Hey, hey, what's up Vision Pros and welcome in.
I'm your host, Jackson Callum, founder of First Class Business.
I'm so excited to announce our guest today.
I'm actually quite jittery about this because I've looked up to Amber for such a long time.
Amber Bill-Hauer, as you see at the bottom of the screen there, is the CEO and founder
of No Guts, No Glory Enterprises.
She's launched tons of books for people like Mark Victor Hansen, Brendan Bershard, who's
known as one of the best consultants in the world, Whitney Johnson, Les Brown, who's also
constantly topping the number one speaker in the world spot.
She has become a friend of mine, which I'm super grateful for.
I've been studying her brand for like, I don't know, I want to say a year and a half.
I've been deeply studying it, looking like, all right, how can we be more like Amber?
How can we do things?
How can we bump this up to make it more like what she's doing because she's just somebody
worth modeling in the world because of how she shows up and how she performs?
I'm going to bring her on in just a minute, but I also want to give a shout out to our
sponsors.
We've got Epiphany with Rick Meekins.
I highly recommend talking to him.
If you've got a brand that needs operational scale and systems built in the background
and you want to see somebody put together an amazing proposal, I highly recommend Rick
Meekins.
He's a great friend of mine or a brother from another mother, ablehealth.us as well.
If you're looking to amplify your health, find supplements that align with what you
need exactly.
And you just, maybe you don't have the ability to visit a naturopath.
Maybe you don't want to go into their offices all the time, then go check out what we're
doing at ablehealth.us.
Feel free to reach out to Dr. Seth Yates as well and catch the full vision of what
we're up to.
It's quite amazing what he's built.
And of course, if you have the ability to give back, please get back to the water project.
They're helping people find access to clean water, something that you and I probably take
for granted and just get right from our kitchen sink if we really want it to.
Now you might say that's not great water, but go try and drink the water that some of
these people have to drink in foreign countries.
The least we can do is give a dollar to that and help people out.
It's something that, it should make you feel good and it's certainly something that could
save somebody's life.
So please check that out.
Now, some of the things we might talk about with Amber include how she got some of her
clients on stages of more than 15,000 people as well as how she helped them get speaking
fees, meaning get paid to speak for more than $40,000 for that one speaking engagement.
We might dive into that.
If we don't, make sure to connect with her afterwards and check her brand out.
We'll have the link in the show notes as well.
So without further ado, I'm going to ring Amber on and Amber, I'm just so happy that
you joined us today.
It's good to see you.
I'm going to make a girl blush, don't you?
When it's you, yes.
I apparently got that down now.
So how are you?
I just really appreciate being here.
Jackson is all about giving value to the world and that is so apparent in every single venture
that he does, every conversation that he has.
And so it just, our core values very much align in that way.
So I'm happy to be here very much.
Awesome.
Well, let's dive right into question number one.
And so in 15 seconds, what's your vision?
Well, I think the future of business is really in creating collectives.
I believe we're better together.
And so I'm really interested in collaborating joint ventures.
The other thing I would say is developing meaningful connection in every way I can.
Those two things.
I love that.
So community is a big thing for you in that, in that case.
Community connection, cause giving back.
Absolutely.
I love it.
Okay.
Cool.
So I think that's as well, most of you are, well, I think all of you are tuning in virtually
in some capacity.
So you know, it's, it's really cool how the world has given us technologies where we can
connect with people who aren't necessarily our next door neighbor and gives us access
to find people that align more with our missions.
So in 30 seconds, I know, I know that Amber's got 30 minutes.
We got to take it.
No, I'm just kidding.
We want to make sure that of course these, everybody's listening and we want you guys
to get as much out of this as possible too.
So what's your vision for those that you serve?
Well, I really work with people who are thought leaders who want to help humanity and whatever
message is coming through for them.
So for me, I just want them to really be, do have it all.
And through my work of building brands, building platforms, building businesses, building influence,
I want them to know their highest and fullest potential through their business.
I love that.
They're highest and their fullest potential.
So that kind of goes right into the next one.
What powerful lesson can these, can visionaries who are listening in right now learn from
your experience about finding and fulfilling that potential?
