Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 23: Strength In Numbers—The Making of the Book

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EP 23: Strength In Numbers—The Making of the Book · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

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Welcome to the Strength in Numbers podcast.
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I'm your host John Bloom in today's episode is actually
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gonna be our first solo episode where I breakdown the process
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and idea and creation of the Strength in Numbers book, which
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is what this podcast originated from.
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The book was 108 coaches from different fields, different
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domains, contributing there inside and experience by
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answering 12 questions. And it's just an incredible
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guidebook of mentorship and coaching wisdom that impacted
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me, impacted a lot of people. So I wanted I wanted to continue
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that right. And so that's where this podcast
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is from. But I get AI get a lot of
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questions from people of like, what was that process of writing
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that book and putting it together and getting coaches to
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be in it? And so I want, you know, I
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wanted to take an episode and just kind of breakdown that
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process from the idea of having the book to all the way through
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releasing it and a little bit after there talk about in the
0:55
introduction of the book where the idea came from.
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I can picture this moment vividly.
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I think it's September and when I was working at Oral Roberts on
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a Sunday, I was reading back through Tim Ferriss, his book
1:07
Tribe of Mentors, which is something I'd read before.
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But I was reading back through his introduction where he
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describes his process of creating his book and how why he
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developed the questions and how he was struggling with finding
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his answer to his questions that he had on his own.
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Is like, I got, why not make this easy and go send these
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questions to the best people in the world from different
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domains, get their answers. And that's what he did.
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And that's what he turned into this book of wisdom from all
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types of highly successful people across the world.
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And I was reading through that and just had this idea like, why
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not do this for strength and conditioning?
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And I started thinking about all the people I'd want to ask, what
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I'd want to ask. I started typing those names and
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those questions into notes and, and my phone and just started
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thinking on that the next couple days as I was going through work
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and as I was making those questions, making that list of
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people, I started then just to think, you know, this shouldn't
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just be for strength and conditioning.
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It like it for me as a strength coach, I've gained so much
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knowledge and wisdom from looking outside of that to other
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people and and learning from, you know, sport coaches,
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different sports, and we should get these different perspectives
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in these different lenses. So that, OK, I want to create
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questions that could be applied across coaching and not just
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strength the machine, but it's still providing value for
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everybody. And then that that way it's also
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going to reach a lot more people than just being niched down to
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just strength coaches. So then I started reframing my
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questions where they could apply to a wider variety of people.
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And really the goal is I thought about too is like this is
2:44
directed towards coaches, but ultimately, like, I want this to
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be a book that really anybody could pick up.
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And it, you know, 90% of it applies to their career where
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it's it's ultimately wisdom and guidance that's very, very
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transferable to everybody. So started shaping those
3:01
questions and think of the people.
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And I remember I started, you know, talking to a few of my
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friends about the idea and sending them the questions and
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seeing kind of what they thought.
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And once I kind of got my questions together, the very
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first person that I sent them to and, and sent them back, I think
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even that week was actually Connor Agnew at Appalachian
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State strength coach there. And he also runs the Sampson
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strength coach collective podcast.
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So he was, he was the very first person to send in his answers.
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So shout out Connor. I appreciate you, man.
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And then I remember that fall at Oral Roberts with my, with my
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staff there. I, I was running these things.
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We, we did these 55 minute meetings where it was basically
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a staff, staff meet each Friday and each person got 5 minutes to
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present on something, whatever, whatever they wanted to come in
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and present on 5 minutes straight couldn't go over.
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We had, we put a timer up every time and we all had to come with
3:54
something and then we go, we go around the room and do that no
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questions asked or anything until finally after everyone's
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gone. Then we kind of give feedback,
4:03
break it down, and it's just a way to allow everybody to work
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on their communication skills, work on the presenting skills,
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and actually be able to take input and create some output and
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be able to communicate that at a higher level.
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And then also just give a variety of kind of knowledge
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across the room of what everybody's kind of digging into
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whatever they wanted to present and just educate each other.
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So, so that was when we were doing it.
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So then I decided on one of those to present on my 5 minutes
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on this idea and the questions and kind of the goal for that.
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I created like a the cover and an intro.
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You just using Canva kind of wrote the intro almost really
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almost exactly what the book ends up being with the intro.
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I ended up, you know, as it as we got further along making
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edits and making it sound better.
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But really the essential ideas of that introduction that is
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actually published was from the fall of of that year from from
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from over a year before the book was actually published.
