Jessica Fialkovich on Selling Your Business Like A Pro Ep. 76

Especially for entrepreneurs or type A, like, we like control. We like to control the process, but there's a lot that goes into this. And I think too, having a ghostwriter or a partner in the process to help pull the content out of you is super helpful.

Welcome to FASCINATING ENTREPRENEURS. How do people end up becoming an entrepreneur? How do they scale and grow their businesses? How do they plan for profit? Are they in it for life or are they building to exit these and a myriad of other topics will be discussed to pull back the veil on the wizardry of successful and FASCINATING ENTREPRENEURS. My book RELENTLESS is now available. Everywhere books can be bought online, including Amazon and BarnesandNoble.com. Try your local indie bookstore too. And if they don't have it, they can order it just ask them, the reviews are streaming in and I'm so thankful for the positive feedback, as well as hearing from people that my memoir has impacted them positively. It is not enough to be resilient. You have to be relentless. You can go to TheRelentlessBook.com for more information. Thank you so much. Jessica Fialkovich is a business exit expert, helping business owners, prep for the sale of their businesses. She's also a number one best selling author of a new book, 4x Inc. 5,000 Entrepreneur and Speaker. We talked about why she wrote the book, how she wrote the book, what was the process like, what our goals are and so much more now let's get right into it.

I mean, I've always had this dream right. To write a book it's been on my bucket list or dream list. Thank you. There's my book. It's always been on my dream list or bucket list since I was a little girl and the pandemic just finally kicked my butt into gear, like why not now?

And so how much of it did you write versus having editorial or ghost writing on the project?

Yeah, that's a great question. I think this, we should definitely talk about the process of how you can write a book, but I was super lucky if I'm an amazing ghost writer. And so I built a program around the topic of my book. So I gave her that program that was already written and she really just turned it into book format. So even though I created most of it, she did most of the writing and then we bet went back in together and we added the color, the stories, the clients, things like that.

So did you do anything in writing form? As in like writing text outside of the program that you created, did she interview you? What was the process like in working with her?

Yeah, we did a little bit of everything. I'm actually, I'm much better in like this type of format than writing, writings. So we did a lot of zoom interviews. So we did a lot of phone calls, a lot of zoom interviews where we just talked through some questions, some scenarios and wrote it down. The only part I sat down and actually wrote was the intro and the intro was my story. And it was about what inspired me to get into my business and everything like that. So that was super personal for me. And I had to, really kind of take a step back and revisit that part of my life. And so I took some time away from my business away from our personal life, like outta nature to go and think about it and try and meditate myself back into that space and what I was thinking, feeling and going through. So that part I hand wrote, but everything else we really did via a zoom.

Yes. As you know, I'm a big proponent of entrepreneurs publishing books, and I have so many questions. I know the answer to some of them from my own experience, but I want the people listening to know what it's like the reality of you and your book process. So when you decided to write the book, not to the day, but about how long from the time you decided to the day it was published.

Yeah. So, we'll do this in two parts. So the day I decided to write the book to the time of it was publishers probably about two years, but the day decided to get serious and get some help around it to the day I turned it into the publisher was about five and a half months. And I would say all the time between that two years and five months, there wasn't a whole lot that got done on my own. So I am busy. I run companies and it was funny cuzI was taking on this project thinking I need to do all of this myself. Like it's my baby, this book, right. And I never got any of it done. And as soon as I engaged, help the process went so much faster.

Yeah. It is amazing. It does take a small village. So how did you source and qualify the other person that helped you, co-write the book.

Well, so most people know or have listened to other talk. We're an Entrepreneurs Organization together. So I did a little bit of my network research was just asking around, asked for referrals and recommendations and a part of a speaker's group through EO. And one of my fellow speakers had recommended a speaking coach who recommended a ghost writer. And I only interviewed one other person besides Anne Mary, who was the ghost writer in my co-author on my book. And one like we're both, Southern New Jersey Delaware. So we just connected on that. But what I loved about Anne Mary is when I told her about the book, she's like, I have this friend that owns a small business and they were thinking about exiting and I'm gonna write the book for that person. So I loved her approach where she was like, I'm gonna write this book for, let's call this person, Susan, I'm gonna write this book for Susan and I'm talking to susan when I'm writing that book. And I was like, yes, that's exactly what I want. I want to be talking to my avatar. I wanna be talking to the person that I would be working with in the future. So that's what really hooked me on her was I love that approach that she used. And she does that for every book that she writes. I hope I'm not like giving her away her secrets but she finds somebody in her inner circle that fits her co-author's avatar. And that's how she develops her writing process and her voice.

