How to Share Your Wisdom

Visit Keri at: https://kerichilders.com/

[00:00:02]
You have found
Authentic Business Adventures,

[00:00:04]
the business program that brings you
the struggle

[00:00:06]
stories and triumphs and successes
of business owners across the land.

[00:00:10]
Audio podcast episodes can be found
at the podcast link at drawincusmers.com. Of

[00:00:16]
course, you can download those for free,
and free is a good price, right?

[00:00:20]
We are locally underwritten
by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:00:22]
My name is James Kademan, entrepreneur,

[00:00:24]
author, speaker, and helpful coach to
small business owners across the country.

[00:00:28]
And today we’re welcoming/preparing
to learn from Keri Childers,

[00:00:32]
the founder and owner of I love this name,
Thought Leader Connection.

[00:00:37]
So how cool is that?

[00:00:38]
Keri, how are you doing today?
Great.

[00:00:40]
How are you?
I’m doing very well.

[00:00:42]
I’m excited,

[00:00:43]
if for no other reason than
Thought Leader Connection is just about

[00:00:46]
the coolest name of a business
I’ve ever heard.

[00:00:49]
Also TLC, tender loving care.

[00:00:52]
Was that intentional or
did that just happen?

[00:00:55]
After we did that, somebody pointed it out
to me and I was like, wow,

[00:00:59]
because that totally is how I intend
to do business, with tender love and care.

[00:01:03]
So it kind of worked.

[00:01:04]
All right, so what is
the Thought Leader Connection?

[00:01:07]
Sure.
I work with authors and speakers.

[00:01:10]
I help them with their book launch
campaigns and to formulate what they

[00:01:14]
exactly talk about so that we can
communicate clearly to meeting planners

[00:01:18]
what they’re going to come
in and talk about.

[00:01:20]
I do a lot of niche conversations,
so if there’s a meeting planner that’s not

[00:01:25]
looking for a broad topic that everybody
speaks to, but something more niche

[00:01:29]
for their audience, I’m a person that can
usually find that content for them.

[00:01:33]
All right.

[00:01:34]
So I take care of the speakers, and I take
care of the meeting planners on both sides.

[00:01:38]
Interesting.

[00:01:38]
All right,
tell me about the speakers because

[00:01:42]
I guess that’s a journey that I started
to go down, but then I had a kid.

[00:01:46]
So that just changes
your speaking schedule.

[00:01:50]
Yes.
It’s a hard job if you’ve got little ones

[00:01:52]
at home because you’re on the road
if you’re going to be successful.

[00:01:56]
Yeah, I tried. I started to go down that road.
I always thought it’d be cool to be

[00:02:00]
a stand up comic as well,
but I’m probably not that funny.

[00:02:03]
I work with a stand up comedian also so. Do you really?

[00:02:06]
I do. Paul Ollinger is his name.

[00:02:09]
Trying to get him gigs or
how do you work with him?

[00:02:12]
I only help him on the booking back end

[00:02:14]
side, so I don’t do any prospect
for him, but just help him.

[00:02:18]
But he also does an incredibly niche

[00:02:20]
keynote for his podcast is
called Crazy Money Podcast.

[00:02:24]
I don’t know if you’ve heard of it.

[00:02:25]
He has some niche content for people who,

[00:02:28]
when they get to I don’t want to say
the end of their careers,

[00:02:31]
but potentially at a point where they want
to bot sell out and leave what they’re

[00:02:36]
doing and capitalize on their
part ownership or what have you.

[00:02:39]
Then how do you live a fulfilling life

[00:02:41]
with all of the money that you’ve
just all of a sudden gotten?

[00:02:45]
And how do you live a fulfilling life
when you’re no longer going to work?

[00:02:48]
Because we all want to live with purpose.

[00:02:50]
We all enjoy working and providing
us give back to the community.

[00:02:54]
So he talks to people about finding true

[00:02:56]
happiness, which we all know
can’t be found in money.

[00:02:59]
And how do you do that on the other side
of a career once you’ve cashed out.

[00:03:05]
Again, niche content.
Yeah.

[00:03:07]
Niche content. This is from a comedian?

[00:03:08]
And he also does comedy.
Yes.

[00:03:10]
All right.

[00:03:11]
So he incorporates that into his keynotes
and makes it just a lot of fun to hear.

[00:03:15]
Oh, very cool.

[00:03:16]
So how did you get in this business?

[00:03:18]
Was this something that you just were
in the industry for a while and said,

[00:03:21]
Screw this, so I can do
a better job or something?

[00:03:25]
Just tell me your story.

[00:03:26]
How do you get started here?

[00:03:28]
So my husband made me do it,

[00:03:30]
and I love to tell that story, but I
started back in 1999 with John Maxwell.

[00:03:35]
I’m not sure if you’re familiar
but he’s a big speaker now.

[00:03:39]
So worked with him with speaking
and book launch campaigns.

[00:03:42]
And then, like you,

[00:03:43]
I had some children and stepped
out of the career for a while.

[00:03:47]
I came back when my youngest was three

[00:03:49]
and was working underneath
a great friend of mine.

[00:03:52]
We did a lot of New York Times bestseller
campaigns and had a lot of fun doing that.

[00:03:57]
And then I had a little detour, actually,
and went to work at my kids school

[00:04:01]
for seven years, which was
fantastic because as a mom.

[00:04:04]
Yeah.

[00:04:05]
Getting the break for Christmas
and Thanksgiving.

[00:04:07]
That’s a hard left out of what
you were doing, right?

[00:04:09]
Yes, yes.
But, you know,

[00:04:11]
I wanted to be with the kids,
and the book launch campaigns are a blast,

[00:04:15]
but it was a good 50,
60 hours work week, for sure.

[00:04:18]
All right, so the school schedule
was a lot better for a mom.

[00:04:22]
And then we, five years ago,
moved to Midlothian, Virginia,

[00:04:26]
and I was trying to think,
what am I going to do here?

[00:04:28]
I didn’t want to start all
the way over in a career.

[00:04:30]
I was 43 at the time, and my husband said,

[00:04:33]
go do the book launch campaigns
and work with the speakers.

[00:04:36]
Just do it on your own.

[00:04:37]
And I was scared to death
to start a business on my own.

[00:04:42]
Definitely shaking in my boots.

[00:04:44]
My kids got to see me crying one night,

[00:04:46]
rejoicing the next night,
the whole journey of the entrepreneur.

[00:04:49]
But it has been a blast,

[00:04:52]
and I feel so thankful to work with these
just incredibly top shelf clients.

[00:04:56]
I’m around leadership constantly,
so all of the folks I work with are always

[00:05:01]
working to improve themselves,
help other people serve the community.

[00:05:04]
So it’s been a real joy,

[00:05:06]
but definitely ups and downs, getting
the business up and off the ground.

[00:05:11]
Nice.
You know, it’s interesting you worked

[00:05:13]
for John Maxwell because his name came up
a few times with some different guests.

[00:05:18]
But I remember.
I wrote my book.

[00:05:20]
The Bold Business Book.

[00:05:22]
I think it was published in 2017.

[00:05:24]
I remember going to a bookstore,

[00:05:26]
looking in the business section just
to see what my competition was,

[00:05:29]
and I’m pretty sure John Maxwell
had half that area.

[00:05:33]
Absolutely.
Yeah.

[00:05:34]
There you go.
Hundreds of books.

[00:05:36]
It seemed like I don’t know a lot.
Yeah.

[00:05:40]
So he was doing that before
I got there in 1999.

[00:05:43]
So the years and years of author.

[00:05:46]
Nice.
Yeah.

[00:05:48]
So you hung your shingle out and you’re

[00:05:50]
like, hey, I’m going
to help these authors.

[00:05:52]
How do you get found by the authors?

[00:05:54]
Because there’s probably.

[00:05:57]
Yeah, it’s very interesting
because I do no marketing.

[00:06:02]
So, again, I know it’s crazy.

