February 20, 2025 • 23 mins
Is your book powerful enough to spark change? In this episode, we sit down with Mitch Francis, author of Badass Solutions, to explore how nonfiction authors can tackle tough topics and inspire real-world action.
Will your book change lives? Tune in to find out how you can make a lasting impact with your words.
Want a step-by-step roadmap to make your book a success? Grab my FREE Book Planning Guide! here:http://authornation.online/planning
Key Takeaways:
Will your book change lives? Tune in to find out how you can make a lasting impact with your words.
Want a step-by-step roadmap to make your book a success? Grab my FREE Book Planning Guide! here:http://authornation.online/planning
Key Takeaways:
- How to write about difficult and complex topics in an engaging way.
- The power of storytelling to drive change and connect with readers.
- Overcoming book marketing challenges to reach the right audience.
- Actionable steps to ensure your book makes a real difference.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to author and Nation Interviews. Today we are diving
into some solutions for problems that are tough to talk about,
and how to write about them is actually the topic
of the day. So I'm Melody and I'm your host.
This is Authoration Interviews, and we want you to be
(00:29):
able to write your own book that talks about things
that are hard to talk about. That's what we're going
to tackle today. So visit authoration dot online if you
want a treasure trove of resources to help you write
your book. And we're getting to it. So if you're
sitting your morning coffee or maybe driving home from work,
(00:50):
settle in. Let me introduce our guest, Mitt Francis. It
has an extensive forty year business background. He created and
has been the CEO of both publicly traded companies and
privately owned companies. He developed and continues to own and
manage commercial real estate through the United States, and in
(01:12):
twenty twenty four he launched a new book called bad
Ass Solutions. Let's welcome mit to Francis. Hey, Mitch, how
are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Great, Melanie, how are you I am?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm fabulous, you know what, I'm so excited to talk
about this because it's one of those books that it's like, wow,
that was that was daring. So I think it's a
very daring book. So I want the firstly, why a book?
Why not a podcast or this or that? Why a book?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's funny that you're asking that I had no intention
of writing a book. I actually had a family tragedy
about two and a half years ago. You may remember
there was a mass killing in a suburb of Cargo
during Fourth of July parade, and some crazed young man
with assault rifles killed seven people and wounded a lot more.
(02:09):
And one of the people that he killed was my
brother in law's brother. And yeah, thanks, and needless to say,
family was just devastated. I was. I was hurt by this.
I really like this guy, a fabulous guy. And I
left angry, and I got home and I looked around
(02:30):
and I said, you know, we've got all these really
big problems that nobody's doing anything about. And it kind
of kicked my ass. Actually melody that I kind of
took stock of myself, and I'm kind of the I'm
a kind of guy that I always like news, I
like current events, and I go, well, why don't they
(02:51):
just do that. I do that all the time. So
I just said, you know what, I've got ideas for
a lot of our problems. I'm just going to write
an out line. And I sat down and I wrote
an outline just over a couple of days, and I
ended up with twenty big ass problems that I had
at least the beginnings of really good solutions for. And
(03:16):
I went, this is crazy. This is a book. And
I went and I showed my wife and I said,
I think I'm actually going to write a book. And
that was two and a half years ago, and now
I have bad ass solutions.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, I love that I'm going to write a book.
What was her reaction?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
She said, oh, yeah, she said there's a book there.
She was very oh wonderful, Yeah, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
She wasn't like a book, what brilliant?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I don't think of anything that I do surprise her.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Actually, oh that's good. So you're I'm glad you said that,
like twenty big ass problems that you have, you know
at least a good beginning of a solution. So I'm
gonna ask you, like, I know it's about lots of
different problems, but really, if you think about like that,
(04:07):
that core of your book. What is the book about?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's really it's a very optimistic book. You know, many
many books that talk about, you know, the problems of
the day dive real deeply into the problems of the day.
And I gave this kind of aerial view of each problem.
So somebody had, you know, the background of understanding what
we're talking about. But this is about solutions solving these problems.
(04:38):
So my whole approach was really optimistic. I wasn't under
this dark cloud with all these huge, huge, horrible problems.
