Please share with me your first, last name, where
you're located, and the name of your business
and or books you have written and anything else
you've done. Oh, wow. That's going to take a
while then. My name is Michael Dillon. I'm founder
and president of Paperback Expert. I'm currently
just south of Lexington, Kentucky in a beautiful
suburb. And books I've written, well, the first
one, the biggest one, the one that started it
all is on marketing. The Definitive Guide for
Small Business Owners. That book changed my life
and really set me on trajectory for my vision
for the future. Since then, I've written, I think,
seven or eight other books, mostly around marketing
for different verticals and things. But that
is the book that started it all. I love it. And
it's called On Marketing. How long ago did you
write that one? I wrote that in 2013. Nice, nice.
Okay. And then six or seven others? Six or seven
others, usually for the verticals that we're
in. So for financial advisors or attorneys and
things of that nature. I wrote one for men to
prepare their wives for the day that the husband
dies. Oh, wow. It's called Walking With Your
Widow. And yeah, there's a there's a whole story
behind that as well. But I wrote that about three
years ago. And but anyway. Yeah, that one that
that's very intriguing right there. Because you
can talk about that if you like. I'm happy to
talk about that one. It's just something that's
rarely ever spoken about in that aspect. You
know, I love that. For the name of the business,
Paperback Expert. Please share with me. Tell
us a little bit more what that means and what
that is. Sure. So we are a professional book
publisher for busy entrepreneurs. And our contention,
our belief is that business owners are experts
at what they do. But there's so much competition
and there's so many people doing what you do,
whether you're an attorney or a financial advisor
or a plumber. How do you separate yourself from
all of your competitors? And one of the best
ways to do that is to become a published author.
Because in our culture, experts have books. And
so we help busy entrepreneurs create a book without
writing a word. And then we teach them how to
use their book to gain clients because then they
are a paperback expert because they have a paperback
book. Yes, I love that. And I see a lot of business
owners, entrepreneurs, and even C -suite individuals
are now writing books because they're experts
in it. How did you get into this? Hey, that's
a great question. So I started my company after
I escaped from prison. And so it wasn't a literal
prison, okay? It was an emotional prison. So
let me take you back a few years, okay? And this
will take about three minutes, okay? But I'm
going to tell you my whole story, and you're
going to understand who I am, what I do, and
why I do it. So first of all, I'm a follower
of Jesus Christ. I've been married to my wife,
Jill, since 1990. And the first five years of
our marriage were like this. OK, we're complete
opposites. And even though Jill and I both grew
up in church, nobody ever taught us how to be
married. And so after five years of conflict,
we went to a weekend to remember marriage conference
that's put on by a ministry called Family Life,
part of Campus Crusade. And in that weekend,
they shared with us God's blueprints for marriage.
I didn't know he had blueprints. So we grabbed
his blueprints. We started applying them. Our
marriage started getting better. This was in
the 90s, okay? In the 90s, I was selling Christian
radio in Indiana to local business owners. And
I found out after two years, nobody wants to
buy Christian radio. They want to sell their
products and services, right? So I had to get
really good at marketing. So I followed the gurus
and went to the conferences and read the books
and understood how to do marketing for businesses.
During the 90s, that's what I was doing. We had
two sons at that time. Then God led us out of
Christian Radio into a startup .com for about
two years. And then that company went bankrupt
because they were way ahead of their time. And
I said, God, what am I supposed to do now? And
he said, Michael, I want you in a ministry to
marriages. And I want you at Family Life, that
ministry that changed our marriage. I said, that's
a great idea. Well, it's a missionary organization.
So I had to raise my own support for two years.
And we moved from Indiana down to Little Rock,
Arkansas, joined the Ministry of Family Life.
They put me in the radio department of all things,
which was great for me. And I love that. Climbed
the corporate ladder. I was on the leadership
team after about six years. And then they started
going through corporate reorganizations. And
after the third reorganizational chart came out,
my name was no longer on the leadership team.
And so they shuffled me around the ministry to
do different things. That was a began a two year.
I call it a prison term because I was in a job
I hated. Yeah. A ministry that I love. Yeah.
Now, during our time at that ministry, we adopted
two girls from foster care. And so we've got
four children now. So after two years of being
in prison, I got fed up. I said, God, I got to
get out of this place. It's killing me. And he
said, what do you want to do, Michael? I said,
well, I want to go help small business owners
with marketing because they hate it. They struggle
with it. And I love it. And he said, OK, go.