[00:06:04]
Back to the TLC.

[00:06:06]
My heart is that anytime I sit in front
of somebody, I’m going to do everything

[00:06:09]
in my power to serve them
to the best of my abilities.

[00:06:12]
I don’t think about the money to be made.

[00:06:14]
I think about what is the audience need
and who can I best connect them to,

[00:06:18]
what is the author need
and how do I best serve them?

[00:06:21]
And quite frankly,

[00:06:22]
I feel like that business model has
just produced a long waiting list.

[00:06:26]
I’ve never not had a waiting
list of people to work with.

[00:06:29]
Why?
I do zero marketing.

[00:06:31]
So it’s all relationship based,

[00:06:33]
trust based, and word of mouth, which has
been an incredible blessing, for sure.

[00:06:38]
Yeah.
That’s really incredible.

[00:06:40]
No marketing at all.

[00:06:41]
So from day one,
you had a line, essentially.

[00:06:45]
Yes.
So as soon as I put my hat back

[00:06:47]
in the ring, I let a few people know,
this is what I’m going to do.

[00:06:51]
And I think within two weeks,

[00:06:53]
picked up my first client
and then was off to the races.

[00:06:58]
Honestly, I don’t even
really know how to tell you.

[00:07:01]
I wish I could say, here’s the formula
and do this.

[00:07:06]
But the only secret to the sauce that I
can say is just working with authenticity.

[00:07:12]
Like, you talk about truly focusing

[00:07:15]
on serving people, slowing
down and being relational.

[00:07:18]
I work with an author right now,

[00:07:20]
Chris Tough,
and his big push is that we’ve got to get

[00:07:23]
back to authentically connecting with one
another and bringing our own passions

[00:07:28]
to work and connecting
with the passions of other people.

[00:07:31]
And just a rich, authentic connection is
always going to win over

[00:07:35]
a mass email that we send or these crazy
things we get on LinkedIn asking for, hey,

[00:07:41]
can I have some of your
time to sell my service?

[00:07:44]
I think we’re just all
inundated with that constantly.

[00:07:47]
And the only secret to my stock that I

[00:07:50]
think has made for the win is
just authentic relationships.

[00:07:54]
Truly caring about people,

[00:07:55]
taking time to listen and hear what their
needs are and doing the best that I can.

[00:08:00]
If I can’t meet their needs, I refer
or connect them with that, who can?

[00:08:04]
And so I feel like that builds

[00:08:05]
a foundation of trust,
and then when the word gets out

[00:08:08]
that you’re trustworthy and you
really care, your name spread.

[00:08:13]
So that’s the only thing I can think of.
Yeah.

[00:08:16]
Well, if it’s working,
then that’s all good.

[00:08:18]
Right?
The authors that you work with,

[00:08:20]
is it specifically or exclusively
in the business leadership field,

[00:08:25]
or is it branch off into romance
novels or space exclusively business.

[00:08:31]
And leadership right now,
who knows what the future would hold?

[00:08:35]
But I can’t imagine doing romance novels.

[00:08:38]
I could potentially branch off into,
I would think, some Christian works.

[00:08:43]
Okay, so I thought about that.

[00:08:45]
But right now I have a heart
for business people.

[00:08:50]
I feel like they have such
a huge impact in our culture.

[00:08:53]
So it’s more than just about them and what
they’re doing at their desk, though.

[00:08:56]
That’s a big part.
But I think if we can bring great thought

[00:09:00]
leaders and speakers in to help
with the culture of these large

[00:09:03]
organizations, more people are going to be
happy and serve our communities well.

[00:09:08]
And that’s really what gets me excited

[00:09:11]
about putting the right speaker
on the right stage,

[00:09:14]
is the impact that they can have in such
a small amount of time with such a large

[00:09:18]
amount of people for the
betterment of those people.

[00:09:22]
Yeah.
I got to say, when I was doing speaking,

[00:09:26]
that was some of the best
feelings that I guess I’ve had.

[00:09:30]
When you have a crowd that you’re
talking to, or even it’s funny.

[00:09:35]
I just had a guest a few podcasts
ago that actually read my book.

[00:09:39]
Yeah, people every once in a while do

[00:09:41]
that, and she had said that there was
a certain section in the book that she

[00:09:47]
read that that triggered her
to actually start her own business.

[00:09:50]
Wow.

[00:09:51]
Which is just little stuff
like that that you’re like.

[00:09:53]
Yeah.
It makes it all worth it.

[00:09:55]
It does, doesn’t it?

[00:09:56]
Yeah, that’s what it’s all about.

[00:09:58]
I think if we can all focus on how do we
serve the person in front of us

[00:10:01]
to the best of our abilities,
I think businesses would boom.

[00:10:05]
People would be, in general,
happier at work.

[00:10:08]
It’s just that one little thing.

[00:10:09]
But it’s so tempting to get off
and focused on the bottom line.

[00:10:13]
The ROI and all those things are

[00:10:14]
important, but I feel like if you put
the right thing first,

[00:10:18]
which is serving the person in front
of you, the rest just will come.

[00:10:22]
Yeah.
It’s tough.

[00:10:23]
It’s almost like the conscious
versus the unconscious.

[00:10:27]
You want to concentrate on the money or
whatever thing that’s in front of you

[00:10:33]
because you feel like
that’s the actual problem.

[00:10:35]
But a lot of times
it’s the stuff that you don’t necessarily

[00:10:38]
see that is more the root of the problem
or going deeper, I guess,

[00:10:44]
than just figuring out the little
face thing that you see initially.

[00:10:50]
I don’t know how to explain it.

[00:10:51]
I guess, but ourselves running after

[00:10:54]
the wrong goal a lot of times,
and I think if we can readjust our

[00:10:57]
eyesight on the right goal,
then the rest will come naturally.

[00:11:01]
But that takes a walk of trust, right?

[00:11:03]
Because you’re shifting gears.

[00:11:05]
We hold on to what I feel like is a false
illusion of control when we’re trying

[00:11:09]
to close this deal, win this,
we’ve got to have this bottom line.

[00:11:13]
And we think that we have
control and we don’t.

[00:11:16]
But if we can kind of release

[00:11:17]
that in trust and just go,
I’m going to seek to serve my heart or

[00:11:22]
my experience has been
the business will come.

[00:11:25]
It’s just kind of a natural
byproduct of doing.

[00:11:28]
One of my mottos or nuggets that you

[00:11:30]
talked about is just doing
the next right thing.

[00:11:32]
Always just do the next right thing.
Oh, I like that.

[00:11:35]
So when you do the next right thing,

[00:11:37]
you will experience the backflow
of the blessing of business.

[00:11:41]
It’s just I feel like a law of for me,

[00:11:44]
I told you I’m a Christian,
so I follow the Lord first,

[00:11:49]
and I trust that he will bring the rest
and the blessings according to his will.

[00:11:53]
So it’s just a trajectory changer

[00:11:55]
from going not running after
the bottom line, though.

[00:11:58]
It’s important going to run after serving

[00:12:01]
and loving people well and trust
that the bottom line will be met.

[00:12:04]
So a little shift in perspective.
Sure.

[00:12:06]
It reminds me of the movie Days of Thunder
when Nicole Kidman goes on a little

[00:12:11]
tangent or a little speech says,
controls and illusion.

[00:12:15]
I’m going to tell you something
everybody else automatically knows.

[00:12:18]
Yeah, that’s right.

[00:12:20]
That’s a fun little speech.

[00:12:21]
And I always think of that.

[00:12:23]
I also think of Tires in the race.

[00:12:25]
So it’s interesting how movies like
that just help you in business, right?

[00:12:29]
Yes, that’s right.
Good.

[00:12:32]
So you have some books behind you.

[00:12:34]
Are those from authors that you helped?

[00:12:36]
Yes.

[00:12:38]
Riches, whatever the Millennial Whisperer
and Savior asks is Chris Tuff,

[00:12:43]
who I was just telling you about,
is the authentic connection guy.

