There's people that I don't even know that are buying the
Jaime Jay:I don't know anything about them.
Jaime Jay:And maybe I'll get an email or a message on Facebook or LinkedIn,
David Shriner-Cahn:welcome to smashing the plateau.
David Shriner-Cahn:We help you get on stock so you can do what you love and get paid.
David Shriner-Cahn:What you're worth.
David Shriner-Cahn:Consistently.
David Shriner-Cahn:I'm your host, David Schreiner.
David Shriner-Cahn:Today on episode 610 of smashing the plateau.
David Shriner-Cahn:I'm speaking with the author of quit.
David Shriner-Cahn:Repeating yourself.
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie J should you write a book?
David Shriner-Cahn:How can your book help your business?
David Shriner-Cahn:First time author Jamie shares, why he wrote quit repeating.
David Shriner-Cahn:How he wrote it and how he uses his book to help his business, stay with us, to
David Shriner-Cahn:We share methods to help you reach more of your ideal audience.
David Shriner-Cahn:We also give you a range of tools and resources to support your business,
David Shriner-Cahn:Check out the smashing the plateau community so that you
David Shriner-Cahn:What you're worth.
David Shriner-Cahn:Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com slash community.
David Shriner-Cahn:That's smashing the plateau.com/community.
David Shriner-Cahn:Now let's welcome, Jamie.
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie is the founder and managing director of bottleneck distant
David Shriner-Cahn:Bottleneck is an outsourcing agency that helps businesses identify,
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie is the author of quit repeating yourself, where he shares, how he built a
David Shriner-Cahn:So he could stop doing the wrong things and focus on doing his best work.
David Shriner-Cahn:After other business professionals kept asking him to explain
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie compiled his best strategies and systems hoping readers could
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie teaches leaders how to build a strong company foundation
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie, welcome back to the show.
David Shriner-Cahn:Thanks for having me.
David Shriner-Cahn:Oh, it's so great to have you on again.
David Shriner-Cahn:And I know you and I have been talking about your book for a long time.
David Shriner-Cahn:And as I was thinking about, about, Session today.
David Shriner-Cahn:And this episode, there are lots of ways that you could have shared
David Shriner-Cahn:Why of all things did you decide to write a book?
David Shriner-Cahn:And this is your first book, right?
David Shriner-Cahn:Yes.
David Shriner-Cahn:Yes.
Jaime Jay:It's my
David Shriner-Cahn:first book.
David Shriner-Cahn:So why
Jaime Jay:a book?
Jaime Jay:three reasons actually, number one, I wanted to prove to myself
Jaime Jay:I asked the same questions, quite a bit, very similar, over and over again.
Jaime Jay:And I thought, what's a great way to quit repeating myself.
Jaime Jay:And I figured, you know what, why don't I write the book?
Jaime Jay:And that way I can put the answers out there that so many people have asked me
Jaime Jay:Maybe that means something maybe that more people have this same question.
Jaime Jay:So that was the other reason that I wrote the book.
Jaime Jay:And then the third reason was I was challenged years ago by one
Jaime Jay:And let me live with him and his wife and their two kids and supported me.
Jaime Jay:And he said, Jamie, at some point, you're going to have to put this in the buck.
Jaime Jay:And that was the third reason on why did that I've really wanted to get that done.
Jaime Jay:And initially, when I first got with my publisher, I was actually going
Jaime Jay:I don't have enough time.
Jaime Jay:I got to live a little bit more life experience a little more life
Jaime Jay:I said, why not do the business?
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah, you actually, to a certain extent answered the
David Shriner-Cahn:So initially you were thinking about an autobiography now, was that
David Shriner-Cahn:A
Jaime Jay:lot of it was because, and what's ironic about this is Rob
Jaime Jay:I've known him for over 20 years.
Jaime Jay:He's one of those guys that he's an attorney it's really on the outside
Jaime Jay:And I think maybe the irony of me writing about another friend of mine who helped
Jaime Jay:And I said, if you don't have, I didn't really know.
Jaime Jay:I still have another book in me.