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And I the the cover was almost exactly the same that I created
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Lily that day before presenting on that main Canva.
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Besides, it was, I had some red in the cover and I changed that
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to blue and maybe change the fonts a little bit.
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But pretty much the cover was exactly what I made that day.
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And so I presented that to my staff, sent in the questions.
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And that was kind of like my commitment to like putting it
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out there a little bit of, OK, this is, this is something I'm
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saying I'm going to do rather than just having an idea in my
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head and put in, put in some pressure and put in some stakes
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on myself to actually, OK, this is something I've got to really
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start to work on. And I remember around that time
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I, I got a notebook kind of dedicated to this project.
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And I would just put in, I would have like the the name of a
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coach, a date for when I reached out to them about being in this,
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a date on, you know, if they committed to doing it.
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And then kind of a check mark and date on if they actually
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sent it in. And so started started then, OK,
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sending out these questions to these coaches and, and framing
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kind of the goal of the book of, you know, how all of us have
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been impacted by other coaches and wanting to now share that
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and impact other coaches with our experience and wisdom.
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And kind of, you know, what the questions are about and how it's
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wisdom on on career. As I thought about reaching out
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people like, obviously I had the most connections to strength
6:38
coaches, so that was easy. But it's like, OK, I want to
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make sure there is a diversification and just doing
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research on, you know, different coaches from different sports
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and, and, and finding different perspectives.
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Like that was the goal and making sure that I'm reaching
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out to a variety of people. And obviously there's a, a
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heavier percentage of strength, which is just from my
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connections and network there. But I, I did try and be
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intentional and trying to make sure there was a diversification
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of sport and domain and, and kind of who was in there.
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And I thought it would be, you know, people ask me like, like
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how many people did you actually know as you reach out to how
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many were just brand new people? So I tried to I tried to do a
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little bit of of kind of break looking back research and break
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that down a little bit. And from what I found of the 108
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people, it looks like about 57 of them I had some form of
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connection or relation to some knowing them really well.
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Some of them maybe just a few interactions.
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But then there's at least 51 that I had zero prior
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interaction to reaching out about this book.
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I think one really cool thing throughout this whole project is
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how willing so many coaches were to help with this.
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And especially on some of these coaches that are at the
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absolute, you know, elite of what they're doing and being
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willing to respond and, and help somebody that they didn't even
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know with this project. When, when I was looking at my
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research, it, it looked like I think I asked when I looked back
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through all the DMS and emails and, and everything, it looks
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like at least 198 at least coaches I asked in total,
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probably even more than that. I mean, it looks like 136 said
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yes, obviously ended up receiving 108 of those plus six
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more bonus ones that I had for the the bonuses when I released.
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So there is and there is, there's, there's a lot of a lot,
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a lot of DNS and and crafting of messages to send out that that
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was, that was a draining. That was definitely a draining
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part of that. It was definitely a long process
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then to continue to follow up with lots of coaches where some
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of them send them right away, but there's definitely lots of
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follow-ups over the months and months and months to get those
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submissions. But it was so worth it, right?
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Even as as those as those trinkled in, you know, people
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send them in as it would always be exciting once you finally got
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some of them coming in. But to kind of read those over
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those periods of months and year was really cool and really
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impactful to myself. And, and my goal actually with
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the, the book was actually just to create APDF like, and I
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thought it'd be OK, like create this, this PDF like with these
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coaches and maybe send it to my friends, maybe try to get some
9:14
people like, and really try to put this together as soon as I
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could. But as I got more and more
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responses and just saw like who was responding and, and the
9:23
quality of the content that was coming in, because like, I want
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to, I want to do this right. Like, I want to put this
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together into an actual book. And for me personally, I always
9:32
like to have, you know, hard copy of a book.
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I can actually, you know, write in highlight, carry with me.
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That's for me that far as far superior than an ebook in terms
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of just actually having that physically there.
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Obviously we did. I did make the ebook version,
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but you know, it just hit that point.
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It's like, Hey, I want some, I want to I want to try and do
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this right. I've always wanted to write a
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book, but I never, I thought it would be this soon or, or who
10:00
knows when it would actually happen.
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It was like, let's try and do this, right.
