CGM blog: Taking the Mike

Or at least take a lesson from Mike – a fella called Mike Bowden to be precise, who is a life coach based in the Black Country.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t know much about Mike or his business, Changing Outcomes, before I read his book, Understanding the Mirror.

It is a self-published work and just about the best example of the extended business card vision someone writing their own business book could wish to produce.

Partly autobiographical, partly providing practical tips, Understanding the Mirror says so much more about Mike’s real life background and suitability to coach than any number of network meeting elevator pitches or boastful sales spins could ever achieve.

I won’t spoil it for you, but Understanding the Mirror, is based on a personal experience and offers a series of potentially life changing solutions we can all absorb. There but for the grace of God…

Now, I don’t know if Mike is any good at life coaching – I haven’t met any of his clients or experienced his work. Neither would I say Understanding the Mirror is the most grammatically correct book I have ever read. But here’s what I do know:

– I can hear Mike’s voice throughout Understanding the Mirror – it has pace, power and is warts and all;

– Mike has first hand experience of bouncing back from serious problems so his advice isn’t vague theory. It is thoroughly felt and understood by the person offering it;

– He is a warm, sincere and genuine person (and that oozes through the pages).

I’m sure writing Understanding the Mirror was a cathartic exercise for Mike but imagine having those features established in the mind of a potential client?

Publishing a business book isn’t easy or cheap – and certainly not for everyone. The sanguine advice that most people have a book in them and that’s where it should stay rings true.

But planned and written in the right way, a business book can work wonders. Not in a sterile and cynical way to win business by battering readers around the head with a litany of lies about how fantastic and wonderful you are and always have been – but by touching people’s hearts and souls with deep values, beliefs and ethics that matter.

Those are the kind of characteristics we encourage when we provide publishing advice at Chris Green Media. It is a journey and we support you in taking the right steps.

Chris Green is an author, broadcaster and media consultant – and managing director of Chris Green Media. 

by ChrisGreenMedia on May 12, 2015

http://www.chrisgreenmedia.com/cgm-blog-taking-the-mike/