Well, I think you have to lean into what is difficult, difficult feelings, difficult conversations,
difficult life experiences.
My mom used to say to me all the time growing up, no guts, no glory.
Right.
You mentioned that ultimately became the company's name, which is NGNG.
And so I'm really a believer that it takes courage to know your fullest potential.
Because I really am a big believer in getting scrappy and being vulnerable and getting intimate
and having deep conversation and just being honest with oneself, not hiding, not avoiding,
because that is where like the truth lives and out of truth becomes infinite possibility.
I love it.
And so there's different levels of entrepreneurs out there.
There's those who are just beginning as those who've been at it for a while.
There's those who have a super small team and those who have massive teams.
So who should listen?
Why should they listen to you?
And what are they going to get out today show?
I think everybody should listen because I'm somebody who is going to put it all on the
line.
Right.
There's there's nothing.
I'm not here for egoic reasons.
I'm here to serve.
And so I think anytime you're in front of somebody who has that that belief and that they're
exuding that, I think you should be paying attention because there's all sort of nuances
and details within that that can really shift and transform your own experience.
What are you going to get out of today's show?
I mean, I am hard to say it depends on what Jackson asked me, but I think you're going
to find camaraderie.
I think you're going to find that it builds your confidence.
I think that it's going to give you something really tangible and tactical that you can
move forward with because this is how I show up in all of my speeches and all of my interactions.
I love it.
So you did.
You said, you know, something you talked about how it really depends on what questions
I ask you.
That same is that same thing is true for anybody who meets you in life.
Right?
That is so true.
Yeah.
If they don't ask the right question, they're not going to get the right answers.
And so you talked about leaning into what is difficult and there's different stages,
right?
There's like the person who's kind of scared to lean in and they're just barely starting
to get out of their comfort zone.
And there's people who are like, whoa, ready to go.
You know, we're jumping off the cliff to figure out what's difficult into the water,
which route do you feel inspired to talk about first?
Well, I think you know me well enough by now that I'll go anywhere in the conversation.
And I go deep.
Let's go deep.
I'm going to challenge people and go to Google for the basics.
Let me show you what it looks like to go deep.
Okay.
I'm loving it.
Let's hear it.
No, I'm just saying I'm going to have to show you real time because if we're going
deep, I'll show you how to do it by surely going there with you on this conversation.
That's all.
Oh, sweet.
For sure.
So when you talk about leaning into what's difficult, what elements of life are you referring
to?
What do you lean into?
What are some examples?
Oh, everything.
You know, when you're leaning into a difficult conversation with a team member and you know
that there's a lot on the line, they might leave, they might stay, you know, the ramifications
of those decisions with your team or when it's with a client, leaning into a difficult
challenging when somebody like a client is coming to you and they are really craving your
highest and best strategy in that moment, leaning into yourself and trusting your abilities.
I can think about relationships, you know, where you're leaning in and sharing your deepest
self with somebody and you're really hoping that they take that responsibly, that they're
not going to manipulate you, but they're actually going to open you up and encourage you.
Challenges with your children, challenges with your parents.
I mean, like literally being a human being is epically difficult.
Right?
It is unbelievable.
It's so much more different than anything I ever thought it could be when I was growing
up.
So I think that in most moments in life, Jackson, I feel like I'm leaning into something even
let's scale it back for a minute.
The difficulty of writing a book, the difficulty of doing a live podcast, the difficulty of
recording yourself on video or doing a photo shoot, any moment is an opportunity to expose
ourselves and that is freaking scary because what if people don't like us or what if we
don't like ourselves?
What if we don't like our, what's coming up?
I mean, so every moment is an opportunity to lean in honestly.
Yeah, you nailed it.
Absolutely.
So you mentioned some of the lighter things like writing a book and I about wanted to cry.
It's like, that's not what I wanted.
It is so hard.
You know, and then like when, you know, the other day, somebody said my new hair.
So like, what are you trying to do that Albert Einstein look and, and my younger self, I
would have been horrified and been like, and I'm like, you know, now, now I've been hitting
the face many times now by lines like that, you know, like years teach you that, okay,
you're going to have critics out there.
You know, and, and when you have critics, you also got to find people who are able to
be friends and build you up too.
