Best selling author and national speaker. Created the Profitable Landlord System, and How to Invest in Real Estate using your IRA.
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Have you ever wondered how you can attract more business, add value to your client base and get your name out as an expert in a given field? Well, you might consider penning a book to help you with all three areas. At first, this might seem like a daunting task, but when you think about the years of experience you have with helping people buy or sell their properties and the tips and tricks you have picked up along the way, you might find that you already have a book in the making.
Sure, there are countless books out there about real estate and real estate investing, but none of them have your take on your experiences, your case studies, the trials and tribulations you have endured and conquered, and the impressions you have made in your community along the way. To help begin writing your book, here are the steps I’ve taken when writing my two books as well as a training manual.
1. Determine your area of expertise.
Before you begin writing, decide what the focus of your book should be. Start by considering aspects of your current position that you really enjoy. For example, I am passionate about real estate investing and even more passionate about helping new investors with their journey to build wealth and create a legacy for their family. In my books, I share the mistakes I made and acknowledge that readers will make their own, but I aim to help them avoid huge financial mistakes by buying the right property for their investment strategy.
2. Whiteboard it.
That’s right, get in front of a whiteboard with a stack of Post-it notes and start a book one step at a time. I’ve used this technique for all sorts of writing. Once, it helped me create an online course in about an hour! Consider your focus for the book, and start by outlining what someone would need to do in order to achieve their goal, step by step, writing each step on an individual Post-it. For example, if you are looking for sellers, what steps do you take to build a list of sellers? Do you direct market? If so, what steps do you take to find your list and determine your marketing message, and how do you determine if it is a strategy that works? If you diagram out these steps with your Post-it notes, you can arrange the order and build your outline for the book. At this stage, it’s important to keep in mind that your book doesn’t have to be very long. Some e-books I have downloaded are just a few pages. Remember, the point of the book is to serve as a marketing tool.
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3. Bring it to life.
Now that you have your outline, the real writing begins. There are many tools and apps that help make writing a book easy. If the idea of writing out or typing out what you know is too daunting, use a transcription app to voice record and then to put it into text. Once your book is finished, there are many ways to get your book out there. You can self-publish it or outsource this task to a company, though this option can be costly.
4. Strategize.
Once your book is complete, there are several ways to use it as a marketing tool. If you have an e-book, whoever is interested in getting the e-book will need to download it, and you can collect email addresses in exchange for downloading your book. This helps marketing you and your business twofold: First, the people who are interested in your topic want tools to help them with their investing strategies. By providing your readers these tools, you’re able to build trust and a connection with someone you’ve never even met, increasing the likelihood that they’ll contact you should they ever need your services. Additionally, when readers provide their email in order to download your book, you now have contact with an audience that would be considered a warm lead, and you can customize an email campaign directly to your new base of people who you know are already interested in your area of expertise.
By writing my books, I’ve built trust with my readers and received recognition as an expert in my field, and I’m frequently asked to present at webinars and conferences. If you are looking for a way to increase your brand awareness, grow your client base and be recognized as an expert in your field, pick up your pen and start writing your book today!
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