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#14: Publish to Empower: Revolutionise Your Business with Your Story!

Samantha Bell
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Grow Your Business with Your Story!

Imagine you could seize the power of your own story, and transform it into a tool that can fuel your business growth.

It’s not a fantasy - it’s a reality for many entrepreneurs.

Join us in an intriguing conversation with Susan Dean, the mastermind behind Dean Publishing, who reveals how crafting a book around your journey can change not only your business but also countless lives. Riding the waves of her own entrepreneurial voyage for over two decades, Susan throws light on the significance of self-trust and the compelling power of narrative. She shares the highlights of her exhilarating journey, including her experience with Dr. John Gray, and how his book rocketed his business to new heights.

Ever doubted your abilities? Susan was once there, but she pivoted from self-doubt to self-confidence, generating a business that has influenced an infinite number of lives through books. She underscores the necessity of having a sturdy team around you and the crucial role of self-care in enriching others. As Susan engages us in her story, she also unpacks the valuable lessons learned from achievements and blunders alike, underlining the importance of relentless growth.

Writing a book isn't just an artistic endeavour - it's a strategic move that can redefine your brand's reach.

Susan elaborates on how a well-written book can resonate deeply with your clients, becoming an extension of your brand's identity. A book isn't just a mere collection of pages - it’s a conduit that establishes a profound connection between the writer and the reader, a bond that Susan has expertly captured in her publishing journey. Curious about the tremendous potential books hold for your business and life?

Listen on and discover how you can harness this power for yourself.

Main Points

  • 0:01 The Power of Writing Your Story 

  • 8:41 Building Confidence and Strong Team 

  • 9:15 Backing Yourself and Following Your Passion  

  • 14:45 Fall Apart to Fall Together 

  • 18:59 Writing a Book's Power and Process 

  • 20:37 The Dean Formula 

  • 31:00 Power of Books in Business and Life

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Brilliant Business Beautiful Life Playbook
and start designing the business and life you deserve today!

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Plus, I’d be forever grateful if you left me a review. I read each and every one and love hearing from you.

Thank you so much for being here! I look forward to seeing you for the next episode.

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The Brilliant Business Beautiful Life Podcast is dedicated to you - because you deserve the business – and life -
of your dreams!

PS. Download the Brilliant Business Beautiful Life Playbook and start designing the business and life you deserve today!

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Hi, I’m Samantha Bell

I’m all about helping you build the business – and life – you’ve always wanted.

Listen in for the simple, actionable strategies, mindset shifts, and practices you need to make your business thrive. Plus, a healthy dose of self-care, health, and wellness so you can live the life you absolutely adore while building your beautiful business.

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Transcription

Samantha BellHost00:01

This week on the podcast, we are chatting with Susan Dean from Dean Publishing, all about how writing your story as a book can not only help you grow your business, but help you impact thousands of lives all around the world in a way that you wouldn't be able to otherwise.

It's a wonderful conversation and I think you're going to love it, so listen in and learn how writing your story can change lives around the world.

Welcome to the Brilliant Business, beautiful Life podcast, where we share simple, actionable strategies, plus the mindset and wellness practices you need to build the business and life you love. Head to 16thAveCreative.com/playbook and download your free guide to design the business and life you deserve today.

00:51

I'm your host, Samantha Bell, and this is the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. Are you ready for the business and life of your dreams? Let's get started. Welcome everyone to today's episode of the Brilliant Business, Beautiful Life podcast. As you know, we're all about helping women to design their life and to build a really sustainable business where they can help others while doing what likes them every day and that supports a life that they love.

01:24

Today we have a wonderful guest joining us who's done exactly that with her life and her business, and I'm talking about Susan Dean from Dean Publishing, and she's got 20, you might have to correct me on this, Susan, but 20 years of entrepreneurial experience. Welcome, Susan. I'm super excited to have you on the show today.

Susan DeanGuest01:47

Thanks so much, Samantha, for having me. I'm excited to have this conversation.

Samantha BellHost01:51

Pleasure. I was just telling you before we started that I've done a little bit of online stalking of you. What I've been really impressed with is how you marry business and life and that you've got such a wonderful joy and passion about what you do, and you seem to have captured the essence of combining the work-life balance so beautifully.