That is so important to have the understanding. There's also a psychology to laying out a book, especially at a subject matter topic or how to book. And I don't have that skill yet. And if I were to write that kind of book, I would reach out to someone that had all of that information, because there's no point in people like us, the entrepreneurs that are doing. Other businesses to learn this fine tuned craft yeah. On our own. Right. Not necessary. And then as far as I think you have her as a, yes you have with, so is she credited in Amazon as a co-author?

Yep. Anna Mary is my co-author in the book and we structured that one because I felt so comfortable that she really knew the subject matter and she knew my audience and she has experience in writing business books, right. So beyond being a ghost writer and a co-author, she really helped me with marketing strategy, how to work with the publisher. Like she really was my partner along the entire process.

Right. And for people listening, you may not know that when you list a co-author on Amazon, that when you look at one of that co-author's books also in her library, right. Are other books that she's written, so you're gonna come up. So it's really great for discovery now. This is a question that it can go either way, but you can compensate a co-author with royalties or they can be work for hire. I'll assume that it was a work for hire situation, but you can correct me.

We did, we did actually a blended one. To reduce the upfront. So we did a blended agreement, which we both felt pretty comfortable with. And it also it's like, so my background in business, I own a business brokerage. Most of my team is commission. So pay for reformance. So I love that model, right. So I feel like the blend for me worked\, because it also hopefully inspires her to continue to promote and help me promote the book in the future.

So, right. Okay. So now we're gonna move on to publishing who was the publish.

Skyhorse, which I think you're familiar with. Right?

So there's four main different kinds of publishing there's traditional, which we all start out thinking is the holy grail. And then we quickly learn that it may not be hybrid, which is what Skyhorse is. No, actually Skyhorse is traditional, but it's not in the big four, then there's hybrid. There's professional. So that would be scribe or there's so many companies that do that. And then there's self-publishing right on KDP. What made you decide to go with a traditional publisher? And then what made you go with Skyhorse?

At first, when I was thinking about it, I was like, oh, I'm gonna go self-publishing right. I had come in with these notions and when I was going through the process, what one of my coaches helped me think about was like, why am I writing this book? And I think there's a few different reasons people write books, right? You write books to be known as an expert in your industry and for marketing purposes, some people write books, so it can become like a phenomenon of itself. Like it's your story. It could be a movie one day, that kind of thing. And some just write it for like cathartic reasons, right. Just to get it out. My reason was the first, like I needed to establish myself as an expert and it was for marketing purposes for my business. When I did an analysis on the competition of the other books that I was competing against. On Amazon, the same topic, every single one of them was self-published. And now look, there's a lot of great authors in my space preparing to sell a business is not really some complex process, right? So what I'm saying is not gonna be drastically different than one of my competitors. So when I was looking, how do I set myself apart? The answer was to go traditional publishing now being a niche audience, like I'm talking to small business owners who are preparing for sale, like that's not a big audience. So typically like a traditional publisher would not be really interested in that. And especially not the big four, right. And especially when it comes to them and saying, "oh, I'm not doing this to like hit the New York times bestseller and sell millions of copies." I just want that. And most publishers will be like, well, that's what we want outta this relationship Skyhorse, they have a really great. Business division that has worked with a lot of business authors and small business authors. And they're familiar with this strategy and this reason of why for publishing. So they're a lot more flexible to work with, I think, in these smaller niche publications. So that's why I went with them. They weren't looking for like me to have like some million person audience on Instagram and they weren't looking for me to buy 10,000 copies of my own book. Right. They really understood my strategy and they had done similar strategies for other authors previously.

So, do you have an estimate of what number they hope you sell, which is totally different from the number that you hope, but yeah.

Exactly, right. I mean, so you probably heard this too Natasha, but I was shocked that most books never even sell a thousand copies, right?

Most books don't sell 250 in the lifetime of their book.