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So that's when they said, OK, we're going to make this actual
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book. And so, you know, I was working
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throughout that whole year or Robert's my, my position there
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and just continuing to reach out and ask people if they could be
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in it. Continue to try and collect
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these answers to the questions as I got to the spring of that,
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especially once we got out of basketball season and I had I
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had a little more sponsors still lots of lots to collect, but I
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wanted to start putting together the themes at the end of the the
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book. I put themes of what are the
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common answers, the common things that keep popping up from
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these top coaches that maybe, you know, maybe they got some
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different ways, but like they do things different ways, but the
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guiding principles or kind of places they end up are pretty
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similar for these 12 questions that people think can go to, to
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reference and, and see these centralizing ideas.
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And so I tried to start putting those together and, and, and
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throughout the process of collecting, I would take notes
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of, OK, these things are starting to pop up.
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But but then as I want to start trying to write some of those
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themes and put that together so I can start to prepare for as I
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get closer to collecting all the responses.
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And obviously there is not really a, a, a finite timeline
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for that because I could, you could continue to collect
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forever in my, my, my head. I kind of had to go like, I want
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to get at least 100. I think it'd be really cool to
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have at least 100 coaches in there.
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So I put those themes in the spring.
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At that same time, it's the time where I'm making a transition
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from leaving college athletics to the end of that school year
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at Oral Roberts, moving back to Dallas and starting my my
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business with training and with coaching education stuff.
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So there's a lot going at that time.
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So I'm still collecting stuff. So reaching out, but also
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putting some of the editing in and, and working on this book on
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the on the back seat a little bit because of the other
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transitions happening. So during that summer, I really
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wasn't working on it quite as much.
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Besides, I was, you know, doing quite a bit of interviews
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through Zoom for it where there was a number of coaches that
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asked to do whether it's phone calls or Zooms instead of
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writing. So then I could record that and
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put that together. So as able to take care of quite
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a few of those. But from the editing process
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wasn't doing quite as much as I got settled into running the
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business. When I hit the fall, most of my
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training would then be in the evening from an actual in person
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coaching standpoint. So I was able to start spending
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a lot of time during the days actually working on the process
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of collecting, but also really editing, especially those those
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zoom ones, those phone calls. That was a hey long process of
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using an app called Descript to get a transcript from that.
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But then having to then go and edit and, you know, edit the
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grammar, edit out all the filler words, try and make it sound a
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lot smoother from conversation to actually written text where
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it was good to read. So that took that took a lot of
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time to do, but there was so much value that came from having
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those in person calls and videos and and just so much wisdom.
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And I'm so glad that I had those opportunities with those coaches
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to get that. Those are those are some of the
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most impactful conversations and sections of the book to me.
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Originally, I'd wanted to release the book in the summer.
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That kept getting pushed back and was like, hey, I want to do
13:25
in the fall. And then I kind of settled on
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like December time frame. I think it's good, you know,
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with a lot of people that will be listening to this probably in
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the college sector, that's when, you know, especially a lot of
13:36
college basketball, OK, the season starts in November.
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There's a lot going on during the school.
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Let that beginning fall apart. So again in December ish, that's
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when a lot of people in that Christmas break period.
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So it might be a good time to try and release this at that
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point. So that was kind of a mind
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frame. I wanted to announce it about
13:52
two months before. So then kind of set on that,
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that, that preview date of in the beginning mid-october, about
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two months before that December release date.
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I remember. So with that, that preview, I,
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I, you know, haven't I set a hard deadline for myself of, of
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that date in October that, that preview created a high sense of
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urgency to get what I needed done before that, right?
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I needed to, I put together APDF of the, of the 1st 10 coaches.
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So there's a lot to get done in terms of learning to edit that
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and how to create how that looked using Adobe Print.
14:28
So creating the landing page for it on the website.
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And at that point, I've done no e-mail marketing.
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So I had to learn how to create that whole e-mail marketing
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process where then it would automatically send the PDF of
14:40
somebody submitted their e-mail, you know, just creating the post
14:43
on Instagram and LinkedIn and all that.
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So the week before that release date, I worked non-stop.
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The night before it, I was up, so probably almost midnight
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editing things and getting things ready from that.
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The day of I was trying to make sure the e-mail stuff
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automations were working and really got that rolling just
15:03
within the 24 hours, really probably 12 hours before that.
15:07
So there were there was so much going into that, you know, and
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yeah, I found one more. This was a great example of
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having some set deadlines with stakes set with it creates A
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creates can create a high level of productivity.
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And I, I saw that and those that week for sure.
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So with that, that evening in October released the, the
15:28
preview on Instagram or announced it on Instagram and
15:31
LinkedIn that I was going to have this book coming out.
