The First Steps in Writing a Book (It’s Not What You Think) | 349

Share this post:

Dan Kuschell

March 7, 2022

Dan Kuschell is a husband, dad, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor. He runs Breakthrough3X, a company that gives you instant access to a Fractional CMO Team. Breakthrough3X helps founders and CEOs grow their businesses 3 to 10x and generate more clients daily with a simple system that gets them free from the day-to-day. Dan has owned 12 companies since 1992, building multiple businesses with revenues exceeding eight figures before selling. He is also the Host of the Growth to Freedom podcast, where he interviews industry leaders and experts in a variety of fields.


Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • Dan Kuschell shares the key questions to think about when writing a book
  • A sneak peek into Dan’s new book
  • How to generate a captivating, data-driven book title
  • Dan’s step-by-step process for writing his book

In this episode…

Do you have wisdom that you want to transform into a book, masterclass, webinar, or another form of valuable content? It may feel overwhelming to get started — but with Dan Kuschell’s step-by-step process, it doesn’t have to be.

When Dan decided to write his new book, he started by asking himself a few key questions. What is the purpose? Who does he want to help? And what is going to make this book different and more successful than other books on the marketplace? Once he had these answers, Dan turned to some data-driven strategies to help him execute his goals. So, what is Dan’s advice to other leaders looking to leverage this process for their business?

In this episode of Growth to Freedom, Dan Kuschell breaks down his simple yet effective process for writing his book. Dan shares the questions that helped him find his purpose, his steps for creating a clear outline, and how he generated the perfect title using science. Tune in to discover how you can use these strategies to achieve your business goals!

Resources Mentioned in this episode

Sponsor for this episode

Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com.

Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall in growing your business? Well, let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation. You can do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com. That’s breakthroughstrategycall.com.

In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free small business toolkit. You can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com. That’s activate.breakthrough3x.com.

If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode, make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com.

Episode Transcript

Dan Kuschell 0:03

Welcome to growthtofreedom.com, the show that brings you inspiration, transformation. And leadership. We’re helping you connect the dots, see the blind spots, and get unstuck. So you can go out and generate more leads, more sales, more profits. More importantly, so you can go out and have a bigger reach, a bigger impact and make a bigger contribution. And to follow up with you. Because a few people and responded to, you know, Dan, like, what are the first steps in writing a book, and also setting up the book for having mass appeal. So at the end of the day, I promised that I would respond. So I figured the best way to do it was a video right, like so. Here are a couple things to think about when you’re writing a book, right? What is the ideal purpose for writing the book, right? There can be all kinds of reasons. And there your reasons and your reasons are good enough. So I would encourage you to be thinking the very first thing is what’s the purpose of this book? Right? Number two, is when you write this book, what would be the ideal outcome from writing this book, like we wave a magic wand? What would your ideal outcome be? So that’d be the second thing to be thinking about next would be what is going to make this book different than other books like it on the marketplace? Now, ideally, you’ve done some research to know like, what that might be. Next is be thinking, Okay, well, what are some of the criteria that will make this book have a higher probability of success? So Eric, I like it, I like the way you’re thinking create a movie around it, right? Another thing to do, Eric is to create a movement around it. Right? So those are a handful of the first steps.

Now, where did I learn this from? That process I just shared with you as a mini version of something called the Impact filter from Strategic Coach. Dan Sullivan’s company, which is an amazing little simple tool, I find for creatives, it works very well to kind of hone them in so that’s the first thing is getting the ideas around that next was brainstorming and really thinking of okay, the market. You know, Dan Sullivan recently wrote a great new best selling book called, Who Do You Want To Be a Hero To? Right? And so the big picture of that is, who do you want to be a hero to? Who do you want to show up and serve at the highest level? Who do you love serving at the highest level, right? And there’s all kinds of layers. And in my new book, I’m actually going to break down some layers of how to be really, we call this the right fit filter, to be able to choose clients that are better for you, ideally, high value clients, clients that are with you for a long, long time that refer you that use you that love you, and you love them. Right. So anyway, now, I’m not gonna spend any time on that. But when you take the time to brainstorm your market, or who do you want to be a hero to? There’s a lot that can come out of that. Right? You want to look at, like the big picture, like, you know, and I see you’re joining us as well, like you wrote a book around suffering addicts. Right. I wrote this book for suffering founders and CEOs who want to grow their business, three to 10 times like they’re there, like, in some in a good way. I mean, this in a very good way. They’re insane about the fact that they want to grow 10 times, but they want to do it with less stress. And they want to do it without relying on referrals, or at all being on their shoulders. In other words, a system, right. So this book is going to be about having that system. Right and, and a bunch of other fun captivating illustrations and stories that are built into it, too. So you want to think about your market. Then, we went to the next step we I went to was thinking of the titling. Right, and so I started coming up with some titling. And I bet you I’ve gone through, I don’t know, 50 variations of titling. And let me share with you some of the insights we learned. So Anna says an altered spirit, Ebenezer Scrooge in the 12 steps. That’s awesome. That’s awesome. That is your sub headline, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t it? Anna? You can’t wait for my book. Well, I can’t wait to put you in my book. Because I definitely want to put you in my book and feature you because of all the great work that you’re doing, applying the things that we show you.

