Hello, and welcome to Networking Unleashed, building
profitable connections. Welcome back to the show,
folks. I'm your host, Michael Foreman, and you're
listening to the podcast where networking is
more than just awkward handshakes and bad coffee.
It's an art and a talent. But here's the twist.
It's an art and talent you can actually learn.
Yes, even if you're the person hiding in the
corner at every event, pretending to check emails.
Networking isn't just a nice skill to have. It's
a game changer. When you get good at it, you'll
wonder why you didn't start sooner. More connections,
more opportunities, more profits. It's like unlocking
a cheat code for life. So whether you're the
life of the party or the just let me stay at
home and text type, we've got something for you.
So stick around, and let's turn those awkward
small talk moments into big wins. I have a guest
today, and his name is Richard Lowe, and I will
tell you a little briefly about his background,
but then I will let Richard take it from there.
Richard Lowe is a best -selling ghostwriter who
helps professionals turn their expertise into
powerful books that build credibility, attract
opportunities, and leave a lasting legacy. Now,
before I butcher it even more, Richard, how are
you? Welcome to the show. Thank you for having
me, and I feel very welcome. Good. Do you want
to delve into your background a little bit more,
or just... Yeah, I'll talk a little bit about
myself. I am a ghostwriter. And yeah, I capture
ghosts and I write on them. I got my start in
writing when I was 17 years old. And my grandfather,
nobody really talked to him. They considered
him weird and a little curmudgeony. That means
persnickety, difficult to get along with. But
I wanted to know him. So I talked to him. I wound
up writing a book for him. Now, it was never
published, but it turns out that he was a hero.
He was in the Yangtze River Patrol in China before
World War II. He was captured on Corregidor.
He was in the Bataan Death March with 10 ,000
Americans marched across Bataan, and a lot of
them died. And he was in a prisoner of war camp
for four years. Now, I listened to him, wrote
his book, and then decided he can be as difficult
to be with as he wants to be here in the right.
Had huge respect for him after that. They gave
me the writing bug because I got to learn about
somebody just through the act of interviewing
them and writing them. Unfortunately, I had to
put it on the shelf because I had to leave home.
It was not really a choice. I got a job, became
a VP of a company, and then a VP again, and then
the director of computer operations at Trader
Joe's. And I had a family, had to deal with that,
a wife who was very sick. Your stepson, all the
usual things, church that you accumulate over
life. And I didn't really have the time to write
or so I thought. I wrote a little bit at work,
did some columns, did some articles, started
on a book 15 times. You know how it goes. And
then I said, wow, I am tired of this gig. I don't
have a wife right now. She passed away. I don't
have, I have some money lined up. So why don't
I go do what I want to do? And what I want to
do is write. So I left my job, moved to Florida,
said goodbye to all my friends, which is a whole
story in itself because I was a photographer
and had 1 ,500 dancers and models and supermodels
as friends. I said all goodbye. We had through
a huge party on my birthday, hundreds of women
there, which was interesting. I drove across
the United States with my belly dancer friend,
or excuse me, my Indian Barthantham dancer friend.
She wouldn't want to be called a belly dancer.
That's a classical Indian dancer. We drove across
the United States and had a bunch of grand adventures.
It was fun. And then I settled down in Florida
and became a writer. And I started writing LinkedIn
profiles. And then I wrote. a lot of books and
things. I wrote 60 books of my own. I wrote coloring
books, puzzle books. I was just experimenting,
lots of other books, a couple of bestsellers,
and decided to go into ghostwriting. And that's
where I am now. I've been ghostwriting now for
11 years. I've written 52 books for other people.
My name is not on them. Sometimes it's in the
acknowledgement. Some of them you probably have
read or may have heard of. One of them is a science
fiction book for a rock star, pretty famous one.
Can't say his name, unfortunately. The good side
is I get paid for it and he gets the glory. So
there you go. So you transitioned from advertising
to becoming a bestselling author and premium
ghostwriter. What was the biggest challenge in
making that shift and how did networking play
a role in your success? One small change there.