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And it was so cool to see the feedback and so many of the
15:37
coaches that were in the book reposting and sharing it.
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And then that was one of the, the cool things about the books.
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Like I knew if I was, if I was going to write a book by myself,
15:45
like I don't necessarily have a name that's like going to sell a
15:48
book where a lot of people are interested, but there's so many
15:50
people in this book that that I can reach their audiences and
15:54
reach the people that are following them and market the
15:57
book from that way. So I think, you know, that was a
15:59
really cool unique aspect of strength in numbers.
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But it was so cool see it, see all that and see the number of
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people commenting to get that free preview and just getting
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really cool feedback on the preview as well.
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But then once that was done is like, man, we, you know, it's
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it, it was then grinding for two months to make sure, OK, we have
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the stakes now to actually get this ready to actually print.
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And there's still so much to figure out.
16:23
Like the entire Amazon Kindle direct publishing, which, which
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I self published through Amazon there.
16:29
I had to figure out that whole process really.
16:32
And there's a lot to figure out, a lot to figure out on still
16:35
editing the entire book. You know, a lot of people I, I,
16:38
I committed to wanting to try and do as pretty much all of
16:42
this on my own. It's just kind of my head of
16:44
like trying not have to hire like a marketer or a publisher,
16:48
an editor. I just just figure this out like
16:50
I had the time during the day, figure this out and try and just
16:53
create this this project amount. So in terms of actually doing
16:56
the internal editing of like creating the formatting to print
17:02
and publish, I took a course, I was called Stone Ridge
17:05
Publishing, Mandy Lynn, she had a like a $55 course on how to
17:09
create the internal formatting for your book.
17:12
And I dove into that and learn to format it internally for
17:16
myself. And I, I wanted to look high
17:17
level. So I, I've put a lot of time
17:20
into formatting that and learning to do that through
17:22
Adobe print, which was a tedious process, but I think really cool
17:27
and really valuable to do on my own.
17:29
And, and also just be able to create edits and, and make the
17:32
things exactly how I wanted them and go and tweak different
17:35
things along the way if I wanted to, not have to rely on other
17:38
people to pay them to do that. And, and just allow myself to
17:43
create the vision I wanted for and constantly update it while
17:47
while I was also creating, working on creating all that.
17:50
I, you know, I want to start drip marketing for the book
17:54
after announcing it. So what that was, if you go see
17:57
kind of the the post I make for Instagram, where I would what I
18:00
really went to is carousels where it was a picture of the
18:03
coach with one of the questions that they answered.
18:07
And on the next part, then I had a, their quote from that book of
18:11
kind of their answer. And then also then another slide
18:14
with kind of the background of who that coach was, their
18:16
experience, where they're at. And then kind of a the last one
18:20
is just a call to action to go get the preview for the book.
18:23
And, you know, I start having like one or two of those a week.
18:26
I tried to do some reels for the coaches that we did a Zoom and
18:29
just found that didn't really get much reach.
18:31
So I kind of settle on just doing these carousels there and
18:34
then with the collaboration with those coaches, sent it to their
18:37
their people, their followers. That got really, really good
18:41
reach there and really good feedback.
18:45
And, you know, did that for a while.
18:47
And and actually I wanted to listen with that carousel idea
18:49
that was from some conversations Tim Riley in Austin of, of
18:53
thinking of kind of how we could best market this.
18:55
And we kind of he kind of really helped me think about and create
18:59
kind of that model for Howard is doing that carousel.
19:02
So I just want to shout out him and thank him for his help and
19:05
thinking about that because those did really well.
19:08
And so then as I got closer, then I increased it to from just
19:13
like 2 times per week, coaches going like 3 times per week and
19:16
really trying to get that out and, and getting more people to
19:19
get the preview of those first ten coaches.
19:21
So then they get on the e-mail list and, and have updates and,
19:24
and get into seeing what was happening for the book.
19:27
Now, as we go back to those themes that I talked about
19:30
writing for the book, I'd written some of the stuff in the
19:32
spring, but then in August, I remember I got some whiteboards
19:36
out and once I pretty much had all of the most of the most of
19:40
the questions collected from coaches.
19:42
Not all of them, but a lot of them.
19:44
I literally wrote all of the coaches and went through every
19:47
one of their answers for that section and kind of wrote a
19:50
theme of what they had. And then started kind of
19:53
circling, OK, how many, how many were saying this or how many
19:56
were kind of talking about this and kind of counting it up to
19:59
centralized what the actual main themes were that had the most.
