Jeremy Weisz 4:59
You It kind of starts off, you get a strange gift from your parents. They talk about that.
Michelle Prince 5:06
Yeah. So when I was 18 years old, my I was just getting ready to go off to college and my parents wanted to give me a gift to, you know, make my life better, I thought the entire time that they were getting ready to give it to me it was a car. And so I was totally disappointed to find out it was a ticket to a Zig Ziglar seminar. And now I know you probably know Zig. And, you know, and I do now myself that at 18, let me tell you, I want I didn’t know who he was to, I definitely didn’t want to go to a motivational seminar. So it was definitely not a well received gift. Um, but why did
Jeremy Weisz 5:44
they give that to you? Is it what were your parent? What did your parents do? Because obviously, they were, you know, proponents of personal development, etc.
Michelle Prince 5:52
Yeah, so both my parents were always big into personal development. My dad was a consultant for a large consulting firm, and they just always bought into bettering yourself. And so I was raised with that. And my mom, actually, I’m so glad you asked, nobody asked the backstory of why I got that. My mom went and attended board when about six months or so before she gifted us, my brother and I with it. And she had such a profound experience, because it’s so it’s just, it’s so much focused on just becoming your best self and confidence and all that. But she wanted her kids to experience it, too.
Jeremy Weisz 6:29
And so at the time, were you local in Texas, because he’s he’s from Texas, too, right?
Michelle Prince 6:34
Yeah. What’s so funny is he he was based in Plano, Texas, which is a suburb of Dallas, and I was as well. But you know, thinking back to that it was 1989. There was no Google there was I had no idea. He was headquartered in Dallas. But the seminar was in Dallas. And you know, at the time, he was doing seminars all over the world, so but I didn’t realize he was based here as well.
Jeremy Weisz 6:58
So talk about when you went to the actual seminar, because you go in there, you’re reluctant. I mean, listen, any 18 year old, you’re like, Hey, I got this personal development seminar. I don’t care how motivated you are, you’re like a thanks. Talk about once you actually want.
Michelle Prince 7:15
So the funniest thing we want my brother and I, he was 21. I was 18. And we walk in the door, and there’s probably about 250 people, there are people from all over the world. And we are the youngest people there by decades. And so right off the bat, it was very intimidating. And I was like, Oh my gosh, I don’t want to be here. And my brother and I sat in the roundtables and my brother and I said, like the last table in the back, and I’m next to him, and he was my safeguard. And one of the first things they did it were one of the first exercises is that they say, Okay, everybody look under your chairs, and there’s a number there. And that is your table number. So instantly, my brother and I were separated. And I was forced, I mean 18. And we’re doing all these activities, and sharing our story at a table group of 5060s Your old people 40 5060. And so but that was my experience, but it ended up being the best thing ever, because it got me out of my comfort zone and made me be all in.
Jeremy Weisz 8:14
I mean, even at any age, that’s tough, you’re with perfect strangers, and you start sharing. Do you remember after you came out of the seminar, what were you thinking? How did that change kind of your trajectory,
Michelle Prince 8:28
I was so on fire, I you know, my parents, again, they were wonderful about building us up. But there are some things you just don’t hear from your parents, you have to hear it from someone else. And so I left there just so on fire from my goals, confident in myself, you know, having enthusiasm and all of that, and I carried it with me into college. I also just felt very, what’s the word validated. So as a teenager, you know, adults don’t typically learn from you as much. And so in our table groups, we would do these, we would share and then everyone would write these things called I like because and there are these little forms that Zig had and you would write something that you liked about that person or something that you learn from them. And I still have all of my eye likes these little notes that say I like Michelle because she was open about this or she handled the situation this way. And it was just so validating at my young age that wow, you know, people see things in me that maybe I’m not seeing it myself quite yet. And so I left there with just so much confidence, but
Jeremy Weisz 9:35
everyone writes something about that person hands it to them afterwards. Yeah, exactly. What about you have kids what have you done with your kids? As far as that goes to help their personal professional development?