[00:12:47]
This book is fantastic.

[00:12:49]
The cuckoo syndrome.

[00:12:50]
She became a dear friend
of mine, Andrea Anderson.

[00:12:53]
This is a great book for people
who working with other people,

[00:12:57]
setting healthy boundaries,
having healthy relationships.

[00:13:00]
So she’s a fantastic author as well.

[00:13:04]
Some of these are down below or

[00:13:06]
from a long time ago or previous
or some just purchased.

[00:13:10]
The Anxiety at Work is another great one.

[00:13:12]
Chester, Elton and Adrian gossip.

[00:13:15]
I’ve worked with them in the past

[00:13:16]
for years and now I would
say are more a partner.

[00:13:18]
Their agent is one
of my very best friends.

[00:13:22]
Yeah.

[00:13:22]
So we work together on some things,
but that’s another fantastic book.

[00:13:26]
We all know The Anxiety at Work right
now is almost like a pandemic right.

[00:13:31]
I mean, there’s just so much of it.

[00:13:32]
Like, how do we get in there and help
these people to release that anxiety

[00:13:36]
and get back to enjoying, again,
personal relationships and enjoying what

[00:13:41]
we do, enjoying the purpose
that we’re called too.

[00:13:43]
So that’s a great book.

[00:13:45]
The title of the book is called.

[00:13:47]
Anxiety anxiety at Work.
Yes.

[00:13:49]
Interesting.

[00:13:50]
So is that geared towards employees
or employers or absolutely.

[00:13:54]
Well, both, because the employers want

[00:13:56]
to provide a culture where their
people are free from anxiety.

[00:13:59]
Right.
Because we’re not going to hit peak

[00:14:01]
performance when we’re stuck
and struggling with anxiety.

[00:14:05]
Both interesting.
All right.

[00:14:07]
And you mentioned that you worked
with an agent of these authors.

[00:14:11]
So do you work hand in hand
with agents fairly often.

[00:14:15]
So I am a booking agent for the speakers,

[00:14:19]
and then I work with authors
on book launch campaigns.

[00:14:22]
I’m not a book agent,
but I walk them through kind

[00:14:25]
of the process, which I’m
sure you’re familiar with.

[00:14:28]
As soon as they hand the book
to the publisher, from that point to how

[00:14:31]
do you let the world
know the book is here?

[00:14:33]
And there’s a thousand things that fall
under that umbrella, as you well know.

[00:14:37]
All right.

[00:14:37]
So I walk alongside authors
to help them with that process.

[00:14:42]
It can be very overwhelming.

[00:14:44]
And what I’ve found is they have a huge

[00:14:46]
sense of relief when I come in,
and I’m like, you know what?

[00:14:48]
It’s just like planning a wedding.

[00:14:50]
So let me map this out for you.

[00:14:51]
And we’ll go month by month,
and here are the five things you need

[00:14:54]
to do and kind of break it down
into little lists of to dos,

[00:14:57]
and I want to say brief he’s right
through a book launch campaign.

[00:15:02]
But as you know, there’s a lot of work.

[00:15:06]
Yeah, I know enough to be dangerous
as far as the publishing world.

[00:15:09]
And I wouldn’t consider everything that I

[00:15:11]
did with my books to be necessarily
the right and the best way.

[00:15:15]
But you learned a lot.

[00:15:17]
You probably learned a lot.

[00:15:18]
I did.

[00:15:19]
And I guess the publishing world,
some of that is a moving target.

[00:15:26]
Yes, absolutely.

[00:15:28]
So I published a book,
like the awesome book.

[00:15:31]
It just says, you are
awesome on all the pages.

[00:15:35]
I published that book as
I don’t want to say experiment, but as

[00:15:41]
a refresher for myself,
because I was going to help someone or I

[00:15:45]
did help someone else publish
their actual real book.

[00:15:48]
And it was interesting because that was

[00:15:50]
three years after I
released my first book.

[00:15:53]
And going through the whole publishing

[00:15:55]
thing, I’m like, this is not 100%
different, but I bet 50, 60% different.

[00:16:03]
Just the world, the publishing
world had changed enough.

[00:16:06]
I’m so glad that I did that,

[00:16:08]
because when she came to my office,
actually knew what I was talking about

[00:16:11]
versus saying, do it this way
that I did a few years ago.

[00:16:15]
That doesn’t work.

[00:16:17]
And that’s another nugget, right?

[00:16:19]
You kind of have to jump in with both feet

[00:16:21]
and just do some of the things
that you want to do.

[00:16:23]
Whether it’s write a book or speak or

[00:16:25]
launch a business,
you sort of have to just jump in with both

[00:16:28]
feet and give yourself the freedom
to make a lot of mistakes.

[00:16:31]
At least that’s what I’ve experienced is

[00:16:33]
my mistakes are actually what
I learned the most from.

[00:16:36]
So if we sit in a seat of hitting the nail
on the head with the hammer every single

[00:16:42]
time, we’re probably not going to learn as
much or end up being as qualified as if we

[00:16:47]
just allow ourselves the freedom to make
a mistake or two and learn from it,

[00:16:51]
teach other people from the mistakes
that we’ve learned and press on.

[00:16:56]
Yeah, you have to.

[00:16:59]
You probably hear this way more than I

[00:17:00]
have already,
but I’ve heard a lot of people say, oh,

[00:17:04]
I always meant to write a book,
or, oh, I wrote a book.

[00:17:08]
And I’m like, oh, what’s the name of it?

[00:17:09]
And like, oh, it hasn’t been published.

[00:17:11]
Yeah, I got the idea
that’s as far as it went.

[00:17:16]
Yeah, it’s a lot of work.

[00:17:17]
It’s a lot of work.
It can be.

[00:17:19]
Yeah, it can be.

[00:17:21]
Tell me, with the people that you’re
working with, I would imagine that a lot

[00:17:25]
of them are using the book, the product,
as somewhat of a business card or

[00:17:29]
a calling card or
prove the knowledge that they’re as

[00:17:33]
awesome as they say
they are kind of thing.

[00:17:35]
So it’s not necessarily, hey,

[00:17:37]
I want to be an author and make
all my money off of selling books.

[00:17:41]
I’m going to use this as some.

[00:17:42]
Money off selling books.
Oh, my God.

[00:17:44]
There’s not.

[00:17:46]
There’s not.

[00:17:47]
It’s so funny that you say that.

[00:17:50]
Just crazy site tangent.

[00:17:52]
I was given a presentation
when words collide in Canada,

[00:17:58]
and it was during the pandemic,
because before it was in person.

[00:18:01]
Then they brought it all zoom,
just like all the other stuff.

[00:18:04]
And there’s 50 million people in these

[00:18:05]
rooms, but you’re looking at black
screens, and it was like you’re looking

[00:18:09]
into Bambi’s eyes because
they had all this hope.

[00:18:13]
And I’m like, hey,

[00:18:14]
sorry to share your dreams,
but let’s just do some quick math and let

[00:18:17]
you know how many books you have
to sell for this to produce money.

[00:18:21]
Just figure out whatever you need each

[00:18:23]
month to survive
to replace your job or whatever,

[00:18:26]
and let’s figure out how
many books that is to sell.

[00:18:29]
And when they do that math,
they’re like, whoa.

[00:18:32]
See, that right there.

[00:18:33]
James is so important because, sadly,

[00:18:35]
I think there’s a lot of people in this
industry who are going to take advantage

[00:18:39]
of I don’t have a better word for it than
to say ego, but I don’t want to make it

[00:18:43]
sound bad, but I think a lot of people
write a book with these hopes and maybe

[00:18:47]
wanting to speak with these hopes
and dreams that aren’t realistic,

[00:18:50]
but they don’t know they’re not realistic
because they’re not in the industry.

[00:18:53]
So one of the very first things I do is

[00:18:56]
help people, like,
communicate to me your goal.

[00:18:58]
And let me give you back
my honest feedback.

