Write A Number One Solution To A Real Problem, People Will Beat A Path To Your Door
John Lee Dumas delivers some incredibly powerful advice in his interview with show host Josh Steimle.
“If you're a first-time entrepreneur trying to become an author, I have one incredibly strong piece of advice for you,” says John. “Come up with and create the number one solution to a real problem out there in this world. If you do that, and create content around that, people will beat a path to your doorstep every single time.”
Some may disagree with John when he tells Published Author Podcast listeners: “Nobody needs to be motivated by you, by your story. Because guess what, there's millions of people out there that are doing and trying to do just that.”
TOP TAKEAWAY: GIVE PEOPLE A SOLUTION
He emphasizes: “What people need in this world is the best solution to one single problem in their life. And if you can hand that to them, you will win, your book will win, your business will win, your life will win because you will carve out a meaningful niche. You will become what I shared earlier within that, quote, as a person of value for me for the first time in your life.”
John doesn’t hold back from being controversial; although some people will disagree with this, he says people shouldn't share their life story or set out to motivate people: “That's what everybody does. They lead with that. They start their first half of the book with their life story.
“I'm sorry, like, you're not a famous person that has this biography that we all want to consume, yet. You maybe someday, but you're not there right now. So why would you act like that? Come up with one incredibly amazing solution, the best solution to a serious problem. And then you win.”
John and Josh also talked about John’s latest book, set for publication on March 23, The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment. It contains all his learnings from more than 3000 entrepreneurs on his Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast.
“I have been mentored by 3000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, I've learned from every single one of them so much,” he says.
“I want it in your hands, because this is how you're going to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment. I want that for you because I know how it feels. And I want that for everybody because it's going to make this world a better place,” says John. “I'm going from just success which I've had for a long time now to significance. I really want to create significance in this world. And I can do that by helping people reach their uncommon success by helping people reach their version of financial freedom and fulfillment.”
John’s success took hard work. He was an army officer for six years, and after leaving struggled for six years. He tried corporate finance, law school, real estate, and a few other things, but nothing seemed to fit.
One thing he did do was read a lot. At 32, a line from a book virtually reached out from the pages and slapped him in the face. It was Albert Einstein’s: “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value”.
John explains he had been chasing success my whole life but wasn’t doing anything of value. The quote planted a seed, “which eventually led for me a couple months later to launch Entrepreneurs On Fire, which was the first daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs.
The podcast has published more than 3,000 episodes which have had more than 1.4 million listens. Monthly net profit is at least $100,000 - without doubt a thriving business!
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Josh Steimle
Today our guest is John Lee Dumas. You might know john best as JLD, host of the amazingly successful Entrepreneur on Fire podcast. And if you're a podcast host, you may have spent some time as a member of John's membership group Podcasters Paradise. But John isn't just another podcaster. He's also the author of several books, including the Freedom Journal, the Mastery Journal and his latest, The Common Path to Uncommon Success: A Roadmap to Financial Freedom and Fulfillment, which is what we're going to talk about a bunch here today on the show. JLD Welcome to the show.
John Lee Dumas
Josh, I am fired up to be here, brother. Thank you so much for having me.
Josh Steimle
All right. Now let's go back to before you were an author, before you were a podcaster give us a little taste of who you are. Where did you grew up? Who are you? What was your family like life Like? How did you end up on this path to where you became this podcaster, entrepreneur, author, all these things.
John Lee Dumas
I was born and raised in the state of Maine, in a very small town in Southern Maine, specifically called Alfred and I spent the first 18 years of my life there, went to college in Providence, Rhode Island on an Army ROTC scholarship. And post-college I spent eight years as an army officer for the active duty segment. And four in the reserves. I did a little 13-month tour of duty in Iraq as an armor platoon leader, which meant I was a tank commander in charge of four tanks and 16 men in Iraq. And after my military service, I bounced around for what I call my six years of struggle. I tried law school, dropped out corporate finance, I quit, commercial real estate, residential real estate, nothing was working for me whatsoever. But one thing I never stopped doing was reading books, specifically business books. And one quotes I read at the age of 32, virtually reached out from the pages and slapped me in the face. And it was a quote from Albert Einstein. Try not to become a person of success, but rather a person of value. And I was like, well, I've only been chasing success my whole life. And I'm not doing anything of value in this world. Like this is literally the opposite of what Albert Einstein is recommending that I do. So he's had to change things that planted a seed, which eventually led for me a couple months later to launch Entrepreneurs On Fire, which was the first daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. And as you and I are talking now, Josh, I've published 3000 plus episodes, I have over 100 million listens of the show, over 1.4 million monthly listens. And the podcasts which we report, our revenue on a monthly basis, just crossed our 90th month in a row of having a net profit of $100,000 or more for nine, zero 90 consecutive months was also a thriving business. And that's where we come to today, my friends. Launching in my first traditionally published book, can you really call me an author? When I just have a couple journals in my history? Maybe not, you know, I mean, what's the journal? It's, it's one amazing page copied 99 times. This is 71,000 words that I wrote, 273 pages Josh, this book took me 480 writing hours to complete. It is the best work of my life. And I'm super proud of it.