And what I love, too, is that we're very both big on it's never too late, you're never too old, and life's a journey. It can pivot along the way.

I really love you and you've got such an interesting story, so I'd love you to share your story with us.

Susan DeanGuest02:32

Yeah, most definitely, and I agree with all of that. I think that when you get older, you get wiser and you're not so much worried about what everyone thinks, and I think, like anything, the one thing that I want to say before I get into the story is it took me a long time to back myself and just trust in me and everything that happened in the past. Every adventure I'd been on, every path I'd gone on, has led me to where I am now, and so none of it was even the hard times really what led me to now doing what I know will be the rest of my life and pass on as a legacy, which I'll explain. So, I think that it's really important that, no matter where your listeners are, trust that, no matter if it's a good time or hard time, it's a journey that we're going on. It's a marathon, not a sprint, and I think that, wherever we're at, if you're not where you think you completely want to be, it's a steppingstone to get to where you are.

03:34

So, I think for me, going right back, I was always a person that loved helping people. You know, I'd be like going to my mum and dad. Hey, my friend’s got this problem in her family. Can she come stay with us for a while? So, it was kind of always in me. But I think that my dad was in the army, so I moved around every two years and had to make new friends and I think that that built who I was at the time. You know I was angry, so I had to leave all my friends every two years and make new ones, but I think it built who I am now, you know. So, the faster and the shorter I was at school, I think more for the social life. But I wanted to be a social worker and then when I found out it was, you know, four years at uni and HSC.

04:19

At the time it was like no, went out and did the typical secretary because I wasn't allowed to go on the dull, so that was the easiest way. The typing skills have come in handy, but I ended up going back as a mature age student and becoming youth worker, which was essentially what I wanted, more than the paperwork of a social worker anyway and it changed. I became a case worker so I was working with a lot of adolescents high risk and that screen I would tell like a you know they call it sometimes like a my friend John's story, you know I'd say, hey, a friend of mine did this, you know, or another person I know did this, and the kids would say, oh, do you think I could do too? And so that power of story came in and I think typically kids like that. No one wants to be told what to do, right, especially a bowie as an adolescent, you know. And so, story opened that up and then from there you know helping people and being restricted a bit inside of this as a youth worker, and you know, long story there. I became a coach, but early on, like early 2000s, and I worked with Dr John Gray, which a lot of people know, the author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

Samantha BellHost05:31

I do. I'm very familiar with that book and that would have been an amazing experience working with him, and that's led you down another path.

Susan DeanGuest05:41

It did and it led me down the path of, you know, running his relationship courses and then, of course, he wrote a book. So how did he grow his business and how did he get known with? Through a book. So, then I wrote at that time in a compilation book, and I'd written lots of other pieces and I'd ran his courses, and I loved the publishing I'd always love books and stories and so then you know, I'd gone through some partnerships with people, and you know I didn't back myself and go.

06:09

I could do this on my own and lots of partnerships went skew if and I got kind of taken advantage of and lost a lot of money and I think it was just like no, this is me and I've got to back me. So, I went out completely on my own, started up team publishing from, you know, my garage, like many other businesses, and I just went. What do I want to do? There're only so many people I can help as a coach. At that time, it wasn't. Now you can help so many people through all groups and memberships and things that weren't around in my day. You know, it was like I sound like my mother, you know, but I give my coaching calls with a phone that had a cord on the end of it.

Samantha BellHost06:51

Well, there wouldn't have been, you know way back then. Even for me there was no internet at one point. Internet and all that sort of thing has come during our process through life, hasn't it?

Susan DeanGuest07:04

100%. I learned on a typewriter with you and I think the world's moving really fast right, and we've got, we've had to move with the times, and so the great thing is that I've always said I don't know everything, I'm never going to know everything, so maybe I'll surround myself with people that are really great at what they do, because we can't be great at everything, but I went okay. So, starting up this publishing business, I started to attract people that were here for the right reasons. They were heart-centered. I got to coach through books, so I get to help people tell their story. They then get to help other people in their products or their services that they offer.