Oh, my God. So they told me success in their book was in their book. No pun intended was a thousand copies, right. So if we can sell a thousand copies, which I think we did more than that on our launch day. So that was amazing. But if we can sell a thousand copies, it was a success, obviously like I came in visionary entrepreneur. "I am." And I'm like, "Why? What?" I think we can sell 50,000 copies right over the lifetime. So yes, my number is drastically different, but that was something that really shocked me. And I didn't know, 250 copies. Right. So, it was kind of like a relief in a way is I thought they were gonna want me to sell like 50,000 hundred thousand copies. If you sell a thousand, will consider you a success. And I was like, wow. I can do that.

So, I will not ask you specific numbers because we didn't talk about this before and I don't wanna spring it on you, but were you given in advance of any sort and then you get royalties later?

Yeah, but it was a really small advance.

It's amazing that you got in advance for the expectation of a thousand books like that. Good for you, Tony, for doing that with authors.

Yeah. It was a low advance and I used it a lot to offset some of the costs that we had going on with the books, but I wasn't really focused on the advance and it is funny, I think. And you're more in the publishing industry than I am Natasha knowing what's going on, but the advances are going away so fast that I was even seeing, I was shocked that they even offered one at all. But we do, yeah, we do have a royalty structure on the back end.

And to get the attention of a Skyhorse publisher. It's not as difficult as some of the other publishers where you have to have a literary agent. You have to have spent 45 to $60,000 on a proposal, right. You have to prove to them that you can sell your book so that they can, like, it doesn't make any sense anymore. It's antiquated, but did you have a literary agent or someone that was a conduit between you and Skyhorse?

Yeah. And I guess this goes back to our network with EO, right? So the speaking coach I was working with knew someone at Skyhorse. It was simple as picking up a phone. I mean, honestly, the deal was done in, I think, less than two weeks, but it goes to show that your network really can be super powerful in these situations because I think it was a much. Faster entry, even in just, it was like a Skyhorse for me than I ever expected. Like I thought like, oh, I'm gonna have to a litera agent do this proposal and everything. And it ended up being like an introductory phone call and a one paragraph summary. And they're like, cool, we're good to go.

So, right. That's wonderful. So we talked a little bit about why you wrote the book and, but I wanna expand upon that a bit. What are the goals. Number of books. Let's just say it out loud. No, one's counting on money made from the book as revenue. There is some, but that should not be your focus. If you're writing a book as an entrepreneur, I think it really starts humming in fiction. If you're in liberty and the goals for speaking, maybe you're speaking fee. How many clients do you have some of those metrics that you set in place and do you think you're gonna make them and win? So that's so about seven questions for you to answer.

So I think I'll start with the goal of the actual book. So my main business is called EXIT FACTOR and we run a mastermind and online program about helping people get ready to sell their business. And it's really about maximizing their business value. So efficiency and profitability and when I was thinking about a lead magnet or the top of the funnel, it's really hard to digest everything we do in that one or two year program together into a two page PDF report. Right? So I'm thinking like, how can I not necessarily lead magnet, but how can I have a top of the funnel thing that really demonstrates the results we can get for our clients and the layout of the program? And it just made sense. We would do a book and I mean, you have a copy of the book. It's only about like 150 pages. It's not a long book, but that's why it made sense. And that's how it fits into my entire marketing strategy. Now, alongside that, I do have a workshop that I present. So I do have some key metrics and audiences I wanna reach, but just like the book, I'm not counting on making a ton of money from my speaking. My speaking is all about top of the funnel. So it's about how many more audiences can I hit and just covering things like my travel costs and my incidentals in order to offset, but not making a ton of money from that. It's all about the funnel of coming down into our programming. Right. So from the book, from the speaking events, how many people can I convert from those two avenues to come into our audience and then nurture our audience into either our Exit Factor Membership or as our Exit Factor Flagship Program. So I think, probably somewhere over a thousand. I've gotten our recent metrics on our book sales, right since April, but we've had from that in speaking, we've had about 2000 new audience members come into our funnel. So that's really the end goal. So I don't have metrics yet about. How many books do I wanna sell or how many speaking events, because we're so new in this process, I'm trying to figure out what is actually the conversion. So I'm all about where, like, I'll start at the bottom and I'll say, all right, I got a client from this. What was the conversion here? And that gives me the top of the funnel metrics. So I still think I'm about six months out to having those final answers, but that's how I'm looking at the whole marketing funnel and how the book and speaking fits in for.