So what did, what did you do in your early days to build a community of support?
And if somebody is lacking that shifting gears completely, what can somebody do to start building
a community for themselves now?
Well, I will say that it took me a really long time to build community because when
I was starting out, my, I had an older sister and she overshadowed me and it's not, I'm
not saying that as a victim.
It actually gave me a bunch of superpowers and strengths that I'm thankful for.
But when we were in a room together, you know, it was all about Kimberly.
And so I became sort of more of the observer.
I was the quiet one.
I didn't contribute much.
And then when I went into a school environment, I really didn't have a lot of friends.
I didn't understand how to put myself out there.
And it's not like they teach you that in school.
And so I was just the quiet observer in school as well.
And then when I moved into high school, still had a hard time finding friends.
And so I started getting bullied.
And I just really never got, got it.
I didn't know how to be social.
And so I felt very lost in the world.
I didn't know my place in the world.
And it was really when I turned 18, I started going to college and I got a job selling Cutco
Cutlery, which is high-end kitchen knives.
And this is really unlike me to have ever taken on a job like this.
I was working in restaurants, you know, like I was happy to be the busser that nobody paid
attention to.
But when I was in Cutco, they just had a really great opportunity for college students.
So I did it for a summer.
It turns out I did it really well because I just followed their training.
And slowly piece by piece, that company really opened something up in me that I didn't even
know was in me.
And it was that ability to be more social and to learn for the first time what it was
like to be well-liked and where people wanted to have me over and prop me up and spend time
with me.
And it was just a very new experience.
And that happened in my early 20s, man.
I'm still like late bloomer here.
But that was really valuable for me to see that, okay, now I'm starting to understand
the game of life here a little bit more.
And then when I left Cutco, I had to apply those rules like in the world.
And so starting my company was really helpful.
I started doing more speaking, podcasting.
And I would say to answer your question finally, where I would recommend other people is just
be yourself, which is really hard when you feel like you're not well-liked or you don't
know how to be social or you don't know what the next step is.
But truly, when you are just fully authentically yourself in all of your glory and all of your
flaws, what happens is you drop your guard and you sort of open up in a way that people
trust.
It's natural, it's intuitive.
I think I can trust this person because it doesn't seem like they have a shield up or
they're hiding or they're all about ego or they're trying to get something from me.
They're just being present.
And when people observe that behavior, especially this day and age when we don't know what everybody's
strategy is or what they're trying to get out of us, when somebody is just authentically
themselves, we trust them, we feel like we can connect with them.
And also when you are just being yourself, you are speaking in the language of your core
values, the things that matter to you the most.
And so if I start talking about valuing family, I know that Jackson also values family.
So now we're engaged in connection and it's deep and it's meaningful and we jive there.
But if I start talking about mountain climbing and Jackson doesn't value outdoor activities
in that way, then all of a sudden we're going to feel a disconnect and we're going to feel
like we're parting ways a little bit in the conversation.
So being yourself, speaking in the language of your values is really important for creating
genuine meaningful connection.
And out of genuine and meaningful connection, everything is possible, like I already said.
So that's truly where the work begins is it's with you.
It's with yourself.
I love that.
I think that's great.
That's a big reason why we have the Passion Pro program on our end.
And I meet a lot of entrepreneurs, I'm sure you do too, that aren't fully aligned with
what they're meant to do.
You know,
Very few people are aligned.
Very few.
I talk to people all day, every day.
I mean, I'm back to back Jackson.
I mean, yesterday, I think I had 12 calls back to back to back.
And very few people are aligned.
I'm just going to tell you that right now because we're trying to fit in and we have
insecurities that we haven't dealt with.
So we're all doing the best that we can.
But I think a lot of people don't realize how much of a wall they have up because they've
been hurt before and they don't want to get hurt again.
And you have your walls up, you're not connecting with people.
That's correct.
And so whether, you know, it's the latest vape shop on the corner or somebody opening
a restaurant just because they think that's what everybody else is doing, you know, like
it's, it's so important.
It's one thing if that's your passion, you know, I don't think the vape thing could
be honestly, but the restaurant thing, you know, there are chefs who go to culinary school
and who absolutely love it and want to launch their restaurants.
