I’m super excited to share with you a recent podcast I was featured on with Duff Gardner, I have turned it into a blog so you can easily digest the content and get value from our conversation. We dive deep into how we serve our clients and the results they get from our services. Learn more about us and how we started on this journey. Enjoy…
Laura Helen specializes in helping entrepreneurs become best-selling authors while boosting their brand and their business through a book. She has helped leaders that could not even give their book away to others, one of whom went on to grow a 75+ million audience. Have you thought about marketing your business through writing a book? Then this episode is for you.
Don’t miss these Highlights:
About the Guest:
Laura Helen – CEO and creative coach at Books Boost Business has created hundreds of best selling authors. Laura Helen’s family has authored 25 books in total, and they travel the world full time doing what they love – travelling, inspiring families and helping people share their passion and create a business from it. She is a 4 times No 1 Amazon Best-Selling Author, and uses her unique strategies to raise people’s brands and businesses in a truly authentic way and connecting authors to their future clients in a way that makes a true connection. Laura Helen’s mission is to help a few make an impact so in turn, they impact thousands. If you have the passion Laura Helen has the proven system to boost your brand and business with a book.
Imagine your kids as bestselling authors, speaking on global stages, collaborating with massively successful entrepreneurs on their books, and guess what? They're only 11 and seven years old. My next guest, Laura Helen, leads a very unique family that travels the world. helping authors get their best-selling books launched. Welcome to our show.
Welcome today to Off My Duff, the entrepreneur podcast, where we talk about how to get off your backside and get started making the impact you want in the world. And I'm very excited today to be speaking to a new friend of mine, someone who is going to be part of my life going forward here, somebody who is an expert at leveraging the power of writing your book to boost and grow your business. She's going to tell it much more eloquently, but I wanted everybody to welcome today a new friend of mine, Laura Helen, from Books Boost Business.
Now, the story of how we came to meet each other is an interesting one in itself because there's a little bit of serendipity and a little bit of taking action in that. I had actually seen one of your clients respond to somebody in a Facebook thread somewhere. I was really compelled to reach out to you based on the kinds of results that she was saying that she had. I reached out kind of cold to you and we've had a conversation and now we're on the cusp of doing some work together.
I think it's really interesting for a lot of people who are just at the earlier stages of their online journey. It's a little bit of a lesson in just taking a step forward. I think you told me when we first met that that's a common thing for you, that a lot of your clients are walking billboards, they've had such great success. Tell my audience a little bit about what you do and maybe we can segue into some of the people you're helping.
Laura Helen: I'm Laura Helen from Books Boost Business. We create bestselling authors. We really help people boost their brand and their business using their book. We do it in a really authentic way so that it's really true to them.
Duff Gardner: The client in question that we met through, I've never met her and we haven't had a three-part conversation, but tell us a little bit about how that worked in a general way, maybe high level. Because I think it's really interesting to know how you turn people into best-selling authors. From my understanding, there was a few years of trying to get the project off the ground.
Laura Helen: This incredible lady had been in business 23 years, really great at what she does. She created a book four months before we connected and she was trying to give it away for those four months. She couldn't even give this book away. She kind of reached out to see if we could work with her. We made some changes in the book. We changed the title and the covers. We really got her to connect with her audience and have them participate in helping her create the book.
If you ask your audience, it's magic. They tell you exactly what they want. So we kind of did that with her. And then she launched the book, had this big launch and she became a bestseller in three different continents, Australia, the UK, and dotcom across America, and was featured on the Hot New Sellers list in America. Since then, she's gone on to be interviewed by incredible people. People that she's been trying to connect with for years are reaching out to her. She just got interviewed last week with an audience of over 75 million. She's gone from, "No one can hear me," to being heard and being out there as that go-to expert.
Duff Gardner: That's crazy. That's amazing. That's a big change. The thing that's cool, what I love about you, is you have a life that is intentionally virtual. Even though you're in Barcelona right now, you and your family, you move around and have a global audience. You're a global player in this game we're playing called entrepreneurship. It sounds like for your clients they are able to embody, through the exercises that you take them through, that global perspective on their business. She's got a global brand now!
Laura Helen: Absolutely. We take people from local to global. That's one of the statements that's really easy to make. We take you from known in your area of expertise, in that little area, to global. Amazon is one of these platforms that make you money while you sleep. It's open all day and all night, 24/7. People can find you. If you've given them what they need and they can come find you, then you have a maximum reach. We teach people how to take them from a reader on Amazon to becoming a client in your funnel or your business. Many people create business books and they might be amazing, but if it's not done quite right, it doesn't reach the people it's meant to be out there impacting.
Duff Gardner: You'd given me the metaphor earlier today about books in a garage, where some people are really skilled at helping people write a book and then that book ends up in the garage. Then you're in the position where you've got to kind of, "Well, how do I use the darn thing?" You give people a very different experience.
