You need to stop speaking AT people and start speaking WITH them” shows the purpose behind conversations to make them matter. Another more casual quote is “When you assume, you make an ass out of u and me” shows the need for validation. Another insightful quote is “Your message is found in your mess, but don’t make your mess your message.”

“From Ignored to Adored” is highly adaptable for the reader’s practice. Instead of being too theoretical like many other books, Shani shows meaningful examples how to rephrase the approach from an I-centric way into a connected way leading to deeper formed relationships with the right people.

This book feels special to me as it celebrates the art of human connection in a quickly consumable format to apply the practical examples and relatable customer stories, supported by her clearly defined mission. Especially the “wake up” approach of visible headlines entice the reader to change their habits such as “from wired to inspired”, “from project to connect“, “stop spraying and praying” or “from drain to gain”.

As an upcoming business book author myself, I appreciate her no-nonsense style of writing with a clear structure. The added examples and summaries of each chapter act as a quick reference, shown in consistent shades of grey throughout the book. Her sense of humour makes this book an easy read and invites for a second time to implement what matters: to connect in an authentic way for long-lasting relationships.

I have been humbled to meet Shani after the book came out and observed her journey towards an international keynote speaker who fills large halls and convention centres. Worth reading it!

Q&A with Shani Taylor

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I wanted to be a published author since I was a child but last year when I reflected that I had been saying I wanted to publish my own book for more than 20 years that it was time to stop making excuses and do it.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

Approx. five months to write.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

From what I had read and collected from books over the 20+ years, academic research, and Google.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

NOT feeling creative. I thought by writing a book I would feel creative but actually it was very strategic and technical, not very ‘FLOWY’ at all.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

That there was so much more still in me to share.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Even though the book is geared toward coaches, my goal is to transform the way humanity connects with themselves and each other so this book forms part of that mission.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Stop waiting for the right moment – do it now AND once you start, KEEP writing consistently. You can’t write, leave it for weeks or months and then pick it back up – YOU change as a person so what you wrote six months ago won’t feel like you six months later. Write now. Write consistently. Write wholeheartedly.

Shani Taylor: “From Ignored to Adored”, Toronto: Grammar Factory 2022, ISBN 978-1-998756-13-1 (Paperback), 978-1-998756-15-5 (Hardcover) or 978-1-998756-14-8 (Ebook). More about the author and the book.

Leadership expert and Mindset Coach Michele Gennoe published her remarkable book “Mindful Leadership” to support busy professionals to incorporate mindfulness into their leadership practice.

The book reflects her many years of experience in both strategic advisory and coaching roles with owners of small to medium sized businesses as well as larger organisations as CEO, CIO and other C-Suite roles where she was leading difficult technology transformations.

Michele’s journey and 7-step strategy give the reader the opportunity to embark on a journey themselves whilst covering the seven challenges facing a mindful leader. As a transformation specialist, consultant and facilitator with international reputation, she applies her experience in global organisations and for individuals by giving them strategies and tools to uncover solutions and clarity about tactical next steps.

The book also includes case studies from interviews with experts in their fields, tools to address the gaps and key lessons with self-reflective questions. As a born teacher it was important to Michele that her readers learnt new material, heard from someone already practicing it and then got to develop those skills themselves.

Some inspiring and moving sentences that stood out for me while reading were: “Mindfulness will become part of who you are, not just what you do.”, “Today’s leader is no longer a motivator but an inspirer; no longer just a role, but a role-model.”, “Leadership is not always a product of position or authority but one achieved by inspiration, persuasion and connections.” and “Finding a purpose for our lives and translating that into a passion is what adds many layers of richness of experience.”

The structured approach of the book allows for multiple ways to read and use as a tool to learn new leadership habits at different times and in different ways. The practical character of the reflective questions after each chapter enables self-reflection. The range of exercises with lines to add your own notes reinforces that transformation comes from doing the work, not just by reading about it.

There is also a powerful new paradigm for corporate thinking at the start of the book that supports a change in how we understand organisations and our role within them. The graphical descriptions of the models throughout the book speak for themselves.

This book is special to me within the leadership books I read so far for various reasons. Firstly, it stands the test of being published already a while ago. Second, the bite-sized chunks of chapters of ten to 16 pages each support the attention span issues of most professionals these days. And the chosen example scenarios of the thoughts presented by her interviews with experts entice the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Mindful Leadership provides a range of valuable insights for today’s leaders for how to become more authentic, purposeful and inspiring. With an elegant format that is a great example of how to structure a useful business book (interviews, models, questions, useful summaries, comparable size chunks of information) in an easy to read style. Michele has captured the essence of what it means to be a Mindful Leader and presented easy to follow steps to become one yourself

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I was participating in an Entrepreneurial course where we were encouraged to write a book. With so many different topics in my mind I sat down to think about it and very quickly it became clear to me to combine the two parts of my life. That this was one of those defining moments where everything I had done beforehand was in preparation for the book. So I combined my corporate career leading difficult technology transformations with my personal development experience of healing through difficult life transformation.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

It took six months from concept to hard copy book to launching at a 5-star hotel in Sydney. It was a massive journey from concept to book cover, to book layout, promotion and then the launch itself. There was a large village supporting the birth of this book.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

The book includes examples for each chapter that were based on interviews with leading Australian businesspeople such as Gordon Cairns (Chairman Woolworths) and Martin Martinez (Founder & CEO at Outbound Group). To ensure that the concepts and model through the 7 P’s to Transformation that the book proposes, were valid.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The biggest challenge, and opportunity, was the tight timeline for the turnaround of the book from concept to launch. There were many moving pieces and tight deadlines along that way that were met because of the fabulous support of the crew that believed in the book and helped it come to life.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Writing the book was a very reflective process for me. I felt very guided as I was combining many years of corporate experience with decades of self-development training. From the 30-day (no breaks) leadership training I had done in the US to the software implementations I had led in India. I was reliving each moment as I crafted the steps for transformation in the book.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

I came to peace with the multi-faceted nature of who I am. One day I can be presenting a workshop on creating an authentic brand strategy and the next leading a team discussing architectural solutions for an ERP implementation. I love all the aspects of who I am and writing the book helped me to claim these different aspects of who I am.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Just do it. There is no greater gift that you can give yourself then to start the journey of writing your ideas on a page. Yes it can be frustrating, yes you can get stuck… the rewards far outweigh that though. The sense of achievement, of having your book in the National Library for perpetuity, is immense. All it takes is starting with one word after another.

Michele Gennoe: “Mindful Leadership”, The Women's Achievement Institute 2020, ISBN 978-0-99259983-6 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the author and the book.

Ever thought about how much time you could save and better use for your business if someone would take care of the day to day operations in the same manner as you would do?

The book “9 Ways to Leave Your Day-to-Day Operations” shows exactly that as a highly practical guidebook for business owners who would love to step back without stepping away.

This book sits in somewhere in the triangle of business, self-help and leadership. Instead of long fluffy theory it only focuses of what helps to get the most out of it – as the target audience is keen to get time back instead of time wasting by reading what’s not relevant. It is like a field manual for entrepreneurs seeking to prevent burnout and concentrate on the company’s vision.

Sydney-based Lloyd Thompson is an in-the-trenches Director of Operations helping founders reclaim their time and sanity as a fractional DOO, a role his clients didn’t know they need. Through his consultancy VirtualDOO, he guides tech startups, eCommerce companies, and fast-growing small to medium businesses. His experience managing high-performing teams across industries shines through anecdotes and real-world examples.

The book flows through nine practical “Ways to Leave” as the title promises. It begins with solving pain points and ends with determining the reporting cadence. Each chapter introduces a concept, illustrates it with stories from his clients, and concludes with actionable guidance.

Lloyd introduces a tenth bonus way as a gentle nudge toward his own services – a nice touch that feels more like a helpful conversation than a sales pitch. Supporting time-poor business owners, he wrote the book in a casual conversational style which resonates well with his audience.

Some of the quotes of the book stand out and have a lesson within worth reflecting on, such as “A secret vision is hard for the team to work towards.” Some of them are so simple: “If two people are accountable, nobody is.” Having worked in the automotive industry, this one resonates well with me: “Constant kaizen is about embracing ideas and suggestions for improvement.”

How adaptable is this book for own practice? Coming initially from a family background and observing my parents’ pain on the sum of the required operational tasks, I’m sure that the book will hit with early-stage startup founders and solo consultants who waste too much time without fulfilling their initial purpose. As they won’t be able to hire a full-time DOO right away, the concepts from simple Standard Operation Procedures (SOP) up to leadership frameworks are highly appreciated.