20:03
Talking points from different coaches throughout and then kind
20:06
of grouping those together and allowing me to have these key
20:09
points for each question that I could then go and put my
20:12
thoughts on to. And then craft into a section of
20:16
kind of the Cliff Notes version where people could get these key
20:20
ideas. And then go reference back to
20:21
quotes and go dive deeper into that.
20:24
If maybe they were going through a job change and they want to go
20:27
see the things for that and see the people for that.
20:30
So I remember I actually have pictures of it if anybody wanted
20:32
to see, but of of those whiteboards with literally 100
20:35
plus names and then you know, page numbers and quotes and
20:39
stuff next to all them. So that was that was pretty,
20:42
pretty tedious process, but I think helped, really helped me
20:45
craft what, what the themes actually were and kind of how
20:49
how I was viewing that and my thoughts on that too.
20:51
And it's similar process with a whiteboard.
20:53
I started to craft what I wanted the order of the coaches in the
20:57
book to be. And I wanted to be specific with
21:00
that, where it's not like, OK, I'm just putting the best
21:02
coaches 1st and and then whatever.
21:04
But it's like, I want to make sure that the great insights are
21:07
spread throughout and there's also a flow within the book to
21:10
help the reader as they're reading through it.
21:12
And kind of what I said on, I was like, I want there to be
21:15
like an order of a shorter section than a medium section
21:19
and then a longer section. And my purpose of that is like,
21:22
you know, because there's some sections where it's like this
21:24
like almost 20 pages and then somewhere it's literally just
21:27
one page. So I know it's hard.
21:29
If it's like, OK, I'm going to have back-to-back like super
21:32
long sessions that are sections that might make it harder for
21:35
the reader from a flow standpoint.
21:36
So they OK, if I can have a really short section followed by
21:39
medium and then a long section, which within then lead back into
21:42
a short section, it kind of helps the reader with a flow of
21:45
OK, if I read a really long section, then I kind of get a
21:47
break with a shorter section. So that was that was it.
21:51
You you can look back and see. So I can I then had all the page
21:55
numbers and kind of grouped it within that, spreading that out
21:58
throughout the book. And also sometimes where it's
22:00
like if I knew there was some coach that a lot of people knew
22:03
their name and would go read, but then maybe there was a coach
22:06
that had an incredible section, incredible value, but maybe
22:09
people didn't know as much. I might put that section after
22:13
be really well known coach. So then it leads into that
22:16
section and then people will discover that that that high
22:19
value there. So that that was kind of my
22:21
thought process with the order the book.
22:22
Now I talked about before of having to figure out the whole
22:25
Amazon KDP process and there was a lot to figure out through the
22:30
so much online and just YouTube videos of people and, and their
22:34
process of how they how they do that and what you need to do for
22:37
that. And just diving into that.
22:39
Once I had more of the actual PDF internal formatting ready.
22:42
And and The funny thing is with Amazon KDP, you can have
22:45
different formats. Obviously the hardcover, the
22:48
paperback and then the on Amazon just kindle ebook version.
22:52
And when I finally got my internal format all done and I
22:55
had everything collected, I had the PDF that I needed and I was
22:59
uploading that to submit for the hardcover for the trim size 7 by
23:04
10 I had the amount of pages I had was actually over the limit
23:08
for that size. So I had to go in and really
23:12
break down and do so much editing where I tried to edit
23:15
where you can edit different spacing on like last lines to
23:18
make sure it pops, pops over and does doesn't have just like one
23:22
word hanging over the next page, but makes that just one page.
23:26
But then also just cutting down some people's answers and taking
23:29
some stuff out to trim that down to literally like I literally
23:33
had the exact, I put it down the I think 548 pages of that 7 by
23:37
10 hardcover is, is the literally the limit.
23:41
And that's what I had in the book.
23:42
So literally we have the Max amount of pages in that book
23:46
that, you know, it's a it's a very thick book, but I always
23:48
tell people you don't have to read up front to back.
23:50
So that was a lot. That was that was hard.
23:52
It's hard. You don't want to take anything
23:54
out. But obviously I have to get it
23:55
down to the number. So I did my best to not to, to
23:58
take away as little as I could with that.
24:01
When it comes to the book cover, you know, like I said way back
24:03
in that fall when I first had the idea, I kind of made the
24:05
cover, but then I had to learn how to actually create the
24:09
formatting that fits onto Amazon KDP.
