Writing a book isn’t just about writing a book. You need to begin with the right mindset that will allow you to create a quality product that provides value. Daniel Mangena is a successful entrepreneur, best-selling author, podcast host of Do it with Dan, a life & business transformation coach, and an international public speaker. He is known for programs and content that take clients and students to the next level of living. Join Daniel in his insightful conversation with host Robin Colucci on the importance of investing in the process and having the right mindset. If you’re looking to start your author journey, this episode is one you won’t want to miss.
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The Power of Perspective with Daniel Mangena
If there is one thing that I have seen over my past few decades of working with authors and helping them with their books, it is how what an important role that mindset and attitude have in the process and how your mindset and attitude can either help you and catapult you towards writing a great book and finishing it or, on the flip side, mindset and attitude can stymie your efforts and get in your way.
It is with great pleasure that I introduce to you Daniel Mangena, who is a successful entrepreneur, bestselling author, and podcast host of Do It With Dan and Beyond Success. He is also a life and business transformation coach and an international public speaker who is known for his programs and content that take his clients and students to the next level of living. He has helped thousands of people across the globe, a tree of wealth mastery and truly abundant lives.
Daniel has been featured on CNN, CBS, FOX, the Jack Canfield Show, and in Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines. His mission is to spread his teachings worldwide with the intention to spearhead an evolutionary uplift in universal consciousness by awakening people to the importance of their unique role and enabling them to manifest their dream life. If becoming an author is part of your picture of dream life, then read closely.
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Dan, welcome to the show.
Thank you for having me in your corner a bit. It is a pretty cool corner.
It is even cooler now that you are here. I was thinking about our interview. I’ve got excited about a couple of different avenues that I thought we could pursue. First, you have self-published several books and also built your coaching practice to the point where Yahoo had you on the list of the Top 10 Life Coaches to Watch.
When I first saw that, I thought, “That is impressive. Let me look at the list.” I go look at lists and see that the first name on the list is somebody that a lot of us have heard of, Tony Robbins. I’m like, “This guy is on a real list.” Congratulations to you. You have self-published four books. I would love to know how you have experienced utilizing your books, growing your brand and your business to the point where you are on a list with Tony Robbins and the people you should be working with. That is quite an accomplishment, so I would love to know about this particular evolution. Are there any key moments or things that you think that being an author has contributed to you getting to where you are?
The interesting thing is I was offered the opportunity to go into a major publisher at the end of 2021. There were two avenues for that to happen. My publicist, Blaine, was like, “We can make this happen.” It was not so much the fact that they take 85% off everything and this particular publisher wants a 360 deal like a record contract. It is like you are speaking your bench and everything. They will give you a platform, and also, you don’t have the freedom to talk about what you want to talk about and the way that you want to talk about it.
For me, freedom is an important principle. I start there because I know a lot of people are chasing after the dream of a publisher but you are still going to be doing all of the work. They might put some money behind you but it is probably going to be the advanced money that you’ve got at the beginning. We were in a world now where you do not have to wait for “the man” to give you a leg up because everything is so much more accessible. I joked about the music industry. I had some friends in the music industry and I have got a secret pseudonym. I have done vocals for a few of my friends. Now we have got Spotify. You can create your own platform and you don’t need a record label.
It is not to say that there aren’t benefits. I did consider maybe doing the book, try and find a publisher that might do a deal that is more likely to be. If you want to do an editorial like New York Times, regardless if you have got the sales or not, they want you to be with the publisher. There are certain things going on but you have to be clear about your intentionality with the book.
That is such an important point I want to throw in because not all publishers do what I call the IP grab, which is, “We want the copyright of everything.” It is atypical. I know which publisher you are probably talking about. Seriously, that is something that all authors who are contemplating a book deal with. If you have an agent, they should catch that also. It is an overreach to want a piece of everything.