Jaime Jay:I just don't know when.
Jaime Jay:And that's where I think I want to dive into more of that
Jaime Jay:And I think I need more time in this life to experience more.
Jaime Jay:I'm still so young in the, 15 years entrepreneur, but I still have a
Jaime Jay:By that time, the full circle, starting a company, growing a company, maybe
Jaime Jay:So I want to be able to live that full life cycle and see what
David Shriner-Cahn:next book.
David Shriner-Cahn:So I do definitely want to talk to you about the content
David Shriner-Cahn:That I know how much of a process guy you are.
David Shriner-Cahn:I have to talk first about the process, and I know many people who have written
David Shriner-Cahn:It was just overwhelming.
David Shriner-Cahn:Did you think that the process was going to be exhaustive and
Jaime Jay:Yes.
Jaime Jay:And I think it got even more exhausted than what I expected.
Jaime Jay:it was challenging.
Jaime Jay:It was hard, but a lot of it, you know what I think, David, and
Jaime Jay:Actually.
Jaime Jay:I thought it was going to be challenging, but I thought, wow,
Jaime Jay:They're going to help me with this stuff.
Jaime Jay:So I thought they'd make it a little bit easier, but I think I had a
Jaime Jay:I think in my head I was, it was going to be tough.
Jaime Jay:Why?
Jaime Jay:Because I'm not around.
Jaime Jay:I just not a good writer in my opinion.
Jaime Jay:And so in my head, I thought, man, this is going to be hard.
Jaime Jay:How in the heck?
Jaime Jay:Write a book.
Jaime Jay:If I don't consider myself a writer, maybe I should just hire a ghost
Jaime Jay:But then I was like, no, I want to do this.
Jaime Jay:I want it to be for me now, of course it's been edited, punctuation,
Jaime Jay:But the ideas, the research that was, I did that and I'm really proud of that.
Jaime Jay:And it made it the day.
Jaime Jay:That I was able to get this book published and see it physical copy in my hand that
Jaime Jay:It's not a big novel, but at the same time, the people that are going
Jaime Jay:These are the people that are, don't have a lot of time, but I
Jaime Jay:And I think it was really rewarding.
Jaime Jay:So by having a hard time and struggling through this process, even more so than
David Shriner-Cahn:first of all, 184 pages is still 184 more
David Shriner-Cahn:It's more than most people.
David Shriner-Cahn:I've written because most people have not published a book and
David Shriner-Cahn:And it's shaped in a way that is easy to digest, easy to understand and
David Shriner-Cahn:So that's my takeaway after reading it.
Jaime Jay:And I have to say thank you for that.
Jaime Jay:Cause that was one of my concerns is that.
Jaime Jay:Or that was not one of my concerns, but one of my objectives was
Jaime Jay:So that was easy for people to understand.
Jaime Jay:I tried to, I really tried to simplify it.
Jaime Jay:And then of course, I got to interview a lot of cool people like you and still
Jaime Jay:Yeah.
David Shriner-Cahn:And I'm touched by that.
David Shriner-Cahn:So thank you.
David Shriner-Cahn:How did you figure out what process to use and who.
David Shriner-Cahn:Could best help
Jaime Jay:you in the books.
Jaime Jay:Yeah for writing.
Jaime Jay:So that was, I can't say that is a lot of research that went into this.
Jaime Jay:I tripped onto this relationship because I was introduced by a friend of mine.
Jaime Jay:And I think, Ashley, Bergoff, but she's also a systems person.
Jaime Jay:We were just talking one day and she goes, Hey, have you
Jaime Jay:And I said, I'd absolutely love to write a book.
Jaime Jay:I just don't have the time right now.
Jaime Jay:And she goes, maybe you can talk to these pers.
Jaime Jay:So she introduced me to new degree press and I think it's called crazy.
Jaime Jay:Dot Institute is the website there.
Jaime Jay:If people are interested because it's a very affordable way about,
Jaime Jay:And it is a fully process systemized way of turning out a book.
Jaime Jay:10 months later after beginning of the.
Jaime Jay:You can have your own book.
