Samuel WJ Tan

These tips are based on a real client conversation from this week. This author and I were discussing ClioBooks.ai and the concern that if they engage with a mostly self-led process for getting their book's first draft done, would they be able to follow that process as a high factfinder? 📚This author shared their main challenge as a high factfinder on the Kolbe A Index (Kolbe is brilliant for self-awareness and cross-team communications if you haven't come across it). 🚨Anyway, this author gets lost in details and wants perfection before moving forward. Sometimes, that attention to detail is useful; at other times, it leads to analysis paralysis and delays decision-making. 🌊This challenge is common, but the reality is that while details and accuracy have their place, business owners who need them in all tasks always get stuck. You might feel in control at first this way, but you're not because, ultimately, you'll stay consumed by the weeds and lose sight of the ocean. As a Publishing Consultant with two publishing companies, this is how to think of it so you can let go and get that knowledge out of your head. 🚨PS. This only works if you're coachable and you want it to work.🚨 Strategy 1: Delegation - "Who, Not How" Delegation is your friend. Instead of trying to do everything on your own and getting lost, you will benefit from giving responsibilities to others who can do them better than you can. You don't have to do everything yourself - find capable people and tools to take on specific tasks. In the world of books, that'd be an author coach, a ghostwriter, or an editor; ClioBooks.ai, or Write Business Results. It'll free up your time and mental energy to focus on the bigger picture. Strategy 2: Self-Awareness - Know Your Style It's hard to delegate effectively without self-awareness. Understanding your natural tendencies can help you make conscious decisions about when and how to deploy them. By recognising when your emphasis on details (or whatever else it may be that's dominating your thought process) is causing analysis paralysis, you can consciously choose to shift your focus and make progress. Strategy 3: Iteration - Break It Down and Learn as You Go Trying to tackle everything at once is overwhelming and contributes to perfectionism. It's best to break tasks down into smaller, manageable pieces and approach them one step at a time. If you've brought in the right 'who', they'll guide you through each step. 👌Delegation, self-awareness, and iteration are powerful moves. Becoming an author, for example, is transformative. It's a big shift, but that doesn't have to make it hard. I built ClioBooks.ai - the first speak-your-book AI-powered platform for non-fiction books. It's software AND a service, giving you the best of both worlds. Check it out, free trial, no credit card required. 📚 #Nonfiction #ThoughtLeadership #Perfectionism #WriteThatBook #ClioBooksai #WriteBusinessResults

21

This morning (in Thailand, at least), I read some news about Google announced that the deprecation of 3rd party cookies in Google Chrome is no longer on their roadmap. As someone who directly worked in MarTech segment (and also a privacy advocate), this news has definitely surprised me, but not out of my expectation. Why? Because the technology behind the Privacy Sandbox is quite complex to implement for optimal result, just like Google Analytics 4, which is built on the foundation of Firebase Analytics (yes, it really is). While the Privacy Sandbox is beneficial for marketers and analytics in general in the world, where privacy concern is everywhere. However, with the complexity in coding, it is not that simple to implement such features in their standards, without a large amount of code modifications. Another concern, for my part, at least, is related to Google products itself. Google Analytics 4 is a notorious example for this. The service is not fully implemented the features in Privacy Sandbox, and when I confronted directly at their booth (during the time at WordCamp Asia 2024), they mentioned that they are rolling out features to fully support the standards! In my opinion, it is a right call for Google to reverse course, because not everyone is ready for it. The technology is not reaching a wide adoption, yet. And it would take a while before it is ready for everyone to use it. Still, it is a typical Google fashion, everything can be changed in the future. So, keep your eyes peel because no one know when they will change their mind, again and again. By the way, if Googlers read this, please improve Google Analytics 4, it is a pain to use. Sincerely, a Google Analytics Certified user. #PrivacySandbox #GoogleChrome #Marketing

