IAM761- CEO Helps Clients Grow Businesses Through Books Production

Check out one of our favorite CEO Hack’s Audible. Get your free audiobook and check out more of our favorite CEO Hacks HERE

Transcription

The full transcription is only available to CBNation Library Members. Sign up today!

Please Note: Our team is using the AI CEO Hacks: Exemplary AI and Otter.ai to support our podcast transcription. While we know it's improving there may be some inaccuracies, we are updating and improving them. Please contact us if you notice any issues, you can also test out Exemplary AI here.

[00:00:02.20] – Intro

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you’ve come to the right place, Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you’re in search of. This is the I am CEO podcast.

[00:00:29.80] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Meredith Eaton of Eaton Press. Meredith, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:39.60] – Meredith Eaton

It's great to be here. Thanks so much for having me.

[00:00:42.50] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Meredith so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Meredith is the CEO of Eden Press, a self-publishing services comp services company for nonfiction writers. Meredith has been in the publishing industry for nearly ten years and has also spent much of the last fifteen years as a corporate storytelling trainer. Prior to moving into publishing, Meredith worked for nearly a decade as a management consultant for small businesses and nonprofit organizations and brings that experience to help her clients produce books that will grow their businesses. Meredith, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

[restrict paid=”true”]

[00:01:20.59] – Meredith Eaton

I am.

[00:01:22.20] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I want to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. We'll let you get started with your business.

[00:01:30.29] – Meredith Eaton

Alright. Cool. So my CEO story, I have, it's sort of two pieces. One is how I'm a CEO in general, and that is that I do not do great with authority. I need I don't really like people, telling me what to do. But also, I like I still like structure, and I still like organization. So I just need to create it myself. It's really what I learned about myself. So that's why being a CEO of a company versus just, like, you know, if I really couldn't handle a four-year structure, there's a lot of other things I could do, freelancing, you know, travel blog or whatever, which might really fit. So that's kind of put me on the path to being a CEO And how I ended up as the CEO of Eaton Press specifically, is that it really is a culmination of my whole career in a really interesting way, in a way that I find fascinating, and hopefully other people do too. But, so I started out working in a nonprofit.

Right out of college, I went, got a job at a nonprofit doing, sort of administrative executive assistant-type work. And it was great except for the parts at work, which is, you know, having bosses and having everything be a team and the nonprofit stuff is its own whole thing, of of, ethos and culture and everything. So I went back to school and got my master's in organizational management, which I loved. I loved learning about the structure of companies and how people work together, and that's really where I started to realize I was I really needed to be in charge and not work for other people. So I started my first company. I was about twenty-seven, I think, and, I was a consultant for nonprofits, specifically.

So loved a lot of things about it, had a lot of successes, had a lot of failures. Ultimately, the failures won out, as I often do. And I found myself sort of really burnt, really just tired of being in charge, of being in control. So I took an office desk job. I just wanted to sit. And for the first time in my life, I wanted someone else to tell me what to do all day. I just didn't wanna think anymore, because that that's the other part of being a CEO. You're responsible for people. So it was, it was it had gotten to be too much for me. So did that job for a couple of years and then sort of stumbled into this role of self-publishing. My dad was easing into retirement. He'd been running his own company for, about thirty-five years as a sales trainer.

He wanted to kind of do a book that would help that transition into retirement. So I was helping with it. Then my uncle, so I'm writing a book. Can you help me do mine? I was like, okay. Yeah. So I was like, this this is neat. This is a thing, and I'm learning, and I like that. And, you know, I was creative. And, behind the scenes in all of this, during all of this, I had been also working as a snuck working, but, performing as a storyteller, doing true stories, in the Washington DC area with a group called Story District. At the time it was Speakeasy DC in case anyone remembers in the audience from that. But, so so I love that. I love the performance.

I love the creative. So I thought, oh, publishing. This will be great. So I decided to start a company. I was tired of working for someone else. I started setting up a company. I, went into fiction because that's what I read. That's what I liked. It turns out I don't like working in fiction. It has so much art so much emotion and so little structure. So then I figured out, okay, I'll do nonfiction. I'll work with business owners. Then not only is it structured and stuff, but I can put my own, experience to work as a business owner, as organizational management, all that kind of stuff. So, so that and that's what keeps me grounded all the time is remembering. Like, I built this. Like, everything I did brought me here, and that helps me guide the company as well. So

[00:05:28.89] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Absolutely love that. I'm glad you said that because everything you did brought you here because that's what I was thinking sometimes we look at, even the launch date of a business, and we kinda, of negate or forget about the aspect of all the experience that it takes to get there. And a lot of times, especially in business, when you're kinda sometimes wearing multiple hats or at least in charge of multiple hats, you often have to kinda lean on different experiences and expertise to be able to be successful.