But so many people just follow the other trends of what's common in the community and they
lose sight of what's most important and they wonder again, why, why they don't feel that
sense of fulfillment.
And that takes, that takes, like you said, leaning into what's difficult, addressing
it, getting to know yourself really well.
So glad you brought that up.
Amber, in terms of business, you get, you have so much experience.
There's a lot of trends right now.
There's chat GPT coming out.
You know, there's, you can launch a website like that, you know, on your own and you can
go get featured on podcasts.
What are some of the dangers business owners face and what are some of the great opportunities
they should be looking for like right now?
Okay.
You brought it up chat.
Gbt.
I think that the opportunity with that is in becoming more expeditious and whatever
it is that you're doing, you know, if, if chat, Gbt can help me with some of that initial
thinking time, I've noticed that a lot of entrepreneurs, like if they're just looking
at a blank document, it's going to take them forever to do whatever they need to do inside
of that document.
But if there's something on the page, something to get them started, well, then they can riff
and take it from there because they'll be in flow state.
So I would have all entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, et cetera, look at how can we use
chat Gbt to get us into flow state faster.
But the danger is just slapping that chat Gbt content out there because I'm afraid that
people are going to dumb down.
You know, that critical thinking, that creative thinking is really important to success and
speeches and books and positioning and power and influence and parenting and in every way.
So I just don't want people becoming so reliant on a tool like that that all of a sudden they're,
they're dumbing down for lack of better words.
No, I love what you're saying.
I was just talking to my kids about chat Gbt this last week while I had them and I'm actually
getting them into it now because one of my hopes on the flip side of that is that it's
going to teach them to ask better questions.
Oh, I love it for that reason.
I love it for that reason.
Absolutely.
I think that then leads to those like comprehension skills of, you know, like, okay, if I can
ask a better question, you ask her thinking there.
Yeah, right.
But but on the flip side, you know, right, a lot of people want to use it.
So and they don't even read, they don't want to read the answer.
They just want to turn the report in.
Right.
Let me just get this from the chat Gbt.
I'll turn my homework in without looking at it.
I mean, that's what I would have done as a teenager.
Oh, probably for sure.
Like and that's so scary.
And I'm also just concerned about how you can manipulate, you know, chat Gbt.
And so then the spread of misinformation, the loss of original thinking and identity.
I mean, there's a lot of dangers with a tool like this.
There's a lot of dangers everywhere, right?
There's the pro and a con to everything, the yin and the yang of life.
So I'm just hoping that more people use it responsibly to do more good in the world.
And it's going to take the good humans, the good conscious people using it to set that
tone example, you know, faster than the other camp, I'll say.
I believe so.
I've that's why I saw and got from the TED talk that the founder did.
And that's why I was like, okay, I'm going to get my kiddos to learn about this.
Like they're the generation that's going to be shaping, you know, that I would rather
have them helping me shape the program.
I mean, it's not like we, we do a lot with it, but just the exposure, the ability to
start again, asking those questions, getting some answers, review them with me.
Right.
What I don't want to have is they're using that learning it and doing that.
And I have no idea.
You know, that, that can be a super danger to, to your children.
So you, you, by the way, you are a fantastic mom.
And you, you love to, you have a balance about you.
Let's bring some of that into this.
So we're, we're digital entrepreneurs that could be viewed as stuck in a digital world.
Yet you love to go to the cabin.
You love to, to unplug.
Right.
There you go.
You're even there now.
So let's talk about how do you, how do you manage a, an ink 5,000 marketing company and
maintain that balance?
Yeah.
Well, I think it just looks different for everybody.
So for me, it will look like a few days in a row where I am a maniac in my business.
I mean, just yesterday I had calls for 10 and a half hours straight.
I'm a maniac and, and people are like, what the hell do you have for breakfast?
And it's like, probably whatever you have, I, I'm not taking steroids or nothing crazy
happening.
I just been so aligned and I'm so fulfilled by my work and I'm experienced in my work
and I'm attracting in the people who give me energy and so I can just put out there
10 acts of the input probably because of just those different, you know, factors.
But then I am like hard core about taking time off.
And so I'll give you an example.