I'm excited, we have solutions that are actually doable. So
I left this and participated in it from a really
nice positive direction.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, and a lot of these ideas or a lot
of these problems are really complex, and that's I think
that's part of the reason it's hard to solve them
because they are really complex, and so you know, bringing
them bringing them to simpler terms can be really useful.
And you being excited as the author is also really
(05:21):
useful because it probably helps you write a really engaging book.
How else do you think that you helped keep your
writing really engaging while talking about these hugems.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
That's that's a very insightful question you're asking because I
saw as I was looking at this that this could
be dry, you know, and this could be you know,
I didn't want it to be academic, which would make
it even drier. And you know, my nature is is
kind of more upbeat, you know. And and I thought,
you know, I need humor. I need humor in this
(05:57):
to engage the audience and make this interesting. And and
I've always been a quote guy. I've always collected quotes
for decades. So at the beginning of each chapter, I
put in three or four relevant quotes from very famous people,
typically that that are interesting and very funny. So, you know, like,
(06:23):
for just an example, like for solving the problem with
with public schools. You know how how bad public schools are.
And I have an amazing solution for fixing public schools.
But I found a great quote from a comedian named
Dennis Miller who said, you know, you really have a
big problem with education when you realize that out of
(06:43):
the three rs, only one begins with an R. So
you know, it's not hysterical, but it you know, it
made it kind of lighter and put a perspective on
what we're doing. And and I think I made the
book very enjoyable to read. I tried very hard.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, and another question, and maybe you know you can
talk about schools in particular or another issue in particular.
When answering it, you were you really wanted this to
be non partisan, and in today's world everything is like
watch non partisan impossible, right, So you're you're non partisan
(07:23):
while talking about these controversial issues like public school. So
how how did you do that?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well? That was kind of my set of rules to
start off with this, that that I didn't. I'm upset,
as I think most people are by party politics, you know,
and I think it just serves to get in the way.
So they're polarized and there's no there's no workable land
in between. So that's why nothing happens. So I approached
(07:57):
trying to find solutions away from anything to do with
party politics. And I was only interested in finding a
viable solution, melody. I didn't even care how much costs.
I didn't care about politics. I didn't care how much
it cost. Just tell me how to fix this thing.
(08:18):
And I tell you something, amazingly, I can't even to
from the top of my head. I can't even think
of a solution I have that didn't actually turn out
to be economically viable as well, so you know, it
just it just worked. And you know, I think I
think part of what I realized this living is you know,
(08:39):
maybe I'm in my own little cocoon, but it seems
that everybody I know is conservative on some things and
liberal on other things, and I like that. I think that,
you know, that really gives me hope that that, you know,
if we can move away from the polarized politics, we
(09:00):
can solve things with real people. So that's that's where
I am.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, and I you know, and I'm you know, I'm Canadian,
you are American, and so i'm certainly, yes, I'm certainly
not going to speak about your politics. But you know,
I think that if we really sit down people who
on the surface don't agree with things, and we really
sit people down in a room and ask what's actually
(09:27):
really important to them, they're going to find You're going
to find out that a lot of it is the same.
I need food to eat, I need a shelter. I
want to feel loved. I want to feel safe. I
want my children to feel safe, right like, I think
that those very basics are the same.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I couldn't agree more. And I think it even extends
farther into the specifics of the problem. You know, it's like, well,
we all want better education for kids, we all want
guns taking care of, you know, assault rifles, we want
answers for that. We want in the US, we want
(10:06):
we want the deficit paid off, we want all of
us want to see the ocean levels stop rising. So
and then when politics get in, it's, well, how do
we get there that that money's up the problem? But
we all seem to want the same thing.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, And talking about ocean levels rising, it's a
really good segue because I have a question kind of
about facts and data and storytelling. So it's easy for
the scientists to come out and say, we predict that,
you know, ocean levels are going to rise, blah blah blah,
and we predict that the temperature is going to rise
da da. But you know that's not very moving. Stories
(10:48):
Stories are moving. So do you tell stories in your
book and maybe tell, you know, tell us about some
of the stories that you tell.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, I'm really glad you asked that, because I I
did go that way where I could you know, and
and I have a great tool I basically used. You
know that that worked really well in the ocean levels
rising and it's dry. You know, you're just dealing with
facts and figures and and and I, you know, maybe
in my own simple mind, you know, I need some
(11:18):
you know, some relationship to what the numbers mean. And
I was going through, you know, you know, all this
analysis and trying to figure out, like one of my
initial questions was, well, how much water are we talking about?