Michelle Prince 9:50
Oh, let me tell you I’ve tried now. Since they were born and breathing, I’ve been pushing goal setting and I can’t tell you that there just as excited about it as me, I, they’re just not. But one thing we’ve done their whole lives. In fact, we started it when my oldest was probably four, oh, no, maybe five and my youngest was about 334. And we do New Year’s Eve goal setting. And so every New Year’s Eve, I would hand them a sheet of paper. And they would have to write five things that they wanted to be do and have in that coming year for themselves. And then three things they wanted our family to be, do and have. And then everybody would do all that on their own. And then on New Year’s Day, we would all come together and share them. And excuse me, it started out like eyes rolling and all about, oh, I don’t want to do this. But it honestly, I mean, they’re 2218 and we still do it. Actually, we weren’t as good about it this year, because my son moved my we’re empty nesters. And both neither my kids were here. So. But anyway, that’s one of the ways we’ve been doing it.
Jeremy Weisz 10:53
What do you remember from those family be doing have? I’m curious, what did they come up with as kids?
Michelle Prince 11:02
My oldest one, this was the funniest thing, when what this is one of the first years that we did it first or second year, he was just starting taekwondo. And he was really young. And he has you know that they move up in belt colors. And he wanted to go from, say, a white belt to a green belt or whatever it was. And he wrote that down on his goal sheet. And within a few months, he actually achieved it. And you know, which is pretty doable, but to him. He said to me, he goes, Mom, oh my gosh, all you have to do is write it down. And it happens. And that was such a, it was just so sweet. Because he really thought it was because he wrote it down. He got it. And I you know, there’s been so many funny things, and sometimes things that write down you’re like, really, that’s your goal. But it forced them to really think about their life and where they are and, yeah, what they want, it creates
Jeremy Weisz 11:58
an awareness. I mean, yeah, it’s like, you know, people, I don’t know if the secret is controversial, or whatever it is. But I think it maybe gets taken in the wrong way, if anyone’s heard of the book, The secret, but you know, you have to implement. I mean, you can’t just write it down. But the point is, the first step is the awareness part. And if you don’t have that focus and awareness, you’re less likely to accomplish it. Right. So how did you get into this book publishing world? Okay, so I can see, you know, from a young age, you know, your parents are like, Hey, check this out. But you could have gone any which direction only,
Michelle Prince 12:35
and I did. And in fact, the last thing on earth I thought I would be doing is helping people with books. It was not my desire, it wasn’t my background, I was not a great student. But the long story short is I worked for Zig right out of college. And then that was a pretty amazing story journey. And then I left there, after working there about three or four years to pursue software sales, and make more money and climb a corporate ladder and do all those things. And so over about a period of 13 years or so I started realize my my ladder that I was climbing was up against the wrong wall. And it was not what made me passionate, happy fulfilled. And one of the things that I always wanted to do just for myself personally was to write a book, and never to share it with anyone just to tell my story. I want my kids to just kind of know me know my story when they were old enough to read it. And I so I wrote a book in 2009. It was so sweet to write the foreword. And I published it. And I didn’t tell anybody about it. I didn’t literally published it and just held on to it. And then long story on how that happened. But I finally decided to put it out there and launch it. And that is what really started without my trying opened up all these opportunities to do speaking and coaching and such. And when I was out speaking and speaking on things I learned from Zig really personal development, goal setting, productivity, that kind of thing. But when I was out speaking, I’d get a lot of questions about two things. One, what was it like working for Zig. And then two people always wanted to know how I did my book, because everyone has a story. And and it started just me as you know, hey, let’s jump on a phone call. Let’s go to lunch, I’ll share everything I know, it’s not rocket science. If I can do this, you can do this. And before I knew it, I was doing seminars four times a year, which then led to the decision to open up a publishing company because I saw an opportunity that people don’t have to give away the rights to their books. They don’t have to give away royalties if they just know how to do it professionally. They can do it themselves. And or we could do it for them. And so that’s, you know, haphazardly how it came to be not because it was a grand plan.
Jeremy Weisz 14:45
Yeah. And I would love to hear some of your favorite books and if you haven’t, really who you talking about the Zig Ziglar person just Google it. And I had Mark Timm on my podcast before with his book, and he is one of the biggest fans, proponents of Ziglar, Zig Ziglar his material and even helped digitize some of it so that it can live on.
Michelle Prince 15:08
Yes. Oh my goodness. Yeah, Mark and I have similar stories, because he also met Zig at 18. And, yeah, he’s done so much to keep the brand and his legacy alive. So he’s fantastic.
Jeremy Weisz 15:19
What are what are? What are some of your other favorites? books or works business wise or other that we should check out?
