Prosperity For Writers With Honoree Corder

Author, Professional ass kicker, Optimist – Honoree Corder

How true is the saying that “books don’t make any money” and what can you expect as a self-published author. How Honoree managed to build different audiences for different niches and get many avid fans that read just about everything she writes. What works in book marketing today and how to get on the Amazon’s radar. How to surround yourself with people that are a match for what you want to become.

Resources Mentioned in the Podcast:

• Prosperity for Writers

Check out HonoreeCorder.comfor more info!

Thanks so much for listening!

Transcript: Download

Jaime Tardy:	Welcome to Eventual Millionaire.  I'm Jaime Tardy and today on the show, I am really excited to have my good friend Honoree Corder.  She has made so many books, it is utterly insane.  Seventeen time best-selling author.  You can check out her site at honoreecorder.com.  The most recent book, I think it is, is Prosperity for Writers, but she's a speaker, coach, all around amazing person.  Thank you so much for coming on the show today Honoree.

Honoree Corder:	I have been dying to come on the show, so hello.

Jaime Tardy:	I think, we were just talking, it's hilarious because we live in the same city, and yet we are doing a Skype interview.  How sad - we should be sitting on those chairs.  This is my fault.  I'll have you back on the show.  We will be in person so we can give each a hug.  But thank you so much for coming on this show today.  How long have you been doing all these amazing books online so far?

Honoree Corder:	So my first book I published in 2004.

Jaime Tardy:	Wow.

Honoree Corder:	When I was in third grade.  No!  That's not a real thing.  That's not a real thing.  But, yeah, I did first book in 2005, second book in 2009, so there was a little bit of time in between.  And then I - 

Jaime Tardy:	What made you decide to do the books in the first place?  The first one.

Honoree Corder:	Mark Victor Hanson, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, I met him at a conference, and he was a speaker, and I was in the back and so he came in the back.  And I was like, "Ooh, I get to talk to Mark Victor Hanson."  And he's like, "What do you do?"  And I was all proud of myself.  I'm a coach and a speaker.  And he's like, "Oh yeah, honey, everybody's a coach and a speaker."  Totally like pop!  I was like, "Oh!"  So he was very kind to me and he said, "Look.  Every person who has credibility and goes kinda to the next level has a book.  And so you need to write a book."  

And so I didn't know what I didn't know, so I was like, "Okay, how hard can that be?"  And that was the beginning of me taking - his advice to me was, "Take a presentation that you've given a lot that people like and they have you back for and write that down."  And so I literally did that.  I literally sat in a chair and pretended I was talking to an audience, and that was my first book.  

Jaime Tardy:	What was the first book titled?  

Honoree Corder:	So the first book title was Tall Order:  Seven Master Strategies to Organize Your Life and Double Your Success in Half the Time.  And just at the end of last year I released the tenth anniversary revised, expanded, and updated, also known as if I knew then what I know now version of the book.

Jaime Tardy:	Wow, that's insane that it's been ten years.  Okay.  So what I wanna know is what you should have known then, that you do know now.  What is that difference?  What would you have told yourself way back then?

Honoree Corder:	I had the fundamentals down.  I needed some different levels of distinction.  So it was hire a coach, but know how to hire a coach.  It was have the right environment, but know who to have in your environment.  Right?  You are the sum of the five or 50 closest people to you.  Your income is the same, your physical health is the same, all those things are the same.  But how do you find your people? How do you develop a relationship with them, and how do you get rid of the people that are not so good?

Jaime Tardy:	Okay.  How we do that?

Honoree Corder:	Well the first thing you have to do is really kind of take a look at yourself.  Right?  That answer, specifically, is an interesting one, because sometimes you look at the people around you, and you go, "Wow!  They are toxic.  They are not in alignment with what I say I want.  There's nothing wrong."  Right?  It's like when I broke up with a guy 25 years ago, I said, "There's nothing wrong with you.  It's just I don't fit with you.  We aren't a good match."  And so if you are looking for someone to support your entrepreneurial spirit, maybe the person who was raised or is wired to be 9 to 5, and kind of punch a clock, and rely on others for their living, they're not gonna be comfortable.  

They're gonna constantly say, "Well, maybe it's time for you to get a job."  As opposed to, "You better double your effort."  Right?  So it's really taking stock of what it is that you want, and then looking to see are the people in alignment with me, and if they're not, then you don't have to say, "Okay Jaime.  We've had some time.  You me over."  Because I just talked to someone that I hadn't talked to in a year.  And I couldn't wait to talk to her.  I was so glad that I reached out and texted her.  And we let it go, not on purpose.  So you can kinda let some relationships go, on purpose not on purpose.  Not in a mean way, but just kind of let's not go out and have a drink every night.  Right?

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah.

Honoree Corder:	Yeah, I'm on a deadline.  I'm on a project.  Right?  Those are kinda my favorite.  I am always on a deadline.  I'm always on a project.

Jaime Tardy:	You're like, I'm not lying.  This is so true.

Honoree Corder:	I'm not lying.  It's a real thing.  Don't make up that you're on a book deadline when you haven't written a book, or you're not gonna, right?  It's not about that.  But you don't have to be mean in the way that you cut things off, but having some conscious awareness of who is surrounding you.  And then to go seek and find your people is kind of a fun game, because then if you wanna know people who write books, then you go to writers? conferences, and if you wanna be with people who are speakers, then you go to speakers? conferences.  And if you want to join with other entrepreneurs, then you go to entrepreneurs? organizations.  If you like people who knit, then find people who - right?  

It's not about the author, speaker, coach, necessarily, but it's about your niches and the things that you're interested.  And there is a group for everything now.  So go find your people, and then I always just say, you have to decide that - we're friends, so I'm just gonna show up, and we're gonna hang out. And I'm gonna be friends with you.  I'm just letting you know.

Jaime Tardy:	I'm glad you tell them.  Just so you know.  It's already done.