You know, the global warming is causing the polar ice
caps to melt, and it's raising the ocean levels. And
you know, I couldn't work on solving the problem without
(11:41):
finding out, well, how much water are we talking about?
And and I got involved and I started, you know,
it's finding all all the statistics. And in my eleventh
grade algebra teacher would be very happy because I, you know,
I worked through this with algebra, and I fit I
found and I made it a relatable statistic that that
knocks me out and other people I've told about. It
(12:03):
suddenly becomes real where I say that the polar ice
caps are melting at a rate that would fill twenty
Olympic sized swimming pools every second. Yeah, so I do
tell some stories, you know, about myself or about an issue,
(12:25):
or about you know, things that happened with Russia, you know,
during World War two or China during World War two
that we were actually allies, which is kind of surprising
to most people. But then I found a tool that
was statistics. You can explain them in a way that
makes them touchable. So twenty Olympic sized swimming pools every
(12:47):
second is pretty damn touchable.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I can see that, right, I can visualize that,
and it's much more concrete for me than just dry statistics.
And so I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Direct Sorry for interrupting. What that translates to is forty
five cubic metrics cubic metric ocean units of water, right, No, it.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Means nothing exactly. Yeah. No, So I like that was
a really great example. Thank you so much for that,
And so I guess from here my next question is, Okay,
so you've taken this dry stat You've created something that
I can visualize, that I can understand. How do you
then move me from this awareness to action?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
As a reader, My overriding goal with the book was
to get people to find one or two or three
solutions in the book that touch them, that was meaningful
to them. It would cause them to get their ass
(13:57):
off the sofa and and do something I want. Listen,
you don't have to do a lot, you know. I
told you I was into quotes. There's a fabulous quote
that I kind of made an overriding theme of the book,
which front is from Mahatma Gandhi, who said, when the
people lead, the leaders will follow. So it's my hope
(14:18):
that people will take my solution for the rising ocean levels.
If you, if it touches them, and tell their their family,
tell their friends, and at the very least right to
your representatives. You know, we tend to forget that they
work for us. We don't work for them. Yes, right
(14:39):
for them. And with enough ground swell of people, we
can make a difference. We really can. And then you
can get much deeper involved. As a matter of fact,
my last chapter is called so now what and and
it describes how each one of us can get involved,
you know, deeper and deeper, you know, including you know, joining,
(15:00):
you know, one of the thousands of organizations that exist
on every topic that you could possibly be interested in. Yeah, yeah,
it's all there. Excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, And I love the idea of that last chapter.
It's like, okay, so now what what do I do? Right?
Because that's often we're left, you know, we hear these
big stats and they don't really mean much and it's
supposed to be scary, and then it's done and we're
sitting here thinking, well, now what do I just go
back to work now? Like what's next? Right? So I
think that's excellent. So if you'd like to learn more
(15:32):
about Mitch, you can find more information at bad hyphen
Ass Solutions dot com. That will also be in the
show notes and I'll also have a link to the
book in the show notes as well. So go check
out that book. And you know, I remember somebody saying
to me, look, if you're not part of the if
(15:53):
you're if you're not part of the solution, you're part
of the problem. So don't be part of the badass problems.
Be part of the Badass solutions.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I like that. I like that, and.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Go grab that book, all right? As we're wrapping up
a couple more questions, Uh, how can authors? Uh you know,
so you've written this book, kind of what's next for you?
Like what you I know you want to make this
impact in the world beyond, I'm sure just writing a book.
So what's what's next for you? Now you've written this book,
(16:24):
to turn this into something bigger and more action oriented
and get more people on board.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Well, it's it's much more difficult than I anticipated. I
have to tell you. Uh, it's very difficult to get
the word out and and try to, you know, to
get enough people to read the book, you know, to
make a difference. I do a lot of podcasts, uh,
news shows, radio shows, things like that, so I'm trying
(16:55):
very hard. You know. Again, my my business background is
very helpful from a marketing perspective. And it's funny that
I really was very ignorant the idea of of doing
this because I thought, oh, you just write a book
and you stick it on Amazon and everybody buys it.
