In this transformative episode, Aurora Winter shares how you can turn your story into a powerful brand to grow your business. If you’re struggling to stand out, or if you feel stuck in a job instead of a business, you won’t want to miss it.

You will discover:

- Why your brand is the story others tell to build trust and credibility

- How to use a book to scale beyond local limits and attract clients

- What neuroscience tips cut through noise to share your story effectively

This episode is ideal for for Founders, Owners, and CEOs in stage 2 of The Founder's Evolution. Not sure which stage you're in? Find out for free in less than 10 minutes at https://www.scalearchitects.com/founders/quiz

Aurora Winter, MBA, is an award-winning, bestselling author. She is a successful serial entrepreneur, media trainer, creator of the Spoken Author™ method, and founder of Same Page Publishing. Aurora left her lucrative career as a TV executive decades ago to become a full-time author, trainer, and entrepreneur. Using storytelling for business, she created a life of freedom, creativity, and contribution. Now, she helps her clients turn their words into wealth, wisdom, and wonder.

Want to learn more about Aurora Winter's work at www.aurorawinter.com/? Check out her website at https://www.aurorawinter.com/ and get a copy of her book, Turn Words into Wealth, at turnwordsintowealth.com

Mentioned in this episode:

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Hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once

again to the secrets of the high demand coach podcast,

where here with us today is the one and only Aurora winter

MBA, who is an award winning, Best Selling Author. She's

also a successful serial entrepreneur, media trainer,

creator of the spoken author method, and founder of same

page publishing. Aurora left her lucrative career as a TV

executive decades ago to become a full time author,

trainer and entrepreneur using storytelling for business, she

created a life of freedom, creativity and contribution.

Now she helps her clients turn their words into wealth,

wisdom and wonder. She's written the book, the

fantastic book, actually turn words into wealth. Got a copy

of it here. Highly recommend it, and it sparked all kinds

of ideas and thoughts and questions for me that I can't

wait to unpack with you, Aurora. So welcome to the

show. Super excited to have you here. I want to start off

with one of my personal favorite points that you made

in the book, and I won't steal your thunder. I'll let you

make it, but you make the point that our brand isn't

what a lot of us think it is. So tell us what our brand

isn't and what is it your?

Your brand is not what you think it is.

Exactly right. Your brand is the story that other people

tell about you when you're not in the room and our brand

doesn't have a lot of shelf space for your story, so it's

very concise, but our brand is also the biggest way to

leverage our revenue. If you don't have a brand, then it's

a dive to the bottom. You'll be competing with Walmart and

China and the lowest price wind. You don't want that

equation. You want authority. You want status. You want some

special sauce.

Yeah, you talk. When you lay this out,

you tell some of Oprah's story. And I'm wondering if

you could share a little bit of like, how did that, how did

that strike you? Like, where did you first learn this, or

where did you first hear about that story that made such an

impact for you?

Well, one of the things that is outstanding

about Oprah, which most people don't even think of, is like

she is on the cover of every Oprah O magazine. It's, it's

amazing. She realized that building a brand was really

important, that it wasn't just about, you know, the click

bait on the cover, but her image repeatedly on the cover.

And many people have done this, but I think she was

really the first to pioneer that. And Oprah's got a, you

know, billion dollar brand. She broke through. I mean, she

came from basically nothing, almost worse than nothing,

because she was in the hole, had a terrible childhood, and

she's become, you know, one of the wealthiest women on the

planet.

Yeah, that's awesome, yeah? One, so

someone's okay, I'm in. I want to share my story. One of the

frustrations that I've seen for founders, kind of at this

point, is they go out to share their story, and they're just

competing against the world's biggest brands, right? They're

in many of the same spaces, trying to break through the

noise. So you go into some of like, the neuroscience behind

how we can really cut through all the noise. What are some

of the key takeaways for you? For the underdog, if you will,

trying to build their own brand?

