July 28, 2025 • 52 mins
In this episode of Demystifying Money, host Misty Lynch sits down with Sara Connell, founder of Thought Leader Academy, to discuss how entrepreneurs and professionals can become best-selling authors and influential thought leaders. If you've ever wondered how to get your story out into the world and monetize it, this episode covers all the essentials.
Where to find Sara Connell
Website: saraconnell.com
Instagram: @saraconnell
Where to find Misty
Websites:
- Sara’s personal journey from adversity to successful author and coach
- How to know if you have a book inside you and where to begin
- Mindset shifts required to move from dreaming to achieving visibility and success
- The importance of authentic storytelling in building a personal brand and business
- Strategic tips for writing, publishing, and monetizing a book—including costs, timelines, and practical steps to get started
Where to find Sara Connell
Website: saraconnell.com
Instagram: @saraconnell
Where to find Misty
Websites:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to the Demistifying Money Podcast, where each week you
will hear unforgettable conversations with expert guests about success, money, business,
and small steps you can take to elevate your life
and wealth. Now here's your host, Misty Lynch.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi, everyone, thank you so much for joining me for
the Demistifying Money Podcast. I'm your host, Misty Lynch, and
today I'm joined by Sarah Kanel. She's the founder of
the Thought Leader Academy and she's a best selling author,
ted X speaker and transformational coach that helps coaches, writers
and entrepreneurs become best selling authors and in demand thought leaders. Sarah,
(00:37):
thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
This episode of Demistifying Money with Misty Lynch is proudly
sponsored by Soundview Financial Advisors. Visit www dot Soundview Financial
Advisors dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So, Sarah, you have You've been featured in over Winfrey
Shout Good Morning America for.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
So all over the plate and really I'd love to
know how did you get into.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
This line of work where you're helping other people become
more visible?
Speaker 5 (01:13):
What made you want to go do that and how
did you find so much success in this space.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Well, it's so funny because certainly it wasn't in career
day growing up that there was an option even for
coaching if you're as old as I am, right and
or certainly not thought leader or you know, author was
something I did always want to be, and I was
the kid, you know, I loved reading books, and I
loved journaling and all the things. But I understood by
(01:41):
watching movies and reading books that the way you knew
you were allowed to be a writer was that a
teacher would take you aside and tell you're special, because
that's what happened in all the movies in the books
about kids that became writers. And then when that didn't happen,
I didn't know I did this, but internally, subconsciously I said, oh,
I'm not good enough, like I'm not a loud because
I didn't get that benediction that you know that whatever.
(02:04):
And I don't know if anyone listening has ever realized
you've done this, that you gave the power of someone
else to decide if you're worthy of a dream. And
it's it's so backwards, because our desire and our calling
to something is the sign, in my opinion, you know, like,
after coaching people for twenty years and being on this sturt,
it's that is the sign that you're good enough, that
(02:27):
you're capable, that you're worthy, that you're allowed the fact
that you have Because not everyone has our desires. They
really don't. We think, oh, everyone wants to know. They don't.
My sister's a medical doctor and she would rather do
anything than write a book. I mean, she thinks it
sounds horrible, and I think taking a medical board exam
sounds just absolutely traumatic. And so we're so good that
(02:48):
we're doing what we're here to do, So that's part.
So I had this idea that that's how it had happened.
It didn't happen, and so I went and took a
job after university at an advertising agency. So I thought
it's a creative adjacent, you know whatever. And unfortunately it
was at the height of the me too era, and
it was really abusive and traumatic and all kinds of
awful things for not just me, obviously, many was the
(03:10):
whole culture of that type of behavior, and I was
feeling like I was spiraling into a really dangerous place
mental health wise, physical health wise. I developed a really
serious eating disorder. Kind of to cope with the trauma
of this environment. And I was traveling back from Boston
to Chicago, where I lived one day and they're calling
(03:32):
my flight at Logan Airport and I don't have any time.
But I see a bookstore and all I wanted was
just like books. I get that's like church to me,
you know, it's just like, oh, books are my guides,
my friends, my escape, whatever. So I randomly grabbed a book.
It was called Holy Hunger. I'd never heard of the author.
She's not famous, a woman named Margaret Bullet Jonas. I
read the whole book that night on the plane in
(03:54):
the taxi, stayed up all night crying, ugly crying. You know,
I'm holding this like snotted wet book at the end
of the night. And this woman's story was very different
than mine, but she did share, you know, how she
got into this really dangerous physical and mental health space
like I had with this eating disorder, and she shared
(04:14):
how she got well. And at the end of that book,
I said, that's it. Even if I'm on the street,
even if i'm because I was a single woman supporting myself,
I was twenty, you know, three years old, and I
said even if I'm on the street and never do
anything with my Like I'm leaving this job and I'm
going to go get get help. I'm going to get well.
And so I credit that book is saving my life. Wow,
(04:36):
saved my life. And so what happened then is that
thankfully I did get better and I decided, well, if
this is my bottom anyway, I'm just going to write
because it's what I always want to do. And so
I had the gift not overnight, but of working my
way up to getting an agent and getting on Oprah
and the New York Times and you know, these amazing
things with my first book got to happen. And I
(04:58):
made a vow that I was going to and the
rest of my life paying that gift forward like that
that I was going to be the space where other
incredible experts, entrepreneurs, executives, people that are working in their
ecosystem and doing this amazing work get to be in
the Airport bookstore on someone's darkest day through a book,
(05:20):
or on a stage or on the Techech's red carpet
or whatever it is. That was what I was going
to devote the rest of my life too. And that's
what I've done, and it's been the most incredible privilege
and honor of my life.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's amazing, and thank you so much for sharing that,
because I think that some of us think, like you said,
that somebody comes and tells you, yes, you should be
an author, you or a grief and I think that
there's you know, there's a lot of people that are
waiting for that permission or that you know that somebody
else saying yeah, you're good enough to do this, which
holds people back because I I don't think that there's
(05:54):
really anybody out there was necessarily going to know better
than you what.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Is that you should be doing or what you want
to do.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
But I think that there is kind of this illusion
that like writing a book or something like, you have
to be at a certain level, you have to have
certain I know, I thought you had to have certain
credentials or designations or all of these things before it
would be okay for people to listen to your opinion
or to take you seriously. And so now that there
(06:23):
are so many platforms, there's so many ways for people to,
you know, to express themselves.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
I'm just curious, you know, what, what do you.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Think you know for somebody listening who maybe feels like they.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Have a story inside or a book inside.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Them, or they have, you know, things that they've learned
that they'd like to share, or maybe they just want
to entertain.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
What are some of your thoughts for people who really
just have no idea where you would even start for that.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yes, so it's funny. The New York Times came out
with this article a number of years ago that said
two hundred million people in America alone say I want
to write a book. So it is a thing that
like a lot of people feel like, oh, that would
be so cool. And there's a difference to me between
those of us that, you know, the people that are
at the you know, wine party, being like I'd love
to write a book, versus people that know they have
(07:11):
a book in them, like and all of you listening, No,
like Missy, you knew some part of you knew. It's
like there's a book I meant to write, or there's
a book in me. So if you're in that camp, right,
anyone who has the I know there's a book in me,
or people keep saying you should write a book about that,
and and that excites you. Not like my sister you
know it makes you feel like right, but if it
(07:33):
excites you, then it's like, well, what do we do
with that?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because what book? And what kind of book? And so
I have a whole methodology because this is what stops
so many of us, because we get overwhelmed at even
the idea of what would the book be, what would
go in it? Then? Let alone who reads it? How
do we get it published? How do we make money from?
You know, all those questions emerge before we've left the
starting date, right, like we just and we usually talk
ourselves out of doing it. So what I love to do?
(07:58):
Just and maybe we could just do this love This
takes like two minutes, but a really kind of neat
exercise is to take five minutes and any of you can,
you know, pause the recording of this and do it
and just write down all if you were going to
do a book, So you play the game. We're very
neuroscience based at our coaching company. So it's a meta
question in your brain and you say, if I were
(08:19):
going to do a book, what would I do a
book about? And you just write down every A memoir
about my family's immigration to Canada, a cookbook about this
a book about my business, you know, a sci fi romance,
I don't know whatever. You just write all the ideas.
It's called the whiteboard. Just put them all down, piece
of paper, type it out, and then the magic question
(08:43):
for me and when I'm coaching people, is what is
your number one priority in the next twelve months, From
like a professional perspective, So if that is revenue generation
for example, like you want to scale your business and
increase sales, you would look at all the book ideas
you just wrote down and you'd ask yourself, which of these,
(09:05):
based on what I know, would most likely result in
more revenue generation. Because your passion project about your family
and that's unless you do genealogy or you know, member
like is probably not a lead generator, a client attractor,
a magnet. There's sort of seven doors that books open,
you know, revenue generation, strategic partnerships, speaking engagements, attracting dream clients,
(09:30):
book sales, and there's there's these doors that writing a
book opens for us as experts and business people. So
which of those books lines up with your top priority?
And it usually becomes very very clear which one of
those is the front runner? Right then at that point, okay,
then how do I construct a book? Outline a book.
(09:52):
I mean, we could talk all day and I won't
go into all of that nuance, but even just getting
your idea, and then what we want to do is
feed it throughout this Ven diagram, which basically is like, Okay,
our passion, like I really want to write this book. Yay,
that needs to be there, because passion is contagious in
a good way. But then how is it helping someone
(10:13):
solve a problem or achieve a dream. It's like the
next sort of circle in that Ven diagram, because any
great book, talk, YouTube, video, course, business offer is going
to help people overcome a challenge or achieve a dream
in some way a piece of those things. And then
the piece that gets ignored so much is the third
circle in the Ven diagram, which is what's urgent about
(10:35):
this now, because that's what's going to make your book viral,
that's going to make your book something that's going to
get you on the media, that someone that's going to
get you on all the podcasts, something that like what's
now we all have evergreen topics, making money, being a
good parent, helping people at their health, Like hopefully we're
all going to you know, we are as humans going
(10:56):
to care about these things all the time, but there's
usually something going on in the world that makes it
extra important for what we're all focusing on now. Like
why is when I wrote The Science of Getting Rich
for Women a couple of years ago, it was because
I read the study that women had lost eight hundred
billion dollars in the pandemic and I was so outraged
and upset. It's like, already we have pay gaps and
(11:19):
confidence gaps, and now we're taking this hit. And that
book was my friend said, what are you going to
do about it? You're sitting here bitching about it, Like
what are you actually going to do? And I said, okay,
So could I be a tiny piece of a women's
economic comeback? And that was you know, And so why
was that urgent and relevant now for women to welth build? Well,
(11:39):
it's always important, I believe, and it was extra important
because it just like an eight hundred billion dollar global hit.
So that then diagram helps us, so that that's what
lands books in the bestseller zone, because best seller is
just simply enough people, it's volume. It's just that many
people saying we got to do this. As the book club.
You've got to read this. You know, we've all had
people come at us. You've got to read this book.
(12:02):
And so that's where I would start with everybody. You know,
what are all the ideas, what's your most important objective
for the year, which one lines up? And then put
it through that litmus test of those three circles to
ensure that's how you're going to set your book up
for success from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I love that because I think there are certain things
that maybe we're only focused on one of those circles,
Like maybe we're only thinking about like our goal is
to get more clients, or our goal is to get there,
but we're not really thinking about like well, like we're
just looking at what has gotten other people on TV,
what has gotten other people here, and kind of backing
into well, then I guess I'll just write about that,
(12:40):
or I can't write about.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
That because somebody already did.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And I think a lot of times our brains are
trying to keep us small and exactly where we are.