Honoree Corder:	We're friends.  You, me, we're friends.  Besties for life.  And then I think the best way to have a friend is to be a friend, right?  Be not crazy stalker, but be interested, be interesting, show interest, and develop the relationship.  I'm writing a manuscript that's due on Friday, and the part that I was writing today was about making new friends after a divorce, because that cast of characters will change.  And so how do you, after you decide you wanna be friends with someone, make them your friend?  

And the research that I was doing was that in school, we make friends with people in school because there's a consistency, right?  Everyone has a number of times that they have to see someone before they feel comfortable with them, or they recognized them.  Well, when you're in school, you're in third grade, you're going to third grade every day.  Right?  And so you have that consistency.  Well, as an adult, you're not showing up somewhere all the time 

Jaime Tardy:	Let's not be them, okay?

Honoree Corder:	Just hanging out - I'm just hanging out at Austin Java, just in case someone might show up there, right?  I'm not talking about the weird thing. I'm say that you use the power of consistency to say, "Hey, let's get together for lunch.  Let's get together or lunch again.  Let's do something together."  And that's how you develop a friendship is that consistency.  

Jaime Tardy:	So what if you're like the quote unquote low man on the totem pole?  So you go to some of these events or whatever, and you feel like everybody else is way up here, and you're down there, and you don't even wanna go, "Hey, can we be friends?" because you don't feel like you're that level yet.

Honoree Corder:	Right.  Well, that's me at all these events I go to.  I hang out with some really amazing people who, yeah, I used to only listen to their podcasts, right?  So I did, I went to a conference, a writers? conference last year, because I listen to these podcasts, and I really was like, "They would be friends with me if they knew me, but I just can't call them up and go by the way, I'm your coolest listener."  Right?  So they had a conference, and I went. But that's how I felt, was what do I have to tell the people who make me look like 17, 18, 20 books is like - we did that in Q1.  Right?  

And so used what I know, and I added value.  So that's the thing.  If you're the low man on the totem pole, there's still something that you know.  You have a perspective of youth.  You have the perspective of some sort of education or specialty, or some kind of connection.  

And so when I was at an event recently there was a woman who was giving a presentation and she's a specialist.  And so when I went up to her, and I said, "Do you work with this organization?"  And she said, "No, but I sure would like to."  And I was like, "You know, I worked there 25 years ago, and I'm still friends with my boss from way back then.  Can I make an introduction?"  So even though I wasn't her, I was me.  I was still able to add value.  And P.S. and by the way, I think we're gonna be friends.

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah, you don't have to say that until after, and then you're like, "Oh, you're mine now!  Great!"  

Honoree Corder:	Yes.  By the way.  Just you and me.  Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	So how do you do that?  Because I have an amazing network, and I don't ever feel like I'm that person that's like, "Hey, let's be friends.  Or let's go hang out."  I'll do dinners at conferences to try and get to know people better.  But in general, I don't go, "Let's hop on the phone!" or "Let's do this!" or "Let's do that!"  I don't invite people places unless it's a conference I'm already going to or something like that.  How do you get good at that?  Because I don't wanna be rejected either. You know what I mean?

Honoree Corder:	Well, I mean the person that would reject you is like - 

Jaime Tardy:	Thank you.

Honoree Corder:	For real.  I mean - 

Jaime Tardy:	Thank you for making my ego feel better.

Honoree Corder:	well, I mean, here's the thing.  You make the introduction, and you would be surprised how many people are hungry for that.  It's interesting.  So I was in Dallas, and I did a full-day training, and I know the managing director, like air quotes know him.  So we had been to the same meeting 12 times, a monthly meeting.  So we were in the same room, so some people would be like, "Well we're besties, right?"  But that's not the case.  They kind of increase their intimacy in a relationship because they've been in proximity, which is not always the case.  So I was not, I was very clear that he had hired me, but we were not friends.  So I sent him a note and I said, "Hey, I'm coming to the city the day before.  And if you'd like to give me any intelligence on the group that I'm working with the day before, I'm happy to come to your office."  And he said, "I don't have the ability to do that.  But let's go to breakfast.  Let's meet for coffee in the morning ahead of time."  And I could tell it was such a nice gesture.  He was like, "Hey, thanks for thinking to do that."  And you're thinking, "This guy's up here, and he's running the show, and he's the king."  And yet he was so hungry for it.  I find that reaching out to people and saying, "Hey, I'd like to give you some face time.  I'd like to get to know you better," they're hungry for it.  And if they're rejecting you, I always say a couple of things.  One, rejection is protection.  So we can talk about that if you'd like.  And the second thing is it's not about you.  Right?   From The Four Agreements.

Jaime Tardy:	I love that book.

Honoree Corder:	So, yeah, so you can't make up in your head that they went, "Oh, it's Jaime Tardy.  Oh thank god, finally I get to reject her.  Ha!  I've been waiting so long to tell her no."  Right?  It could be inconvenient timing. It's like when someone will say to me, "Hey, can we grab lunch this week?"  And it's like, I promise you I can never have lunch with you this week.

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly, right?  I'm so overbooked.

Honoree Corder:	Because this week has been booked since 1974.  So unless you reach out to me today, we can't have lunch until 2075.  And that's not a real thing, but it kinda feels like that.  For whatever month we're in, chances are all I already have all of my spaces filled.  And so, yes, I would love to, with enough notice.  So even my girlfriends are like, "Okay, I'm gonna need to get my nails done in July.  So " 

Jaime Tardy:	So mark it on your calendar now, and you'll be like, "Oh, I'm free, finally."  

Honoree Corder:	Yeah, and it's Valentine's Day.  Clearly it's not.   It's Christmas time.

Jaime Tardy:	That's what's so funny.  We were just talking about that.  She's the beautiful tree in the background, and yet this interview's gonna go live in March, which I think is amazing and awesome that I'm that far ahead, but hilarious that we have a Christmas tree.