Jaime Jay:It's pretty neat.
Jaime Jay:And the way that you go about it, they have different options for you to go in.
Jaime Jay:They help raise the money.
Jaime Jay:So not all of it comes out of your pocket.
Jaime Jay:They help you do a go fund.
Jaime Jay:Me account.
Jaime Jay:I think it was.
Jaime Jay:I think it was something like that.
Jaime Jay:It was a fundraising, app.
Jaime Jay:I forget which one it was, but they help you, come up with all of that.
Jaime Jay:and that's how you pay to get the pay the publisher to get your book done.
Jaime Jay:And it's just a, it was an incredible experience.
Jaime Jay:the challenges are deadlines, at one point I met with a publisher and he said,
Jaime Jay:Do you think you want to extend to December?
Jaime Jay:And I'm like, I seriously considered it, but I said, you don't know.
Jaime Jay:I want to get this thing launched on time, just like I promised.
Jaime Jay:So they all kind of circle the wagons around me and really
Jaime Jay:So that accountability was unbelievable having that debtor.
Jaime Jay:yeah.
Jaime Jay:fortunately it was an introduction from, one of my friends, one of my colleagues.
Jaime Jay:Did a great press.
Jaime Jay:It was great.
David Shriner-Cahn:Wow.
David Shriner-Cahn:So 10 months start to
Jaime Jay:finish.
Jaime Jay:10 months start to finish.
David Shriner-Cahn:And how many hours per week would you say you spent on the
Jaime Jay:process?
Jaime Jay:I don't know that every single week I actually worked on the book.
Jaime Jay:There was that there was some points to where I would cause.
Jaime Jay:And then they would give you feedback and the first round and
Jaime Jay:there's, different levels of editing, but at certain points you would turn
Jaime Jay:And then.
Jaime Jay:After the first, I forget what they called the first editor, but
Jaime Jay:And this is how you lay it out.
Jaime Jay:And this is, they would explain a little bit about the story arc of
Jaime Jay:So they'd worked with me a little bit harder on the first four chapters
Jaime Jay:Each has four chapters in it.
Jaime Jay:And so they helped me with the first part.
Jaime Jay:And then the second, third part, I was more left to be on my own, but
Jaime Jay:And it took a while for the revisions editor.
Jaime Jay:there was 70 some people going through this particular cohort, so it took some
Jaime Jay:You might work, maybe 10 hours a week, something like that.
Jaime Jay:And then when the deadlines would come up, you'd work a little bit more.
Jaime Jay:And the revisions and the editing that was even more time consuming.
Jaime Jay:I had one heck of a time with chapter five and thankfully my wife jumped in
Jaime Jay:And.
Jaime Jay:Yeah.
Jaime Jay:I just really had a hard time.
Jaime Jay:It wasn't making sense.
Jaime Jay:And she just came in and whizzbang did all together and did a great job.
Jaime Jay:And, yeah, that was probably the most time spent on one chapter, probably
David Shriner-Cahn:Okay.
David Shriner-Cahn:Now it sounds like it was a good process and a.
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah, congratulations for getting it done, but let's talk about the content.
David Shriner-Cahn:so you said, basically this was your way of putting your answers to
Jaime Jay:Yeah, exactly.
Jaime Jay:So I thought about what is our business entail?
Jaime Jay:we're huge fans of company culture.
Jaime Jay:I think leadership is something that needs to have a lot of time
Jaime Jay:About leadership and then of course, systems and processes.
Jaime Jay:I'm a massive fan of systems and processes.
Jaime Jay:I'm a practitioner of creating systems and processes and workflows.
Jaime Jay:And then of course, for the company that we have, recruiting
Jaime Jay:That's our.
Jaime Jay:That's it.
Jaime Jay:That's your bread and butter.
Jaime Jay:That's our bread and butter.
Jaime Jay:So I thought there's a lot of leadership books out there.
Jaime Jay:There's a lot of culture books out there.
Jaime Jay:There's a lot of sales books, a lot of marketing books, a lot of books on
Jaime Jay:So what I did is I have three parts in the.
