In this episode, Vickie Gould, a law of attraction business and book coach, best-selling author, and speaker, about the profound impact of writing and sharing personal stories.

Vickie shares her own compelling journey from a tumultuous family background to becoming a successful author and coach, helping entrepreneurs connect with their audience, grow their businesses, and make a significant impact by writing and self-publishing their own books.

She emphasizes the transformational power of authorship, not just for gaining credibility and expert status but for creating deep connections and fostering change.

The podcast delves into practical advice for aspiring authors, including aligning book topics with business goals, leveraging stories for broader impact, and overcoming the fear of judgment to share one's truth boldly.

Website: http://www.vickiegould.com/

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Vickie Gould Teaser 00:00

And that's what I love so much about writing the book. It's not just the book that you get. It's not just that you become a bestseller. It's not just that you get more credibility and authority and expert status. You get a connection with your audience that you can't get anywhere else by sharing that story.

And you get to help people and make a bigger impact and create change in the world.

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 00:49

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast, and I have a very special guest on the show today at Vicky Gold of vickiegold.com. Vickie, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Vickie Gould 00:59

Thank you so much for having me. Such a pleasure to be here.

Gresham Harkless 01:02

Awesome. I appreciate you for taking some time out of your schedule.

What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Vicky so you can learn a little bit more about her. Vicky is a law of attraction business And book coach, bestselling author and speaker. She's the author of the forthcoming book, Courageous World of Catalyst Two, an anthology showcasing over 10 entrepreneurs in their stories.

She helps entrepreneurs to write and self-publish their own business books to share their story, grow their following, and create more impact and reach in clientele. She has written over eight best sellers, such as Hit. Publish and standing in the gap and help nearly 100 others to become best-selling authors as well.

Vickie, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

Vickie Gould 01:44

Absolutely.

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Gresham Harkless 01:46

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question that I have was just to hear a little bit more about your CEO story and what led you to start your business.

Vickie Gould 01:53

Yeah, actually, what people know about me is a lot of the stuff that you shared, right?

But what they don't really know a lot of times is that there was a time in my life that I was actually running away from my story. So back in 1989, and I'm dating myself now, I was a senior in high school, was a second semester of senior high. And I was due to graduate, but the problem was that it was always stormy and it was stormy inside my house.

So this particular day, my dad had been away on a business trip and it seemed that, stuff happened then between me and my mother when he was gone because my buffer was gone. My sister had gone to college. That buffer was gone. It was just me and her. And while I understand now that she did the best that she could, she was an immigrant from another country from Taiwan.

She wanted what was best for all of us. She was trying to get You know, the best life for herself as well. It seemed that no matter what I did, I reminded her of the things that she couldn't have or didn't achieve. Maybe it was because I looked like her, acted like her, something, but she took that out on me.

And that day I remember we had a massive brawl on the kitchen floor. She pulled my hair. I pulled her hair. Eventually I ran upstairs. I slammed the door. And I grabbed all my stuff in my backpack, threw my contact lenses in there. I was a good student, so I threw my books in there too. For some reason, and I don't know why, there was a bungee cord in my closet.

And I quickly took that bungee cord, hooked it to the post of my canopy bed, Tied a sheet to it and let it out my second story window. And it's not like it is in the spy movies where you just kind of doink, doink, doink, down the brick wall. It's not like that. When you jump out the second story window with a bungee cord, it's elastic and you just plop on the ground.

That's They plopped on the ground and I thought if I could just run away, I could run away from that story. I couldn't run away from the life. I couldn't run away from the voices in my head of her saying you're not good enough. You'll never amount to anything. You're not worthy. Nobody wants you, just all these things that she would say.

I thought if I got away. I would be away from the words, but what I realized was I took that baggage and all those words with me in my head. There was no running away from the story. And like I said, I know that she did the very best that she could with what she had given. This was a country that.

She still didn't speak the language very well. She felt like an outsider. She wasn't confident in herself. But what I realized through that and through all that forgiveness and everything is that there are so many reasons for us to go through what we go through in life. Many of us probably say at some time in life with our struggles, why me?

Why did I have to go through this? Why is this happening to me? I don't understand what the lesson is. And I think for me. It was understanding that those lessons, what we share and how we share them with the world, those are the things, those journeys are the things that we help each other with. And sometimes you go through stuff so that you can help others to go through their stuff and hold their hand along the way.

