17. My Top 7 Books to Sell Yourself (Job or Business) without feeling pushy or salesly in an interview or sales pitch

Don (Voice Over): [00:00:00] This week Jette will be talking about her top 7 Books to sell yourself with confidence to make more money. 

[00:00:05] Jette Stubbs: [00:00:05] It's super important to recognize that when you are selling something, you want to be honest, you want to feel transparent. 

[00:00:14] Don't want to make people feel like do  this now, or I will hate you. And none of us want to come across as pushy or sleazy. So how do we avoid that vibe? So this is the next book that I'm going to recommend.

[00:00:27]You're listening to the happy career formula 

[00:00:29] with Jette Stubbs 

[00:00:30] where we talk about how to find what you love to do and turn it into ways to make money, whether that's a job, freelance service or a business, so you can live life on your own terms. 

[00:00:42] Today, I want to talk to you about some books that have given me lessons, because when I first started both trying to develop my career and find a job, and then eventually trying to start a business, I had so many questions.

[00:01:01]these books are gonna apply to both career and business so whether it's a job, freelance service or business, cause that's how I define career.

[00:01:07] I've got seven books here that I'm going to recommend in the selling yourself space. They are all business books, but the business principles apply to writing your resume.  And I know  this is going to be a lot of books for you to walk through, but that's one of the reasons why I'm  condensing everything that I learned from all of these different sources into this podcast, online courses and coaching to help simplify this process for you.

[00:01:33] So you don't have to go through and read 20 books, but let's start so. Understanding how to sell yourself copywriting and marketing. Number one is Donald Miller. He has written two books building a StoryBrand and marketing made simple. So in my previous podcast episodes, I talked about how everybody has a tension between where they are now and where they want to be.

[00:01:55] And your job, if you want to make money is to understand that point a where people are, talk about how you can bring your skills, qualifications, and experience to help solve one task, help them get one step closer to where they want to be. And describe what that end result is like. So you need to know Point A and point B and you are the bridge. You are building out a bridge to help them get to where they want to go. 

[00:02:22]Don (Voice Over): [00:02:22] Book 1. StoryBrand with Donald Miller

[00:02:25]Jette Stubbs: [00:02:25] Building a StoryBrand with Donald Miller talks about. How do you tell that story of taking people on that journey from point a to point B, how do you talk about that bridge so that they understand what that bridge will look like and are more confident in working with you to pay you, to help them build that bridge for themselves, to get them where they want to go.

[00:02:53] And this is super important because after you've tested your idea with, Will it fly? By Pat Flynn and right. And Ask and Choose by Ryan Levesque you need to know how to sell that idea to other people. You need to know how to pitch it forward and building a StoryBrand. Uses a very like story-based approach because humans, we are hardwired to understand through story.

[00:03:18] And we use stories as kids like to talk to each other, Oh, this happened. And that happened. And once upon a time, all of these things are stories that trigger our brain to listen and engage. Whenever we watch television  because we love engaging with story. And he talks about how all of the things that we really experienced as far as stories go are tied to this one sentence or framework that he has, that is super useful.

[00:03:47] And he talks to you about how you can start to use that structure, to think about how you are building out your business. it makes you become crystal clear.  I think a lot of people, when they're first building out their business idea, they'll say, Oh, I helped this  person and that person and building a story brand really makes you focus on, I help this unique character who's experiencing this unique problem by offering these unique things. It doesn't like those are the words that I use.

[00:04:14] I think his own is like a character has a problem that meets a guide who has a plan  to help them achieve a better situation and avoid negative situations or bad situations. The truth is any time somebody is buying from you, there were other options that they had.

[00:04:29] I talked about that in my episode, where I talk about  three options that we have. So we can either do nothing, do something or have somebody do it for you. 

[00:04:38] So you can either do nothing- that's something that people can always do instead of buying your product or service. Instead of hiring you as an employee, people can do nothing and just deal and accept the problem in their business too.

[00:04:50] They can do something, but maybe try and do it themselves. So maybe they take one of their, for a job. Maybe they take one of their existing staff members and say, Hey, you learn about this. I don't want to pay any extra money. You just do the work and work over time. That stuff happens all the time in businesses.

[00:05:05] It also can happen for a client. Instead of using dove soap, you can use Irish spraying or you can use Jason or any of these other products. Like they're all always alternatives available. They can do something, but doesn't necessarily have to be with you. And then they could want something that's totally done for them.