You know, they say, oh, bad ass solutions. I like that,
you know, and that and and that's all you do.
(17:16):
Well was I wrong? So? I mean I think that
I think that writers, certainly for first time books, they
have to understand what they're what they're up against. That
that it could be said, and I think it's very
true for me that the easiest part was writing the
book it's very hard then and time consuming and actually
(17:38):
costly to market the book, and there's no guarantee that
you're going to reach your market. And uh, it's it's
it's sobering. So be ready, authors out there, to be
ready because you're you're more of a marketer than an author.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, you're better be Yeah, thank you for being honest
about that, because there's a lot of Oh, the books written,
it's all awesome, and and I know a lot of
authors come to me and say this is not working.
What do I do? And it's a lot, as you said,
it's a lot about understanding. Just as we do in business.
We understand our market, We understand their problems, their needs,
(18:21):
their fears, their desires. We develop a product that helps
them meet that and then we after that, after that's done,
we have to go out and tell the world about it. Right,
And so it's it's very much. Yes, the fact that
you have a business background and marketing is going to
be very helpful, and it's but it's it's not as
(18:42):
easy as it's sometimes seen. Books are not like miracle
miracle things that just pop up and change the world instantly.
We still have to unless you're Nelson Mandela and you've
written a book and everybody wants to read it.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Or something different exactly this. Uh you know this business guy.
You know that people have to understand what he's about
to be interested in buying that book exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
All right. So as we're wrapping up, if you were
to give three pieces of advice to authors who are
listening in and they're like, yeah, there's there's I want
to write a book like this if you like lessons learned,
what would be your like three, go do this now?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Very interesting?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
First thing I would say is is no line up
who you can get help from. There are some wonderful
groups certainly like you Melody to consult with all the
way along the path of you know, writing your book well,
doing it correctly, making it interesting, making it marketable. Uh,
(19:51):
you know, all the way through all the way then
then all the way through the you know, publishing phases
and everything else. So there's a lot of help that
you can find and you're going to need it. You're
just going to need it, So you know, I think
that's a that's an overriding issue. Second issue, I'd say,
have a lot of passion and have fun with it. Otherwise,
(20:14):
don't do it. You know, you know, life's too short
and this is not this is not a walk in
the park. So if you're going to write a book,
have fun with it. Make it, you know, make it
something that you're going to be proud of for the
rest of your life, whether or not you even sell
many books. And then finally let's jump back to don't
(20:34):
kid yourself. You've got to be a marketer.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, absolutely yes, or or have a business that has
a marketing strategy that you can integrate the book into,
because that's that also works, right, But that's what I'm.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Saying that you can tell people that they don't know
that intrinsically. So go to melody.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, thank you, that's very kind to you. Any final words,
Where can we reach you? How can we connect?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
You can reach me through the website of Bad Hyphenasssolutions
dot com. There's email. You can reach me pretty easily,
you know, just Mitch, I come with props, but no,
I think I think the best way is through uh,
through the website, and the book is really easily available
(21:29):
on Amazon. I did just record an audiobook that'll be
out in about a month. Nice, you know, they you know,
and that's an interesting thing. I didn't realize it, but
audiobooks are accounting for thirty to fifty percent of book
sales right now. Oh yes, wow, yep.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
They've been trending up for years, so every you know,
they started out really small and the percentages that they're
trending up are huge. But of course they started out small,
but they're they're really they're huge. Now. It's a big thing.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
People aren't realize it was that big. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
People are listening. They're listening when they're driving, they're listening,
doing chores, they're listening, getting ready, they're listening like they're
just people are listening.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah. I hope they don't get tired of my voice.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, no, I know. I'm so glad you did an audiobook.
I think that is awesome. So yeah, So once again,
find Mitch at bad hyphen Asssolutions dot com. All right,
let's wrap up. Thank you for joining us at Authornation.
I hope this conversation has provided you with some valuable
(22:32):
insights and some inspiration too, to start talking about things
that are difficult and making them plain and simple for people,
giving them good examples and stories. Don't forget to visit
authoration dot online for your wealth of resources. And I
always want to tell you that I really appreciate you
being here, listening to us, your feedback, and your support.