[00:19:02]
Like it or not, I’m going to tell you

[00:19:04]
the truth of whether that goal is
attainable or not, because there’s a lot

[00:19:08]
of people in the industry will take your
money, buy this product,

[00:19:11]
and for eight weeks I’ll teach you
how to do a bestseller, book one.

[00:19:16]
And people spend thousands of dollars,

[00:19:18]
and it just breaks my heart
and thousands of dollars on marketing.

[00:19:21]
And I watch it, and my heart just breaks
because, you know,

[00:19:25]
it doesn’t matter the amount of marketing
or what you do with this product.

[00:19:29]
That goal is unattainable.

[00:19:30]
So one of the very first things I do when
I meet with potential clients is examine

[00:19:35]
the goal and assess,
is it really attainable?

[00:19:37]
Because I don’t want to sign up to say
that I can do something that isn’t doable.

[00:19:41]
Sure.

[00:19:42]
Selling those books
by whatever private jet.

[00:19:45]
Yes, it was interesting to do that because
I had to learn that when I first published

[00:19:49]
my book, I was thrown money at Amazon ads,
and for a little while they were working.

[00:19:54]
And then you look at the time, you look
at the money, you look at the return.

[00:19:58]
I’m like, I could be flipping
burgers making more money than this.

[00:20:02]
That’s right.
Yeah.

[00:20:03]
So what you said is correct.

[00:20:05]
A book can be an expensive calling card,
especially if you’re a CEO.

[00:20:09]
There’s a lot of CEOs
and I love this goal.

[00:20:13]
There’s a lot of CEOs who get to a certain
point in their career that they really are

[00:20:16]
passionate to go out and teach what
they’ve learned leading these multiple

[00:20:20]
organizations over
extended amounts of time.

[00:20:23]
And so they’ll go teach what they
learn and get paid to speak.

[00:20:26]
And the book, they do sell the book.

[00:20:28]
But my personal experience is most people

[00:20:31]
get more money speaking than
they do in selling the book.

[00:20:34]
But the book does kind of not only does it
give you credibility as a speaker,

[00:20:38]
but what I love about the book
in that kind of a setting is it gives some

[00:20:42]
people something to take home and revisit
and go back through the content.

[00:20:47]
Apply the content slowly,
because if you come in and funny

[00:20:51]
Chris Tuck that I was telling you
about calls it the swoop and poop.

[00:20:53]
If you come in as a speaker and you give
this great content and everybody’s excited

[00:20:57]
and maybe they take notes and probably
there’s some actionable takeaways,

[00:21:01]
but they can leave with that to impact
for a short amount of time.

[00:21:04]
But if they leave with the actionable

[00:21:06]
takeaways that they impact for a short
amount of time plus a book,

[00:21:09]
then the potential for a longer,
larger impact exists.

[00:21:12]
So I think that goal to use the book

[00:21:15]
and that purpose is spot on,
knowing you’re probably not going to make

[00:21:18]
money on the book, but you probably
can make some money in the speaking.

[00:21:22]
Got you.
Definitely.

[00:21:24]
Oh, 1000 times over.
Yeah.

[00:21:26]
I feel like a book is a tangible reminder.

[00:21:30]
So people that have gone to a presentation
or something like that,

[00:21:33]
they get a book and they see that on their
shelf every once in a while when they walk

[00:21:36]
past their living room or office or
whatever, and they get reminded of.

[00:21:39]
Oh, yeah, that presenter said, X, y, or Z,
I got to get my button gear,

[00:21:44]
or whatever it is that they
learn from that presenter.

[00:21:47]
I can definitely see that.
Yeah.

[00:21:49]
And I think you mentioned
you have children.

[00:21:50]
I think another great reason to write
a book is to put down some of your

[00:21:54]
thoughts for a legacy
to leave for your kids.

[00:21:57]
It’s a work of art that came from your
heart and your soul that you’re leaving

[00:22:00]
forever in the hands
of the future generations.

[00:22:04]
It’s in the Library of Congress.

[00:22:06]
Yeah, somewhere.

[00:22:08]
Tell me about you mentioned New York Times
bestseller or these bestsellers.

[00:22:13]
Yeah, I mean, you know, more so than I do.

[00:22:17]
When I threw a book out there,

[00:22:20]
I was inundated with people telling me,
look, man, I know everything about how

[00:22:25]
to sell millions of your books,
bestseller lists, all this jazz.

[00:22:31]
Tell me.

[00:22:32]
Because from what I know,
the game that I saw was people were trying

[00:22:37]
to find some crazy niche on Amazon
that has two or three books for your

[00:22:41]
competition that aren’t
being marketed at all.

[00:22:44]
You go in that crazy niche and all

[00:22:46]
of a sudden you’re the best seller
in basket weaving underwater,

[00:22:52]
just in some crazy super psycho niche that
only has marginal competition at best.

[00:22:58]
And then you can say you are, look,

[00:22:59]
I’m the best seller, but,
you know, it’s meaningless.

[00:23:03]
But New York Times is a different story.

[00:23:06]
I think it’s a different story.

[00:23:07]
I don’t know.

[00:23:09]
I want to know, I guess, from your
perspective, is it a pay to play thing?

[00:23:14]
Is it a marketing game?

[00:23:15]
What is the game as far as getting to be

[00:23:17]
a best seller in the different ways
that you can be considered a bestseller?

[00:23:20]
Absolutely.
So I’ll give you my opinion on this topic.

[00:23:24]
Right.

[00:23:25]
It’s been 15 years since I’ve done any
New York Times bestseller campaigns.

[00:23:29]
It has changed.

[00:23:30]
That whole landscape has
changed drastically.

[00:23:33]
So I do not know how to tell you
to be a New York Times bestseller.

[00:23:37]
If I did, I would probably have
a lot more money in the bank.

[00:23:40]
Than I do right now.
Right.

[00:23:42]
However, when I did that before,
I played a small part on an amazing team,

[00:23:47]
and what my specialty was is designing a
book tour around the launch of the book.

[00:23:54]
And I would take the author and put them

[00:23:56]
in speaking engagements again, ding, ding,
ding, and do a books in lieu of fee.

[00:24:01]
So instead of charging $30,000

[00:24:03]
for the speaker to come speak, they would
buy $30,000 with a book worth of books.

[00:24:09]
I played a small,
little part in doing this book tour,

[00:24:13]
and that was the only part
of the pie that I knew.

[00:24:17]
So people would ask me all
the time, how do you do?

[00:24:20]
I don’t know.

[00:24:23]
To your point of pay to play?

[00:24:25]
There’s definitely plenty of opportunities

[00:24:27]
to pay to play for bestseller
lists out there.

[00:24:30]
And quite frankly, my personal
opinion is I think people know that.

[00:24:34]
So I think there are some lists
that are honorable and great to be on.

[00:24:39]
The New York Times is
definitely one of them.

[00:24:41]
I think that sometimes, organically,
you hit Amazon bestsellers.

[00:24:45]
I’ve seen my authors do that without

[00:24:47]
paying to play, and that’s
such a great honor, right?

[00:24:50]
So the landscape has just all changed.

[00:24:53]
And again, I think from the author’s

[00:24:55]
perspective, I would just be really
careful that when you’re taking advice

[00:24:58]
from someone, a be authentic
in the goals that you’re setting.

[00:25:02]
Why do you want the best seller?

[00:25:03]
Can it be a great marketing strategy?
Yes.

[00:25:06]
Can it be a stroke of your ego?
Yeah.

[00:25:08]
I mean, is that what you
want to spend money on?

[00:25:10]
A stroke of your ego?

[00:25:12]
Just kind of do a little bit of a self

[00:25:14]
examine again and go,
what is my motive behind this?

[00:25:17]
And is it worth the time and the money
to do the pay to play options?

[00:25:23]
Because they’re certainly out there.

[00:25:24]
And if your book is good enough,

[00:25:25]
you will hit an Amazon bestseller
without doing some pay to play.