So I think if you're putting these out on paper,
you know, some people might get to that step of
writing out all those things that they're passionate about and
then be like, no one's gonna read this, no no, no, no,
no no no. So I love that you're wishing it
back to next step, next step, to kind of keep
(13:03):
that going because we can be very critical, and I
think that there's something about writing a book that is
very like the book you read in the You know,
I'm sure that that author that wrote the book that
you read in the airport probably hesitated about telling that
story a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
For sure, Cuz it's usually today it's so personal. What
will my family think? What will my you know, boyfriend
from third grade that sees this on face? But you know,
all this stuff comes up. Then imposter syndrome. I'm not
a celebrity who you know, I don't have a million
initials after my name. I don't I didn't go to call.
(13:41):
I mean, people have all this stuff and we talk
ourselves out. So we'ren't not the best judge you know of.
And that's why we think of the book as a
love letter to your person that you're here to serve.
What is the dream you're helping them achieve, the challenge
you're helping them overcome. Then it's not about am I worthy?
Am I capable? Did my eighth grade English teachers say,
(14:02):
a good writer who cares not important, right, Yeah, And.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
That's just it's just a tricky thing.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
But I do think that's a massive number of people
that have expressed that goal in this country. So I
think that's such a great way to start to think
about it. And also, yes, if you're passionate about something
and you just want to write it and you don't
care about being on a best like you just want
to get that story out, fantastic, you know, but you
have to really do make sure that everything aligns because
it is a it is a big effort, it is
(14:31):
a big undertaking, and there's expenses and costs involved too,
just like anything else that you want to do.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
So I'm curious. You know, you help, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
You help people get to that next level, you help
them get high profile speaking gigs, you help them get,
you know, on big stages. I'm curious, though, from the
person that starts out to that, what's the biggest mindset
shift that you see with those people, because I feel
like they're no different than people listening here who've not
gotten there.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Yet thinking about it, But what are you seeing change?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, it's such a great question. Because we look at
the Brene Browns and the Mel Robbins and the Oprah's
and the Marie folios and Gabby Bernstein and whoever it
is that you're Glennon Doyle, these these mega thought leaders
that have inspired so many and sold millions of books.
Elizabeth Gilbert right, And it feels like the Grand Canyon
(15:25):
sized chasm between right, like where we are and someone
at that level. And yet what everyone forgets. So a
mindset shift two that I'll offer one is to focus
on the climb versus comparing yourself to the summit. So
I really like this for this helped me a ton
(15:46):
and still does because we often see the summit, which
is global thought leader. You're known by one name, Brene, Oprah, Gabby, right, Mel,
And that's iconic status that those those thought leaders have achieved.
So we're seeing the summit icon right, But every one
of them made different base camps, right, So what I
(16:09):
really like doing is saying, oh, let's reverse engineer what
were some of those earlier base camps, because it just
seems like such a swing and so impossible to go
from like I'm me with five people on social media
to that and we don't We're not going to make
that in one jump, right, So what I love doing
is reading some of the early stories of some of
(16:29):
these people. You know, Brene Brown was told no by
every publisher, self published her book and printed it herself
and sold it out of the back of her car
at lectures. I mean, this is not a glamorous beginning, right,
It's not. And so I think that the first mindset
shift is to focus on the early moves of these
(16:50):
and you can find them out by listening. These people
all have podcasts, they've all written books, they share their story,
so this isn't hard to find. A hell now we
talk chat GPT, I'm sure tell me the moves mel
Robbins made when she was unknown? What were the first
five things? You pick your person, you know, whoever your
person is that you admire and want to emulate in
your career. Then the other mindset shift is, and I
(17:12):
really believe this is true, that your desire to write
that book or speak on that stage is not random.
It's not something that just happened by coincidence. There is
a call and response, So to start thinking about the
people that need the message, only you can share that
woman Margaret bullet. Jonas is not famous, she's not a
(17:34):
household name. And because she wrote her story, I didn't die.
I mean, that's how serious I take that. That's the power.
This is just some person who decided I'm going to
share this story that's vulnerable and whatever, and she's saved lives.
I'm sure it wasn't just mine. So what's so cool
about it is to think about the service piece. I
(17:55):
think that's the mindset shift. If you have the calling,
it's the sign that people maybe full of people, maybe hundreds,
maybe thousands, maybe millions, are calling forth that message and
the whole other people have written about it. Yeah, that's
called validation of concept. That's what I liked to is
what I like to do with myself and my clients. Like,
(18:15):
if people have written a bunch of books on your topic,
that means good, that means there's an appetite. And I
bet we have all had an experience where you know,
someone told, oh, you got to read this, and we
read it and just nothing, It's just we're cold. And
then you have someone who essentially says the same thing
in another book and oh my gosh, like lightning bolts
(18:38):
and rape. So just to give a concrete example of this,
because it really helped me get over that. It was
a huge called Gremlins, you know, inner critic that I
had because like, there's so many books, what am I
going to possibly add? So there's a book called A
Course of Miracles if people have heard of it, that
came out I don't know, like the seventies or eighties.
Essentially it's a very dense, like spiritual text, right, that
(18:58):
book came out maybe huge impact, like for people all
over the world that still use it. And then years later,
Marian Williamson comes along and she discovers this book and
she writes a book about her experience of the book,
A Course in Miracles. It's called A Return to Left.
It spent I think years on the New York Times
bestseller list. It was a massive book. Okay, So that's
someone writing about a book that already exists and their
(19:20):
experience of that book. And then you think that move
could not be done again. And then a number of
years later, Gabby Bernstein writes a book about her experience
of the Course of Miracles called May Cause Miracles. So
now we have another book that is on the New
York Times bestseller list. For I'm sure over a year,
(19:42):
all about a book that already was written about and
had already been I mean, this is like these are
New York Times bestsellers, selling millions of copies and making
those women absolute again, like iconic status as thought leaders
writing a book about another book. So it is okay
as long as you're bringing your own. I don't really
(20:03):
like the original Course in Miracles. I don't. I didn't
resonate with it. I really really like Gabby Bernstein's book
May Cause Miracles. I really got a lot out of
that book. I'm glad she didn't talk herself out just
because Mary and Williamson had already written it and the
Course of Miracles already existed. She did it anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
And it's curious though, with your with that whole line
of you know, writing this book book and then even
now with you know.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
With chat GPT, I mean, I wrote my book without it,
and you can't. By the way, just so anyone listening,
you cannot actually publish a book that you that chat
EPT wrote. You have to sign legal waivers that any
publisher or articles you actually it's not you, you will
not they flag they have screening software. So I just
want everyone to understand, like I don't I help. I
(20:47):
like strategizing. What are some ideas for emails that I
can write. I use chat GPT for all kinds. Send
me a pep talk. I feel down today. I love it. Okay,
I don't let it write a word of any of
my actual books and articles.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Because you have to have your take right.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
There has to be something authentic in yours and genuine
because I do feel like, yes, there is this potential
to kind of cling, like get on a trend or
do something that you're seeing out there.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
And so I think when.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
We think about you know, Mary Williams and Kaby Bernstein,
like they're taking that in like their personal experience is
what resonates with a different reader, not just the first
original correct. So I think that that's something that maybe
a lot of people who are talking themselves out of
(21:36):
certain things or books, somebody already did this. I'm just
gonna like, is it too close to what somebody else
already has done? But where like that's that part that
has to be that authentic piece that can't be copied.
It can't write your story if it's.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Your story, your experiences. But I also would take it
a step for think for those of us that want
to be in the thought leader space, it's it's actually
it is your personal stories that will differentiate it, of course,
but it's also bringing something new to the conversation in
a return to love and in may cause miracles and
though just to use that example, because it was it
was so starkly like linear, you know, taking taking their
(22:16):
original work. But those authors brought new concepts, they brought
new techniques, They taught new ways of you know, connecting
with miracles and and if they just did a book
about I did the Course of Miracles and here are
my thoughts. I mean that that could be a YouTube video,
not a not a book. But they brought something new,
they evolved the movement. Yeah, and that is what we're
(22:40):
really going for in a thought leader book.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I want to talk about the term thought leader for
a moment. I think it might be, you know, maybe
something that people don't like anymore, or they think about
LinkedIn's little crazy little cartoon that says thought leader, you know,
and it doesn't seem like serious.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
It's it's kind of like.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
A term that I think has some credibility and some issues.
What are your thoughts because I do feel like there is,
you know, there's a genuine need for thought leadership in
a lot of different areas of so many different areas
in the in the work that people do, in parenting
and health and finance, all over the place. But what
(23:22):
are your thoughts on the word itself and what's happening
with it?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Oh yeah, well this is of course, since I have
a company called thought Leader Media and thought Leader Cats.
It's very much I'm in heated debates, I would say,
with many different you know, people in the industry about this,
and we all have our own definitions. So, for instance,
one colleague of mine who he says a person should
never call himself a thought leader. You know, someone else
needs to refer to you as a thought leader, which
(23:45):
I feel is a very patriarchal idea. And back to
that whole thing of like other people getting to decide
so that one doesn't fit for me. Then someone else
talked about, you know, here's the criteria of a thought leader,
and you know your influence, So here's how I define it.
I define thought leader as first and foremost that we
must lead our own thoughts. And that's where you were
talking about the inner voice are there. Are we leading
(24:09):
our own thoughts from a place of positivity, a place
of innovation, a place of creativity, or are we in
a loop with our own kind of negative, limiting thinking.
That's already a piece of thought leadership in my opinion,
because we need to empower and authorize ourselves to think differently. Right,
we're leading our own thoughts first, then we've got something
(24:31):
cool to say, you know, to and share with other people.
I think this is where the AI discussion is so important.
If someone is not willing to do original thinking, then
to me, that is someone is not choosing to be
a thought leader. It's no judgment, it's just like that
is not thought leadership. To pull something. The AI at
(24:52):
this stage can only drop from what's already been created
and leadership. Right, you're leading something new and different in
my opinions, So it's leading our own thoughts in positive
life affirming, you know, creative, expanding ways, and then bringing
something new to the conversation and being willing to do
the deeper thinking work, right like Einstein would have his
(25:14):
daydream time and people talk about white space time. And
we're horrible at this in our culture right now. Absolutely
the worst because we're you know, addicted to our phones
and we're you know whatever. So the real danger if
you're outsourcing your critical thinking and creative thinking to AI
is that very quickly all that will be pulling, it's
(25:35):
all going to, you know, just be a very common
denominator kind of thing. So I think that's someone who's
opting out of thought leadership. If you're opting into thought leadership,
you're digging deep and it's messy. You might have whole
blocks of time where you feel like I just sat
there and explored something and it didn't go anywhere. Great, congratulations,
that's thought. You know, you're willing to bring something completely
(25:56):
unique in your point of view and a new way.