Michelle Prince 15:28
So I, I really, my number one is Zig Ziglar. See you at the top. And if you haven’t read it is it is the simplest message in terms of like, it’s an easy read, it walks you up the stairway to success, and it’s everything that Zig was based on, you know, self esteem and confidence and relationships and integrity and goals and all of those things. And I mean, I can read that book over and over and over again and every single time get a different, you know, nudge to do something more. So that’s one of my all time favorites. Start with Why I know it’s a lot of people’s but that is that’s a big one, you know, part of why I started a business was because I
Jeremy Weisz 16:09
just did Simon Sinek Yes,
Michelle Prince 16:10
I’m sorry, Simon Sinek. Yep. And, you know, I think many people I know for myself, you know, you start to go through life. Just doing what you’d have to do your should your, you know, taking care of kids building the business or being in corporate America and waking up one day and being like, is this all there is? What’s my why? Why am I doing this? And so that was a really big one for me. But I also go, I mean, I have so many old school personal development things that I you know, that I from Brian Tracy to Norman Vincent Peale. To you mentioned, Denis Waitley. I mean, there’s so many of the old school ones. And I’m trying to think if there’s one else, there’s one more on this, that I’m just it’s totally escaping me, that I’m reading now, but anything related to leadership, and I’m passionate about organizational behavior, and things like that, too. So any book in those genres? So
Jeremy Weisz 17:09
let’s talk about I want to kind of walk through a scenario. And there was one woman who published a book or two bucks miserably successful. And us too, I love for you to talk about, you know, how that worked as far as why her Why was and then kind of a little bit about the process, not just the process of writing it, but then actually launching it and and promoting it.
Michelle Prince 17:36
Yeah, so did Debjani Biswas
is such an incredible person. And her first book was actually the first book we published was miserably successful, no more, she actually have another book before that. But she wrote this miserably successful no more. And it’s just all about the, you know, being in corporate America and trying so hard to grow, or to climb that corporate ladder, but yet finding yourself miserable, you know, and doing all the things that you thought you wanted to do. And so she has such an incredible leadership background consultant. And so that book was really what launched her and to get opportunities for speaking, consulting, which is what she does now full time, she had a huge career in corporate America before that. But her second book, and that book, by the way, it’s it’s beautiful, and it’s a full book. But her second book was what we call a business card book or a mini book. And it was actually it’s intended to be a business card to give it away, but it still has great information. And many people would think like, oh, you’re probably not going to get a whole lot out of that. Well, that book, which is called us too, and it’s all about bridging the Global Gender Gap. And this is pre pandemic, pre all the things I mean, her timing was just perfect on it. But that opened up. She’s a number one bestselling author, already, but that opened up opportunities to do a TED talk. And some of her exposure. I can’t remember the exact number she said, but so many, so many people saw that TED Talk. She’s in demand now as a diversity and inclusion consultant and just doing so many amazing things now, could she? And would she have done that in her own right without a book? Absolutely, because she had everything within her. But the book is what really got her this platform and the recognition, and I’ve just seen her flourish. And she’s just such an inspiration.
Jeremy Weisz 19:26
So Michelle, talk a little bit about the process. And then I want to talk about best tips on launching. So she’s like, great, Michelle, this is I want to do this book. How does it work?
Michelle Prince 19:37
Yeah, so the authors that we we publish are coming to us either they need help writing the book. And in that case, we would start with a writer, collaborative writer and interview the author on you know, on an ongoing basis to pull that book out of their head and get it onto paper for them. If they’re writing the book themselves. Then we immediately start into the publishing process and we take them through the full We do everything for them from editing, to design. So we do cover design, interior design, the layout, we do the books in physical print, hardcover, paperback, we do ebooks, all of those things, we do all the registrations, and then we print the books, of course, as well as distributed. So we get those books on Amazon, Barnes and noble.com and 1000s of other online retailers, for our authors. The biggest difference is, we we partner with them in this meaning, I’m not taking the rights to their work, like many publishers do, and I’m not taking any of their royalties, they keep 100% of their, their book sales as, as that’s just the way I think it should be. So it’s a little bit of a different model, but it’s it’s works well for, it’s really designed for people who yes, you can do it yourself. And if you want to self publish, we’ll teach you through a seminar. But if you don’t want to, you know, your time is more valuable, then we’ll just do it for you. And we’ll get it done. Right.
Jeremy Weisz 21:00
What are some of the ways so now? Okay, this is great. We got it out the door, it’s ready. What are some tips? And how do you advise people on launching?
