Episode 84: Authority Marketing with Kim Thompson-Pinder

Kendra Corman: 

Thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of Imperfect Marketing. Today I'm very excited to have Kim Thompson Pinder here. She didn't write for 30 years after a teacher told her when she was seven years old that she was no good at writing and should stop. 

Then she came to her crossroads and chose to let those painful words go. Since she set her words free, she's gone on to author five books. Pretty impressive, and she's got two more on the way. 

Most importantly, Kim started RTI Publishing and has helped over 200 entrepreneurs become authors and authorities. She understands the power of words, and cannot wait to share them with you on her Author to Authority podcast that I've had the pleasure of being a guest on.

And we'll have a link for that in the show notes. So you'll definitely wanna check that out and connect with her on LinkedIn, so you can see her live videos when she goes live.

Welcome, thank you so much for joining me. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

It's a pleasure, Kendra. And you know what, it was such a pleasure having you on my podcast.

I just felt we had a really great conversation that day.

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. I feel like we come from similar perspectives on adding value and providing value to people as you work to grow your business. 

All right, so you say that you're an expert on authority and book publishing, right? So, let's start talking about authority.

What is authority to you? 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

It's how people see you. 

One of the biggest problems that most entrepreneurs have is they don't have any visibility. And if you aren't seen, you don't have a business. 

So authority marketing to me is how do you become visible? How do you let people see your expertise? It's not that you are an expert in everything, but you're an expert in something and you can make the difference in certain people's lives.

And so to me, that's what the Authority Marketing Arena is, is that positioning.

Kendra Corman: 

I think that's really important what you're saying about, it's making sure that you're seen. Because I tell this to people all the time. 

They're like, oh, let's change this sign. 

And I'm like, we've been running the sign for three days. What are you talking about? 

Well, I'm tired of it.

I'm like, I get it, but nobody else has seen it. So, I get that you drive by it every five minutes, but nobody else has. 

So, you know, you need that frequency. You need to be top of mind with people. And being seen is a huge piece of that. 

So when you're talking about being seen, what are some ways that you recommend people do, like, what are some things you recommend people do?

Obviously writing a book, since you're a book publisher and have written five with two more coming, right? 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yep. 

Kendra Corman: 

What else? 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

So I think, let's go back to the very foundations of authority marketing. If you are not in a good, sort of expert stage, almost authority stage in your business. A book really isn't for you yet because you don't have some of the key foundational pieces.

Now we'll talk about books and how you can use books, but you know, I think one of the core foundational pieces, and you'll enjoy this one, is I call your core marketing message. And when you have that strong, when you can easily answer these three questions, who do you serve? How do you serve them? And who are you in relationship to those two?

I think that creates a powerful foundation for you to build your business. 

So when you niche or niche down, depending which country you're in, you actually make it easier for yourself to build a business. You don't have to talk to as many people. 

So when you know who you serve, getting clientele becomes easier. When you know how you serve them, and you can explain that in a way that's attractive to your perfect target market, it makes them want to come to you. 

And then who are you in relationship to those two questions. I didn't send you my full title, so I will do my full introduction for you because it's a great example of your core marketing message.

Hi, I'm Kim Thompson Pinder, the extraordinary word ninja, chief Visionary officer of RTI Publishing, and I'll give you the formal long one. 

I'm an international bestselling author, award-winning speaker, host of the Author to Authority podcast and author of the book by the same name. I work with consultants, entrepreneurs, professional speakers, and coaches to help them ghost rate produce and publish their signature book that they use as a foundational tool to build their business and gain authority.

So in that 30 something seconds, you knew who I was, you knew who I served, and you knew how I served them. And a good core marketing message is very polarizing. It will repel people who are not meant to be your clients and customers, but it will attract those who are. 

So having that foundation in your business, having that good strong core marketing message is really the beginning of being able to stand out and be noticed.

When I introduce myself, people won't remember my name. They may remember Kim, but when they see me again, they go, oh, oh, you are, you are that word ninja. 

Okay. So you know, it becomes memorable and I think that's one of the first foundational keys to authority marketing. 

Kendra Corman: 

I love that. As you said, I was going to, because I think it's so key.

I love how you're admitting that it's polarizing, that it repels the people that aren't your target and attracts the people that are. 

I get more people saying to me, "Hey, I don't think you do this, but do you know somebody?" 

Because I'm an authority in what I do and who I serve, they ask me for referrals to other areas.