Jaime Jay:And I want to send a special shout out and thanks to Christopher Lochhead.
Jaime Jay:He wrote the forward to the book and talks about the entrepreneurial journey
Jaime Jay:And I broke it down into three parts.
Jaime Jay:Part.
Jaime Jay:First part is culture and leadership.
Jaime Jay:Second part is systems and processes.
Jaime Jay:And the third part of the book is recruiting and hiring.
Jaime Jay:And I opened up the book, pun intended, open up the book to our own business.
Jaime Jay:And I wanted to share with other people what it was that we were
Jaime Jay:And then what kind of culture do we have here and what am I doing?
Jaime Jay:To become a better leader every single day.
Jaime Jay:What do I keep challenging myself with?
Jaime Jay:So I interviewed a lot of amazing people you're included and got some wonderful
Jaime Jay:And it was a really neat way to bring that all together.
Jaime Jay:I think, yeah, that's the content of the book.
Jaime Jay:Who's the ideal reader.
Jaime Jay:The ideal reader is either a new or a veteran.
Jaime Jay:entrepreneur that as having problems, they've gotten to a
Jaime Jay:They can't quite get to that next level or, the experience
Jaime Jay:What it probably more designed for that maybe a team leader.
Jaime Jay:high level executive people that have been around awhile and
Jaime Jay:They're starting to identify different friction points in the business
Jaime Jay:This book will really help them out and being able to not only identify,
Jaime Jay:And you heard the seventh year itch in marriage.
Jaime Jay:There's the same thing in business that seventh year itch in business.
Jaime Jay:I actually, it could be third three through seventh year.
Jaime Jay:They're just going to that next level.
Jaime Jay:And now all of a sudden, certain things are pointing out.
Jaime Jay:Your customers are maybe complaining about this or that, and it's starting to occur
Jaime Jay:Those are great examples that your systems or processes haven't been
Jaime Jay:You might even not even have them.
Jaime Jay:And this is a real opportunity for this book to help you.
Jaime Jay:Get a better direction going,
David Shriner-Cahn:Jamie, what are some of the unexpected bits of
David Shriner-Cahn:What has surprised you with some of the things you've heard?
Jaime Jay:This was in the part.
Jaime Jay:I had a massive imposter syndrome.
Jaime Jay:I almost thought at one point I go, I wonder if I should market
Jaime Jay:it's not that bad, like I was so afraid to put this out there.
Jaime Jay:I really was because I'm like, who in the heck am I to write
Jaime Jay:Who am like, are you kidding me?
Jaime Jay:I started solely hearing, you know what?
Jaime Jay:It's very actionable, very topical.
Jaime Jay:And you know what?
Jaime Jay:That's what I meant for it to be.
Jaime Jay:Now I heard one person say I read it in two hours.
Jaime Jay:I heard another person say, yeah, I read through it the first time into.
Jaime Jay:But I went back and I really spent some time studying it and I'd learned a lot.
Jaime Jay:And then I'd even get like little messages.
Jaime Jay:And this has happened a couple of times.
Jaime Jay:And if people have taken pictures of where they were at in the book and one
Jaime Jay:Help them and resonated with them.
Jaime Jay:And I was like, this is unbelievable.
Jaime Jay:Or, Hey, I was so entertained by this book.
Jaime Jay:I was on the airplane and I didn't even care that the
Jaime Jay:I was just into your book so much.
Jaime Jay:And I just was like, that's so cool.
Jaime Jay:little things like that.
Jaime Jay:The people are really getting something out of it.
Jaime Jay:And now, as I can say, I'm an author and as an author to do something
Jaime Jay:Yeah.
David Shriner-Cahn:Have you heard anything that was, totally unexpected,
Jaime Jay:Not yet.
Jaime Jay:And that's a really good question cause now I really want to dive into that.
Jaime Jay:Maybe explore it more and see if I can reach out to find that out.
Jaime Jay:I don't know if people have had enough time to implement against
Jaime Jay:That's a really good question.
Jaime Jay:I should really, I have to be more intentional about finding.
