Why I wrote a 100-Page Marketing Book Instead of a 300-Page Paperweight

When a recent reviewer of my new book, “How To Get The Most Out Of Marketing” gave me 4/5 stars because “the book was short” I was elated. Someone actually noticed, but… missed the point - the book is different by being skinny.

It may surprise you to know that self-publishing is a losing proposition; only a small group will actually make money selling their book. So you may ask, what’s the point then? Most marketing authors use the book as a “hook” to drive readers to their website, where they upsell online courses or other products.

I wrote a short book for small business owners because I KNOW small business owners.

Let me explain.

Running a business is a perpetual rollercoaster ride filled with challenges and constant changes. Entrepreneurship is like tightrope walking - you have to maintain your balance or you crash. So, an average day is a very busy day and an average week is an 80-hour week, leaving very little time for what owners, CEOs and Presidents should do: high-level strategic thinking and planning for growth.

Successful entrepreneurs schedule time on their calendar for tasks designed to improve and grow their business. But, even though it’s a step in the right direction, frequent interruptions are very common and the only way to protect these sacred calendar slots is to go off site and turn your cellphone off.

What’s the point then?

Small business owners do not have time to inspect and manage every aspect of their business. Oh, by the way, this is especially true for owners who micro-manage everything (and I worked for a few); they often miss critical mistakes and focus on minutia, unimportant things.

In our quest to always grow our business, we often neglect what is obvious and literally right under our feet. The latest in marketing and sales technology that promises 10X growth with a push of a button sweep us. It rarely, if ever, works.

Before you rush to build an extension on your home, you should first ensure that your home is on a solid foundation. The same applies to a business - all successful (profitable) businesses have one thing in common: fundamental and basic principles are efficient and in sync.

Most of my clients in the past ten years have missed a few or all of those basic principles; their growth stalled, and many were just breaking even. It’s the price every business pays when you ignore fundamentals; when you don’t check the foundation of your business and instead chase marketing shiny objects that promise easy growth.

But wait, there’s good news at the end of this depressing reality, a way for business owners in any industry to improve and grow their company. I wrote a simple and short action plan that covers overlooked principles. Why short? Because most owners will not read a 200 to 300-page book; the book may be brilliant but the content and resulting long list of to-dos quickly overwhelms every busy entrepreneur.

Before signing up new clients, I offer an hour of complimentary assessment; we talk openly about the business and I’m often very generous and give the entrepreneur advice and ideas on how to improve. They write them down, it’s “free advice.”

Not everyone I meet becomes a client. Often, the ones that took notes and wrote my free advice. Eventually, our paths cross a few months or years later and when I ask, “hey, did you ever implement what we’ve discussed?” the typical answer is…” I’ve got a lot going on, I didn’t get it, but I will.”

I often think of my book as a cookbook with recipes for success. It’s an easy-read in simple (no jargon, or complicated theories) language; each chapter covers one overlooked principle, explains why it’s important and it ends with a short action plan. While the book focuses on what I call the Engines of Growth;, Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, it also covers leadership/management principles that are equally important to the success of your business.

There’s a four-letter word I truly despise: B U S Y. It never fails; almost everyone I’ve come across that use that word is doing so to either impress (how busy they are, which is meaningless) but sadly, it is also a shield, an excuse for not doing their job.

Small business owners can’t afford to be BUSY; they can’t afford to ignore and neglect critical fundamentals of growth. There’s a financial penalty for being that busy also! They spend an unreasonable amount of precious resources on shiny marketing objects, hoping for easy results. They often disappoint. The money is gone, and they lost valuable time that they could have used to improve their business.

So there you have it, a very long explanation to why my book is so short.

Get the book. One chapter alone can make a drastic improvement in your business.

Enjoy and please reach out if you need help or want to chat about your business: zev@zevasch.com