07:47

So, by default, I felt like I was helping more people. If I could help people write their story and their book to educate others whether that be in life or business or, you know, whatever their expertise was If I can help them pull together an amazing book that they could use to market themselves and they could use to inspire, make a difference in the world, then by default, I was helping more people. So, it brought my loves together of helping people books, coaching, story, education, self-development. It brought everything together and I went okay, universe, I get you. It took me a while, but I'm here now, and now I've built this business that you know my whole family is a part of, and so it's become a legacy that I didn't know I was creating in the first place.

Samantha BellHost08:38

I just love that story because it's such a beautiful, winding road and you've touched on some important things. I think one of the key things is when you said how initially you didn't back yourself and you didn't have that confidence in yourself and the importance of we all make mistakes along the way. But you can't grow and get really amazing at something unless you fall a few times and you're continuously learning and you know you'll try a concept and it may not work or it might, but you learn something from things that don't work well.

09:15

So how did you, through that process, get that confidence to back yourself and to follow that passion? Because clearly, you've always been a really heart-centered, nurturing person, caring about others, and now you've built this business where you can help people through books. A book doesn't just touch one person, it can touch hundreds of thousands of people, so your reach is quite broad now. So how did you get to that point where you really just thought, yeah, this is, this is me, I can do this, and I don't need to doubt myself anymore? How did you come to that?

Susan DeanGuest09:52

I think it's because I felt like and don't get me wrong, there's some great partnerships out there, as in two directors running a company, but the point is, you're going to have different people's ways of doing things, and for me it was really important that I over delivered, that I worked with people that were like-minded, that were there to make a difference, and if I could help them. You know, maybe they weren't great writers, maybe they didn't know where to put stuff and how to make it all come together, including myself. I'm an entrepreneur. My mind's going bing bing, bing, bing bing with ideas. You know, trying to get me to sit still and do something is no mean feat and I'll do it, but I'll do it in my flow. You know, I don't think to me it's not about work life balance, about work life flow and understanding ourselves. The more that we understand ourselves, the more that we can realize what we're good at and what we're not great at. And so, for me, I'm a creative, you know. I wouldn't say that I'm a creative in the art form of painting and things, but I'm a creative in ideas. My mind and ideas for myself, but for others just comes in. That's why it where my strength is, but I needed some good team around me, and I thought that was somebody else being another partner in my business. So, I thought I can't do this.

11:15

But where the passion came in is I had had so many people that had different values and different alignment than me, and so we would part ways sometimes great and sometimes not so great and I'd be picking up the pieces going no, I'm going to back me. I know how I want this. I know how I want to look after my clients. I know how I want to do this. What I'll do is build a beautiful team around me. So, rather than going into partnership, I built a team and I started to attract amazing editors and writers and designers, and I could impart my passion and my knowledge onto them. But now I had a team to be able to help these people, because we can't be great at everything, and so now I had a team so individuals could come and hire my whole team to help them get their book out.

12:03

So, I think I just went to the point where I went how do I get to have my complete say in my business as a solopreneur? But I can be a solopreneur but build a team around me, and that's what I did, and it just built on that and it was just this is meant to be, and I think it was the universe was putting that in my way, I believe. And things were falling apart because they were meant to fall together. And at the time I didn't know that I had my upmarket breakdown. And I call it my upmarket breakdown because I'd just been broken so many times and I just went and bought a big block of chocolate, bottle of scotch, I booked myself into the most expensive hotel and I call it my upmarket breakdown because my kids were little, and I didn't want them to see me.

Samantha BellHost12:50

You needed the space to just be and be.

Susan DeanGuest12:53

Yes, and I just needed to eat my chocolate, eat my shit, drink my scotch. And my lovely room, even if it was beautiful story, where snot came out of my nose and all of that stuff, but it built me and I think that the thing is, unless we've been through the hard times, we learn, unfortunately, from our hard times more than we do our good times.

Samantha BellHost13:12

We do, don't we? We take notice of them, that's it and they're there for a learning and a lesson.