Honoree Corder:	Yeah.  And by the way, now's the time.  Start buying gifts now. Staring buying now, and by Christmas of 2016, you are gonna be so prepared.  All the people who are like, "It's December!" and you're stressed out, and miserable.  You're gonna be like, "Fff!  No way.  I'm totally " 

Jaime Tardy:	We are less than two weeks away from Christmas and I haven't bought anything yet.  That's not good.  But I have a tree and it's beautiful.

Honoree Corder:	Okay, well that's good, because you have children.

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly.  Oh yeah.  They'll get a lot.  Don't worry.  I buy fast.  I hate shopping.  Okay, so you just told me rejection is protection.  So tell me about that.

Honoree Corder:	Yeah, so there are so many times in my life when it was like I heart set on the guy, the client, the house, and then the guy rejected me, and then I find out later, a little gay.  Or the client turned out to be a monster.  They hired someone else, right?  Went through the paces and then hired someone to do the whatever, and then the person was calling me going, "Oh my gosh."  Right?   That was miserable.  And so I always find that kinda the universe has my back.  So it's like when something doesn't work out, it's kinda like, "Oh, I see why that didn't happen."  So if you take the you didn't get the yes that you wanted, sometimes it's kinda like the we got something better that's coming along your path.  And if you say yes to this thing, then you're not gonna be able to say yes to this thing over here.

Jaime Tardy:	Hindsight, right?  it's like when something doesn't work out, it's kinda like, "Oh, I see why that didn't happen."  So if you take the you didn't get the yes that you wanted, sometimes it's kinda like the we got something better that's coming along your path.  And if you say yes to this thing, then you're thinking - but this is the thing, especially if you dare to declare it, right?  You're like, "This is the thing I want, and I'm gonna do this thing."  And I was listening to Michael Port on Elrod's podcast this morning, and he was talking about what if you declared the thing and then you fail?  What does that mean about you?  You go for this thing and then you fail.  And it's like, "Well, sometimes it's like you just failed.  And that's great.  That's like the best thing that could have happened to you."

Jaime Tardy:	But we don't necessarily know that.  But if we think that in advance, then we can save ourselves a whole bunch of anxiety and worry and feeling like crap.

Honoree Corder:	Right.  That's what I say.  That's what I always say to someone when they're like, "Oh, I didn't get the job that I wanted" or "this didn't work out."  I'm like, "Rejection is protection.  Something is coming along for your highest and best good, so be on the lookout."  That's one of my things from Prosperity for Writers is BOLO, which I took from crime dramas.  If there's a dead body and the detective standing over him, and they?re like, "We have to put a BOLO out on the suspect, right?  Be on the lookout.

Jaime Tardy:	Okay, good.  I didn't know what BOLO was, but okay, great.

Honoree Corder:	So now you'll hear it whenever you watch Law and Order or whatever, you're gonna hear them say, "Put out a BOLO on the suspect."  And that's what that means is be on the lookout for, but this time it's be on the lookout for what is coming, what's your magic, what's your miracle, what's the best thing that's coming in your direction?

Jaime Tardy:	I love that.  Okay, let's talk about books for a minute, because you have so many.  So you've been there, done that multiple times.  So tell us right now what is working.  Number one, actually, before we get into what's working, we hear all the time, books don't make any money.  Right?  Oh!  Books don't make any money, blah, blah, blah.  You have seventeen, and you keep going like crazy.  You have a deadline on Friday.  So they've gotta be doing something for you.  So tell us what the numbers look like in general for books nowadays, especially if you're self-published, because you can actually get a big cut of it.

Honoree Corder:	Gosh, so what is the asterisk, right?  Results may vary.  

Jaime Tardy:	Definitely.

Honoree Corder:	Depending upon using and working the program.  My very first book I sold 80,000 copies of it - 

Jaime Tardy:	Are you kidding?

Honoree Corder:	last year.  No.

Jaime Tardy:	80,000 copies?

Honoree Corder:	Yes.

Jaime Tardy:	Wow.

Honoree Corder:	And so the non-tenth anniversary edition, and I sold them privately.

Jaime Tardy:	Wow.

Honoree Corder:	So I had someone contact me and say, "We would like to give these books away, can we buy them from you?"  And I said, "Yes."  

Jaime Tardy:	I will take your money.

Honoree Corder:	Yes, that would be perfect.  It depends on the title, for me.  So I write divorce books, single parents, single mom, single dad, business growth, I have a couple of books on college funding, so it's kind of across the map.  And I'm interested in lots of different things, so I just kinda go with where the spirit leads me sometimes.  Or sometimes people will give me a book title or a book idea, and I'm like, "Oh, yeah."  That's the one I'm working on right now.  Someone gave me a book title, and I was like, "Oh!  I totally have to write that."  

So the numbers are good.  I'm in a group of people where I don't think anyone makes less than 100,000, and I think several people make more than a million, and I'm kind of sandwiched in there, without the big mega book sale, because I can't count on that happening every year, right?  So it's like how much do my - and I was just doing my projections for the end of the first quarter now, and my year's going amazing, Jaime.

Jaime Tardy:	2016 is great so far!

Honoree Corder:	Best year ever!  Best year ever.  Doing my projections, and so my income for 2015 over 2014 went up 34 percent.  So I expect that to continue because - and so I think the next question is what's working?  So what's working is the multiple titles.  So if I'm talking to someone who wants to write a book, you don't wanna write a book.  You either want to write multiple books, because people like to read more books from the author that they like.  Or you have to decide what it is the book is going to do for you, because some people - I was a coach/speaker, and who cares?  But then when I was an author, I was able to raise my fee and so it gave me credibility.  

So a lot of times, people just go, "Oh, the next thing I'm gonna do is write a book," but they don't start with why, and then they don't know what they don't know, and so they just kind of throw up something, literally, and then it's not great, and you just don't know.  Do you go traditional, do you go self-publishing?  There's a whole lot to know about the business.  So what's working is that I have a peer group, and whenever I have a question, I kind of go, "All right.  How would you all handle this?"  Or "What do you think about it?"  