Michelle Prince 21:12
Well, so the big thing is, is if nobody is out, looking for your book, so as great as the book is, and if you don’t have a marketing plan in place, it’s you’re not going to get the results you want. And so obviously social media website presence, those kinds of things are given but one of the things and why you and I I think connects so well as I do love podcasting, I think podcasting is one of the best ways to really get your message out in a bigger way. And it obviously you if for those who are authors, they want to sell a book, but many people don’t know about their book or unless they have this platform. And so, podcasting and then speaking, I really share mostly just the the model that I use to grow my business. But I think immediately opportunities come out of being an author of speaking consulting, guesting podcasting, those kinds of things.
Jeremy Weisz 22:06
Yeah, it’s not just those people. I know that you had a case where you published a book with a doctor. Mm hmm. Talk about that. Yeah. So
Michelle Prince 22:15
we had Dr. Jason West a couple of years ago, we’ve done a couple books for him, actually, he’s, he’s an incredible, incredible example of somebody who, who did something with his message, he was already an incredibly successful doctor with a practice in Idaho, and it was more of a I forget the name of but people would come from all over the world to a destination practice, to to be seen by him. He’s a holistic doctor. And so we already had all of those things. But when somebody came to his office, you know, he’s, he’s having to sell them on him essentially, of why they should work with him long term. And so rather than doing that, he just wrote a book. And the first book he wrote was hidden secrets to curing chronic disease, and essentially it with every single patient that he met, he would open up, so if somebody came to him with diabetes, or something like that, okay, chapter nine, go ahead and read how we would help you. And then these are all of the case studies. These are all the examples of the people we’ve helped just like you. And he said that that book had the best ROI than any other marketing approach that he took in. And I don’t know the exact number, but he did say it was over six figures, because it all you know it, he was already credible. He’s a doctor. But this was like, Well, why would I go anywhere else? I mean, he’s written the book on it. And it just because every patient, every client, they want to feel like they’re making the right choice. And it just solidified it for him. And he’s since gone on to write you know, cookbook, and then he’s, he’s, he has many other books that he’s done as well. But he has really leveraged it not only to grow his practice, but other doctors now come to him asking, well, how are you doing this? How are you growing this destination practice? And so he’s, he’s he, he’s just doing incredible things.
Jeremy Weisz 23:58
What’s your thoughts? Michelle, on audio, the audio book version?
Michelle Prince 24:03
Okay, I think you have to have it. I mean, I know not everyone wants to hear that. But we are in a digital world. I know for myself, I love the physical book, I will always still buy the physical copy, but I will have it on my audible as well. Because when I’m on a plane, or if I’m driving, or, you know, and I don’t want to sit and read, I will, I will have it. So I feel like those who don’t do an audiobook, you’re missing a huge opportunity, and a huge part of the population that learns best through hearing. It’s why podcasts are so popular. It’s so not everybody learns best through reading. So don’t just give your audience your great content in one format. You get it in a book, get it in a course get it in an audio book, get it on a podcast, repurpose it.
Jeremy Weisz 24:47
What are some mistakes people make when either in the process of publishing or creating or launching what what are the mistakes they make with their book?
Michelle Prince 24:57
Well, if they’re doing it themselves, I think they make the mistake of not really doing their research and you know, thinking like, well, if I just get something out quick, I always say it’s better to have it right than rushed because your name is on it forever. And I have seen and we’ve had many clients come to us who’ve said, I did write a book, but I’m too embarrassed to show it to anybody. Because, you know, so pointer. Yeah, right. And so if you, but I will tell you, though, majority of the people who come to us, they’re like, Okay, I want to work with you, I want to get a book done, and I need it next month, I’m like, well, that’s not going to happen. So you know, either you do it, right. Or if you do it rush, just know what that’s going to do. If you are really writing a book to build your brand to build your platform to be the expert authority. You better do it right. You know, cuz it’ll have a counter effect. If you don’t?
Jeremy Weisz 25:44
What’s the timeframe? That is reasonable? I’m sure there’s a range some people get it, you know, finish sooner, some people later what’s what’s, what’s the expectation that people should have? Yeah,
Michelle Prince 25:57
great question. Because it takes longer than people probably think. So from the time it’s written it, you know, give yourself three to six months, I would say four to six is probably pretty conservative, meaning, you know, it could be faster. But honestly, there’s always something there’s always a queue, there’s always a backlog of, you know, other projects. So you want to give yourself ample time, if you’re trying to have a book ready for a particular event. The writing is what it really just depends, there are those who write a book, my first book I wrote in three weeks, other people take three years to write a book. So it just depends how quickly you can write it. But what we tell people is look at this, if you are going to struggle by typing on a keyboard to get this book out, why not let us interview you, why not let us help you write that first draft. And then at least now you have a starting place that you can add to change whatever. But it’s whatever’s going to help you to get it out of your head onto paper, the quickest is going to be the route you should go.
