IAM771- Founder Helps Authors Get Their Books Done Quickly

Judy Weintraub is an accomplished entrepreneur, business executive, and attorney and is a bestselling author of The Essentials of Negotiating Effectively and the author of How to Build Successful Business Partnerships. She is the founder of SkillBites, providing book writing and publishing services to help authors get their books done quickly and conveniently. In addition to SkillBites, Judy runs Weintraub Legal Services, providing corporate law services and dispute resolution services.

• CEO Hack: I use the Zoho CEO app
• CEO Nugget: The more value you can provide to others, the more successful you will be
• CEO Defined: Be a visionary for your organization, a leader and a team player

Website: https://skillbites.net

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judyweintraub

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Transcription

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[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.

[00:00:29.69] – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gretch from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Judy Weintraub of SkillBytes. Judy, it's awesome to have you on the show.

[00:00:40.10] – Judy Weintraub
Thanks so much, Gresh. I'm delighted to be here.

[00:00:42.89] – Gresham Harkless

No problem. Super excited to have you on. And before we jump in, I want to read a little bit more about Judy so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Judy is an accomplished entrepreneur, business executive, and attorney, and is a best-selling author of The Essentials of Negotiating Effective and the author of How to Build Successful Business Partnerships. She is the founder of SkillBytes, providing book writing and publishing services to help authors get their books done quickly and conveniently. In addition to Skillbytes, Judy runs Weintraub legal services providing corporate law services and dispute resolution services. Judy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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[00:01:20.59] – Judy Weintraub

I am. I'm rolling.

[00:01:22.50] – Gresham Harkless

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I wanted to rewind the clock a little bit and hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story and what led you to start all the awesome things you're doing now.

[00:01:33.00] – Judy Weintraub

Sure. Well, I guess I started my CEO journey back in nineteen ninety-eight when I decided to leave the company that I was employed at and go out on my own as an attorney, specifically as a mediator and an arbitrator. My SkillBytes business, I started in twenty twelve, and that evolved when I wanted to write a book. I wanted to take articles and presentations that I had given and repurpose that material since it was really valuable, good material, and, get more use out of it and figured that writing a book would be a good way to do that and get the messages out to more people. So I went online to try to find a good resource that I could use to make it a lot easier for me to get my book done, and I couldn't find one. So then I reached out to my network, several hundred people, and I had about sixty-six people get back to me and say, I love what you've decided to do. I wanna do that too. So when you find that resource, could you share it with me? So nobody knew of a good resource to use. I also said, you know, if you've used one that you didn't like, let me know.

So at least I have some information. Nobody could point to anything. So I decided, okay, I can self-publish my book. I'm smart. All these other people are self-publishing. Well, I did. I did it, but it was a lot of work. And I didn't wanna have to figure out who to go to for editing or how to get a cover designed or any of that stuff. I just wanted my I wanted to write the book, but I wanted somebody else to take care of all that stuff. After I got my book out, about twenty-two of the people that I reached out to originally, sent the book around to everybody, and twenty-two of them came back and said, could you help me with my book? So I wound up helping them and in the process learned how to do things a lot more efficiently and figured sounded like there were a lot of people out there who needed this resource. Nobody else that I know of can find it, so there's a market. So I decided to start this business principally offering book publishing services to authors, to business owners who wanna get a book out.

[00:04:06.69] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. I love that in the true entrepreneurial form. If something doesn't create isn't created, you gotta create yourself. And it sound like everybody was quietly maybe even saying, why don't you create this? And then he kinda took that mantle and kinda ran with it as hell.

[00:04:21.69] – Judy Weintraub

Mhmm. So, yeah, it's been quite a journey.

[00:04:25.10] – Gresham Harkless

Nice.

[00:04:25.60] – Judy Weintraub

So totally different from my legal career.

[00:04:28.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And, I mean, I know I read in your bio kinda having that entrepreneurial ticket kinda sounds like, you know, you're able to kinda balance both of those, but it also seems like it might be, I'm sure there's definitely some synergies, but probably, cultivates different aspects of you as an individual.

[00:04:44.80] – Judy Weintraub

Definitely. Mhmm.