Susan DeanGuest13:12

Yes, and so I think for me, it was just having that backing yourself and trusting in yourself and thinking about how many people you lift up. You got to lift up yourself as well, and I wasn't great at that, was great at lifting everyone else up, but I didn't. You know, when I still struggle, I still have to have a reminder to go hmm, look after you so you can look after others. So, I'm always getting the room reminders of that. But I think it was this the confidence grew by just knowing that I have no expectations. I have a passion, a drive, an intuition that I'm there to help others and I'm finding, and you know and it's just finding your path and just doing the best you can. You're never going to be perfect. No, Perfection is a killer. Because you need to progress. You need to keep moving forward and own your stuff. Own it. If you've mucked up, own it. I apologize. This has happened. It's not happened before.

14:15

Amazon just did a complete overhaul and mucked up some of ours. It wasn't us, but, like the uploads, we had to deal with them, and now we're dealing with AI, not human beings. There's a lot that we have to tackle. But we just said to the authors this is outside of our control. Give us a few days, we're going to support you in fixing these two problems. And it only happened to one or two authors. That was understanding. It was outside of our control. Now we've learned a new way. Now we'll work with Amazon in that way, that's it, yeah.

Samantha BellHost14:45

You have to be malleable with everything you do. I really love that you had to, in one way, fall apart to fall together. I love that saying that's really beautiful, just coming into your own. And you really got to that point by just keeping your creativity and your vision as your focus and dropping away all that white noise around you. And then you've built your beautiful team, which includes your two daughters as well.

Susan DeanGuest15:25

That's right, yeah, and that's part of the legacy that you're creating. And it didn't start out that way. It's funny how that worked out. So, I was working out of my garage at the time, not this beautiful publishing house that we've got now. But and I remember my daughter was they'd been to uni, they'd travelled. One daughter lived on Hamilton Island. They'd done all their travel and they'd done uni and done all of that path to find where they wanted to fit in. And one of my daughters rang up and said what are you doing today? It's so hard on finding the problem. And I said I'm actually interviewing someone for a personal assistant because I'd had a virtual assistant and I wanted someone to work now in with me in the office. And she said I want the job. I said are you going to go working with me? And I've already got the interview. And I said you'll have to have an interview too. So, funny enough, personal assistant also did some editing for me. So, it's fine.

16:18

She got some roles and then Monique came and worked with me, my youngest daughter, who's now 28 and giving me two gorgeous grandchildren. She was great. She was the organized one, like I just felt like I was the child, but she's my organized daughter, so she'd get everything organized. And then my other daughter, she would come and help run retreats and run events, but then that was just like weekends or when we ran a retreat. It wasn't a full-time role. And she said you're having way too much fun. I'm sick of working in hospitality and weekends and events and stuff. I want to come work for you too. And I'm like well, you need to create a role Like you can't just come and I pay you. And so, she's become an amazing asset and really got herself into Instagram and runs my socials, which for me it's like oh, mum, don't touch that. Oh, don't do this, just laugh and do this stupid thing, mum, it'll get lots of likes. So now she runs my socials.

Samantha BellHost17:16

Perfect. That's such a lovely, cohesive, it's just beautiful. And on your socials, it's so nice. You've got a lovely mix of business and your personal and you get to know you through that and it's because it all helps with the relationship building with your clients as well, and I mean it just must be amazing to go to work every day and the gorgeous message and ranges where you are and in acting manner, with your family, just doing what lights you up every day. It's so good, but it is important for everyone to know that that was a journey and what they see now started in your garage. So, you can never start too small, and you can never start too late. So, it's such a really inspiring story.

18:03

I wanted to get into more about how the book publishing can help your business too. So, we all know the traditional ways of marketing our businesses and we see that's sort of very heavy on our Instagram feeds and everything and following all the gurus and that, but your approach is so completely different and unique, and it is writing a book. So, can you talk us through that and how that's really going to be a powerful way of growing your business and leaving a legacy too?

Susan DeanGuest18:41

Absolutely. And that's predominantly how John Gray grew his business. Anthony Robbins, lots of big gurus and remember that they're all. I think the one thing to remember is they're all just other human beings. They're not different than us. They're another human being and they started somewhere. And I think what the power of a book does is you can get someone's knowledge out of their head for like 30 bucks or whatever a book is, and get that person's knowledge and skills and even if you get one thing from it. So, the power of a book has always been something that I think is so exciting. And the other thing is that when I started out, you'd be networking and you'd be talking and repeating the same thing and the same thing, and more so even now that we can have a beautiful website, which is really important, and beautiful branding on our socials, which is really important. But the book connects them on another level, where they're now starting to read all the things that you might not be able to put on a website. It's not appropriate to put on a website. But now I can combine.