David Shriner-Cahn:So here's a question that may help.
David Shriner-Cahn:I don't know if you have an answer to this or not, but could also help other
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah,
Jaime Jay:that's huge.
Jaime Jay:and this is as many people know, if you go buy a book on borders, I'm sorry.
Jaime Jay:Borders, Barnes, and noble
David Shriner-Cahn:stating you, Jamie.
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah.
David Shriner-Cahn:That
Jaime Jay:is, that is really bad.
Jaime Jay:Amazon, any place where you can go and buy a book, you don't get that data.
Jaime Jay:Amazon's not going to give you the customer's data that bought the book.
Jaime Jay:They won't do it.
Jaime Jay:Hopefully they'll leave a review and you'll know, but that's why I think
Jaime Jay:And then after they give you their name and email or whatever information
Jaime Jay:I think that's really important.
Jaime Jay:That's what we've done here.
Jaime Jay:But I'm still finding there's people that I don't even know that are buying
Jaime Jay:I don't know anything about them.
Jaime Jay:And maybe I'll get an email or a message on Facebook or LinkedIn, or I'll see
Jaime Jay:I have no idea who that is, So
David Shriner-Cahn:you can't reach out to them?
Jaime Jay:No, I can't say thank you.
Jaime Jay:Or I can't say, what did you like most about it was there?
Jaime Jay:What about this book helped you, overcome the challenges are, what
Jaime Jay:What motivated you to get the book?
Jaime Jay:I lose those interactions and it's a bummer.
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah.
David Shriner-Cahn:Yeah.
David Shriner-Cahn:you got the first one done.
David Shriner-Cahn:You hinted that this is not going to be your only one what's in your head.
David Shriner-Cahn:What's now.
Jaime Jay:Yeah, my publisher said right as we were wrapping up, they said, okay,
Jaime Jay:You want to start in the next cohort?
Jaime Jay:I'm like, no, let me take a breather from that.
Jaime Jay:Cause it's a lot, it's a very.
Jaime Jay:It's very heavy on your brain.
Jaime Jay:There's a lot of thinking that needs to go into it.
Jaime Jay:So I needed to relax cause, me, my brain doesn't, I'm not the brightest
Jaime Jay:So I said, I to know about that.
Jaime Jay:I know my limits, so don't push it, Jamie.
Jaime Jay:So yeah, I would love to write another book and maybe explore, the next.
Jaime Jay:In, whatever it is that we're doing here at bottleneck, we have some
Jaime Jay:So maybe this is something that I can cover in the next book,
Jaime Jay:And then I think, yeah, when in about another five to 10 years, I seriously
Jaime Jay:There's some pretty crazy stuff that happened in my life.
Jaime Jay:and a lot of people like.
Jaime Jay:Look at how crazy other people's lives are and hope,
David Shriner-Cahn:
:hope that helps people.
David Shriner-Cahn:
:Sounds great.
David Shriner-Cahn:
:Jamie, congratulations again on this, milestone achievement, I've
David Shriner-Cahn:
:You writing a book or not writing a book.
David Shriner-Cahn:
:So congratulations on getting it done.
David Shriner-Cahn:
:And, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join us again
David Shriner-Cahn:
:My guest today has been the author of quit repeating yourself.
David Shriner-Cahn:
:Jamie, Jay, thank you again, Jamie for joining us.
Jaime Jay:Thank you.
Jaime Jay:Thank you.
David Shriner-Cahn:When you visit the smashing the plateau website
David Shriner-Cahn:You'll find a summary of each episode, along with the links we mentioned on
David Shriner-Cahn:We share methods to help you reach more of your ideal audience.
David Shriner-Cahn:We also give you a range of tools and resources to support your business.
David Shriner-Cahn:Access to experts, answers to your burning questions and the comradery of
David Shriner-Cahn:Check out the smashing the plateau community so that you
David Shriner-Cahn:What you're worth.
David Shriner-Cahn:Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com slash.
David Shriner-Cahn:That's smashing the plateau.com/community.
David Shriner-Cahn:Thank you for taking the time to listen to our show.