Passion vs Profit | Building a Self Publishing Business

About this video

Dale Roberts shares insights from a recent interview with self-publishing pioneer and business strategies consultant Johnny Andrews of Author Platform Rocket on whether to build a self-publishing business around passion or profit. Andrews says he does not see a difference: he already does what he likes and is profitable, so he gets both — ‘ham and eggs’ and cake he gets to eat too. He argues that going down the passion road often leads to profitability if you do it consistently, while seeking only profit typically gets you nowhere because you are not looking at the benefit to other people, citing Tony Robbins’ idea that the more people you can help, the more money you can make. He gives the example of people passionate about helping families keep spouses together who are not particularly profitable, until a small adjustment — a ‘baby step over to the left’ in how they package what they do — can make it profitable. If forced to pick only one, he would pick passion because he knows profit shows up afterwards. He directs viewers to a free webinar at authorplatformrocket.com/go and explains that nonfiction authors (especially speakers and coaches) must go through the webinar and a business evaluation so his team can understand where they are and reverse-engineer where they want to go, while the fiction agency program follows a more specific business model.

Key takeaways

• Johnny Andrews says passion and profit are not a real either/or choice — he does what he likes and is profitable, so he gets both.
• Following passion consistently often becomes profitable over time, while chasing only profit typically fails because it ignores the benefit to other people.
• Andrews cites Tony Robbins’ principle that the more people you can help, the more money you can make.
• A passionate but unprofitable project often needs only a small repositioning — a baby step to the left — to become profitable, rather than abandoning the passion.
• If forced to choose one, pick passion because profit shows up afterwards; Author Platform Rocket requires nonfiction authors to start with its free webinar and a business evaluation before agency work.

Episode details: published April 8, 2018 · 4:23 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dale L. Roberts’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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