This book is special for me mainly because it has a jargon-free condensed language listing all that matters to be applied quickly. Beyond executing activities as a result of reading the book it also offers an understanding of human dynamics between the stakeholders – like a systems-thinking book with a human heart.

Lloyd gave huge inspiration for fellow writers of how to turn expertise in a compact, valuable book. The short format with only 84 pages supports attention span issues giving immediate value. His structure combining real-life stories and applied core principles offers a replicable blueprint. And Lloyd’s conversational tone drives the reader into the content quickly with a call to action in mind.

Q&A with Lloyd Thompson

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

Some years ago, I did a Webinar called “9 Ways to Exit Your Day-to-Day Operations”. One of the listeners said, “That would make a great book”.

I was recommended www.90minutebooks.com to help me produce the book from my webinar. The copywriter from this company said what about “9 Ways to Leave…” because it reminds her of the song “50 ways to leave your lover”. I was instantly sold on that book title after that.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

Three or four months. I already had the core content from my webinar. Even though it’s a short book, I wanted to review it a number of times to make sure I had not too much and not too little.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

The book describes tools and frameworks that I have been using. Big influences would be ideas from Good to Great by Jim Collins, Traction by Gino Wickman and Simplified Agile Project Management concepts.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Since writing the book, I’ve added more tools to my business. At some point, I may update the book to add more content, however in the meantime I’ve been adding extra content to my website resources page. You can find tools and frameworks that we use, and it is linked from the website of my book: www.virtualdoo.com/ways.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I’m pleased with the result and know I can do more with the book in terms of sharing it before I consider writing another. For example, I’d like to do an audio copy to release on Audible.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Authority builder. It results in podcast guest bookings. It’s a quick way of explaining to someone what kind of services we can help people with “Here, look at the chapter titles – these are some of our core offerings”.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Be intentional about what you want out of your book. For me, I want my book to start conversations with people who may either benefit from my help or would like to talk about these kinds of services, e.g. a podcast host.

Lloyd Thompson: “9 Ways to Leave Your Day-to-Day Operations”, 2022, ISBN 979-8-3568-7145-0 (Paperback), Kindle eBook or free PDF download. More about the author and the book

In her first book "The Free Spirit of Your Life Purpose", Jacqueline Hofste offers an unexpected self-discovery along the identification of archetypes for the reader’s own reflection in their environment. It allows unlocking hidden potentials, understanding the deeper meaning of life and managing conflicts with others. This fundamental work expands into several use cases far beyond the typical self-help genre.

Combining her 15+ years in corporate leadership positions with her passion for academic research, Jacqueline is on a mission to coach her clients following a meaningful purpose by tapping into their intuitive mind and human psyche. Adopting archetypal personality profiling principles, she unlocks the driving forces behind the human behaviour and brings her tribe into into the driver seats of their lives.

“The Free Spirit of your Life Purpose” starts with an introduction into archetypes as modern avatars, a term known well in the marketing world. The following chapters combine the odyssey of life with survival archetypes. Once the foundation is built, the readers dive into their own archetypes and learn how to view the life through the archetypal lens. The last chapter of the first part decodes the life purpose to unlock hidden talents on the transformational journey.

The second part and as such nearly half of the book is a reference to find the personal archetypes in a huge list grouped by categories. This extensive repository includes classic ones like Femme Fatale Martyr or Hero as well as Networker, Strategist or Storyteller. A great resource for all in leadership positions to elaborate the archetypes of their team members.

Some sentences of the book really stand out like this reminder of the classic hero’s journey: “All archetypes tell stories and relay journeys that are unique to their character.” Jacqueline shares a lot of wisdom in this longer section: “Archetypes speak to us within the context of what we believe rather than what we do. This relates to the way we experience events and observe things as they unfold. It also relates to how our cultural background has primed us to perceive things.” Her book provides more background to dig deeper into ourselves and to find ways towards others.

Jacqueline explains a series of day to day situations where the content of this book can be adopted for own practice. One example is in change management where the knowledge of survival archetypes helps to overcome concrete situations. The respective parts are filled with concrete questions to show the practical usage.

Positioning her work as an introduction into the expressive world of archetypes, the reader will be surprised by the intensive second part listing 72 different archetypes, grouped into nine families. This section is the special addition as it acts as a useful reference beyond the introductory concept.

Combining both parts, it is universal for different kinds of readers: Upcoming fiction authors find plenty of inspiration and ideas for the characters of their stories. Marketing professionals can be guided in addressing specific niches of their markets with a deeper understanding of their targeted audiences. And those in leadership roles can use the characteristics in the described archetypes to pair their curiosity into people with foundational material to engage more targeted with their environment.

Jacqueline went on a unique journey to write her book. In order to be inspired and constantly engaged, she created a Meetup group in Sydney called „Do you want to write a book?“ meeting once per month. From initial conversations and writing tips with already established authors, she distributed tasks to the group and went into a remarkable flow.

Being a founding member of that Meetup myself, it was impressive to witness her inspiring accountability approach. One day I connected her with publisher Andrew Akratos who I knew from another writing group and who later turned her ideas into reality. Driven by the success of her first published work, I heard rumours that a sequel is already in the works.

Q&A with Jacqueline Hofste

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

Contrary to many other authors I never felt inclined to write a book. It was only recently when I started my coaching business that I realised I have something to write about that can make a difference in people’s life, that I became inspired about writing. This triggered a little voice in my head, nagging me until I started to write. It turned out that I really enjoyed the writing process after all.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

From the first sentence to my book launch was exactly one year. Once I started, I set myself a deadline and envisioned what it would be like to enjoy the accomplishment of a published book. Before I started to write a book, it wouldn’t have entered my mind to think of a book launch, but it was a good ‘carrot’ for me. To keep myself motivated during the writing phase I also started my own writers meetup group, which was intended to be nothing more than a small workgroup and now has over 500 members.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

Since I wrote about a topic that I am certified in and was already conducting workshops, I had material and research studies. But once I start writing I realised that I need to dig deeper to bring the content better across. It turned out that the written material for the book needed to be a lot more detailed than in my workshop manuals. Apart from my research I also added my own stories and those from some of my clients to make the content more relatable for the reader.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

I don’t call myself a story-teller, but I had some background in writing from my university time when I had to write a thesis and also from some technical writing as part of my professional work. The biggest challenge for me was to avoid getting off track by adding more content and sticking to my overall concept, otherwise the book could have easily become a never-ending story and possibly overwhelm my audience. Discussing the writing process with other authors in my meetup group was critical for me to understand the importance of not going overboard.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I am so grateful that I was able to dedicate myself to the writing and reflective process of this journey at that time in my life. Since I needed to express the thoughts on paper, I also needed to ensure that I understood the intention of each paragraph and chapter clearly. It allowed me to deepen my knowledge which was a valuable for me personally.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

I didn’t expect it, but it is a great boost in confidence, and it is helping me to build my coaching business. It is such a great feeling when marketing myself to other business owners or coaches to be able to say: “… and here is my book”. It creates instant rapport

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Write about something you are passionate about. You are going to be stuck with it for a while and if you only think of financial gains, you may not last the mile. Also, set yourself and end date. Most authors don’t finish, because they never commit to an end date to start with. It sounds so simple, but I notice this within my writers’ meetup group all the time. Once authors realise this, they have an ‘aha’ moment.

Jacqueline Hofste: “The Free Spirit of Your Life Purpose”, Sydney: Omne Publishing 2018, ISBN 978–0–64835611–0 (Paperback). More about the author and the book.

My review series covers many books about sales, marketing and leadership with many of them standing out within their own category. The book “Act Before You overThink” from is remarkable as it doesn’t fit into any category and nearly create a niche on its own. Sales professionals and managers can use the learning from this book to teach their sales reps to build better relationships. It helps anyone improving their productivity challenges. And it also prevents from turning perfection into procrastination and thinking into overthinking.

I met Lison many years ago during her IT career attending sales management workshops in Sydney with a remarkable curiosity into human behaviour. Equipped with international experience in various cultures from her home in France to China and now Australia, she became an executive coach on performance and decision-making. As a keynote speaker on those topics, she published this book in 2022 reflecting on the feedback of other people about how their decision making processes.

The book is structured into three myths which Lison distilled after conducting more than 365 one-to-one interviews: Overthinking is enhancing my thinking, overthinking is inconsequential to me, and Overthinking is inevitable in decision-making. She found that the topics we deeply care about are segmented into the three categories control, competence and connection. When we overthink, those categories turn into the triad perfection, completion and validation.