So you think about you know, Marie Condo sparking joy. Right,
there's a million books on organization, million books, but that
created a movement, right the four hour work week, Tim Ferris,
the tipping point, Malcolm Gladwell, like these are, this is
thought leadership people are and in many cases they were
pulling from Like Malcolm Gladwell pulls from academic studies, but
(26:19):
he's willing to go in dig through these. I'm writing,
I'm writing a new book right now and just the
level of pain that it takes to get to the
actual study because you're getting abstracts online and then having
to pay. I mean it's like, oh my god, is
I'm doing a lot of peer reviewed you know, research
to back up the stuff in the new book. And
so it's a thing he's willing to do that work
for us and then bring us these cool nuggets and
(26:42):
these paradigms. So to me, that's that leadership. You're bringing
something new, a cool twist, your take on something that's
important to people, and you're leading with a life affirming
innovative you know. And it's going to become a absolute
week from chat next few years because so many people
(27:03):
will just opt for convenience because it is easier. It's
absolutely easier. They did a study at MIT recently and
they gave three sets of college or people kids getting
ready to enroll in apply to colleges. And they took
one group and said here's the essay topic. They're just
in a room free writing the essay. The second group
(27:23):
could use Google Search to find data or back up
their points just Internet search, and the third group could
use AI if they wanted to to write some or
all of the essays. So the first group writes the essay,
the second group uses Google whatever. The third group, every
single one of them opted to have AI write the
essay for them. And they sucked right because even though
(27:46):
they were well written, and even though they gave it
good prompts, and even though they did all the things,
it was and the uncanny creepy part of the study
is that they were all almost identical. They all ended
up kind of saying the same things. Well, that's what
the right now at least that's what the AI can do.
And so but the the problem is even less that
(28:09):
the essay wasn't great. It was that everyone opted for
the easy way out.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
And if everyone, if all of them had the same option,
how many more would have I mean it.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Does they let all the kids say, hey, you can
choose on your own with Google or AI, you know,
and because who wants to write a college es say,
it's a pain in the butt, you know, no one
enjoys that. But if we atrophy, it's a user or
lose it. And I think that's true for our creativity,
which to me thought leadership is creative thinking. Whether you're
in the sciences or you're in you know, you know,
(28:41):
what's considered a more creative field. Everyone's creative and creativity
is needed in every field. And so that's kind of
where I think it's going to be more important than
ever for those who feel called to thought leadership and
are willing to do the work to really watch what
we're delegating because there's a price. And I'm all for it,
Like I use, I am on chat ept every day
(29:03):
for multiple things. But it's what are we delegating?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, no, And I think it's unfortunately, and we do
tend to be delegating the creative piece, the very you know,
the interesting part. And I mean, if I could have
it do like clean my house all the things I
don't want to do, Like, it's it's just unfortunate because
I'm seeing some people in creative fields feeling the kind
of squeeze there as far as their jobs and things
(29:27):
like that being replaced, and so it is kind of
a it's a I think it's such an interesting topic
and I think it's something I fear as a mom.
Sometimes I'll tell my kids I want them to like
create more than they're consuming, and like if it's drawing
or doing something else, because it's.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
So much easier.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
To scroll, and so I think that's something that you
kind of almost have to fight against. And I think
there are people listening. I think there's people who have
ideas that need to get out there. However that medium
seems to be, whether it's books or or stages or
anywhere else. But I wanted to talk because this is
another part that a I can't do. But you talk
(30:05):
in your work about storytelling and how that's a really
powerful business tool. And I think a lot of times
when I started out, you know, I didn't think people
would necessarily want to hear my story. I thought my
story would be kind of.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Negative.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
First of all, like most of the financial advisors are
like older white males, and like I did not have money,
you know, or come from you know. And so I
was like, Okay, I have to try to be more
like them in every way possible, which would mean like
not telling stories, maybe learning how to golf, learning how
to you know, hold my liquor all of those things
that do not help me very much at all. And
(30:43):
so but I think that having a story is something
that is so helpful, but it can be really scary.
So how do you help people like learn how to
tell a story well and also how to not be afraid.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
To share it. Such an important and awesome question, right,
because there's the craft of shaping a story and sharing it,
and then there's the courage to tell the story in
the first place. And even so you're talking about the
really important piece. So again, I think we can answer
this similarly to when we talked about the book, because
(31:22):
for me, the only thing that will give me the
courage is to be of service to someone else. If
it's just for me, there's no way I'm doing it right.
It's too big a risk, it's too uncomfortable, the potential
for criticism. We're scared of visibility and judgment, and for
good reason. You know, we see people get attacked. Maybe
we've been attacked in the past. I call it business PTSD.
(31:42):
You know we might have had those you know, visibility PTSD,
that kind of thing. So I think the first piece
is to think about, if you like, who needs to
hear your story when? For you, Missy. I don't know
if this is true, but I would imagine my friends
that are in the financial space getting to see other
women who didn't come from money, who aren't male, who
(32:03):
don't want to go play golf necessarily unless that's what
they love. They don't want to play the boys club
game and go drink whiskey and smoke the gar whatever,
just to be cliched, although in my advertising agency, those
little hundred percent of this was definitely the culture and
worse right. So so having a woman show up and
say I'm a powerful, effective, top world class financial advisor
(32:29):
and I look like this and I come from this,
I'm guessing there are hundreds of thousands of young girls
and women around the world that that would be so
empowered hearing that story, and yet it feels so scary
because then all the guys might say shut up, or
we don't want to hear from you, or that's not
I don't know if you follow Cody Sanchez, but you
know her story is about working at like oldman Sax
(32:50):
wherever she was cracked me up all the time because
she talks about like you imagine, like they get me.
I'm like, whoo, you know, I just And so it
is uncomfortable to be different and be a disruptor in
that way, even by your own presence and not fitting in.
So I think that the courage for me at least
always comes from you know, that woman who wrote the
(33:10):
book in the bookstore. It's like, who needs to hear
this story and can identify? Because there is research this
is I mean, I'm a science backed girl, So there
is research. People will not take a risk to achieve
something unless they see people who look like them, who
come from where they've come from, who have similarities to them.
(33:34):
It is proven in schools. That's why diversity is so
important in leadership and in companies. It is so important
that we do share. Especially the things we think, you know,
are maybe the things we don't want to highlight, right
like about our background or some kind of shame. Those
are usually the things that other people feel that around
(33:54):
and will absolutely set everybody free. And so I think
part of it is just the who needs to hear this?
How would I have felt if someone had been this
person for me, you know, when I was younger? How
would that for Missy?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
For you?
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Like if if if a woman who didn't come from
money was talking about, you know, being in the financial
advising world, would that have been helpful?
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
And I remember seeing like a story I think it
was about Susie Orman, about like how she waited tables
at one point and was like, you know kind of
and I you can identify, I can identify I waited
tables far I did these these skills that I felt like,
these are really helpful when it comes to talking to
people and and really like and yes, it's not like
(34:39):
having an internship at Golden Sacks.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
However, I can talk to anybody.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
And do you see the video that we would all
click on if you're like, how would I learned as
a bartender has helped me more than what my internship
at Golden Sacks? Like I would click on that video.
Everyone would watch.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
That, and I remember, like she's on stage talking about
retirement to all these everyone's listening. Everone's listening, getting information
about trust, all this important information. But I was like,
how did she get there? And it did require doing
some background research because I didn't know how to go,
how to get from here to there, but somebody else
(35:18):
had done it. And so instead of thinking like it's impossible,
it's like, what did she? You just get curious sometimes
what did she do?
Speaker 5 (35:27):
Yes, Okay, this is what she did, this is what
didn't work out, this is what she did.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Then this marriage didn't work out. All these things didn't
work out, and people are sharing. Like you said earlier,
it's not like all this information is hidden anymore. Like
everybody's kind of an open book going on these you know, interviews.
It's not just like one night on you know, Jala
announced it and then the movies out of the books.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Out like they're everywhere. People are everywhere and.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Have access to all of it. It is the best
like to find the whole success leaves technique, which I love.
I love that miss you did the digging and like
what's what were suz Worsman's moves and and so here's
another piece if people just want a financial motivation because
we're talking about you know, I love this because we
get to talk about money here. So here's the deal.
(36:14):
For a long time, this is just the way I
kind of look at the marketplace, you know, of buyers,
of people investing in coaches or mentors or programs or
whatever it is. So for a long time we were
in like a results based economy. Right, it's just kind
of what's the thing that I want to learn how
to do or the goal I want to achieve, and
I'll just take the course, right, and then we were
in like the Simon sink era of his TED talk
(36:37):
about the people don't buy what you do, they buy
why you do it, and so there was sort of
this like mission element and all of that. And now
we're in people are calling it a trust recession, which
I think is accurate, and we're in a more mature
online market, and we are now. If if Simon Sinek
was doing that, if someone asked me to give a
(36:58):
TED talk on like what's needed now, what's motivating buyers?
I believe it's a who economy. It's a trust economy,
which means this is why story is so important. I'm
tying it back to that, because the story people now
don't necessarily only buy what you do or why you
do it. They by who they are going to be
(37:18):
in relationship with, even in a book, even in a
low ticket thing, even and certainly and then a mentorship
or coaching or something like that. So that the only
way someone can know who we are is really through
our stories, because otherwise, like okay, I went to Northwestern
and I learned this, you went to where It's like okay,
(37:39):
but that doesn't tell me anything about who you are.
It tells me predessionals. You have bio where it's like okay, okay.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
Got a degree, like you meet the minimum qualifications.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Yes, stories about your values, your judgments, your pet peeves,
your your passions, your obsessions, your unique way of looking
that you're a human being. And you mentioned you're a
mother and a mother. Know, it's like that's the stuff
that is moving people to make an investment right now
in twenty twenty five, and I think that will continue
(38:10):
for some time. And so the story becomes everything.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, what happens when the story And I've seen this
before when I've been to some conferences or some places
where I hear somebody speaking or and it feels like
a little too emotional, a little too fresh, versus helpful
to me where there's like some discomfort. Maybe, how do
(38:36):
you balance that strategic side for an entrepreneur trying to
share their story versus somebody who's really like maybe still
going through it, yeah, and just wants to share their
frustrations with their ex or their pain from this to
a point where it feels it feels awkward?
Speaker 5 (38:53):
How do you help people kind of balance the time.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
We do a lot of work on this in Thought
Leader Media because here's the thing again, back to service.
It's all about your audience, and so what probably happened
there is someone had not done their work, they haven't processed,
they have enough distance. So the idea is share your message,
not your mess, is kind of an idea, and I
(39:16):
think that's a good litmus test of there's times when
I'm still in something and I'm not in a place
like write a talk about it or write a book
about it. I don't mean we have to be fully
healed and in some kind of perfectionism around things, but
I think so I was at an event this year
and someone did this what you're talking about, and I
did not purchase and take a next step. And that
(39:38):
was the reason. Why is because it felt like the
mess versus the message. And there's nothing against being in
the middle, like taking someone on a journey is very
different than the mess. But I think checking our intentions
as well and how much of our own inner work
have we done around a ticular topic, right if it
(40:01):
is still so highly charged that we're and I have
cried on stage like sometimes sharing something like I have,
I have had emotion, and that's that's okay. I'm fine
with that. But there's a difference between like I'm in
it raw eating me up and I'm not. I don't
have Also, here's a great question to ask ourselves. Have
I gleaned the nugget and the gift from this yet
(40:24):
if it's more about I'm in the rage the problem,
Like a good rant can be fun for a video,
but if we were talking about a stage presentation like
this person that we're both talking about different people, but
you know that we witness this year, I don't recommend it.