If you've got something to say in print, know what you want to say, why you want to say it, and how you want to communicate it to people. Share on XIt comes down to intentionality. This is just me. I’m not telling people what to do. I have spent years building up my platform. We have got over 100,000 on social media. I have been doing the PR thing. I do a lot of TV and radio with someone and so forth. I have been doing all of that work, and I’m still going to be the one doing all of that work, then why not just do that work? That was my personal choice. To speak to the books, I started my journey wanting to keep my old business, which I built up to do and I did 1.5 million pounds a year, me with some partners but not with the payroll but being called to come and share my experiences and to share my light in the world.
It is like, “Let me do the book. I’m going to get the book done and maybe do a podcast.” That was the plan. What man plans, God laughs. I ended up being pulled deeper into the abyss. As I came into it, it happened that there was more that I wanted to talk about and say in print. I use the medium of books to do that. I’m working on my next book, which we want to put out in 2022 that may be my last major book for a while because I’m planning to move more into the documentary space. We dig a bit of that in 2021. If you have got something to say in print, know what you want to say, why you want to say it and how you want to communicate out to people.
Tell us some of the ways you have utilized your book to help bring awareness to your brand and service?
It’s because of the ease of access with books, a lot of people have got books. The book itself doesn’t scrimp on putting together a quality product. Having a book nowadays isn’t what it was many years ago. It has to be a quality book that has something to say that you get in front of the people that hear that you want to say it.
A big part of what I do is using, for example, paid ads, partnerships, and relationships to get the book in front of people but it is having a quality product that allows that to happen. The book carries a message. All my books carry messages. They have got something in them that will inspire people and lead them to a course of action.
Getting that book in front of people who are interested in reading and enjoy it, get to the end. We have had people that have come in, “I want to work with you guys because I have read Dan’s book. I have seen some changes and I would like to take it to the next level.” If you have got a stinky dinky book that is not edited and got typos all over the place, people aren’t going to buy into it. It is taking the book and getting it in front of people who can be supported and served by it, and then creating space through the book for them to take that con, that conversation, and the relationship further.
Correct me if I’m wrong. I’m gathering that you are not necessarily seeing the ROI from the book sales, especially if you are paying for ads. Talk to us a little bit about this. I love having a real-life person here who is living what I’m always talking about. You have no idea how happy I am that you are here and sharing your experience. Tell us a little bit about that, please.
The Amazon platform to print up books. For the next book, there are some other options we are looking at for wider distribution. For example, I was on a podcast and I was like, “I love what you are saying. I’m going to buy your book.” The book is $20 and 70% of that might come back to me. I can’t remember which plan I’m on with Amazon but we are not going to pay the bills. However, that is a podcast host with who we have already built a relationship with through being on his show to the point that he wanted to take the conversation further through my work.
He already said he wants to do a review if he likes the book and so on. Maybe he is going to create space for me to go and speak to his community, do a presentation to them, or he wants to become a client himself or refer me to someone who wants to become a client. It becomes a calling card but the calling card has to be of quality and it has to create space for that conversation to be continued.
You go and sell 100,000 books if you can sell that. Maybe you are going to make a few tens of thousands. If you go out and sell 1,000 books to your ideal client, 10% of those or 100 people come and buy your high ticket coaching, your program made $500,000 but don’t get caught up on the numbers. Focus on getting a quality product in front of quality people.
I love you are saying this because one of my biggest pet peeves in this entire book coaching space is when I hear people say, “You can just crank out a book because a book is just a big business card.”
A quality book is a business card but a quality book to get a book is also a red flag.
Anytime I talk about this, my question is always, how many business cards have you taken to bed? It is not a business card. A book that is going to bring you clients is a substantive book that provides value. Business cards don’t provide value except for your contact information. A book provides value and is a portal to intimacy, which is why we read them in bed and it is also why people call you after they read your book and say, “I want to work with you,” because they already made that heart connection with you through your book.
That comes down to, “What do you want to say? Have you got the clarity of your mission, vision, and the words that you are going to share? Are you communicating them in a real way?” All too often, if we get wooed for a second, people lose sight of the fact that someone will feel you before they hear you. They will feel you before they even finish reading the book.
They may not have spoken to you but they feel you because the energy is being communicated. Your spirit is in that book and speaking to the person. You are sending parts of you out there into the world. If there is a lack of clarity, discombobulation there, and a dark intention of, “I’m going to see how many things I can sell,” people can feel that.