The chapters turn the myths into solutions to move forward against their face value. We learn that overthinking has no benefit, it is a harmful illness and there are tools available to stop us in decision making activities. My personal takeaway from the book is shown in this short sentence: “Think before you act, but act before you overthink.”

This book about overthinking is overflown with more quotes to stop for a moment and to remember them as they stand out. Here are some of my favourites: “Conquering overthinking is not about thinking less but thinking better.” and “We have access to an overwhelming amount of information, but our ability to process it has not changed.”

I also resonate with “Completion is mistaken for competence and incorrectly used as an absolute criterion to evaluate self-worth.” and “Overthinking through an excess of analytical thinking leads to the exact opposite of our objective as it reduces the performance of our analytical thinking.”

Even when we are aware of our overthinking patterns, it would be good to apply the teaching from the book for our own practice. Therefore it is highly useful to grab the chapter summaries regularly which remind us at the key learnings on one page. The following lists of “how-to” suggestions help to avoid overthinking.

“Act Before You overThink” is special in many ways. For me it is one of only few books where reading the introduction makes sense as Lison announced she would challenge the reader. She even asked them to go through the book with a balanced mix of being open and sceptic. This way she encourages her audience to have an open mindset needed to prepare for the transition from overthinking towards an action taker. The visual branding alongside this book with yellow balloons like a lightbulb is also a special way to illustrate the message about overthinking – resulting in a potential bang instead of keeping the perfect shape for action.

This book is also about collaboration and teamwork beyond the contributions from the interview partners. Without the structured help of co-author Guy Langlois and the eye-catching illustrations of Pierre Langlois it would feel incomplete.

Future authors can be inspired by Lison’s book in many ways. Her approach of getting into a topic by performing thorough research and conducting multiple interviews before coming to conclusion and developing her own advice is remarkable. Too many books explain a theory and try to support that with quotes instead of developing a proper foundation. Upcoming authors might even consider her structure approach by naming the chapters by distinctive myths as a clever way to grab the reader where they are and show the outcome in the subtitle: “Make decisions easier and liberate your mind”.

Q&A with Lison Mage

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

That’s a funny story actually. I had been coaching for a few years and one evening I was with one of my mentors and he asked me about the common denominator among my clients. And I had never really thought of it.

For me, each of the people I worked with was unique in their own way. But he kept on pushing me all night long to get an answer out of me. And I kept on pushing back. Because it’s not like I had a niche market like businesswomen in their 30s. I worked with people from different backgrounds, 50 year old ex CTO and 25 years old woman based in China. But he was really persistent and I ended up giving in. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something like: “they think too much” or “they are too much in their heads”.

And then I remember him cooling down, he was smiling and he told me: “Good, now write a book about this.”

And at first, I didn’t take the advice too seriously. I was thinking there was no way I could write a book. But it got me curious. That was the first step. Being curious is the first step to get outside of our comfort zone.

So, I got curious about this pattern of “thinking too much” – that I now call overthinking. And I wanted to know more about it. So not only did I research the psychological literature on this topic, and I thought i could directly ask people about it – so I decided to interview overthinkers.

And that’s probably where the engineering background kicks in. I wanted to have enough data to get some strong and valid conclusions – I ended up interviewing more than 365 overthinkers over a year.

After 200 interviews, I already had a strong body of evidence that overthinking was really toxic for our mental and physical health, but also on so many other aspects of our life like our cognitive abilities or our decision making. I knew that it was bad but also misunderstood. People consistently downplayed the effects of overthinking.

And that’s what this last point that built my conviction to write a book. And when we have conviction, when we know why we must do something, we can be audacious.

Knowing that people were not taking overthinking seriously and the damages it could do to them over time was the catalyst – I was not okay with it.

The reason why I decided to write the book was because I hope it could help people. And so I stepped into the unknown of writing and publishing a book. Faced my fears and doubts and did it. And really what was key was this sense of conviction, knowing why.

I think when people know why they do something and it matches with their values, it lights up a fire inside us. It gives us the strength to do things we would never have thought we could do.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

It took a bit more than one year to get this book from concept to launch. This includes the research time (with more than 365 1-1 interviews), the writing, and then all the publication process.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

I leveraged the interviews I did with more than 365 people about their relation with “overthinking” and the feedback I got from my coaching clients. Plus I extensively read on the topic (books, academic papers) and studied bits of psychology and behavioural sciences to see if and how my interview findings match with the current scientific literature.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The biggest issue was that I was focusing too much on making the “best” book possible. I was riveted on the outcome and that was paralysing.

I wanted so much to have a “amazing” book that could impact one’s life. It led me to consume a lot of content. I read books on similar topics, researched extensively for more than a year, watched countless videos on how to write and publish a book, and the list goes on. I kept accumulating information, but I hadn’t written a single line.

I was too focused on the outcome – writing a “good” book and felt paralysed – every time I faced my computer by the challenge ahead of me. So in order to help me, I adopted a process beautifully explained by Steven Pressfield in his book “The War of Art”.

It is pretty simple, I needed to get “in the trenches” every day: sit in front of my computer, and write, come hell or high water. How many lines I wrote and the writing quality were only details of the process that I could adjust, but the main point was to write no matter what. Therefore I progressed every day, getting closer to my goal, to my “good” outcome of getting a book written and published.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

My thinking changed a lot along the journey. It keeps on evolving, even now. I think the best takeaway is really the difference between focusing on the outcome and working on the process.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

I gained more confidence and it gave me more authority when I speak on the topic of overthinking. It has also been a little breakthrough. I added a new facet in my identity – I’m a published author! And this started a sort of fire where I can now see myself more easily writing new books.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

As mentioned earlier, I recommended reading “The War of Art”, which can really help reframe someone’s approach to writing. And then, I would say, do the work. Might sound silly, but that’s extremely easy to go down a new rabbit hole and find a way to excuse ourselves for not writing.

Lison Mage: “Act Before You overThink”, The Mindful Experience 2022, ISBN 978-0645233001 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the author and the book

How can you enhance your marketing efforts in an intelligent way without the typical costs of a large campaign? The key to achieve exactly that is building winning partnerships. What already works for large organisations can also work for small business owners.

Therese Tarlinton delivers the blueprint in her book, Swap – Marketing Without Money. While the word swap might remind us on earlier days in mankind when goods and services were swapped, it is an insightful approach to find what two sides can bring to a table for a mutual outcome for both and the end customer buying the increased value.

Within the marketing and sales books written for a post-pandemic world, this book stands out with its focus on partnerships to give entrepreneurs and smaller companies a proven method to increase activities leading to the desired results.

The Sydney based author utilises her two decades experience in marketing and branding with well-known household brands such as Jeep or Benetton to create her own methodology in finding potential partners up to leverage collaborations at scale.

The disruptive times after the pandemic seem to be right to finally bring that concept to a wider audience from a win-win point of view. Small companies have what big companies need being nimble, fresh, focused and driven while big companies add their power and pull despite being slow to turn.

Theresa’s underlying methodology is called RECIPE following the steps Rediscover your business, Evaluate the objectives, Connect with right partners, Implement with over delivery, Position to extend the reach and Evolve by building advocates. The nine chapters of the book therefore span the journey from discovering partnerships as the secret sauce up to taking the learnings after each mutual campaign to grow further.

Some sentences stand out straight from the beginning which can be applied for your business as well. Early on she summarises the approach: “A marketing partnership is a 100% proven method to scale your business and will get you in front of thousands of your dream customers.”

I can vouch for this statement from my industry experience which also confirms her quote “It is mutually beneficial for both the parties, as well as the customer.” If you ever wanted to read the essence of the book (and my career as well) in one sentence, it will be probably this statement: “A partner ecosystem is about expanding your reach and growing revenue for both sides.”

I am living and breathing technology partnerships in my career turning them from a pure one-way channel of selling products into mutual partnerships, be it with consultancies in the risk management category, in the ever changing social media field at Hootsuite or now in the digital marketing space at ActiveCampaign.

Therefore I can truly confirm that the partnership activities given by Therese work well in reality if they are approached by a mutual outcome instead of just a one-sided advantage on the cost of the other side. Yes, a partnership is not always about companies of the same size – still we want to ensure that both parties can leverage so that the end customer has an enhanced value from that collaboration.

What is so special about this book in my view are her chosen examples in a storytelling approach blending the business with consumer world. It is much easier to understand the concepts written around retailers and products seen by end customers than sharing abstract concepts in the financial services world, e.g. with underwriters partnering with each other about an insurance offering. The RECIPE methodology given in the book turns a first success into a repeatable business model.