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yes.

Kendra Corman: 

A bunch of my friends that have niche down and are focused on the audience that they serve and what they do, they get referral calls all the time that they're able to direct or, if it's on the fringes of what they do, they have the choice to accept it.

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Exactly. 

Kendra Corman: 

It doesn't rule out as much as you think it does. I think I talk about niching down; I think in like 20 episodes so far out of, out of all the ones that I've done so far. Because I think it is so important. 

And I get that you don't niche down in the beginning cuz you're a little scared you're gonna lose. But it is so, so important. People are gonna remember that you're an international bestselling author and they're going to be able to decide whether or not they wanna work with you or learn more just from what you say. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

I know. Like it's so, this is the way I describe it, when you are niched down, okay. And you know who your perfect target market is, you can find 10 people, talk to them. Probably convert two or three.

The better you get, the more you convert, right? But if you don't know who your target market is, you might have to talk to a hundred people to convert to those two or three because you're trying to search through. 

See the narrower your market, the easier it makes to prospect, lead gen, and convert. 

Kendra Corman: 

Even if you're referral based, which I was a hundred percent referral based for a really long time. But as I'm growing my business and moving to the online marketing world, there's a lot more cold pieces to my business. 

But again, I was a hundred percent referral based. I get that, but it helps your referral partners message you and put you in the right place. Because if people don't know what you do or what you're looking for, they push you out of their mind. They don't have time to understand who you are and what you do, right?

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yeah, like, so I'll give you an example. This happened, I don't know, quite a few years ago. But I was at a networking meeting and it was one of those networking meetings where you all sat around the table, you all introduced yourself, you all, you know, presented a need. And then you all went around and see if you could help each other, which I really liked. 

And you know, so I was as helpful as I could be to the group, and there was one gentleman, he was kind of interested in writing a book. Okay. So, we start having the conversations. 

Well, nothing came out of it. He wasn't ready to move forward. Okay, fine. Great. You know, about a year later I get an email from him. Okay, I've met this, I met him in person once, and we did a Zoom call. That was it. 

And I get a referral from him because he remembered who I was, what I did, and I made an impression. And because he knew who I worked with, when he found that person, I was the natural choice to refer to, even though we had never actually done business together ourselves.

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. 

And imagine, you know, if you were staying top of mind with him. And I don't know if he was on your email list or anything like that. 

But imagine, you know, the other people that he would run into and what he would be talking about if you were on top of mind on top of that. 

It's just so, knowing your message, knowing who you serve, niching down is so, so powerful. I just, 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

it is, 

Kendra Corman: 

I can't, I can't say it enough. Let's talk about writing a book. So I know I have friends in the business who have all written books. I'm a huge reader. I need to get a new case for my Kindle because it's looking a little tired and sad. 

But, I guess my question for you is how do you determine if writing a book is right for you in your business, just to start? 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Just before we do it, there was one comment I wanted to make cuz I've been, I've been listening to some of your podcast episodes. So I think it was episode 59, so that your first one of 2023.

And you were talking about marketing trends and I think you said something there that I hope you don't mind if we detour for just a minute. 

Kendra Corman: 

No, not at all. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Explore it. I do wanna answer your question, but I think it's really important cuz that episode was really impactful for me and you talked about micro influencers, cuz some people think, oh, well I have to have a huge audience to be seen as the expert or the authority to be seen as that influencer.

And you don't, right? It can be a small group of people who love you and think you are the, you are the icing on the cake, right? 

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

And you talked about that it's about peer to peer and I think that's where, you know, the authority marketing comes in the most. And I highly recommend everybody. If you haven't listened to that episode, it's episode 59.

Go back and listen to it. Cause it was really great episode on Marketing Trends for 2023. 

Kendra Corman: 

Thank you. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

But I loved how you said that peer-to-peer marketing has such power behind it, and that's where the expert and authority and influencer marketing really fits in is that person to person. So, now that I've covered that! 

Kendra Corman: 

No, but I mean, I agree with you.

I mean, I think, you know, episode 59, when I'm talking about the marketing trends, I didn't talk about AI and things like that, that are, that feel complex and far away from what a lot of entrepreneurs, small business owners, solopreneurs are doing. 

You know, it's really about things that you can do. You know, we've been talking about video being trends for years and it still is. And it's actually, it's funny cuz it's like we started to talk about trends and it takes like five years for us to like five to 10 years I should say, for us to like fully develop them. 