[00:25:29]
So my two cent pay fairly
fair, interesting.

[00:25:34]
I went to the library.

[00:25:36]
Local sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

[00:25:38]
I go there with my book,

[00:25:40]
thinking I could just give it to them
to throw on the shelf, right?

[00:25:43]
And I learned that you can’t.

[00:25:45]
And they’re like, oh,
do you have any reviews?

[00:25:46]
And I’m like, yeah, I got Amazon reviews.

[00:25:48]
They’re like, no, Curcus they mentioned
two other ones that I never heard of.

[00:25:53]
So I write those down, I go home, I look,

[00:25:56]
and it’s like, oh, for $300,
we’ll review your book.

[00:25:59]
And I was like, what?

[00:26:02]
That’s where the landscape has changed.

[00:26:04]
Because when I did it 15 years ago,
everything was so different.

[00:26:07]
I mean, we would reach out to bloggers

[00:26:09]
to blog about the book,
but there just wasn’t as much of this

[00:26:13]
that you see going on where people
are making money to do reviews.

[00:26:16]
And I want to say tainted,

[00:26:20]
but I just think it’s the kind of the
culture we live in right now, for sure.

[00:26:24]
Everything feels like pay
to play, right or wrong.

[00:26:27]
That’s what it is.
It’s interesting because I found my book

[00:26:31]
on ebay, and it was like
$3 or something like that.

[00:26:35]
Oh my God, that’s cheaper than
I can buy it from Ingram.

[00:26:38]
Sparks.

[00:26:40]
I bought it just to see,
like, what am I buying?

[00:26:43]
And
I had written an inscription to every book

[00:26:47]
that I sent out to get a review,
and I saw what review?

[00:26:50]
Where it came from,

[00:26:52]
which is interesting, because on the one
hand, I’m like, oh, that’s shady.

[00:26:55]
But on the other hand, I’m like,
there’s no way you’re making money on this

[00:26:58]
because you had to pack
this book for three years.

[00:27:02]
Did you reach out?

[00:27:06]
It was more curiosity than anything.

[00:27:08]
And it was one of those, like,
what good is going to come from there?

[00:27:11]
Yeah.
They’re going to be like, yeah.

[00:27:13]
Or they’re going to be like,
oh, that was totally a mistake.

[00:27:16]
I accidentally emptied all
the best books off of myself.

[00:27:20]
Let’s hope it was that.

[00:27:21]
Yeah.

[00:27:24]
There was no thing that they could say

[00:27:26]
that would be beneficial to be
worth the time for the phone call.

[00:27:29]
Right.
Or email.

[00:27:31]
Absolutely.
Very wide.

[00:27:33]
Move on.
There you go.

[00:27:35]
Yes, very wide.

[00:27:36]
And it is interesting to say the thing
about the stroke and the ego,

[00:27:39]
because when I was initially pushing
my book and you’re just doing all you can

[00:27:44]
and I remember just clawing at the walls,
trying to get people to leave review

[00:27:47]
friends, people that I’ve left
reviews for on their stuff.

[00:27:51]
If they would call you up in prison,
you would bail them out.

[00:27:54]
Right.

[00:27:55]
Like, you were just bent
over backwards to help them.

[00:27:58]
And I’m asking them for that.

[00:27:59]
Take 30 seconds and leave
a review for this book.

[00:28:03]
And they wouldn’t do it.

[00:28:04]
And I remember just working so hard.
Working so hard.

[00:28:06]
Looking to spreadsheets.
Yes.

[00:28:08]
And then I look, and I’m like, I’m putting
an awful lot of time and energy in this.

[00:28:12]
What’s the goal?

[00:28:13]
Let’s just say that everybody says yes.

[00:28:16]
They leave review, then what?

[00:28:18]
And I’m like, oh,
that is probably a little bit of ego.

[00:28:22]
Which business owner you
got to a have little bit.

[00:28:24]
But it’s also one of those, like,
here’s your energy best spent.

[00:28:27]
Is this the place?
Yes.

[00:28:30]
And kind of rewind.

[00:28:32]
One of the things that I look for when I

[00:28:34]
determine which clients I’ll take is,
is their heart breaking with passion

[00:28:39]
for something that they really
want to gift the world with.

[00:28:43]
Right.
Like back to the example of Chris Tuff.

[00:28:46]
What happened with him was he was looking
around and seeing all these inauthentic

[00:28:51]
connections, and he was watching people
make business transactions and push

[00:28:55]
towards the goal and the ROI,
and it was breaking his heart.

[00:28:59]
And he was thinking, no,

[00:29:01]
we’ve got to get back to Authentically,
connecting with one another.

[00:29:04]
And he could kind of connect the dots

[00:29:05]
to see, like, well,
the reason cultures are struggling

[00:29:08]
in offices is because people
aren’t connecting Authentically.

[00:29:12]
They’re racing after the bottom line.

[00:29:13]
They’re trying to hit the goals
that are always moving up.

[00:29:16]
Right?

[00:29:18]
Yeah, exactly.

[00:29:19]
That’s the way business works.

[00:29:21]
And so his heart was breaking,

[00:29:23]
kind of watching this, and he was like,
Something’s got to give.

[00:29:26]
He also speaks
to multigenerational workforces.

[00:29:29]
The Millennial Whisperer
is one of his books.

[00:29:33]
The Millennial Whisperer.

[00:29:35]
It comes with a trophy in it, right?

[00:29:37]
Yeah.

[00:29:38]
So how do these older generations

[00:29:40]
authentically connect
with the younger ones?

[00:29:42]
Because they have a lot to teach,
but they also have a lot to learn.

[00:29:45]
And so how do we get that street going

[00:29:47]
both ways and do it in a way
that’s enjoyable for everyone?

[00:29:50]
And so as his heart was breaking for this,
he’s leading his own company,

[00:29:54]
doing these tactics that he’s writing
about and watching them work.

[00:29:58]
So then he went to write the book to help

[00:30:00]
other people to experience
the success that he was experiencing.

[00:30:04]
And that, to me, is the sign of what’s
going to be a successful book

[00:30:08]
and a successful speaker,
because their passion truly is about

[00:30:12]
helping other people with the success that
they’ve learned and now want to pass on.

[00:30:17]
That’s the secret to success.

[00:30:18]
When your heart breaks over a burden
that you see other people are struggling

[00:30:23]
with and your passion is truly not about
yourself, but to get out there and do

[00:30:28]
something about a problem you see
that you have a solution for.

[00:30:32]
That’s the secret to success when you’re

[00:30:34]
writing a book and when you’re speaking
on a stage every time interesting.

[00:30:39]
I love it.
I love it.

[00:30:40]
That’s cool.
Super cool.

[00:30:42]
So from the authors that you have worked
with, are there any that really stand out,

[00:30:48]
is like, this is amazing,
and things just seem to flow?

[00:30:53]
Well, right now I’m
experiencing that for sure.

[00:30:55]
With Chris tough.

[00:30:57]
I do feel like almost everyone
I’ve worked with that happens.

[00:31:01]
What I say is it’s like a snowball, right?

[00:31:03]
So when you’re sitting at the beginning

[00:31:05]
of your project, you may have a fan base
of the people that you had in your

[00:31:09]
spreadsheet that you’re
reaching out to for review.

[00:31:11]
Well, I thought I did.

[00:31:13]
So you have your people that are in your
corner that are going to cheer you on.

[00:31:17]
And what I like to come in and help people
do is go, okay, let’s ask those people

[00:31:22]
who do you know that knows
who I need to know, right.

[00:31:24]
And start to expand that network as you

[00:31:27]
get the word out about
the messaging of your book.

[00:31:29]
And certainly as you get on stages,

[00:31:31]
if you’re good and people experience you
in a setting where you’re speaking,

[00:31:36]
they’re going, to go out and do the hard
work for you and tell their friends about

[00:31:40]
how fantastic you are, how this
message has impacted their lives.