So on January 1st of 2013, I escaped from prison.
I left the ministry, started a marketing consulting
firm. I come out to you, Javanka, and I say,
I'm going to help you grow your business. And
you'd meet with me. We'd have a great conversation.
And you'd say, Michael, this all sounds really
good. Tell me, who else have you helped in the
last few years? And I'd say, I've been building
marriages and families at Family Life. That's
so honorable, Michael. Way to go. Look at the
time. I've got another meeting coming up, Michael.
And you'd usher me out the door. Yes. You did
not see me as a marketing guy. You saw me as
a ministry guy. Yes. So you didn't hire me. I
know I had to fix that. Yeah. So I went to my
church one day. I paced the hallways back and
forth. I said, God, how in the world do I help
Tavanka? Because I know I can. Yeah. And he gave
me the idea. He says, Michael, take all of your
ideas. and put them in a book. And so I did.
I wrote my first book on marketing back in 2013.
Then I would call you. I'd set an appointment.
I'd mail a copy of my book to you. And a week
later, I'd walk into your office for our meeting.
There it was. My book was on your desk. Dog -eared,
highlighted, underlined. You'd read my book.
And in that meeting, you'd pick up my book. You'd
say, now, Michael, in your book, you said, how
do you help me do that? And hire me. And then
you refer me to somebody and they'd hire me.
I started gaining clients and I went, wait a
minute, this is really cool. Why don't business
owners do this for marketing? And this was back
in 2013, right? This is almost a novel concept
back then. So I went and created a system. I
looked at everything it took me to write my book
and publish it. And I built a system that eliminated
all of the barriers for business owners. and
created a company that today is Paperback Expert,
where we help busy entrepreneurs, business owners,
create a book without writing a word. Then we
make them Amazon bestselling authors to build
their credibility. And then we teach them how
to use their book in their marketing to gain
more clients. There you go. That kind of gets
you a ballpark of where I came from and why do
I do what I do. I love it. Like I was so intrigued.
I forgot I was on a podcast for a minute. I was
like, this is good, you know, because that's
that's a whole different avenue. That's not that's
not a straight and narrow, you know, blinders
on. You said if I'm going to think outside the
box, I'm going to jump out the box. Absolutely.
Yeah. I gave up the box. Yes. Yes. And so. 2013
marketing was also definitely a little different
as well as it is right now. And to have that
idea and to put that into play, let me first
say this, trusting God first. Absolutely. That
he will guide you and get you exactly where you
need to go and just having that conversation,
Michael, like we're talking now. Hey, God, what
do you want me to do? Where are we going with
this? And I will say that that is a testimony
of just saying, hey, you listen and he'll hear
it. He'll get you there. Well, thank you. And
you also have to walk by faith, right? Because
he didn't lay the whole plan out. He's like,
okay, sure. Go in that direction. Kind of like
Abraham, right? Yes. Yes. Go. Where am I going,
Lord? Go. Take a step. Walk. Learn. So, yeah,
he's been with us the whole time and still is.
We're dependent on him. Hey, and I stand alongside
of you as your sister in Christ. Definitely.
Yes. So when Paperback Expert came out and you
decided to, you know, do this and you got all
these clients and every. Tell me about your vision.
What was going what were you doing going forward?
Yeah. So my vision has always been around family
and giving. So my wife and I are big givers to
the kingdom. And I mean, I obviously vision wise
for marketing business owners, I wanted to give
them a platform to cut through the clutter of
the marketplace and to be able to proclaim their
message. OK, so that's the vision of Paperback
Expert is to to turn experts into authors. who
use their book to gain clients. Got it. That's
kind of our driving force because everybody has
a story to tell. Most of them are not telling
it. And most business owners have a process that
works really well, but they don't share that
until after you become a client. And so we kind
of reverse engineer everything. And then from
the standpoint of... I mean, this is a family
business. My eldest son, Caleb, is my chief operating
officer. My wife is my bookkeeper. My other son
works in the back end publishing. And we are
building a generational business. So my plan
is to hand this off to my son in the next seven,
eight years. And I'll be chairman of the board
or whatever you are after that. And we are consistently
giving to the kingdom through through the revenues
that we generate now. And it's just going to
get bigger as we grow. We give a percentage of
top line revenue. Every dollar that comes in,
part of it goes out. And that's part of who we
are because this is legacy for us. It's part
of the dynamic of who we are as people and what
God is using us to do to be a small part of his
kingdom expansion. I love that. I love that.