Jaime Tardy:	So tell me about this, because normally we might have multiple titles but not multiple niches.  So each book - 

Honoree Corder:	I'm aware.

Jaime Tardy:	you have has its own avatar, right?  So you're like, "Oh, and then I have to build an audience there, and I have to build an audience there"  Which is usually counter-intuitive in business, because that takes a lot.  So tell me why and how on those.

Honoree Corder:	So the why is because I'm interested in lots of things, and so I was writing Tall Order, which was my first business book, and then I was inspired to write the Successful Single Mom book, which became a six-book series, which then there was a Successful Single Dad, because somebody wanted to buy a whole bunch of Single Moms, and Single Dad, and it didn't exist, so I was like, whenever someone says, "We wanna buy a whole bunch of your books that don't exist," then you write the book.  

And then I recognized that from a niche perspective, so this will be helpful, because it's not about the books, right, it's about the thought process.  So I realized if this is the pie, so picture a circle for those that are visualizing, right?  Then half of the circle, half of the pie, is going to be people that divorce with children, and the other half gonna divorce without children.  So when I wrote the Successful Single Mom, theoretically I was only getting 25 percent of a potential audience.  So by writing the Successful Single Dad, I then covered another 25 percent of the pie.  However, lots of people divorce without children, and how did they navigate their way through divorce?  And so by writing that other book, I was able to kind of like, I took the whole pie.  

Jaime Tardy:	I took the whole pie.

Honoree Corder:	I took the whole pie.

Jaime Tardy:	I took it all.  It was good.

Honoree Corder:	Because I do like a pie. 

Jaime Tardy:	That's a really interesting way to think about it, though, because normally you're told just niche to one specific piece, and own that piece of the pie forever and ever and ever, instead of trying to go all around for the whole pie.  Because that's a lot, usually more marketing dollars to try and get the whole pie than it is to get one little piece, and have them be fanatical about it.  So why on that?

Honoree Corder:	Well, just for me, I wanted to help more people.  So it wasn't really - and until I wrote If Divorce is a Game, These are The Rules, it wasn't about I'm gonna own the whole pie.  But I was writing for Huffington Post Divorce, and I thought it would be helpful for me to have a book on divorce.  

Jaime Tardy:	That's a great title name, too, by the way.  Man.  

Honoree Corder:	Thank you.

Jaime Tardy:	I never knew you wrote that.  I mean I know a lot of books that you wrote.  I have some of them, actually, over - 

Honoree Corder:	I can't believe you haven't read all of them, and they're not all on your bookshelf.  How rude.  

Jaime Tardy:	I know, right?  I'm gonna get them next time we meet, so you don't yell at me.  It'll be great.  No I'm kidding.

Honoree Corder:	I would never!  Because it's so funny, because some people will send me their manuscript and go, "Here's my book.  Can you read this?"  And I'm thinking to myself your time is your most precious resource, so when someone asks me for something, I would rather they has me for chocolate than my time, because I can give you all the chocolate and still have my time.  But if I'm gonna read a book, then that's hours.  A book is hours of time.  And so I do, I read a tremendous amount, and yet it's a big ask.  

And so I would never say I can't believe you haven't - and the people who read all of my books, here's what's funny, is because I'm in different niches, there are still people who read all of my books, and those are super fans.  And that's - really, as an author or any business person, you want someone who will do whatever.  And so when I send it out to my advanced reader list, and I say, "Okay everybody, I have a new book!  Would you like to read it?"  And there are people who are like, "I'll read it!"  And I'm like "Really?"  Okay.

Jaime Tardy:	Really?  For real?  You've read all my other ones.  You sure?  No.

Honoree Corder:	Well, it's wonderful.  It's such a wonderful thing to have that, and yet I'm still kinda like, "Huh!  Okay!"  I'll take it.

Jaime Tardy:	Well me ask you - well, exactly right? So you built that slowly over time, though.  Because I think a lot of people, especially speakers, couches, authors, that sort of thing, want it all to happen now, right?  

Honoree Corder:	Yes.

Jaime Tardy:	I'm sure the first year you wrote your book you wanted 80,000 - 

Honoree Corder:	Yes!

Jaime Tardy:	copies sold.

Honoree Corder:	I still want everything now.

Jaime Tardy:	Well, exactly.  Talk about that.  Because we want everything now, and we usually have to be patient, and we're not very good at that.

Honoree Corder:	Yeah, so that's where - we're gonna visit reality.com for a minute, and just kind of - really, whatever you want, and I say this all the time to my daughter, to my clients, to everyone - it's gonna take longer, it's gonna cost more, and it's gonna be more of a PITA than - pain in the - 

Jaime Tardy:	Oh, really?  Okay.  You have so many acronyms.  I need to learn all your acronyms.

Honoree Corder:	Yes.  PITA.  So it's gonna take longer, cost more, and be more uuuuugh, require more effort, and give you much more agita, and frustration than you would ever like.  But it's always worth it to stay in there.  It's like when I first was like, "Oh, I should have an advanced reader team," and then people would say,"Oh, yeah, I have 2,000 people on my advanced read team," and I was like, "I have four."  Right?  But my first goal was if I could have 50 people that would read my books when they come out, those are 50 people that would potentially like the book, because they're pre-disposed to.  They all have Amazon accounts.  They might leave a review.  They have friends.  They're gonna share it on Facebook and social media.   

And so, yes, would I like to have 2,000 people on my advanced reader team?  Sure.  But I didn't start in 1975.  I started whenever 2013 when, because sometimes I'm a little slow.  But it's like when you start things, eventually over time you notice if I write 250 words a day in 200 days I'll have a manuscript.  But 200 days from now is gonna show up.  It's gonna be close.

Jaime Tardy:	Either way, exactly, whether you do it or not.