Future writers can learn a bit from this book. I like the condensed format of just 160 pages with a range of practical examples and stories. Every of the nine chapters ends with a summary called “Snapshot” which helps to come back to certain portions.

I also like the graphs and models explained, e.g. how to differentiate partner programs in Bronze, Silver and Gold. For everyone new to partnerships and wondering what they have to learn, the glossary of terms used in the book spanning 13 pages is quite handy. Only very few business books offer that.

There are books about sales and books about marketing. Most talk about finding customers directly. Therese wrote one of the very few that forms a partnership as a core principle for marketing and for sales – with a win-win-win focus in mind.

No surprise that her book won multiple awards such as the “Book of the Year” from Authors Book Launch and Expo 2022 (ABLE) and the Gold Medal award of Literary Titan (USA).

Q&A with Therese Tarlinton

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I’ve been mentoring female founders for 17 years since a mentor helped me create a $10m company, and I believe in giving back. During Covid I was helping as many founders as I could understand partnerships and one asked me if I had anything written down. Of course, I didn’t but it sparked an idea.

My boss at the time was about to start an MBA and I decided writing my book was a way of stretching myself, plus I thought the title of author would be very cool to have next to my name.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

I decided as a New Year’s resolution at the beginning of 2021, found a book coach who had a 90-day program and I hit the keyboard every weekend for that period. After a month of edits, I submitted the manuscript to several publishers and KMD Books replied immediately. It took the rest of the year to work with designers and editors with SWAP launching in January 2022.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

So many of the stories are from my own career but I asked as many partnerships professionals as I knew for their stories too.

My book coach asked me on the first day who my ideal reader was and that I had to write the book for them in a format and language that would resonate.

Since I had mentored so many small business owners I knew the questions they wanted answered and that formed the basis of the research and the narrative.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Thinking nobody was going to read it. Who was I to write this book?

But I knew deep down that I was a small business owner who had used a partnership strategy to create a global business, and I wanted to ensure others could see that it was possible.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I am proud of the company I built, the relationships I forged and the companies I have worked with since to create marketing partnership activations that have changed their business.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

I have had so many opportunities realised from this book, that I feel so grateful for. The best ones are from small business owners who read the book, do the deals and catapult their brand image and sales beyond what they thought possible.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Do it!! It’s the best personal and professional decision I have made.

Therese Talinton: “Swap – Marketing Without Money”, Sydney: KMD Books 2023, ISBN 978-0-6454076-0-0 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the author.

The highly recommended self-help book “Quiet Confidence” of Australian author Joel Annesley presents a remarkable journey how a shy young man growing up with indecisiveness in a world of too many unknown elements became a confident life coach supporting other introverts.

Transforming out of his own shyness, he realised that he doesn’t need to feed the inner perfectionist anymore. His book spans from feeling like a misfit towards gratitude for enabling his true strengths.

Joel found himself born with extreme shyness and thought that was him. Being too shy to speak up in school to make friends or to overthink everything, it took him ages to realise that shyness was separate from him with its own identity. He went through a long journey within to find his proper place and purpose.

After his transformation, he is still able to reflect on all stages which enables him to help other introverts break up with shyness and discover their quiet confidence. Famous is his attempt to start a meetup group following his inner purpose of helping like minding people - but nobody of the registered audience came being too shy to show up.

“Quiet Confidence” describes Joel’s transformation which resonates well with born introverts like me and helps to reflect the own history. He starts with naming and labelling his shyness throughout his youth. He used the form of a traditional hero’s journey like in classic literature including steps like the calling, finding allies, a storm and seeing new sight before returning home. Here we can see the influence by his writing coach, Jane Turner, an advocate of the hero’s journey, especially when there is a lot at stake. Jane has been an introvert as well and wished to have this book in her teenage years.

The book consists of many beautiful sentences which let the reader hold on for reflective moments. They can also exist as useful quotes outside the book like “Shyness is a reaction to a belief that you might have about yourself, usually a negative one.” He found a good way to categorise first before breaking out of that vicious circle: “Labels can empower you if used correctly, but a single label shouldn’t necessarily define you.” His words find hope within statements such as: “You’re born into a proverbial shell, but you don’t have to be a ghost.”

In my view this book offers plenty of learning possibilities even for those who are not that shy as Joel has been. Extroverts can take a lot out of it as well, surely they have introverts or shy people in their environment. Those with great inner difficulties will be surprised about his success story elements which they can apply in their own practice.

This book is special in its surprising readiness to show an open heart and inner mindset of a former shy person. He went through his own personal transformation, but writing this book helped him to discover an unexpected clarity of mind and vision during the process. Apparently he found his voice in the written word.

Having met Joel twice at a workshop and during his book launch, I am impressed how he managed to speak in front of an audience of strangers with his quiet confidence touching the hearts of the participants. Through and beyond his book, he teaches us that change is possible into an open balance.

Future business book writers find a lot of inspiration for their own writing journey. Joel organised the book around his own journey with a clear description of his inner world in earlier years up to practical ways how to overcome those challenges and to find confidence within himself. Each chapter comes with a useful summary and a couple of points of reflections throughout the book. Concrete activities and an audio companion at some stages contribute to an enriched experience for sustainable change. The transition approach is even visible on the cover with two chosen fonts in “Quiet Confidence”, have a look. Joel offers his readers to be their personal coach through the lecture of a partially bumpy while rewarding trip.

Q&A with Joel Annesley

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I had always had the desire to write—not only to share my story, but also to create something that would help others discover their own. My challenge: getting beyond the self-belief that I was not a writer. The moment that all changed was when I met my coach and mentor, Jane Turner. It was Jane’s story that inspired me, that challenged me to embark on the writing journey.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

Just over two years. What started as just an idea, transformed into a book and a community of like-minded, called ‘The Quietly Confident’. The greatest gift was clarity. I not only found my ideal client, but also discovered a powerful mission—to help 100,000 introverts breakup with shyness and discover their own quiet confidence.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

At the beginning, I pondered to myself how I would be able to write Quiet Confidence without simply quoting facts from other books of a similar nature. I soon realised that all the content I ever needed lived within. Quiet Confidence is not a text book, it’s an organic journey filled with excerpts from my own experience and insights as a life coach.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Doing anything new for the first time certainly brings up plenty of self-doubt. I often questioned my ability to write a book—I wasn’t an established writer, and I never excelled at writing during my schooling years. In the end, it didn’t matter. Having a mentor, an editor and proof-reader along the way gives you the confidence to transform a messy draft into something that you’re proud to call your own. Today I’m happy to embrace the title of ‘author’ and wear it with pride.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

When you’re on the writing journey, you focus on the end goal. When you get to the goal, you realise that you miss the journey. Treasure every moment of the writing process, because you’ll look back and realise these moments of clarity and insight will become pivotal moments in your life.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

Having a published book like Quiet Confidence is the best business card one can ask for. My words are quoted and shared on social media without my doing. The book speaks to my ideal clients and creates a sense of connectedness even before the coaching relationship begins.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Don’t write your book to be a best seller, because the inner perfectionist will never be satisfied, and you’ll want to give up before you get to the finish line. Write it for one person, even if that one person is you.

Joel Annesley: "Quiet Confidence", Sydney: Power Writers Publishing Group 2019, ISBN 978-0-646-99388-1 (Paperback), 978-0-6484230-0-3 (Ebook/Kindle). More about the author and the book.

How can you break free from the shackles of the past to become yourself?

The book “Dare To Be You” from Melbourne-based author Lynette Diehm is the most personal book I ever reviewed in my series; a book about her own transformation in life to become outstanding and unstoppable after going through serious sets of fallbacks and traumas.

Many people who went through tough times in an emotional journey would like to help others at an earlier stage of a similar challenge to unlock their potential. Therefore Lynette dedicated her book “to everyone out there who has gone through adverse times and needed something to give them hope and a way forward.” She developed a holistic health support system to help her get to know, love, and respect her true authentic self and to attract the right people into her life, and wants her readers to be inspired that they can achieve that to overcome their darkest times as well.

Working in the IT industry as a highly specialised project manager, I observed some of her professional work she shared on LinkedIn to then recognise that she found her voice by sharing how to overcome life experiences. For this she developed a set of quotes and affirmations books and a Gratitude Diary eBook allowing her readers to dare to be Yourself, Outstanding and Unstoppable which summarised to becoming YOU.

Lynette shares her own experiences in life which gave her the tools she needed to find true happiness, wealth, love and success in her personal and professional life which started as an outcast in her childhood when she discovered the rainforest as a secret place to learn enjoying the time by herself. She faced a range of traumatic experiences in her young life such as bullying, betrayals and feeling depressed while trying to be the love seeking people pleaser she assumed society wanted that of her.