I don't. First of all, it will repel buyers if
you're looking to attract, you know, if it's if it's
(40:45):
something you're selling at some point. And I also don't
know that it's self loving. Yeah, right, And and so
this is where sometimes I think people get into I'm
being real and being authentic and it is.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
Yeah, but we've.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Got to understand the medium. That's for the therapist, office,
your group of friends, you know, whatever, it might be,
your coach, not necessarily for the stage and the book.
Until you are enough on the other side of something
to or at least have distance within to be witnessing
and pulling something in the journey, we can share. Journey
stories are great, but mess.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
Yeah, journal when you're in the mess, Yes, go bess.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
But I journal every day?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah? Maybe, but yeah, And then you can kind of
go back and say, oh do I want to keep?
Speaker 5 (41:36):
What do I want to leave there? And never talk again.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
That's it. That's it. You'll you'll be glad your future self.
James clear always says, you know, every action we take
as a vote for our future self. I think the
future self will be happy that you decided to work
through that a little more.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
So I feel like we could continue talking, but I did.
I want to find out how how.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
Do you help people? Tell me more about the Thought
Leadership Academy. Who's it for?
Speaker 2 (42:00):
And you know a little bit more about what you
know kind of where you meet people, what they're you know,
where they're at in their process, and you know how
you can help them with these dreams.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
If this is a dream of.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Theirs, absolutely So. What I like to think about is
in the in the realm of thought leadership, right, I
like thinking about three three core components right speak scale
and we could say right speaks cell as well, you know, right,
So what we love to do, as I said, back
(42:31):
to the bookstore in the Boston Airport. My mission in
life is to make sure that any individual who has
a methodology, a paradigm shift, the thought leadership, the idea
of the story that they know more people than their
ecosystem currently you know, knows about needs to get that
message out in the world. Then my mission is to
make sure that you do that. Whether that's through writing
(42:53):
a book, whether that's through speaking on stages, TEDx, a
YouTube channel. The medium is whatever any individual to be
and feels excited. Most people that I work with are
all of the above, right, It's like all those So
my job, in our team's job is to draw forth
the movement that you're here to lead, and that movement
(43:13):
then gets people get invited into that movement through a
book and through speaking and through content creation, and that
you are now visible at I don't even say ten x,
like one hundred x multiple. I meet so many incredible
people that are doing such phenomenal work, and I think
a fraction of the people on this planet who know
about them need you know, the people that need to
(43:34):
only know about them. So that's our job. So we
help people basically say Okay, if you want to be
the go to person in your industry or you know,
get more known as a you know, industry leader and
scale your business. How do we want to do that
in a way that lights you up, Misty, that might
be different than lights someone else up, but through the
avenues of writing and speaking, and then we look at
monetizing the mission right and so people specifically work with
(43:58):
us in terms of thought leadership on we have a
ninety day bestseller, so it's like, stop thinking about doing
you know, two hundred million people want to write the book.
Let's get this done in three months, and we have
many many No, if you want to take six months,
it's totally fine, right, it's not school with like strict
but you know, we like the idea of that ninety
day bestseller in using that whole system to reverse engineer
again the right book for your desired outcomes, because I've
(44:21):
written the wrong book and then realized I did all
that work and it didn't get me anything that I
wanted because I didn't reverse engineer from the beginning. So
we do that from the beginning the ninety day bestseller
and then looking at our speaking strategies for great you
have a book, you have that credibility and authority because
people do choose authors eighty percent more to speak on podcasts,
in the media and stages than experts without a book.
(44:44):
So it really is a door opener that way. And
then what kind of speaking do you want a podcast tour?
Do you want to go on stages? Do you like
guest speaking in small groups? Like what's your speaking vision? Right?
And so we empower that speaking vision. And then in
our we made it fun at the club, the monetar
your book club because we don't want to feel hard
and heavy. But then how does that thought leadership your
(45:06):
books and speaking, how does that continue to make you
daily sales in your business? Because missy, you've done it.
I've done it. You do this book and after the
launch you don't know what to do with it. There's
no ROI. It's a real bummer. It's a real freaking bummer.
And so we wanted built books to make impact and
income for the rest of your career. And so that's
really our specialization. And we use brain science to do that. Identity, mindset,
(45:29):
subconscious work, tolign why are your brain for success as
a thought leader and then use writings, speaking and scaling
to really manifest your next level. Right again, we have
people doing extra six figures a year, seven figures a
year and beyond, because again, money matters, like we want
to have abundance for our families and our lives and
(45:50):
the causes we care about. So I'm really obsessed with
the monetization piece, and that's why we start at the
club because it's just too often the story is the
book and nothing happen.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yeah, nope, I think that that's definitely a familiar story.
But you know, there's some certain people like I'm somebody
who likes to set goals and check them off the list. Yes, However,
there's certain things like writing a book or something like that.
You know, I do think that there is another business
side of it that maybe isn't something that you know
as you're writing the book. I think it's it's definitely
(46:23):
a very important and helpful piece, and it is an investment.
So I'm curious would you be willing to share, like
how much of an investment would somebody in their business
or in their life be willing to should be open
to taking or expect if they're looking to add this
to be you know, the way that they start to
get more visibility for themselves in their career.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Absolutely, So the way we do it in our current
this is really like new in the way because we've
really been doing a lot of like talking to our
clients and people. It just you have books. So we're
doing a new thing right now where because it used
to be in our programs it was you know, seventeen
thousand dollars for a year, and you have to do
all these different components. So we've actually pulled them out
just to let people know industry standard because I've been
researching this very deeply. So our ninety day bestseller where
(47:04):
you get your private book coach and editor, you have
your book fully edited, you have our whole system just
as an example, very robust sort of container. So that's
like market value, Like what people charge for that is
fifteen thousand and up. So we're doing it right now
just like because it's an insane year twenty twenty five.
If you're listening when this comes out, it's crazy. So
(47:25):
we're doing it for people, just at least for right now,
for six thousand, so that is like less than half
of sort of what so you're going to pay typically
more like fifteen plus, But we're doing it and breaking
it out for in our world right now for six
and then the really important piece is the club, which
then people they come in write their book in the
(47:47):
three months or six and then they get a year
in the Monetizer Book Club, and that we're doing same thing.
It's a five thousand dollars membership and we're doing it
for nine ninety seven, so just under one thousand dollars.
So the idea is you invest in our case, depending
on who you work with, but if you're in our world,
six thousand on the book now and then one thousand
(48:07):
essentially for the club. And the goal is that before
the book's even published, you've made back that money. That's
seven thousand dollars because we have our client's booking, paid
speaking engagements before the book's even done, like it's in publication.
They say, upcoming book, they can leverage that. That's what
we teach. That's back to right speak scale. So my
(48:28):
goal is always when I invest in something, I want
to make my money back immediately and then be in profit.
And so our goal is actually that's before the book's
even launched, or people that come to us just for
the club, you know, nine ninety seven for the year.
That's then you just hit the ground running and start
doing the strategies and your goals. I mean, you'll make
the thousand You should make the thousand dollars back in
(48:48):
the first month. And so my whole thing is, yes,
there's an investment to all these but how quickly am
I not only you know, equalizing, neutralizing, zero costs, zeroing
the investment, but then where am I? How quickly am
I in profit? So our goal is ninety days. You're in.
You know that that's the goal, because then you have fun.
(49:10):
Then it's just an asset that's making you money forever.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
And also, like for some of us out there, if
it's just our book in our head and no one's
telling us that it's due or this is the dodeline, Oh,
it could take forty years.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Absolutely you won't do it. And that's why you do this.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Container It can take ninety days, right, it can absolutely
take ninety Yes, people think that it's crazy, but I
think that time can collapse.
Speaker 5 (49:32):
There's so much you could get done.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
But I think a lot of times if somebody else
is going to talk to you, or your coach is
going to talk to you about that chapter, or you're
going to work through something together, things get done.
Speaker 5 (49:42):
I love it. And when people pay, they pay attention.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
So that's it. We got the money. It's like, well, okay,
now I really got a return on this. So we
just had someone enroll in the bundle, like they just
did the two together, and she said, it's so it's
so great. She said, I don't want to do this
for five years, but I know now like I have
to because I've paid the money. And I also though
didn't ever have a plan for how I could ROI
(50:06):
That's what kind of held her back. So now that
she's like, now I know, I've a year in the
club when I finished in the ninety days, then she's
she's like, but I also need to make good on
that for myself, like I need to do the work.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yeah, And having that support and having other people around,
I think it does help. And a lot of us entrepreneurs,
a lot of us are very either you know, if
we're working on a story that's just ours or we're
self employeed, like we're kind of going about things on
our own sometimes.
Speaker 5 (50:28):
So it does help to have those experts to.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Pull in those even if it's just people who also
support what you're doing because they might not be in
the room next to you, might.
Speaker 5 (50:39):
Not be Why are you telling the story? Why are
you saying all this stuff? Is this gonna mburse me?
Is this gonna embarrass everybody?
Speaker 1 (50:44):
Right?
Speaker 2 (50:44):
They might not be the people who are pushing you forward,
but somebody might find your boo kind of shelf someday
and change your life. So, Sarah, thank you so much
for joining me today on the show. How can people
find you if they want to live?
Speaker 3 (50:56):
Absolutely? DM me anytime. I'm so here as you can tell,
this is like my passion, and so anyone at Sarah
Canal and I'm without an h so it's saar a
co n n e l. On Instagram is a great
way DM me there and our YouTube channels just at
thought Leader Media. So we have tons of resources, free trainings,
the brain science stuff. You can access all of that there.
Speaker 5 (51:19):
And can people find your book there as well?
Speaker 3 (51:21):
Absolutely all the books? Yeah, yeah, find her book.
Speaker 5 (51:24):
I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
I'm going to have to grab a copy of your
book because I did not know. That's how much money
women lost.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
Isn't that horrifying? And it has the story of twenty
five other self made woman millionaires during the pandemic. So
it's my system of how I went from struggling to
make twenty k year to making multiple seven figures a year,
but then also twenty five other stories because I wanted
different voices, you know, people back to look different than me,
different backgrounds.
Speaker 5 (51:46):
Yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 2 (51:48):
Thank you so much Sarah for joining me, and thank
you everyone for listening. If you're looking to pick up
a copy of Demystifying Money or catch up on any
old episodes of podcasts, please head over to mis dy
Lynch dot com. I would love to hear more of
you there and have you catch up on some episodes.
This is such a great topic and I want to
see more writers. I want to see more authors. I
want to see more original, independent.
Speaker 5 (52:08):
Thought out there.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
You really don't know who's waiting to hear your story,
and I think a lot of you have those stories
in your life that can help others. Thank you for
sharing your story today, Sarah, and thank you all for listening,
and we'll talk again soon. Thank you for joining us
on another insightful episode of demonst Buying Money.
Speaker 5 (52:28):
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave
a review.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
Stay tuned for more engaging conversations on our next episode,
and remember knowledge is the key to financial empowerment.