Laura Helen: Yes. It's definitely an experience. It's way more than a book with us We make people the best that they can be, so they can go and impact others.
Duff Gardner: The exciting part about being on the cusp of working with you as well, is that there's a lot of done-for-you stuff in what you do. That's really important for a lot of entrepreneurs. A common thing that people say to me, and that I have felt myself, is sometimes you don't feel like you have that support. You have the vision of what you want to do. You just don't feel like you have the support to make it happen.
Laura Helen: Absolutely. I really love what we do, as I've seen the impact and the difference of what we do can make. I get so excited about the person and their message, because I know it will impact so many. I end up more excited than the author to get it out. So all that drive and accountability, they have me so excited. It's real and it's authentic. There's no hesitancy, there's no, "Oh, but what about..." Even when it's published, authors still have that doubt in themselves. I'm there to keep them going, keep them motivated. Making them realize how great they really are because some people can't always see it in themselves. We all have those crazy days.
Duff Gardner: Right, I think it's a key distinction about the way that you approach things. There's a lot of folks who ostensibly help authors get it out of their head and onto paper and out into the world. A lot of people approach it really interestingly. In fact, before I met you, I took part in like a 30-day challenge where I did a little bit every day, which was interesting. It kind of got me writing some stuff. At the same time, at the end of that, I was like the offer that was put forward to me, I couldn't see the path from that point to what you're talking about. I couldn't see that path. I could see the path to a book. I couldn't see the path to something that is a tool that you can use to grow your global brand.
Laura Helen: Many people pour stuff out onto paper, and just create books. They do it from what they know, what they feel. We do it in a way where we connect you with your ideal audience. We connect you with your ideal readers. We find out what it is they want, what it is they need. So it's interesting for them. We make it so it's not just you sharing your stuff, we're answering what their questions are, what their challenges are, and helping them overcome them or transform them depending on who the author is and what it is they're trying to share.
Duff Gardner: Yeah. I totally love that. What I usually ask my guests is to give me a little bit of a sense of how you got started in your origin story? Because I think that whether you're making a transition into starting an online business, whether you're starting a new project where you're investing into a new marketplace, whatever. Those origin stories are really important, and you kind of have a kind of an interesting one that's a little different than the normal. So tell me about how you got started in this business of helping people become bestselling global authors?
Laura Helen: We are the proud parents of two awesome little kids and my children are avid readers. They love books. We read a lot of business and self-development books. When our eldest was seven, she asked what we were reading and if she could try a book out. We gave her Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki with a dictionary. I said, "There you go. Have a look at that. If you get stuck, let us know." A week, 10-days later, she came back with the book and a dictionary and was like, "Oh, I got bored of the dictionary." We thought, "Okay, we'll try in a couple of years." Because this is great stuff to know. Then she came down with this massive wad of paper and was like, "No, I created a kid's version. They don't need the dictionary, Mummy."
Self-development for kids was born (Kids Get Learning). Her first book, Money For Kids was created. We launched it at this kid entrepreneurial fair. It was amazing. But what we found is when we tried to go through traditional publishers, they wanted to take her off the cover. Correct all her grammar. Now we did the spellings, but the grammar is what made it sound like a seven-year-old. They wanted us to pay tens of thousands and only get 15% royalties. We basically wrote a list of all the things we didn't like that traditional publishers do. And Created our business based on the opposite.
Duff Gardner: Actually, you know what? That's one of the things I teach, is a clarity through contrast exercise. It's actually incredibly important to figure out what you do want is by first acknowledging what you don't want. Choose the opposite. Yeah, so that's really brilliant. So that started a business. Well, so now your kids have... What does it look like today? Like how many books are we talking about that are out there? What does your kid's book empire look like at this point?
Laura Helen: My eldest is now 11. She has five published books, best-selling books. She's spoken on stages all around the world. She's creating a collaboration book of the six human needs with some specialists. She's also creating a sales book with Grant Cardone as a collaboration. Then my little seven-year-old started creating when he was four, because he was so inspired by his sister. He creates self-development for two to six year olds. He's seven and has 15 published books. His goal is to have a hundred books by age 10. He's now going into different languages because his sister's are in French, English and Spanish.
Duff Gardner: Wow. Yeah. Kudos to you. My kids are now in their twenties. I remember writing at some point, right at the beginning when they were... In fact I think I wrote this before my kids were even born. But I set an intention to get them involved in things that were interesting and innovative and to do what I can to do that. You've obviously walked the walk and you've gotten your kids involved in something that's going to be transformational in a very exponential way. That's so cool.
Laura Helen: They're already creating passive income at seven and eleven. They've already walked upon fire and attending all these Tony Robbins events and the life changing events worldwide. They're definitely little world-changers. They have open hearts and open minds, and they're out to create a difference and an impact.