The First Steps in Writing a Book (It’s Not What You Think) | 349 Click To Tweet

On top of that, we tested the titles, so I came up with some titles. I sent those titles out to some people I admire, I trust respect to get their feedback. And then we went one layer further and we use the science today. Right see what I believe today that’s different about business. And especially as it relates to you know, marketing you marketing your business is that it is an art.

The First Steps in Writing a Book (It’s Not What You Think) | 349 Click To Tweet

And it’s a science. Unfortunately, most people treat it like an artist, which is why most people go broke and marketing. Most people run campaigns that don’t work. Most people don’t have success in built because they don’t apply the science. Right. And not to get too deep in the science. But I’ll give you a simple thing that we did. So I had come up with about four or five iterations of titles. And here’s what I’ve discovered. And all these I’ve been doing this for 30, long years, and we’re short yours is depending on which day you catch me. 30 short years short, 30 just incredibly fun years of so much learning so much growth and so much stuff, right. But I don’t care anymore, what I like, I care what works. And one of the ways to, you know, identify what works is to test right, so what did we do, we had these iterations of these handful of titles that call it four or five titles. And rather than guess, and rather than go, this is what I like, or even listen to what people said they liked, we actually put out some ads, basically a title test on Facebook for less than a, I don’t know, 50 bucks. And we put those ads out in front of the market, who we want to be a hero to just the title in the headline, as well as the image that we put out. And then we did it as a click test to find out how many people what was the cost, like what was the click through rate, etc. and So lo and behold, we found that the winner was not what we thought the winner was going to be a B, it was only like subtle differences in the languaging. Isn’t that fascinating? I don’t know, do you find that fascinating? To think about, like the science using AI, like, you know, big blue here to help you make better decision. Right? So I didn’t just stop there, because once we got the winner, I was like, Well, what if it could be better? Like, what if we could make this even better? And so we came up with another five iterations and tested against the winner. And guess what? That winner didn’t hold a couple of the other one of the other iterations one. And when we’re talking about the winners, most of the time we see out of four or five titles one will be exponentially exponentially different results, higher results, if you know what I mean. In other words, the winner will be like five times the second place or third place. And then in some cases, number one and number two are kind of close, right? And then you have to make a judgement call what you prefer. So we literally I went through this process, but you could call it gruelling, but I don’t think it’s gruelling, I actually kind of get fascinated by all this tech. Thank you, Mario, I appreciate that smart move.

The First Steps in Writing a Book (It’s Not What You Think) | 349 Click To Tweet

We went through these iterations about six different times. And in fact, it wasn’t until I’m actually writing the book as we speak. So I’m about halfway through writing the book. And I’m actually going to show you if you want to see it if you want to see it just type yes, I’d love to see it in the comments or something. But I’m going to show you my handwritten notes. I’m literally handwriting this myself, right. I’m not farming it out. I’m writing it on my own. And it’s, you know, some people talk about writer’s block. And I’ve certainly had that before and it sucks to put it bluntly, I have not had knock on wood, I might knock on wood here. I haven’t had any writer’s block doing this at all right? It’s been just a very smooth flow, very smooth flow with the stories, the transitions and more. Now, once I’m writing it, let me just share with you what I’m doing. Right. So again, now I’m about halfway so but these were the process to get things started. Now there’s a process that I you set. The next step before I get into writing, let me go to that is to write a really killer outline. Okay, so I wrote an outline of what I felt like, what would this like? What would this book and compass and I look at each tie each chapter, the title of it as a headline that ideally is pulling someone it’s either pulling them in, in a massive way, or it’s pushing them away, in my opinion. So we wrote each of these titles. And as I’ve been going through this process, I’ve also been testing those, and we’ve also been iterating. Right? And then I’m also writing so anyway, that’s kind of the update for now, but hopefully these give you some insights. If I were you and you were going to create a course if you were going to create a masterclass if you were going to create a webinar if you were going to create a book if you were going to create a checklist guide to give to people like for your opt ins. I’d encourage you to think about taking this approach. Identify the purpose, right.