Josh Steimle
And I know you're so busy with so many other things. What was it that made you feel like I have got to carve out this time and write this book?
John Lee Dumas
So listen, I have a massive audience at this point, over 1.4 million listeners of my podcast and I literally get hundreds of emails on a weekly basis, from people asking me essentially the exact same 10 questions. I can't respond to every email, I want to give them exactly what they need. But it's literally impossible to do. So I finally said, You know what? I now have been mentored by 3000 of the world's most successful entrepreneurs, I've learned from every single one of them so much. I know all these answers that they're asking. Let me sit down, let me just create the 17 foundational principles that we all have in common. Once I boiled everything down from all my learnings, that's kind of the number that I came to was, there 17 foundational principles that successful entrepreneurs have in common. I put into a roadmap. And I said, this is the chronological, step-by-step, 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment. And now for the first time ever, I can literally respond to every single one of those emails and say, This is what you need. This is the answer. This is the common path to uncommon success. Please take this with my blessing and go off and create your version of financial freedom and fulfillment. This is what I can now do and it makes me very happy.
Josh Steimle
So tell us a little bit more about the process because Behind the book, The story behind the book, as you started writing this, were the answers just there because you had answered them so many times, or how did you create your outline? How did you flesh out the meat of the book?
John Lee Dumas
So I'm an army guy. You know, I was trained to be an officer in the US Army. And one of the big things that we learned in the army was backwards planning. And that's exactly what I did here. I said, What do people want? People want freedom. They want financial freedom, they want location freedom, they want lifestyle freedom, this is what people want. They want their version of uncommon success. How do I get people there? So I sat down, and again, I just distilled all of these conversations, I've had the 1000s and 1000s of hours, all of my learnings into what ended up being the 17 foundational core principles that we all have in common. And I looked down at him and I said, Okay, this is the foundational principles that every successful entrepreneur uses on their journey to uncommon success. Let me put it in chronological order, with the end goal, of course, being uncommon success, and then work backwards all the way to step one. And then once I sat down and looked at I said, these are the 17 chapters of the book. Now it's time for me to sit down and write this book. And that's exactly what I did. Now, going forward from step one, all the way through step 17.
Josh Steimle
What did your team look like? as you're writing this book? Did you bring in people to help you did you have ghost writers editors who was behind the scenes working on it with you?
John Lee Dumas
I truly considered a ghostwriter. I interviewed three amazing ghost writers, I think they're fantastic individuals. And I consider going that route. At the end of the day, after the conversations, I had to follow my heart, I had to follow my guts. And I decided this is a book I have to write this is 71,000 words, that I need to come from my head, because although these people would do an amazing job, they hadn't had those 3000 conversations, they hadn't been mentored by 3000 successful entrepreneurs, I have to write this book. Now I didn't want to develop in creates in build the right team around me. So I decided to go the traditional publishing route. And I hired an agent, who was amazing. She set up five actually ended up being seven meetings with the big five publishers, and then two additional publishers as well, where I pitched the book, the concept, exactly what it was. And then we kind of sat back and let the process begin. It was very fascinating. It was a 72-hour kind of whirlwind of events with interviews, then the bidding process started. And then a couple people dropped out. And then it was, you know, at the end of the day, it was two publishers battling it out to see you know, which one was going to come up with the biggest advance. And the end of the day HarperCollins leadership came through; a $350,000 advance for a first-time author, which shocked my agent. She'd never seen something like that before. But you know, they saw my audience, they saw my body of work, they saw, you know, what I'd done in the past, you know, self publishing my journals, and they knew that this was probably a good bet. And now that I had that HarperCollins leadership team around me, I had my editor, have my publisher have my book launch manager. That's what it looked like going forward. So we had deadlines, we had days to adhere to, I people checking in with me, when I passed in my manuscripts, you know, it was close to 100,000 words. Now, we took those 100,000 words, and we put them down to where they should be, which is 71,000 words, thanks to my editor and the team in place there. And the book's ready. The book is going live on March 23. And I couldn't be more excited.