[00:31:44]
And slowly that snowball just
really starts to grow and take off.

[00:31:48]
So from my perspective,
it feels hard in the beginning.

[00:31:51]
And if people are lucky enough to be able
to afford a consultant or someone to come

[00:31:55]
alongside to help push that heavy load up
the hill in the beginning,

[00:32:00]
once you get up over the hill
and the connections start happening.

[00:32:03]
You start getting on the stages,

[00:32:05]
and people start experiencing you,
then that snowball just organically grows

[00:32:09]
and grows and grows,
and it becomes interesting.

[00:32:12]
Today he said, I am at a point where I

[00:32:14]
cannot keep up with my text and emails
coming in, and that’s the goal.

[00:32:18]
Right.

[00:32:18]
So the heavy lift is in the beginning,
but if you can push hard long enough

[00:32:23]
to get enough people to hear your passion
and experience change themselves from your

[00:32:27]
message, then that snowball
will organically grow.

[00:32:30]
However, it goes back to, again,
what I said, it’s got to be a solution

[00:32:36]
to a true problem that people are feeling,
a real solution with real tactics.

[00:32:40]
Like, I need a plan that I can hold

[00:32:42]
on to and leave and do these
things for my life change.

[00:32:45]
Right.

[00:32:46]
So that’s the secret to the success
of the snowball really going

[00:32:50]
and organically building is again, it goes
back to what we said in the beginning.

[00:32:54]
If your heart is really to serve

[00:32:56]
the person in front of you or
the audience before you, it will happen.

[00:33:00]
But if our heart is to make our name
great or build a platform, I don’t know.

[00:33:07]
Sometimes it happens, sure,
but more organically.

[00:33:11]
When the passion is there to truly serve

[00:33:14]
others, the snowball goes organically,
and you don’t have to pay the huge fees

[00:33:19]
for marketing agencies and all
the ads and all the things.

[00:33:22]
I mean, do you need SEO and content out

[00:33:25]
there so people know where you are
to the point of your other gal?

[00:33:28]
That was SEO.
Yes, you absolutely do.

[00:33:31]
But if every post you write is to equip
your audience with information they need

[00:33:36]
to be successful,
your audience is going to grow.

[00:33:39]
People feel the authenticity in it.

[00:33:42]
All right.

[00:33:43]
One of the things that

[00:33:45]
I was thinking that kind of gave me
the push to actually write and publish

[00:33:50]
my book was I was thinking,
when a book gets written and published,

[00:33:55]
it’s out there essentially forever,
a very long time.

[00:34:01]
And every day more people are
writing and publishing books.

[00:34:04]
So the volume of books,
which essentially you could argue is your

[00:34:08]
competition, is only growing
exponentially every single day.

[00:34:12]
So every single day that you’re not
published and that person, your book,

[00:34:16]
is another group of competition
that you’re just adding on.

[00:34:20]
Yeah, I got to get this thing out there.

[00:34:22]
But then you get editors
that take the time.

[00:34:26]
I know, right?

[00:34:27]
There’s such the process, for sure.

[00:34:30]
It’s so interesting.

[00:34:34]
I don’t know if I should have known this,
but I was expected to know this.

[00:34:37]
When you reach out to an editor
and they’re like, what did they say?

[00:34:41]
Do you want an edit for content
or for grammar punctuation?

[00:34:48]
Yeah, it was like three
different types of editing.

[00:34:50]
I was like, all of the above.

[00:34:52]
Yeah.

[00:34:54]
If you’re going to go for content
and you see a comma that’s out of place.

[00:34:58]
Could you fix it?

[00:35:01]
And it was so interesting because they’re
like, oh, no one’s ever asked this before.

[00:35:05]
And I kept thinking,

[00:35:06]
there’s no way that nobody,
no author was just like, oh,

[00:35:09]
I totally want a bunch of different
authors to do different things.

[00:35:13]
Yes.
Right.

[00:35:14]
There are a bunch of editors,
I should say, to do different things.

[00:35:19]
I guess the monster the system is just

[00:35:23]
laid out like, this is how we’ve
always done it, kind of thing.

[00:35:25]
Which are some of the worst
words we can possibly hear.

[00:35:27]
Right?
Yes.

[00:35:30]
We got to disrupt some
of that model, for sure.

[00:35:33]
Yeah.

[00:35:33]
So when you have a client come to you and
they’re just uneducated like me, right?

[00:35:38]
They’re just like, hey, I got this book.

[00:35:40]
I think some magic should happen with it.

[00:35:42]
I don’t know the next steps.

[00:35:45]
What is the process that you take them on?

[00:35:47]
Everyone is so different, James,

[00:35:50]
because everyone comes in at a different
place in the playing field.

[00:35:55]
It’s very customized to each.

[00:36:00]
Let me pause you for a second there,

[00:36:02]
because when you say different,
you mean the book has been out

[00:36:04]
for a while, or their goal
with the book are different.

[00:36:09]
Right.

[00:36:09]
Hey, I just want to sell
these at my speeches.

[00:36:12]
Hey, I want to be the next Stephen King or

[00:36:14]
the business John Maxwell
or something like that.

[00:36:18]
Or, hey, I just want to pump this out.

[00:36:21]
And if I sell five, great, I’ve.

[00:36:23]
Had all of the above, including I
don’t care if I only sell five.

[00:36:28]
So you start with the end in mine, right?

[00:36:30]
I like the ready, aim, fire.

[00:36:32]
That’s kind of my motto.

[00:36:35]
There’s a lot of ready, fire, aim,
but out there, especially people who are

[00:36:39]
passionate and excited
about their message.

[00:36:41]
But so the first thing we start
with is, what’s the goal?

[00:36:44]
And then back up from there.

[00:36:46]
And honestly, the first step for everyone

[00:36:49]
is probably going to be
who’s in your fan base?

[00:36:51]
Who’s in your corner?

[00:36:52]
And who are these people?

[00:36:54]
How much do they want to help you

[00:36:55]
and where does their reach extend
and how can they help you?

[00:37:00]
So that’s probably the first discovery I
would do with everyone,

[00:37:03]
no matter what the goal is,
and then just looking for those little

[00:37:07]
it’s like if I said to you right now,
do you know someone with red hair?

[00:37:12]
You might think of three people that you

[00:37:14]
wouldn’t have remembered if
I told you, list me out.

[00:37:17]
25 of your top connections.
Right.

[00:37:19]
So sometimes I can come in and ask some

[00:37:21]
questions that make people go,
oh, you know what?

[00:37:24]
I have a buddy that I haven’t talked to in
years, but work that fill in the blank.

[00:37:28]
So it’s very different
for everyone and very customized.

[00:37:31]
Again, based on their goal,

[00:37:32]
based on their fan base, do they want to
end up with a higher range speaking fee?

[00:37:37]
Is that the goal?
And that’s how they’re going to make their

[00:37:40]
money is their business
model more around coaching.

[00:37:42]
And so they want to go out to speak
to bring in coaching clients.

[00:37:46]
There’s always a business model,
and we just have to start with the end

[00:37:50]
in mind and then go backward
and customize our strategy accordingly.

[00:37:54]
And a lot of times I have meeting planners
call me, quite frankly,

[00:37:58]
because I have these clients that are
launching books with this niche content.

[00:38:02]
And so I’ll have meeting planners call

[00:38:03]
and say, hey, Keri, I have this
audience that has this need.

[00:38:07]
Who do I need to come speak?

[00:38:09]
And that’s always a really fun flip,
because I can go, I know exactly who would

[00:38:14]
meet that need for your audience
and do some introductions accordingly.

[00:38:17]
And that’s really fun, too.
Very cool.

[00:38:20]
So you’ve been doing this on your own for,

[00:38:22]
I think you said five
years, is that right?

[00:38:23]
Five years, yeah.

[00:38:24]
So how long does the client work with you?

[00:38:27]
Is it six months?

[00:38:28]
Boom, bang, and just
whatever happens, happens?