Like I did just got off of this nine day business trip and I started in Austin.
I went to New Jersey.
I went to New York and back to New Jersey and home and it was packed with all sorts of
masterminds of photo shoots and birthday parties and launch parties and business meetings
and dinner meetings and all the things.
So I was really hardcore in those nine days, but the minute I got home, I shut off my laptop.
I shut off my email.
I shut off my phone, which is hard because when you come back from a trip, what do you
need to do?
You need to catch up on your email and get back to all of your clients.
I did not do that.
I literally took two days and I shut out the world.
I didn't care what was going on and I poured into my son Clay.
We went to the arcade.
We did mini golf.
We went bowling.
We got ice cream.
We got pizza.
We went on a walk.
We did our bikes.
We were reading.
We did everything in those two days.
And it was just all about really being present and connecting with him and making an adventure
and being playful.
So wherever I am, I'm there.
I'm fully present.
I'm fully experiencing this moment and then I go into the next moment in that same way.
And there's something about doing that that almost bends time.
And all of a sudden things start to slow down and you can accomplish so much more, more
connection, more opportunity, more influence, more income, more whatever it is, just because
you were really maximizing that moment.
And that's the way I live my life.
I love that.
So let's go to the superhuman power you have with that.
And that is one of my challenges.
I also love to be present in the moment.
However, sometimes I lose track of time when I'm not present.
So how do you go about making sure that you know when your cutoff is yet not over?
Is it just a matter of practice and time that creates that or there's secrets to how you
make sure that you move forward to the next agenda item?
Well, everything is scheduled.
You know, I mean, I am back to back in those calls, let's say, and we even just experience
that I'm down to the minute and then I'm right there for the next one.
So you know, I do look over at my clock from time to time because I want to make sure that
I'm not too long winded in my answers or that I'm being mindful of the next call that I
have coming up.
I do all of my prep for the day, the night before, and then again, the morning of.
So I'm double back, so at the end of this day, I'll look at all the calls I have tomorrow
and I'll just mentally prepare.
Then in the morning, I'll do it again because there's something about, you know, sleeping
and kind of processing that way.
And so then there's no time in between calls where I'm doing prep.
So I just run with it and I'm in just this amazing flow state all day long, but I'm looking
at the clock to make sure, okay, I know that we're ending at this time.
Okay, now I've got to condense it down.
Now I'm going to give my caller a warning that I'm about to head in.
I've got three more minutes left in the conversation.
What do we want to accomplish?
And I just take control of it.
And so it's discipline, it's awareness, and it's being willing to lead people as to how
much time we have left and what the next steps are.
And then they will just fall in line with that.
They respect that.
I love it.
What's one of the projects you're working on right now, vision-wise, that you want to
share with the world?
The Collective.
This was a vision we got three years ago.
And I just saw as one entrepreneur, even if I am doing branding and websites and marketing
and book launches and business strategy and scaling and all of these things, I'm still
only one person.
And I never had an interest to grow a humongous team.
And so by nature of those constraints, how could I possibly have a bigger impact on the
world?
Well, over the years now I am lifting up into the seat of strategy because I am very good
in that seat.
I can take great big visions or small visions and make them great.
And then I can figure out the structure on how to get it accomplished and almost turn
it into an operation that can be run efficiently and delegated out to other people so that
multiple initiatives are happening within a short period of time.
And that's just the way my brain works.
And so once I come up with that vision and that strategy, then I now have a group of
businesses that I've known for years that align in core values that provide excellent
service that can follow my vision and direction on the website or with the course or membership
or funnel or with the launch of a podcast or with the design and output of a book.
And so I really believe like one of my core values is better together by sitting me in
that seat of strategy.
We're all working collectively pouring into an entrepreneur to make that vision a reality
in a far condensed period of time, but with excellent output.
And I really believe that even looking at the face of AI, how are businesses going to
survive?
Well, I think it's in building collectives.
And so Jackson, something that I'm doing with some of my clients is I'm literally giving
them the design and the model for building their own collective.
There's a woman up in Canada who is trying to fight cancer and now she is pulling in
different medical professionals and hospital admins creating a collective to then make
this change happen exponentially faster because you're better together.
So that's just something I'm really excited about right now.