1

[#3 How do you tell your story?] A good story is usually one where the writer has been vulnerable with you. You’re let into their world, and get to see them in all their foolish, broken but ultimately beautifully human glory. Think again about the people online who you resonate the most with. I’m willing to bet that you know a few things about their life that are a bit… uncomfortable. They’re vulnerable. They’ve shared things that they’ve done that might not be considered stellar highlights in their life’s showreel. They could have admitted to mental illness. Or to a kleptomaniac phase in their youth. Or to secretly hating exercise. Or to a string of embarrassing business launches that tanked. It doesn’t matter what it is, really. What matters is that it rings true, is credible, and gives people some honesty to connect with. The most important thing to note here is this: people can sniff out dishonesty very, very fast. Being dishonest in your story will make your book flimsy. And that will make it less successful. Honesty creates connection. And it's ALL about the connection. And of course, it's practice at telling your story well, which will come with time as you do more writing and get more used to telling it.

1

[#3 How do you tell your story?] A good story is usually one where the writer has been vulnerable with you. You’re let into their world, and get to see them in all their foolish, broken but ultimately beautifully human glory. Think again about the people online who you resonate the most with. I’m willing to bet that you know a few things about their life that are a bit… uncomfortable. They’re vulnerable. They’ve shared things that they’ve done that might not be considered stellar highlights in their life’s showreel. They could have admitted to mental illness. Or to a kleptomaniac phase in their youth. Or to secretly hating exercise. Or to a string of embarrassing business launches that tanked. It doesn’t matter what it is, really. What matters is that it rings true, is credible, and gives people some honesty to connect with. The most important thing to note here is this: people can sniff out dishonesty very, very fast. Being dishonest in your story will make your book flimsy. And that will make it less successful. Honesty creates connection. And it's ALL about the connection. And of course, it's practice at telling your story well, which will come with time as you do more writing and get more used to telling it.

2

When Takaya Awata used his meager savings to open a small restaurant in Japan's Kakogawa city, the then-23-year-old named it Toridoll Sanban-kan, or Toridoll store No. 3. It was a promise to himself that stores number one and two were only a matter of time and he would soon achieve his modest goal of owning three restaurants. Four decades later, Awata’s Tokyo-listed TORIDOLL Holdings Corporation has a network of nearly 2,000 quick-service restaurants across 28 countries and regions covering 21 brands. The flagship is Marugame Seimen, Japan’s largest udon noodle chain by both revenue and store count. The entrepreneur’s fast-food success has made him a #billionaire and honed his ambitions. “I would like Toridoll to compete on a global scale,” says the 62-year-old president and CEO, adding that he’s aspiring to make it a ¥1 trillion ($7 billion) company by revenue in the next decade. To achieve those lofty targets, Awata wants to reduce Toridoll’s dependence on domestic diners in a shrinking home market and focus on overseas expansion. Check out the story on forbes.com: https://lnkd.in/gPWNnsRd #Japan #Billionaire #Toridoll #MarugameSeimen #Business

21

Why bother with case studies I hear you ask… In a recent content preferences survey, 53% of respondents said they were overwhelmed by the amount of content available and entirely underwhelmed by its quality. When people are making complex decisions about purchasing products and services they need the right information, high-quality data to back it up, in the right format. And their preferred format for this kind of information? The case study. So, what makes a great case study? Having written a gazillion, my feeling is that a truly great one hinges on three crucial components: 1.     It’s human-centred. A great case study hangs on the voice of your client or customer. What was their experience of your product or service? How did it make them feel? What did they learn? How did they change?  2.     It’s data-driven. Do you have data to back up your claims? Is that data visually compelling? What exactly did you do and what were your results? A high-quality case study is always packed full of data and detail. 3.     It tells a great story. Any great narrative has a problem at its core. What was the problem you were trying to solve? What was your approach to solving it? How was the problem resolved and how did this resolution help your client or customer?

2

1 Comment

How many problems do you think communication can solve? This week, I explore how DeepL stands out from other consumer AI translation tools, especially when it comes to expanding within a region and into markets where language (especially grammar) can make a huge difference in things like professional terms or legal contracts. I also pose to Steve Rotter the possibility of Star Trek scenario where AI speech translation is real time. What are the barriers to such tools? Ultimately while AI can make a difference, there is a need to understand the crucial dynamics of good communication before developing an effective AI translator and that's an area I think DeepL stands out in. Listen in the link below. This podcast is in collaboration with M Group Asia

8