I was doing a VIP day with a client and we were looking at comparable books in his space. We turned to each other after looking through his book and we were like, “This guy is a con man.” Is that what you want your audience? It probably is true but you are right. We felt him.
There’s a difference between writing a book and being a writer. Share on XWhen people feel you, they will share that book with others. When people feel you, they will share tidbits, go and write the review, and do the rating. That is helping spread. For my book, we have got thousands of views, good ratings, and all the things because people have bought the book, the result from it and they have wanted to share that with others.
That is because the book was purely a service. That book is most of the time available for $1 somewhere in my ecosystem to make any money on that. I literally don’t make any money on that but it goes out into the world being the gift that I share with people. I don’t believe that God short changes. I know that is what leads to me having the success that does end up showing.
I can tell your intention of sharing the value that you want to share is there. You are coming from that space of true service, which every author, especially if you are writing a book to grow your business is the space to be. This is another area I was curious about because you are a life coach and you have got over yourself enough to write four books. To write a book is a lot of work. I would love to take you back to your first book. Can you share with us a little bit about what kind of resistance did you encounter?
My Facebook is my third book, Stepping Beyond Intention, which is this puppy. I was writing this since about 2009 and 2010, and it did not get published until 2019. What ended up happening is I caught myself going back and forth and dilly-dallying. My actual first book, which is called From Time To Time, I don’t speak about it that much but it is a great book. People get a lot from it but it was just me trying to pop my cherry and prove to myself that it wasn’t such a big deal. I looked at what I had that could be of value to everyone. I said, “I’m going to give myself 30 days to get this done. What can I competently do in 30 days?”
I wrote a book about my time mastery strategies from time management to time mastery. I’ve got it done and out. I’ve got to feel the emotional sensation of, “I’m a published author. I have got it out. I have got it done.” I went and said, “What’s something else that I can put value into the world?” My second book, The Dreamer’s Manifesto looks at my catchphrase dream with your eyes open and breaks down what that means. It is an inspirational motivational book. It is very small. You can knock it out in one hour and a half. I did and used that momentum to leverage into going and getting the book finished and done. Nobody came out and trolled me. Nothing got burned down.
I’m okay. I did not die. I could take that emotional experience, and then funnel it into the rule book that I want to drive, which is Stepping Beyond Detention. The money game we put out after that because my money game, which is an actual game that I created has been changed to people’s lives. We wanted to put it in a form that people could put in a book, in their pocket, and go read. We did money came after that but that has been my journey with writing books.
That is interesting because one of the things you mentioned is the fears around and they often go unacknowledged. Tell us a little bit more about the fears that came up for you as you were trying to write that first book the first time.
It is a real book. It tells real stories, places I have messed up, and speaks about my suicide ideation, which I had not spoken to my family about, all the things that have gone wrong for me, and the darkest times of my life. I was caught in this thing of, “I didn’t feel ready to share those parts of myself yet. I didn’t want to do this book of this service by not showing all of me in it.”
It was a journey of coming to the place of loving myself enough to know that it is okay to share these parts and going into deep enough commitment to sharing my message that I’m prepared to look past those parts that I’m not quite ready to share and see something bigger, a bigger purpose behind it so that I could go with it and share in that book.
I do think that it is impossible to author a book and not have some concern about how it is going to land or what people are going to think. Maybe even your family. You are sharing things with your own family that does not even know about you. That takes guts.
I have got a lot of young nephews and nieces. It impacts them. We will be putting that out into the world. It impacts them, too. I had all of these things going on. I had to get into an alignment with the bigness of the purpose behind this book so that I could set my blindness aside and step into it more fully.
Did you find with each subsequent book? Did it feel easier or did you get tripped up somewhere else on a different book?
Thankfully, my financial situation was very different from the third book that it was when I was still book number one. I could hire expert help. I could make sure that it was properly line-edited. My book editor is Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book editor who went through, cleaned it up, and made sure that the stories came out well. It would cost a lot of money to get that done but investing that money has been part of the reason why it does get through to people a certain way.