[00:05:22] So instead of going to the grocery store to buy the dove soap, you may want to deliver to your door, or instead of hiring a new employee to do the copywriting for a business, the business can just say, okay, I'm just going to hire you as a contractor. You come into my business, ask the right questions, give me the copy I need.

[00:05:40] And then you go, so I don't want you on a set longterm salary.  There are different options that people always have. They can either do nothing, do something, or have it done for them. And you need to know how they are thinking about exploring these options so that you can sell to them effectively. So you not only need to know the point a and point B, but you need to know that you're not the only bridge out there.

[00:06:03] There are other bridges, but why should they choose your bridge? What are the alternative bridges that they could potentially use.

[00:06:09]Don (Voice Over): [00:06:09] Book 2. Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller

[00:06:12]Jette Stubbs: [00:06:12] So Building a StoryBrand helps you walk through that formula, then there's Marketing Made Simple, which is all about how to create those sales pitches, those marketing pages, the website, all about creating that content. Once you've got a solid grip on the story that you want to tell about how you help.

[00:06:34] Third book that I'm going to recommend on how to sell yourself is  stories that stick by Kindra hall. And the reason that I love this book is first of all, a book called stories that stick has stories in it. So it's pretty great to listen to. It's a really, I think, I don't remember if I listened to it or if I read the book, I'm not sure if it was audio book or I read the book.

[00:06:55] I feel like I may have read this book and I found it a really easy read. It talks about different story structures that you can use when you are selling to someone. Because so many times people will sell to somebody and say  buy this internet speed, it's 150 megapixels per second download speed.

[00:07:14] When really, they want their Netflix show to be downloaded in 30 seconds or less. Tell them you're going to help them download their Netflix show in 30 seconds or less. They don't care  how quick the speed is. They care how quickly they'll download their show.

[00:07:25] If you want to explain something to somebody , explain it in terms they understand. So say, Hey, you get this download speed. You can download a one-hour Netflix movie in 15 seconds. You get this download speed. It's 30 seconds. This one is 45 seconds.

[00:07:41] This one is one minute. That's so much easier to understand, like with a 15 second speed, your zoom videos are very unlikely to have any glitches.  That's easier to understand. So you want to explain in language that your audience understands and marketing made simple is all about how to structure that message.

[00:08:01]So I really liked that book by Donald Miller.

[00:08:04]Stories that stick is all about how to tell these stories that your audience can relate to. And marketing made simple is about how to make sure that you're using that language of your audience, or like to think about conceptually, the idea of using that language of your audience.  We went through two books by Donald Miller under how your, how to sell yourself.

[00:08:24] So there's marketing made simple and  building a StoryBrand. 

[00:08:28]Don (Voice Over): [00:08:28] Book 3 is Stories that Stick by Kindra Hall

[00:08:31] Jette Stubbs: [00:08:31] then three was stories that stick by Kendra hall to understand the power of story in selling yourself. And this includes in an interview. So when you are in an interview and you're talking about the story of yourself, 

[00:08:44]when you are asked, tell me about yourself, what I want you to do is to walk through not your life story, but I want you to tell a story about how you can help that person or that company achieve their goals, how you can bring in your skills, qualifications, and experience that story is going to be one of the most powerful pieces of your interview, because it's going to create a visual in that person's mind about how you help.

[00:09:09]So we are now on book number 13.  Let's do a quick recap. So let's do a quick recap. 

[00:09:15]You have 

[00:09:16] designing your life by bill Burnett and Dave Evans. 

[00:09:19] What color is your parachute by Richard N Bolles. 

[00:09:23] Get a life, not a job by Paula Caliguiri. 

[00:09:26] Then we go into how business works. We have 

[00:09:29] 12 months to 1 million by Ryan Dan Moran is book number four. 

[00:09:34] Number five is launched by  Jeff Walker. 

[00:09:38] Six is ultimate sales machine by Chet Holmes seven. 

[00:09:43] And we're now into the testing your idea phase is:

[00:09:46] will it fly by Pat Flynn 

[00:09:49] eight is Ask by Ryan Levesque 

[00:09:51] nine is choose by Ryan Levesque.

[00:09:54] Now we are into understanding how to sell yourself copywriting and marketing.

[00:09:59]10 is Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller. 

[00:10:05] 11 is Marketing Made Simple by Donald Miller. 

[00:10:10] 12 is stories that stick by Kindra hall 

[00:10:14]13. And this is a new one is show, don't tell. 

[00:10:19]Don (Voice Over): [00:10:19] Book #4 is Show Don't Tell

[00:10:21] Jette Stubbs: [00:10:21] Show, don't tell you can get it on Amazon show. Don't tell is a concept. So show don't tell is a concept where you.  Instead of telling people what's happening.