And so influencer marketing we've been talking about for the last couple of years, but it's not, you know, finding someone with a billion followers. You know. It's about finding those influencers in your space, in your area with your target, and the more niche down you are, the more you can find out who those people are. 

So, yeah, no, I, I love that. Thank you for listening. I appreciate it. We'll put that link in the show notes too, if you wanna check that out.

But yeah, so, all right. How do I know if a book is right for me? 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

If you kind of fall into one of these categories, you know, if you've been in business for a long time, you've got a good established business. Doesn't have to be big but established. 

If you have a strong message or something valuable that you can teach on. Something that's got some meat to it. Something that you can expand upon. 

If you have a system or a way of doing things that you can explain in writing, sometimes it's your story. Our books at RTI publishing range from one end to the other. So the one end is we have books that are mostly stories with some lessons tied into it. 

So two of my best known ones are #HerRhythm by Nyn Riffat. She was born and raised in Pakistan. She married a very rich man. He mentally, emotionally abused her. She had two kids, and he tried to kill her, so she had to run for her life to the United States where she has learned to more than Survive and Thrive. 

The second book, My Skeletons Have Names by Sherry Luek. Another really powerful story of, you know, extreme abuse. She was homeless at 17. She married three narcissistic men, had three kids, one with each man. The fourth man she was with tried to kill her. She was addicted to drugs and alcohol. And her children were involved in a terrorist attack. 

I've joked with this woman that she has more lives than a cat. And again, her book is the same type of thing. How she's not only survived but thrived. So that's one end of the spectrum in terms of books that you can use to build your business. It's more the story of your life is the message and the lessons that come out of it. 

On the other end are people like Larry Levine, Selling From the Heart. Darrell Amy, Revenue Growth Engine. John P. Davis, How To Get A Sales Job. Their books are a lot of teaching and training with stories interspersed to drive home the lessons that they wanna teach. 

And you know, either book is fine and then you've got books in the middle, like the Sport of Life by Olympic coach, Ram Nayyar. His is more of a combination of stories and lessons. 

So you know, there's no one set format to creating these books that you use to build your business. But you do have to have either a really strong, powerful message or two, a powerful story. That's kind of foundational piece for it. 

And then to be able to expand out on that is really what you need. So you need to feel like you're ready to share yourself with the world.

Now, the one thing I do recommend, and this is what we found with the two ladies that we worked with. You know, if your story is really powerful and you've had a lot of hard things happen to you in life, you really need to be emotionally past that before you start writing your story. 

One thing we found with one of the ladies was, there was a lot she'd already dealt with, you know, emotionally, mentally, all that. But there was a few chapters in the book where she realized there was still unresolved issues, and so we actually stopped working on her book for periods of time while she took the time to deal with that.

So that when we wrote the book, she was coming from a place of power, not a place of victimhood. And that's something you really need to be aware of. If it's more your story that you're focusing in on, is that you don't wanna come across as the victim anymore.

Yeah, you were victimized, but you're no longer a victim. So I, those are a few things to look for. 

Kendra Corman: 

Okay. I really like that. So you have to have a powerful story or a powerful message.

One of the things that, and I don't know if I've told you this before, but I mentioned it often, is I feel like a lot of times we're too close to ourselves. And too close to our stories and our messages to really realize the value that we provide. 

So, you know, again, and I find this really often with women, we have a way of downplaying.

A few weeks ago I had a coaching call with somebody from, who's a LinkedIn expert, and her name's Brenda Miller and I, she's a friend of mine. And we were going over things and I was like, I mean, I know LinkedIn. I've been through her workshops. I've been posting on LinkedIn since I don't even wanna remember when. For as long as I can remember.

For the most part. I remember when I created my profile, but I was too close to myself, my business, where I was headed to be able to write a headline that I liked. And I was really struggling with the headline, like really struggling. 

And she helped provide a ton of clarity for me and then provide clarity on some other sections and some other ideas that she had, which was great.

And it's not that I didn't know about these things, I just didn't know how to apply it for myself. So, if someone isn't sure if there's... 

Yes, exactly, but if someone's unsure about whether or not their message is powerful enough, like do we go to somebody like you that's gonna help us see the forest through the trees? Or how do we go about figuring out what our message is and what that looks like?

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

So first of all, you should already have a really good sense of what that is before you write a book, because the book will be ineffectual. One of the goals of, there's several goals of when you're writing a book for your business. 