19:47

What I call the best way to write a book is combining story with how to give them something that they can do. This isn't all about me. This is about I'm sharing a story for a purpose, for you to understand who I am and why I do what I do. But let me educate you on this Now. Not all books are like that, don't get me wrong. There're some complete how-to books and there's some complete autobiographies. But its knowing what book is going to be best for your clients. But it's a way that they get to connect with you and get to know you a little bit, see you as that authority, get to understand a little bit about your knowledge to then take that next step to engage in your services. So, one does the selling for you. Essentially, it's more about serving the clients. I call it serving.

20:37

In the Dean's Formula we talk about design. Get your design right, your branding, get all that right. Go and hire a professional, get everything being on brand. Then educate them through a book, through podcasts like this, through stages. Educate them, then automate as much as you can especially if you're a solopreneur and then nurture your clients to serve them. So that's what we call about the Dean's Formula and the education part is so important in that element because now they're getting to know, like and trust you and you're getting to not have to repeat yourself.

21:11

It's like, kind of buy my book, but when you're out there marketing on podcasts and you're giving your thing, tell them about your book. I've got one in the another, one in the making at the moment which I'll let everyone know about once it's finalized. It's in the last parts of it now. But I'm talking about the writing a book to grow your business, because that's what it asks for you, and it becomes a really great business card. But more than that, because they get to feel you.

21:39

If it's written well, they get to sense your heart, your soul, what it is that you're doing, but giving them some tools and techniques that they can do on their own. But then, if they don't want to do it on their own or it requires more specialist services, then they can engage you, knowing that you know your stuff, you're an expert, an instant authority, and they understand a little bit more about you. So, I think that's where a book's important. And then publishing has changed so much. Nowadays. We've got things like keyword searches, when people are searching online for a book Instead of going to a bookstore, because most of them are closed. Now there's a huge year in there and even now people go in and they go into a bookstore, and they look for a book and then they go home and buy it half the time.

Samantha BellHost22:24

Yeah, that's so true.

Susan DeanGuest22:27

So, I think what we've done is where I found people fell down is that they might know their stuff. They don't know how to start, where to put it, what order to put it in Process, isn't it? It's a huge process and I say that's why it takes about nine months. It's like birthing a baby. It takes a lot of it, takes a team to sort of do it, and so that's where I built the team of in-house editors, designers, ghost writers, copywriters everybody under one roof so that an individual can go blah, blah, blah. Help me organize this book, help me pull it together, and then we help them with a specialist team to be able to get that book in their hand that they're proud of, that's written correctly, it's got all the right grammar. I'm not the person for that my beautiful team is but we really get the book to help use as a way for people to get to know, like and trust you and engage in your services. So, using the book for what else it is that you do for sure.

Samantha BellHost23:31

That's wonderful, because I'm a huge book lover. I think I've always got about five books on the go at one time, and you know then they're not just words on a page, it's not this inanimate object, we can really connect with it and you can hear the person's voice in the way that you relate to and you can really absorb their story. More so and I know you know, in any of the mentor books or anything like that that I've read, you just get such a deep sense of the human being behind the words. Like you said before, it can give you the tips and ideas or a few strategies to do a portion of what you need to do, and then you can reach out to that person to connect the rest of the dots for you if you need to. So, it's such a wonderful tool or product to have in your suite of services, I guess.

Susan DeanGuest24:30

Yeah, and when you're on other podcasts or you're out there talking to people or you're doing speaking against events or even selling it off your own website, now you know you can get full distribution. You know, depending on what path you want to go, you can get into bookstores If that's the path you want to go, it comes with conditions. Or you can do it on your own, where you can distribute through Amazon, Booktopia, Angus and Robinson all yourself but sell it yourself and own the rights. So, there's so much powerful ways of doing it yourself and having that full creative control. So, the way I explain it is you've got self-publishing, traditional publishing and we're in between. We're supported self-publishing, so you get to still own the rights. You know, own all the copyright, create your book, do it the way that you know your clients need, because you know more than the publisher does.