24:13
Oh, lately you've learned that through YouTube, created that
24:15
through Canva, created that that whole thing myself.
24:19
And then one of the one of the final process I had for the book
24:22
was confirming the transcripts that I had made from the people
24:25
that did phone calls or Zoom calls and just saying those
24:29
Google Docs back and forth. And if they wanted any edits
24:32
from what they said and just going back and forth to that and
24:35
making sure that that people were OK with everything I had
24:37
there. And then through that process of
24:40
finally getting it all together, finally finalizing everything
24:44
through Amazon KDP. And I was able to finally submit
24:46
for a proof copy, which Amazon will then basically send you
24:50
what it'll look like. It has a thing on the front that
24:52
says not for sale. So you can't really get it, but
24:54
it's basically what it's going to look like once you actually
24:57
publish your your thing. And I submit all that.
24:59
And I remember it was November 2nd because I was me and my wife
25:03
are literally moving up into a new apartment that day and it
25:06
was a Saturday. And that morning the proof copy
25:10
came in of the heart of the hard copy of the book.
25:13
And that was probably the most rewarding and best moment and
25:17
most gratifying moment of this whole process where I remember
25:21
open it up and, and I honestly, my mindset was that with, with
25:27
doing the, the Amazon KDP was that the first one was probably
25:31
going to be messed up. Like with doing the internal
25:34
form writing myself in the book cover myself.
25:36
I was like, I'm probably going to have to edit a ton once I
25:38
actually see what it looks like. But I remember opening up that
25:41
Amazon package pointed out and it looking so much better than I
25:46
actually thought it would. And, and like being so happy
25:49
with how it looked that that was, that was honestly such a
25:52
cool moment getting to see the cover and hold it and open it up
25:56
and being really happy with what the internal formatting looked
25:59
like. And there was, there's a couple,
26:00
there's some edits I found through there that I, you know,
26:03
on the on the back cover at the Megan stuff and different
26:05
things. But really it was pretty much
26:07
exactly how like better than I envisioned wanting it.
26:10
That that was such a cool moment on that November 2nd Saturday.
26:13
I remember getting to see it and through that process, then I
26:16
literally just reading, reading the book myself and looking for
26:20
any errors that I had and looking for anything with
26:24
grammar or just the formatting the book and reading through
26:28
that whole thing. Just I would highlight if I
26:30
found anything and then submitting again for proofs kind
26:34
of once I edit all that and get in another copy of that, there's
26:37
after a couple of rounds that finally is like, OK, this, this
26:40
is it. And driving myself crazy reading
26:43
that over and over again is like, fine.
26:44
It's like, OK, we're at a point where I like, I think it's time
26:47
and I was over. Then submit it all and get it
26:49
ready for that December release date that I had.
26:54
And then as I'm getting ready for that release date, I kind of
26:56
had the idea to have the bonuses to hopefully draw more people.
26:59
And so if you don't know those bonuses, I did 6 bonus sections
27:04
from coaches as APDF from six coaches that aren't on the
27:07
actual hard copy of the book. That has some really great
27:09
value. But then I had the idea to do
27:12
these Zoom calls with coaches in the book and just dive deeper
27:15
and actually ask questions on on their answers and have some
27:18
really cool conversations. And I had to be like 20 of those
27:21
with just awesome conversations and uploaded those into my
27:24
website where then if people would and got the book within
27:28
the first week, they got access to all of these bonuses and can
27:32
watch these videos, get the extra PDF and hopefully push
27:35
them to get that book. And so that was super, super
27:37
cool. I, you know, I wish more people
27:40
had access or really got went into those bonuses because I'm
27:43
not sure a ton even did or knew too much about them, but there's
27:47
so much value in those. So it was super cool, I think
27:50
and wish more people had that. But that was, that was a ton of
27:53
work doing all those zoom calls and getting them uploaded within
27:57
a pretty short time. Frankly, there was, there was,
27:59
there was a couple of those weeks where I was probably
28:01
having like, I probably like 10 or so of those zoom calls within
28:04
one week. Some of them I like 3 in a day.
28:06
I'm so I felt like that kind of got, got me prepared for doing
28:08
these podcasts and, and learning to interview and craft those
28:12
questions out. That was, that was really great
28:14
practice for getting to do this podcast.