Well, first, I just want to address the

underdog point. Yes, there are huge names out there, you

know, like we're competing with Seth Godin, we're

competing with Mel Robbins, we're competing with all

these. David Goggins. JK Rowling, but are you really,

you know, as a coach, you might be the only person that

somebody actually has in their circle who can help them solve

that problem. So instead of thinking, oh my gosh, Tim

Ferriss would do a better job. You know, they're probably not

going to get Tim Ferriss as their personal coach, right.

So put that aside and just understand that you're the

answer to somebody's prayers, and you may be the only person

that they know who's in their loose circle, or only person

available to talk to them about solving their problem.

And then we need to understand in order to make the biggest

difference that we can we need to understand the neuroscience

of communication and most people blow it in the first

few seconds. They're at the Rotary Club, or they're

introducing themselves. You know, they start by saying

their name and their company name, and by that time, people

have zoned out. So it's really good to start with, what's the

problem that you solve? You want to start with a little

taste of novelty. Then you want to give a little taste of

social proof, and then if you want to show off a little bit

of your authority that can work out and do all of those

things really quickly, so that then you can get onto the

deeper message, don't send the verbal equi the verbal

equivalent of an Excel spreadsheet. So quick example

this book turn words into wealth. The title itself is

that novelty. It's like, what topic area are we in? And then

the, you know, it's at one outstanding non fiction book

of the year that's hitting the social proof. And then I can

go into explain the 27x ROI on a story.

That's awesome. I love that. And.

Love the Way You broke it down. It's interesting. I've

not heard folks distinguish as quickly or as clearly between

social proof and authority, right? Because a lot of times

those are coming together. But I love the book example. I

want to jump to this next question, because I see it all

the time. It's very true for coaches, very true for folks

in professional services, but happens in a whole lot of

industries, and that is that founders working their various

degrees of success, but they come to this really

uncomfortable realization, almost despite that success,

that they've started a job and not a business, and, and, and

so once you get there, it's kind of like, what do I want

to do with that? And a lot of folks, the answer is, I want

to scale past that. I don't want it to just be trading

hours for dollars or all the things that go along with

that. But they're really limited to, like, they've

they've built a tremendous degree of local trust and

credibility, but it really falls off very quickly after

that. So like, how do you get past that? How do you scale

beyond that local community or impact and build trust and

credibility at a greater scale?

One of the key ways I love to do that is

through books. I mean, you, if you have a book on Amazon,

Barnes and Noble, it's available around the world.

And if you have a non fiction book that clearly answers a

problem, that has great keywords in the title and the

subtitle, people can find you from from New York, from Los

Angeles, where I live, from Paris, from London. They can

find you if you have a very good book with a solid title.

And I really love that because I mean, back in the day when I

started in publishing, it wasn't that easy to get a book

published. There were all these gatekeepers. You were so

very likely to get no after no after No. One of the clients

I'm working with, he got 100 rejection letters, and now his

books have got over 3000 reviews on Amazon and have won

10 awards. He just couldn't get past the gatekeeper, and

anyway, back to if you if you're a coach or an author,

sorry, if your coach or an expert or a leader of some

kind, a book can be a great way to reach people around the

world. And there are seven different ways to make seven

figures with your book.

I love that. And you took the words right

out of my mouth, because that's exactly where we're

going next. So another challenge that I've seen,

especially for founders, have been doing it for a while,

right? And to some extent, like your own success can

create the biggest barrier. Here, you hit the kind of

high, medium, six figures, and it's kind of good, you know?

It's better than it was, but it's not all that it can be.

But if you're there long enough, it can start to shape

what you believe is possible, right? And there's a lot of

folks who've written themselves, I could never make

a million dollars. I could never make seven figures, but

you offer in your book seven ways of doing that. I was

wondering if we could walk through those, because I

thought, well, it's just a fascinating concept, but

there's some really practical stuff in here as well. So I

want to kick off strategy number one, attracting premium

clients. And the tell us a little bit about what that is,

but also tell us, like, how is that different from what most

of us are doing before really setting on this strategy?