(22:54):
And if you have enjoyed this episode, please share it
with someone who needs it. I know you know another
author who needs this right now. Share it with them
so they can benefit. And go ahead review I wo'd
love to hear what you think. We love your comments,
and keep writing, keep creating, and keep continuing to share
(23:16):
your stories with the world.
Welcome to author and Nation Interviews. Today we are diving
into some solutions for problems that are tough to talk about,
and how to write about them is actually the topic
of the day. So I'm Melody and I'm your host.
This is Authoration Interviews, and we want you to be
(00:29):
able to write your own book that talks about things
that are hard to talk about. That's what we're going
to tackle today. So visit authoration dot online if you
want a treasure trove of resources to help you write
your book. And we're getting to it. So if you're
sitting your morning coffee or maybe driving home from work,
(00:50):
settle in. Let me introduce our guest, Mitt Francis. It
has an extensive forty year business background. He created and
has been the CEO of both publicly traded companies and
privately owned companies. He developed and continues to own and
manage commercial real estate through the United States, and in
(01:12):
twenty twenty four he launched a new book called bad
Ass Solutions. Let's welcome mit to Francis. Hey, Mitch, how
are you today?
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Great, Melanie, how are you I am?
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I'm fabulous, you know what, I'm so excited to talk
about this because it's one of those books that it's like, wow,
that was that was daring. So I think it's a
very daring book. So I want the firstly, why a book?
Why not a podcast or this or that? Why a book?
Speaker 2 (01:47):
It's funny that you're asking that I had no intention
of writing a book. I actually had a family tragedy
about two and a half years ago. You may remember
there was a mass killing in a suburb of Cargo
during Fourth of July parade, and some crazed young man
with assault rifles killed seven people and wounded a lot more.
(02:09):
And one of the people that he killed was my
brother in law's brother. And yeah, thanks, and needless to say,
family was just devastated. I was. I was hurt by this.
I really like this guy, a fabulous guy. And I
left angry, and I got home and I looked around
(02:30):
and I said, you know, we've got all these really
big problems that nobody's doing anything about. And it kind
of kicked my ass. Actually melody that I kind of
took stock of myself, and I'm kind of the I'm
a kind of guy that I always like news, I
like current events, and I go, well, why don't they
(02:51):
just do that. I do that all the time. So
I just said, you know what, I've got ideas for
a lot of our problems. I'm just going to write
an out line. And I sat down and I wrote
an outline just over a couple of days, and I
ended up with twenty big ass problems that I had
at least the beginnings of really good solutions for. And
(03:16):
I went, this is crazy. This is a book. And
I went and I showed my wife and I said,
I think I'm actually going to write a book. And
that was two and a half years ago, and now
I have bad ass solutions.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Yeah, I love that I'm going to write a book.
What was her reaction?
Speaker 2 (03:33):
She said, oh, yeah, she said there's a book there.
She was very oh wonderful, Yeah, wonderful.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
She wasn't like a book, what brilliant?
Speaker 2 (03:43):
I don't think of anything that I do surprise her.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Actually, oh that's good. So you're I'm glad you said that,
like twenty big ass problems that you have, you know
at least a good beginning of a solution. So I'm
gonna ask you, like, I know it's about lots of
different problems, but really, if you think about like that,
(04:07):
that core of your book. What is the book about?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
It's really it's a very optimistic book. You know, many
many books that talk about, you know, the problems of
the day dive real deeply into the problems of the day.
And I gave this kind of aerial view of each problem.
So somebody had, you know, the background of understanding what
we're talking about. But this is about solutions solving these problems.
(04:38):
So my whole approach was really optimistic. I wasn't under
this dark cloud with all these huge, huge, horrible problems.
I'm excited, we have solutions that are actually doable. So
I left this and participated in it from a really
nice positive direction.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, and a lot of these ideas or a lot
of these problems are really complex, and that's I think
that's part of the reason it's hard to solve them
because they are really complex, and so you know, bringing
them bringing them to simpler terms can be really useful.
And you being excited as the author is also really
(05:21):
useful because it probably helps you write a really engaging book.
