Join us for an enlightening session where Jamie Wasserman, Leader at Geigsen, will share the inspiring story behind her decision to write a book. Gain insights into the thought process and motivations that led to the creation of the initial manuscript. We will explore the decision to hire a publishing partner rather than opting for self-publishing, and the factors that influenced the choice of publisher. Join this session to learn from an author’s firsthand experience and gather valuable tips for your own writing and publishing journey.
TRANSCRIPT
Greg Alexander:
Hey, everybody. This is Greg Alexander, the Founder of Collective 54, and you’re listening to the Pro Serve Podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to founders and leaders of boutique professional services firms who are trying to grow, scale and exit their firm. On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about the book. When I say the book, I say it kind of tongue-in-cheek and laugh a little bit about it because here we are living in this digital age, and it seems like the oldest technology known to man, the book, is still thriving. As it relates to growing and scaling a boutique professional services firm, the book remains a very effective tool. Speaking from firsthand experience, I’ve written a few myself, and they’ve been very helpful. But sometimes it’s really hard to just get started. The idea of writing a book can be a little intimidating, a little overwhelming. Today, we have a Collective 54 member, Jamie Wasserman, who just recently decided to do it and had the courage to do it, and has a lot to share with us on how to get started in writing the book. Now they’re early in their journey, so we’re not going to spend much time on the launching of the book and what’s happened as a result of the book. We’re going to talk about just getting started on the journey of writing a book. So with that, Jamie, welcome to the show. Would you please introduce yourself and also introduce your firm?
Jamie Wasserman:
Yeah, thank you so much. My name is Jamie Wasserman. I’m a Leader at Geigsen, a consulting company. Basically, what we do is strategy consulting and people consulting at the same time. We blend those two things. Oftentimes, culture and strategy are separate, and organizations work with one or the other. But I’m a psychologist, and working with strategy, we figured out that if you don’t blend these two things, you get a disjointed result and you’re going to have to loop back and bring the people in after. So we do a collective process where everything is done at the same time. That’s pretty exciting for us because I think it’s pretty new, and we’re hearing from a lot of companies that we’re working with that they’ve never heard of this approach before. So, yeah.
Greg Alexander:
I haven’t heard of that approach, but I have to tell you, I’m glad that I’m hearing about it because I’ve lived through several strategy projects in my lifetime, and many of them fail. Unfortunately, they fail because of the people stuff that you just mentioned. Yeah, for sure.
Jamie Wasserman:
Yeah, strategy really is just people, unfortunately, because the people drive it or they don’t.
Greg Alexander:
Yeah. All right. So, tell us a little. You all have recently decided to write a book. So first, what went into that decision?
Jamie Wasserman:
So a couple of things went into that decision. One was really just gathering our IP and gathering our process somewhere so that people could read about it, work with it, and understand it who are working with us because it’s kind of complex. There are a lot of moving parts, and people who have never met us before can be introduced to the understanding that if you’re doing a strategy and you’re not working with your people, you’re going to have a failed effort. So we thought a book is a great idea. Then, reading your book and getting to know how to build a firm that is successful and scalable, we realized that’s also one of the things that is highly recommended. So it made complete sense for both of those reasons.
Greg Alexander:
Okay. Now, in preparation for this interview, I did a little homework on you and the firm, and you have a long, very successful career. If I did my math correctly, it’s about 30 years. So congratulations to you on that. So why now? Why the book now after all this time?
Jamie Wasserman:
I’ve been working with this IP for probably 20 of those 30 years. I created a different understanding of how I call it the human operating system, the things that are going on behind people’s awareness that each person is.
Jamie Wasserman:
Process. And when you bring them into your awareness, they help the process run smoothly. So… I’ve been working with this and talking to people about it and sharing it and doing workshops, and people kept saying to me, do you have a book? It’d be really helpful if I could have a book. And I didn’t. So then when I joined and decided to do this formally because I was doing it both, I had a private practice as a psychologist, and I also was working in corporate a little bit. When I decided to make that shift, we realized that bringing the strategy and the people together was a perfect time now as we’re redesigning the company so that the book could really be our calling card. To say we were a strategy company. Now we’re a strategy people company, and this is what we’re doing.
Greg Alexander:
Now, I understand when you decided to go on this journey, you recognized that you probably needed a partner, and I was pleased to hear that you decided to partner with another member of Collective 54, Michelle Prince. But why don’t you tell us why you decided you needed a partner and then how you found one, and how you made your decision on which partner to go with?