Duff Gardner: Wow. Well, they beat me. I have not walked on fire yet. I've been on fire, but I've never walked on fire. Your kids have done that, and you've learned through the experience of helping them to become who they are and the family has become what the family is today. There's something there that you learned that you transfer to your clients. Maybe give us a bit more of an insight in terms of how you work with clients, what the process looks like?
Laura Helen: In the beginning we made a lot of expensive mistakes. We had many expensive lessons. It's a lot of trial and error, practicing making it right. We finally created this system that really helps. Now we keep creating for these incredible people. I think, because it's so authentic and real, we can just keep creating. We connect, have a planning session, we get super clear on the outcome that they want to create using this book. Because if we don't' know the end destination, we cannot create the journey. Then we interview the content from them.
I'm great at getting what it is the reader needs to have out of the author. Then we get it all typed up and we get it edited. They get to play with it and go, "Oops, shouldn't have said that," or add an extra bit in that they forgot. Then it goes to another editor. Meanwhile, we're creating the covers, the title, the subtitles, the about me's and the photo shoots. We take this giant cookie that is writing a book and we smash it down and give them a a crumb at a time. So it seems so easy, fast, and even fun. They just keep coming back.
Duff Gardner: Wow. That's amazing. And your clients are all over the world?
Laura Helen: Yes. It's absolutely global. Our biggest challenge in business is time zones.
Duff Gardner: Right. We're speaking at 9:00 AM here. I've got morning latte voice. And it's six o'clock in the evening for you there. It can be done. One of the things that you talked about earlier when we were offline is this concept of a launch team. I think that's really important. In the startup world I talk about the concept of the super fans and that is one of the most important things that you can think about when you're first starting out any project or business. So tell us about launch team and how that fits with your process?
Laura Helen: When we're going for the bestseller status we create a launch team, and they are your biggest fan, your greatest supporters. We find in any business if you get those first few true raving fans, not only are they invested in you and your products, but they will tell other people, they will rally around you. They will help be your voice. So you don't have to be everywhere at once. You have all these people that share with you. Like you said, I have these incredible authors. Our business has been completely offline, because people just come to us through referrals. We create that same authentic group for our authors to help reach maximum audience, so they can really impact and change the lives of the people they're out to make a different with.
Duff Gardner: Yeah. It's really interesting because the game that we're in. One of the things that I think people struggle with in online business, is how do I generate leads? Or how do I get traffic? How do I get people to what I'm all about? And it feels like to me, that's where a lot of people kind of flail around a little bit and kind of are a little bit unclear about how to do that. Sometimes they become really good at the stuff that you're selling. Like content, organic content, online courses, doing coaching, that kind of thing, masterminding, workshops. But this idea of, "How do I get people to me?" is something they really struggle with. So I love it that you have a strong focus on that part of everything. Because, in that sense, the book becomes kind of the vehicle, the trigger to move people that way, it's very important.
Laura Helen: Many of our clients will say. We have lots of testimonials shared out on YouTube and our website. A lot of them just say even without the book, the journey and the transformation they've personally had, their business has had, their brand has had, the book's almost just like this added bonus. Even though we seem primarily focused on the books, it really is a huge transformation process. Because there's so many brilliant books out there that no one's reading, because they haven't been put out the right way. We really focus on creating that so that you have a sustainable business by the end of our working together.
Duff Gardner: A personal story for me. Sometimes I can be a bit of a serial over-thinker. Anyone relate to that? Serial over-thinker? Are you my avatar? Serial over-thinkers out there? But anyway, just joking aside. When you think about writing a book, there is the big idea book. Like we've all walked through the airport, we've seen the big idea books, we've read the big idea books. Some of us want that. Then on the other hand you've got the lead-magnet book, which some people can whip up really quickly and throw it onto a site. And it's like 50 to 100 pages. I t's almost like a bigger version of a special report. What I love about what you do is it's kind of in the middle. You can work with a big idea book, but to be frank, like a lot of us, the book that's most appropriate is exactly in the zone you float in. Which it's a big idea and at the same time, it's a big idea that can help to grow your business. So I love the zone that you live in and I'm excited to work with you on that.
Laura Helen: Me too. It's going to be so fun.
Duff Gardner: Yeah. Ironically enough, on the topic of serial over-thinker, one of the things that I'm super interested in is a topic called resistance. I'm very meat and potatoes. When I got into the transformation world, I would go to events and I would hear a lot of people on the sort of the impact side, people who want to make an impact in the world along with an income, who would use this word resistance. "I want to do this, I've just got this resistance." As a meat and potatoes guy, it was a different word for me.
I went on a bit of a journey to figure out what the heck this is all about. And even in the realm of psychology, that concept is more treated in terms of the client counselor relationship. Like if there's a resistance there. I find it's a super interesting word, and it's kind of one of my key, key things that I want to do, is to help people slay that concept of resistance. I have my own thoughts about it, I'm always interested in my guests. Like how do you push through resistance in your business when you hit that wall?