How else do you think that you helped keep your
writing really engaging while talking about these hugems.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
That's that's a very insightful question you're asking because I
saw as I was looking at this that this could
be dry, you know, and this could be you know,
I didn't want it to be academic, which would make
it even drier. And you know, my nature is is
kind of more upbeat, you know. And and I thought,
you know, I need humor. I need humor in this
(05:57):
to engage the audience and make this interesting. And and
I've always been a quote guy. I've always collected quotes
for decades. So at the beginning of each chapter, I
put in three or four relevant quotes from very famous people,
typically that that are interesting and very funny. So, you know, like,
(06:23):
for just an example, like for solving the problem with
with public schools. You know how how bad public schools are.
And I have an amazing solution for fixing public schools.
But I found a great quote from a comedian named
Dennis Miller who said, you know, you really have a
big problem with education when you realize that out of
(06:43):
the three rs, only one begins with an R. So
you know, it's not hysterical, but it you know, it
made it kind of lighter and put a perspective on
what we're doing. And and I think I made the
book very enjoyable to read. I tried very hard.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, and another question, and maybe you know you can
talk about schools in particular or another issue in particular.
When answering it, you were you really wanted this to
be non partisan, and in today's world everything is like
watch non partisan impossible, right, So you're you're non partisan
(07:23):
while talking about these controversial issues like public school. So
how how did you do that?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Well? That was kind of my set of rules to
start off with this, that that I didn't. I'm upset,
as I think most people are by party politics, you know,
and I think it just serves to get in the way.
So they're polarized and there's no there's no workable land
in between. So that's why nothing happens. So I approached
(07:57):
trying to find solutions away from anything to do with
party politics. And I was only interested in finding a
viable solution, melody. I didn't even care how much costs.
I didn't care about politics. I didn't care how much
it cost. Just tell me how to fix this thing.
(08:18):
And I tell you something, amazingly, I can't even to
from the top of my head. I can't even think
of a solution I have that didn't actually turn out
to be economically viable as well, so you know, it
just it just worked. And you know, I think I
think part of what I realized this living is you know,
(08:39):
maybe I'm in my own little cocoon, but it seems
that everybody I know is conservative on some things and
liberal on other things, and I like that. I think that,
you know, that really gives me hope that that, you know,
if we can move away from the polarized politics, we
(09:00):
can solve things with real people. So that's that's where
I am.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
Yeah, and I you know, and I'm you know, I'm Canadian,
you are American, and so i'm certainly, yes, I'm certainly
not going to speak about your politics. But you know,
I think that if we really sit down people who
on the surface don't agree with things, and we really
sit people down in a room and ask what's actually
(09:27):
really important to them, they're going to find You're going
to find out that a lot of it is the same.
I need food to eat, I need a shelter. I
want to feel loved. I want to feel safe. I
want my children to feel safe, right like, I think
that those very basics are the same.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
I couldn't agree more. And I think it even extends
farther into the specifics of the problem. You know, it's like, well,
we all want better education for kids, we all want
guns taking care of, you know, assault rifles, we want
answers for that. We want in the US, we want
(10:06):
we want the deficit paid off, we want all of
us want to see the ocean levels stop rising. So
and then when politics get in, it's, well, how do
we get there that that money's up the problem? But
we all seem to want the same thing.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
Yeah, yeah, And talking about ocean levels rising, it's a
really good segue because I have a question kind of
about facts and data and storytelling. So it's easy for
the scientists to come out and say, we predict that,
you know, ocean levels are going to rise, blah blah blah,
and we predict that the temperature is going to rise
da da. But you know that's not very moving. Stories
(10:48):
Stories are moving. So do you tell stories in your
book and maybe tell, you know, tell us about some
of the stories that you tell.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Yeah, I'm really glad you asked that, because I I
did go that way where I could you know, and
and I have a great tool I basically used. You
know that that worked really well in the ocean levels
rising and it's dry. You know, you're just dealing with
facts and figures and and and I, you know, maybe
in my own simple mind, you know, I need some
(11:18):
you know, some relationship to what the numbers mean. And
I was going through, you know, you know, all this
analysis and trying to figure out, like one of my
initial questions was, well, how much water are we talking about?
You know, the global warming is causing the polar ice
caps to melt, and it's raising the ocean levels. And
you know, I couldn't work on solving the problem without
(11:41):
finding out, well, how much water are we talking about?