In many smaller sections she builds bridges from fighting against the limiting beliefs in her youth related to her difficult upbringing up to the key events that helped her overcoming those fears towards healing. One of the main lines throughout the book covers how to recognise and overcome toxic friendships and broken trust situations.

It takes a lot of courage to go through all those little stories from her past again and describe them in this book. She wrote it all down in a conversational style as if she would tell a close friend what happened, often quite in detail. After overcoming difficult situations like breakups, severe health concerns and other disappointments she summarised the learning aspects for the readers as practical advice. Beyond dealing with emotions from negative events including discrimination and violence, she also eloquently described the art of gratitude and developing a mindset of looking at fear as a challenge to overcome.

A range of sentences often jump into the eyes of the reader to stand out underlining Lynette’s experience. Some are actually quite short such as “You can never be happy if you don’t know who you are.” and “We submit to the schedule of life without question, only then left to wonder where the time went.” Even shorter is “We forget that we still have to nourish and nurture ourselves.” My favourite as a book author myself is “The most powerful writing is not about having an imagination; it is about writing from the heart, from experience and from passion.”

If you tap into someone’s life who achieved a transformation or a major step forward, they rarely give you a listed menu of stories to tell or a quick logical summary. Likewise, this book doesn’t start with a table of contents and laid our chapters like a left-brain oriented business book.

Instead it is a journey into Lynette’s life, often jumping from one aspect to the next topic so that the readers can connect the dots alongside her journey. This approach represents the flow of connected situations in life, as described in her sentence “So many variables impact living a successful life, including unresolved childhood issues, identity issues, relationships, professional woes, as well as financial burdens.”

Upcoming book authors can take a lot of lessons from Lynette’s book. First of all her courage to write the story into a book with decent depth and thus outing her personal journey from trauma to transformation. Sharing what others might consider a failure is a challenge for most of us. Being honest to show vulnerability and allow to be themselves is one of the most inspiring elements of this book.

Writing this book during covid lockdowns in Melbourne gave her ample time to add a second layer to the book: it can also serve as a reference guide to overcome critical situations in life thanks to the small sections which can stand for themselves.

Closing with a request to the most suitable readers: “I dare you to be yourself, outstanding and unstoppable in your life by reinventing yourself and your life to be the way you want them to be.”

Q&A with Lynette Diehm

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

In 2008, amidst a storm of personal despair and professional disillusionment, I found myself at a crossroad. The discrimination and depression that clouded my days led me seek guidance, where a session with a clairvoyant became the unexpected beacon of hope I needed. She saw beyond my turmoil, recognising a potential in me to illuminate the paths of others. This revelation was not just about finding my purpose; it was about understanding that my deepest struggles could be transformed into a source of strength and light for others. It’s this journey from darkness to light that I’m passionate about sharing, believing that if my story can inspire even one person to find their way, then every challenge I’ve faced will have been worth it.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

The path from the spark of inspiration to the reality of publication was fraught with obstacles that tested every ounce of my resilience. Betrayal and financial loss were harsh lessons in trust and the importance of perseverance. Yet, these setbacks became the soil from which my book grew, rooted in authenticity and the raw truth of my experiences. They taught me that the act of creation is not just about the end product but about the transformation that occurs within us when we dare to chase our dreams, no matter the cost. This was a 2.5 year journey to publication.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

The journey to crafting the practical solutions detailed in my book was both extensive and deeply personal. It began not in the quiet of a library, but in the tumult of life’s challenges where theory meets the hard ground of reality. Each piece of advice, every strategy I advocate, is born from a crucible of personal experimentation, rigorous research, and the distilled wisdom of countless hours of coaching.

My foray into holistic health wasn’t merely academic; it was a quest for healing and understanding. After facing my own set of health challenges and navigating the often-overwhelming maze of advice available, I was determined to find not just solutions that worked in theory, but those that could stand the test of real-life application. This determination led me down a path of relentless self-experimentation. I became both the scientist and the subject, meticulously documenting what worked, what didn’t, and why.

However, my approach wasn’t solitary. I engaged with a community of holistic health professionals, absorbing their insights, and challenging their conclusions. I immersed myself in the latest research, always with an eye towards how these findings could be applied in practical, accessible ways. The knowledge I gained wasn’t kept in isolation; it was tested through over 300 hours of coaching, allowing me to refine each strategy against a backdrop of diverse individual experiences and challenges.

This iterative process of learning, applying, and teaching formed the backbone of my holistic health support system. It’s a system designed not as a one-size-fits-all solution but as a guide that empowers individuals to navigate their health journeys with confidence. The strategies within it are those that have shown consistent, replicable results across a wide range of individuals, each dealing with their unique set of circumstances and challenges.

My motivation in sharing these strategies is driven by a belief in the transformative power of informed, intentional action. I’ve witnessed firsthand the profound changes that can occur when individuals are equipped with the knowledge and tools to take charge of their well-being. It’s a belief underscored by my own journey from confusion and ill-health to clarity and vitality.

The practical advice offered in my book and through my courses is more than just a set of recommendations; it’s a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity for each of us to enact profound change in our lives. It’s my hope that by sharing these insights, I can help others find their path to health and happiness, armed with strategies that are not only effective but adaptable to the ebb and flow of real life.

For those who find resonance with this approach to health and well-being, I invite you to explore further. Whether through the pages of my book, the community of my coaching programs, or the structured guidance of my online courses, there’s a wealth of knowledge waiting to be unlocked. Together, we can embark on a journey not just to better health, but to a deeper understanding of what it means to live well.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The chapter of my life that involved being betrayed by someone I once considered a close friend was more than just a setback; it was a crucible that tested the very fabric of my trust and belief in the journey I had embarked upon. The pain of losing not only a significant sum of money but also what I thought was a pivotal part of my support system nearly derailed my dreams and aspirations. In those moments of despair, the isolation felt insurmountable, and the dream of sharing my story, my insights, seemed like an unreachable star.

However, it was precisely in this period of darkness that I discovered a truth more luminous than any I had known before the incredible, healing power of community. As I tentatively reached out, sharing my story in bits and pieces across online platforms, I was met with an outpouring of support that I had not anticipated. Strangers from across the globe became friends, mentors, and cheerleaders, offering words of encouragement, sharing their own stories of betrayal and resilience, and reminding me that the journey is never a solitary one.

This support network, built from shared vulnerabilities and collective strength, became the cornerstone of my recovery and my writing. Each message, comment, and shared story acted as a stepping stone, pulling me out of the mire of despair and back onto the path of creation and purpose. It was a profound reminder that while our individual journeys are unique, the challenges we face are universal, and it is through this shared understanding that we find our greatest strength.

The experience taught me that community is not just about finding people who are willing to walk with us; it’s about building bridges of empathy, understanding, and support that can withstand the trials of our individual journeys. It reaffirmed my belief in the importance of creating spaces—both online and in the real world—where people can come together, share their stories, and find the kind of support that empowers them to overcome their obstacles.

This journey of rediscovery, supported by a community that grew with every shared story, every vulnerability embraced, and every challenge overcome, has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life. It has not only shaped the narrative of my book but has also reinforced my commitment to fostering communities where support, empathy, and resilience are at the heart of our collective journey.

As I continue to share my story, I do so with the hope that it serves as a beacon for others navigating their own dark nights. I want to extend the same hand of support that was once offered to me, to remind anyone struggling that they are not alone, that their story matters, and that together, we can overcome the challenges that life throws our way. If my journey resonates with you, or if you're seeking a community that understands and supports your path to healing, I invite you to connect with us. Together, we can transform our trials into triumphs.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Reflecting on the journey that led me to where I am today, I am struck by the profound lessons learned not just in moments of triumph, but more significantly, in times of trial. Growth, I've come to understand, is not a linear path paved with successes, but a winding road marked by setbacks, self-doubt, and the eventual overcoming of those very challenges. Each step, each stumble, has been a lesson in resilience, teaching me that true growth often requires us to confront our deepest fears and to push beyond the boundaries of our comfort zones. It was through these experiences that I learned the importance of trust – not just in the people around me but, more crucially, in myself. Trusting in my own strength and wisdom to navigate through uncertainty became the cornerstone of my journey, allowing me to move forward even when the path ahead seemed insurmountable.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

When I embarked on the journey to share my story, my primary motivation was rooted in a profound desire to illuminate paths for others who might be wandering in their own shadows of uncertainty and hardship. This wasn’t merely about recounting my experiences; it was an intentional act of reaching out, of extending a hand to those who might feel isolated in their struggles. The process of translating my journey into words was as much about healing myself as it was about offering solace and understanding to others. The realisation that my personal narrative could resonate and provide comfort to someone else solidified my commitment to this path. Hearing from readers who found a piece of themselves in my story, who drew courage from my challenges and insights, has been a deeply humbling and motivating experience. It reinforces my belief in the power of shared vulnerability and the strength that comes from knowing you are not alone. My hope has always been that by laying bare my own trials and triumphs, I could encourage others to embrace their journeys with a renewed sense of hope and purpose.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Be bold, be brave, be resilient and never give up on getting your story out there. It is a therapeutic experience and if you are writing about your life then you will have emotions come up from the experiences in the past that you may not have properly dealt with when writing about it. Take some time out to deal with them and move forwards from them before continuing to write your book as it does not matter how long it takes to write, edit, design and publish your book as long as you continue writing it and never give up.