Welcome to the Demistifying Money Podcast, where each week you
will hear unforgettable conversations with expert guests about success, money, business,
and small steps you can take to elevate your life
and wealth. Now here's your host, Misty Lynch.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi, everyone, thank you so much for joining me for
the Demistifying Money Podcast. I'm your host, Misty Lynch, and
today I'm joined by Sarah Kanel. She's the founder of
the Thought Leader Academy and she's a best selling author,
ted X speaker and transformational coach that helps coaches, writers
and entrepreneurs become best selling authors and in demand thought leaders. Sarah,
(00:37):
thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
This episode of Demistifying Money with Misty Lynch is proudly
sponsored by Soundview Financial Advisors. Visit www dot Soundview Financial
Advisors dot com to learn more.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
So, Sarah, you have You've been featured in over Winfrey
Shout Good Morning America for.
Speaker 5 (01:02):
So all over the plate and really I'd love to
know how did you get into.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
This line of work where you're helping other people become
more visible?
Speaker 5 (01:13):
What made you want to go do that and how
did you find so much success in this space.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Well, it's so funny because certainly it wasn't in career
day growing up that there was an option even for
coaching if you're as old as I am, right and
or certainly not thought leader or you know, author was
something I did always want to be, and I was
the kid, you know, I loved reading books, and I
loved journaling and all the things. But I understood by
(01:41):
watching movies and reading books that the way you knew
you were allowed to be a writer was that a
teacher would take you aside and tell you're special, because
that's what happened in all the movies in the books
about kids that became writers. And then when that didn't happen,
I didn't know I did this, but internally, subconsciously I said, oh,
I'm not good enough, like I'm not a loud because
I didn't get that benediction that you know that whatever.
(02:04):
And I don't know if anyone listening has ever realized
you've done this, that you gave the power of someone
else to decide if you're worthy of a dream. And
it's it's so backwards, because our desire and our calling
to something is the sign, in my opinion, you know, like,
after coaching people for twenty years and being on this sturt,
it's that is the sign that you're good enough, that
(02:27):
you're capable, that you're worthy, that you're allowed the fact
that you have Because not everyone has our desires. They
really don't. We think, oh, everyone wants to know. They don't.
My sister's a medical doctor and she would rather do
anything than write a book. I mean, she thinks it
sounds horrible, and I think taking a medical board exam
sounds just absolutely traumatic. And so we're so good that
(02:48):
we're doing what we're here to do, So that's part.
So I had this idea that that's how it had happened.
It didn't happen, and so I went and took a
job after university at an advertising agency. So I thought
it's a creative adjacent, you know whatever. And unfortunately it
was at the height of the me too era, and
it was really abusive and traumatic and all kinds of
awful things for not just me, obviously, many was the
(03:10):
whole culture of that type of behavior, and I was
feeling like I was spiraling into a really dangerous place
mental health wise, physical health wise. I developed a really
serious eating disorder. Kind of to cope with the trauma
of this environment. And I was traveling back from Boston
to Chicago, where I lived one day and they're calling
(03:32):
my flight at Logan Airport and I don't have any time.
But I see a bookstore and all I wanted was
just like books. I get that's like church to me,
you know, it's just like, oh, books are my guides,
my friends, my escape, whatever. So I randomly grabbed a book.
It was called Holy Hunger. I'd never heard of the author.
She's not famous, a woman named Margaret Bullet Jonas. I
read the whole book that night on the plane in
(03:54):
the taxi, stayed up all night crying, ugly crying. You know,
I'm holding this like snotted wet book at the end
of the night. And this woman's story was very different
than mine, but she did share, you know, how she
got into this really dangerous physical and mental health space
like I had with this eating disorder, and she shared
(04:14):
how she got well. And at the end of that book,
I said, that's it. Even if I'm on the street,
even if i'm because I was a single woman supporting myself,
I was twenty, you know, three years old, and I
said even if I'm on the street and never do
anything with my Like I'm leaving this job and I'm
going to go get get help. I'm going to get well.
And so I credit that book is saving my life. Wow,
(04:36):
saved my life. And so what happened then is that
thankfully I did get better and I decided, well, if
this is my bottom anyway, I'm just going to write
because it's what I always want to do. And so
I had the gift not overnight, but of working my
way up to getting an agent and getting on Oprah
and the New York Times and you know, these amazing
things with my first book got to happen. And I
(04:58):
made a vow that I was going to and the
rest of my life paying that gift forward like that
that I was going to be the space where other
incredible experts, entrepreneurs, executives, people that are working in their
ecosystem and doing this amazing work get to be in
the Airport bookstore on someone's darkest day through a book,
(05:20):
or on a stage or on the Techech's red carpet
or whatever it is. That was what I was going
to devote the rest of my life too. And that's
what I've done, and it's been the most incredible privilege
and honor of my life.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
That's amazing, and thank you so much for sharing that,
because I think that some of us think, like you said,
that somebody comes and tells you, yes, you should be
an author, you or a grief and I think that
there's you know, there's a lot of people that are
waiting for that permission or that you know that somebody
else saying yeah, you're good enough to do this, which
holds people back because I I don't think that there's
(05:54):
really anybody out there was necessarily going to know better
than you what.
Speaker 5 (06:00):
Is that you should be doing or what you want
to do.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
But I think that there is kind of this illusion
that like writing a book or something like, you have
to be at a certain level, you have to have
certain I know, I thought you had to have certain
credentials or designations or all of these things before it
would be okay for people to listen to your opinion
or to take you seriously. And so now that there
(06:23):
are so many platforms, there's so many ways for people to,
you know, to express themselves.
Speaker 5 (06:30):
I'm just curious, you know, what, what do you.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Think you know for somebody listening who maybe feels like they.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
Have a story inside or a book inside.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Them, or they have, you know, things that they've learned
that they'd like to share, or maybe they just want
to entertain.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
What are some of your thoughts for people who really
just have no idea where you would even start for that.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Yes, so it's funny. The New York Times came out
with this article a number of years ago that said
two hundred million people in America alone say I want
to write a book. So it is a thing that
like a lot of people feel like, oh, that would
be so cool. And there's a difference to me between
those of us that, you know, the people that are
at the you know, wine party, being like I'd love
to write a book, versus people that know they have
(07:11):
a book in them, like and all of you listening, No,
like Missy, you knew some part of you knew. It's
like there's a book I meant to write, or there's
a book in me. So if you're in that camp, right,
anyone who has the I know there's a book in me,
or people keep saying you should write a book about that,
and and that excites you. Not like my sister you
know it makes you feel like right, but if it
(07:33):
excites you, then it's like, well, what do we do
with that?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Because what book? And what kind of book? And so
I have a whole methodology because this is what stops
so many of us, because we get overwhelmed at even
the idea of what would the book be, what would
go in it? Then? Let alone who reads it? How
do we get it published? How do we make money from?
You know, all those questions emerge before we've left the
starting date, right, like we just and we usually talk
ourselves out of doing it. So what I love to do?
(07:58):
Just and maybe we could just do this love This
takes like two minutes, but a really kind of neat
exercise is to take five minutes and any of you can,
you know, pause the recording of this and do it
and just write down all if you were going to
do a book, So you play the game. We're very
neuroscience based at our coaching company. So it's a meta
question in your brain and you say, if I were
(08:19):
going to do a book, what would I do a
book about? And you just write down every A memoir
about my family's immigration to Canada, a cookbook about this
a book about my business, you know, a sci fi romance,
I don't know whatever. You just write all the ideas.
It's called the whiteboard. Just put them all down, piece
of paper, type it out, and then the magic question
(08:43):
for me and when I'm coaching people, is what is
your number one priority in the next twelve months, From
like a professional perspective, So if that is revenue generation
for example, like you want to scale your business and
increase sales, you would look at all the book ideas
you just wrote down and you'd ask yourself, which of these,
(09:05):
based on what I know, would most likely result in
more revenue generation. Because your passion project about your family
and that's unless you do genealogy or you know, member
like is probably not a lead generator, a client attractor,
a magnet. There's sort of seven doors that books open,
you know, revenue generation, strategic partnerships, speaking engagements, attracting dream clients,
(09:30):
book sales, and there's there's these doors that writing a
book opens for us as experts and business people. So
which of those books lines up with your top priority?
And it usually becomes very very clear which one of
those is the front runner? Right then at that point, okay,
then how do I construct a book? Outline a book.
(09:52):
I mean, we could talk all day and I won't
go into all of that nuance, but even just getting
your idea, and then what we want to do is
feed it throughout this Ven diagram, which basically is like, Okay,
our passion, like I really want to write this book. Yay,
that needs to be there, because passion is contagious in
a good way. But then how is it helping someone
(10:13):
solve a problem or achieve a dream. It's like the
next sort of circle in that Ven diagram, because any
great book, talk, YouTube, video, course, business offer is going
to help people overcome a challenge or achieve a dream
in some way a piece of those things. And then
the piece that gets ignored so much is the third
circle in the Ven diagram, which is what's urgent about
(10:35):
this now, because that's what's going to make your book viral,
that's going to make your book something that's going to
get you on the media, that someone that's going to
get you on all the podcasts, something that like what's
now we all have evergreen topics, making money, being a
good parent, helping people at their health, Like hopefully we're
all going to you know, we are as humans going
(10:56):
to care about these things all the time, but there's
usually something going on in the world that makes it
extra important for what we're all focusing on now. Like
why is when I wrote The Science of Getting Rich
for Women a couple of years ago, it was because
I read the study that women had lost eight hundred
billion dollars in the pandemic and I was so outraged
and upset. It's like, already we have pay gaps and
(11:19):
confidence gaps, and now we're taking this hit. And that
book was my friend said, what are you going to
do about it? You're sitting here bitching about it, Like
what are you actually going to do? And I said, okay,
So could I be a tiny piece of a women's
economic comeback? And that was you know, And so why
was that urgent and relevant now for women to welth build? Well,
(11:39):
it's always important, I believe, and it was extra important
because it just like an eight hundred billion dollar global hit.
So that then diagram helps us, so that that's what
lands books in the bestseller zone, because best seller is
just simply enough people, it's volume. It's just that many
people saying we got to do this. As the book club.
You've got to read this. You know, we've all had
people come at us. You've got to read this book.
(12:02):
And so that's where I would start with everybody. You know,
what are all the ideas, what's your most important objective
for the year, which one lines up? And then put
it through that litmus test of those three circles to
ensure that's how you're going to set your book up
for success from the beginning.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I love that because I think there are certain things
that maybe we're only focused on one of those circles,
Like maybe we're only thinking about like our goal is
to get more clients, or our goal is to get there,
but we're not really thinking about like well, like we're
just looking at what has gotten other people on TV,
what has gotten other people here, and kind of backing
into well, then I guess I'll just write about that,
(12:40):
or I can't write about.
Speaker 5 (12:41):
That because somebody already did.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
And I think a lot of times our brains are
trying to keep us small and exactly where we are.
So I think if you're putting these out on paper,
you know, some people might get to that step of
writing out all those things that they're passionate about and
then be like, no one's gonna read this, no no, no, no,
no no no. So I love that you're wishing it
back to next step, next step, to kind of keep
(13:03):
that going because we can be very critical, and I
think that there's something about writing a book that is
very like the book you read in the You know,
I'm sure that that author that wrote the book that
you read in the airport probably hesitated about telling that
story a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
For sure, Cuz it's usually today it's so personal. What
will my family think? What will my you know, boyfriend
from third grade that sees this on face? But you know,
all this stuff comes up. Then imposter syndrome. I'm not
a celebrity who you know, I don't have a million
initials after my name. I don't I didn't go to call.