And and I got involved and I started, you know,
it's finding all all the statistics. And in my eleventh
grade algebra teacher would be very happy because I, you know,
I worked through this with algebra, and I fit I
found and I made it a relatable statistic that that
knocks me out and other people I've told about. It
(12:03):
suddenly becomes real where I say that the polar ice
caps are melting at a rate that would fill twenty
Olympic sized swimming pools every second. Yeah, so I do
tell some stories, you know, about myself or about an issue,
(12:25):
or about you know, things that happened with Russia, you know,
during World War two or China during World War two
that we were actually allies, which is kind of surprising
to most people. But then I found a tool that
was statistics. You can explain them in a way that
makes them touchable. So twenty Olympic sized swimming pools every
(12:47):
second is pretty damn touchable.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
Yes, I can see that, right, I can visualize that,
and it's much more concrete for me than just dry statistics.
And so I'm assuming.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Direct Sorry for interrupting. What that translates to is forty
five cubic metrics cubic metric ocean units of water, right, No, it.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Means nothing exactly. Yeah. No, So I like that was
a really great example. Thank you so much for that,
And so I guess from here my next question is, Okay,
so you've taken this dry stat You've created something that
I can visualize, that I can understand. How do you
then move me from this awareness to action?
Speaker 2 (13:36):
As a reader, My overriding goal with the book was
to get people to find one or two or three
solutions in the book that touch them, that was meaningful
to them. It would cause them to get their ass
(13:57):
off the sofa and and do something I want. Listen,
you don't have to do a lot, you know. I
told you I was into quotes. There's a fabulous quote
that I kind of made an overriding theme of the book,
which front is from Mahatma Gandhi, who said, when the
people lead, the leaders will follow. So it's my hope
(14:18):
that people will take my solution for the rising ocean levels.
If you, if it touches them, and tell their their family,
tell their friends, and at the very least right to
your representatives. You know, we tend to forget that they
work for us. We don't work for them. Yes, right
(14:39):
for them. And with enough ground swell of people, we
can make a difference. We really can. And then you
can get much deeper involved. As a matter of fact,
my last chapter is called so now what and and
it describes how each one of us can get involved,
you know, deeper and deeper, you know, including you know, joining,
(15:00):
you know, one of the thousands of organizations that exist
on every topic that you could possibly be interested in. Yeah, yeah,
it's all there. Excellent.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
Yeah, And I love the idea of that last chapter.
It's like, okay, so now what what do I do? Right?
Because that's often we're left, you know, we hear these
big stats and they don't really mean much and it's
supposed to be scary, and then it's done and we're
sitting here thinking, well, now what do I just go
back to work now? Like what's next? Right? So I
think that's excellent. So if you'd like to learn more
(15:32):
about Mitch, you can find more information at bad hyphen
Ass Solutions dot com. That will also be in the
show notes and I'll also have a link to the
book in the show notes as well. So go check
out that book. And you know, I remember somebody saying
to me, look, if you're not part of the if
(15:53):
you're if you're not part of the solution, you're part
of the problem. So don't be part of the badass problems.
Be part of the Badass solutions.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
I like that. I like that, and.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Go grab that book, all right? As we're wrapping up
a couple more questions, Uh, how can authors? Uh you know,
so you've written this book, kind of what's next for you?
Like what you I know you want to make this
impact in the world beyond, I'm sure just writing a book.
So what's what's next for you? Now you've written this book,
(16:24):
to turn this into something bigger and more action oriented
and get more people on board.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Well, it's it's much more difficult than I anticipated. I
have to tell you. Uh, it's very difficult to get
the word out and and try to, you know, to
get enough people to read the book, you know, to
make a difference. I do a lot of podcasts, uh,
news shows, radio shows, things like that, so I'm trying
(16:55):
very hard. You know. Again, my my business background is
very helpful from a marketing perspective. And it's funny that
I really was very ignorant the idea of of doing
this because I thought, oh, you just write a book
and you stick it on Amazon and everybody buys it.
You know, they say, oh, bad ass solutions. I like that,
you know, and that and and that's all you do.