Laura Helen: We've had so many in life generally. We've had the most craziest journey. It's knowing your why. If you have a strong enough why, there's no excuse big enough to not push forward. It's something I'm always coaching my authors on. They'll be making excuses to not do a live, "Oh, I can't do this." And I'm like, "Will you die? Will you die? If you say something wrong on a live, will everyone stop watching and never speak to you again?" I don't know what they expect is going to be the worst to happen, but I don't think they even think it, they just think, "Oh, no. I can't." And it just comes up as this wall. Why not? You have to really break it down. What is it holding me back? Why can't I do this? What am I expecting to go wrong? If you're not going to die, why are you holding back?
Duff Gardner: Yeah, that makes sense. I think a lot of people that are authors, I know I suffer from this, is if I have to write a technical report or a proposal, I put on the right music, I put on the headphones, I sit down for an hour and it's amazing. I can pump that darn thing out in an hour even if at the beginning of it I'm not clear. It kind of just flows through me. If it's a creative book, I will agonize over some of the concepts. I think a lot of us suffer through that. And so I think that the way that you approach your craft, how you kind of interview the brilliant side of people, it helps them access what they don't even know is in their heads.
Laura Helen: Absolutely. It gets them out of their heads. When people are trying to write a book, like physically write a book, they're in their head. They're thinking about how it looks on the paper. They're checking spellings and grammar, and looking at that thinking cursor or that pen to paper. When they're being interviewed, it's on the line, but it's like face-to-face. I'm asking questions, they're pouring.
"You flow with what you know".
Laura Helen: You pour it from your heart and you're pouring it from a place of truth and it's real and it's authentic. And you know your stuff. Everyone who's out there creating and making a difference, you know what it is you do by heart. So when you pour it out without your head getting in the way, it really is gold on paper.
Duff Gardner: When you said, "You flow from what you know," I don't know if that's a branded statement, but you should go and trademark that.
Laura Helen: I use that SO much. You flow with what you know
Duff Gardner: That's cool. Now, if somebody was embarking on the path and they were thinking about writing a book, and they're kind of looking at... At the point we're having this interview, there's a lot of changes going on in the world. What is the number one insight you've learned in business that you think people should know?
Laura Helen: You only fail if you give up.
I think that sounds so simple and so obvious. Yet out of hundreds and thousands of businesses, I think there's like 10% that survive.
We could've given up and failed many times.
Duff Gardner: Yeah, exactly. I was pulling an almost all-nighter last night. So I oscillated between wanting to die and wanting to quit. I'm just kidding. But we all have those moments where you have to push through it and you just have to remember, I think, what you said earlier. Just remember your why and why you're doing this in the first place. And that's super important in those moments when you're just really tired. Because it's going to happen for sure.
Laura Helen: Absolutely.
Duff Gardner: It's been so refreshing to meet you and get to know you. I'm excited about our paths forward. You're someone that I probably would not have met in North America at an event, I don't think. Maybe, maybe not. So it's super interesting that we've made this connection online, and I think that's a lesson in itself for people who are embarking on this journey, is that you absolutely can meet some amazing people just by wading into the online community and finding people that are amazing and brilliant, and can really help you with what you're trying to accomplish in your business. So thank you so much for being available today.
Your business again, Laura Helen, is called Books Boost Business. And I wanted to make sure that people can find you when they listen to this show. So they would go to booksboostbusiness.com/free-training.
Laura Helen: Then they can come and visit us on a free webinar where I'll teach them how to create a business book have an impact.
Duff Gardner: So that's awesome. That's nice you've got that free content. So it's booksboostbusiness.co.uk/free-training,, and that's where they can go and find out more information about what you do.
Laura Helen: And thank you for letting me join you today.
I had a super time sharing our journey and how we serve our clients on this podcast with duff. I hope you found value in this blog and if you are ready to create YOUR book the right way check out what service you are ready to create YOUR book the right way check out what service suits you best.
If you are ready to talk and find more let’s connect!
Use the link below to listen to the full interview.
About the Host:
Duff Gardner is an award-winning 7-figure marketer, startup founder and digital producer. Today, he leverages his 30+ years in a diverse range of businesses and his journey overcoming a series of out-of-the-blue panic attacks to help impact-driven entrepreneurs leverage the power of what he calls “startup thinking” to start, scale and serve in a big way. He is the host of the podcast Off My Duff – The Entrepreneur Podcast and Founder of the training company Offers that Sell. Duff holds an MSc. in Learning Sciences and Information Technology from Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley, is a fierce advocate of LGBT+ rights and animal rescue, and lives in beautiful Victoria BC. His mantra is: “teach what you love, live from your truth”.
