SPS 086: Building A Personal Brand That Sells More Books & Grows Your Business with Rory Vaden

Today, I have the pleasure of speaking with Rory Vaden. Rory’s first book, Take the Stairs, is a bestseller that has been translated into 11 languages. Rory Vaden writes and speaks about the key to building a rock-solid reputation and how to achieve success by doing the right thing. He is passionate about helping others build their personal brands with Brand Builders Group.

Brand Builders Group is the world’s leader in the Reputation Strategy study, with the mission to help every person identify their voice, tell their story, and share their unique message. BBG is one of the only true Personal Brand Strategy Firms. Co-founded with his wife AJ Vaden, Brand Builders Group helps people become the type of person they want to do business with.

“The book conversation is the #1 accelerator of credibility in the world.” Rory self-published before he traditionally published. “The question is not whether I should do a book or not because the answer to that is always ‘yes.’” 

Rory notes that the New York Times isn’t looking for the once and done author when speaking about getting on the bestseller list. To achieve this status, you must be a cereal author and show an established track record. “What you really want is the real bestseller - the long-tail, perennial bestseller.” Selling hundreds and thousands of copies over the years is more useful to business and brand success.

Authors have numerous challenges when writing a book. “Authors struggle the most with telling people what their book is about in one sentence. If you can’t explain the message of your book in one sentence, then you have more thinking to do.”

Listen in to find out what is the common factor among the best sold books in the world, the hardest challenge when writing a book, and why you should build your personal brand before you write your book.

Show Notes

[02:27] Why Rory chose self-publishing before traditional publishing. [05:28] His marketing launch process which landed him his first best-seller. [07:15] What authors struggle with the most before their book is published. [10:15] How Rory and his wife started Brand Builders Group. [12:22] Why personal branding should come before creating a book. [15:20] The six components of Rory’s Brand DNA. [21:22] Why there’s not a right way to do it, but a right way to do it for you. [24:53] Why building a personal brand matters and why your brand drives sales.

Links and Resources

Visit Self Publishing School Online SPS Free Training Course Visit Rory Vaden on the Web Checkout Rory’s podcast The Influential Personal Brand Podcast Read more about Take the Stairs Connect with a FREE branding call