[00:38:32]
Or is it every year
they’re staying with you?

[00:38:34]
Keep pushing this book,

[00:38:36]
or do they come up with new books or how
long is the typical client with you?

[00:38:39]
It depends on the goal.

[00:38:42]
I had one CEO that I think I was

[00:38:44]
with for about a year and a half and kind
of began his business development process.

[00:38:49]
So he went out speaking to get leads
for the company, and so we hit that goal.

[00:38:55]
I’ve had clients where I just walked
them through a book launch campaign.

[00:38:59]
I have speakers that I’ve worked with for
the last five years as a booking agent.

[00:39:03]
So it just depends on the goal of each

[00:39:06]
individual client,
how long we hang around.

[00:39:10]
But every single person I’ve worked
with is still a good friend of mine.

[00:39:14]
So even if the book launch ended,
if I hear of somebody who needs their

[00:39:17]
content, I’m always happy to make an
introduction for them in that way, too.

[00:39:22]
Nice.
Yeah.

[00:39:24]
So in the world that you’re in,

[00:39:25]
how many authors are you working
with at any given time at one time?

[00:39:29]
That’s a great question.

[00:39:31]
So I do outbound campaigns
for my speakers.

[00:39:35]
If I have an outbound client,

[00:39:36]
I can only take one,
what I call retainer client at a time.

[00:39:39]
So that’s where they buy
blocks of time on my calendar.

[00:39:42]
But I can work up to up to four to five

[00:39:45]
additional as a booking agent
for four to five additional people.

[00:39:48]
So retainer client would be outbound

[00:39:51]
finding speaking opportunities
for them or book launch campaign.

[00:39:54]
I can only carry one of those at a time.
Got you.

[00:39:58]
All right.

[00:39:58]
And does that mean that you have a backlog
where essentially people are scheduled?

[00:40:03]
Yes.

[00:40:03]
Well, I have a little old fashioned
waiting list where I just write down if I

[00:40:07]
can’t take anyone and they need it,
I put them on the waiting list.

[00:40:11]
It’s usually because my process is
usually about a year and a half average.

[00:40:16]
I don’t get to a lot of those people sadly
and I would love to but I just have to.

[00:40:21]
I also home school my daughter.
Oh wow.

[00:40:24]
Okay.
So I work and home school my daughter so I

[00:40:27]
have to be really careful
and protect my boundaries.

[00:40:30]
I have some girls that help on my team

[00:40:32]
but I try to stay right at 30
hours a week of my time.

[00:40:36]
So that really limits right now what I can
do once my kids are all out of the house.

[00:40:40]
I have my second one leaving for college
this fall and then my daughter’s 15.

[00:40:44]
So in a few years I’ll probably
be able to do a little bit more.

[00:40:49]
Then you can work the 80 hours
that you really want, right?

[00:40:51]
No, never that again.

[00:40:53]
That is smart.

[00:40:55]
You know it’s so interesting because I
talked to a lot of business owners,

[00:40:58]
I don’t know necessarily many that are
on this podcast but certainly some

[00:41:05]
well I guess as business owners were
really good at building their own prison

[00:41:08]
and they are working
cycle of hours volume.

[00:41:14]
I can’t remember if that was a guest or if

[00:41:16]
that was just some guy that I was talking
to but he was talking about

[00:41:20]
having some quiet space so that after
he puts his kids to bed he can go work.

[00:41:26]
And I’m like, well what
do you do during the day?

[00:41:28]
And he’s working.

[00:41:30]
I was trying to think like dude,

[00:41:33]
time is a finite
resource and we don’t know how long we get

[00:41:38]
and no one’s going to be on their deathbed
thinking I wish I would have worked more.

[00:41:43]
No, but you will be on your deathbed about

[00:41:46]
to stand before God and go you want to
know that you served him and his people.

[00:41:51]
That’s what I think.

[00:41:52]
And his people also include
those in your family.

[00:41:54]
So I’m big on a morning routine.

[00:41:56]
My morning routine is uncompromisable.
Oh must.

[00:41:59]
Totally.
Unless I sit for probably an hour

[00:42:02]
to sometimes 2 hours believe it or not,
in prayer, reading scripture

[00:42:07]
with my coffee, preparing myself to serve
my personal prayer in the mornings.

[00:42:13]
Let me be your hands and your feet

[00:42:14]
to minister to the people
you bring me today.

[00:42:16]
So I do that every morning.

[00:42:19]
My job brings me so much joy which is
probably because of the time

[00:42:24]
in the morning and the mindset right I
enter in that when I leave my office doors

[00:42:29]
I’m fueled to begin the real work
which is with the family and the kids.

[00:42:34]
So not every day is that perfect but I

[00:42:38]
will say most days I walk out energized
from what I’ve been given,

[00:42:42]
the privilege I’ve been given to serve
the people I’ve served that day.

[00:42:46]
And that gives me so much energy to then

[00:42:49]
go and translate that into the family
and be excited about serving them,

[00:42:54]
making dinner, being the mom,
doing all the things with that hat.

[00:42:57]
I feel very thankful, quite frankly,

[00:42:59]
that we can do hybrid work right now,
that we can work virtually,

[00:43:02]
so we can stop a zoom and run, pick up
carpool or run, do what we need to do.

[00:43:07]
And it kind of all blends.

[00:43:09]
And honestly, I feel like when I bring

[00:43:11]
my clients in, they get so much
into my heart that they feel like family.

[00:43:15]
So it does kind of mysteriously
all intertwine in the day.

[00:43:19]
I mean, to pick up a phone call
from a speaker that I’m working with feels

[00:43:23]
just the same to me as picking
up from one of my kids.

[00:43:26]
We’re just here to tear everybody on.

[00:43:29]
Once they get in my heart,
they’re like my kids, too.

[00:43:32]
Nice.
So you have this routine.

[00:43:34]
Is this something that you’ve had

[00:43:36]
for decades, or is this something
that you just kind of evolved over time?

[00:43:41]
For sure, decades.

[00:43:42]
I can tell you that, honestly,
since COVID has it gotten longer

[00:43:46]
in the morning, I have to tell myself,
all right, Keri, put it down.

[00:43:50]
Like you got to get in the shower.

[00:43:57]
I think it started with a discipline
of knowing a morning routine is important

[00:44:01]
and knowing I need to do
this and check this box.

[00:44:03]
And it’s evolved into just a love,

[00:44:06]
quite frankly,
for God’s Word and Scripture

[00:44:08]
and the depths of the abundant
life that it offers.

[00:44:11]
I think what I’ve personally learned is I
spent a lot of my years hearing people

[00:44:16]
tell me things about what the Bible
says and writing them down.

[00:44:19]
And somehow in the margin that COVID

[00:44:22]
brought, the love that I got to have
in reading the Word and trying to really

[00:44:27]
understand what is the context, like,
where was Christ in this moment?

[00:44:31]
Who is he speaking to,
and what was his heart?

[00:44:34]
Who is his character?

[00:44:35]
And when I started to look at the Word
that way, like, who is this man?

[00:44:40]
The love that he is that comes pouring off
the pages to me in the morning was almost

[00:44:47]
something like a faucet
that is hard to turn off.

[00:44:50]
So I would say both.

[00:44:51]
It evolved into this incredible passion
now that started as a discipline of we

[00:44:57]
should get up and pray and read
our Bible in the morning.

[00:44:59]
So over time has evolved
into what it is now.

[00:45:04]
Interesting.
Yeah.

[00:45:05]
The morning routine sets a tone
for the rest of the day.

[00:45:08]
Absolutely.
Yeah.

[00:45:10]
Very hard to have that routine.

[00:45:12]
I’m not a Bible guy,

[00:45:14]
but I certainly understand everybody has
their

[00:45:19]
I guess we’ll consider their little source
of energy, whatever it is that they use.

[00:45:23]
Yeah.
What do you do?

[00:45:24]
What’s your morning routine?