Josh Steimle
Now you have this experience publishing books, you know how to get a book printed, you know how to get a book done, because you've done it with the Mastery Journal with Freedom Journal, it must have crossed your mind. I could just do this myself. I know the right people. I could self publish this. I could sell it. I could keep all the revenue. I could keep control over the book. Why did you decide to go with a traditional publisher versus have your team walk you through the self-publishing process?
John Lee Dumas
Listen you're right. Back in 2016 I launched the Freedom Journal and in 33 days on Kickstarter. It raised $453,000 for a $39 journal. A year later, I launched the Mastery Journal it did $280,000 in 33 days.
Josh Steimle
These are nice books. I have both of these. I mean, these are nice, solid hardcover books.
John Lee Dumas
We're talking silver embossed. Yeah, we're talking gold embossed. And you know, a couple years later, I published the Podcast Journal, which is also a beautiful journal as well, to teach you how to create and launch your podcast in 50 days. So I've done it three times. Yeah, but guess what? That's my comfort zone. I am comfortable doing that. And brother, I practice what I preach. All the magic happens outside of your comfort zone. These three journals by the way, were outside of my comfort zone when I did them but then once I perfected that process, now they're inside my comfort zone. All the magic happens outside of your comfort zone. I wanted to push the envelope and to me going with a traditional publisher, accepting a big fat advance having that pressure to deliver, having like, literally a publishing company counting on you. I wanted that pressure. I wanted that uncomfort that discomfort, I wanted that in my life. That's why I went this route. Gotcha. So how was it working with HarperCollins? What were they like as a publisher? So I'm still working with them. So I can say they are still fantastic. Their communication is wonderful, you know, I love the publisher that I'm working with my editor was great. You know, the audio team, they put me in touch with to do the audiobook, which of course, I recorded being a podcaster. But now their remastering has been a really cool process. My book Launch Manager is fantastic, you know, keep me updated, you know, making sure I'm looking at things from all different angles. And it's been a really cool thing, because, frankly, you know, I've got a cover on my site, like I know how to do cutting edge, 21st century marketing in 2021 and beyonds. They're very traditional, you know, they know how to do things, you know, the old school way, but there's still value in the old school way. And so they're really helping fill those gaps that I don't have my knowledge. And so we're a really good team, you know, there's a lot of things they don't know that I'm teaching them, and vice versa. And we're pushing each other on these things. So it's been a really cool process.
Josh Steimle
What are some of the most interesting unexpected lessons that you've learned through this publishing process?
John Lee Dumas
Just how slow it is working with a traditional publisher, like it's fine, because like, I wanted this book to be a labor of love. And I didn't want to rush this thing out. But, you know, I started writing this book, literally in 2019. I wrote most of it in 2020. And now it's, you know, you know, q1 of 2021. And the book is still not published yet. All things come in good time, though, you know, we didn't want to go against this political mayhem that was going on in q4. So, you know, we were very intentional and specific about where we want this book to live. And we've got a fantastic pre order campaign going on. We're doing all the things right. And I'm really excited about where we are right now.
Josh Steimle
That's cool. So now that you've got this book about to come out, actually, once we release this recording, it'll already be out. So you can go to Amazon, you can order right now. Go there and get it right now. As you look towards your launch, can you give us some insights into your marketing and your launch plan and what you're doing to get the word out, obviously, you've got your audience that you can email, are there other things that you're doing in addition to that?
John Lee Dumas
Absolutely, I'm doing a lot of good things marketing number one, as much as I appreciate the call to action, do not go to Amazon and preorder this book, because I have a great marketing plan, which includes me gifting five amazing bonuses. Now if you just go to Amazon, you won't really be able to go through the process to get these five amazing bonuses. So there's a different call to action for you. You need to go to uncommonsuccessbook.com. When you get to that URL, you'll see my entire marketing process in action. You'll see a great video of me jumping in the pool with all my clothes on but then of course describing all the details about the book, you'll see my fantastic endorsements by Gary Vaynerchuk Seth Godin, Neil Patel, Erica Mandy, Dorie Clark, you'll see the first chapter there, which you can consume at your leisure, you'll see all five bonuses that are pre-order bonuses, that all disappear come March 23rd, because we are pushing, pushing, pushing pre-orders, one of those five bonuses that we've already kind of talked about the Mastery Journal, the Freedom Journal, the Podcast journal, I am shipping all three of these journals to the doorstep of every single person who pre orders if you're in the United States of America, those outside the US, I'm shipping you and immediately emailing you the digital packs of all three of those journals. That's just one of the five bonuses that you get. And this is $150 worth of real physical journal value right here, that I'm shipping to your doorstep losing money on every pre-order.
