Ali Scarlett is an entrepreneur, #1 national bestselling author, and avid researcher of the art of networking based in Maryland, USA.
His site helps young individuals who struggle with the achievement of their goals.
He’s an enthusiastic (but terrible) pool player and is the co-owner of a professional cleaning company that has received numerous awards from digital marketplaces. His company connects home and business owners to cleaning professionals.
He will also occasionally make a mean Jamaican-style dish.
Ali has studied the work and strategies of multiple networking experts including (but not limited to) Bob Littell, Michael Goldberg, and Dorie Clark.
He spent three years in recovery from complications regarding his health before regaining enough strength to dive deeper into the networking world in 2018.
Ali has also made appearances on Entrepreneur, Addicted2Success, and The Good Men Project sites.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
I decided that I wanted more out of my social life. I wanted more friends, more allies, and more people in my life that I could call family.
When I developed a passion for entrepreneurship and wanted to advance in my career, I started to wonder how I could apply my knowledge in connecting with others to the advancement of my career. And, as I started to improve, I started to realize that what I know is something others could gain value from.
So, COVID clearing out most of my schedule for 2020 gave me enough free time to write a book. A book that would grow with me and continue to serve others past my life.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
I hope that when they reach the end of the book, they’ll ask themselves, “Am I better off now than before I started reading this book?” And, if the answer is “yes”, I hope they’ll begin to truly understand that information is a very real form of power. One they can use to achieve things they may have never thought possible.
What are the top three tools you are currently using to write, publish, and promote your books?
Google Docs, Canva, and connections!
What were the top mistakes you made writing or publishing your book?
One of my biggest mistakes was in the process of getting my launch team to work with me on launching the book. My communication was poor (my emails were too long) and I figured that they would uphold their end of the deal without any further incentive beyond the book itself.
Looking back, I could have done more to incentivize the team to stick to our plan. And, those mistakes caused the launch to be forced into a delay, causing scheduling conflicts with my promotion partners.
Traditional publishing is not bad. The main issue that I have with traditional publishing is that it typically takes far longer.
If you want to self-publish your book, everything is on you to make your book work. So, be sure to put together a good launch team, partner with some great connections who can help in promoting your book, and make sure your launch strategy aligns with your goals for the book.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing your first book?
I wish I knew how important the lead magnets would be. There’s a mentor of mine who gives his bestselling book away completely free in exchange for the email address of his prospects. And, that’s because even if he charges $50 for his book, it doesn’t compare to the value of having their email so he can market his thousand dollar programs to them.
If you’re looking to publish a book for the purpose of becoming an authority in your space to grow your influence and business, I would definitely recommend you do some market research on what your target audience struggles with most. Then, provide that as a lead magnet.
The book marketing tips that have worked the best for me and that I would recommend to other authors (especially in 2021 during COVID-19) are:
Switch to an ebook-first marketing plan: switch marketing images to ebooks, talk about the ebooks, make ebooks top-of-mind so more buy those versus physical copies (this is the strategy I used in October of 2020 to launch my book to best-seller status)
Reduce your ebook price or run a special to get the word out (I had my ebook reduced for half a month as part of a holiday special late last year and saw a sales boom in my sales report)
Run a special that donates a % of the profits toward families in need during this time (I donated all of the profits from my book’s six-week launch to Children’s National Hospital. We agreed that all of the money would go toward making sure that every child would receive the same level of care — regardless of their family’s ability to pay)
Make sure that while still promoting, you’re aware of others’ struggles and hardships during this time. Be sensitive with your messaging. (More of a general rule than a strategy, I make sure to follow it during my Instagram promos)
If you had the chance to start your career over again what would you do differently? I wouldn’t change a thing.
That’s the power of investing time into gaining powerful mentors: they provided me with a roadmap so I wouldn’t make mistakes in my career that would leave me with regrets.
And, if you invest some time time into networking as well, you could have powerful mentors that could do the same for you and more.
Can you recommend a book, a podcast, and a course for entrepreneurs and why?
I would recommend the book Ultimate Power one hundred times over.
There is no better book for upgrading your mindsets to achieve more out of life. And, I believe that so wholeheartedly that I gave it a special feature in my own book as a recommendation to all of my readers. As an added plus, the author continuously updates the book with the newest information he acquires on his own leadership journey.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to finish writing your book?
Remembering my WHY.
I knew that I didn’t want to leave this earth having overcome all of my personal demons without empowering others to overcome their own. I always felt that if I survived my own personal hell and then did nothing with the information, I gained learning how to survive, then I’m losing a large part of what makes me feel whole. I would be forcing others to go through the same harsh, painful struggles I went through just because I didn’t share how I survived those struggles.
My most painful experiences nearly broke me. So, I get fulfillment from doing my best to make sure no one ever has to experience the pain that I felt in my worst moments. That’s my purpose, the inspiration that motivates me, and my WHY.
When you find your WHY and keep it in mind along your own journey, you’ll also have no issue working on projects—no matter how big or small—that align with your mission in life.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
Get started on something small. Finish that. Then repeat.
You can let the feeling of having accomplished something build momentum toward bigger things until you find yourself working like a productivity maniac.
If you only had $1000 dollars to promote a new book, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
This depends on the person and that person’s goals. Does this person want to hit the best-seller list? Is this person looking to use their book to generate leads for another product or is the book the only product?
If you know that you’re naturally charismatic and charming to where people are drawn to you, then by using the money to secure a podcast interview with a major player in your space that speaks directly to your target market, you’re getting the exact type of promotion you need in a way that continues growing as that podcaster continues growing his podcast. That’s a true win-win in my book.
Personally, my preference might be to spend it working with relevant site owners that have large email lists so that they’d be open to recommending my book to their subscribers.
What is your favorite quote?
“Proper preparation prevents poor performance.”
How can we get in touch with you?
Anyone can reach me at my website aliscarlett-author.com or email info@aliscarlett-author.com or follow me on Instagram at @iamaliscarlett. You can purchase my book The Clever Connector on Amazon.
Author Interview: Author Interview with Sundance Brennan – Everything is Sales