I like that you put out cemented metrics and then just beat your head against a wall to meet them, that you understood that you had to wait and measure to figure out what the right points are to look at. So I think that's a really great idea. So many questions. So you want people to come into your course, but you're still a business broker. So then those people can then continue down the pipeline of the funnel and you can help them sell or buy a business. Yeah. So it's a pretty long tail and it's education the whole way, which is really, I think just brilliant. Have you ever thought that you should write a book that you should write this? Story of her life to help other people learn from your experience. Please go to memoir, sherpa.com and learn how I can help you write, figure out your publishing path and market your story, your memoir, to a best seller status. There are some people that write books in order to start a business from. So, you are writing a book to help elevate and extend your offerings. Brilliant.

Yeah, I actually did it backwards. Right. But you hit the nail on the head, Natasha. So I own a number of business brokerage offices that I'm now my role is chair of the board, so I'm not involved in them anymore, right? But through one of the other EO programs that were in together EMP a couple years ago, we had Vern Harnish come in and another gentleman and we talked about the X factor or what is the factor that's holding you back in your business and I'm sitting there. I'm like, well, mine's super simple. It's a lead funnel, right? Because from a business broker, you just have people that come to you like the day they wanna sell or they're burnout in their business. And my epiphany was what if I can get those people six months in advance, a year in advance, could I then provide them more value where they get more value for their company. I get the lead earlier to establish for relationship. So we kind of backed all the way into this. So, starting in 2019, the spring of 2019, where my wheels got turning. So I already had the end product, which is the business brokerage commissions, right. And I just kept going further. So then we did the program and then we did the speaking and then we did the book and it's all about expanding the long tail and a long term pipeline. And now we're actually, we've broken off the two companies. So now Exit Factor is a nurturing company for other business brokers too. So not only are we providing leads down the pipeline for my offices, but we're providing it to about another 150 offices across the country.

Wow. As you know, I refer you to anybody that is talking about selling or buying a business. And I think when I make that recommendation before you had the book, it was solid as a rock. And I believed in it. And I think the people reaching out to you could look at your website and your credentials and also believe in you, but now you have a book. Yeah. And it really just exponentially elevates you. Sometimes a person doesn't even have to read it just that you have it is there. Now, let me ask you this. I'm holding a hard bound book. why did you publish hardbound instead of just paperback or just Kindle? And do you have an audible version?

Yeah, so we do have a Kindle version. It was important to me that we had an actual hold book like this book, the first five chapters is all content. And then the last five chapters is lists. List like one of the top 10 things you need to know about SBA financing and things. So I really just like how I speak is all about workshopping and lots of tactical. I wanted my book to be a guide that's used over time. So I use my program to help get my businesses ready for sale. Right? So even my personal copy, I have notes and post-its and everything in there of different ideas and highlights of how I can increase the value of my personal businesses. And I wanted that I wanted it to be a user manual for business owners. And so to answer your question about the hardbound is I find when I really use a book, if it's not a hard back, it gets destroyed over time. Sometimes it's by my dog. Sometimes it's by my son. Sometimes it's just by me cuz I'm throwing it everywhere. So I find that the hard covers they hold up better over time. You can't do things like if I'm on the beach are like, and I'm reading a fiction book. I like to fold it back and things like that. But for me, that was a different purpose in this. And I was like, I want this to be a durable manual. That business owners are gonna refer back to not just over weeks or months, but years down the road.

It's likely to stay on my bookshelf. Also as a reference, as I'm talking with other entrepreneurs, I can pull it right off and quite honestly, if it was only available in paperback, it may make its way to the bookshelf for somewhere else. Okay. Let's see what else I wanna know. I wanna know so many things. How are you?

Oh, when you asked about audible too, and audible is in the plan, but it wasn't because of the, how I want it to be used. It wasn't one of the things I wanted to launch with. So it's in the plan and we're thinking about it, but it's not honestly a top priority for me right now. And I know there's a lot of entrepreneurs that are like, oh, I wish it was on audible.