I transitioned from tech to being a ghostwriter.
Okay. Wasn't an advertiser, but that's okay.
Networking, especially now, plays a huge role
because how do I find clients? I joined networking
groups. reach out to people. I formed quite a
big network. I have my own podcast where I network
with people and get them on there. And then we
become networking buddies, so to speak, sometimes.
And networking is interesting. I tend to be introverted
and shy in the past. You got to get over that
real fast when you're a solopreneur. If you're
shy, forget it. It ain't going to work. You have
to put yourself out there. You have to get capital.
You have to talk to people. And then you wind
up networking with people and you find somebody
who knows somebody who knows somebody who knows
somebody. And finally, you got to find somebody
who has what you need, business or a vendor or
something like that. I found my marketing vendor
through networking and he is awesome. He does
all my marketing stuff. Just couldn't be happier
with him after going through like 15 other marketing
groups and finally found a good one. Good. So
what lessons from your background helped you
build connections and grow your brand as a ghostwriter?
Put yourself out there. That's something I learned
really fast. My first books came across because
I knew a couple people, and they knew me, and
I met them. It was more chance, happenstance
is the word, than anything. But after I went
through those, I had to put myself out there.
I wasn't looking for the low end, barely surviving
ghostwriting gigs. I was going for the high end.
And when you're going for the high end, you got
to meet people. To meet a rock star, you got
to meet somebody who knows their PR agent, who
knows some, you can't just talk to the rock star.
You want to do a celebrity, it's the same thing,
only harder. It can be difficult. I still haven't
figured out how to get through one of the influencers
on TikTok because they seem to have a lot of
barriers because I'd love to do some of their
books. Okay. And some may not even be interested.
in writing a book, but some may. You never know.
That's the key to networking is you never know
what's at the other end of the string. You're
basically pulling these strings and you're pulling
them and find, okay, there's somebody there I
can talk to. Good, nice guy, but I can't do business
with him. We'll stay in contact, pull these strings.
And then this guy that you talked to three years
ago comes back and says, hey, I just realized
I want whatever you're selling. But you've ghosted
me for three years. I don't understand. That's
networking. That's how networking works. You're
dealing with people, but the people you're not
dealing with just the people you're dealing with
their networks and their network of people. And
you never know who's going to come back to you
and say, you know what? I spoke to you three
years ago and I need your stuff now. And even
though they ghosted you in their mind, they spoke
to you yesterday. Ghosted me, no pun intended.
No pun intended. How has networking influenced
your journey as a ghostwriter? And what did key
relationships play in your success? One of the
keys is people that I network with, they know
people that I can do business with. So that's
number one. Number two is those people become
references. So I get testimonials from them.
They talk good about me to other people. They
refer people to me. It becomes link. You can
use social media to find business. And that's
passive. You're putting out ads. You're putting
out this and you're waiting for people to come
to you. When you're networking, you're active
and you're going out there and you're finding
people. And it is much more fulfilling. It's
actually much more likely to get you business
or whatever you're looking for. And it's more
fun. Because you're meeting people. You're out
there talking to people. Even for an introvert
and shy person, I'm not really shy anymore, but
I am an introvert. It's much more fulfilling
because I get to reach out to people. Like I
have my own podcast. Like I said, I get to reach
out to people. I invite them to my podcast. We're
talking stuff. And then we become buddies and
we're friends for the rest of the time. It's
very strange to me as an introvert for most of
my life. It works well. And I go on stages and
I speak about keynote or breakout sessions, or
I even do workshops in corporations. And I say
that you may be an introvert, but you have to
become, you have to have extrovert, some extrovert
values or something else like that. Because if
you're going to just stay within your own world,
you're not going to do your company any good.
So you have to get out there and you have to
network. And networking, I believe, is the basis
of all businesses. So hopefully that will work.
What are the biggest misconceptions professionals
have about branding and how can networking help
them refine their brands? A lot of people conflate
branding with sales and marketing with sales.