I think the authority that you get. The

root of the word authority is author. So attracting premium

clients at premium prices is one of the most valuable

things that you can do with your book. The bottom line is,

if you are good at solving a particular problem, how much

is that worth depends on who is the person that you're

serving. So I always like to ask the question, you know,

what am I really, really good at? Or have my clients ask the

question, what am I really, good at? What do I love to do?

So you want to have those two filters. But then, who is it

worth the most to? I have clients who are selling their

company for nine figures. My services helping them create a

million dollar message, or a multi million dollar message

and take it and get an award winning book is worth more to

the person then a person who's, I don't know, retired

and writing a poetry book, who has no vision for the impact

or the income. So by having a book, you can, and I've done

this multiple times, you can attract premium clients with

premium price prices, because the book can serve both as

attractor, but also as a repellent, it's kind of like

match.com you don't actually want everybody to contact you.

You want to have a filter. And in a book, you can communicate

who you are, who you serve, and who you don't serve. So

for example, I'm pretty spiritual, and it's fairly

obvious in my book. Turn words into wealth. So people who are

Die Hard atheists might go, Gosh, Aurora is not the code

for me, and vice versa.

And that's a good thing, right? I think one

of the things the traps is I have found, oftentimes the

best client, the one that's that you can create the best

impact for enjoy working with the most are often the most,

like selective in who they hire, right? Do Not always,

but many times. And so if you're like, hey, I do

everything for everyone, the person who really wants one

thing done really, really well, or one small subset is

going to be much more selective, and that's the

person you want to work with. But you can't do that by

saying, Hey, I help with everything all the time.

Yeah, I help everybody with everything.

Answer disaster. The second thing you can do with a

million dollar message, which could be in a book, but it

doesn't have to be in a book, is to attract, you know,

investors and launch a startup. So when I was living

in Silicon Valley, after I got my MBA in 2015 I took it. I

took a year off, went to Italy, got my MBA, and I came

back. I'm like, I could do anything, which was a problem,

because, you know, decision fatigue, but I went to Silicon

Valley and I decided to help people with their startups and

like, well, who is that worth the most to a million dollar

message, or a multi million dollar message is worth a lot

to people raising capital? And every client that I helped had

had gone from no funds raised to raising seven or eight

figures. So there's a power in a clear, concise, compelling

message. And the startup entrepreneurs that I helped

were so brilliant, but that was sabotaging them, because

they were going 14 steps down. And first the person thinking,

maybe I could invest they had, like, no idea what are you

talking about. They had to slow down, create some

metaphors, create connection, and kind of dumb it down, and

then once the person was on board, they could go deep. I

mean, a great example of a metaphor I loved on your

website. You know, your example of the sports

metaphor, which drove home your point about the different

kinds of leaders, and no, you don't want to be the coach on

the sideline who catches the ball, robbing everybody and

being, you know, a foul. That's not good. And it's

lovely when you have that kind of story, it makes it so much

easier for people to hear you. Yeah, and also, sorry, go

ahead.

No, I love it. So one of the things

that's really cool about folks who've worked in the

investment space is like the feedback loop is so short,

right? So even if you're not going after investors, there's

still so much to learn, because the same things that

get investors to pay attention are the same things that get

everyone to pay attention. And so this idea of of simplifying

your message, dumbing it down, that it feels surprisingly

scary to a lot of really smart people. How do you help folks

to just kind of process the internal like, I don't want to

look stupid if I dumb down my message?