Oh, that's awesome.
And that strategy aspect, a lot of entrepreneurs, you know, can confuse game plan goals and
strategy and think that they go, they overlap in a way where they have to do it all, I mean,
or have to hang on to that, but I think it's so important to recognize that if you're
in a position of as an entrepreneur, it's so important to work with somebody like Amber
who can help clarify the strategy for your past.
Oh, yeah.
Because a goal is not a strategy.
A game plan is not a strategy.
Execution is not a strategy.
A strategy is a different level of preparation for all that to take place.
And again, through the 1000 plus websites that Amber's built with the intention of driving
what's called conversion, getting people not just to go to your website and say it's
pretty, not just go to your website and be like, okay, now I kind of feel comfortable
working with them, but actually getting people who've never met you or been referred to go
to the website and make a decisive action to say, you know what, I don't feel stranger
danger.
I want to contact this entity and I want to engage with them and I want to see if I might
want to hire and work with them and perhaps even purchase directly from that website.
So super, super powerful to be able to work with somebody who has that type of strategic
insight.
So anything else you'd like to add?
I know you may have to go right now at 130.
Do you have an extra five or ten minutes?
I do have an extra five or ten minutes.
Yeah, I actually have a gap in the top of the hour.
So we're going to insert a clip where we celebrate this moment.
I also have caught a rumor, slightly rumor.
I think I saw you mentioned it as well in our thread of emails about children's books
and a children's books initiative.
And my kiddos are in the painstaking phase of their book launch right now where it's
like, oh my gosh, we've been dedicated this for a while.
We got to push, you know, let's push through the finish line and they're doing their pre-order
process right now.
What do you have to a children's books?
You want to talk about that for a little bit?
Sure.
I mean, I love children's books when, you know, even before Clay was born and he's six and
a half now, I mean, I bought him.
I don't even know how many dozens of children's books.
And now we have hundreds of children's books.
And I'm really a fan of the books that actually teach you moral character and how to be good
in the world and teach you patience and kindness and courage and voice and all of these things.
And so I'm just, I'm a geek for these.
And it's really cool because Clay has no idea what I do.
He just doesn't.
He knows his dad is a firefighter and mom works on the computer, which is really funny.
So he came to me a couple of months ago and he says, mom, I want to write and publish
a book and you can only imagine what my reaction was like, yes, let's do this.
And so we are actually in the middle of the writing phase right now.
And it's shaping out to be a pretty cool little story about a mother and his son that
are taking a hike down a trail in the forest.
And it starts in the season of fall and throughout the story, it moves into winter and then spring
and summer and then ends in the fall.
And along the way, he's asking the mom different questions about life and the meaning of life
and how to show up and be a good person, but also along the way are these different characters
that enter like a squirrel.
And then there's like a father and son taking a walk with their two dogs and the interactions
that you have with nature and with people.
So I'm just so excited about this project.
We're going to launch it by the end of the summer.
And I also think that every entrepreneur has an opportunity to write a children's book
based on whatever it is that they are trying to get out in the world.
So I think Mike McCallowits, for example, the author of Profit First, he then wrote
a children's book called Money Bunnies.
And John Rulan of Giftology then wrote a children's book about the power of gift giving.
So I think every entrepreneur should consider this to open up to new markets.
I think that kids should consider writing a children's book to become a bestseller.
Imagine that on a college resume or whatever they want to do for the rest of their life
that at 10 years old, they were number one bestselling author.
And I just see a major opportunity to bridge those gaps.
And so I just recently formed an imprint with a business book strategist friend of mine.
And there are people coming to the table that really want to be involved in this process
because they think it's just really cool.
And I do too.
So it's great.
Oh, that's awesome.
Let's talk about that a little bit.
For those who aren't familiar with the industry terms, what is an imprint?
An imprint, you can look at it like a publishing company, but they are going to help you guide
you through the process from what is your idea to the book strategy itself.
In fact, I just got off of a call with somebody.
We walked into the conversation thinking it was one book.
And by the end of the call, we realized that there are really 10 books in this guy.
And then understanding the sequence to which we're going to publish them.
And then kind of masterminding who's the audience and how do we help give the audience what
it needs as it builds its own education.