[00:45:26]
Well, I have to work out I consider
body is a temple kind of thing.

[00:45:32]
And with the business that I have now,

[00:45:37]
or the businesses that I have now,
the majority of it is behind a desk stand

[00:45:41]
at a computer screen, and that is
not necessarily where I excel.

[00:45:46]
So I need to do something physical
because if I don’t, you just have to yes.

[00:45:58]
That’s my evening.

[00:46:00]
I go running with my dog every morning
because that’s a little meditative.

[00:46:05]
I go early enough where there’s
typically not people around. And the sunrise.

[00:46:08]
I was just hearing about
watching the sunrise.

[00:46:12]
Does something chemically in your brain?

[00:46:13]
Did you know this?

[00:46:16]
I didn’t know necessarily.

[00:46:18]
I know that I love it.

[00:46:19]
Yeah, there’s a chemical.

[00:46:21]
It was Jocko Willink.

[00:46:23]
Am I saying his name right?

[00:46:25]
You know, the Extreme Ownership guy?

[00:46:26]
It was on one of his podcasts
that somebody was talking about

[00:46:30]
the chemical reaction that happens
in your mind when you without sunglasses,

[00:46:34]
interestingly enough, watch the sun come
up and let those rays soak into you.

[00:46:39]
I don’t know what that is,
but how cool is that?

[00:46:41]
So yes.
Yeah, we’re finally getting to the point

[00:46:43]
where the days are getting a little
bit longer because I think I’d have

[00:46:46]
to go running at 8:30 in the morning

[00:46:48]
or something like that to get
a sunrise before.

[00:46:50]
So true.

[00:46:52]
But now the 6, 6:30 starting to see it
and I’ll try to adjust my schedule so

[00:46:56]
that I can follow it to a point
maybe not at four in the morning.

[00:47:00]
Oh, that’s awesome.

[00:47:01]
And I bet your dog loves it.

[00:47:03]
Yeah, she’s super cool.

[00:47:06]
And it’s how your dog is
a good dog in my world.

[00:47:10]
What kind of dog do you have?
What is she?

[00:47:13]
She’s a mutt.

[00:47:15]
She’s one of the best dogs in the world.

[00:47:17]
Very smart.

[00:47:18]
Beagle, springer spaniel mix.

[00:47:21]
They don’t know what dad was.

[00:47:23]
Yeah, she was rescue

[00:47:25]
because it was one of those oops,
my dog had puppies kind of thing.

[00:47:30]
Yay.
I’m so glad we rescued a mutt too.

[00:47:32]
He’s somewhere in this office.

[00:47:36]
He works with me all day too.

[00:47:38]
It’s funny, I had different business.

[00:47:40]
I was in a shop and these guys,
vendors come, whatever,

[00:47:44]
and I had my dog in there and I’m like,
hey, are you okay with the dog?

[00:47:46]
And they’re like, yeah, we love dogs.

[00:47:48]
And I whistled for her and she came and
the guy’s like, dude, what did you do?

[00:47:55]
And I’m like, that is 90% her 10%

[00:47:59]
I stuck some time in training,
but she’s a smart.

[00:48:02]
Oh my God.

[00:48:03]
You could probably give her taxes
and she’d figure it out. And you spend

[00:48:06]
quality time with her, so you’re building that bond, which probably makes her obey.

[00:48:11]
Solid.
I got so lucky with her.

[00:48:14]
Good.
It’s funny

[00:48:15]
you go running with her and you’ll see

[00:48:16]
some other people walking their dog
and they’re like on their leash,

[00:48:20]
like the dog is walking them and we’re just running, the dogs
will be barking and she’s just chill.

[00:48:26]
I love her.

[00:48:28]
What’s her name?
Kirby.

[00:48:30]
Kirby.

[00:48:33]
Well, I guess my wife
their family was big into Minnesota Twins

[00:48:38]
and they used to sit in the cheap
seats by Kirby Puckett.

[00:48:41]
Oh, perfect.

[00:48:43]
I love it.

[00:48:44]
Yeah, awesome.

[00:48:45]
They’re baseball family.
Oh, cool.

[00:48:48]
Kirby’s cool.
Name.

[00:48:49]
So good.

[00:48:53]
Keri, how can people find you?

[00:48:55]
Yeah, I’m at KeriChilders.com
KeriChilders.com. So, any messages

[00:49:03]
like I said, I have a waiting list
for speakers, but I would love to help

[00:49:07]
people find content for if they have
events coming up for their company

[00:49:10]
and what niche content or know who to talk to
for help fixes with culture or whatever

[00:49:15]
the problem is, I can probably
point them in the right direction.

[00:49:19]
Or if they just need a little bit

[00:49:20]
of encouragement,
they can feel free to email me and I’ll

[00:49:23]
shoot them back a happy message.
Keri, I’m in a rut.

[00:49:30]
You have such a big smile.

[00:49:31]
I think you smiled this whole time.

[00:49:33]
That’s amazing.

[00:49:34]
Well, this is fun.

[00:49:36]
You made it happy. Doing these podcasts is
a blast.

[00:49:40]
It is a blast.
You meet coolest people in the world,

[00:49:44]
you learn stuff that I didn’t even know
I didn’t know,

[00:49:48]
and people just have some insights
to share, personalities, all that jazz.

[00:49:52]
It’s amazing.
I love it.

[00:49:54]
Well, thank you so much for letting
me be a part of your passion project.

[00:49:57]
And if there’s anything I can do
for you, please say the word.

[00:50:01]
Yeah, likewise.

[00:50:03]
Remind me again of your website,

[00:50:05]
Kerichilders.com.
Kerichilders.com. It’s Keri,

[00:50:12]
like the Keri lotion?

[00:50:14]
Like the Keri lotion.

[00:50:17]
I am going to apologize because I don’t
know what that is, but that’s okay.

[00:50:20]
It’s kind of an old lotion, but my mom
told me that’s how she found my name.

[00:50:24]
Oh, funny.

[00:50:28]
You’re named after something soft and smooth, right?

[00:50:31]
Right. All good.

[00:50:32]
Well, thank you so much
for being on the show, Keri.

[00:50:34]
Thank you.
Have a wonderful afternoon.

[00:50:36]
You as well.
This has been

[00:50:37]
Authentic Business Adventures, the business
program that brings you the struggle

[00:50:40]
stories and triumphant successes
of business owners across the land.

[00:50:44]
We are locally underwritten
by the Bank of Sun Prairie.

[00:50:46]
If you’re listening or watching this

[00:50:48]
on the web, if you could do
us a huge favor, of course

[00:50:50]
you know what to do, right?

[00:50:51]
One subscribe, two hit the big old thumbs up,
and most importantly,

[00:50:54]
throw a comment down below and let Keri
know what’s going on with your business,

[00:50:58]
your book, and maybe even
your speaking career.

[00:51:01]
Doesn’t hurt, right?

[00:51:02]
My name is James Kademan
and Authentic Business Adventures is

[00:51:05]
brought to you by Calls on Call,
offering call answering and receptionist

[00:51:08]
services for service
businesses across the country.

[00:51:11]
On the web,

[00:51:12]
at Callsoncall.com. And of course
the Bold Business Book,

[00:51:15]
a book for the entrepreneur in all of us,
available wherever fine books are sold.

[00:51:19]
We’d like to thank you,

[00:51:20]
our wonderful listeners,
as well as our guest, Keri Childers,

[00:51:23]
the founder and owner of the
Thought Leader Connection.

[00:51:25]
Keri, one more time,
can you tell us your website?

[00:51:28]
Yes, Kerichilders.com.
K-E-R-I-C-H-I-L-D-E-R-S.com

[00:51:33]
Perfect.

[00:51:35]
Past episodes can be found
morning, noon, and night.

[00:51:37]
Podcast link found at
drawincustomers.com. Thank you

[00:51:40]
for listening, we will see you next
week I want you to stay awesome.

[00:51:42]
And if you do nothing else,
enjoy your business.