And here’s a great thing to always this is the biggest thing that I see a lot of our Clients miss out on before we start working together, is they forget to get in their their clients shoes. I forget who I heard this from first I didn’t invent it. Right. And Eric, thank you, I appreciate that. The in order to get John Smith to buy, we’ve got to see it through John Smith eyes. So it’s about getting into our clients. So the purpose is, what is the problem this solves better than anything else, or more unique than anything else? Or simpler than a what is the problem you solve? So I encourage you to really tune in and when you look at your purpose, what problem does it solve? Then identify okay? What’s the ideal outcome wave a magic wand like if it’s your lead magnet? If it’s whatever it is, take the same approach to what I just share with you about the book and apply it to course masterclass webinar, whatever you want to create for you, for you. Hopefully, they you see some value here. It’s simple, separate. What makes this unique? And then what are some of the criteria for success? Right. And again, that’s a process called the Impact filter, I’m giving you the mini version that was created by Dan Sullivan. So there’s that there’s the idea of brainstorming what your market, who do you want to be here to get clear on who do you want to be a hero to, and go deeper and go deeper and go deeper. We call this beyond the avatar, like so many people are playing this surface game, it’s BS, you can’t win today, if you play the game on the surface. You know, what does this mean? Like we have a process that we move people through and Anna can kind of speak to it called Beyond the avatar, where do you go deep you go layers and layers and layers and layers deep. Right? And we essentially, on top of what I’m going to share with you, I want to give you the short version, I want you to be able to take some of this right now to apply it not be like just like I’m teasing you, right? You want to think, Okay, who do I want to be here? Oh, to really answer that question in full detail. Describe your client, that you want to be a hero to describe their characteristics. What do you like about them? What are their characteristics? Separately, you might want to do the opposite? Who do I not want to serve? describe their characteristics. Right? A way to do that might be number one, go Who are my favorite clients, I’ve got list their characteristics, then think of a client, I know you. If you’ve been around doing this for any length of time, truth be told, you’re going to run into a few clients who are not your favorites, list their characteristics? Who do you want to be a hero to? Now, for those you want to be a hero to whatever they think. As it relates to the problem you solve? What did they feel? As it relates to the problem you saw? What do they hear? From the way you help solve their problems? And what do they see? Right? So you’re basically what do they think? What do they feel? What do they hear? What do they see? Right?

The First Steps in Writing a Book (It’s Not What You Think) | 349 Click To Tweet

Really get in and again, we go much, much deeper with this with this beyond the avatar process. And it’s crazy to me, I go, you know, when we go work with people they go, you know, I’ve worked with someone, if you’ve ever had somebody you worked with, with traffic or whatever, and you failed at it. Type yes, in the chat window, if you if you are brave enough. And inevitably, almost 100% For the last 10 years, every time we ask somebody when you work with someone, did they have you come up with some kind of a blueprint of your perfect client? You know, demographics psychographics. at a deep level, where are they? Right? How do they think? How do they feel? Almost 100% of the clients we’ve worked and these are some of the biggest names in the world have said no, we don’t have that. Is it any wonder you don’t feel you’re not applying the science of things to your business? You’re treating it like an amateur? No, I mean that respectfully, right? That’s one of the reasons we have this tool that we give our clients that becomes a lifetime companion. So they’re never in the dark. They’re never in limbo about their clients again, and it gets their team in alignment, it gets the people that are working on their team, it gets their you know, whatever group they might use to run traffic on YouTube or wherever, in alignment, clarity, clarity is power, isn’t it? right all the way down to like creative assets to use, right, and how to get access to them. So getting clear on your clients next. So who do you want to be hero to. Next level of this is don’t just assume the title you came up with for your webinar, your lead magnet is good. Test it before you run it. You’d be amazed at the difference it can make in your conversions if you get the right kind of title. Right. And then last but not least, right? Think of any of the components of that curriculum or that webinar or whatever it is. Think of each of those pieces like headlines, they’re either going to attract or they’re going to repel, so make it as powerful as possible. Anyway. Hope that serves you today gives you an idea of some behind the book, behind the scenes stuff of the book. I’ll be posting more on the progress and journey of our book over the next couple weeks. So feel free by the way, if you’re enjoying the this info and some of these insights, if you’ve got someone you know, who’s someone you know, that should be here, that should hear this. That isn’t, make sure to tap him on the shoulder number one, you can invite them to watch this video right now. If they’re not in this private community, invite them into the private community, as well. We’re looking to help people grow their business with a lot less stress. Give them something as simple tools to help give clarity. help give them confidence, help give them direction and a lot more. So that’s it for the day. We’ll talk to you soon be great. Now go write your book, go build your course. Go build your masterclass, go build your webinar, go sell something, go make a difference. More importantly, go make a bigger contribution. Yes and go make a bigger contribution. You’re changing lives saving life. Go do more. All right. See you. Bye.

Thanks for listening to this episode of growthtofreedom.com. Are you struggling to get a steady flow of new clients every day? Or maybe hit a plateau or hit a wall and growing your business? Let’s help you solve this problem today. Let’s review your business and have a conversation. Do that for free today at breakthroughstrategycall.com. That’s breakthroughstrategycall.com. In addition, if you’re looking for a simple way to implement some of what we’ve been talking about in today’s episode, I want to encourage you to get our free Small Business toolkit. You can get that at activate.breakthrough3x.com, that’s activate.breakthrough3x.com. If you’d like access to the special resources and all the show notes for this special episode, make sure to visit growthtofreedom.com.

Share this post: