Judy also discusses her journey to entrepreneurship, which began in 1998 when she started her own law firm. SkillBites was founded in 2012 after Judy struggled to find a good resource to help her write and publish her own book. She realized there was a market for a service that could help business owners and professionals get their expertise out of their heads and onto paper quickly and efficiently. One of the things that came up in Judy's story was how many people are involved in hiring that sometimes we aren't aware of and how powerful it is in book publishing (or other industries) when you hire the right person especially because you tap into their experience and expertise. There are mistakes that can be made and those that can be costly.
During the interview, Judy shares her CEO Hack, which is using Zoho as her CRM, and her CEO nugget, which is that the more value you can provide to others, the more successful you will be. She defines being a CEO as being a visionary for your organization, a leader, and a team player. Overall, the podcast provides insights into the world of book writing and publishing and offers valuable advice for business owners and professionals looking to increase their credibility and visibility through the use of books as a marketing tool.
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Transcription:
Judy Weintraub Teaser 00:00
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.
Intro 00:21
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.
Gresham Harkless 00:48
Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I appreciate you listening to this episode. If you been listening this year, you know that we hit 1600 episodes at the beginning of this year. We're doing something a little bit different where we're repurposing our favorite episodes around certain categories or topics or as I like to call them, the business pillars that we think are going to be extremely impactful for CEOs, entrepreneurs, and business owners, and what I like to call the CB nation architects who are looking to level up their organizations.
This month we are focused on our greatest asset talent management and hiring. Think from great resignation to the great renovation. And if you disagree with me, maybe these episodes might be especially for you. Life and especially business has changed. It has forced those that are within organizations who look differently at talent and how it's being managed.
When we talk about change, think about it, we have to realize that business as usual is no longer here, and that's evident in attracting and retaining clients, but also in setting up people within organizations to succeed. Think onboarding, think DEI- diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. How it is working from home and even going back into the office.
Things are different in this month. We are going to explore these topics by featuring CEO hacks and CEO nuggets, but also interviews that focus on these changes and how organizations can make sure they care for and attract the most valuable asset- their people. Sit back and enjoy this special episode of the I AM CEO podcast.
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 Judy Weintraub of Skill Bites. Judy, it's awesome to have you on the show.
Judy Weintraub 02:20
Thanks so much, Gresh. I'm delighted to be here.
Gresham Harkless 02:23
No problem. Super excited to have you on. Before we jumped in, I wanted 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 Effectively and the author of How to Build Successful Business Partnerships. She's 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.
Judy, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?
Judy Weintraub 03:00
I am. I'm rolling.
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Gresham Harkless 03:02
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.
Judy Weintraub 03:12
Sure. I guess I started my CEO journey back in 1998 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 SkillBites business, I started in 2012 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. I couldn't find one. So then I reached out to my network, several hundreds people, and I had about 66 people get back to me and say, I love what you've decided to do. I wanna do that too. When you find that resource, could you share it with me? So nobody knew of a good resource to use. I also said, if you've used one that you didn't like, let me know so that 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. 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 to write the book, but I wanted somebody else to take care of all that stuff. After I got my book out, about 22 of the people that I reached out to originally, 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, sounds like there's a lot of people out there who need this resource and nobody else that I know of can find it. There's a market. I decided to start this business principally offering book publishing services to authors, to business owners who wanna get a book out.
Gresham Harkless 05:38
Nice. I absolutely love that. It also seems there are definitely some synergies, but probably cultivates different aspects of you as an individual.
Judy Weintraub 05:47
Definitely.
Gresham Harkless 05:48
Awesome. So I wanted to hear a little bit more about SkillBites. I know you touched on it a little bit. Could you take us through exactly how that process works? What exactly and who exactly it helps serve and support?
Judy Weintraub 05:58
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, getting out more visible using the book as a marketing tool to generate more leads, get speaking engagements, maybe get some media exposure in publicity.
It doesn't have to be a long book. In fact, when I started out, the idea of SkillBites was short sound bite-type books. But these were skill-bite books instead of sound bites.
Gresham Harkless 06:36
Nice.
Judy Weintraub 06:36
Because they're words. Now I've branched into doing longer books as well and I've gotten referrals from people who have written novels and 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 E-book 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.
Gresham Harkless 07:35
Yeah, that makes so much sense and I'm sure somebody's listening and trying to write down everything, the ISB what? I think that it helps because as you said when you were talking about how a lot of times people don't want to go through and do all of those aspects, they just wanna write the book.
They want to be able to expand their business. Or even if they don't have a business, be able to tell their story, I imagine as well too. So being able to have that quote and quote easy button nurse, somebody that's an expert to lean on is so important.
Judy Weintraub 07:59
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 on cover designs. You could hire somebody 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 getting it up on Amazon.
Amazon's got a lot of specifications, so your 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 get 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. If you are 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.
Gresham Harkless 09:09
Yeah, I often say the name of the game is often being found. 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. Why have those costly mistakes or things that could be avoided when you lean on somebody that knows how exactly to do that?
Judy Weintraub 09:37
Yep.
Gresham Harkless 09:38
Awesome. So I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce. This could be for you or a combination of your business or your organizations. What do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?
Judy Weintraub 09:49
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 business owners 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.
Gresham Harkless 10:31
Yeah.
Judy Weintraub 10:32
So it's that focus on, I understand business owners. I've been a business owner and I want to help them because businesses, especially small businesses, they're the motor of the economy and I really want them to succeed.
Gresham Harkless 10:49
Yeah. Absolutely. I definitely appreciate you for doing that. And as you talked about, that visibility piece, being able to reach and connect and tell and empower 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.
Awesome. I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app book or a habit that you have, but what's something that makes you more effective and efficient?
Judy Weintraub 11:21
I think one of the things that have really helped me has been my CRM. I use Zoho. I'm sure there are other ones out there that are really good, but this allows me to keep track of every touchpoint with everybody that I'm talking to or emailing or reading on LinkedIn or other social media platforms or whatever.
Gresham Harkless 11:50
Awesome. 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 were to hop into a time machine you might tell your younger business self.
Judy Weintraub 12:02
The more value that you can provide to others, the more successful you'll be. If 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 or 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 really too bad. I can provide some empathy, but if you can provide value to others, then. You're gonna be successful.
Gresham Harkless 12:48
Yeah, absolutely. I usually always say at the heart of entrepreneurship, it's all about solving problems, and being of value in so many different ways.
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 quote and quote CEOs on this show.
So Judy, what does being a CEO mean to you?
Judy Weintraub 13:05
To me, being the CEO is the visionary. It's more than just a visionary, but 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 at the company where it needs to go.
Gresham Harkless 13:41
Yeah, absolutely. Steven Covey always says, begin with end in mind and when you have that vision and you can 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's all going in the right direction and people aren't being stranded and going in circles.
Judy Weintraub 14:00
Yeah. I rode crew for a little bit. I did it. If you've got people who aren't in sync, the boat doesn't go too well.
Gresham Harkless 14:08
Exactly. Exactly.
Judy Weintraub 14:10
You wanna get everybody in sync with a coxswain so that your boat's gonna fly over the water.
Gresham Harkless 14:16
Exactly.
Judy Weintraub 14:16
You got to do with your business.
Gresham Harkless 14:18
Absolutely. You got to have that vision. You got to go down and drill down into all those aspects of it to make sure you get to where you need to be.
Judy Weintraub 14:24
So the CEO's got to be a leader. It's got to be a visionary, it's got to be a team player. There are a lot of things that the CEO has to be. But I think it really starts with having that vision.
Gresham Harkless 14:34
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 ahold of you, get a copy of your books and find out about all the awesome things you're working on.
Judy Weintraub 14:50
Thank you so much. I wanna let your listeners know that if they have any interest in writing a book they can reach me, judy@skillbites.net and that's skillbites.net. Or they can give me a call, my phone number's 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 the 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 people and less expensive. So, it's definitely affordable.
I'm happy to talk to anybody who wants to reach out to me and see if I can help you.
Gresham Harkless 15:43
Nice. 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 and I hope you have a great rest of the day.
Outro 15:53
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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