Lynette Diehm: “Dare To Be You”, Melbourne 2022, ISBN 978-0-64544473-5 (Paperback), 978-0-64544470-4 (Hardcover), 978-064544471-1 (eBook) or Kindle. More about the author.

is the modern Q from the James Bond movies, and his books are the Aston Martins of the day. Volume four of his JMM™ series called 7-Figure Formula is both stirred and shaken to take the readers onto a transformational flight through magic walls towards mastering limitless client acquisition of modern solopreneurship.

Having conducted 20,000 hours of cold calls and sent more than 5 million emails to finetune his method, he revolutionised the opening part of sales conversations, the main challenge of most sellers. The underlying JMM™ has been proven over the last few years by coaching over 1,000 sales reps and advising more than 200 tech companies.

Justin is no doubt a sales expert who has the magic key to open as the new close. While he conducts these activities for his daily work with coaching clients – he is now a sales coach. Not a surprise that the fourth book of this series doesn’t touch sales professionals anymore but instead fellow coaches and consultants who don’t have the boundaries of corporate sales reps or their tech tools available towards reaching the promised 7 figures.

Instead this playbook helps them to beyond closing clients to become the go-to-authority in their niche from ditching self-doubt to unlocking the desired freedom.

Justin continues the foundation of a new Outbound Operating System set in the first two books, Sales Superpowers and The Justin Michael Method 2.0, which has been added by the most unusual sales book, Attraction Selling, with elements such as music and sleep to complete the toolset of the successful sales professional.

7-Figure Formula covers client acquisition secrets for the modern solopreneur across three sections: Limitless clients-mindset and foundation, prospecting and conversation-client acquisition magic, and sealing the deal and scaling up.

Sure, most readers would want to become successful in selling their programs. Justin shows his own ways on how to get clients, make bank and still have a life. As one of those few constant seven figure earners in the world his methods are proven and working.

In addition to techniques from his others books like his “4th Frame” Social Selling method, Justin introduced the “3-Wall Model”, a framework for advanced client acquisition breaking those walls down:

1. Wall: Nobody wants it (create breakthrough on the first call)

2. Wall: Nobody has any money (fees are designed to weed out the uncommitted)

3. Wall: You’re fired (the stage when they squeezed all your wisdom)

Similar to his earlier three books, his methods are falling into the intersection of software sales (my industry!), traditional coaching and life coaching. No surprise that the book is full with quotes from well-known coaches and experts like Steve Chandler, Ric Litvin and others.

And many of his own sentences are scroll stoppers in its own right like “The trick to this business is that you have to love doing it. You must fall in love with every aspect of the process, not just the coaching delivery and fulfilment side but especially the lost art of net new client acquisition.”

Some further quotes: “It’s not a race to charge the most; it’s about giving the best value.” and “When you make those big asks, your ideal clients pop out of the woodwork like they were just waiting for you.”

For me this is a very special book – not only because I read it in an earlier draft and I’m quoted inside. Not also because before this release Justin has been so kind and wrote the foreword for my own book, Social Selling for Jobseekers. It is special because it adds the solopreneurship level as a side business, not only as a fully transitioned role. Because co-existence is possible – and this book gives the tools which are helpful for a main job, too!

Maybe the most practical element of the book to be applied by its readers is the art of the emotional close. Justin helps to master the psychology of trust to create a magnetic pull for the readers’ services. The first close happens “when you know their heart is in it”, the second close is the “finding the money” activity as final consummation.

The future business book author will note that Justin didn’t just write it as an ordinary business book; instead he added a lot of his own humour inside to make it an easy read and promise from the first page that it has a revolutionary character – so it can’t be dry!

Q&A with Justin Michael

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

I always knew there needed to be a “side hustle” book. It was evident that 40% of executives do side hustles but have no idea where to start. There are 400 million small & medium size businesses (SMBs) and 11 million tech reps, most of whom live on 50% of their earning potential on roller coaster commissions. Everyone relies on passive inbound or traditional marketing tactics like selfie videos, YouTube blogs, websites, and constant content posts, waiting for business in uncertain economic climates.

Based on my work coaching consultants, coaches, speakers, fractionals, and solopreneurs, the goal would be to break new ground going outbound. The coveted 7-figure threshold has always been the crowning achievement for all these folks. I remember the taste of victory when I hit it seemingly against all odds. 5% of coaches earn $1M/year and 1% hit $1.5M/year per the ICF – International Coaching Federation.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

My books are fast-paced, concise reads (45K words), so I can complete them in 120 days or less. The key is my publisher, Jeremy Jones, outlining the process, which truly helped. I spend 100 hours on a book and 50 on all the edits. This was unique because I injected a ton of humor, so it took time for comedic timing and style points to sit right with me and my audience.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

I’m a hardcore student of coaching, consulting, and traditional selling methodologies. I drew significant inspiration from authors like Alan Weiss, David C. Baker, Rich Litvin, and Steve Chandler, among others I attributed. I have held thousands of Zoom calls myself and recognized three primary walls for coaches:

1. nobody wants to coach,

2. nobody has any money, and

3. once you teach them everything, they quit.

I created a process called the 4th Frame™ to get prospects to calls systematically via chat flows. I next created a formula called the 7-Step Close Process™ for running a first call and shifting polarity so it’s their idea to buy, which defers from 90s-style relics like BANT (budget, authority, need, timeline.)

Then, I thought through The Money Conversation so you can have a breakthrough and win the emotional first sale on every call. That breakthrough is investing in you! Breaking the Third Wall requires varying your delivery algorithm to gain lifetime value (LTV). There is so much more in this powerhouse succinct book.

Bryan Franklin, Reid Hoffman’s coach and a personal mentor who did $10M in three years and now I share his goal, $1.6M working two days a week, mentored me a great deal when I worked for him as CEO and Co-Founder of OutboundWorks. It formed the basis of the mega-scaled AB testing for my first bestseller with Tony J. Hughes, Tech-Powered Sales, where we effectively predicted ChatGPT.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

The hardest part was making this thrilling, practical, and super actionable. I injected screenshots and scripts, but then I needed to anonymize them. Because I had hundreds of pre-readers, they asked every question about the corner cases on this material, kicking the tires hard. Doing comedy is challenging; I watched the Seinfeld documentary about how he built routines over a year on the road. I easily spent 30 hours editing the jokes alone.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

I realized that the client acquisition space for coaches, consultants, solopreneurs, speakers, authors, and “fractional” has never been disrupted or codified by fusing modern “outbound methods.” I innovated selling tech at 13 startups, which I outline in the rest of the Justin Michael Method (JMM) Series™. Since 40% of executives have a side hustle, this book can unlock an additional $100K/year in income for 11M tech sales reps with my background by simply applying it verbatim.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

People warned me that if I released this, everyone would copy me, and my business would tank. But as a result, one-third of my business is now coaching fellow coaches and consultants. In the past, “coaching coaches” were cult-like and MLM-style, shrouded in secrecy, so I aim to open-source and democratize access to these methods to bring dramatic ROI, like 2-5Xing your income. I have many testimonials, so I let my clients' results speak.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Focus on your outline to stay organized and speed up the writing process. You only need a dozen chapters. Create a Venn Diagram of who you seek to help. Get them into the doc as you write it. And take the feedback seriously as it’s “the wisdom of crowds.” Think about synthesis vs. invention. Mash up things that came before into a new blend or gestalt. Write like you talk and advise, and you can’t fail. Be authentic and original and open up about your life story, failures, etc. Vulnerability is powerful.