The first ones to create relationship. You want that person to feel like they know you by the time that book is done and that you are relatable to them.

Secondly, you wanna prove your expertise in this book by solving their problems so people think, oh, well, don't give it all away in the book. Yeah, give it all away. I tell people exactly what to do in the book. 

Now here's the thing most people don't realize. A high percentage. Okay. I think it's 95 or 97, but everybody says all statistics are made up on the spot, so. 

But a high percentage of people are not self-motivated enough. Even if you told them exactly what to do, that they would do it, they're still going to come to you and have you help them through it. 

See, I'm kind of the reverse. I'm in the low percentage cuz you tell me what to do. I will at least go and try to do it first, figure it out myself, and then when I really can't, I'm gonna come to you.

Kendra Corman: 

No, I can tell this to people all the time cuz you know, I use this example a lot when it comes to freebies and things like that. Give it all away. Don't be afraid, you know, to give people, I mean, no, you don't have to give them a seven-module course. 

Give them the information that they need, you know, it really helps move them along 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

and a few "how's". Like, nothing frustrates me more than you get this course. Okay, so either free or you've paid something for it. But especially if I paid for something for it and it's all theory and know how to it. 

Okay. You don't have to give everything away, in that sense of how to, but at least give them something so they have some sort of small win when they're doing it. But you know, like in your book, you can expand on a lot of ideas, a lot of concepts. You could go a bit into the how to so that you show that you know what you're talking about. 

And I think that's really important in terms of, you know, being ready to write that book. Now when I say powerful message, I am, I'm not talking about, you know, you go on Oprah Winfrey and Woo, right? 

That that's not really what I'm talking about. When I say powerful message, what I'm referring to is that what your message can make a difference in that niche group of people, right? 

So it doesn't have to be a big group of people to make a difference in their lives. And to them it's a powerful message because it solves their biggest problem.

So I don't want you to think that you have to have a powerful message that's going to reach the whole entire world, and they're going to be inspired. No, no. Like, just get that outta your brain, right? 

Because, cuz that creates unrealistic expectations in yourself. Think about that one person that you would like to make a difference, and that's who you're creating that powerful message for.

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah, you always have to write to one person. I don't care if it's an email, a social post, whatever you are doing. If you're writing to one person, it's going to resonate with somebody. If you are writing to the world, it's not gonna resonate as strongly. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

So I've got a word for you. It's called "you." 

when you're writing your emails, when you're writing your social media posts. Don't use us. Don't use we. You use I and you use you. 

So, there's a little writing tip for you.

Kendra Corman: 

Yep. And you should have you in there a lot more than you have I. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Exactly. 

Kendra Corman: 

Because it's not about you, it's about them. It's about your reader. 

What's in it for them is just should be at the core of what you do. And again, you know, that goes back to that how. So, again, you don't have to give everything away, but what's the harm in doing it? Nine times outta 10 people aren't going to execute on it because they don't have time. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

or skills, 

Kendra Corman: 

or they don't have the known skills, or they don't wanna learn how, and that's okay. But they wanna know that you know how and you can prove that to them and prove your authority by sharing that with them.

Kim Thompson-Pinder:

 I so agree, Kendra. 

Kendra Corman: 

I've never regretted giving away stuff ever. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

No, no. I actually give my book away for free. So if you want the Author To Authority, go on LinkedIn. I'm Word Ninja Kim, send me a dm. Let me know that you were listening to Kendra's podcast. 

And if you DM me on LinkedIn, I will physically send you either a physical copy of the book or if you are a real Kindle person, I will send you away to get the Kindle book for free.

Kendra Corman: 

That's great. So we'll have a link to her LinkedIn profile in the show notes, like I said earlier, that I think will really help people connect with you. 

But getting back to the know-how and that next step when it comes to doing, not just knowing how, what if I don't want, like, I don't wanna learn how to write a book.

I don't wanna learn how to publish a book. I don't wanna learn. What if that's my situation, but I know I have a message that I wanna get out there. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Then you wanna work with, preferably, a whole publishing team. But what some people do is they work with a ghost writer, then they hire an editor. I think that brings a lot of incongruency into the book.

You're better off to work with what I term a hybrid publisher. Now, I don't wanna get into the whole traditional versus self-publishing thing, cuz that's a whole conversation on its own. 

My recommendation though is to self-publish and like I said, we won't go into all the details of that, but you wanna work with a company that's going to do two things.

