Joining me today is Lewis Howes, are a keynote speaker, business coach, and NY Times best-selling author of the hit book, The School of Greatness. His newest book, The Mask of Masculinity He produces The School of Greatness podcast, which has over 250 million downloads to date and interviews amazing guests on his show. Today I’m talking to Lewis about how to use books to grow your business and how to use publicity to grow your business and sell more books. In 2009, Lewis was teaching people how to use the new platform LinkedIn as he was regularly using this platform and seeing great results. He saw influencers get more prominent brands and bigger brand deals once they had written a book. “There’s something there when you have a book, it makes you more real as a brand. It makes you more tangible.” On Christmas, 2007, his brother handed him a book. He found this book fascinating, and while usually not into books, he read this book in a few days and opened him up to a new world of possibilities. “I thought, wow! This is the direction I want to go in, I want to go figure this out.” From this point, he wanted to write a book to open other people’s minds the way this book opened his account. Lewis took his book he co-wrote with another self-published author and went to conferences all over the country, selling his book. From this point in his journey, he took off and started speaking. Eventually, he grew this business into a multi-million dollar company. “I’m the dyslexic kid who had an English tutor all throughout middle and high school and almost flunked English class. For me, it was an incredible full-circle moment almost 15 years after graduating high school. What I realized is that I need a team of people to support me. I didn’t write any book on my own, except for The Millionaire Morning.” Listen in to find out why being on the New York Times list essential for Lewis, how he pulled in one takeaway from the top 20 bestselling authors on the New York Times list, and why you need to be strategic when you promote your book. Learn how to be ruthless in your ability to ask and be willing to risk hearing the word “no.” Show Notes [02:42] Lewis talks about his decision to write his first self-published book. [04:30] He decides he wants to meet the author one day and eventually become friends. [07:38] In 2015, he launched his podcast and started building a bigger audience. [10:41] Writing The Millionaire Morning and distribution of his book. [12:30] Lewis feels that there is always something good that comes out of writing a book. [15:35] Why he doesn’t want to re-launch The Millionaire Morning. [18:45] Be clear on why you are writing your book and who you are writing your book for. [22:09] The team Lewis put together to market and sell his book. [26:30] Doing whatever it takes to sell books and reach his goals. [30:25] The importance of building relationships with personalities that have platforms. [34:42] Being intentional with who you connect with to grow your brand. [35:30] Finding the right platform to write, finish and launch your book. Links and Resources Visit Self Publishing School Online SPS Free Training Course Circle of Profit How to Write a New York Times Best Seller blog by Lewis Howes Visit Lewis Howes on the web