[00:05:56.69] – Meredith Eaton

Exactly. And I had a moment when I started thinking about starting my first publishing company where I thought, you know, should I even be doing this because my other company failed, it imploded? I made a lot of mistakes and, you know, there went. And then I kind of realized, that I learned so much stuff. Right? This is my do-over. This is my chance. And then I stopped being afraid of the failures. I stopped hiding from the failures. I stopped pretending they didn't happen, which is, I think, a lot of people's first instinct. It was, no, no, no, it was fine. I chose to shut down the company. It wasn't that everything just, like, completely exploded and left me no choice. You know? And then I and that's really where I came to a place of strength is once I was like, yeah, man. Mistakes happen, and it's okay. And then we just move forward from that and get better.

[00:06:43.89] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And especially in business, there's, you know, it's really, I think, hard to be in business for probably sometimes it feels like thirty minutes than not have, like, a mistake or something pops up. And it and, but as you said, as you pointed to, the key is not in not having those mistakes or failures or whatever might happen. It's in learning from those and being able to build, from those, mistakes so that the next venture or the next thing or the next project or client or whatever that might be, whatever the next might be is gonna be so much better. So, I love that. So I know you touched on it a little bit. Could you take us through how you serve your clients and what exactly that process looks like?

[00:07:19.60] – Meredith Eaton

Absolutely. So we do a lot of custom work. I really believe everybody's journey is a little bit different, so I try not to have too many, too much structure, that constant balance. But so we have our one core program called the executive publishing program, and that will take you through from the idea for your book all the way to having it on sale in six months. It's aggressive. You have to be committed. You have to be focused. But if you are, then I am, and I'm gonna bring you all the way through. And it includes writing consulting, coaching, editing, and then all the production stuff that goes into making the book a book, like, physically. So that's our kind of singers program. I also run a mastermind a couple of times a year that is a publishing and publicity mastermind because that's the other piece. Right? We can write the book.

We have to get the book in the world. We have to make it do the things we want it to do to grow our business, and that's where a lot of people struggle. So the trick is really you have to know what you're gonna do for the marketing, and you have to have a plan before you even start writing. That's what's going to position you in the best way possible. So I teamed up with a PR expert, and we put together this So then on October 1, I'm launching a new program, which is a writing boot camp because I found that a lot of my clients have the best of intentions, and but they can't finish the book. They just can't stay on it. They get distracted. They need a lot of hand-holding and a lot of accountability, but not necessarily a lot of coaching.

So it's more about accountability. So I'm putting together this group program that will be more about just getting it done, like a boot camp, like a fitness boot camp where you're gonna kind of be yelled at a little bit, and you're gonna have incentives, and we're gonna have goals. And it's on you to do it, you know, to put in the work, but I'm gonna give you every tool I can to help you, you know, get through it and do the work. So and then outside of that, everything I consider to be a custom package. So we can do everything from just helping with the writing. I help some, of my clients put together proposals to give to publishers if they don't wanna do self-publishing, and then just the regular services. Got the book, but you need it formatted and laid out and put on Amazon, all that kind of stuff so we can do all of that as well.

[00:09:38.79] – Gresham Harkless

I absolutely love that. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for yourself or your business or a combination of both, but what do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:09:49.50] – Meredith Eaton

Well, I think in terms of the publishing aspect what sets me apart from other publishers and self-publishers is that I do view it as a partnership. I become really invested in your success. So I do whatever it takes to, get you to that that final place. So we have with the executive publishing program that I talked about six months ago, there's a kind of a prescribed process that we move through that works for most of my clients, but not every one of my clients. So I'll do I'll add in extra things. We'll do co-writing if that's what it takes, if you're just having a hard time, you know, sticking to your writing blocks. I'll create worksheets if I feel like, you know, you need, like, extra, structure to figure out certain pieces, whatever that is. I just want it to get done.

I want you to have a good book at the end. And I think also just my, willingness to constantly learn and adapt and grow and change services and, be willing to respond, not just to my clients and not just in publishing for business in general, to look for what is new and and to be very conscious. And I would say that I don't fall into this trap, but I'm very, very conscious to not ever say, no. No. I've done that. I've tried that. I know that. I don't use that. That doesn't work for me. I so many people say stuff like that about, anything. And it's just sort of, like the second I feel myself say that or hear myself say that, I'm like, oh, time out. Back up. Let's try that. You know, let's let's actually go there. We have such a reaction. Let's do it. Let's try it.