And giving back what you'll give. And you'll
receive, you know, and it's all in his timing.
So I truly love that. So when someone's thinking
about this, right? So, for example, we used me
earlier, Javanka. Hey, so I decide I'm an expert
real estate agent and I want to make a book.
What's the first step someone should take to
turn their expertise into a book? Yeah, call
me and let's have a conversation. That's the
obvious answer, right? Yeah. The real process
is to think about what's your message? What are
you trying to communicate to your audience? And
then what you want to do is create a good theme
for your book, a great title that's going to
capture the attention of your audience and communicate
your purpose. Yeah. And then you want to build
the outline of your book. And just do that on
a Google Doc or whatever. And the fastest way
to create your book, and I will tell you this,
this is my counsel to everybody, Javanka, never
write a book. What you want to do is you want
to speak to write your book because you can speak.
You're a communicator. You're a thought leader.
And you talk a lot faster than you type. Yes.
and so you want to use microsoft word or google
docs or something like that to record your content
and then you can go back and edit it later or
hire an editor but you want to get the thoughts
out of your head onto paper so now you have something
to work with and that's exactly what we do we
just happen to have professional writers who
interview you and you get to speak very much
like we're doing now about real estate What is
it? What are the five things every seller needs
to know to sell their house for the highest price
possible in the shortest time possible to get
the most money for their book? That's your chapter.
Yes, yes. And it's interesting because when you
do hear about writing a book, all you think about
is typing. Sitting in the, what is it, going
to the mountains. Yes. In the window, you know,
in this solitude with no family and you're typing
for months. Yeah. Not the way to do it. Not the
way to do it. Now, our whole process takes when
somebody works with us, it takes less than 24
clock hours of your time. We get your book published
in six months and time is of the essence for
business owners. And we understand that we've
got a process that's just dialed in. It is slick
and we can help any expert create a book and
get you to be a sought after thought leader in
the eyes of your audience. I love that. What
are some of the challenges that business owners
face when trying to write a book? Yeah, no, that's
a great question. Most of our mental challenges,
right? Thinking, I don't have enough to say.
I don't have enough experience to write a book.
I don't know how to organize my thoughts. I don't
know what to do with a book if I had one. We
take care of all of that. We answer every single
one of those. We walk our clients from where
you are today to... being an Amazon bestselling
author with a marketing game plan. And we know
it works. We guarantee that you'll make money
with your book. And it's so interesting because
business owners, especially small business owners.
we tend to wear majority of the hats, right?
So our minds isn't on anything outside of the
box, right? Make sure you're marketing on social
media. Make sure you're doing this. Make sure
you're, you know, kissing babies and giving hugs
and, you know, giving a free here, free there,
you know? And so it's... As I mentioned before,
this is definitely something completely different,
because as you mentioned, when you made that
appointment, your book was sitting on the desk.
So it's definitely a different avenue. But I
love the fact that you and your team will take
your thought, the thoughts of a business owner
and say, hey, we can make this happen. How many
books have you published? Oh, that's a great
question. We're probably past six or seven hundred
by now. I stopped counting a long time ago. Yeah,
we've been doing it since 2013 and we publish
a number of books every year. Wow. And all of
this and all of what you do, what was one of
your most significant learning experiences? To
keep my thumb on the marketing. So we hired a
number of years ago, we hired a marketing and
outside marketing consultant because we were
wanting to grow our business. And we kind of
delegated everything to that consultant. And
what happened is we were paying his fee and he
was creating advertising and marketing, which
didn't produce the results that we were looking
for. And what happened is we started running
out of money because we were spending and it
wasn't working and we were delegating everything.
And so I had to go back to prison for a few months.
I laid myself off of my own company, went and
got a job to keep the company afloat. And so
for us, it's not delegating or no, not relegating
marketing. We delegate. We still have have vendors
that do marketing for us, my son and I. But we
are overseeing it all. So don't relegate your
marketing. but you can delegate it as long as
you as the CEO are overseeing it and guiding
and directing it. Wow. OK, so and that's that's
that's your expertise is marketing. You've been
doing it since 2013. So what was the thought
process when you decided to hand it over to a
consultant? Yeah, well, we knew that we needed
to grow. And like you just said, business owners
have how many hats do we wear every day? Yeah.