I don't lean into that exactly. It's more

like encouraging people how they could make a bigger

difference by, you know, in 10 seconds having something clear

and concise. But you're right. I think the smarter the person

is, the more degrees they have, the worse this problem

can be. I mean, my older brother is a genius. He's got

PhD, he's got Masters of Engineering, and he's quantum

physicist, and sometimes he's extremely hard to understand

because he's so smart. But here's the takeaway that smart

people can understand is they did a really interesting

study. It's published in the book significant objects. They

had 100 distinct objects on eBay with a story or without a

story. The stories were written by 100 different

people, and they weren't hype. They were things like these

pot mitts are for sale. My grandmother has passed, but I

remember when I'd come home from school, she'd bake

chocolate chip cookies, and we'd chat after school, and

she used these pot mitz. Now you're not getting the cookies

or the grandmother when you buy the pot mitz, but adding a

story adds significance, and you do get the significance.

And the result was that the objects on eBay with a story

sold for 27 times more. Yeah, so that's a stat, but even

smart people can go, Oh, I think I should practice my

stories. I love that.

I think it was that same story, wouldn't

it was like a horse's head, or something that went for like,

43 times as much, or something outrageous, like so cool. I

love that the significance does pass on. It's a brilliant

insight. Okay, I want to jump to the next one here. This

one, I have to admit, caught me out of the blue. I was not

expecting it, especially in the number three spot, but

number three was movies and merchandising. So how does

this work? Because there's not a lot of founders who have

making a movie as part of their business plan, but

maybe, maybe more of a should.

Well, you know, my background is in Film and

Television. I'm an award winning screenwriter. I used

to be head of development for Canada's largest film and

television production company, and I raised 5 million with a

partner in London, England, and we went on and made eight

films. So it's part of my way of thinking. I have written

the fantasy series, actually for young adults. Magic

mystery in the multiverse is the first book in that series,

and BBC has expressed interest in a 12 part series. So this

can really happen. So, but here. Here's the interesting

thing. Well, with some of my clients who are working on

fiction, we are pitching their projects as TV movies or TV

series. And it's very cool to understand that if you have a

non fiction idea, there might be some possibilities. I was

blown away by Marie Kondo, who doesn't even speak English as

her first language, Luca T Japanese woman who wrote a

book about the joy of tidying up and Netflix, had a series

following her. She'd go into people's homes and help

hoarders tidy up. It was a big hit, and that, of course,

enhanced her brand and her reputation and brought many

people to her. So you may find that if you're a coach or a

consultant, you have some expertise that there might be

a possibility to consider, and certainly that's where the

real money is.

Yeah, fascinating, very, very cool.

I like that. All right. Strategy number four, and it's

not just have a book, but there's a specific way to use

a book to scale up and make a million dollars. What is it

and why do you recommend it?

