Episode 205: Built to Sell Book
All books are tools. They are all vehicles of education and information inspiration. In today's episode, Fiona shares about one of the top 5 books she has recommended for the last seven years. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
Built to Sell
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
John Warrillows
Audible
YouTube
Hello and welcome to episode 205 of the My Daily Business Coach podcast. Today. It is a quick tip episode, and this is a tip that I actually, it's a tool. It's a tip tool or tactic on these episodes. And I'd say, today is a tool. And it's one that I actually recommend all that time to people. So I thought, why not share on the podcast as well before we get stuck into that, I just want to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the beautiful land on which I record and live and work and play. And that is the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. So, as I said today, it is a quick tip episode. You can find all the links and anything else that I talk about in this episode, over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/205, let's get stuck into it.
So I was going to say if you follow me on Instagram or you're on my Sunday email, but I actually just think if you have interacted with me ever, you'll be aware that I am a big person for words. I love words. I love language. I love music. I love rap. I love poetry. I love literature. I love reading. I just love words and the expression that words can give us. I just think words are art words that have so much meaning. And I love to read it is one of the things that my parents really instilled in us. They were always like, if there's a book in the house, you can't be bored. Whenever we were kids, we'd complain. They'd be like, well, there's a whole load of books downstairs. And we would always be going to the library. We were those people with like, my mom used to have a massive like basket kind of thing.
What do you call it? Like a basket? What teachers carry around. For all these things in words, I can't think of the right word, but we would be bursting to the brim with books in our house. And so it's something that I always love reading. I think you can escape into reading. It's relaxing. You are off a screen. I choose to do my reading usually through actual physical books where I can. And so with business as well, I love reading about business. I liked writing about business. I have my own book, hopefully, book two is on the way everyone keeps their fingers crossed. But one of the books that I regularly recommend to people is a short kind of business book. It's actually written as fiction, even though it's really a business book called Built to Sell.
And it's by John Warrillows and I will link that in the show notes. It's a very small little book you could get through it really quickly. And as I said, it's written as fiction. It's written as a story, but it's really about business. And it basically talks about or travels along with the life of this one business owner. He's a small business owner and he is running an agency. And I think it's sort of graphic design, but they also do SEO and they do websites and they do logos. And it's all the things. And I think what the author in this book Built to Sell really captures is the idea that I can't step away from the business. I've got to be in the business the whole time I've got staff, I've got clients, I've got customers. And, and it's this idea as you go through the story of this business owner, who is just stressed to the nines and also is figuring out like, I've got these staff coming on.
How am I gonna pay for everyone? Plus I've got these clients and I don't really like them, but they're bringing in the cash. And so through the course of the story of the book, he starts seeing a business coach. And I don't recommend this book to everyone cuz I'm like, go and get a business coach. But I actually think it's just a really good way of capturing. One, the overwhelming stress that small business owners feel two, the way that we can somehow just become what our customers and clients need or want, I should say, want, not need instead of what we are actually trying to build in a business, we can get so used to, well the money's coming in and I've just somehow gone down this path and do I really actually wanna be doing that?
So both seeing a business coach, kind of gets this guy into thinking, well, what am I trying to build? And the whole book is obviously called Built to Sell. And so the idea is that this guy actually wants to sell his business. And so he starts to see a business coach to talk about how do I go about selling and what sort of things do I be thinking of? And the business coach asks him a range of questions from what sort of money would you like to make from this and then what needs to be fixed. And as you go through the book, it talks about all sorts of things like how to productize a customer, a service-based business for your customers, how to become the go-to brand or business for X, Y, Z, and also just the mindset stuff that goes on in a business.
I am forever using the little catchphrase clarity equals confidence, but I really believe that. I really hope and try in my work to help my clients get more clarity, to have the courage, to kind of dig deep. And, and yes, it might get messy for a while. It's kind of the same as when you're in an ocean and you sort of bring up all the sand and the sediment and the wave comes and it's kind of murky and messy for a bit. And then everything gets clear. And so often at the end of working with me, clients will say, I actually have direction. I know where I'm going. And I know why I don't wanna do X, Y, Z. And so in this book, I think it's really well created. I mean, it's a really easy, short read. This is not one of those business books.
That's like super dry and just gonna be super boring if it was, I wouldn't recommend it, but it's just a really nice way of looking at business and a way that this guy gets really clear on like, what am I trying to build here? What do I wanna sell it for? What do people turn to my business for? And I think it brings up a lot of questions for people. I know that even if you are not planning on selling, sometimes you need to look at your business in a is if you were because it's like, okay if somebody else was gonna step into here, do we have the system set up? Do we understand what we're trying to do in the business? Where are we going? Who are our competitors? What's else is out there in the market.
How are we different? All the stuff that you would normally have to put into a business plan, or if you, especially, if you're going for a loan or venture capital or whatever, you'd have to show all of this. And I think if you are running a business that you don't intend to sell so often we can just get stuck in complacency and we can just get stuck in, this is the way we do it. And that's probably the way we'll just continue on and on and on. And I don't know if it's the pandemic or it's just the type of businesses that I work with, but I know a lot of people I'm hearing in calls are really reevaluating. Why they're in business, not necessarily why they're in business, but what they want from their business, I should say. And what are they trying to achieve with the business and what is the brand all about?
And I think this is a really good book for looking at that stuff, whether you intend to sell or whether you don't intend to sell, either way, it's about getting really clear on what am I trying to build? Who am I building it for? Can I create really good systems? Have I got the right stuff or people in place to help me to support, and build this dream out? And as I said, it's a really easy, quick, short book to read. I get no kickbacks from any of these things that I ever recommend, just FYI, but it is a book that I have recommended for years and years, like I said, it is 10 years old. So it is not the most modern book, but it's a great book, nonetheless. And we'll link to that in the show notes. But I just thought I would mention it today because in these quick tip tool or tactic episodes, often I'm talking about a tip or a tactic, but I actually think this tool, this book is a tool.
All books are tools. They are all vehicles of education and information inspiration. But this book is one that I probably find myself recommending. I wouldn't say no, I'd have to look at how many different books I recommend, but I would definitely say it would be in the top three to five that I recommend and have done for like the last seven years. So if you are someone who likes to read, check out Built to Sell, go to your local library, if you wanna borrow it or you could purchase it. Or if you want, you can always listen to it on Audible or another kind of audiobook place. But there have been so many websites, articles, and blogs written about this. There are a million YouTube videos because it's a book that resonates with people and it's simple and it's clear and it may just give you some really good ideas to go forward with your business.
So that is it for today's quick tip episode. And it is a quick one today. I didn't go over the 10-minute mark, you can find the link to this book Built to Sell and to anything else that we mentioned on these podcasts over at mydailybusinesscoach.com/podcast/205. This is episode 205. And if you end up buying the book or borrowing the book or reading it or listening to it, I would love to know what you thought. So don't be a stranger. You can find me @mydailybusinesscoach on Instagram, or you can just email us at hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to the My Daily Business Coach podcast. If you wanna get in touch, you can do that at mydailybusinesscoach.com or hit me up on Instagram @mydailybusinesscoach.