28:16
So finally we get to that point in December where the book is
28:20
released. And I remember the the day of
28:22
it, I was, I had it set for that evening to release, I think
28:26
around 6:00 or so. And I, yeah, I was doing my, my,
28:28
my business. So, so I was coaching actually
28:30
when it released. And I remember my wife was there
28:33
trained too. And I told her I had, I need you
28:34
to order a couple of these so I can have some because I was
28:37
going to go to Austin that weekend to go deliver them to.
28:40
I want to give it a Darby Rich, who, you know, one of my, one of
28:43
my closest mentors and he also wrote the Ford for the book.
28:46
So I wanted to give him be the first one to give him a copy and
28:50
also give it to Zach Zillner since he was also there at Texas
28:53
with the women's basketball team.
28:55
I'm sorry, I was like, I tell them if I need to, to order a
28:58
couple copies as soon as possible so I can have those
29:01
hopefully shipped in in time to leave in a couple of days and
29:04
deliver those because I can get, I can get author copies, but
29:07
those take like 3 or 4 weeks and take a lot longer than actually
29:11
ordering from Amazon. I mean, I get done with
29:13
training, we go home and we have a really cool book release party
29:18
my parents and my wife helped put together and had a lot of
29:21
friends and family there to support.
29:23
Kind of show them about the book, talk about the book.
29:25
And just that was a really special moment that they put
29:29
some really cool stuff together and just get to relax for a
29:32
brief moment after really working really hard on that and
29:35
get to kind of celebrate that. And just, you know, just finally
29:39
had that moment of, you know, a year plus of work to have this
29:44
thing finally released. And it is so cool too, because
29:48
it was even within that day, it was it was in the number one in
29:51
new releases in a couple sections on Amazon, which which
29:53
was completely unexpected. And that was that was really,
29:57
really special to see and just just really gratified and, and,
30:01
and grateful for all the people that supported that the coaches
30:04
that supported that were in it and supported getting out there
30:07
and just my family and their help and support.
30:09
And especially when I didn't, I didn't pay for a single thing of
30:12
marketing. So just being what kind of self
30:14
market organically and just to help these coaches was, was, was
30:18
really special. I mean, and right now it's cool.
30:20
I, you know, I've, it's about, I think about 450 copies of sold
30:24
without doing any paid marketing.
30:25
So it's super cool. Just the amount that it's been
30:28
able to have been been spread and the things that I've gotten
30:31
back in terms of the impact it's had for coaches and kind of
30:35
their journey. I think some cool messages too
30:37
from different coaches on hey, like I've bought multiple of
30:40
these to give to my interns or my assistants and this is great
30:42
for our staff development. Yeah.
30:44
I was just not that like I told myself along the way as like if
30:47
this impacts one person, I think it's worth it.
30:50
Like like there's so much time and energy and like money on my
30:54
end to to create this. But like if it if it impacts 11
30:57
coach, like it's worth it. So it has been far, far and
31:01
beyond worth it from seeing the impact and the notes of feedback
31:06
from coaches and how it's impacted them.
31:09
So, so thank you for the people that have sent in those notes
31:11
that have shared things like that, that have shared it with
31:14
other coaches, because that's that's made all the hours worth
31:17
doing this. And you know, I want to give a
31:19
special thank you to Josie and my wife and just her constant
31:23
support throughout it, through the heat, the ups and downs of
31:27
the, the process and the the doubts and all that comes with
31:31
it. Like she was always a rock by my
31:33
side and just helping me and my family, my family too, just
31:36
their constant support and seeing the vision and supporting
31:41
the vision of what I had for this.
31:43
And you know, I'm just the the messages and in the thing I got.
31:47
Like that's that's why I wanted to do this podcast because of
31:50
that impact and just continue to have those conversations.
31:54
And like, for those of you that read the book, like, you know,
31:56
like a lot of it, and the goal of a lot of the book is again,
32:00
to not be just XS and OS specific to strengthen machine
32:03
or specific sport, but kind of the conversations that aren't
32:06
always being had being had by coaches or being had by people
32:10
going through school. But the, the conversations that
32:13
actually really important determine our day-to-day and
32:15
determine our career and determine our ability to make
32:19
money and be there with our family and in our, our mental
32:21
States and, and how we're living our life and having an actual
32:25
career with longevity and purpose.
32:30
And that's why we're doing this podcast too, is to have those
32:32
questions. And like, I think it's so cool.
32:35
And I've talked about this a number of times with people, but
32:37
how vulnerable and open so many coaches were in the book.