Honoree Corder:	Whether you do anything or not, and so it's doing the little things that move the needle every day, even if you're just moving the needle almost unperceptively, it's just do it, and have the expectation that it's gonna take a really long time.  And if lightning strikes and your first year you sell 80,000 copies, then don't tell the rest of us.

Jaime Tardy:	We don't wanna hear it.

Honoree Corder:	Yeah.  You might be in danger.

Jaime Tardy:	That is so awesome.

Honoree Corder:	Right?

Jaime Tardy:	Let me ask you this, then, because that's a bit counterintuitive to the book industry, in general, with all these book launches where they're like, "We have to sell a certain number of books in a certain period of time in order to hit Amazon best-seller list," and blah, blah, blah.  Instead of little bit, little bit, little bit.  So can you talk about book marketing and what's working, and sort of the long-term game instead of the short-term sell it all now?

Honoree Corder:	Right.  So the idea behind having the big launch and being on the best-seller list, and that's all fine and wonderful but that and $4 is gonna get you your drink at Starbucks.  What I want is to be paid, let's say, $100 a month on a property, right, for something that I have for the whole rest of the time that I'm breathing.  I'm gonna put the time in now, so yes, you're gonna make some quick cash if you're able to move some copies.  But the long game says I need to have a lot of reviews, I need a lot of readers, and you're not gonna get them all at once.  

Jaime Tardy:	How do you get them?  Yeah.

Honoree Corder:	How do I get them?  So I get them through word of mouth.  I get them through social media.  I get them through building a list.  I give away free books.  I have an advanced reader team that if someone goes and joins my team and they wanna read any of my backlist, I wanna turn them into a superfan, and so I'll give anybody a book if they'll review it.  

Jaime Tardy:	That's awesome.  And it just adds up over time?  

Honoree Corder:	It does add up over time, yes.  Because what I hear is okay, so I read Business Dating, and then you referenced in your book another book - duh, right, seating - and so they go, "So I'm gonna read Vision to Reality, but then I think that was great, and I wanna go through that process, and I need a goal buddy, so I'm gonna get one for this person.  And so people go like, "I only have one book," right, which is, I think, a little short-sided, although if you say to someone who's never written a book, it's a big deal to write  a book, you really need to write three or 30 or 300, then their head will explode and they will never write a book.  So I'm cautionary in my advice, but I still think that it is sound.  So I give away a lot of books, and I speak, and I have a blog, and I'm on social media, and I'm sure I do other things, but they're not coming.  What do I do all day?  I feel like I do a lot, Jaime.

Jaime Tardy:	I love that.  I ran out of things to say.  That's awesome.

Honoree Corder:	I ran out of things that I'm doing.  What are they?  There's just a million things, and there's always the twenty percent of the things that move the needle the most, and it's consistency.  And also, too, the best way to sell a book is to release another book.  Because then you are on Amazon's radar.  Yes. So there's something called the Amazon cliff, and it lasts about 45 days.  And so if you don't release another book after 45 days, Amazon loses interest in you, so it's not so much about hitting the best seller list, because I don't wanna be on the best-seller list, and then gone.  I wanna be in the top 10 or 20 - I wanna be on that front page of that niche forever.

Jaime Tardy:	That makes so much sense.

Honoree Corder:	So if you go look up the Successful Single Mom book series, and you go into single parenting, all six of the books are in the top 100 in their different - 

Jaime Tardy:	Wow.

Honoree Corder:	you look audio book, paperback.  So you can't go, you can't go see book number 47 if you're on that page without seeing one of these stripy funny-looking cartoony books that Honoree Corder wrote, and go, "Well, what is this?  What are these books?  And so people will often start somewhere else in the series and discover all the other books.  So it's about discoverability.  

Jaime Tardy:	See, that's really - okay, because that's a very specific tactic, though.  Like for me, I have one book.  One.  Thankfully.  Yay, I did it.  I know.  That's what somebody told me the other day.  They were like, 'So you should write a book in 2016."  I'm like, "I already have one.  I'm good.  For a while."  Now don't get me wrong.  I think long-term I'll write another book, but it takes so much time, and I usually tell people, especially dealing with their business model, I think I wrote my book too early in terms of what I thought it was gonna do for me, right?

Honoree Corder:	Okay, okay.

Jaime Tardy:	Since, I - this is my own thing - but I was like, I had a bit of an audience.  I had whatever, but I didn't have consistency in revenue.  So I was going like this a bit.  So when I took time, and this was years ago, when I took time to write the book, it was like, oh, how I have no time to actually prospect and sell. So therefore - and the book made me 20 grand. So it wasn't a ton of - I mean, don't get me wrong.  That's good for a first book, apparently.  Because mine was - 

Honoree Corder:	Very good, but it also gave you the ability to charge more, because you're an author.

Jaime Tardy:	It did.

Honoree Corder:	There's credibility.  There's a lot that goes with it.  But you're very smart.

Jaime Tardy:	Long-term, I'm so excited.

Honoree Corder:	You're very smart to think about it.  You're very smart to think about do I wanna take the time to do it?  And so part of the reason I haven't, I'm not just an entrepreneur, although that's kind of like my main thing - 

Jaime Tardy:	Yeah, like - 

Honoree Corder:	I still do coaching, I still train, right?  So I have multiple streams of income.  I like income.  I like cash.  It's a cash friendly environment here at my house. Right?  So I don't ever - I haven't cut if off, but when I decided that I was on to something, in 2010, right?  I didn't go, "I'm gonna take time away from everything and write my books."  I said, "I'm going to find another hour in my day, or two hours in my day, and I'm going to write books."  And then I systematically put together a production schedule, and just started popping out the books.  