[00:10:33] So I'm not going to say I am rich. I'm going to say today I woke up and my Butler had my shoes ready, my fluffy shoes ready.  At my feet and the warmer was on. And then my chauffer was at the door waiting for me to go to the beach so I can chill out for the day because I haven't worked a regular day in  10 years.

[00:11:02]But first, I wanted breakfast and I made sure I had the caviar flown in last night from Italy, but sometimes I don't even know what to do because I get bored. Like when you can buy everything that you want, why do you really need money? 

[00:11:23] Okay. I want you to know, first of all, this is not my life. That's not my life, but it's a much more vivid picture of me saying I am rich and what that looks like. 

[00:11:33]It paints a picture of this really out of touch person who has had is having everything catered to them and pampered for them. The reason that we like watching movies is because   it shows us all of these things that are happening. We don't want to be told every step of the way. We don't want somebody telling us all the features of a product.

[00:11:52] They want us to be showing us how it benefits us. So understanding show don't tell.  Just buy any book on that on Amazon.   There were about two or three there they're all about, I would say, equal value or benefit. And it talks about the little tweaks in word wording that you can do and how to look out for certain things to make sure that you are showing people what you want to do instead of telling them what to do or what to think or how to visualize it.

[00:12:23]Don (Voice Over): [00:12:23] Book #5 is Persuasion by Bushra Azhar or Psychology of Influence by Robert Calidini

[00:12:28]Jette Stubbs: [00:12:28] Persuasion by Bushra azhar.

[00:12:32] When I first started understanding how to sell myself, I found this like now I think this book is a beginner's guide. But when I first started, I was like, Oh my gosh, it's so enlightening. And it helps me so much. There's also the psychology of influence, which is a great book about persuasion, marketing, and understanding how that works, the psychology of influence or  persuasion by Bushra azhar the psychology of influence. 

[00:13:02] I want to say it's by Robert Cialdini and I am right. It is by Robert. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing his last name.  But Robert Cialdini.  Psychology of influence is a really good book because it just teaches you how to influence and persuade people. And you're not going to use this to manipulate people, but you're going to understand how to convince.

[00:13:25] So let's say you have this great product that could literally change people's lives and save them. But if you can't get them to listen to you, how can you. Get them to take the product to know that it will help. So really you just want to be able to explain how good a product is in an honest way. And that's where the psychology of influence comes in.

[00:13:48] Because sometimes we think we are explaining ourselves when we're really not. So how do we be able to influence people so they understand why we think something is so good. That's how I would think about it rather than feeling like you're being pushy, salesy or sleazy.

[00:14:02]Don (Voice Over): [00:14:02] Book #6 is Copywriting Secrets by Jim Edwards

[00:14:05]Jette Stubbs: [00:14:05] the next book that I would recommend is a book by Jim Edwards called copywriting secrets. I found this book really helpful. I read it too early on in my business journey. But when I came back to it, after reading all these other books that I told you about, I was like, Oh, this really tells you all of these little hidden secrets about how to effectively sell yourself and using the structure.

[00:14:34] I understand point a point B understand the bridge that you're creating. What are the obstacles that are under that bridge, the fears, obstacles, questions that people are facing, and then helping them get to a better destination and understanding what the alternatives are. Once you start learning about business, selling yourself, you'll realize that everything falls into this framework.

[00:14:55] So eventually what you'll do when you're selling yourself for a job or for a business, you'll start to compile these things into sections. You'll start to make notes. Okay. How were companies that I'm using describing their situation? How are clients that I'm talking to describing their situation?  

[00:15:12] What do they say? They think they need when they are looking for potential solutions? How can I use these words to describe what I do then? What is the result that they say they want to experience? Or what is the result that they've described experiencing? After working with me, compile those things, take a bunch of notes.

[00:15:30] Then what are the alternative solutions that they've tried using or tried using after me that haven't worked, listen to those things, take a bunch of notes. And basically you'll have all of these words that are in your client's exact words that help you understand how to speak to them in words that they understand, because it is their own words, but now you're adding your product features.

[00:15:52] And then you're saying this product feature. So I'll go back to the Netflix example  or the internet speed example. This download speed will help you. Access your favorite Netflix shows in under 15 seconds, even if you're going on that two hour road trip with the kids. So that is something that it's  okay, this is the feature.