First of all, they need to capture your voice. Every client that RTI Publishing works with, unless the client says so, nobody would know that they didn't write the books themselves because they sound like them. 

So, here's the thing, if you're, if you wanna write a book to build your business, don't just hand off a topic to a ghost writer and let them write it. it's gotta sound like you, if you wanted to use this as, as that, you know, authority building tool. It has to sound like you. 

So you need to work with a publisher that's really gonna capture your voice, capture your message, capture your essence. You know, it's gotta be well-written, but it's also gotta capture your voice. So it's gotta be a combination of the two. 

Now, when you work with the right publish, and I'm not saying I'm the right publisher for everyone because I don't write on every single topic either. We're very niche in what we write. 

So, when people come to me and you know, we do a book discovery call. We have a very long conversation and usually by that end of that conversation I can determine, you know, is this someone I wanna work with? Is it a topic that I feel we can write on strongly? 

And if not, then I refer them to somebody else. If I can. Sometimes, you know what they wanna do, I don't have a referral for. But you know, many times I have a referral to another publisher. I'll just say to them, I, you don't want me writing your book cuz it won't be the best book it could be. 

But here's my friend. and my friend can write you this book that he gets your messaging. He knows, right? What you're thinking, what you're feeling. He can truly reflect that. Or her, him, or her. Cuz, I have referrals for male and female publishers. 

But I think it's important to really have a conversation with the publisher. Don't just go with someone because their website looks cool and their packaging looks cool. You know, interview them. 

See if you feel like there's synergy. If there isn't any synergy, don't go with them, because if there's no synergy when you're talking to them, they're not gonna be able to really reflect your messaging, your style. It won't be as strong as a book as it needs to be. 

Check out other books that they've done almost every book. Now there's a few, because some people didn't wanna acknowledge that they had a ghost writer or a publisher, but almost every book I've worked in the acknowledgements you'll see me and my team acknowledged that we worked on the book.

So you wanna, you want to actually know that these people are credible. That, you know, they actually do work on books. Read some of the books. Even if you just download the samples from Amazon, do that research ahead of time. 

Make sure that that publishing company you're going with has your best interest at heart. That it's not about them just getting the money and writing some fluffing, weak fluff thing that's not gonna impact anybody's lives. 

Kendra Corman:

 I think one of the things going back to like the beginning of your answer when we talked about it needs to sound like you. Needs to be authentic, to use another a word, since we're author to authority, but it needs to be authentic.

If it's not authentic, people can see right through it. I always talk about the fact that people have a filter. It's a bologna filter, and they filter everything they see, whether it's bologna or not, through their bologna filter.

And their baloney filter works off of their knowledge. So if some of these people know you and they can't feel you in it, or if they don't know you and they feel like they know whoever it is that wrote the book, and then they start to write with you or work with you, they're gonna feel that disconnect and they're gonna be let down and not happy.

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

No, they won't be. So, like I said, the research is the key and, you know, talking to a few different publishers and you know, don't let anyone pressure you into signing on the dotted line before you're ready. 

And if they're pressuring you, they're probably not the right person. 

Kendra Corman: 

I think fit is so important. I was talking with somebody and they're like, oh yeah, you probably don't want me on your podcast because like, I'm a competitor to you. 

And I was. No, we're like, we're totally good. I'll have you all day, because no, we're not competitors. We appeal to different people. And it's okay. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

I have publishers on my show all the time. We have amazingly, okay, I love all the guests I interview, but there's something when I interview a publisher and we can really talk shop, right? Like we can get into the nitty gritty of publishing and there is no competition. 

First of all, even if we had the exact same target market, there is more than enough business in this world for the both of us. The other thing is, is that the goal of my podcast is to educate people on authority marketing, and what role does publishing a book play in that? 

I don't have all the answers, so why would I deny my audience the benefit of other people who have more expertise in a certain area than I do? That's just selfish.

Kendra Corman: 

Well, and again, going back to, even if you had the same exact target audience, there's more than enough work to go around. And I think people need to understand that and come at things from an abundance mindset because I think that that really helps you. 

And I think that that factors into whether or not you wanna write a book. There's billions of books out there, you know? What is yours going to impact? And if you're gonna start a podcast, again, there's tons of podcasts out there. But you can resonate with somebody that wants to listen to you, and somebody that needs to hear what you're sharing. 