I have words to say but there is a difference between writing a book and being a writer. There was a science and an art to that that comes from school. That is why don’t scrimp, do as much of the process as you can, even if you get it to a certain point and you get someone to do a part of the editing or to put some eyes on it, investing in your baby going out there into the world as a representative of you was imperative.
Even professional writers need editors because human beings are not good judges of their own work.
It is difficult to kill your babies.
That abundance is yours. You don’t have to hustle for it. You don’t have to stress for it. You don’t have to kill the competition for it. You don’t have to burn for it. It’s yours and available. Share on XWhat I found is that when it comes to judging your own writing, people tend to either be too lenient or sometimes too harsh. There will be like, “This section is terrible.” I’m like, “No, that is the best section on the page.” It is important to get those new, fresh eyes on it who is someone not in your head but can fill in all the blanks that you did not write. You need someone to say, “Something is missing here.”
There is something as well to understanding where your strengths are. I’m great off the cuff, free-styling it and winging it. That is when I’m in my zone of genius. I do like 3-day workshops with 10 bullet points. Having that structure, which I worked with a specialist to get that structure of the messaging, the seven points that I want to communicate in this book and fleshing those points out of what they mean and what the bullets are what I’m doing now for the next book. I have got content out there that speaks to each of those points. I’m going to pay a professional to bring that all together coherently and work with them to make sure that it is doing what I want it to do.
I’m finding, a competent professional can hear you speak, take that voice and communicate it properly in print, and take your words and communicate. That is what we do for the next book project. We do have a bit more of a media machine behind us now. We are intending to see if we can get a good listing on a half-decent list. I’m going to be self-publishing.
We might go the hybrid route so we can maybe have a shot at a New York Times or whatever. There are a lot of rules and regulations around that. I’m not going to be doing another book for a while now. We want to see if we can do something with it but invest in as much of the process as you can, being led by professionals, even if it is, “Can I pay for a coaching session or strategy session?” You go off and do it yourself. Invest. I can’t scream that loud enough.
It is tricky because if you can write a letter or an email, I can write a letter and a blog post. Why couldn’t I write a book? It is its own animal.
It is a very different relationship. Even down to the difference between a blog and an article because there is a difference between the two. We unwashed unlearned it. We might not see it but there is a very clear difference between the two. Some of the biggest challenges that show up in my life have been not being led by professionals, not seeking counsel, not being mentored and guided. I’m very big on that. People like you are saying that because I have gone through the pain of what life looks like when you don’t try and do that.
The best coaches are highly coachable because you know how to surrender to coaching. I found that the best coaches I have ever hired had great coaches that they learned from deeply versus people who resist coaching, which can be a lot of work for everybody. Tell us more about how you work with people in your life coaching and what kinds of things do people come to you for?
I’m an abundance activator. That is what I do. Why I was invited by people? I might take a look at nature. I’m looking at the Sea of Cortez, trees, and the beach beyond them. There is no lack out there. Lack is a story that we humans hold. My journey is taking these books, blogs, articles, podcasts, coming to speak with you, whether I’m on TV or radio to give people a space to come back to that truth. That abundance is yours. You don’t have to hustle or stress for it. You don’t have to kill the competition for it. You have to burn out for it. It is yours and available.
I have a signature program ecosystem called Micro 2 Millions. It has got different levels that people can come in and get different types of support. We have people in two different camps that we are trying to bring to the middle. We have got people that perhaps have got the money side of abundance dialed in but their relationships and health are suffering.
They are burning out and not loving life. We have got people that love their life but they are not got the financial resources to enjoy life on their own terms. That is bringing them back both to the middle. We are in that space, they can enjoy a fullness of life and do so abundantly, purposefully, and joyfully. That is what I do every day.
Are they in the same group together or in separate programs?
This is the thing because there are many different levels in the ecosystem. If someone got friends with millions of dollars or whatever, they are not going to be coming to bed in a group program with somebody who got thousand. They are probably going to come and fly down to Cabo, spend a weekend with me, come to one of our retreats where there are 5 or 6 people.