Jeremy Weisz 26:54
So what are the I, you have different offerings, you know, that you can totally do with you, you do consult, what are the different services that you offer.
Michelle Prince 27:03
So we do a book bound workshop is a seminar I’ve been doing for over 10 years. And it’s everything you need to know to write a book, publish a book and market a book. And it’s really geared towards those that probably are going to Self Publish. So they can take that information and run with it. Most people though, especially busy entrepreneurs, business owners know they don’t necessarily want to learn the whole thing and then do it themselves. So done for you publishing is what we do for most of those. And that could be a business card book, you know, the small little giveaway book that will bring in more business than most things, and or the the larger books. And we do consulting, we help people do all kinds of, you know, half day where we map out what’s your book outline? And, you know, where do we go from there. And then we have partners that we work with to launch a book market, a book, those kinds of things,
Jeremy Weisz 27:52
is the book bone workshop, in person, or online, or both.
Michelle Prince 27:57
So over the last two years, because of pandemic we moved it to online, but it’s we’re going back to live this year. So yeah, it’s always been twice a year in person. And I can’t wait to get back to in person. It’s very interactive, it’s really designed to you will leave there with an entire book completely mapped out every chapter sub chapters, all of those things, because it’s, we just pulled it out of you, and then give you the tools for how to figure out
Jeremy Weisz 28:21
what to do with it. And where is it it’s in. Our next
Michelle Prince 28:26
one is going to be in Dallas, usually. So pre pre pandemic I did once a year in Dallas, which is the area where I live. And then once a year, we did it at the beach, typically in Florida, and we call it bookbound By the sea. And that was just mostly selfish, because I’m a I’m a beach girl. And I thought, well, if it’s if I’m going to be anywhere at the end of January, I want to be by the beach. So but we will we will definitely be doing them in Dallas. And hopefully at some point get back to the beach, too.
Jeremy Weisz 28:54
shall have one last question for you. Before we dig into it, I want to when you think back at your career, what’s a proud moment that you have? But wait, before we get into that? Where should we point people towards I know they can go to Performancepublishinggroup.com I don’t know if there’s anywhere we should point people for the bookbound workshop or anything else Where Where else should we point people towards
Michelle Prince 29:15
some bookboundworkshop.com We’ll have the latest dates of our next event. Performancepublishinggroup.com There’s we do free strategy calls. So even if you’re thinking about possibly writing a book, we’d love to see, you know, help you determine if it’s the next best step for you.
Jeremy Weisz 29:31
Awesome. What’s been a proud moment when you look back at your career up to this point. What sticks out to you.
Michelle Prince 29:40
Two things. Number one, the first thing that happened it was it was what cemented why I continued on this journey. When I first wrote my book, my youngest son was in kindergarten I didn’t even know he was knew what I was doing. And one day his teacher came up to me and said, You know I didn’t know you wrote a book and and I said why didn’t know anyone knew I hadn’t told anybody. And she said that they that week, they were learning about different authors like Dr. Seuss, and you know, for kindergarteners, and at the end of the week that went around the circle and they had to share who was their favorite author and my son Tyler said, my mom is my favorite author. That still makes me emotional. Because that was a moment for me of like, you know what, I was taking so much time and energy to do this. But it was like, you know, I’m, if nothing else comes with this, but to make my my kids proud of me. It’s so worth it. So that was my first one. And then just there’s been so many ongoing stories of people whose lives have been changed. It’s, it’s not about a book. It’s never been about a book. It’s really just about helping people to see their story within the gifts, their talents, and you know, your stories in there. And then just giving them that courage and confidence to put it out into the world and to see what that’s done and how that’s opened up people’s hearts and lives. It’s just been
Jeremy Weisz 30:52
incredible makes it all worthwhile. Yeah. Everyone, check out PerformancePublishingGroup.com To learn more, and, Michelle, I want to be the first one, you know, thank you so much.
Michelle Prince 31:03
Thank you for having me, Jeremy.