So if you look at the production date of my books, it's been very consistent, and I'm very tired.  But it is working.  It's hockey sticked, but if I had said in 2010, well it better work by 2011 - I actually put together a five year plan.  So it's like very month over month, make a little bit more money on another title.  That increases that revenue, and then it increases the revenue of the books.  And so it was very systematic.  So you're very smart to think about when you do it, can you take the time away? And I was able to afford the time away from prospecting and selling because I had certain things in place.  I think I'm also old enough to be your mom.  So - 

Jaime Tardy:	I don't so, but - 

Honoree Corder:	I'm kidding but I probably have a decade on you, so I had a decade more stability and income sources, right?  So I was able to say, like now, I write from eight to ten in the morning.  So it's almost inviolate.  You will almost never, no one will ever hear from me between eight and ten in the morning, because that's when my brain's working.  

Jaime Tardy:	See, but that's what I think I love is that you systematized the whole thing, and I think if I went to be that entrepreneur like you said, it would make perfect sense to just keep going, because it does add up and add up and add up.

Honoree Corder:	Yes.

Jaime Tardy:	And if you can take just a couple hours every single day and know that that passive income is gonna be there, that is so smart.  But how do you decide to go down that route?  Because there might be people that maybe have one book, or are planning on sort of having a series of books.  How do you just start going forward on that?  

Honoree Corder:	Well the first thing is you have to really, really, really, really love it, because to do something for five years, and to not know is this going to work?  Because Amazon alone is one of, I don't know, let's say 20 - I think 20's about the right number.  Between 20 and 30 places that I get paid from my books.  Amazon has changed the way they pay a few times.  Right?  Not to get into it, but there's page reads or there's this or there's that, right?  So they change.  And what happens- Amazon's not gonna go away, but there's always that thing the back of my head - what if Amazon goes away?  Which is why you have in your book a call to action, and a way for people to sign up for your list, and all the stuff that we won't talk about today, right?  The book marketing stuff.  

But you have to really, really like it.  I really, really like writing, and I really like when someone writes me, or calls me, or messages me on Facebook and says because of something that you wrote, I'm doing better.  Or I'm doing it differently, and it's working for me.  And I get the nicest, most wonderful messages to people, because I write to single moms, and dads, and divorced people, right?  Not just business people.  It's not just about like, "Okay, I'm gonna make you more money or gonna get you more time off." That's fun, too.  I like that.  But there's something about doing something that saves someone pain, and gives them pleasure that is really addictive.  And so I really, really like that.

Jaime Tardy:	Oh, you just gave me chills.  Because you're changing the face of people, of a lot of them, so, now they can read your books.

Honoree Corder:	Yes.  Yes.  Yes, and so if I'm not here anymore, there is something that lives on that's helpful.  Right?  It's a legacy that I'm leaving.  So if you're gonna do something, you go, "Okay, I'm just gonna do that.  That sounds like a great idea."  Now there are some people that are like, "I'm gonna write books, and it's my business model, and I'm gonna do it."  And they figure it out, and they're off to the races.  And it's not about helping people, and that's totally fine.  

If that's your business and you're gonna do it - I think Steve Scott is like that.  I think he makes 60 grand a month, or something, because he said for a while he was writing and publishing a book every three to four weeks.  That was his business model.  That was what he decided to do, and that's what he did.  And he's become very, very successful.  I don't think I've ever heard him say, "I'm changing the way people do whatever."  Right? But that's not bad either.  But I think it really helps if you're passionate.

Jaime Tardy:	Heck, yeah.  And that's what I'm realizing right now.  I don't like writing.  No wonder why I don't want to write another book.  That's not my thing, but that's totally your thing.  How did you know that that was your thing?

Honoree Corder:	I didn't, until when I wrote the Successful Single Mom, it was my second book, and I was compelled to write something for single moms that did not in any way have them look at themselves as a victim, or as a sub-section of society, because if you say to someone you're a single mom, then they go, "Ah."  They don't go, "Man, you're a flipping rock star, man.  That's amazing!" which is what they should be saying.

Jaime Tardy:	Exactly.

Honoree Corder:	But it also starts with how you're perceiving yourself, because people respond to the energy you're putting off.  So I never got "Aw, you're a single mom."  I just didn't get that, because I didn't talk about it very much, right?  I was a woman in business, and I didn't talk about that I was a single mom very much.  However, I did notice that when I met single moms, it was also my first thought.  I was like, "Oh, man, I know how hard that is.  That sucks."  And so that was my first thing was like, "I have to write this book." I was compelled to write the book.  And then every book in the series was yeah, well they wanna get rich, and they wanna get fit, and they wanna find love again, and they have to cook meals.  Kids wanna eat every day.

Jaime Tardy:	I know.  What the heck?  

Honoree Corder:	Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	Let's talk about that for a second, too, because I know not everybody knows, but I'm a single mom, right, right now.  And - 

Honoree Corder:	Yay!  You're an awesome rock start!  Okay.  

Jaime Tardy:	Well, and that's what's so funny.  I have a personal assistant that does all my cooking, because heck, how can you do all that?  It's like this is insane.  That's what I think is so interesting when I do meet other people, and some of my audience has specifically asked me to talk more about it, because they're like, "How are you handling all of that, because it's really, really hard.  And people don't talk about that, especially in business, especially women in business.  Most people didn't even know I have kids.  They were like, 'Oh!  You have children.  Interesting."  And I was like, "Yeah."  They're alive.

Honoree Corder:	Yes, I ordered them on Amazon Prime and they arrived in two days.  It was awesome.

Jaime Tardy:	They're old, so I've been doing this for a while.  But most people don't care.  Especially, I don't know why, but it just seems like for the women side of it, and we don't get enough women millionaires on here.  I keep trying and trying.  I really appreciate you coming on.  But do you have any advice for women, maybe single moms, in business that are really trying to do this, or single dads, just in general.  It's harder to be two people.  

Honoree Corder:	Get support.  Get support.  I had a wife, right?  And she was my personal assistant, and she did my grocery shopping.  Now there's Instacart, right?  I mean it's like if you - yes, thank you.  If there is any way for you to outsource something, and it's below your pay level, right?  I don't do the $20 an hour tasks, one, because I don't want to.  Like that's the bottom line.  I would rather chew off my arm than go to the grocery store.  I don't like it.  

