This week, I spent two days in a room with 40+ bestselling authors who have each sold over 1M+ copies of their book (or books.)
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And it felt like what I can only imagine it feels like being a player at the NBA All-Star Game:
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It was the equivalent of being in a room with the 1992 Olympic Dream Team (Jordan, Bird, Magic) and the 2012 Olympic Team (Kobe, LeBron, Durant) – except the players were the authors in the room.
Here’s just a sampling of who was there:
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- James Clear (Atomic Habits)
- Jamie Kern Lima (Worthy)
- Donald Miller (Building a StoryBrand)
- Jeff Walker (Launch)
- Mike Michalowicz (Profit First)
- JJ Virgin (The Virgin Diet)
- Rory Vaden (Take the Stairs)
- Amy Porterfield (Two Weeks Notice)
- Jim Kwik (Limitless)
- Michael Hyatt (Your Best Year Ever)
- Sally Hogshead (Fascinate)
- Chris Guillebeau ($100 Startup)
- Joseph Nguyen (Don’t Believe Everything You Think)
- Danielle LaPorte (The Desire Map)
- Michael Bungay Stanier (The Coaching Habit)
- Tiffany Aliche (Get Good with Money)
- Hal Elrod (Miracle Morning)
- Dorie Clark (The Long Game)
- Todd Herman (The Alter Ego Effect)
- Chris Ducker (Virtual Freedom)
- Ramit Sethi (I Will Teach You To Be Rich)
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And the list goes on…
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How did I get invited to be part of this group?
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Well, that’s a story for another day…
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But first…
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I’ll say that one of the biggest honors was not only being invited to be part of this group…
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But being asked to deliver a keynote to the group – around the central thesis of my forthcoming book – Return to Real…
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(Which, you’ve been instrumental in helping me continue to refine – with all your amazing feedback, email replies, and offers of support. Thank you.)
BTW – With this keynote, in typical fashion, I was up at 3:30am on the morning of my presentation finishing my slides. Incredibly, the talk received a standing ovation… The shirt got mixed reviews :-)
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But that’s all just backdrop for what I’d really like to share with you today, which is this:
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While it would be impossible for me to distill all the wisdom, insights, inspiration, and ideas from the 21 pages of hand-written notes I took…
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(Some of which I’ve been sworn to secrecy.)
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I wanted to share with you…
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7 Quotes (& Lessons Learned) I Can’t Stop Thinking About...
#1 – James Clear (On Writing)
“There are many things in life where good enough is good enough. Writing a book is not one of those things.”
–James Clear, NYT Bestselling Author
of Atomic Habits (25 Million Copies Sold)
#2 – Pat Flynn (On YouTube)
“The secret to long-form video is using stories. The secret to short-form video is using series.”
– Pat Flynn, NYT Bestselling Author of Lean Learning
(10M Daily YouTube Views)
#3 – Dr. Mike Bechtle (On Living Life)
“You’re Robbing the World of Yourself if You Pretend to be Someone Else.”
– Dr. Mike Bechtle, Author of 7 books including
People Can’t Drive You Crazy If You Don’t Give Them The Keys
#4 – Don Yaeger (On Storytelling)
“Every person has 5-7 defining pivot points in their life. Pick one of these to start your story.”
– Don Yaeger, Author of 12 NYT Bestselling Books including
George Washington’s Secret Six
#5 – Hal Elrod (On What Matters Most)
“I made a decision: Nothing goes into my body unless it first comes straight from the earth.”
– Hal Elrod, Cancer Survivor, Front Row Dad
& Bestselling Author Miracle Morning
#6 – Alex Wieckowski (On Reading Books)
“The harder it was to write the book for the author, the easier it is to read it for the reader.”
– Alex and Books, Creator of Over 500+ 5-Minute Book Summaries
& Bestselling Author Learn to Love Reading
#7 – Joseph Nguyen (On Transformation)
“Above all else, optimize for transformation. If the reader feels transformed by your book, they will tell the world about their experience.”
– Joseph Nguyen, International Bestselling Author
Don’t Believe Everything You Think
But my biggest takeaway of the event was this:
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In a room with 40+ authors who have sold over 1 million+ copies of their books, there were no two authors who followed the same approach…
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One author focused on getting into Costco…
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Another author posted pages of his book on TikTok and went viral…
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Another focused on reaching out to influencers on Instagram with cold DMs, and offered to send a them a copy of his book…
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Another focused on a big full-day virtual launch event and sold a metric ton of copies of her book on launch day…
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Every author’s approach was unique.
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Just like there are a million ways to make a million dollars…
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There are a million ways to sell a million copies of your book…
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And the “right way” is the one that plays to your strengths, values, and audience.
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And that’s what’s at the core of Return to Real – success comes from aligning with what’s real for you, not chasing a so-called “proven” formula that’s someone else’s truth…
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One last thing before closing for today:
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After wrapping up two amazing days in Nashville for this event…
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I stayed an extra day to host a Strategic 1:1 Private VIP Day which I just wrapped up a few hours ago.
It was a lot of fun to spend a day with Jon Berghoff, Co-Founder & CEO of xChange (who has some very exciting things on the horizon. Stay tuned.)
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Now, the reason why I bring this up is because…
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If you have interest in working with me for a day like this together, 1:1 in-person, focused 100% on your business…
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I’m making space to do another two (2) days like this in Sep / Oct.
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If you have interest in grabbing one of these two days – fill out this form – and shoot me an email with a little bit about yourself to let me know.
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(Note: A private day like this is a five-figure investment. And while I know it’s not in the budget for everyone, it can be the most powerful way to get concentrated, strategic feedback on your business from a 7-Time Inc. 5000 Founder & CEO, 2x #1 bestselling author, with 2x business exits. And FWIW – these will probably be the last 2 private 1:1 days I make available this year.)
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Okay, I’ll leave you with that for now…
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Remember to hug the ones you love.
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Have a great rest of your weekend…
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And until next week…
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Ryan :-)
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P.S. Lastly, I’m curious: Which of the 7 quotes hit you hardest? SHOOT ME AN EMAIL and let me know. I’m finally caught up on email and I’d love to hear from you :-)