[00:16:15] But then this is how the clients have said that actually benefits their life. And  what really good  copywriting experts or people who were really good at teaching you, how to sell yourself will do is they'll just, have you compile basically like a cheat sheet that breaks the things that your clients or companies that you work with typically say in each one of those areas  what is the problem?

[00:16:39] Where do they want to go? What are the things that they're looking for to solve that problem? What are the alternative solutions? What is the life they want to live afterwards? They'll just have you create a cheat sheet and then there's this quote. I don't remember who said it, but. Marketing isn't written it's compiled.

[00:16:56] So it's compiled from the words of your audience. It's compiled from the job descriptions for the jobs that you're applying for. It's  compiled from listening to your ideal clients and having conversations with them. So marketing, isn't a written it's compiled, and you want to just have this cheat sheet and as you start to read and learn more about how to sell yourself, you'll realize that people are just explaining the same framework over and over again in different ways.

[00:17:23] And some of them are giving you pieces of the framework. Some of them are giving you all of the framework and  it's useful to learn and hear it from different perspectives, but it is time-consuming. And I really wished I could get the full framework in one sitting and just understand how it works.

[00:17:41] And that's what I've designed with, what I do. And I'm sure other people out there do it too in their own unique ways. I found copywriting secrets was good for me. Once I understood that framework to then just plug and play the different pieces of information. Because once I had compiled all the information, cause remember good marketing, isn't written, it's compiled.

[00:18:01] Then I can use those pieces as building blocks to write an awesome sales page as building blocks to create an awesome presentation or PowerPoint for a video. Cause I know what people are saying and now I can teach them the things that they need and I can explain to them why it's so helpful in their own words so that they understand. Instead of just saying, you need  to know this because I know it will benefit your life.

[00:18:25] I can say. This is probably what you're struggling with. Have you felt like you experienced a toxic work environment? Are you feeling a little drained from  your work experience?  Do you feel like you did what you were supposed to do? You got the education, you did the hard work. You are building out your experience or trying to build out your experience, but you're having trouble showing companies you can do more showing clients, you can do more and designing your career to actually align with who you are. It's not turning into the career that you want. This isn't me. Just like knowing how to say this from birth. This is me listening to people over and over again, talking about their career journeys and compiling information.

[00:19:05]Then I use their own words to explain to them the problem, because I've heard them talk about the problem  over and over again, this is what makes you think somebody is an expert in something too. They just listened to that problem over and over again. And they've compiled that cheat sheet.

[00:19:20] And so copywriting secrets. If you have compiled that sheet cheat sheet, it gives you some guidance on how you can start to plug and play that information. And it also starts to conceptually talk to you about  I don't think they call it a cheat sheet, but just compile that great copy. Isn't written it's compiled.

[00:19:37] And it talks about how to compile the information into effective sales pages into effective pitches so that you can sell yourself in a variety of different circumstances. So the next one is the final one, actually. 

[00:19:49]Don (Voice Over): [00:19:49] Book # 7 is Advertising Solution by Craig Simpson

[00:19:53]Jette Stubbs: [00:19:53] the advertising solution by Craig Simpson.

[00:19:56] I don't know how I feel about this book. I both, I have a love, hate relationship with this book. There's a lot of bragging. So let's be real business, especially in North America is in the Americas  historically within the last like hundreds of years  with slavery and everything that happened has been predominantly white male space, especially white male, over 40.

[00:20:23] Those are, I think, still representing a good chunk or if not the majority of entrepreneurs, the people who feel confident enough to be entrepreneurs. So Craig Simpson, what he's done is he's taken a bunch of the quote unquote like gurus in the copywriting and selling yourself space and taken the best lessons from all of them.

[00:20:47] Now.   He does it very effectively, but it does come across more than once as  bragging and just pushy. And  like talking about or gushing about how amazing each one of his like heroes are and how he knew them and all of that stuff. , I don't like idolizing people.

[00:21:10] I think when you idolize people, it puts them on this pedestal. It's great to appreciate the  contributions that people have made to society. But when you idolize people, it makes what they have done seem unattainable. And then it makes the average person feel like, why should I try to achieve this?

[00:21:27] I can't do this.  It both inspires you  to potentially think you can do more, but there is this risk of also thinking, Oh  that's for the super smart person or that's for this person. And it can come across as a bit snobbish too, when you're constantly just saying, Oh, this person's so great.

[00:21:44] This person is an expert. And it's just, it can become exhausting. I don't know if you understand what I mean when I described this, but I did read the book more than once and go through and really highlighted some of the top lessons that all of these different  quote unquote marketing groups or copywriting gurus have shared.