Jaime Tardy:	No.

Honoree Corder:	Yes.  So now that I can outsource that and to a random person, not a person that I hire that comes over, that's fine.  But it's like if you can afford to, when you can afford to, the minute you can afford to, and actually sometimes before you can afford to, hire out the things that you don't have time to do.  You have two functions as a professional, in my opinion. One of them is to make money, and the second one is to enjoy the money you make.  And if cleaning a toilet does not help you to enjoy the money that you're making, or doesn't make you a lot of money, and I don't know anybody who pays $2,000 an hour to have their toilet cleaned, right?  So, we're at an impasse.  Then outsource that.  

Outsource all of those things, so that then you can just spend time with your kids.  So I was working when my daughter was at school, and this is the thing about being a single mom, the gift that it gave me, one of the many gifts that it gave me, was being intentional and purposeful and ruthlessly discriminating with my time.  And so it was out the door in 7:40, in the door at 4:15, and so it was like I was running the Olympic 100 meter dash, only I was starting from a run.  So it was like if I could get her to stop, drop, and roll out of the car, it was like go, because I have to be somewhere at the top of the hour, or I have to be on the phone at the top of the hour.  

So it was like very single minute, and then when she was little - she's 16 by the time this airs, but she was three, four, five, six, right? And so it was like out of school and to the park, so I had daytime Honoree, right, with my fedora and my cigar, and my computer, my phone.  And then, 4:00, 3:30, 4:00, I was in shorts and a t-shirt at the park - 

Jaime Tardy:	That's awesome.

Honoree Corder:	Pushing my kid on the swing, and then until I figured it out, she would go to bed at 7:30, and then I would work until 10:30 or 11:00 at night.  And when I realized oh, that dog won't hunt, right?  That's not gonna fly for very long, because mommy's happy when she's gotten her sleep, I recognized that I needed to just make it so that I was only working within those hours, and that the other things that I was trying to do, clean the house, grocery shop, do all the things, I was like, somebody else has to help me with that.  

And I remember getting my very first housekeeper, and I wrote a seminar during the time that she was there with her team cleaning my oversized ridiculous house that I didn't need all of, right, because it was the two of us.  And I didn't trust the housekeeper to be in my house, right, it's the first time.  You're like, "What if they steal something?"  So I stayed in the house, like, whatever, and wrote an entire seminar that I sold and I've made a million dollars from delivering that seminar from that one day.  And so you think, "Oh, I can't afford the $100, $80, $150, but you can't afford not to do it.  So I hope that's helpful.

Jaime Tardy:	That's extremely helpful, especially for people that aren't making a ton.  Because especially as a single mom, if you're not making a lot of money, or a single dad, if you're not making a lot of money, it's hard to give over your money to somebody else, even if, in the long run, it's supposed to come back to you, it can make it a little difficult.  When do you think that happens?  How much money in excess?  Like what if you can't your bills, then you can't afford that, but that's also gonna make you more money.  So how does that work?

Honoree Corder:	That's a really tricky one.  I think making money is a mindset.  So the first thing I would say is kinda back up the truck and get your mindset on right, like do your prosperity work.  Work on your belief systems, and then, I would say don't clean.  Right?  Honestly, I would look back and I go, the times that I was spending - I used to spend Saturdays - so used to is before a housekeeper, right?  I would spend Saturday mornings cleaning the house while Alexi was kind of milling around and doing stuff and waiting for mommy to do whatever.  And then we'd go to the grocery store.  And so by the time it's the end of Saturday, it's been another work day.  

And I would never regret just having the dirty house, but having spent more time with her.  I regret not being able to go back when she was four and five and six and seven and just let's have a movie marathon, right?  Forget cleaning the house.  It doesn't matter that much, right?  So there are the things that you must do, so that you don't live in swill, but - and you can't not have food in your house, but I would say, while you're working on your prosperity consciousness, just work on your attitude, work on what you're saying when you talk to yourself, and always be looking for opportunities to trade something out.  

So like maybe there's a housekeeper that you could coach them.  Maybe there's a housekeeping business, so you could provide coaching to the housekeeper, the person who owns the business, so they'll clean your house, right?  Like, there's always a way if you're committed to finding a way.  And so it's what is that way.  Because I think you and I both started in the same place - looking at people or listening ' well, we didn't listen to people on a podcast, but I went to a Tony Robbins seminar and was like, "Ooh, someday, I'm gonna be that person."  And I worked on it a lot, over time, all the time, continuously, and finally I got to that place.  So just because you can't do it now doesn't mean you can do it later.  You won't be able to do it later.  

Jaime Tardy:	I agree with that 100 percent, and I think people forget that, yeah, it takes time, but eventually, as long as you keep - I mean, I've been a business coach for nine years.  At the beginning, I was like, "When is this gonna hit?"  And it was years in, and I was like, "Okay, great."  Right?  It still takes a lot of time and a lot of effort.  But I used to do trades constantly. I mean, my first photos that I had were I coached a photographer, because I didn't have any money to be able to do it.  And it eventually adds up, and you can go, oh okay, then I can - I have a personal assistant.  People look at  me like I'm crazy.  Right?  In general.  

Honoree Corder:	Oh.

Jaime Tardy:	They're the best thing in the entire world.

Honoree Corder:	Oh my gosh, my assistant, I would marry her if that was legal.  Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	It's like I have a wife.  I'm like, yeah, she's a grandmother, so I can't say - 

Honoree Corder:	No, I had like a work wife, right?  I had, as a single mom, I had a wife.  I had someone who took care of the stuff so that I could make the money.  Right?  So that was the function.  We don't want it to take a long time, but if the expectation ' if the expectation is, okay, it could take a long time, and I'm in it for the long haul, but every single day I'm gonna wake up and go, "There's something amazing that's gonna happen today."  And it could happen today.  Because you never know when someone's gonna call you and give you a contract.  