I know.

But, yeah, and I, but I-

Is it some people are buying my book or they're given my book and then they're getting the audible cuz they're like, I'm not gonna read it.

Yeah. And I go back and forth because, so I know the audible books that I listen to that I'm like, oh my God, this is something I can really implement on my business. I end up ordering the hardcover version anyway. So I'm going back and forth.

It is an expense, but I think long term, especially for how people consume and especially how entrepreneurs consume, it might be a good idea, but I did do some research a couple years ago and more people actually buy books than listen to them. So that was good to know. Okay. Yeah. Marketing. So your book has very specific purposes, so you're not gonna market it like other books, like fiction books, or like mine, a memoir, but what did you do and what did you wish you did and what worked?

So I did already start with an audience, right from my companies. We had a fairly large database and social following. So we leveraged that and we funneled everybody similar to what you did. We funneled everybody to a launch date. We wanted everybody to buy same time, same place, so we could achieve the metrics that we wanted to hit. So we did that. The one thing that I did, that's probably unique and different than most people that I wish I would've done. Further ahead of time is I use my influencer and my affiliate list to help promote the book. So my influencer and affiliate list are business brokers across the country. I have a network of about 600 of them across the country, and I love business brokers. I love sales people. I love my people, but you have to like that met, metric and marketing was like, you have to say something 18 times for people to listen to you. Well, with sales people, it's like 38 times. So-

And you can't say it, you have to email it. They have to see a postcard. They have to see a video. You have to beat them over the head, any person to get them to act. So,

Yeah, so, and because we all came from the same background in industry, they really wanted to read the book and vet it before they became an ambassador of it. So my thought process was I'm gonna have the books land in their mailboxes, the week of launch. So they're reminded of it. It sits on their. And what I wish I would've done differently is actually sent out much earlier in the process. When I got my advanced author copies and touched them more and more, I had some people that were great proponents of it when we did the launch, but I've had a lot more people since then come back and say, "Oh, Hey, I finally read it. What can I do to help now?" Which is still great, but like for the launch, it would've been much more helpful. So their big performance of the book, they also are able to buy bulk orders that they can supply to their clients and things like that. So that's a little bit different, I think, than maybe some other authors that we were able to leverage.

I mean, could we all just have that network of people? It reminds me a little bit of the EOS traction books by gen Wickman. Like you can't step foot in an event at EO without being handed one of those books. And it is a very. We see it all the time, but it is a very powerful marketing tool. And this book seems like it could end up being similar to that with all these brokers. It's not their name on it, but it's their business. Right. And it can be their lead magnet, their business card. If they're not doing this already, they should stamp inside their information.

Yes, they should. And we did little things for them too. Like there's little bookmarks that they can put like a sticker on or something, but yeah, so it is, that's probably gonna be long term. That's the marketing strategy that I'm gonna nurture the most versus continuing to rely on. I don't wanna hit our database or social channels too hard. So that's but the broker network is one that we're gonna continue to leverage.

Right. And then I think this is out of order. It doesn't matter. I just have so many things and I wanna get this snappy. So people like will stay on. Will you write another book? Were you daunted by this? Are you done? No.

It's funny because like, honestly now that I know the process, it's not that daunting. Like I feel a bit empowered. So I do wanna write a book on the buy side, like how to buy a business. I'm in this space right now where I'm having a lot of negative reactions to the types of buying a business books that are out there right now. There's a lot of books that I would refer to as snake oil salesman. And this goes into the courses too, of buying a business where people are like, you can buy a business for no money down and be an instant millionaire.

Okay, wait, I just have to stop you there because this is not my space, but the two names that come up to me in this space of the buy is Roland, Fraser and Cody Sanchez. Have I hit the like big two?

Yes.

Or- okay.

You've hit the big two and we'll just leave your names there.

Yeah. With I'm not, yeah. I'm not saying that they belong in that category that you just described, but those are the two names that come up. They've got their social media, their messaging, their marketing down, and they couldn't be more different from each other.