Justin Michael: “7-Figure Formula”, Jones Media Publishing 2025, ISBN 978-1-948382-94-6 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the book and author

What do we want in life? Climb the corporate ladder up to a desirable VP position with all the status symbols others a dying for? Or find more balance in life towards well-spent time with family and friends getting enough instead of too much?

The Accidental Solopreneur from Canadian book author Dennis Geelen is a business book dressed as a parable to show a possible way for many of us who got stuck in their career. A blueprint to realise the change our inner self is striving for despite or due to the obstacles and challenges the almighty creator gave to each of us.

Dennis worked his corporate career for two decades until an unexpected layoff suddenly stopped this only life he knew until then. Determined that there was something else than the same of the same at another place, he became a consultant and solopreneur – a word he might not have known at that deciding moment. Being asked how he made that transition, he decided to create this fictive book in addition to this earlier published business books and online courses.

The book tells the story of Alex, a Senior Manager in a fictive software company who got tasked to build a partnership with another company which would help him towards his long desired VP of Innovation title. He neglected his family as the main carer and found himself misaligned between either work or family. Reading this fictive while realistic story reminded me at my increased responsibilities turning into an international sales manager jetting 90 days per year through Europe. Each of the eight chapters ends with reflective questions to check in with the reader, not to mention the cliff hangers to read on!

Without revealing what happens towards the end, the book describes the journey from an overworked employee to the disruptive journey of becoming and entrepreneur. This way Dennis managed eloquently to take this own learning into a more universal and highly relatable approach than just telling his experience.

A couple his quotes stand out while reading. From the business oriented back of the book I have chosen the sentences “Never assume you know your customers’ challenges and why they decide to buy a product or service” and “In order to determine if there is a market for your product or service, test to see if people are willing to pay for it.”

As a committed Christian, Dennis added bible quotes as well to help like this one during the inner conflict of the protagonist: “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Wise words.

This book is special as it combines a playbook for his readers which is presented at the end after reading the parable. Instead of revealing the blueprint at the beginning followed by the fictional story, I like his opposite approach of showing the essence only at the end after enjoying the reading. This playbook then acts like a transferrable summary, consisting of the six steps the protagonist took through the book, his transferrable lessons and a set of questions we need to ask ourselves in this process.

Professionals on the transition from an employee to an entrepreneur find a lot of elements which they can adapt for their own practice. But instead of just taking them from the back of the book, the illustration in the story provides the context required to figure out which situations relate to the current experience of the reader.

While it is difficult for most upcoming authors to publish a business book, it is even more challenging to write it in a fictive form. As Dennis mentioned in the introduction, he likes to read good a business parable and thus has been motivated to create his own. He took it as an advanced challenge over after his earlier published how-to guidebook, The Zero In Formula. And that is the inspiration for writers: if you need a new challenge and you have some proof, you can transfer the experience to the next level.

Having been myself in this corporate dilemma, I can very much resonate with the fictive story and admit that Dennis created a page turner for those receptive to it. Acting along the process helps to “increase the luck surface area” – I will never forget this term Dennis coined in such a practical way.

Q&A with Dennis Geelen

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

After launching my management consulting practice (Zero In) in 2018, I started to post on LinkedIn. I would share content about the type of consulting I was doing (in order to create brand awareness) but I would also post about my journey as a solopreneur. I was sharing everything about what I was doing. How I was networking, attracting clients, marketing my services, etc. I was sharing mistakes, challenges, and tips for other people who are starting their own consulting business.

I started to get a lot of people asking to have calls to ‘pick my brain’ because they wanted to start their own consulting business. I was having so many calls and giving away so much advice I kept notes on everything I needed to share with someone who was starting out.

But then in 2020, when COVID hit, a lot of my consulting was put on hold due to the uncertainty of the pandemic. So, I decided to write a book called ‘The Zero In Formula’ where I shared a lot of the work I was doing with businesses and how I help them.

The book did very well and took my consulting business to a whole new level. Again, a lot of people noticed and asked to ‘pick my brain’ on how to take their consulting business to the next level with a good book behind their name.

Finally, it occurred to me that I could take all of my experience and advice around starting my own business and write a book that helps others do the same. This time, I decided to write the book (The Accidental Solopreneur) in a fictional parable format to give myself another challenge.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

I began putting together the outline for the book in December of 2021 and the book was published in September of 2022.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

All of the practical content for the book came from my own solopreneur journey and my learnings along the way. All of the fictional content (characters, storylines, etc) came from creative sessions I had with my editor.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

This was my first time writing a fictional business book where I had to develop characters, create tension, and learn how to get more descriptive in my writing by painting a picture for the reader with my words and learning to evoke their emotions. That was difficult, but a very fun learning process.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Writing the book really caused me to go back and reflect upon a lot of the challenges and mistakes I made along my own journey. I wanted to story and the main character in the book (someone who is leaving their corporate job to bet on themselves) to be relatable. They need to have flaws, to have fears, and to have tension along their journey.

I had many sleepless nights in the early part of my solopreneur journey and felt like quitting many times. I wanted that to come through in the book so people understand it is not all fun and easy.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

When I launched the book, I also started officially coaching other solopreneurs and created two online courses (‘The Solopreneur Playbook’ and ‘The Author’s Playbook’) to help as many people get started as possible. The book has opened me, my courses, and my coaching up to so many new people who get introduced to me when they read the book.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

If you are a coach or consultant, I strongly advise you to have a good book behind your name. But be VERY clear on who your book is for and why they should read it. If that is not apparent, you will likely have a hard time getting people to buy and read it.

But if you can put out a good book, it goes a long way to increasing your credibility as a consulting or coaches and gives a new avenue for potential clients to get introduced to you and your work. I would say, a good book can even create a level of trust in you, without the reader even meeting you.

Dennis Geelen: “The Accidental Solopreneur”, Zero In Publishing 2022, ISBN 978-1-77732666-1 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the author.

So many professionals are scrolling through miles of irrelevant content – smart service providers should rather turn that obsession around and learn how to complement their regular and digital marketing activities with the power of social media across channels.

Smart Social Media is the latest book from UK based author Luan Wise which has just been published in September 2024 within the series of “smart” titled books by British publisher Bloomsbury Business. Compared to books about individual platforms or covering theoretical aspects, hers is based on the insights from years of hands-on consultancy work for her clients.

Luan Wise is a well-recognised social media marketer, author, trainer, fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, and also a TEDx speaker. I follow her website and online events for a couple of years since working professionally in the social media field. Her content became a reference at Hootsuite and a global guiding light far beyond the UK. Two out of her four books like last year’s Planning for Success received a National Indie Excellence Award.

The journey towards growing business with social media marketing spans over eight chapters. Following the foundation in the first chapter, the second helps to get to know your customers which includes the famous know, like, and trust factor but also the emotional behaviours and the importance of social listening (not everyone knows that term yet).

The following chapters cover business planning, branding and communication, the buyers’ journey (not sales process!) and my favourite topic collaboration and partnerships. Before concluding with further success stories, I like the chapter about the power of communities –this is where social media excels over any other form of lead generation.

Some useful quotes jumped into my eyes which work also outside of the book such as “To truly connect and engage with your audience, you must understand them intimately.” A more business related version of that is “Understanding how people think, feel and act has become critical for businesses seeking to grow.” I also like this one: “To stand out amidst this digital clutter, capture attention and stop the scroll, social media content needs to resonate with the specific needs of your target audience.”

Whoever believes they would hold a book about technology in their hands, will recognise the adaptability for their own practice on another level. With the mentioned structure around improving business outcomes with aligned activities, the book achieved a mix of strategic mindset and concrete tips with an aha effect.

What I like about this book is the well-achieved balance: the smart mix of case study examples and reference resources support the story flow from planning to execution, from correction to automation. Only by putting the learning into practice, readers will see the desired transformation and business growth – and that change can happen quickly due to the hyper fast nature of social media.

I observed three elements to stand out as an inspiration for future business book writers: First of all is Luan’s easily readable writing style – it doesn’t need cliff hangers to keep reading. Despite being written in a conversational mode, she added facts and sources where suitable to support the flow. I also like the case studies in grey boxes sharing their challenges, the solution and the achieved outcome. Those illustrate the power of being smart with social media. Working as a reference book as well after reading, the summaries and the whole appendix section are helpful as well.

Congratulations to Luan for elevating the role of social media managers and showing organisations that this function is key to grow their business. Or as I learned during my time at Hootsuite: “Social Media deserves a seat at the Board table”.

Q&A with Luan Wise

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

In early 2024, I had written a short book for Bloomsbury Business called ‘Social Media for Work’. After I completed this project I was invited to write a proposal for a book that would sit within their ‘Smart’ series of books. Existing books in the series are ‘Smart Leadership’ and ‘Smart Work’, both by Jo Owen.