Someone that is trying to get their stuff together probably doesn’t have $150,000 to come and invest every year. I’m doing a workshop. You can get it for $50 and I’m going to pour it into you. We cover all of that because I don’t want money to be the thing that stops people from being abundant. We have got those different levels of people who can come play with us and get the support that they need.
I would imagine that a lot of your work is similar, at least in one aspect to some of our work, which is helping people get out of their own way. Can you say a little bit more about that?
For people like, “How many podcasts was he on now?” I do all my podcasts in one week. It is one of the ways that I manage my time. The week of the month, where I will do what from noon until night, “I will finish at 8:00 just recording podcasts,” me as a guest and having a guest in my podcast. She asks a question, “I have got a challenging question I want to ask you. Has your race ever got in the way of you being successful or stood in your way in any way?”
I had to tell her no because, at the end of the day, things can only get in your way if you have an emotional response to it that allows it to get in your way. Whenever somebody says, “Is this going to block or stop me? I have got this short but I have got this thing,” I always remind them, “It is only if you give it that power.” I’m all about taking power back from these things, which is simply as easy as claiming the power that is already yours. That is what I invite people to do.
Things can only get in your way if you have an emotional response to them that allows them to get in your way. Share on XWhy do you think people give that power away?
It is easier. If I can go through my life, blaming my mom for my alcohol problem or blaming my dad for the fact that I’m with a different person every night, I don’t feel whole and complete, then I have to deal with it. If I can blame the government for the fact that my business is deteriorating or I can blame COVID, then I don’t have to be responsible for it. It is the easier path.
This is why I’m not for everybody because the part that I’m inviting you to go down starts with radical responsibility, not blaming yourself but accepting you are divinely given the power to choose consciously or unconsciously but still set that choice machine and action to create what you desire. That is something that everybody doesn’t see, experience, and get but if you do accept that there is magic available and waiting.
When you point out there and say, “This is why I don’t have that,” you have given your power away.
The funny thing is when people recognize that the unconscious mind, which is your enemy, is your friend. It is just playing out to whatever pattern has been given. It wants to keep things the same. When we are blaming other people, the brain has the function of, “If I blame that person, nothing’s going to change. We are going to blame that person to keep them.”
This is happening at a speed beyond. The unconscious mind moves 10,000 to 10 million times. The pace with which it is going to be operating, you can’t keep up with. When you do have the conscious awareness, “This is going on. I can blame the person or I can take responsibility,” you give yourself the opportunity to break free of whatever patterns you are in now to go and experience something different.
That desire to keep things the same because the subconscious mind is trying to keep you alive too, “What you did yesterday kept you alive. We WIll just do that again,” can show up as imaginary reasons why you can’t write your book, finish the book, why you can’t figure out your outline or why you can’t hire somebody who is qualified to help you.
You are trying to keep things the same.
It is all subconscious BS trying to keep you where you are at. What have I not asked you about that I missed or you would love to talk about?
Nothing jumps out at me. We have covered quite a few things and I think we have given the audience something to noodle on. I hope this is okay but we have already prepared a little resource page for the readers. If they go to DreamWithDan.com/corner. We will have some resources there, including links to my books, podcasts, and some tidbits to help them on their journey towards abundance.
Thank you so much for providing those gifts to our readers. I’m sure that they will enjoy them. I might go and check it out myself. It never hurts to get little mindset vitamins. I want to thank you so much for being with us here and for sharing generously.
It is my absolute pleasure. Thank you for having me on the show and also for the flexibility with our start time. I appreciate it.
You are very welcome.
Important Links:
- Do It With Dan
- Beyond Success
- Dan Mangena
- Facebook – Dream with Dan
- Stepping Beyond Intention
- From Time To Time
- The Dreamer’s Manifesto
- Stepping Beyond Detention
- Micro 2 Millions
- DreamWithDan.com/corner
About Daniel Mangena
He has helped thousands of people across the globe achieve wealth mastery and truly abundant lives.
Featured on CNN, CBS, FOX, the Jack Canfield show, and in Forbes and Entrepreneur magazines, Daniel’s mission is to spread his teachings worldwide with the intention to “spearhead an evolutionary uplift in universal consciousness by awakening people to the importance of their unique role and enabling them to manifest their dream life”.
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