Right. Yeah, totally. From a personality standpoint. Yeah. So, yeah, so that's where I struggle a little bit right now is because there's a lot of information out there. That's not accurate. There's a lot of information that's based on what individual entrepreneurs have done in their deals. Versus our experience of selling thousands of businesses of what actually happens in the marketplace. And we talk about this with sellers too. It's like a lot of the information out there is about these unicorn transactions. That rarely happened versus what happens day to day. So, my view's always been realistic right now. I'm not sure if my view and my message is going to cut through the noise of the perfect unicorn transaction that to be quite Frank does not exist.

Yeah. You have to be like, these people are saying this, but this is, and that's a tough line to cross, right?

So, part of it is timing and there's a lot of voices and noise out there in the buying the business space right now. And I don't think timing is on my side and like, look, I just released my last book. We've got a lot of work too.

I know too soon.

Too soon, I've got a seven month old at home. Right. So there's a lot of reasons where the timing is not right right now, but it is going to be released in the future. I'm just not sure when.

That's great to hear. What are the obstacles for other writers that you should warn them to be wary of that you experienced?

I mean, we talked about a little bit, but like doing it on your own. I see a lot of people do this. I have a really close friend and mentor that if he listens to this, he'll know exactly who I'm talking about when he was working in his book for years and finally pulled the trigger with a ghost writer and had it done within like two or three months. So I think that's a hurdle and it's like, look, some of us, especially for entrepreneurs or type A, like, we like control. We like to control the process, but there's a lot that goes into this. And I think too, having a ghostwriter or a partner in the process to help pull the content out of you is super helpful.

So that's, like's like someone showing you your blind spot, right? And also reflecting. Like you may not realize that some of this information and your tone and your voice is so important for other people to know. And if somebody else is working with you, they can say, you know what, Jessica, you are amazing at this. You probably don't know it, but your readers need to hear this. And you can't get that when you're looking at. No, you're sharing all the voices of like, "not enough", "not enough", "not enough". Right?

You need somebody to be like, "no, this is really good". I just,

Oh, go ahead.

No, I was gonna think that other big hurdles just budget, right? Like, you know, you can do write a book super cheap. You can publish it on Amazon super cheap. But I think about this as like, if you're only gonna publish one or two books in your lifetime, it's part of your legacy. Do it well and give yourself the time and budget to do that, well.

Agree. So the book is getting the most for selling your business, how to get top dollar for the company you've nurtured for years, I have a business that I've nurtured for years, and I'd love to touch on the two things I discovered at that course that you and I went to because I think it would be really good learning for listeners. They are understanding maybe the value of their business. If they're learning the basics. Right? I think you remember what I learned. Can you talk about the discovery that I had at our MIT course and point people to looking at that kind of thing in their businesses?

Yes. So when we look at business valuation, if you look on the super conservative side, people will say like, well, your business is worth the stuff that's in the business. Like the assets that's in the business. And oftentimes, and in the industry, we call this Goodwill or Blue Sky. What a business is really worth is all of the intangible things that you've built. I call it the qualitative factors in your business, and really to increase the valuation of that company. You have to maximize that intangible factor. So there's things that you discovered in a lot of people discover that are really sitting on our desktops on our laptops. And one of the big things is the databases, right? Data is so big right now. If you have built a really great, and we've been talking about this audience network database, there's so much value to unlock there. People just miss out on it. And there's other things like that. But I feel like that's the biggest piece that people forget about in their business.

And not to ask how you monetize it, but it is something that you can as a business broker, first of all, help an entrepreneur discover in their own business, but also attach a value to correct.

Correct. Yeah. So an Exit Factor, the coaching, the work we do is a lot about how do you discover that and how do you implement at least a test to get started, right? And then when you move into the brokerage side, the broker is like, that's about monetizing that like that's about really pitching it the best that you possibly can as a broker and finding the. Buyer, that's going to value that piece of the business or the business as a whole, the highest amount. Right. So that's the whole game, but yeah, that's a lot of what we do in exit factors is like, where are you, value drivers? Where can you really increase and double down on this business and return an exponential exit for yourself. For more information, go to the show notes where you're listening to this podcast. Wanna know more about me go to my website, OfficialNatashaMiller.com. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you loved the show. If you did, please subscribe also, if you haven't done so yet, please leave a review where you're listening to this podcast now. I'm Natasha Miller and you've been listening to FASCINATING ENTREPRENEURS.