So item number four, we're going through

these really quickly, is the free book plus upsell. So

before I've written 10 books or published 10 books, I've

written more than 10. So when I got my MBA in 2015 prior to

that, I was doing something else. I actually had founded

the grief coach Academy, and I was helping people through

grief. But I realized, you know what, I don't want the

rest of my life to be about grief. People were coming to

me and saying, Hey, how did you get on TV? How did you get

on radio? How did you write so many books? And I thought,

well, maybe people would be interested in having me as a

marketing mentor. But my list, small list of 12,000 they knew

me as the grief coach Academy founder. So it's a pretty big

pivot from talking about grief to talking about marketing and

messaging. So I thought I should test this idea before

going in whole hog. And I totally recommend this. If you

have a new idea, you want to start a new product or service

or launch a new business or pivot, why not test it for 90

days? So what I did is I called up a friend who was the

director of coaching for Tony Robbins. He'd interviewed me

before about grief coaching. I said, Hey, would you interview

me about marketing? He's like, Absolutely, I know who you

are. I know your story of know you've launched several seven

figure businesses. Cool, let's do it. So I choreographed the

interview. This is the part that people miss. You have to

choreograph the interview and be prepared with with your

answers and your stories. Anyway, he interviewed me, and

we did that in front of about 100 of Tony Robbins coaches. I

recorded it. I really liked it. I tidied it up a little

bit. Bing, bang, boom. Over the weekend, had a PDF, okay,

and that little book's called Marketing Fast Track. So with

that PDF, I then actually called some people that had

been on TV before I got two TV appearances, and then I

started reaching out to my list and offered them the free

book with some videos to add more value around marketing

and messaging. And then at the end, hey, if you'd like to

know more and you'd like a Business Breakthrough call,

you can do that here. So that book, once it was actually

printed, people could get the book for free, but they would

pay $4.77 shipping and handling. This is actually

pretty key point, though. I want to circle back around to

that anyway. So that book, I spent about $12,000 in

advertising, and it generated $250,000 in 90 days. Wow,

$250,000 in 90 days from $12,000 ad spent. So why did

that work? It worked because I do know about marketing and

messaging, so it was a good Messenger, and it was it also

worked because it was short and clear, and the added

trick, so to speak, or hack, even if people invest only a

couple of dollars, even $4.77 they're far more serious

prospects than if they get your eBook for free also, then

I had their contact information and could follow

up. Also, even though eBooks are great if you have a

physical book in hand, it's like a silent sales person,

and so it reminds the person about you. So people would get

my book, they would read it, and then the book was still

there on their shelf. Maybe they would call me, you know,

a week or two later, or set up a call so they the free book

and upsell. I've done it. Many other people have done it.

Jeff Walker, so in the book, turn words into wealth. You

can see a number of different examples, and you can see

people have can offer various different opportunities to

invest at different levels. I didn't do that. I just went

from the book to do you want help with your messaging and

publishing your book?

Yeah, I love that. I love that. So we are

running short on time, and the two, two of my favorite

strategies, are the ones we're actually going to leave the

reader to get a copy of. Your book to find out, but I want

to skip ahead to strategy number seven. It was best for

last your favorite again, I'll leave the big reveal to you.

What's the seventh strategy and why is it your favorite?

I love this one. It's it's the Evergreen

best seller. So one of the things I really love to

encourage people is, don't think about getting a New York

Times bestseller or Wall Street Journal bestseller, or

that big spike of sales for just one day. Instead, think

of your book like your baby, like your child, and you want

to launch it powerfully and effectively, yes, but you want

it to make a difference for decades to come. It's your

intellectual property. It's part of your legacy, and a

book is like, amazing. Like Jordan Peterson said, it's

amazing that a book is like, more durable than a castle. A

book can really make a difference to many people for

many years. I mean, one of the things I love about books is

I've been mentored by so many people who aren't even alive.

So your book can be like that. It can be a seed that can

germinate whenever somebody reads it. So I really love

people to lean into their book as an evergreen best seller.

I love that. So before I let you go, I've

got one more question for you here, Aurora, and that is, I

just want to ask all my guests, what would you say is

the biggest secret that you wish wasn't a secret at all.

What's that one thing you wish everybody watching or

listening today knew?

I think the biggest secret that I wish

that wasn't the secret at all, is that you are capable of far

more than you think we all are, and we need to well, what

works best is to lean into mindset first. And I the way I

do that is just, you know, use me. How can I be of service?

So I think when we show up as a contribution, seeking to be

a service, we can achieve so much more than we think, or so

much more can be achieved through us than we think.

Yeah, Aurora, absolutely amazing

books. Great. This episode has been fantastic. Where can

folks find more out about you, the work you do? Where can

they get a copy of your

Well, they can get a copy of Turn words into

wealth, wherever books are sold, or if they'd like the

free ebook, they can go to turnwordsintowealth.com. And

same page publishing is that same page publishing.com?

Thanks, Scott, that's such a pleasure connecting with you.

Likewise. Thanks for being on really an

honor having you here today. For those of you watching and

listening, you know your time and attention mean the world

to us, I hope you got as much out of this conversation as I

know I did, and I cannot wait to see you next time. Take care.