[00:11:19.29] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely love that. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?

[00:11:31.20] – Meredith Eaton

So I'm obsessed with systems and technologies and stuff like that. So I'm constantly, looking. So that is a little one. It's my main one, but, like, is to never accept that your systems-driven place is the final system. Right? So I try every six months, sometimes a year to just revisit all my things. How am I you know, what's my database? What's my payment processing? What's my whatever? And, make sure they're all as efficient, cost-effective, and as useful as they need to be and make those decisions. But at a much more micro level, my newest discovery and my newest obsession is Rocketbooks.

So some people are already on this, but I'm kinda new to it. I love it. I love it. I'm a notebook person. I constantly write dumb quick notes to myself on what I need. I need that note for, like, twenty minutes from now, but I don't need it a week from now. But I've always had notebooks that have important things mixed in with unimportant things, and it's a mess. And it's a cluttery thing. So so the Rocketbook, you know, for people who don't know, you, you write out with a regular you know, a special pen, but, like, a normal pen. And then you can scan the pages, directly into you can scan over email as well.

[00:12:41.00] – Gresham Harkless

So, now I wanted to ask you for what I call CEO nuggets. So that could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client or if you happen to be a time machine, you would tell your younger business self.

[00:12:52.29] – Meredith Eaton

I'm gonna do the time machine younger business self because this is one of my other passions. It's just sort of connecting with other CEOs and people early on their journeys. But I kinda already mentioned this, but it is that mistakes are not just okay. They are powerful, but they're that's where we learn. And so the thing I learned almost too late, not really, but, like, that took me probably fifteen years of working at two companies to figure out was go as fast as you can towards that first mistake. Accept it's happening and just get there. And then fix it and move on.

[00:13:24.50] – Gresham Harkless

Now I wanna ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different, quote, unquote, CEOs on the show. So, Meredith, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:13:34.60] – Meredith Eaton

To me, being a CEO is I mean, two things. It means freedom and obligation at the same time.

[00:13:42.10] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. No. It makes perfect sense. That definitely resonated with me. So, Meredith, truly appreciate that perspective and that, definition. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you and find out about all the awesome things that you're working on.

[00:13:59.60] – Meredith Eaton

Okay. So the last little thing I'll say because I spent so much of my advice time on CEO is for people who wanna write a business book. It is very doable and is a powerful tool for sure. The key I think to getting started is to remember that with nonfiction books, it really is a snapshot in time. It's not your life's work. You're not writing a great American novel. You're not writing this massive tome that's gonna like, you know, revolutionize the world. You wanna just at this moment right now, what are your philosophies? What are your viewpoints? What's your experience telling you that you can share? Get it down. Get it out. Leverage it. It will explode your business. Take it to the next level. And then write another book. This stuff and it's not accurate anymore, that's fine. We write another book. We update. We grow. And I think for a lot of people, it's hard to decide, like, this is the book.

Like, how do I you know, I have to have the absolute best, you know, theory and information. You don't. You don't. You have to have the best you have right now. And then but the important thing again is just get it done, get it out. So we focus on that a lot in the groups that I work on. And so I have I run a Facebook group called Looking It to Success, and it is we just talk about all kinds of things related to writing, publishing, motivation, mindset, marketing, getting your book out, all that kind of stuff. So people aren't sure, they're just kinda thinking about it, highly recommend, look that group up, and join in. It's not it's a very, quiet group in the sense that there's not that constant selling to each other. And the members are it's just a group of people who want to learn about writing and, publishing their nonfiction books. So, and then Eaton press dot com is our website. We're also on Instagram and Facebook, both Eaton Press, to find us there. And that's really the best way to keep up with what we're doing.

[00:15:53.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Again, we will have the links and information in the show notes for our social media website and the awesome Facebook group as well. And I truly appreciate that reminder as well too. I think so many times, we let the perfect get in the way of the possible. We wanna write that great American novel, the best book that's ever been written before. But a lot of times we just have to get, one page after one page done and we start to progress. And then once we have success, we can do it all over again. So I appreciate that reminder as well. And I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:22

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at IAMCEO.CO. I am CEO is not just a phrase, it’s a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Google Play, and everywhere you listen to podcasts. Subscribe and leave us a five-star rating. Grab CEO gear a www.ceogear.co This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

[/restrict]