Letting people know who you are and what you
are, what you believe in and all that kind of
stuff, what you sell, whatever. It's the appearance.
So my shirts are part of my brand. It shows that
I'm a little casual and I'm going to create a
book that's about you and it's going to be colorful
and have feeling. If I was in a suit that would
portray an entirely different brand, this is
intentional. You'll find a lot of ghostwriters,
they do similar things. brand to portray who
they are, or whether they're, if they're a mystery
ghostwriter, they're going to be dressed in some
kind of Mr. Like Holmesy kind of things, at least
give that appeal. Maybe perhaps cozy mysteries
would generally be written by women and those
they would, they're going to show that brand.
So branding is not sales and it's not marketing.
It actually supersedes them both. If you don't
have a brand, it's hard to sell. And then guess
what? People make it up for you. Yeah, you don't
want that. You become their brand. And then again,
you're passive again. When you go and you are
driving and you see a billboard and you just
see somebody's name and what they do, there's
no contact information or anything. That's a
form of branding because that's not for sales.
That's just to keep you aware that they're in
the business. So that's very good. What strategies
have worked best for you? when you're building
meaningful long -term relationships in the publishing
and business world. Opening my mouth and reaching
out and talking to them, no matter how scary
it seems. Sometimes it can be very intimidating.
I try and reach out to CEOs of big companies
and my mindset is they're never going to talk
to me. I'm just a ghostwriter. I am just this.
They're people. One of my... The person I want
to contact is Bill Gates. He's done books and
stuff, but I would love to just sit down and
talk to him. I'd love to maybe write his book,
another book for him, that fear takes over. Like,
why would Bill Gates talk to me? But that's where
your reputation comes in and your branding and
everything else, because there's probably 10
,000 people that want to talk to Bill Gates.
If you have the branding, if you have the background
that he's looking for, then he'll speak to you.
And also the people who can recommend me. Yes.
So that's the power of the network. You believe
that every professional needs a book. Why do
you think a book is such a powerful networking
and branding tool? Let me give you a for instance.
A lot of people. A lot of people are leaving
their jobs now, either voluntarily or involuntarily.
And a lot of them are becoming coaches because
coaching is, in their minds, relatively easy
to set up. They can just put out a shingle saying,
I'm a coach. I can give you executive coaching.
I was a CFO of this company and I can coach you
on how to do that again. Sounds real simple.
Problem is a lot of people are doing it. And
then you've got what I call the snowflake and
the blizzard problem. There are a thousand, thousand,
thousand of those people out there and you're
the snowflake. And I don't mean that in a derogatory
term. I know that has other meanings. But how
do you see that one snowflake in this blizzard
of snowflakes? That's what a book does. It turns
that snowflake red or green or blue so it just
stands out. That's what a book does. If you look
at the coaches who've actually made it big, virtually
all of them have their own book. And if you look
at a lot of people who get on TED Talks, people
who get on the speaking circuit, people who actually...
make it in that area, especially those that have
to deal with other people, they have a book.
That happens to be very true. There's a golden
triangle, I'll call it, people that do what I
do. I'm a public speaker. And if I'm a speaker
and I wrote a book and I did a TED Talk, that's
a golden triangle. So that's what we'll get.
That's what gets me. the people that contact
me. That's what makes them look at me and say,
oh, you know what? He's got all of it. Let me
call him and see what he's about. What advice
would you give to professionals who work to use
a book to enhance their credibility and open
doors to new opportunities? Who want to have
a book? Exactly. They need to, first of all,
they need to find the right ghostwriter. A lot
of them say, I could write it myself. I could
use AI. First of all, the elephant in the room,
AI. It's going to write garbage book. It's not
going to have any feeling. It's not going to
have any passion. It's not going to have your
heart in it. It's going to be a book. It's going
to be, excuse the term, a crappy book. But if
that's what you want, if you're worried about
money, it's a way to go. You could hire a low
-end ghostwriter. You're going to have the same
problem. They're not going to capture you. So
go out there and interview. good ghostwriters,
premium writers who are, they're going to cost
you some money, but it's a one -time fee. If
it's for your business, it's probably, I'm not
an accountant, it's probably tax deductible.