[00:22:06] Marketing hasn't really changed. What is effective, hasn't really changed. People have become more aware of or tired of certain tricks. There's certain tricks to marketing.  If you have ever seen like an  as seen on TV commercials, especially from  the two thousands or 1990s, you would have seen something that says  are you struggling with, do you wish?

[00:22:29] And then they'd show like people pulling out their hair or just so frustrated. And it was just a very common  step-by-step okay, this is your problem. This is what I'll do. This is the amazing solution that I'll offer you. And I'll exaggerate the benefits a little bit.  There are those tricks that people use, but the formula and principles for marketing and selling yourself, haven't really changed.

[00:22:51] People haven't really changed that much over the last  hundred years. And the sense of like how we are compelled to action, how we are compelled to change. We buy based on emotions, we buy based on this projection of a better life that we could potentially reach. So when you are promising that better future and you're promising and in an authentic way, that builds out a plan that the person can visualize.

[00:23:14]They're more than likely going to want to work with you. So the advertising solution talks about some of the best kept secrets, some of the best lessons that have been learned over the years that people have compiled and  from testing that if they come across as tried and true, which I really do appreciate. Even though the book, there's a lot of bragging, which I don't appreciate  bragging may not be the right word, but if you read it, you'll see what I mean.

[00:23:36]  Just do these little things to start to shift your understanding. And if you're thinking about growing out of business  this can be. Something that saves you like months or years of time and tons of money to go through a process that works. And if you don't want to spend.  Let's say each one of these books, I think I've listed like close to 20 books.

[00:23:56] Now let's say, if you don't want to spend four to eight hours reading 20 books that's 80 to 160 hours reading books.  

[00:24:06] And also it is expensive.  If each one of these books, if you spend like $15 on each one of these 20 books, 20 around, I have to count, but I think it's about 20 books. You'd be spending over a $300. So first, see if you can get some of the books from the library, local library by you, but also don't balk at investing $300 in your career growth or your business growth.

[00:24:31] If it's going to help you potentially  I hope you plan on making more than $300 a week. So you can recover this in a salary increase or in business growth or in one client sale. So $300 is super small number  when it comes to investing in yourself to consider buying 20 books.

[00:24:53] The other thing that I will say is maybe if you don't want to spend 80 to 160 hours reading all these books, or if you want to get the information in a more condensed timeframe, keep on listening to the podcast. I am going to put out my own book with time that will help you like understand conceptually.

[00:25:11] All the things I feel like I wish I knew when I first started out, which will be a concise package. And I'd love to get your feedback on it. When it comes out to see how I can improve it for future iterations. The final thing that I'll say is  if you don't want to go through the 40 to 80 hours and spend the $300 on the book, then consider going and getting coaching and mentorship.

[00:25:33] And it doesn't need to be from me. It could be from somebody else. It could be from another source. If you are interested in working with me, like book, a call, or don't feel afraid to  reach out and have a chat. It's just a conversation. And even if it's just to say, Hey, thanks for creating the podcast.

[00:25:48] And this is how it's helped,  shoot me an email and let me know. You can find out how to contact me on the website. It's JetteStubbs.com

[00:25:55]Henry (Voice Over): [00:25:55] Next week we'll be talking about: 

[00:25:57]Jette Stubbs: [00:25:57] It's super important to recognize that when you are selling something, you want to be honest, you want to feel transparent. 

[00:26:05] Don't want to make people feel like do  this now, or I will hate you. And none of us want to come across as pushy or sleazy. So how do we avoid that vibe? So this is the next book that I'm going to recommend.

[00:26:18]Henry (Voice Over): [00:26:18] Get the tools to build a career you love, whether that's a job, freelance service or business. 

[00:26:24]Jette Stubbs: [00:26:24] You're listening to the happy career formula 

[00:26:27] with Jette Stubbs 

[00:26:28] where we talk about how to find what you love to do and turn it into ways to make money, whether that's a job, freelance service or a business, so you can live life on your own terms. 

[00:26:39]this is a career and business podcast, but my two main goals for what I want to offer you are: one  the tools to build a career that aligns with who you are.

[00:26:51] So you can make money in a way that funds your life goals and the lifestyle that you want to build for yourself. Two, to have healthier relationships with yourself and others. 

[00:27:01] Because I think that if you have your financial resources together and you have good people around you, you can live a happier life.

[00:27:10] Subscribe and leave a review if you are enjoying the podcast.

[00:27:15] if you know somebody who you think may find this useful, please feel free to share it,

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