[00:04:46.60] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about SkillBites. I know you touched on it a little bit. Could you just take us through exactly how that process works, what exactly, and who exactly it helps serve, and support?

[00:04:57.80] – Judy Weintraub

Right. Well, it serves pretty much anybody who wants to get a book done, but my focus is on business owners and professionals who are looking to increase their credibility, their reputation, get out, and more visible, using the book as a marketing tool to generate more leads, get speaking engagements, maybe get some, some media exposure and publicity. Doesn't have to be a long book. In fact, when I started out, the idea of skill bites was short sound bite-type books, but these were skill byte books instead of sound bytes Nice. Because they're words. And, now I've branched into doing longer books as well.

And I've gotten referrals from people who have written novels, memoirs, and even a few children's books. But, principally, my focus is the business book that's going to help somebody grow their business. The services include everything from helping them get the book written, if that's what they need, either with a ghostwriter or book coaching services, to all the post-manuscript services, the editing and proofreading, the layout design, the cover design, the ISBNs, the formatting for ebook and print book publication, and getting on Amazon and other platforms. So the business owner or professional doesn't have to do those. They can get their expertise out of their head on the paper and then hand it off to SkillBites and we'll handle everything else.

[00:06:43.00] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Then that makes so much sense. And I'm sure somebody's listening and said trying to write down everything, the ISB what. And I think that it helps because as you said, you know, when you were talking about, how a lot of times people don't wanna go through and do all of those aspects. They just wanna write the book. They wanna be able to expand their business or even if they don't have a business, be able to kinda tell their story, I imagine, as well. So being able to kinda have that, quote, unquote, easy button or somebody that's an expert to kinda lean on is so important.

[00:07:09.50] – Judy Weintraub

Right. And, unfortunately, there are a lot of mistakes that are easy to make, at every stage of the game. You could be hiring a cover designer who's a graphic artist and does not really have the expertise in cover designs. You could hire somebody who and that cover designer or graphic artist might not have the right margins and things that the printer is going to require for the cover, or get it up on Amazon. Amazon's got a lot of specifications. So your inter-internal layout and your cover have to meet those specifications. And if you choose the wrong person, it might be really hard to get it uploaded. And getting it on Amazon, it's free to do yourself, but there are ways to do it where your book is more likely to be found. And if you're just uploading and not putting in the right keywords or the right categories or things like that, then you've gone to all this effort to get your book done, and then nobody knows where it is.

[00:08:25.39] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I often say the name of the game is often being found, and I'm glad you touched on that because not only, are those things that could happen if you don't necessarily, lean on an expert or work with an expert, costly, but they also can take a lot of time and those resources that we wanna spend on the things that are really gonna help move the needle forward. So why, you know, have those costly mistakes or things that could be avoided when you kinda lean on somebody that knows how exactly to do that?

[00:08:56.39] – Judy Weintraub

Right. Yep.

[00:08:58.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I want to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for you or a combination of your business or your organizations. What do you feel kinda sets you apart and makes you unique?

[00:09:09.29] – Judy Weintraub

I think the most special part of what I do is that I focus on the business owner and professional. There are a lot more writing platforms, and publishing platforms out there today than there were when I started. There are still very few that really focus on books by business owners. So I wanna make it as convenient as possible for a business owner to get a book out there because it can be so powerful for them. But if they have to figure it out on their own, then few of them are actually gonna get their books done.

[00:09:54.29] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah.

[00:09:54.70] – Judy Weintraub

So it's that that focus on I understand business owners. I've been a business owner, and I wanna help them because businesses, especially small businesses, they're the motor of the economy, and I really want them to succeed.

[00:10:13.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I definitely appreciate you for doing that. And I think, you know, so many times, like, I always a lot of times talk about, you know, the products and services we have and is a way to, you know, help make the world a better place in each of our unique ways. And as you kinda talked about, you know, that visibility piece being able to reach and connect and tell and empower, you know, so many more people by writing the book and creating that is a definite platform, not just for you to get your book written, but as you said, is really to serve even more people and be of even more of an impact.

[00:10:45.29] – Judy Weintraub

Mhmm.

[00:10:46.00] – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. 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?