(17:16):
Well was I wrong? So? I mean I think that
I think that writers, certainly for first time books, they
have to understand what they're what they're up against. That
that it could be said, and I think it's very
true for me that the easiest part was writing the
book it's very hard then and time consuming and actually
(17:38):
costly to market the book, and there's no guarantee that
you're going to reach your market. And uh, it's it's
it's sobering. So be ready, authors out there, to be
ready because you're you're more of a marketer than an author.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, you're better be Yeah, thank you for being honest
about that, because there's a lot of Oh, the books written,
it's all awesome, and and I know a lot of
authors come to me and say this is not working.
What do I do? And it's a lot, as you said,
it's a lot about understanding. Just as we do in business.
We understand our market, We understand their problems, their needs,
(18:21):
their fears, their desires. We develop a product that helps
them meet that and then we after that, after that's done,
we have to go out and tell the world about it. Right,
And so it's it's very much. Yes, the fact that
you have a business background and marketing is going to
be very helpful, and it's but it's it's not as
(18:42):
easy as it's sometimes seen. Books are not like miracle
miracle things that just pop up and change the world instantly.
We still have to unless you're Nelson Mandela and you've
written a book and everybody wants to read it.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Or something different exactly this. Uh you know this business guy.
You know that people have to understand what he's about
to be interested in buying that book exactly.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
All right. So as we're wrapping up, if you were
to give three pieces of advice to authors who are
listening in and they're like, yeah, there's there's I want
to write a book like this if you like lessons learned,
what would be your like three, go do this now?
Speaker 2 (19:26):
Very interesting?
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
First thing I would say is is no line up
who you can get help from. There are some wonderful
groups certainly like you Melody to consult with all the
way along the path of you know, writing your book well,
doing it correctly, making it interesting, making it marketable. Uh,
(19:51):
you know, all the way through all the way then
then all the way through the you know, publishing phases
and everything else. So there's a lot of help that
you can find and you're going to need it. You're
just going to need it, So you know, I think
that's a that's an overriding issue. Second issue, I'd say,
have a lot of passion and have fun with it. Otherwise,
(20:14):
don't do it. You know, you know, life's too short
and this is not this is not a walk in
the park. So if you're going to write a book,
have fun with it. Make it, you know, make it
something that you're going to be proud of for the
rest of your life, whether or not you even sell
many books. And then finally let's jump back to don't
(20:34):
kid yourself. You've got to be a marketer.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Yeah, absolutely yes, or or have a business that has
a marketing strategy that you can integrate the book into,
because that's that also works, right, But that's what I'm.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
Saying that you can tell people that they don't know
that intrinsically. So go to melody.
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, thank you, that's very kind to you. Any final words,
Where can we reach you? How can we connect?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
You can reach me through the website of Bad Hyphenasssolutions
dot com. There's email. You can reach me pretty easily,
you know, just Mitch, I come with props, but no,
I think I think the best way is through uh,
through the website, and the book is really easily available
(21:29):
on Amazon. I did just record an audiobook that'll be
out in about a month. Nice, you know, they you know,
and that's an interesting thing. I didn't realize it, but
audiobooks are accounting for thirty to fifty percent of book
sales right now. Oh yes, wow, yep.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
They've been trending up for years, so every you know,
they started out really small and the percentages that they're
trending up are huge. But of course they started out small,
but they're they're really they're huge. Now. It's a big thing.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
People aren't realize it was that big. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
People are listening. They're listening when they're driving, they're listening,
doing chores, they're listening, getting ready, they're listening like they're
just people are listening.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Yeah. I hope they don't get tired of my voice.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Yeah, no, I know. I'm so glad you did an audiobook.
I think that is awesome. So yeah, So once again,
find Mitch at bad hyphen Asssolutions dot com. All right,
let's wrap up. Thank you for joining us at Authornation.
I hope this conversation has provided you with some valuable
(22:32):
insights and some inspiration too, to start talking about things
that are difficult and making them plain and simple for people,
giving them good examples and stories. Don't forget to visit
authoration dot online for your wealth of resources. And I
always want to tell you that I really appreciate you
being here, listening to us, your feedback, and your support.
(22:54):
And if you have enjoyed this episode, please share it
with someone who needs it. I know you know another
author who needs this right now. Share it with them
so they can benefit. And go ahead review I wo'd
love to hear what you think. We love your comments,
and keep writing, keep creating, and keep continuing to share
(23:16):
your stories with the world.
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