And so we're wearing so many hats and we knew
we weren't focusing on marketing. And so we thought
we'd bring somebody in who could focus on that
so that we could get the other pieces and parts
of our business up and running. And sometimes
that works. We've got a great marketing partner
right now that helps us in the marketing because
they are doing, they are executing on our plan
as part of our team, even though it's an outside
company. But Caleb and I are on top of it. We
meet with them every week. We make sure that
the messaging is correct. So we didn't relegate
it. We are delegating it. But we've grown the
business enough now that we've got other people
doing things in the business. Because as a small
business owner, you're right. You're doing so
many things. And most business owners, they're
not schooled in marketing. And if you don't know
how to market your business, that is the lifeblood.
That is the heartbeat that's going to cause your
business to grow or not. Dan Kennedy, one of
my mentors from years ago, said you've got to
be a better marketer. of your thing whatever
your thing is then you are an a practitioner
of your thing okay the best plumber in your city
may not be the best marketer yeah true true so
the best marketer is going to get more money
he's going to get more clients yeah and and you've
got to understand marketing Yeah, it seems like
that's just really the core of a business, you
know, is marketing now, especially due to social
media, how things are marketed nowadays. I think
that that might be one of the as a small business
owner myself. That's I think that's a challenge.
You know, if you're good at one thing and marketing
is not your thing, you have you had it all. You
have to have the marketing side. I brought my
son in to build the back end of the business
and the processes and systems. But on the marketing
side, let's camp their real estate. Here's one
of my marketing philosophies. Devanka, people
buy who you are. Yes. More than what you do.
So if you're in real estate, right? How many
realtors are there in your community? Probably
a thousand. How does somebody choose a realtor
if they don't have a relationship? Ah, therein
lies the issue. They need a relationship. How
do you build a relationship with, let's say,
a seller? Let's say you're going out on a listing
appointment. you're gonna bring your nice little
brochure and all the stuff just like everybody
else does yeah how about you send them a copy
of your amazon bestselling book a few days before
you arrive and it tells your story of who you
are and how you've helped other sellers successfully
exit their home profitably without the stress
and the headaches and then when you show up you're
different you're in a category of one That changes
the dynamic of you in that seller because you're
not now trying to get their business. They're
sitting here going, I wonder if I'm good enough
to be her client. You've preconditioned them
to hire you before you ever meet. That's just
one little strategy that we teach our clients
of how do you use your book to gain clients?
You send it ahead of you. And then after, okay.
Then you sell a house, right? And the buyers
come into the house and you give them some nice
gift at closing or whatever. How about saying,
hey, John and Molly, thank you so much for allowing
me to serve you, to get your dream home. It's
amazing. I know you're going to be showing it
off in the next few weeks to all of your friends
and your family. Would you do me a favor? And
they're going to say yes because they love you
because you just got them. If you take five or
six copies of my book and just lay them around
your house, and when people are coming over talking
about your house, would you just hand them a
copy of my book and say, here's the lady we trust.
She was amazing. If you ever need a house, you
should read her book and just give her a call.
Would you do that for me? And they'll say, well,
I'd love to do that. Now you're starting to get
referrals from your happy clients. Two strategies
right there that are super simple when you're
an author. Yes, yes. And very unique. Very, very,
very unique. And it's so I truly love this conversation
and everything that you're doing, Michael. And
I have one question before you go. And it's my
most favorite question. What are the greatest
joys of what you do? Oh, wow. There are so many.
But honestly, the greatest stories of what I
do in business is when I talk with clients who
have followed my strategies. it actually works
and they're going this stuff actually works right
yeah we had one quick story at lynn godfroy she's
a financial advisor up in canada published her
book made her a best -selling author and she's
like okay what do i do now and we said do you
have a database yeah people who've like raised
their hand they're falling she's like yeah 580
people great send them an email don't buy my
book i want to give you a free copy of my new
book And she had about 80 people say, yes, send
me a copy. Out of those 80, she ended up gaining
six clients, made over $75 ,000 within six weeks.
And that's what fires me up because I know it
works when my clients do what I tell them to
do. It just changes their life and the lives
of their clients. That's what fires me up. Have
an excellent time building out your vision and
becoming a vision pro yourself.