And so part of what I do with helping people to write books. And one of the things I say a lot is the most transformational book you'll ever read is the one that you write. So many of my authors say that by going through their story and digging through that story and getting really into that pit and that valley of sharing their vulnerability, they have healed so many things within themselves while writing the book.

And that's what I love so much about writing the book. It's not just the book that you get. It's not just that you become a bestseller. It's not just that you get more credibility and authority and expert status. You get a connection with your audience that you can't get anywhere else by sharing that story.

And you get to help people and make a bigger impact and create change in the world. And that's why I do what I do now. And that's why I love what I do now in helping others to share that story from a place of vulnerability so that they can really touch the hearts of the people that they want to help.

So that's how I got started. How it all happened.

Gresham Harkless 06:20

I'm sorry to hear that you had to go through that difficult period. But like you said it's been a great way for you to maybe help out the clients that you work with so that they understand and can be transparent and can be authentic in telling their story and being able to help out others through their story as well.

So I wanted to drill a little bit deeper and hear a little bit more about like how you help out the clients. How do you serve the clients?

Vickie Gould 06:40

Yeah, a lot of times they come to me with a lot of different topics because, we all could probably write about a bunch of different things. So the first thing that we do is we get really clear on how they want their book to connect to their business because I work with entrepreneurs, right?

So what they want in essence. It's a leverage that book turn readers into clients. If you're a, let's say relationship coach, it doesn't make a lot of sense to write a book about cooking, even though you could, maybe that's your hobby and you're passionate and that's part of what you do, but it doesn't make sense.

So we have to make sure that it's aligned first. So we pick the topic. Usually that topic is going to be aligned as well with some sort of signature product that they have because the book profitability is an ROI. Why? Return on investment is actually in the upsell into a product rather than the royalties.

Again, it's not just about the book and the credibility that you get, but I also help them to see how they can leverage that into getting that reader to purchase something else with them, but not in a salesy, slimy, awkward, sleazy way. And then also within that. Story, because I'm really about the story in case you haven't figured that one out.

And so we leverage a story in the book. And while I'm best known for the book, the book coaching part, it's leveraging the story and everything else that you do, because we all have major stories, minor stories and stuff. So it's we use that same story. That's in their book, in their videos, in their media features.

Maybe they want to get on entrepreneur. com. Maybe they want to get into HuffPost or thrive global. We use that because those platforms are all about sharing stories. And actionable items and content, right? Kind of like what you've done here in your podcast, we're sharing stories, but you're now wanting to know some real nitty gritty, let's have some actionable items, right?

That we can actually use in our business. We then leverage those items that are within their books so they can get even more following even more opportunities and even more features.

That makes perfect sense. And I think it's great that how you have been start out with a story and then everything else flows from there.

So I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, or what do you feel makes you unique or distinguishes you as an entrepreneur business owner?

Specifically with the business, I would say that what makes me different is the fact that I'm a business owner. I don't stop at writing the book.

Now, if that's where you want to stop, we can stop there. And I've had clients that stop there, right? We continue to go on. Like I said, with the previous example about leveraging that story into other places and making the book profitable. I've heard before that some people just consider a book, an expensive business card sure.

It's going to be a really expensive business card. If all you do is hand the book out and you don't do anything else with it, you really need to leverage it. So I think my difference in other book, writing coaches or publishers or editors or whatever people want to call them these days is that I have a marketing background and I'm all about leverage.

We don't end with your book and your story.

Gresham Harkless 09:36

I love that. I love that. And like you said, it's like a living, breathing thing because you're able to do so many things on top of writing the book. That's just like the start of everything, so to speak. So, I think that's pretty awesome. And what I want to do now is switch gears a little bit, Vicki, and ask you for what I call a CEO hack.

And this might be an app or a book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient as a business owner.

Vickie Gould 09:59

So there are actually a few things that I really, really enjoy. One of the things I like is automation. I like being able to do one thing and be able to have that.

Spread out all over the place. And I call that in my marketing terms, I call that omnipresence and I want to, and I want my clients to have their visibility seen to other people. Oh my gosh, she's everywhere. So one of the things I love is this app called I F T T. So it's if this, then that I FTTT. com.

So you can take your applets is what they call it inside it. So I can post something, let's say to my Facebook page, to maybe LinkedIn or Twitter or Pinterest, or it'll even save something to a Google Doc.