There's so much of that out there, and I feel like people need to be reminded about that every so often. Because you can have two books with very similar messaging, but it's still different in the way the stories are told. And one will resonate with you and the other one probably more than the other one.

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yeah. Yeah.

Kendra, do you mind if I interrupt you for a sec? Cuz something came to mind, and I think it's just so crucially important that we talk about this in terms of books for your business.

When you publish your book, it's not a field of dreams. You know, you get a lot of gurus telling you, you know, you publish your book and you know, TV interviews and radio interviews. 

It doesn't work like that. 

Okay, let me clarify. Very, very, very rarely does it work like that. Maybe like 0.1% of people that happens to. 

And your book is a tool and you're only gonna get out of your book what you put into it. So if you are not ready, to, you know, take that book, be talking about the book all the time, getting it out there, you know, putting yourself out there for interviews. 

Cuz the interviews most times do not come to you. You have to go after those interviews. You have to be able to present yourself in a way that people want to interview you. So, there's a lot in there. 

So the book is a tool that you use and I just, I really wanted to make that clear cuz I didn't want people to think, oh, you write a book. You publish it on Amazon and everything falls into your lap because it's, it's not the way it is. 

Kendra Corman: 

No, and I, that goes for everything in marketing, I think. Any tool that you have out there, if you build it, they are not coming unless you tell them it's there. 

I don't care what it is. They're not just magically finding it. Yes. Some people will find you on Google search and people will find your blog posts and things like that. 

You need to put it out there. You need to talk about it. You need to share it. You need to generate traffic to it. Marketing's a lot of work. There is no simple system with it. 

And that goes for marketing your book too. It's a lot of work. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

But it's worth it. See, this is the thing. It, that work is worth it. Can I share just a really quick case study with you? Do we have time for it? 

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah, of course. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Okay, so I talked about Larry Levine. His book is called Selling From the Heart. Now when Larry first, when we first met each other and he approached me about working on his book, he really wanted a book because there was a big conference that he wanted to speak at, and one of the requirements is you had to be an author.

Now, just so you know, if that's your goal to speak at the really big conferences, most of them require you to be an author. So if you're thinking about writing a book or you wanna get on those bigger stages, do the book first, because there's nothing worse than trying to slap together a book so you can get up on that stage.

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah, I can see that. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

But Larry wanted to be on that stage. So, you know, we started working together and as we worked together on the book, we realized it was way more than just putting a book together. 

And selling from the heart has now become this powerful message to this that's taking the sales world by storm. But the biggest thing is, is that. It's how Larry has used the book. 

Right from the time we started writing the book, he was constantly talking about the book, what he was sharing in the book, what he was learning about himself. Concepts from the book, quotes from the book. He was always sharing about the book.

He worked with a marketer, Daryl, his friend Daryl, because Larry wasn't really a marketer, Darryl was. So, they worked together. But Larry said something to me and we're now actually finishing off the final chapters of Book Two. Hope you don't mind I saying that, Larry.

But the thing was, was that we had a conversation about. It was more than 18 months after his first book was published and we had this conversation and he said to me, he said, 

"You know what Kim? He said, “I got good results at the beginning." 

And he did. He did a successful book launch. He was using the book, he was gaining business, he says, 

"But it was about the 18 month point after I had been consistently marketing that book for 18 months, that things just took off and went wild."

Kendra Corman: 

A friend of mine when I was starting my business, well before I actually started my business, I actually talked to a friend of mine who started hers and I said, Hey, I just wanna talk to you about starting the business and what do you think and what do I need to think about and what have you learned?

And I mean, I talked to a ton of people that had started businesses and picked their brains, and I'm like, who's your accountant? Who's your attorney? Like, you know, all that fun stuff. 

But my one friend Sandy said to me, she goes, someone told me when I was starting my business that it was gonna take 18 months.

And she's like, I got two kids in college I gotta pay for, I got the mortgage I got. She's like, I don't have 18 months. Like I need to start making money tomorrow. 

And they said it's gonna take 18 months for you to really find that success. And she goes, she was looking at her calendar and this was like a couple years before I talked to her.

She was, she was looking at her calendar and things were feeling comfortable and successful, and she had people coming back and things like it was the 18 month mark. 

I, you know, and I talk to people about that all the time. That happens for me, I looked at the calendar and I was like, oh my gosh. Yeah.