25:23

But we have got a team of experts that know the book and the publishing and distribution industry and the printing industry and everything that kind of. You don't need to kind of go and figure that all out. We've done it all for you. But you just get the team and go right. Help me bring to life this beautiful baby book. I'd say, like it's birthing a baby here's my book then I'm going to put my heart, my soul, my knowledge into and that's why when I get a book, I cherish it so much, because the person's got all their knowledge from their head which can be decades of experience into a book and you get to experience that book to then get to know them a bit. For whatever reason.

Samantha BellHost26:04

You know whether you want to engage the services or just learn from their expertise that they've gathered over the years, it's a holistic experience really, and I think that's really wonderful, because just the thought of writing a book to most people is terrifying. I don't know many people who haven't said to someone else oh, you should write a book or thought it about themselves. So, it's a common thought, but most people never, ever do it, even if they have a really deep wish too inside, because they're scared, or they don't know how or what if it’s not good?

Susan DeanGuest26:38

We call it author anxiety. You get to the point where you go it’s good enough, it's not good enough. You need someone to bounce that off. You need to decide what stays in, what stays out. It's a journey sometimes where authors will just start crying and we're there to support them because they needed to release something. But the point is because it does get through that and if you don't have someone that understands and bats you, it's hard to get over that hurdle. So, we have people come to us going I've been writing a book for 10 years and then we'll get the book out in you know nine months' time and they'll go oh my gosh, like I just was stopping myself, wasn't I? I was getting in my own way and we're like it's great, let's just get it out into the world. And then that author anxiety goes, and celebration comes about, absolutely.

Samantha BellHost27:27

So, someone listening thinks oh wow, this is such a valuable way I can help other people. I'd really love to do this. What does the process look like? Do they have to come to you with bullet points of what they want to do? Do they have to come with a really rough first draft? Do they just have to come and talk to you? How does it all work?

Susan DeanGuest27:46

It depends on what they're looking for. So, we have beautiful writers' retreats. As you know, we're in the five acres in a beautiful property that it's designated just for the publishing house. We actually live across the road on five acres as well, but the publishing house was always designed for people to come to enjoy. This is something that I purchased to share with the community. It was never going to be my own. When I walked in here, my intuition just went this is mine. I don't know how I'm going to get it, but this is mine, and the story behind that is hilarious on its own. But it became my property. It was about something that would stay around to share with the community. So we've built a purpose built, beautiful home where people can come for a retreat, and what's so great about that is a great way to come and learn about publishing, learn about what to do, what not to do, and walk away with a really solid structure, working with the expert team to get a solid structure that allows them to then get the book writing started. You'll learn all about all the anxiety. You'll be supported with some other product to go away and start writing yourself. So that's one way to really get yourself into it.

29:01

A lot of startups or people that are wanting to write their book. That's a good place to go. I'm just finalizing an online course at the moment which takes people through a very detailed step by step doing it themselves. Or there's the top service, where you work with directly with my team and they'll help write it with you, where you go away and write, and they'll critique it and back and forth until you have a book in your hand. So, it can be from concept of idea to finished product in your hand. You don't have to have written before. You can join Dean Publishing in a way that's going to support you where you're at financially or where you're at time wise as well. Some people have got more time than they do money right now because they're building up. Some people have got more money because they're established, and they’ve got no time and they just want it done. So, we've really catered to everybody.

29:54

Our goal is to get as many books out there as possible. How can we support you to do that? There's many different levels, so the first way is to just go to deanpublishing.com and click on an expert call and then you'll get to speak to me, because I like that's one role that at the moment I have an outsourced, because I really want to get to know the authors and I want to make sure I can serve them and I can help them in what they're doing. And if I can't a little bit like Miracle on 34th Street if it's a particular book that I can't help them with, I'll direct them to where they could possibly go, or I will direct them on whether they should do the retreat first or the online course, or which service would be best suited to them, rather than just selling them a one-stop shop. It's really about how can we best support you where you're at right now?

