Are you winding down the path of writing the wrong book? What does it take to create a marketing tipping point? What separates good books from platform books? Make sure you listen to part one of this conversation first, then dive into part two of this conversation with “bookitect” David Moldawer.

So you’re getting good at saving yourself time; but what about saving other people’s time? How creative are you at reducing their next steps? The latter is a gift that keeps on giving. Visualize the final outcome, and work backward to envision how you can take the few next steps to save time and effort for fellow stakeholders.

What takes a book proposal past the slush pile onto a publisher’s deal sheet? How do you get the attention of literary agents who might also be looking for you? 

In the first half of this two-part conversation, I’m chatting with longtime publishing, editing, and ghostwriting maven David Moldawer about what makes a great “big” book idea. 

Free Time for Your Future Self: For any area of your business that causes friction, run through these systems-thinking questions to inspire small steps today that will save time far into the future.

This is from our BFF community’s private feed, with an excerpt from the Free Time book and toolkit. If you want to join a group of smart, heart-centered, generous and successful business owners who are committed to our “take a penny, leave a penny” Brilliance Barter philosophy, I encourage you to learn more and join us!

How has Alexandra Franzen built two thriving businesses without social media? By delivering work with a quality I like to call “exquisite greatness.” She treats every marketing initiative like a tiny art project, something to get excited about rather than a draining chore to dread—and no, it doesn’t require social media. As Alex shares, according to a Nielsen study, 92% of customers purchase products or services because of a recommendation from someone they know.

Dearest Free Timers: I can’t believe it, but this marks the 100th episode of this show since launching on March 21, 2021! I have learned so much from every guest, and from challenging myself to also publish a solo episode once a week.

Today I've given myself the tricky task of trying to pair down the top ten lessons learned this last year and a half. I wish I could’ve pulled an excerpt from every single guest, but alas! These are the lessons that stuck most, sparking new insights and ahas.

Finding the perfect problem is like falling in love. You can’t always choose the when or the what, but when it happens, you need to be ready to take action. In the second half of this two-part episode with Jim McKelvey, author of The Innovation Stack, we dive into the ways that finding your perfect problem parallels falling in love, and why having a lot of money doesn’t solve all business problems; often it creates more.

There is a Goldilocks quality to designing a Delightfully Tiny Team, a horseshoe of team happiness. Too small, and you are taxingly tiny: in many cases when you have fewer than three people, and certainly if you are entirely solo, the burden of moving the business forward falls entirely on you. It is hard to get the rest and recharging you need to do strategic work. On the other end of the horseshoe, if your team is too big, you may feel burdened by pressure and complexity.