If you want, it'll take my Instagram. And you know how sometimes with Instagram, it'll post, you can't link it to LinkedIn and Twitter, but then it doesn't have the native photo with it. So it looks funky and ugly. You can get IFTTT to post it with native photo. So it actually looks nice. So it really shortcuts a lot of things cause I don't have to double-post in other places.

So that's one of my favorite ones. Also amplifier is like that. Thing that you can do this, post it in one place and then it spiders out into other places as well. And then my, I know you asked for one, but I'm telling you more than one. My favorite book is Byron Katie loving. What is.

And that one is about letting go of some of your limiting beliefs, turning them around and getting to experience life as if those limiting beliefs don't exist, like what would happen if so? I love that.

Gresham Harkless 11:42

Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I love those CEO hacks. Just help helping people to, of course, be more efficient, like you mentioned, but also great resources that you mentioned as well, too.

So now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget, and this might be a word of wisdom or something that you might tell your younger business self.

Vickie Gould 11:59

What would I tell my younger business self? It's probably going to take you longer than you think it is, but it's so worth it to, to muddle through and not give up.

I think a lot of times, I don't know about you, but I'm impatient. And I want stuff to happen right away. And while things can happen facets, it probably does take a little longer than you might give yourself time for

Gresham Harkless 12:23

very true. Yeah, I always, sometimes when you want things to happen, you want them to happen yesterday.

So, it makes perfect sense that, being able to be patient and understand that quote-unquote room wasn't built in a day. It's very, yeah. Good reminder and a very good CEO nugget. And now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is like the definition of what it means to be a CEO.

And we're hoping to have different CEOs on this show. So what does being a CEO mean to you?

Vickie Gould 12:47

It means treating your business like a business and being a savvy business person rather than a solo preneur hobbyist. So I think being a CEO means that you have the mindset of being in charge of something phenomenal and brilliant and wonderful, and that you act that way.

I hope that makes sense because I think a lot of times. We start out so much being a jack of all trades, wearing so many hats, especially when you don't have the money right away. So you're like, okay, I have more time than I have money. So let me do this, this, this, this, and this. And one second, you're your assistant.

And the next second, you're the janitor, and another second, you're the social media manager. And then, you're doing all these things, but when you really put on that CEO hat, You look at things differently. You price yourself to be profitable rather than to be liked.

Gresham Harkless 13:48

I love it.

Yeah. It's all about like a different mentality that you have, Vicki, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and how best people can get in touch with you.

Vickie Gould 14:02

Yes. So anything additional would be. When you put yourself out there, especially in a book, one of the biggest things that comes up for my clients, at least, and it's come up for me as well, is that fear of judgment. What if somebody doesn't like my story? What if somebody doesn't like me? What if, all the, what ifs.

And then it's what if they don't read my book? And one of the things, my very first book out there, I was like, Oh my gosh, what if nobody reads my book? Oh, what if they don't read it? It's not good. And I finally got it out there. And I was like, Oh crap. What if somebody reads my book? It's going to come up.

You're going to get judged. We're judged every day. So you might as well get judged for something that you're passionate about, that you love, that you feel convicted to share with the world that is really making a difference. Because if you stay within the safety zone of what you're comfortable with sharing, comfortable doing at the end of your life, all you can say is that you kept comfortable.

You stayed in a comfortable place. Personally, I would rather have at the end of my life to go. You know what? I risked all these things. I risk judgment. I risk my fear. I risk my failure.

I risk success. I risk all these things. To make the world a better place to leave my mark and to have my Children and my grandchildren then go back and look at words that I put on paper that live forever and feel like they get to know me as well as the rest of the world that I can help.

So that's my last parting words.

Gresham Harkless 15:38

Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. And then people that wants to follow up, what's the best way?

Vickie Gould 15:40

Yes, yes, yes. They can get in touch with me. My email is Vickie, but okay. I got to spell it. vickie@vickiegould.com. All sorts of things. If you google it, you'll find all sorts of things as well. Hopefully all good things.

Gresham Harkless 15:58

Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much, Vickie. And we'll have those links in the show notes, but I appreciate you for being transparent and being so powerful to be able to help others out and also tell your story. And I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Vickie Gould 16:10

Thank you so much for having me on. It was great.

Outro 16:12

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO podcast powered by CB Nation and 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.

Don't forget to schedule your complimentary digital marketing consultation at blue16media.com. This has been the I AM CEO podcast with Gresham Harkless Jr. Thank you for listening.

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