Samantha BellHost30:47

That's wonderful because, yeah, everyone's at a different stage, aren't they? Some would be natural writers and may have already, you know, versed a whole lot of their story already, and others it might be in their head. And you've published a wide variety of authors too. Can you tell us about the different types of businesses that they have?

Susan DeanGuest31:08

I always say to people it's like saying who's your favourite child. I don't have a favourite child. I love all the authors. Look, I think that we've done lawyers, coaches, speakers, confidence people who are helping others build confidence. Mothers that are helping other mums become super mums. We've had stories of autobiography type stories where one young girl lost her eye to cancer and her journey. We've had a gentleman that lost both of his legs in a car accident and his journey of what he's done to people, helping other women in finance so that they can get their finances in order.

31:50

To another author, Aaron, who is written a book on autism fields. He's diagnosed as an adult with autism, and he educates people. He's got a great podcast out as well. There are people helping with medicine. There's just Aaron from KX Pilates who's got the big KX Pilates franchise that's going global. So, there's so many different books that we do from coaches, speakers, trainers, business owners that just want to share what it is that they've got and help people with their knowledge. But then, of course, if the person then wants more, they can go and find. So typically, they are business owners, but a very diverse range of business owners. We've done dentists, doctors, chiropractors. There are so many diverse people. It sounds like there's something that you can't write about.

32:49

No, and I think that it's just exploring it and looking at what you want the book to do. But a book is so much power from a marketing perspective, from a PR perspective and just getting people to know you and be seen as that authority. And I think when I talked about earlier being a coach in the early 2000s, the good thing about that there weren't many coaches around. The bad thing about that there were many coaches around because people didn't really know as much about coaching. They weren't as open. Now we're so open to learning different methods of healing and different methods of building our confidence and we're more open to getting others to help us now. And so that book allows people to say hey, here I am, yes, if you would like me to help you, this is how I can help you.

33:43

And I think it used to sometimes be seen as a vanity thing. I think at one stage it had a wrongful name of vanity publishing. What I think now it's not. I say to people get out of your own way. I remember my coach to do with business said stop being selfish. And I'm like, oh my God, I'm not a selfish person. He said but you are because you've got so much to give and you're getting in your own way. You need to shout out to the world what it is, and then you can help these people. So, we're only here for a short amount of time. What legacy are we going to leave? How many people are we going to help, whilst also helping ourselves? We've still got to look after us, but that's what I feel a book does.

Samantha BellHost34:28

That's right, absolutely, and it's something that you're bringing it into your home, you're holding it, you're touching it, it’s personal and gives you that depth which is so beautiful. Yeah, it's just such a wonderful. Well, as I said, I'm hugely into books. There's not a better stage or worse stage of business to be in before you're able to go down the path of writing a book either.

Susan DeanGuest34:59

People think Oh no, I need to know more. No, you don't, because wherever you're at, remember you're taking these people on a journey. They're going to get older, like you know me, and 56 now and still loving what I'm doing. The point is there was a part my book is still relevant that I wrote years ago around relationships. It's still relevant today because it's who I am and it's what I believe, and so that's still relevant. I always said it.

35:25

We've watched people write a book and build their business from the book and they've got more well known and you feel better because it's also about you. You've got something beautifully done that you can present to people, give to people, sell to people. The book can help grow your business. But remember, wherever you are, you need to go back anyway to what you know, so that you're capturing them in the beginning of the basics and you're taking them on the journey with you. So I say to people no, we need to get back to the basics of who you are and what your beliefs are and what it is that you want to teach people, and then your services might take them on another level, but you can't jump in at that level because they might not be ready for that yet. So, I always say when's the best time to write a book? And it's always now, because you can write a second book, you can update your first book. But if you wait until the perfect time, you'll never write a book.

Samantha BellHost36:21

There is never a perfect time, is there?

Susan DeanGuest36:23

No, and you'll die with the book inside of you, which is what I say to people, and that would be a tragedy. And the one other thing I think you mentioned earlier about a book, you know, can change lives. I have a saying that I always say it's not only kind of book change lives, it can save a life.

Samantha BellHost36:43

So true, so true. There are so many people that have said I picked up this book I don't know why and on page 55 or whatever it said this sentence and that has just changed my life or given someone a new opportunity, or someone who's been, there's been people close to suicide who have then found that maybe I don't need to go down that path. There're other answers. So, they're powerful. They're so incredibly powerful.