Josh Steimle
I mean, right there, that's, that's too big of a deal to pass up right there. orders, multiple copies.
John Lee Dumas
Yeah, obviously, multiple copies give some way to your audience, man make it happen. It's a no brainer. And that's what I wanted to do make it a no brainer. Because Listen, financially, I've checked that block like I've been building my financial war chest for almost a decade. Now, this is not a financial play for me, because I would have gone to the self-publish route to keep all the money I would have, you know, not had all these no brainer bonuses. If I was trying to maximize my revenue. That's not what I'm doing. I'm trying to get this book into as many hands as possible, because I've already been given the gift of learning from the 3000 successful entrepreneurs it took me to interview to comprise and to create this book and to create this 17 step roadmap. Now I want it in your hands, because this is how you're going to achieve financial freedom and fulfillment. I want that for you because I know how it feels. And I want that for everybody because it's going to make this world a better place. And that's now why I'm still working hard to make this world a better place. I'm going from just success which I've had for a long time now to significance. I really want to create significance in this world. And I can do that by helping people reach their uncommon success by helping people reach their version of financial freedom and fulfillment. So I'm busting my butt, I'm making it a no brainer, people are going to get this book because of the bonuses, they're going to read it, it's going to blow their minds, and then they're going to recommend it to a million other people, hopefully. And that's going to how we're going to start this movement together. So if you want to check out what we're talking about uncommonsuccessbook.com.
Josh Steimle
So give us a sneak peek, what are some of the things that you're most excited to share in the book?
John Lee Dumas
Listen, this is a chronological, 17-step roadmap, you need to go through every single one of these steps in order, I don't care. If you look at the table of contents, and you say almost step 11. Don't skip to step 11. Because I promise you steps one through 10, you have issues. We all do. I do. And I wrote the book, I need to continue to go back and work on these things. So you need to go back to step one and say, Okay, I either number one, I'm going to validate the fact that I crushed this step, and I can move on or number two, I see now learning and reading the step that I need to tweak, adjust and pivot a couple things. And now I can move forward or number three, Wow, thank God, I read this because I need to just wipe the slate clean, and really start fresh. And it's going to be one of those three things for every single one of your steps. So start a step one and move forward. Now what is step one? Identify your big idea. Josh, most people are going to die in this world, never even knowing what their big idea is never even knowing what their zone of fire is because they never took the time to just sit down and actually figure it out. Because that's really what it takes. I mean, of course, you know, I have the specific step by step exercise to get you to your big idea in a very proven manner. But guess what, most people are going to die, never, never ever identifying their big idea. And that's sad. You know, there's another book that you may have read Josh, The Five Biggest Regrets Of The Dying is about a hospice nurse who spent 20 years of her life spending the last couple days with, you know, so many people on their last days of life. And one of those five biggest regrets was that they live their life, on other people's expectations, guided by other people's opinions, never doing what they really wanted to do in their heart and their gut and their intuition. And that's one of the saddest things I can imagine. Because I was going down that path. That's why I went to law school, I was going on somebody else's expectations. And I almost condemned myself to a life of mediocrity and unhappiness. Thankfully, I didn't, I ripped myself out of it. And I want others to do the same. That is the key. And that's what this book is going to share with you. It's gonna it's gonna take you and gift you your big idea. So you can wake up every single morning and act upon your zone of fire. That's just step one, there's 16 more steps that follow. This is the process to financial freedom and fulfillment.
Josh Steimle
So good. So excited to read this. So some people listening to this John are going to say, well, John has this huge podcast, and he has this huge audience. So it's easy for him to go get a big deal with a traditional publisher and write a book that everybody wants to read because he's got this captive audience. And of course, yeah, that's smart. That's smart to build an audience before you publish a book. But what would you say to the people who are waiting and saying, Well, I'm not ready to write a book, I want to be an author. But I don't have that audience yet I have, I'll spend the next 10 years building that up, what would you say to those people?
John Lee Dumas
I'd say this, it's really hard to build a business. This 17 step roadmap, this is hard. This is hard work. If you're not willing to put in the hard work, do not buy this book, do not pass go do not collect any dollars. Because this is a 17 step roadmap of hard work. Back in 2012. I made the hard decision to launch a business to launch a podcast Entrepreneurs On Fire and put in the hard work. But guess what, it's also hard to be broke. It's also hard to live paycheck to paycheck. It's also hard to wake up every day and do something you really don't want to do. But you have to do instead of waking up every day, doing what I consider a success. Doing what you want, where you want, with whom you do it. I get to do that every single day and have been for years. And it's amazing. And I want that for you. I really do. So my my call to action for you right now is choose your hard. Like it's going to be hard to go down this path. This roadmap is hard work. But it's also hard to just keep living a mediocre life. So which hard are you going to choose? Because both options, it's hard.
