Ben has been helping his clients communicate for more than 25 years now. As a two-time author, podcast host of the syndicated YourLIVINGBrand.live show, and principle of Your Brand Marketing, Ben wants to help his clients stop being commodities and start being brands worth loving. He works with his clients to help them understand their brand, message, people, and purpose and communicate effectively inside and outside the company. Those they wish to influence, listen, understand the value to them and are compelled to engage. It is all about communicating what makes you different and exciting and give people cause to pause and care about you because you add value to them.
Tell us a little bit about your background and how you ended up writing a book?
Mentoring has always been a big part of Ben’s life. Ben has worked with various universities and organizations throughout his career to help others understand their true value, codify it, and communicate it effectively. That was the impetus for writing “Powerful Personal Brands: a hands-on guide to understanding yours” in 2018. As a mentor for the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, Ben realized that as smart as the students were, they were horrific at telling their own story effectively in ways that others would understand their value.
During COVID-19, Claire Chandler and I started having conversations about the challenges in leadership during the pandemic. We saw people were focused on the here and now and not looking forward. Hence, they were not setting themselves and their teams up for long-term success. A book was not in our minds, but a mini-podcast was, and we developed twelve episodes of “Creating the New Normal: Leadership in a Post-Pandemic World.” At the end of the project, we realized the power of what we had created and went about transcribing, editing, and augmenting the original podcast into a book that will help people navigate not only this crisis but provide a blueprint for how to act and react in the future. The outcome was published in September 2020 as “Leading Beyond a Crisis: a conversation about what’s next.”
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
For “Powerful Personal Brands,” the hope is that people will take away that their uniqueness makes them unique and valuable.
For “Leading Beyond a Crisis,” it is hoped that people will realize that resilience, adaptability, creativity, and the ability to communicate effectively will be the difference between success and failure in a crisis.
What are the top three tools you are currently using to write, publish, and promote your books?
The best advice I can give as a tool to write a book is that it does not necessarily have to be written. If you are a person who thinks on their feet and verbalizes, then recording your chapters audibly and then transcribing them using software like Rev or Otter could be beneficial to you.
In terms of publishing, we have self-published both of our books and will self-publish others through Amazon and Ingram Spark. Once you understand the requirements of both platforms, they make it very easy to do.
Promotion is another animal altogether. We have used a combination of social media, podcasting (both our own and being guests on other people’s podcasts), and utilizing the power of our clients and trade organizations to get the word out effectively. If you have the budget, hiring a Public Relations firm that specializes in authors is also advised.
What were the top three mistakes you made publishing your book what did you learn from them?
When publishing my first book, the top mistake that I made was not having a promotion plan or budget. Writing a book is only the first part of the process. There are hundreds if not thousands of books that get listed on Amazon and never sell one hundred copies. Promotion is key.
The second biggest mistake was not involving my wife early on in the process. When I finally gave her the book to read, she had lots of great suggestions that would have saved me time and effort had I sent it to her earlier.
The third piece of advice has to deal with editing. You can edit for grammar, content, and flow. Different editors have different skills; understanding what each editor focuses on and why is vital to picking the right editorial staff and having the final product be something you can be proud of.
When will you consider your book a success?
I considered my book a success when someone quoted it in a conversation back to me.
Powerful Personal Brands:
What we need to realize, though, is that every experience we have, both good and bad, helps make up who we are, and that is the brand we showcase to the world. Embracing our good, bad, and ugly, and learning from all of it will help us build a personal brand that helps us achieve our goals in life.
Leading Beyond a Crisis:
The way we did business in the past is changing. How we communicate with our people, interact with our vendors, and engage with our clients will all change—probably for the better. We are going to be more creative and more innovative and find different ways to add value. That is what this conversation is all about.
What have been your biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge with both books has been editing for content; what stays in, what does not, and what should be repurposed.
What is the one thing you wish you knew before publishing your book?
The one thing that it would have been good to know before publishing my first book was how Amazon truly works. The algorithms are the best place to put your book to ensure that the right audience sees it.
Being on podcasts have been tremendous. Connecting with other people’s audiences, telling your story, and providing them with a free chapter of the book as a give away has been as successful as any other technique I have tried. As well, I use the books as a way to book speaking engagements. Instead of paying me my full rate, I have them purchase several copies to be put onto every chair. We do a special run of the book with the sponsor’s logo on the cover, so they cannot be returned, and then I offer a free book signing after my talk.
If you had the chance to start your career over again, what would you do differently?
I would have started public speaking earlier and gotten into radio and podcasting far earlier in my career.
- One podcast that I genuinely enjoy listening to every week is the “Selling from the Heart” podcast with Larry Levine.
- The book I will recommend until I die is “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
- The one course I would recommend would be “Endless Referrals” by Bob Burg.
If you only had $1000 dollars to promote a new book, knowing everything you know now, how would you spend it?
If I only had $1000 to start a company, I would spend $500 on figuring out my brand and $500 setting up a podcast and then watching things grow from there.
The best piece of advice I can give new authors is that you are more than likely not going to get rich off your book. What a business book will do for you is open doors, give credibility and start conversations.
What is your favorite quote?
“Your Brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”
– Jeff Bezos
Who should we interview next and why?
I would interview Larry Levine, Selling from the Heart. He is a fantastic storyteller, podcast host and conveys how to sell effectively, easily understood easy-to-implementation terms.
How can we get in touch with you?
The best way to get in touch with me is through my website yourbrandmarketing.com or connect with me through Linkedin.
Next Author interview: Laura Kriska, The Author of The Business of WE