People were coming back, things were building on top of it. Referrals were coming in. It takes 18 months and you, Larry, might have been tired about talking about the book, but he kept going. Because not everybody's heard it and they have to hear it so many times that even if you're tired of it, they aren't.

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yeah. Yeah. 

Kendra Corman: 

That's an awesome story. And it backs up like everything I tell my clients about, you have to try something for a lot longer than you think. 

I tell everybody, if you're gonna test something out, you need, you can make adjustments and you can do some little tests, but for the most part, you need to look at least 90 days.

Yeah. And everyone's like, that's a long time. And I was like, you can't decide that something's successful or not successful in less than 90 days. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

No, you can't. You can't. 

Kendra Corman: 

And sometimes it'll take 18 months for you to like finally feel like you have the traction that you need. It doesn't mean it wasn't successful before then.

I mean, he was probably seeing results a lot further in advance in that. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

He was seeing results all the way through. But, he hit Momentum Point. 

Kendra Corman: 

Yes. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Where it kind of took on a life of its own. 

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. I think that's important.

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Like, go check out Larry Levine on LinkedIn. You know, he's years into this process and he's still sharing the same, the same message.

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. 

But again, it's a powerful message that people need to hear and not everybody's heard it. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Exactly. 

Kendra Corman: 

So I think that's, I think that that's an awesome point that people need. You need to be patient, but you need to back it up with some work. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Well, I kind of relate it. You know when you publish your book and it's out on Amazon, it's like you've finally given birth and you're holding this baby in your arms, right?

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yeah. But the process only starting, and you still have years of raising this thing, right? This kid. Right. 

And it, it's kind of like that with your book, you know, going through the final stages of book publishing is like giving birth. It is stressful. It can almost be painful. It's hard. All these unexpected things happen.

And, you're like, I don't even know I'm ready for this. I dunno, I could do this. Right? 

Like, I mean, I've even had, I've even had men be like, Kim, I am freaking out. Like, I don't, you know, and as a publisher, that's where you come in and you're like that nurse, right? 

It's okay. I know what I'm doing. You don't have to know what you're doing. You just have to follow my directions. Everything is good. 

Yes. This is a speed bump. This is a small obstacle. It's, you know, we can overcome this. We're going to get through this. Your book will be published on time. 

Right? See, you're kind of like that, that nurse. But after the baby's born, after that book is published, you know, that's when the real work begins. 

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah. And again, you know, you sort of get what you pay for. You get out of things, what you put into it, and you need to keep that in mind. It's not about making money while you sleep because you published a book.

You have to get out there and talk about it and then, you know, again, it grows and helps you scale and a lot more into it. 

But it's a lot of work. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Yeah. You know, the other myth is, is that you're gonna make the money from your book. You don't. 

Kendra Corman: 

Again, it's a tool. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

Right? 

And I'm not saying you don't make any money from your book sales, but if you're relying on the sales of your book to financially support you, that's not going to happen. One of the reasons why I give my book away is quite simply, That's my loss leader as per se. 

And if you've studied any type of marketing or sales loss leaders where you either give something away or you sell it at a very low cost, knowing that a certain percentage of people are going to take advantage of all the other things you offer, which more than pays for what you lost in the loss leader.

So, your book kind of becomes that lost leader. That's why I give it away. I will invest that, you know, 10 to $25 depending on where you live and how much it costs me to ship you the book, to invest in you knowing that some people are going to become my clients and customers. 

Other people, I've made an investment with you. You know, my dad had a saying. What goes around comes around, right? And so, I truly believe that, you know, I am willing to invest in people knowing that in some way, shape, or form, it always comes back. 

Kendra Corman: 

Yep. And it might be a year later with someone that you had a conversation with, but it. Yeah. What goes around comes around.

And I truly believe if you look at everything from a providing value and helping people standpoint, other people wanna help you and give that back to you. And it's just, it's so powerful when you look at it from that perspective, then, uh, I'm in it to make money. 

You know, I mean, you can be in it to make money because yes, we all need to live. I, but I think that's important to keep in mind and, and think about. 

All right. We have talked about a ton of stuff. We've talked about authority; we've talked about book publishing. We've talked about all the work that's involved. 

But again, I think we've talked a lot about the fact that it can be a great tool if you have a powerful message, and I think that that's what's really important.

You wanna learn more about Kim and her business again, be sure to check the show notes for the links and listen to her Author to Authority podcast. And we'll link to the episode that I was in with Kim too, so that you can watch that if you haven't seen it already. 