Josh Steimle
For sure. It's all hard. Choose your hard. Love it. So our audience is entrepreneurs who want to publish a book. They've got a feeling like I've got this knowledge that I need to get out there that would be valuable to somebody or I want to write this book. I know it'd be great for my business. If I wrote this book. What are some of the lessons You've learned now going through this process a few times that you can pass along to these first time entrepreneurs trying to become authors.
John Lee Dumas
Listen, if you're a first time entrepreneur, trying to become an author, I have one incredibly strong piece of advice for you: Come up with and create the number one solution to a real problem out there in this world. If you do that, and create content around that, people will beat down the path to your doorstep every single time. One more time let me repeat this. Create the number one solution to a real problem. That is your book! One solution to one problem. I hate to be honest with you guys, I don't actually I don't hate to be honest. But I hate to be kind of blunt sometimes, because sometimes the truth can hurt. Because I do love being honest, which is why I'm sharing this. No, nobody really needs to be inspired by you. Nobody needs to be motivated by you, by your story. Because guess what, there's millions of people out there that are doing and trying to do just that. What people need in this world is the best solution to one single problem in their life. And if you can hand that to them, you will win, your book will win, your business will win, your life will win because you will carve out a meaningful niche, you will become what I shared earlier within that, quote, as a person of value for me for the first time in your life. Listen, I know you've had a tough life. I know you've struggled with this, and you were abused with that. And you had to go through this and overcome that. I understand all of those things. And it's very interesting, I'm sure to you. But until people really care, they're not going to care about your story that much. Because you need to provide them with real value. You need to be the best solution to one of their real problems, then they're going to care, then they're going to be like, Oh my god, Josh, like you just changed my life by giving you this amazing solution to a real problem. I want to know more about you now. They're not gonna do the opposite. Okay, there's this random guy named Josh, I want to hear his entire life story. yet. That's what everybody does. They lead with that, like they start their first half of the book with their life story. Like I'm sorry, like, you're not a famous person that has this biography that we all want to consume, yet. You maybe someday, but you're not there right now. So why would you act like that? Come up with one incredibly amazing solution, the best solution to a serious problem. And then you win. How did I do that? I want to launch a podcast. That is vague. What about a business podcast I niche down? Well, that's a little better. What about a business podcast that interviews entrepreneurs? Okay, back in 2012, there was five to seven of those. Do I want to be the eighth best podcasts? Because I would have been the eighth best the day that I launched? No. What else can I niche down to? Well, every one of those podcasts was once per week. What if I ten x their quantity? What if I became a daily podcast? And I did 30 per month instead of three per month, instead of four per month? What if I did that? Well, guess what? When I launched entrepreneurs on fire Josh, it was the best daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. It was the worst daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs. It was the only daily podcast interviewing entrepreneurs, I was the best solution to a real problem, because there actually was people that wanted this daily podcast, myself included, I created the solution that I wanted to see. I wanted to be the change that I wanted to see in the world. That's a Gandhi quote, guess what I went and did it. You can tell. That's the book that will win.
Josh Steimle
Man, love it. Value bomb right there. So we're getting close to the end of our time here, John. So what's next? Do you have ideas for other books that you want to create in the future?
John Lee Dumas
I do not. This is my book. This is my decade of work. You know, ask me again in 10 years, maybe you'll have another book. Maybe I'll already have published another book. Who knows? I'm not saying I won't. But, man, this is my entire focus right now. This is all I care about. This is truly the 17 step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment that I want to get into everybody's hands. I have nothing over the horizon right now. This is my one focus. You've heard me say it on my podcast. If you've ever listened, follow one course until success focus. This book is not yet a success. It hasn't even been launched yet. But I will follow one course until this book is successful. That's what I'm doing. That's my focus.
Josh Steimle
What's that website one more time?
John Lee Dumas
uncommonsuccessbook.com.
Josh Steimle
Thanks, john, so much for being with us here today. Appreciate your time. Can't wait to read this book. Can't wait to give it to my team. Is there anything that we didn't cover that you'd like to get out or mentioned?
John Lee Dumas
You're a great host, brother. We covered it all.
Josh Steimle
All right. Thank you so much for being with us here today, John.
John Lee Dumas
Thank you much.