(13:41):
I mean, people have all this stuff and we talk
ourselves out. So we'ren't not the best judge you know of.
And that's why we think of the book as a
love letter to your person that you're here to serve.
What is the dream you're helping them achieve, the challenge
you're helping them overcome. Then it's not about am I worthy?
Am I capable? Did my eighth grade English teachers say,
(14:02):
a good writer who cares not important, right, Yeah, And.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
That's just it's just a tricky thing.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
But I do think that's a massive number of people
that have expressed that goal in this country. So I
think that's such a great way to start to think
about it. And also, yes, if you're passionate about something
and you just want to write it and you don't
care about being on a best like you just want
to get that story out, fantastic, you know, but you
have to really do make sure that everything aligns because
it is a it is a big effort, it is
(14:31):
a big undertaking, and there's expenses and costs involved too,
just like anything else that you want to do.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
So I'm curious. You know, you help, you know.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
You help people get to that next level, you help
them get high profile speaking gigs, you help them get,
you know, on big stages. I'm curious, though, from the
person that starts out to that, what's the biggest mindset
shift that you see with those people, because I feel
like they're no different than people listening here who've not
gotten there.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
Yet thinking about it, But what are you seeing change?
Speaker 3 (15:04):
Yeah, it's such a great question. Because we look at
the Brene Browns and the Mel Robbins and the Oprah's
and the Marie folios and Gabby Bernstein and whoever it
is that you're Glennon Doyle, these these mega thought leaders
that have inspired so many and sold millions of books.
Elizabeth Gilbert right, And it feels like the Grand Canyon
(15:25):
sized chasm between right, like where we are and someone
at that level. And yet what everyone forgets. So a
mindset shift two that I'll offer one is to focus
on the climb versus comparing yourself to the summit. So
I really like this for this helped me a ton
(15:46):
and still does because we often see the summit, which
is global thought leader. You're known by one name, Brene, Oprah, Gabby, right, Mel,
And that's iconic status that those those thought leaders have achieved.
So we're seeing the summit icon right, But every one
of them made different base camps, right, So what I
(16:09):
really like doing is saying, oh, let's reverse engineer what
were some of those earlier base camps, because it just
seems like such a swing and so impossible to go
from like I'm me with five people on social media
to that and we don't We're not going to make
that in one jump, right, So what I love doing
is reading some of the early stories of some of
(16:29):
these people. You know, Brene Brown was told no by
every publisher, self published her book and printed it herself
and sold it out of the back of her car
at lectures. I mean, this is not a glamorous beginning, right,
It's not. And so I think that the first mindset
shift is to focus on the early moves of these
(16:50):
and you can find them out by listening. These people
all have podcasts, they've all written books, they share their story,
so this isn't hard to find. A hell now we
talk chat GPT, I'm sure tell me the moves mel
Robbins made when she was unknown? What were the first
five things? You pick your person, you know, whoever your
person is that you admire and want to emulate in
your career. Then the other mindset shift is, and I
(17:12):
really believe this is true, that your desire to write
that book or speak on that stage is not random.
It's not something that just happened by coincidence. There is
a call and response, So to start thinking about the
people that need the message, only you can share that
woman Margaret bullet. Jonas is not famous, she's not a
(17:34):
household name. And because she wrote her story, I didn't die.
I mean, that's how serious I take that. That's the power.
This is just some person who decided I'm going to
share this story that's vulnerable and whatever, and she's saved lives.
I'm sure it wasn't just mine. So what's so cool
about it is to think about the service piece. I
(17:55):
think that's the mindset shift. If you have the calling,
it's the sign that people maybe full of people, maybe hundreds,
maybe thousands, maybe millions, are calling forth that message and
the whole other people have written about it. Yeah, that's
called validation of concept. That's what I liked to is
what I like to do with myself and my clients. Like,
(18:15):
if people have written a bunch of books on your topic,
that means good, that means there's an appetite. And I
bet we have all had an experience where you know,
someone told, oh, you got to read this, and we
read it and just nothing, It's just we're cold. And
then you have someone who essentially says the same thing
in another book and oh my gosh, like lightning bolts
(18:38):
and rape. So just to give a concrete example of this,
because it really helped me get over that. It was
a huge called Gremlins, you know, inner critic that I
had because like, there's so many books, what am I
going to possibly add? So there's a book called A
Course of Miracles if people have heard of it, that
came out I don't know, like the seventies or eighties.
Essentially it's a very dense, like spiritual text, right, that
(18:58):
book came out maybe huge impact, like for people all
over the world that still use it. And then years later,
Marian Williamson comes along and she discovers this book and
she writes a book about her experience of the book,
A Course in Miracles. It's called A Return to Left.
It spent I think years on the New York Times
bestseller list. It was a massive book. Okay, So that's
someone writing about a book that already exists and their
(19:20):
experience of that book. And then you think that move
could not be done again. And then a number of
years later, Gabby Bernstein writes a book about her experience
of the Course of Miracles called May Cause Miracles. So
now we have another book that is on the New
York Times bestseller list. For I'm sure over a year,
(19:42):
all about a book that already was written about and
had already been I mean, this is like these are
New York Times bestsellers, selling millions of copies and making
those women absolute again, like iconic status as thought leaders
writing a book about another book. So it is okay
as long as you're bringing your own. I don't really
(20:03):
like the original Course in Miracles. I don't. I didn't
resonate with it. I really really like Gabby Bernstein's book
May Cause Miracles. I really got a lot out of
that book. I'm glad she didn't talk herself out just
because Mary and Williamson had already written it and the
Course of Miracles already existed. She did it anyway.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
And it's curious though, with your with that whole line
of you know, writing this book book and then even
now with you know.
Speaker 3 (20:26):
With chat GPT, I mean, I wrote my book without it,
and you can't. By the way, just so anyone listening,
you cannot actually publish a book that you that chat
EPT wrote. You have to sign legal waivers that any
publisher or articles you actually it's not you, you will
not they flag they have screening software. So I just
want everyone to understand, like I don't I help. I
(20:47):
like strategizing. What are some ideas for emails that I
can write. I use chat GPT for all kinds. Send
me a pep talk. I feel down today. I love it. Okay,
I don't let it write a word of any of
my actual books and articles.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
Because you have to have your take right.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
There has to be something authentic in yours and genuine
because I do feel like, yes, there is this potential
to kind of cling, like get on a trend or
do something that you're seeing out there.
Speaker 5 (21:15):
And so I think when.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
We think about you know, Mary Williams and Kaby Bernstein,
like they're taking that in like their personal experience is
what resonates with a different reader, not just the first
original correct. So I think that that's something that maybe
a lot of people who are talking themselves out of
(21:36):
certain things or books, somebody already did this. I'm just
gonna like, is it too close to what somebody else
already has done? But where like that's that part that
has to be that authentic piece that can't be copied.
It can't write your story if it's.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Your story, your experiences. But I also would take it
a step for think for those of us that want
to be in the thought leader space, it's it's actually
it is your personal stories that will differentiate it, of course,
but it's also bringing something new to the conversation in
a return to love and in may cause miracles and
though just to use that example, because it was it
was so starkly like linear, you know, taking taking their
(22:16):
original work. But those authors brought new concepts, they brought
new techniques, They taught new ways of you know, connecting
with miracles and and if they just did a book
about I did the Course of Miracles and here are
my thoughts. I mean that that could be a YouTube video,
not a not a book. But they brought something new,
they evolved the movement. Yeah, and that is what we're
(22:40):
really going for in a thought leader book.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I want to talk about the term thought leader for
a moment. I think it might be, you know, maybe
something that people don't like anymore, or they think about
LinkedIn's little crazy little cartoon that says thought leader, you know,
and it doesn't seem like serious.
Speaker 5 (22:59):
It's it's kind of like.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
A term that I think has some credibility and some issues.
What are your thoughts because I do feel like there is,
you know, there's a genuine need for thought leadership in
a lot of different areas of so many different areas
in the in the work that people do, in parenting
and health and finance, all over the place. But what
(23:22):
are your thoughts on the word itself and what's happening
with it?
Speaker 3 (23:25):
Oh yeah, well this is of course, since I have
a company called thought Leader Media and thought Leader Cats.
It's very much I'm in heated debates, I would say,
with many different you know, people in the industry about this,
and we all have our own definitions. So, for instance,
one colleague of mine who he says a person should
never call himself a thought leader. You know, someone else
needs to refer to you as a thought leader, which
(23:45):
I feel is a very patriarchal idea. And back to
that whole thing of like other people getting to decide
so that one doesn't fit for me. Then someone else
talked about, you know, here's the criteria of a thought leader,
and you know your influence, So here's how I define it.
I define thought leader as first and foremost that we
must lead our own thoughts. And that's where you were
talking about the inner voice are there. Are we leading
(24:09):
our own thoughts from a place of positivity, a place
of innovation, a place of creativity, or are we in
a loop with our own kind of negative, limiting thinking.
That's already a piece of thought leadership in my opinion,
because we need to empower and authorize ourselves to think differently. Right,
we're leading our own thoughts first, then we've got something
(24:31):
cool to say, you know, to and share with other people.
I think this is where the AI discussion is so important.
If someone is not willing to do original thinking, then
to me, that is someone is not choosing to be
a thought leader. It's no judgment, it's just like that
is not thought leadership. To pull something. The AI at
(24:52):
this stage can only drop from what's already been created
and leadership. Right, you're leading something new and different in
my opinions, So it's leading our own thoughts in positive
life affirming, you know, creative, expanding ways, and then bringing
something new to the conversation and being willing to do
the deeper thinking work, right like Einstein would have his
(25:14):
daydream time and people talk about white space time. And
we're horrible at this in our culture right now. Absolutely
the worst because we're you know, addicted to our phones
and we're you know whatever. So the real danger if
you're outsourcing your critical thinking and creative thinking to AI
is that very quickly all that will be pulling, it's
(25:35):
all going to, you know, just be a very common
denominator kind of thing. So I think that's someone who's
opting out of thought leadership. If you're opting into thought leadership,
you're digging deep and it's messy. You might have whole
blocks of time where you feel like I just sat
there and explored something and it didn't go anywhere. Great, congratulations,
that's thought. You know, you're willing to bring something completely
(25:56):
unique in your point of view and a new way.
So you think about you know, Marie Condo sparking joy. Right,
there's a million books on organization, million books, but that
created a movement, right the four hour work week, Tim Ferris,
the tipping point, Malcolm Gladwell, like these are, this is
thought leadership people are and in many cases they were
pulling from Like Malcolm Gladwell pulls from academic studies, but
(26:19):
he's willing to go in dig through these. I'm writing,
I'm writing a new book right now and just the
level of pain that it takes to get to the
actual study because you're getting abstracts online and then having
to pay. I mean it's like, oh my god, is
I'm doing a lot of peer reviewed you know, research
to back up the stuff in the new book. And
so it's a thing he's willing to do that work
for us and then bring us these cool nuggets and
(26:42):
these paradigms. So to me, that's that leadership. You're bringing
something new, a cool twist, your take on something that's
important to people, and you're leading with a life affirming
innovative you know. And it's going to become a absolute
week from chat next few years because so many people
(27:03):
will just opt for convenience because it is easier. It's
absolutely easier. They did a study at MIT recently and
they gave three sets of college or people kids getting
ready to enroll in apply to colleges. And they took
one group and said here's the essay topic. They're just
in a room free writing the essay. The second group
(27:23):
could use Google Search to find data or back up
their points just Internet search, and the third group could
use AI if they wanted to to write some or
all of the essays. So the first group writes the essay,
the second group uses Google whatever. The third group, every
single one of them opted to have AI write the
essay for them. And they sucked right because even though
(27:46):
they were well written, and even though they gave it
good prompts, and even though they did all the things,
it was and the uncanny creepy part of the study
is that they were all almost identical. They all ended
up kind of saying the same things. Well, that's what
the right now at least that's what the AI can do.