Susan DeanGuest37:14

And we've written a few books like that that have helped people. But even in business or even one of our authors who's a lawyer who helps couples amicably separate, she's still saving their life because in a sense she saved them from having this just turmoil. Or somebody that's helped grow your business, you're still changing lives, but saving lives because now you've got them maybe in a better headspace or in a better financial position. So I say that in the sense of you know, we've got nobody you know can save me a great book that was about a gentleman's journey through, you know, losing so many friends We've had so many different stories here but also helping someone in their business, in their life, in their relationships, in their mindset. It's all so powerful but they're not going to know about you unless you're getting yourself out there, you know, unless you're getting yourself out on podcasts or in books and out there. But a book can go global.

Samantha BellHost38:16

Yes, so true, and you know, a post on Instagram will last a day or two and then that power is lost. The beauty of a book is that you have so much coming at you every day on social media or in your inbox or, you know, just in life in general, and a lot of people wanting to explore a topic. They need a bit of a break from all that barrage. And reading a book, picking it up, is actually a way to relax into the topic and let it just sit with you and you can really just mull it over in your head and then it's a more gentle process that you're not feeling as harassed by do this, buy this, download this or whatever, and I think that's a beautiful aspect for the purchaser of the book. And you know, a lot of my clients are coaches and they're creatives or counsellors, that sort of thing, so they have so much knowledge that they can share and, like you said, it impacts thousands of people by just getting it out of their head and into the world.

Susan DeanGuest39:28

Yeah, exactly, and that's why I think you know, and sometimes it's just having a team, because if you are a busy coach or entrepreneur and you've got it all in your head, you just don't know how to do it. So, it becomes so overwhelming that you don't do it. And that's why I wanted to build the team that allows people or the online course or the retreats, so you've got support to get it out there, because we need that support, that if we come across something I know I did, I needed my team. I keep saying to my team was I your worst client ever? Because, like, I'd just be like blah blah, blah, blah, blah and then just send it back and it'd look amazing and I go yep, that's exactly what I wanted to say. I just couldn't get it out.

Samantha BellHost40:11

Perfect. Well, this has been wonderful, Susan, chatting with you, and I think everyone will have really enjoyed hearing not just your story but how they can use their story to help other people and to build their business and to make a greater impact, and I really encourage anyone who's ever thought of doing that or had said to them you need to write a book, to get in touch with you and to book that clarity call with you at deanpublishing.com.

Susan DeanGuest40:41

Correct and just click on Book an Expert call and that's just a conversation. It's just literally getting me to understand a little bit about you and what you're looking for and then I can guide you in the best way for you to get that book out there.

Samantha BellHost40:58

Yeah, absolutely. And the thought of going on a retreat at your beautiful property down there. I mean, that's just heaven.

Susan DeanGuest41:06

Yeah, that's mixing a bit of. Which is very important too is mixing fun and work and pleasure all in one. Which is a big thing for me is if you're not having fun doing what you're doing, you know you need to incorporate that fun and retreat. And, yes, you get to stay up at the beautiful Macedon Hotel and we've got the beautiful centre here. We do in house in and there's small groups so that we can really work closely with each author and help them with their particular business and everyone's unique. So, they need that bespoke type thing. So, yeah, it is really lovely. The retreats We've got another one just coming up. We usually do about four a year.

Samantha BellHost41:48

So perfect. So, we'll have to keep a lookout for that, and I'll put all the links and everything in the show notes too, so people can find you and book the retreat or book that call and get their story into the world. Like I said at the beginning, I'm very inspired by you and your passion and you're just the joy for life and what you do. So, thank you for sharing your story with us today. It's been amazing, it's been lovely.

Susan DeanGuest42:14

Thanks so much for having me.

Samantha BellHost42:20

Thanks so much for listening. I'd love to know your biggest takeaway from today's episode, so leave me a comment below or send a DM on Instagram. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button wherever you listen to the brilliant business, beautiful life podcast and feel free to share it with someone else who'll love it too. I look forward to seeing you for the next episode and remember the time is now for your brilliant business and the beautiful life you adore.