32:41
And these are coaches that are at the highest level of how open
32:44
they were to their failures and their, their, you know, mental
32:49
struggles and they're burned out and the, the things that they've
32:53
gone through. Because for me, like, it just
32:56
helps to see that. And I know for so many other
32:58
coaches, like it's helped to see these other people talk about
33:01
that, go through that. So we don't have to feel like we
33:04
got to keep that internally in our own heads and not talk about
33:07
that or not feel like, or feel like we shouldn't be going
33:10
through that. So I think just being able to
33:12
have these conversations and open up dialogue around that is
33:16
needed within, within coaching, within all, all careers within
33:19
life, within for everybody. I'm so I think that's, that's
33:23
one special thing that I think I've been able to see and
33:26
witness is, is that being talked about more by by so many coaches
33:31
and especially coaches that we might think are perfect or at
33:36
the highest level and haven't had to go through this.
33:38
But like, OK, we say, hey, they, they went through this too.
33:41
They're still where they're at. People still view them the way
33:43
they view them, but they're not perfect.
33:45
None of us are and life is not perfect for them.
33:48
So so as we continue this, this podcast coming off the book like
33:52
that's the goal is continue to impact coaches, continue to give
33:55
them tools to be the best at what they do, but also have
33:59
longevity and doing it and and and keep purpose and what
34:02
they're doing and have a sustainable career and have
34:05
those conversations too. And really like the goal.
34:08
Also. I, I, I always thought about
34:10
those young coaches, like what, what would I want when I first
34:13
started coaching? And you know, I was also, I
34:16
still do. I look to these top coaches like
34:18
what, like what are the things that allow them to be who they
34:21
are and the guiding principles. And like, I want to continue to
34:24
uncover that and, and give those to the young, young coaches
34:28
especially, but also all types of coaches that we can now have,
34:32
not just a copy this coaches, but we can take these bits and
34:35
pieces from all these top people and influence how we make
34:38
decisions and how we shape our careers.
34:41
And I want this, you know, I want the book to be something
34:43
that coaches can give to their young assistants or their young
34:47
interns as a mentorship guidebook, right?
34:50
Because mentorship is so critical.
34:51
That's what our field of coaching is built on.
34:54
And we all need mentors in life. I, you know, I would not be
34:57
here. So many people would not be
34:58
where they're at without those mentors.
34:59
But I think it's great to get mentorship from other people,
35:02
other perspective and lenses too.
35:04
And I think that's what this book provides because, you know,
35:07
we're not going to connect. You're not going to connect with
35:09
all 108 coaches in this book, but I, I guarantee you there are
35:12
some people, some coaches in there that are speaking to
35:15
exactly what you need in the moment of your life or career.
35:19
And that's the goal is to be able to provide that guidebook
35:22
of mentorship, just so much coaching experience and wisdom
35:26
and, and continue that also with the people we're bringing on to
35:30
the podcast and share that so that we can impact other coaches
35:34
because that's what it's about, right?
35:35
Coach is about impacting the athletes that were around their
35:38
parents, like the other people, but also each other, right?
35:42
We, we can't do this alone. None of us do it on our own.
35:45
That's why we need strength in numbers with the coaches and
35:48
families and people around us to build us up and allow us all to
35:52
go much further than we could. We could all go alone.
35:55
So I, I hope that you feel I'm doing that and providing those
35:59
conversations and providing those guests to do that.
36:02
If there's any way I can do a better job of that, please reach
36:05
out to me on social media or my e-mail or wherever, you know,
36:09
get my cell phone number. If there's anything I can do or
36:12
people you want to see on this podcast or topics you want
36:15
covered, reach out and let me know.
36:17
But I, I, I, I hope, I hope this was valuable, kind of seen this
36:20
process. If, if there's somebody that
36:22
wants to write a book on their own, there's so much I learned
36:25
from that process that please reach out to me.
36:28
I can try and help you give you some pointers of what I learned
36:31
along the way. But hopefully this was
36:33
interesting and cool insight into kind of the building that
36:36
whole book. I'm, I'm grateful for each one
36:38
of you that are listening and supporting, supporting the show,
36:41
supporting the book and I appreciate, appreciate all of
36:43
y'all. Next episode I will be a guest
36:46
in with Christian Placencia. It's an incredible episode that
36:49
you are definitely not going to want to miss.
36:51
Look forward to having you listen again next week.