So as your readers are learning and growing, your book strategy needs to keep them on their
toes and keep advancing their learning as well.
So there's book strategy, but then there's actually the book development.
There's print production, which is where you're getting your cover design and your type setting.
And you're actually getting up on Amazon.
And so an imprint can help you A to Z with all of those pieces in addition to the launch
and the marketing and the business behind the book.
So we're kind of doing it all, Jackson.
Nice.
That's awesome.
Speaking of derailing a little bit, I'm going to share my screen for this if I can.
You know who Jamie Kern Lima is, I just saw her on stage for the first time.
Quite the entrepreneur that we would both probably have really fun overlap with, but
to showcase a little bit about what you're talking about, her new books coming out.
And so this is the first time that I had personally seen a pre-order book on Amazon.
And she's got it coming out in February of 2024.
So the reason why I wanted to highlight her is she's run and sold a billion dollar company
and is loved by Ed Milet, Oprah Winfrey, et cetera.
Phenomenal.
Phenomenal business leader.
The reason why I bring that up is because those of you who are in this stage, I can't
emphasize enough, there's no way Jamie would have started that without an imprint.
There's no way she would be leading up to the success she's going to have without all
of this incredible work that she's done to make sure that her vision isn't one that's
just buried in her closet or the only mom sees.
If you want your vision to be shared with the world, you do benefit tremendously from
collaborating with others and being part of these collectives of individuals who can help
with the process because we don't have to pretend we know everything as entrepreneurs.
We don't.
Or as writers.
And if you build the right types of friendships too, then you'll also have people who will
support you in that reality and not make fun of you.
I mean, I was saying, oh, well, how are you going to do that?
You don't know anything about this process.
Get the wrong type of friends if you have people coming at you like that.
So I'm going to get off myself a little bit.
And I would add that you don't have to know it all and you shouldn't do it all yourself.
Right?
I mean, I think a lot of early stage entrepreneurs, especially think like, I just have to figure
out how to build my own website.
I've got to figure out what the book needs to be.
And I'm going to write it myself.
And yes, you can do those things, but is that really your strength?
And is that in the highest and best for your reader and who you want to influence?
And the answer is usually no.
Now hiring professionals to do this is really expensive.
Like it'll blow your mind how expensive it is to get the book and the podcast and the
website and the marketing and the whole shebang.
It could be $200,000.
It could be less than that, so I'm not trying to scare anybody.
But that's why one of the things that I lead with Jackson when I'm talking to anybody,
I've got a book in me and I've been wanting to do it for 20 years.
It's like, great, how are we going to monetize?
And it's not because I'm money hungry.
And I, you know, it's because I know that if I'm not making this person money, they're
going to lose their savings.
They're going to lose their retirement.
And that is not okay.
Do not start a project just because you're passionate about it.
That's irresponsible.
We have to build a business around it, even though a lot of times authors aren't looking
at themselves as business owners.
They don't like the idea of being an influencer.
They're not looking at their book as a product that could be sold and leveraged for other
opportunities to monetize.
But I think honestly, it's responsible to be leading with that conversation because
a lot of times I can help somebody get an ROI on the entire project before their book
even launches.
So now imagine that you're making income along the way to invest into getting the website
done at a quality level, getting a really well written book with a gorgeous cover design
and the right marketing plan.
And you're launching with that.
That's when the world pays attention.
I just don't want you going into debt over it and it doesn't have to be that way.
So now I'll get off my soapbox, but there are people are going to have that advice for
entrepreneurs.
And so let me be the one that's shouting it loud and clear.
I love that.
I'm putting you back on that box, by the way.
So with what you just said there in regards to getting this book launched, Detail Publishing
calls it profitable publishing.
Right.
And they need to do that.
Let's be real.
If you're writing a book out there, you don't want that book to be in the hands of five
people.
You know it.
I know it.
Amber knows it.
Nobody writes a book and says, okay, I'm fine if only five people read this thing.
We all have that hidden imagination.
Some of us, you know, like we want to hide that so far.
Like, well, you know, maybe it's cool if people buy this, but it's not, you know, I don't want
to.
And I think a lot of that comes from, again, the people in your world who are kind of beating
up your dream.