And so but the the problem is even less that
(28:09):
the essay wasn't great. It was that everyone opted for
the easy way out.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
And if everyone, if all of them had the same option,
how many more would have I mean it.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
Does they let all the kids say, hey, you can
choose on your own with Google or AI, you know,
and because who wants to write a college es say,
it's a pain in the butt, you know, no one
enjoys that. But if we atrophy, it's a user or
lose it. And I think that's true for our creativity,
which to me thought leadership is creative thinking. Whether you're
in the sciences or you're in you know, you know,
(28:41):
what's considered a more creative field. Everyone's creative and creativity
is needed in every field. And so that's kind of
where I think it's going to be more important than
ever for those who feel called to thought leadership and
are willing to do the work to really watch what
we're delegating because there's a price. And I'm all for it,
Like I use, I am on chat ept every day
(29:03):
for multiple things. But it's what are we delegating?
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Yeah, no, And I think it's unfortunately, and we do
tend to be delegating the creative piece, the very you know,
the interesting part. And I mean, if I could have
it do like clean my house all the things I
don't want to do, Like, it's it's just unfortunate because
I'm seeing some people in creative fields feeling the kind
of squeeze there as far as their jobs and things
(29:27):
like that being replaced, and so it is kind of
a it's a I think it's such an interesting topic
and I think it's something I fear as a mom.
Sometimes I'll tell my kids I want them to like
create more than they're consuming, and like if it's drawing
or doing something else, because it's.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
So much easier.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
To scroll, and so I think that's something that you
kind of almost have to fight against. And I think
there are people listening. I think there's people who have
ideas that need to get out there. However that medium
seems to be, whether it's books or or stages or
anywhere else. But I wanted to talk because this is
another part that a I can't do. But you talk
(30:05):
in your work about storytelling and how that's a really
powerful business tool. And I think a lot of times
when I started out, you know, I didn't think people
would necessarily want to hear my story. I thought my
story would be kind of.
Speaker 5 (30:18):
Negative.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
First of all, like most of the financial advisors are
like older white males, and like I did not have money,
you know, or come from you know. And so I
was like, Okay, I have to try to be more
like them in every way possible, which would mean like
not telling stories, maybe learning how to golf, learning how
to you know, hold my liquor all of those things
that do not help me very much at all. And
(30:43):
so but I think that having a story is something
that is so helpful, but it can be really scary.
So how do you help people like learn how to
tell a story well and also how to not be afraid.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
To share it. Such an important and awesome question, right,
because there's the craft of shaping a story and sharing it,
and then there's the courage to tell the story in
the first place. And even so you're talking about the
really important piece. So again, I think we can answer
this similarly to when we talked about the book, because
(31:22):
for me, the only thing that will give me the
courage is to be of service to someone else. If
it's just for me, there's no way I'm doing it right.
It's too big a risk, it's too uncomfortable, the potential
for criticism. We're scared of visibility and judgment, and for
good reason. You know, we see people get attacked. Maybe
we've been attacked in the past. I call it business PTSD.
(31:42):
You know we might have had those you know, visibility PTSD,
that kind of thing. So I think the first piece
is to think about, if you like, who needs to
hear your story when? For you, Missy. I don't know
if this is true, but I would imagine my friends
that are in the financial space getting to see other
women who didn't come from money, who aren't male, who
(32:03):
don't want to go play golf necessarily unless that's what
they love. They don't want to play the boys club
game and go drink whiskey and smoke the gar whatever,
just to be cliched, although in my advertising agency, those
little hundred percent of this was definitely the culture and
worse right. So so having a woman show up and
say I'm a powerful, effective, top world class financial advisor
(32:29):
and I look like this and I come from this,
I'm guessing there are hundreds of thousands of young girls
and women around the world that that would be so
empowered hearing that story, and yet it feels so scary
because then all the guys might say shut up, or
we don't want to hear from you, or that's not
I don't know if you follow Cody Sanchez, but you
know her story is about working at like oldman Sax
(32:50):
wherever she was cracked me up all the time because
she talks about like you imagine, like they get me.
I'm like, whoo, you know, I just And so it
is uncomfortable to be different and be a disruptor in
that way, even by your own presence and not fitting in.
So I think that the courage for me at least
always comes from you know, that woman who wrote the
(33:10):
book in the bookstore. It's like, who needs to hear
this story and can identify? Because there is research this
is I mean, I'm a science backed girl, So there
is research. People will not take a risk to achieve
something unless they see people who look like them, who
come from where they've come from, who have similarities to them.
(33:34):
It is proven in schools. That's why diversity is so
important in leadership and in companies. It is so important
that we do share. Especially the things we think, you know,
are maybe the things we don't want to highlight, right
like about our background or some kind of shame. Those
are usually the things that other people feel that around
(33:54):
and will absolutely set everybody free. And so I think
part of it is just the who needs to hear this?
How would I have felt if someone had been this
person for me, you know, when I was younger? How
would that for Missy?
Speaker 1 (34:08):
For you?
Speaker 3 (34:09):
Like if if if a woman who didn't come from
money was talking about, you know, being in the financial
advising world, would that have been helpful?
Speaker 5 (34:16):
Yeah, it's definitely.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
And I remember seeing like a story I think it
was about Susie Orman, about like how she waited tables
at one point and was like, you know kind of
and I you can identify, I can identify I waited
tables far I did these these skills that I felt like,
these are really helpful when it comes to talking to
people and and really like and yes, it's not like
(34:39):
having an internship at Golden Sacks.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
However, I can talk to anybody.
Speaker 3 (34:45):
And do you see the video that we would all
click on if you're like, how would I learned as
a bartender has helped me more than what my internship
at Golden Sacks? Like I would click on that video.
Everyone would watch.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
That, and I remember, like she's on stage talking about
retirement to all these everyone's listening. Everone's listening, getting information
about trust, all this important information. But I was like,
how did she get there? And it did require doing
some background research because I didn't know how to go,
how to get from here to there, but somebody else
(35:18):
had done it. And so instead of thinking like it's impossible,
it's like, what did she? You just get curious sometimes
what did she do?
Speaker 5 (35:27):
Yes, Okay, this is what she did, this is what
didn't work out, this is what she did.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Then this marriage didn't work out. All these things didn't
work out, and people are sharing. Like you said earlier,
it's not like all this information is hidden anymore. Like
everybody's kind of an open book going on these you know, interviews.
It's not just like one night on you know, Jala
announced it and then the movies out of the books.
Speaker 5 (35:48):
Out like they're everywhere. People are everywhere and.
Speaker 3 (35:52):
Have access to all of it. It is the best
like to find the whole success leaves technique, which I love.
I love that miss you did the digging and like
what's what were suz Worsman's moves and and so here's
another piece if people just want a financial motivation because
we're talking about you know, I love this because we
get to talk about money here. So here's the deal.
(36:14):
For a long time, this is just the way I
kind of look at the marketplace, you know, of buyers,
of people investing in coaches or mentors or programs or
whatever it is. So for a long time we were
in like a results based economy. Right, it's just kind
of what's the thing that I want to learn how
to do or the goal I want to achieve, and
I'll just take the course, right, and then we were
in like the Simon sink era of his TED talk
(36:37):
about the people don't buy what you do, they buy
why you do it, and so there was sort of
this like mission element and all of that. And now
we're in people are calling it a trust recession, which
I think is accurate, and we're in a more mature
online market, and we are now. If if Simon Sinek
was doing that, if someone asked me to give a
(36:58):
TED talk on like what's needed now, what's motivating buyers?
I believe it's a who economy. It's a trust economy,
which means this is why story is so important. I'm
tying it back to that, because the story people now
don't necessarily only buy what you do or why you
do it. They by who they are going to be
(37:18):
in relationship with, even in a book, even in a
low ticket thing, even and certainly and then a mentorship
or coaching or something like that. So that the only
way someone can know who we are is really through
our stories, because otherwise, like okay, I went to Northwestern
and I learned this, you went to where It's like okay,
(37:39):
but that doesn't tell me anything about who you are.
It tells me predessionals. You have bio where it's like okay, okay.
Speaker 5 (37:45):
Got a degree, like you meet the minimum qualifications.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
Yes, stories about your values, your judgments, your pet peeves,
your your passions, your obsessions, your unique way of looking
that you're a human being. And you mentioned you're a
mother and a mother. Know, it's like that's the stuff
that is moving people to make an investment right now
in twenty twenty five, and I think that will continue
(38:10):
for some time. And so the story becomes everything.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Yeah, what happens when the story And I've seen this
before when I've been to some conferences or some places
where I hear somebody speaking or and it feels like
a little too emotional, a little too fresh, versus helpful
to me where there's like some discomfort. Maybe, how do
(38:36):
you balance that strategic side for an entrepreneur trying to
share their story versus somebody who's really like maybe still
going through it, yeah, and just wants to share their
frustrations with their ex or their pain from this to
a point where it feels it feels awkward?
Speaker 5 (38:53):
How do you help people kind of balance the time.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
We do a lot of work on this in Thought
Leader Media because here's the thing again, back to service.
It's all about your audience, and so what probably happened
there is someone had not done their work, they haven't processed,
they have enough distance. So the idea is share your message,
not your mess, is kind of an idea, and I
(39:16):
think that's a good litmus test of there's times when
I'm still in something and I'm not in a place
like write a talk about it or write a book
about it. I don't mean we have to be fully
healed and in some kind of perfectionism around things, but
I think so I was at an event this year
and someone did this what you're talking about, and I
did not purchase and take a next step. And that
(39:38):
was the reason. Why is because it felt like the
mess versus the message. And there's nothing against being in
the middle, like taking someone on a journey is very
different than the mess. But I think checking our intentions
as well and how much of our own inner work
have we done around a ticular topic, right if it
(40:01):
is still so highly charged that we're and I have
cried on stage like sometimes sharing something like I have,
I have had emotion, and that's that's okay. I'm fine
with that. But there's a difference between like I'm in
it raw eating me up and I'm not. I don't
have Also, here's a great question to ask ourselves. Have
I gleaned the nugget and the gift from this yet
(40:24):
if it's more about I'm in the rage the problem,
Like a good rant can be fun for a video,
but if we were talking about a stage presentation like
this person that we're both talking about different people, but
you know that we witness this year, I don't recommend it.
I don't. First of all, it will repel buyers if
you're looking to attract, you know, if it's if it's
(40:45):
something you're selling at some point. And I also don't
know that it's self loving. Yeah, right, And and so
this is where sometimes I think people get into I'm
being real and being authentic and it is.