I was in the middle of writing ‘Planning for Success’ (published October 2023), which I had been working on for a while. The concept of another book on social media marketing with a different focus was exciting, plus I welcomed the opportunity to work with a publisher after self-publishing.

‘Planning for Success’ is a practical guide to writing a social media marketing plan, and all the steps for doing that. ‘Smart Social Media’ is focused on the role of social media marketing within a business, so is relevant for business leaders as well as social media marketers. Both are packed with marketing theory, insights and case studies.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

After some detailed planning and research, I started writing in June 2023. I finished the first full draft just before Christmas (so I could take a break!). The final draft was completed early 2024 and then into production around Easter time. Launch on 12 September 2024.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

Much of the book is personal knowledge and experience from consultancy projects and delivering training courses. I interviewed people within my network for their insights and feedback to shape my thinking. I also did a call out on LinkedIn asking for case studies – that’s how I discovered two of the chapter 8 success stories; Partner in Wine and Evoke Classics.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

Working on more than one book and running a business alongside it! I’ve discovered that I’m a writer that needs to block out consecutive days of time, rather than write for one hour a day. So I managed my calendar to do just that. No interruptions, lots of coffee/snacks and the first draft came together quite quickly.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

Writing the words of the book is only a small part of the process (and possibly the easiest part). There’s a lot of research and planning to do at the outset. A lot of editing and changes to be made throughout the production process. When you start to promote your book you have to remember that you’ve been working on it for a long time, but it’s all very new content for your audience. It’s a rollercoaster of a journey as you work alone for months, and then wait nervously for others to review your work.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

‘Smart Social Media’ will help business professionals think about their business growth and the role of social media marketing. It offers practical insights based on marketing theory, and lots of inspiring case studies.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Understand who you are writing your book for and stay focused on the key takeaways. It’s very easy to try and include lots of information. Structure is really important (for the author, and the reader) so think about how the book will be used in practical terms. Understand the thoughts and challenges the reader might have and try to answer them with solid advice and examples to illustrate the concepts.

Luan Wise: “Smart Social Media”, Bloomsbury Business 2024, ISBN 978-1-39941633-7 (Paperback) or Kindle. More about the book and author.

G’day, welcome to my LinkedIn newsletter Learn From Books, accompanied by the hashtag #learnfrombookswithgunnar.

Initially started as blog posts on my own homepage in 2018, I only shared them by a corresponding LinkedIn post and later copied many of them to my Medium presence.

After the first couple of books with the beginning of the pandemic I launched my own webinar series, LinkedIn Power Lab, and subsequently the book reviews had to pause for a while.

In September 2022 I restarted the series now in form of a LinkedIn newsletter which reaches already more than 2000 subscribers - and 40% of them are not even my own connections.

The format stayed the same since the beginning: I write a detailed review including quotes and the reception of the book, even what future authors can learn from that particular book. Then I add the same seven questions answered by the authors complementing the reading pleasure.

Below are all episodes of the series - feel free to check them out!

Gunnar

Book Reviews of Season 1

Here is a summary post of the first season with the key takeaways per book.

The dates represents the publication on my LinkedIn newsletter, not the copy on Medium or an earlier post on my own blog. I added the country flag to find out where the authors are located (not their origin or nationality). The links show the review directly as LinkedIn article or here on Substack.

1. Cian McLoughlin 🇦🇺 Rebirth of the Salesman, September 2022

2. Smibert/Moloney/Clulow 🇦🇺 The Wentworth Prospect, September 2022

3. Mark McInnes 🇦🇺 Tactical Pipeline Growth, October 2022

4. Michael Haynes 🇦🇺 Listen Innovate Grow, October 2022

5. Peter Strohkorb 🇦🇺 Smarketing, November 2022

6. Steven Norman 🇦🇺 Future Proof Sales Strategy, November 2022

7. Wendy Lloyd Curley 🇦🇺 Stop Wasting Your Time Networking, Dec. 2022

8. Jane Jackson 🇦🇺 Navigating Career Crossroads, December 2022

9. Tom Williams 🇺🇸 Buyer Centered Selling, January 2023

10. Beat Bühlmann 🇨🇭 Stuck? Unhappy?, January 2023

Book Reviews of Season 2

Here is a summary post of the second season.

11. Shani Taylor 🇦🇺 From Ignored to Adored, February 2023

12. Andrew Hoggard 🇳🇿 Business from the Heart, February 2023

13. Joel Annesley 🇦🇺 Quiet Confidence, March 2023

14. Adrienne McLean 🇦🇺 Think Bigger, Grow & Succeed, March 2023

15. Duncan Fish 🇦🇺 Engage, April 2023

16. Wayne Moloney 🇦🇺 Your Roadmap to Achieving Sales Success, April 2023

17. Priya Mishra 🇦🇺 Journey of Perseverance, April 2023

18. Larry Levine 🇺🇸 Selling from the Heart, May 2023

19. Richard Forrest 🇦🇺 Ultimate Guide to B2B Sales Prospecting, June 2023

20. Lison Mage 🇦🇺 Act Before You overThink, July 2023

Book Reviews of Season 3

Here is a summary post of the third season.

21. Michele Gennoe 🇦🇺 Mindful Leadership, July 2023

22. Tony Hughes 🇦🇺 & Justin Michael 🇺🇸 Tech-Powered Sales, August 2023

23. Jacqueline Hofste 🇦🇺 The Free Spirit of your Life Purpose, August 2023

24. Beat Welte 🇨🇭 Gamebreaker, September 2023

25. Geoff Anderson 🇦🇺 Shoot Me Now, October 2023

26. Justin Michael 🇺🇸 Sales Superpowers; October 2023

27. Dennis Geelen 🇨🇦 The Accidental Solopreneur, December 2023

28. Justin Michael 🇺🇸 Justin Michael Method 2.0, January 2024

29. Mario Krivokapic 🇩🇪 Still Underrated!, February 2024

30. Lynette Diehm 🇦🇺 Dare To Be You, April 2024

Book Reviews of Season 4

The fourth season took a bit longer to produce.

31. Daniel Tolson 🇦🇺 Win Sales Now, May 2024

32. Therese Tarlinton 🇦🇺 Swap, June 2024

33. Justin Michael 🇺🇸 Attraction Selling, August 2024

34. Luan Wise 🇬🇧 Smart Social Media, September 2024

35. Mario Bekes 🇦🇺 Corporate and Workplace Investigations, November 2024

36. Justin Michael 🇺🇸 7-Figure Formula, January 2025

37. Lloyd Thompson 🇦🇺 9 Ways to Leave Your Day-to-Day, March 2025

38. Frederik Böhnke 🇮🇪 Navigating the Office Zoo, April 2025

39. Charles Needham & Justin Michael 🇺🇸 Cold Call Algo, July 2025

40. Mehmet Yildiz 🇦🇺 Smart Email Marketing, August 2025

Book Reviews of Season 5:

Starting ahead for the fifth season with a selection of books I’m reading to continue in 2026.

41. Karen Smiley 🇺🇸 Everyday Ethical AI, December 2025

42. Justin Michael 🇺🇸 Jonny Staker 🇺🇸 The Frame, January 2026

43. Karen Matthews 🇦🇺 De-mystifying the Road to Change

44. Veronica Llorca-Smith 🇭🇰 The Anti-Procrastinator

45. Anne McKeown 🇦🇺 How To Talk to Anyone

Do you want to be part of the series as well?

Typically I select books I want to read by their topics or written by authors I already know and built a relationship with, either from Australia or overseas.

If you would like your book to be covered, please be aware that this is not a paid promotion. Happy to talk about your book, please let me know by email.

The art of networking covered in my books

Reviewing books from other authors helped me to write my first own books in English (after 23 travel books and one fairy tale in German).

Therefore I wrote two book introductions similar to the book reviews including an interview with myself (sounds funny) to cover the same questions. Here they are:

• Connect & Act - Systematic Social Selling, May 2023:
  Introduction, read a free chapter, order the signed book here

• Social Selling for Jobseekers, April 2024:
  Introduction, read a free chapter, order the signed book here

• Lead Not Manage, December 2024
  Introduction, order the digital book bundle here

• Happy Habits, July 2025
  Introduction, order a digital copy and audiobook or signed book here
  

Looking forward to hearing about your feedback and reading your reviews on Amazon - thanks in advance.

Thank you for reading my book reviews, appreciated. Please share your thoughts, add your comments and maybe even some recommendations. Keen to learn from my readers!