Jamie Wasserman:
Yeah. So I think that one of the great things about coming to this work, having been an expert in something already, is that you realize experts are really helpful, and you want to partner with experts whenever possible. Writing a book, publishing a book, marketing a book, that is an expertise I do not have, nor am I interested in acquiring. I don’t want that. I mean, I would love it, but I don’t have time. I know that writing business books, there’s a pattern to it. There’s a process to it. So, Michelle, we interviewed a lot of people. There’s a lot of unevenness in the field of self-publishing. That alone was a huge learning to figure out. There are people who really do the marketing well, but they’re like, yeah, we’ll write the book in eight hours. It’s going to be fine. I’m like, I don’t want that written out. I actually care about this book. Michelle had this great blend of, she really cares about the book. She gave us, and I think this is what she does, meet the authors, find the author you want because a lot of other companies will be like, you pay us, and then we give you an author. You’re like, I don’t even know if that person is going to work with me. How do I know? And they’re like, it doesn’t matter. No one really reads books. It’s really about the marketing. That was a big sentiment in the industry, which I was quite surprised by. They’re sort of marketing groups that get you in by letting you know they’re going to help you write a book, but they’re really just marketing. They’re not really writing a book. We really care about our IP, and we care about this book a lot, and so does Michelle. And so does Matt, the author I’m working with now, who I really like. It’s a fun process, very dynamic. You learn as you’re developing the book, which is what we’re doing together. Michelle was honest, she spent a lot of time with us. She gave us a lot of opportunities. She introduced us to people. Nothing was secret. Nothing was behind the scenes. Everything was up and upfront. There was no time limit like you only have three weeks, and if you don’t do it in three weeks, it’s a thousand dollars a minute. These are a lot of the strategies these people use. Michelle was not like that at all. So we were so happy to find her. She’s like a unicorn in this industry, I think.
Greg Alexander:
No, she is and it’s unfortunate. But you’re right. I mean, I’ve had similar experiences there. You were very… I guess careful with your words. I’m gonna be a little bit more direct. There’s a lot of snake oil salesmen in this space and you got to be really careful and you’re right. They’re like lead generation companies, and then they farm. They work out a real publishing firm that has a comprehensive suite of services like Michelle’s, which is Performance Publishing Group. They put the client first and they really do, and they back that up with their comments. And you’re experiencing that now. And she’s working with several of her members, so that’s great to hear that that’s happening. You know, as you just got started, are there things that you learned as you have got started that might be beneficial for some of our members to know prior to getting started?
Jamie Wasserman:
Yeah. One of the things I learned that I think is interesting just for other members. We have a very developed IP. We have too much IP. So we’re figuring out what should we put in this book? We’re probably looking at a cadence of several different books that we’ll publish over time. From what I understand, it’s good to publish one a year or one every year and a half in order to keep yourself current. So we’re looking at our IP in that way of packaging it. So this could be the primary book. And then this is more expertise on this piece and this piece. And so we’re looking at it as a series already, which is really helpful because it just gives us a quiet mind about how much we should put in this. We have so much and it also helps us organize our thinking. But the other thing I think for companies, we do have IP, that’s what we do. But other people might not have IP as they’re driving. They might just have experience or they might do something that isn’t as driven. One of the things that publishers can do and writers can do, and Michelle, this is one of the things Michelle does also, is you just come and you start talking and they figure out what your book should be about. I knew what my book should be about, but if you don’t, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write a book. It just means you should even more so get help because, you know, Matt and the other authors, they’re experts at listening for kernels of ideas that they can then turn into books for you just to make yourself more accessible and more public. So if you don’t have an idea, it definitely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write a book. I know that sounds counterintuitive, but it really isn’t.
Greg Alexander:
Yeah. You know, it’s great advice, and that’s another thing that I think is often overlooked when you hire a partner is they bring a strategy to the equation. They know how to turn your IP into a book that becomes the calling card, and there’s a way to do that. I went through that myself and it’s not always so obvious. I would be collaborating with my writing partner and they would say, hey, we should expand on that more and we should cut this. Sometimes it would be shocking to me because I was thinking about it entirely in reverse, but then they introduced the concept of it’s more than one book. Then you breathe a big sigh of relief and you realize you don’t have to write War and Peace here. There’s gonna be a sequel and there’s a lot of value in that for sure. So, well, listen, we try to keep the podcast here short and we’re at our time window. Of course, we’ll have our member Q&A session with you coming up, which will be an hour in length where members can ask you questions directly. But Jamie, this was a big contribution for us. We want all of our members to write books. We believe in it wholeheartedly that it’s a great way to merchandise intellectual property as you try to grow a professional services firm. But so often people are intimidated, they just can’t get started. So, the fact that you just got started on this journey and you’re able to share with us why you’re doing it and how it’s going so far is super helpful. So fortunate to have you in the group. Thanks for sharing with us today.
Jamie Wasserman:
Thank you so much.
Greg Alexander:
All right. Couple of calls to action for those that are listening. So, of course, if you’re a member and writing a book is of interest to you, please attend the Q&A session that Jamie will be on. You can ask questions directly to her. If you’re not a member and you think you might want to become one, go to collective54.com and fill out an application. We’ll get in contact with you. But speaking of books, if you just want to learn more, I would direct you to my book called “The Boutique: How to Start, Scale, and Sell a Professional Services Firm,” which you can find on Amazon. But until next time, I wish you the best of luck if you try to grow, scale, and exit your firm.
Note: This transcript was generated by Gong.