The government will fund half of it or part of
it for you because it's tax deductible. So get
that, find that ghostwriter that works for you.
Now me, I'm a ghostwriter who listens. What I'm
trying to do is get to the heart of the person,
get the spirit and put that into the words, into
the book so that it shines through in the book.
And that's not an easy thing to do. Not a lot
of ghostwriters can do that. That's what I do.
Find one that you can work with. And the most
important thing, find one that you have a good
relationship with. Cost, that's a one -time fee.
A ghostwriter is going to cost less than one
of these newfangled electric cars. So that's
the kind of cost we're looking at. What does
a newfangled car cost? $60 ,000, $70 ,000? That's
what a good ghostwriter is going to cost you
for a good book. Pay that. It's a one -time fee.
It's going to be a better investment than that
new car. And the government's going to fund part
of it. But more important is the relationship.
You're going to be working with this guy or girl
for quite a while. And if you don't have a good
relationship, you're going to get a lousy book.
And it's not, you're not going to be happy with
it. And you're going to go back and forth on
what I call revision hell. It goes back and forth
and back and forth. Okay. How can writing a book
create networking opportunities that might not
exist otherwise? You want to get hold of somebody
who's been unreachable so far. You just tell
them, I wrote the book on your subject, or I
wrote the book that you might be interested in.
You give them the book, you sign it. You have
a speaking engagement. You got your book. You
sign it for everybody there. You have now created
some buzz and your network's going to grow. I
wind up giving away more copies of my book than
I do selling because I do it as a loss leader.
You're not going to sell a lot of copies of your
book on Amazon. And that's not the point. The
point is, is to use it as a networking tool or
as a tool to bring you business or whatever you're
looking for. Right. Very good. For someone just
starting to build their network and personal
brand, what are three steps they should take
right now? Number one, take their box and throw
it away. Everybody's got a box. I got a box.
We've all got a box. We've got these boundaries.
My boundary is I'm probably never going to talk
to Bill Gates because he's way above my level.
I need to get rid of that mindset. That's a box.
So get rid of the box. The second step would
be start putting yourself out there. If you're
shy and you don't know how to speak, go to Toastmasters.
You'll get rid of that shyness pretty quick.
Toastmasters is a group where you speak a lot
to people and they help you get rid of the ums
and ahs and pauses and all kinds of things and
make you more relatable. And they have lots of
exercise. It's a lot of fun. And for an introvert
like me, it was murder. It was grueling, but
I got through it and I had a great time learning
to talk to people. And the third one is get out
there. Get out there on LinkedIn. Get out there
on Facebook. Start introducing yourself to people.
They might say, I hate you. Who cares? They're
just one person. They might not want to talk
to you. You get ghosted a lot. Some won't answer.
Who cares? Somebody will. And somebody, you'll
try a couple of conversations and then you'll
realize this person might be able to help me
or I might be able to help them. The key to networking
is you have to help. before you get help. The
more you help, the more help you get. And there's
a ratio somewhere. I think it's three to one
or something. You help three and you get one
back kind of thing. But you have to, that is
probably the key to good networking is you have
to help. You can't just go out there and network
because you want things. I mean, you can, but
it's far more effective if you're helping people,
which is why I started my own podcast because
they get the podcast, they get little TikToks,
I write a little bio, they get all this stuff
from it for free. And what do I get? I get to
meet somebody new and I get to find out all about
them on a podcast. It's great. You're right.
That's one thing that I speak about is that you
have to have the mindset when you go to a networking
event to give. You give and not receive. Because
if you're looking to give, then everything is
all right. Nobody looks at you like you're a
phony. You're just looking to help everybody.