And the sad reality is most parents.
I'm joining you on the soapbox now.
The most parents do this to their children because they're so scared of seeing them fail
at their dreams.
They're so scared of seeing that their child get hurt and your friends are scared of seeing
you get hurt and fail.
They know you've set the weight loss goal 20 times and haven't hit it.
So just stop any nachos with us, you know, like give up on it already and feel good like
us.
Like those people don't feel good.
You know, I'm not happy about that.
Tune them out.
Stay focused on your dream and your vision and find people like Amber who are actually
willing to help leverage you up, build you up and say, no, like let's go big with this.
Let's make it happen the way that it's meant to happen where hundreds of thousands of people
are starting to consider buying your book and tens of thousands are buying it from the
start.
So I love it.
So it sounds like you and your son are going to be publishing in late summer, but it sounds
like you all might have a monetization strategy.
Oh, we've already been talking about it.
He says, mom, what should our company name be?
And my dad actually so sweet.
He has a 3D printer.
And so what we were talking about is could we 3D print some of the characters in the
book as like little miniature figurines almost that are sold on Etsy and maybe there's like
a wolf buck or a journal that could be sold on Etsy and like, who knows what's going to
happen, but I want to teach clay entrepreneurship because that gives him freedom, access to
freedom both personally and professionally, financially.
There's so many opportunities as an entrepreneur.
And I would also add Jackson that there are people in the world that have the desire and
the potential to sell, you know, tens of thousands of copies of books or more.
And there are a lot of clients that maybe that's not in the cards for them because that's
not the life they want to lead.
So I'm working with a woman right now that's coming to mind where, you know, she just wanted
to write a book because she wanted it as part of her legacy.
She just wanted to get her wisdom out there.
And she's not in this to make a bunch of money or to have a huge following or anything like
that.
So instead, the monetization conversation really became, how can we do a retreat where these
women are kind of coming together and she can wine and dine them and have laughter and
talk about empowerment and just be together, create an experience.
So it's less of like a how to company and more of a book with a companion retreat because
she loves that kind of stuff.
She loves doing the whining and dining.
So why not host it and facilitate it and make money that way?
So just know that's really the key and the value of connecting with somebody who understands
business and all of the options so that they can make sure you're in alignment with how
you want to spend your time and what does your life look like and what does freedom
and success mean to you and then make the plan custom to meet your needs.
So I just wanted to make sure that that was.
I love that.
That's huge to talk about because the book's a resource.
Right.
And the resource is if it's your book, it should be designed to enhance your life, whether
that's the primary focus of what you do or whether that's source of supplements, what
you love.
And your love is not the book, but it is, like Amber said, a wine and dine experience,
an institute you want to run, a consignment store.
You enjoy meeting with your local community in different capacities.
There's so many ways you can use that and again, that's why it's so helpful to work
with the strategists who's been exposed to so many different types of businesses, business
models and what you can utilize these resources for.
So Amber, as we wrap up, where should we be sending people?
If they want to get in touch with you about these different processes, if there's a few
different links, that's fantastic.
Where should people connect with you in order to get involved with collectives, imprints,
book publishing, book manuals?
You can just research Amber Villhauer.
If you just go Amber V, I think I still populate.
So you can research me on your own platform, whatever you really like the most.
This is my personal site that kind of talks more about some of my personal philosophy and
beliefs and values.
And then of course, NGNG is, gosh, that was perfectly cute.
NGNG is my business.
And so there are other websites that we'll be launching within the next month or two
around the imprint and the collective and these different things that I'm doing.
So I would say that my social media channel of preference is Instagram.
And so that's where I am more focused on sharing my life with Clay and what I believe and my
clients and all the different projects I'm involved with.
So really easy to talk to, just reach out anytime.
If there was an aha you got in this episode or you want to share an idea that you got,
like that would be so fulfilling to me to hear from you in that way.
Awesome.
Amber, it has been my honor to host you on Vision Pros Live.
Vision Pros, we love you.
We're grateful for you.
We look forward to seeing you next week.
And you know, Amber, have a fantastic rest of your summer with Clay and we will see you
soon.
Appreciate that.
Thank you.