Entrepreneur and author Rich Perry returns to the podcast to talk about his journey as an author and why short form collaborations can be a great way for new authors to start. More at www.bemovingforward.com.
Moving Forward is also available on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music.
Rich Perry
My name is Rich Perry and I am a Communication Strategist. I help you build the brand your customers will trust. Entrepreneurs who have an important message to share, hire me when they want to design an optimized and powerful communication strategy to reach their audience, build brand authority, and turn casual visitors into lifelong customers.
I co-authored Bankroll Your Mind (International #1 Best Seller) and was a contributing author in three books focusing on personal development. I am currently writing a book for Freemasons that will focus on leadership and personal development. Also, I am a writer for Entrepreneur and other respected online publications.
Fun Fact: Rich officiates weddings!
Joint Venture (JV): The parts to whole training ground
Rich is all things communication. It’s his calling, his life blood if you will. Rich started his writing journey in a very smart way. He participated in three JV or joint-venture works, in which he was a contributing author. Growing up, Rich never envisioned himself writing a book save for a paperback he wrote for a fifth grade English class, which is still on his shelf. However, writing has been a constant in his life. Early on, he started with short form pieces, including book and music reviews for local digital publications. From there, Rich branched out into personal development. It was this path, which not only led him to his career calling as a communication specialist but into book writing. He connected with Jim Lutes and Jim Britt, co-authors of the “Change” book series who invited him to be a contributing writer.
Rich explains that being a contributor is one of the best ways to scratch the book writing itch. It’s also an excellent way to find out if you have what it takes to write a book. Often, we think of book writing as a daunting all-or-none task. Not so. Rich’s experience shows that you can ease into it. He gained invaluable experience being part of a collaborative work that included experienced writers. This took the pressure off of completing a book by himself while allowing him the freedom to explore this form of writing. For many of us, the idea of writing a book alone or even with one other person is overwhelming to the point that many fail to get started much less finish. However, as Rich shares, JVs make it easier to gain author experience. Further, when you're only responsible for one or two chapters, it alleviates the anxiety, tension and stress that comes with writing an entire book. Rich candidly reveals that at the time he was unsure whether he had what it took to be an author. Thus, being part of a JV was an excellent way for him to push himself without carrying the entire book writing load on his shoulders. He discovered that a JV was a great learning experience to cut his teeth on. He called on friends who were professional and experienced writers to critique and coach him through the process, an easier ask for one chapter than an entire book. Rich gained all the benefits, including experience and confidence, without having to be responsible for an entire work product. Following this positive experience, Rich contributed to two other JVs, which in turn led him to co-write his own book. As he put it, it was simply a matter of multiplying the JV experience by 12 or 15.
How do you find these opportunities?
As it turns out, Jim Lutes and Jim Britt found Rich on LinkedIn. One of Rich’s many talents is that he’s not only a communicator by profession, it’s part of his natural being. He’s a consummate networker, using social media and his own platforms to share out great content. The secret sauce to his success is to make connections, build relationships, and share your content. Rich started out with short form pieces and became very active on social media. The first JV opportunity came his way through all of these efforts. As his story illustrates, there are many writing opportunities you can find online and off, including local businesses, organizations, conferences, digital publications, and of course, JV projects.
The beauty of this is that the work you put into your network is cumulative. Once Rich contributed to his first JA, others came his way. This was fertile training ground for him to become an author on his own.
Co-writing his first book
Building upon his JV experience, Rich decided to make the leap and write his own book. Rich met his now business partner Larunce Pipkin at a NLP training in Las Vegas. Coincidentally, they had both been pitched the same JV opportunity by Jim Lutes and Jim Britt, and both of their contributions ended up in the same book! As busines partners, Rich and Larunce started creating seminars and presentations, all of which became raw material for a book. It was kismet that they would end up co-authoring Bankroll Your Mind, which was not only their first book but a direct extension of their business (for more on tying a book back to a business, check out MF 373 with Suzanne Brown).
How necessity really is the mother of invention (or writing your first book)
Rich is currently writing his first solo book, which as with many of the authors in this series, originated during the early days of the pandemic. The book focuses on leadership development aimed at Freemasons. Rich is heavily involved in his local Masonic community, specifically in the areas of education and leadership. A big part of this involves putting together events; speaking at various lodges, talking about personal growth and leadership. During 2020, as many events were cancelled or postponed, Rich had a bunch of notes and material on the subject. Rather than put it into a drawer, Rich created an audio program, which was 12 segments long. This eventually became the core content for the book he’s currently writing.
Process
Rich doesn’t follow the same process for each book. Rather, he finds opportunity from his circumstances. For his first book, his network led to an invitation to be a JV contributor, which ignited a conversation with his business partner who also happened to be a contributor on the same project. His second book was borne out of the pandemic and started as a series of audio lessons. There isn’t one linear path Rich follows. However, listening to Rich's story you can see a pattern of finding the intersection between opportunity and circumstance. Rather than a "1-2-3 step process," book writing can be a holistic and logical extension of the time, effort, and energy one invests into their natural endeavors.
Challenge
Rich is candid that he often gets into his head about whether his writing is "good enough," a common experience for many writers. This is often referred to as "imposter syndrome," and can lead to paralysis or deleting a lot of chapters before they can grow into a book. To alleviate this, Rich shares a tried and true practice: just put it all on paper and come back to it later. In other words, don’t get into your head as you write that first draft. Rather, get into a "flow state" that allows the ideas to get out, then return to it later with the critical eye (for more on this check out MF 376 with Aaron Bossig). Rich advises to go back to it only when you’re feeling calm, whether it’s one day or a week after writing.
Listen to Rich talk about SMART Goals on #MFPodcast 322.
10-Minute Mentor episode with John Lim
How to Create a Podcast & Build An Audience (Level Up with Winnie Sun and Rich Perry)
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Check out the Moving Forward mini-series collection
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