[00:10:58.60] – Judy Weintraub

I think one of the things that has really helped me has been my CRM. I use Zillow. I'm sure there are other ones out there that are really good, but this allows me to keep track of every touch point with everybody that I'm talking to or emailing or me on LinkedIn or, or other social media platforms or whatever.

[00:11:29.29] – Gresham Harkless

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

[00:11:41.39] – Judy Weintraub

The more value that you can provide to others, the more successful you'll be. I'm talking to somebody. I'm gonna find out what challenges are they currently facing. It could have absolutely nothing to do with whether they're interested in writing a book or not. It could be COVID-related. It could be sales-related family-related or whatever. Let me hear what your issues are, and maybe I can refer you to somebody who can help. Maybe I have some ideas for you. Maybe I can't. And I'll say, gee. That's that's really too bad. I can provide some empathy. But if you can provide value to others, then you're gonna be successful.

[00:12:27.50] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. And I usually always say kinda at the heart of entrepreneurship is all about kinda solving problems, being of value in in so many different ways. As you said, sometimes it's directly, oh, this is the service I provide, but maybe it's not that. Maybe it's the connection to somebody else. Maybe it's the lending ear or the empathy that you talked about about as well. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So now I wanted to 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 quotes, unquote CEOs on the show. So, Judy, what does being a CEO mean to you?

[00:12:57.89] – Judy Weintraub

To me, being the CEO is the visionary. It's it's more than just a visionary, a key component is having the vision of the organization and where you want it to go, and then being able to determine the strategy for implementing to get it to where you want to go and then to, have that go down into the organization so that everybody's aligned with what they need to do in order to get you, get the company, where it needs to go.

[00:13:36.20] – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. Steven Covey always says to begin with the end in mind. And when you have that vision and you can kinda work backward, you understand, as you said, the strategy, related to yourself, but also as you mentioned to those team members as well too, helps to make sure, like, kind of that rowboat are all going in the right direction and people aren't kinda being stranded and going in circles.

[00:13:56.00] – Judy Weintraub

Right. Yeah. It's, you know, I rode crew for a little bit.

[00:14:00.00] – Gresham Harkless

I did. I did. Yeah.

[00:14:00.89] – Judy Weintraub

I think, if you've got people who aren't in sync, the boat doesn't go too well. Exactly. Exactly. Get everybody in sync with the coxswain so that your boat's gonna fly over the water.

[00:14:14.39] – Gresham Harkless

Exactly. You

[00:14:15.10] – Judy Weintraub

gotta do with your business. Mhmm.

[00:14:17.00] – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. You gotta have that vision. You gotta go down and drill down into all those aspects of it to make sure you get to where you need to be. So, Judy

[00:14:25.10] – Judy Weintraub

So the CEO's gotta be a leader. It's gotta be a visionary. It's gotta be a team player. I mean, there are a lot of things that the CEO has to be, but I think it really starts with having that vision.

[00:14:36.00] – Gresham Harkless

Mhmm. Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. Everything kinda trickles down from there. So truly appreciate that definition and that perspective, and I 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 want to let our readers and listeners know and, of course, how best they can get a hold of you, get a copy of your books, and find out about all awesome things you're working

[00:14:56.39] – Judy Weintraub

Well, thank you so much. I wanna let your listeners know that if they have any interest in writing a book, they can reach me at Judy at skill bytes dot net, and that's skillbites.net. Or, they can give me a call. My phone number is on the website, which is skillbites.net. I do have some courses for people who wanna do things themselves, the course on book writing, and then, of course, on okay. Once the manuscript's done, what do you do now? So it's the publishing, promotion, and leveraging of the book. So those are good resources for for people and less expensive, so, it's definitely affordable. And, I'm happy to talk to anybody who wants to reach out to me and, see if I can help you.

[00:15:55.60] – Gresham Harkless

Nice. Well, I truly appreciate that again, Judy. We will have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you. But I definitely appreciate you reminding us of the power that, you know, writing a book and creating a book can have if we promote it and execute that strategy, that vision in the right way that we kinda talked about as well too. So I think it's something we all need to remind ourselves of. So I appreciate that, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

[00:16:20.70] – Outro

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 at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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