Like I remember the first contract I got, and the check that was FedEx'ed to me was six figures.  Literally a client came from out of nowhere and said, "We want you to come and do this training.  We're gonna have you work with all these people, and we're gonna pay you for the year up front."  And they sent me a six figure check FedEx'ed.  And I remember just staring at it.  I was like, "Is this real"  Will this take three days to clear?  What's the rule on this?  It's a big check!?  Right?  But it was a game changer in that one day I didn't have it, and the next day I did.  

But every day I wake up and it's actually on my mirror.  Something magical is gonna happen today.  I wrote it in crayon, in glass crayon on my mirror, because it's the one thing that doesn't get cleaned, so that piece of glass is nasty, but it has something really nice on it that I get to read, and everyone who goes in my bathroom, and by everyone, it's like my husband, my housekeeper, my daughter, friends that come over, right?  Everyone who goes in there is like, "That's a really cool thing," and I see it, even if I don't see it every morning, it's right there.  And so that's the expectation is that it's gonna take a long time to be an overnight success, but every day I'm thinking that tonight might be the overnight that tomorrow is the day that it works out.

Jaime Tardy:	Ah, tonight might be the overnight - I love that.  That's amazing.  

Honoree Corder:	It's like going on your last first date, right?   So it's kinda like this could be it, and I'm not gonna lose my enthusiasm for the effort and the process, because it could be today.  Today could be the day. Or it could be tomorrow.  Or it could be next week.  And so every day I'm like, "This is the day!" 

Jaime Tardy:	I love it.  It's like a kid on Christmas going, "Ooh!  I'm excited for this thing that could come," which is a way better mindset than crap, I have to do another day of consistency and maybe one day something will happen.  

Honoree Corder:	Yeah, I wake up and sometimes - I woke up at 2:00 in the morning the other morning.  I normally get up at 4:30, 5:00.  And I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, and then I started thinking about all the stuff I was excited about, and then I couldn't go back to sleep.  And so my husband's like, "What are you doing?"  And I was like, "I'm getting up."   

Jaime Tardy:	I'm excited.  I can do anything.

Honoree Corder:	I'm excited about -

Jaime Tardy:	It's Christmas today, you didn't know that?  Exactly.  And it will be soon.  I know we have to start wrapping up.  I'm gonna have you back on the show when we're in person, because there's way more that we can talk about, of course.  But for my last question, what's one action listeners can take this week to help move them forward towards their goal of a million?

Honoree Corder:	So I think this is March 21st, or thereabouts, 2016?  Best year ever in progress, right now.  So excited.  So we?re toward the end of the first quarter. So if you do Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 goals, this is a really good time to ask yourself what?s working when I?m almost 25 percent of the way through the year?  What's not working?  You might have more information than you did when you wrote your annual plan, and you might need to make some adjustments.  You might want to increase your goals.  You might wanna set some other expectations for yourself.  You might wanna double your effort because you're just not quite getting the traction that you wanna get.  So I would do a review, and kind of an analysis of what's happened so far, and where am I percent to goal for the goals that I set for the year?  So I work in 100 day increments, so by this point I'm day 80, right, of my 100 days, and so I should be 80 percent to goal.  And if I'm not, right, so if you're a fourth of the way through the year, and you're not a fourth of the way toward your goals or you're making really good progress, you just kinda want to make some adjustments now.  Because you don't wanna wait until you're 50 percent of the way through the year, or three-quarters of the way, or god forbid back in November, and then going, "Wow, this year" - you know I see that a lot.  The end of the year, people are like, "Okay!  It's the first week of December, and I'm planning my next year."  And it's like, "You still have eight percent of the year left."  

Jaime Tardy:	Oh.  I agree.  

Honoree Corder:	Yeah.  Every month is eight percent, so don't - you wouldn't light eight percent of your income on fire because your hands were cold, right?  You don't need amusement.  So don't let it go.  So make every single day count, and be sure that you're doing these check-ins.  And so this is the perfect time to do a end of the Q1 check-in, and make sure that you're really right on target, and if you're not, make adjustments right now while you're still nimble and quick at the beginning of the year.

Jaime Tardy:	Perfect timing.  Okay, this is perfect.  So where can we find all about your books, online, how do we follow you on social media, 

Honoree Corder:	honoreecorder.com is a great place to start.  So H - 

Jaime Tardy:	Spell that.  Okay.

Honoree Corder:	Shocking, that is a question I get all the time.  No, it's Honoree, so the word honor, H O N O R, and then it's French, so you add the two Es on the end, and then my last name is Corder, like recorder.  So C O R D E R.  Honoree Corder.  

Jaime Tardy:	You have the coolest name ever.  Everybody must remember it in general.  Can we find you on Facebook based on that, and all that other fun stuff?

Honoree Corder:	Yeah, so I'm forward slash honoree on Facebook, and I'm basically just Honoree on all social media everywhere.  So just I go by my first name on Twitter, Instagram, all that good business.

Jaime Tardy:	Because you're lucky.  No one else has your name anywhere, I'm sure, right?

Honoree Corder:	You know what, there are some, but I just was the early adopter.  So for some reason, I managed to get all of the social media stuff, but yeah, there's actually a few Honorees out there, which is kinda fun.

Jaime Tardy:	Well that's awesome.

Honoree Corder:	Yeah.

Jaime Tardy:	Thank you so much for coming on the show today.  I'm sure we'll have you again soon.  

Honoree Corder:	I can't wait.  Thank you.

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Tags: Amazon, Amazon Book Writing, Book Publication, content writing, Honoree Corder, millionaire interview, Relationships, Value, Writers

Categories: All, Business, Business Model, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Millionaire Interviews

Hi I’m Jaime. Each and every week I bring you the top business advice from the people who know best.

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