And one line that I... usually say to people
that I want to create that relationship with
is, how do I make you more successful? How can
I be a good referral source for you? And that
usually starts a relationship and we get on and
it all works out. What's one networking lesson
that you wish you had learned earlier in your
career? This is a big one. To network. I was
super, super introverted. I was very shy, which
is interesting because I was an exec. I was a
C -level exec and a director of computer operations
at Trader Joe's. And I couldn't talk to people
except for my own team because I knew them. So
if I didn't know you, I wouldn't talk to you.
So when time came for the promotion to CIO level,
nobody knew me. The leaders in the company didn't
know who I was. They weren't going to give me
that promotion. And they didn't. That's one reason
why I left is I was stuck because I didn't network.
I didn't network out of the company. I didn't
work in the company because I was comfortable.
That's probably actually the second lesson is
don't get too comfortable in your job, but I
was comfortable. I was happy, but I wasn't networking
with anyone internal or external. And I grew
out of that a lot. Okay. Okay. Why don't you
give my listeners. One marketing tip of a ghostwriter
that they can take away. And if they wanted to
go into this, if they wanted to, what would they
do starting today or tomorrow? Take a look at
their business or whatever they're trying to
do from the viewpoint of reaching out to people.
Because you're dealing with people. You're not
dealing with money machines on the other end
of that. You're not dealing with an ATM machine.
You're dealing with a person. You're not dealing
with somebody who could cough up cash and buy
your product. You're dealing with a person. And
to make a business that has some legs, longevity,
you need to treat these as people. So when you're
networking, you're talking to real people. You're
not talking to somebody who can give you a publisher
or give you customers or something like that.
You're talking to a person. And if you treat
them like a person, then they will treat you
like a person. And the biggest thing is start
planning your business like that and your brand.
So you want your brand to be relatable. You want
your brand to be comfortable to people. You want
your brand to show you something you're comfortable
with, something that promotes whatever you're
trying to promote and build a plan for your whole
brand around that. Find an expert to help you,
but be cautious. I went through. a dozen of them
before I found a good one. So don't drop a lot
of money into them, but find one you're comfortable
with. And again, it's that relationship. It's
always the relationship. You have to find somebody
you can be in a relationship. If you're not comfortable
with them, fire them and go on to the next one.
You're not going to hurt their feelings. They'll
go on to somebody else. And don't be afraid.
And don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. Just go
out and do it. Start doing it. They're not going
to hurt you. And if they do, you can just cut
them off, just stop. That's all you have to do.
So Richard, so tell me, if any of my listeners
wants to get hold of you, either to be coached,
to be on your podcast, to start ghostwriting,
do whatever, what's the best way for them to
get hold of you? If they need white papers or
case studies or a book, they could contact me
at therightingking .com or ghostwriting .guru.
I have two websites. My marketing person maintains
one. That's who I am. So thewritingking .com.
And if you want to talk, there's lots of places
where you can set up an appointment. Set up an
appointment and let's chat. If you have somebody
who has something to say, contact me. We'll set
up a time to talk and I'll put you on my podcast.
And then we'll have a good time. Perfect. Okay,
Richard, I can't thank you enough for coming
on to the podcast. You gave us great insights.
on what it's like to be a ghostwriter, what to
do, what not to do. And I thank you very much
for your time. I'm very happy to be here. Thank
you for having me on. You're welcome. Well, hold
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-U -P -K -I -D -S .org. Well, that's a wrap,
folks. A huge thank you to our special guests
for sharing such incredible insights today. And
of course, a big shout out to you, our amazing
listeners, for tuning in and spending your time
with us. Remember, networking isn't about being
perfect. It's about being present. So take what
you've learned today, get out there and make
some meaningful connections. If you enjoyed this
episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave us
a review and share it with someone who could
use a little networking inspiration. Let's keep
the conversation going. You can find me on Apple,
Spotify, YouTube or my website. Michael A. Foreman,
remember, until next time, keep practicing, keep
connecting, and keep building those relationships.
This is Michael A. Foreman signing off. Take
care and happy networking.