Speaker 5 (40:58):
Yeah, but we've.
Speaker 3 (41:00):
Got to understand the medium. That's for the therapist, office,
your group of friends, you know, whatever, it might be,
your coach, not necessarily for the stage and the book.
Until you are enough on the other side of something
to or at least have distance within to be witnessing
and pulling something in the journey, we can share. Journey
stories are great, but mess.
Speaker 5 (41:23):
Yeah, journal when you're in the mess, Yes, go bess.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
But I journal every day?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Yeah? Maybe, but yeah, And then you can kind of
go back and say, oh do I want to keep?
Speaker 5 (41:36):
What do I want to leave there? And never talk again.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
That's it. That's it. You'll you'll be glad your future self.
James clear always says, you know, every action we take
as a vote for our future self. I think the
future self will be happy that you decided to work
through that a little more.
Speaker 5 (41:49):
Yeah, I think so too.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
So I feel like we could continue talking, but I did.
I want to find out how how.
Speaker 5 (41:55):
Do you help people? Tell me more about the Thought
Leadership Academy. Who's it for?
Speaker 2 (42:00):
And you know a little bit more about what you
know kind of where you meet people, what they're you know,
where they're at in their process, and you know how
you can help them with these dreams.
Speaker 5 (42:10):
If this is a dream of.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Theirs, absolutely So. What I like to think about is
in the in the realm of thought leadership, right, I
like thinking about three three core components right speak scale
and we could say right speaks cell as well, you know, right,
So what we love to do, as I said, back
(42:31):
to the bookstore in the Boston Airport. My mission in
life is to make sure that any individual who has
a methodology, a paradigm shift, the thought leadership, the idea
of the story that they know more people than their
ecosystem currently you know, knows about needs to get that
message out in the world. Then my mission is to
make sure that you do that. Whether that's through writing
(42:53):
a book, whether that's through speaking on stages, TEDx, a
YouTube channel. The medium is whatever any individual to be
and feels excited. Most people that I work with are
all of the above, right, It's like all those So
my job, in our team's job is to draw forth
the movement that you're here to lead, and that movement
(43:13):
then gets people get invited into that movement through a
book and through speaking and through content creation, and that
you are now visible at I don't even say ten x,
like one hundred x multiple. I meet so many incredible
people that are doing such phenomenal work, and I think
a fraction of the people on this planet who know
about them need you know, the people that need to
(43:34):
only know about them. So that's our job. So we
help people basically say Okay, if you want to be
the go to person in your industry or you know,
get more known as a you know, industry leader and
scale your business. How do we want to do that
in a way that lights you up, Misty, that might
be different than lights someone else up, but through the
avenues of writing and speaking, and then we look at
monetizing the mission right and so people specifically work with
(43:58):
us in terms of thought leadership on we have a
ninety day bestseller, so it's like, stop thinking about doing
you know, two hundred million people want to write the book.
Let's get this done in three months, and we have
many many No, if you want to take six months,
it's totally fine, right, it's not school with like strict
but you know, we like the idea of that ninety
day bestseller in using that whole system to reverse engineer
again the right book for your desired outcomes, because I've
(44:21):
written the wrong book and then realized I did all
that work and it didn't get me anything that I
wanted because I didn't reverse engineer from the beginning. So
we do that from the beginning the ninety day bestseller
and then looking at our speaking strategies for great you
have a book, you have that credibility and authority because
people do choose authors eighty percent more to speak on podcasts,
in the media and stages than experts without a book.
(44:44):
So it really is a door opener that way. And
then what kind of speaking do you want a podcast tour?
Do you want to go on stages? Do you like
guest speaking in small groups? Like what's your speaking vision? Right?
And so we empower that speaking vision. And then in
our we made it fun at the club, the monetar
your book club because we don't want to feel hard
and heavy. But then how does that thought leadership your
(45:06):
books and speaking, how does that continue to make you
daily sales in your business? Because missy, you've done it.
I've done it. You do this book and after the
launch you don't know what to do with it. There's
no ROI. It's a real bummer. It's a real freaking bummer.
And so we wanted built books to make impact and
income for the rest of your career. And so that's
really our specialization. And we use brain science to do that. Identity, mindset,
(45:29):
subconscious work, tolign why are your brain for success as
a thought leader and then use writings, speaking and scaling
to really manifest your next level. Right again, we have
people doing extra six figures a year, seven figures a
year and beyond, because again, money matters, like we want
to have abundance for our families and our lives and
(45:50):
the causes we care about. So I'm really obsessed with
the monetization piece, and that's why we start at the
club because it's just too often the story is the
book and nothing happen.
Speaker 2 (46:01):
Yeah, nope, I think that that's definitely a familiar story.
But you know, there's some certain people like I'm somebody
who likes to set goals and check them off the list. Yes, However,
there's certain things like writing a book or something like that.
You know, I do think that there is another business
side of it that maybe isn't something that you know
as you're writing the book. I think it's it's definitely
(46:23):
a very important and helpful piece, and it is an investment.
So I'm curious would you be willing to share, like
how much of an investment would somebody in their business
or in their life be willing to should be open
to taking or expect if they're looking to add this
to be you know, the way that they start to
get more visibility for themselves in their career.
Speaker 3 (46:40):
Absolutely, So the way we do it in our current
this is really like new in the way because we've
really been doing a lot of like talking to our
clients and people. It just you have books. So we're
doing a new thing right now where because it used
to be in our programs it was you know, seventeen
thousand dollars for a year, and you have to do
all these different components. So we've actually pulled them out
just to let people know industry standard because I've been
researching this very deeply. So our ninety day bestseller where
(47:04):
you get your private book coach and editor, you have
your book fully edited, you have our whole system just
as an example, very robust sort of container. So that's
like market value, Like what people charge for that is
fifteen thousand and up. So we're doing it right now
just like because it's an insane year twenty twenty five.
If you're listening when this comes out, it's crazy. So
(47:25):
we're doing it for people, just at least for right now,
for six thousand, so that is like less than half
of sort of what so you're going to pay typically
more like fifteen plus, But we're doing it and breaking
it out for in our world right now for six
and then the really important piece is the club, which
then people they come in write their book in the
(47:47):
three months or six and then they get a year
in the Monetizer Book Club, and that we're doing same thing.
It's a five thousand dollars membership and we're doing it
for nine ninety seven, so just under one thousand dollars.
So the idea is you invest in our case, depending
on who you work with, but if you're in our world,
six thousand on the book now and then one thousand
(48:07):
essentially for the club. And the goal is that before
the book's even published, you've made back that money. That's
seven thousand dollars because we have our client's booking, paid
speaking engagements before the book's even done, like it's in publication.
They say, upcoming book, they can leverage that. That's what
we teach. That's back to right speak scale. So my
(48:28):
goal is always when I invest in something, I want
to make my money back immediately and then be in profit.
And so our goal is actually that's before the book's
even launched, or people that come to us just for
the club, you know, nine ninety seven for the year.
That's then you just hit the ground running and start
doing the strategies and your goals. I mean, you'll make
the thousand You should make the thousand dollars back in
(48:48):
the first month. And so my whole thing is, yes,
there's an investment to all these but how quickly am
I not only you know, equalizing, neutralizing, zero costs, zeroing
the investment, but then where am I? How quickly am
I in profit? So our goal is ninety days. You're in.
You know that that's the goal, because then you have fun.
(49:10):
Then it's just an asset that's making you money forever.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
And also, like for some of us out there, if
it's just our book in our head and no one's
telling us that it's due or this is the dodeline, Oh,
it could take forty years.
Speaker 3 (49:22):
Absolutely you won't do it. And that's why you do this.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
Container It can take ninety days, right, it can absolutely
take ninety Yes, people think that it's crazy, but I
think that time can collapse.
Speaker 5 (49:32):
There's so much you could get done.
Speaker 2 (49:33):
But I think a lot of times if somebody else
is going to talk to you, or your coach is
going to talk to you about that chapter, or you're
going to work through something together, things get done.
Speaker 5 (49:42):
I love it. And when people pay, they pay attention.
Speaker 3 (49:45):
So that's it. We got the money. It's like, well, okay,
now I really got a return on this. So we
just had someone enroll in the bundle, like they just
did the two together, and she said, it's so it's
so great. She said, I don't want to do this
for five years, but I know now like I have
to because I've paid the money. And I also though
didn't ever have a plan for how I could ROI
(50:06):
That's what kind of held her back. So now that
she's like, now I know, I've a year in the
club when I finished in the ninety days, then she's
she's like, but I also need to make good on
that for myself, like I need to do the work.
Speaker 2 (50:16):
Yeah, And having that support and having other people around,
I think it does help. And a lot of us entrepreneurs,
a lot of us are very either you know, if
we're working on a story that's just ours or we're
self employeed, like we're kind of going about things on
our own sometimes.
Speaker 5 (50:28):
So it does help to have those experts to.
Speaker 2 (50:30):
Pull in those even if it's just people who also
support what you're doing because they might not be in
the room next to you, might.
Speaker 5 (50:39):
Not be Why are you telling the story? Why are
you saying all this stuff? Is this gonna mburse me?
Is this gonna embarrass everybody?
Speaker 1 (50:44):
Right?
Speaker 2 (50:44):
They might not be the people who are pushing you forward,
but somebody might find your boo kind of shelf someday
and change your life. So, Sarah, thank you so much
for joining me today on the show. How can people
find you if they want to live?
Speaker 3 (50:56):
Absolutely? DM me anytime. I'm so here as you can tell,
this is like my passion, and so anyone at Sarah
Canal and I'm without an h so it's saar a
co n n e l. On Instagram is a great
way DM me there and our YouTube channels just at
thought Leader Media. So we have tons of resources, free trainings,
the brain science stuff. You can access all of that there.
Speaker 5 (51:19):
And can people find your book there as well?
Speaker 3 (51:21):
Absolutely all the books? Yeah, yeah, find her book.
Speaker 5 (51:24):
I'm curious.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
I'm going to have to grab a copy of your
book because I did not know. That's how much money
women lost.
Speaker 3 (51:30):
Isn't that horrifying? And it has the story of twenty
five other self made woman millionaires during the pandemic. So
it's my system of how I went from struggling to
make twenty k year to making multiple seven figures a year,
but then also twenty five other stories because I wanted
different voices, you know, people back to look different than me,
different backgrounds.
Speaker 5 (51:46):
Yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 2 (51:48):
Thank you so much Sarah for joining me, and thank
you everyone for listening. If you're looking to pick up
a copy of Demystifying Money or catch up on any
old episodes of podcasts, please head over to mis dy
Lynch dot com. I would love to hear more of
you there and have you catch up on some episodes.
This is such a great topic and I want to
see more writers. I want to see more authors. I
want to see more original, independent.
Speaker 5 (52:08):
Thought out there.
Speaker 2 (52:09):
You really don't know who's waiting to hear your story,
and I think a lot of you have those stories
in your life that can help others. Thank you for
sharing your story today, Sarah, and thank you all for listening,
and we'll talk again soon. Thank you for joining us
on another insightful episode of demonst Buying Money.
Speaker 5 (52:28):
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and leave
a review.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
Stay tuned for more engaging conversations on our next episode,
and remember knowledge is the key to financial empowerment.
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