And I think, again, I think it's, it comes down to what do you want to do? What is your message, and how can you do it? 

But before I let you go, Kim, there's a question that I ask everybody on my show. This show is called Imperfect Marketing, cuz marketing is anything but Perfect. If it was perfect, I wouldn't have a job. 

And so knowing that, what is a marketing lesson that you've learned along the way, starting your business and RTI Publishing, or for others? 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

I think we kind of talked about a lot of it, but I've decided that my word for 2023 is consistency. And I think when it comes to marketing, consistency is the key. 

You talked about the fact that people need to hear your message over and over and over again. 

And so I shared a story on LinkedIn cuz I wanna introduce you to my new, well, I'm hoping she'll be my best friend, consistency. And, you know, consistency's kind of hard to know. 

She's in the background there and you know, she's not exciting to be around. She's just that quiet, you know, person in the background who's always doing the same thing over and over and over again. And you know, most people don't wanna get to know her. 

But her best friend is momentum and she's the gatekeeper for momentum. So if you wanna meet momentum and have momentum work with you, and promote you, and skyrocket your business, you have to become best friends with consistency. 

And you have to prove to consistency that you can be good friends with momentum because she won't let anybody, she won't introduce you to momentum unless she knows you're worth it.

Kendra Corman: 

I love that. I love that so much because consistency is so key to everything that we do. Personally, because I was doing everybody else's marketing back in the day, I was not consistent with my marketing. 

I had a, sometimes, once in a while, email, newsletter, I had a sometimes once in a while blog that pretended to be weekly, but wasn't.

It's hard to be consistent, but you need to do it and you need to figure out what's gonna work for you. To do that because it's true. Once you're consistent, it builds momentum. 

I get replies all the time to my email newsletter that says, Hey, I didn't read it, but it made me think of you and here's the question, or here's the service, or here's the referral I'm looking for.

And it's like, yes, that is exactly what I was looking for, you know, out of this, because, you know, no, it's not. Not every email is gonna resonate with every single person, and that's okay. They're not gonna pick all of them to read because their business is gonna go up and down, and that's all okay.

It's all okay. 

But again, if you're consistent and you don't try something for a week and then be like, oh, it didn't work. You know, you can't do that because you, you don't build up that momentum. You don't build up that no, like and trust factor from these one-offs. 

And I love that. I love that your word of the year is consistency. Mine is no, because I don't use it enough. And the only way I'm gonna find time to be consistent, and the only way I'm gonna find time to really build my business is to say no to other things.

 And I made a list of my priorities and I'm sticking to them and I've been doing pretty good. So we're gonna keep on tracking along, but it's important for me to say that. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

We're recording in February; you made it past everybody else's New Year's resolutions.

Kendra Corman: Yay! 

No, but it's important. It's really, really important, I think, to have a word of the year and to, to have that focus. And anybody that thinks it's fluffy, it's not. It really does work and helps you. Build and grow and achieve your goals. So, I think that's fantastic. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

I'm not one of these people that has the vision board and all this other kind of stuff, right?

So, you know, you make the word work for you the way you want. For me, it's just a constant centering tool that will help me gauge what I say yes to, what I say no to. What becomes the priority in my business? 

Now, for some people, they wanna do the vision boards, they wanna do all that, that other stuff, hey, if that floats your boat. But if not.

Kendra Corman: 

I have my vision board at my desk. 

Kim Thompson-Pinder: 

right? But not everybody does. And that's the point is you don't have to have all that other stuff to have that word be powerful in your life. 

Kendra Corman: 

Yeah, and I like how you're saying that it gives you that filter on what to say yes to and what to say no to. For me, having my Word of the year being no allows me to feel comfortable, and it gives me permission to say that because it's not something that I say often to clients, to anything, and that's not good for me or for them.

Well, this has been fantastic. I loved everything that you had to share. If you're thinking about becoming an author or you're looking to expand your authority through writing a book, you definitely want to check out Kim and her podcast, and connect with her on LinkedIn because she does share a lot of great stuff.

I think that there's a ton of value in writing a book. I think it's an amazing tool. It gives you a lot of content to leverage, and so if that's an investment that you wanna make in yourself and your business, be sure to check it out. 

And I will see you on another episode of Imperfect Marketing. If you learn something today, give me a hand and help me out.

You can rate and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcast. Thanks and have a great rest of your day.