Author Interview: Adam Brownlee, Author of “Building a Small Business That Warren Buffet Would Love”

Along with plenty of agent interviews on this blog, I’m hoping to do more interviews of up-and-coming writers (especially debuts as well as up-and-coming authors) that I like or I think you should know. Today please enjoy an interview with author Adam Brownlee, who I met at the Southern Kentucky Book Fest in 2011. Adam is the author of Building a Small Business That Warren Buffet Would Love (March 12, 2012, Wiley).

Author interview with Adam Brownlee, author of Building a Small Business That Warren Buffet Would Love (Wiley, March 2012), a business guide for small business owners. For each copy of the book sold, Adam is donating an eBook to an unemployed person or entrepreneur, similar to the Tom's shoes campaign in which they give a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair sold. See a television interview with Adam here, or visit his author website here.

Writes from: Bowling Green, Ky.

Pre-book: I was writing and self-publishing books on finance, investing and small business; My Happy Assets, Small Business Coffee Hour and Taking the Last Steps to Financial Independence. I served as the Director of the Small Business Development Center and a natural correlation existed between my books' material and my clients' need for information. The subjects of investing, financial independence and business have interested me for some time now and my books are a fun to read with a profitable outcome.

Time frame: This book was written over the course of six months. Once I understood Warren Buffett's investment methodology, I had the outline for the book in the first few days.

Goal for the book: My big vision for this book is that it helps to cut the unemployment rate in half.

Publisher: At the end of the day, using the guide, I was able to submit directly to John Wiley and Sons and get published.

What you learned: Patience is a virtue. The rock band Cage the Elephant sums it up best: "I've been trying real hard to realize that some things take a long, long, long, long time." Once the writing process is complete, the production process starts. Once the production process is finished, the marketing process begins. It takes time, but the end game eventually reaches fruition. Just understand that some things worthwhile take a long, long time.

What you did right: Developing a good query letter was very important. Also, I think goal-setting is of the utmost importance when trying to break in. If you have a good goal-setting framework in place, then all things become eventual. It's like a stream running downhill: it may hit some rocks and branches along the way but inevitably, it will get there.

Do different next time: I would have turned my patience dial up to 11. Mentally, I was two years ahead of where things actually stood. Again, all things are eventual but they take time. Continue to set goals and follow-through. Pick up a good goal-setting book such as Jack Canfield's The Success Principles and follow-through daily. Five swings of an axe a day will eventually chop the tree down.

Did you have a platform in place? Yes. As Director of the Small Business Development Center, I had a good regional platform in place but now, I must truly expand this platform nationally in order to have great success in the nonfiction market. In order to build my platform, I am using social media such as Facebook and Twitter, I am also updating a blog and sending out an e-mail campaign on a timely basis. I am also utilizing traditional media outlets such as radio and TV advertising and I am scheduling a book fair and college speaking tour. Writing the book and getting it published is two-thirds of the process, while marketing is the final lynch-pin. I recommend that readers and writers pick up John Kremer's 1,001 Ways to Market Your Books in order to be successful in this area and check out Chuck Sambuchino's upcoming Create a Writer Platform due out in the Fall of 2012 to learn how to build a successful platform.

Website(s): Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/myhappyasset - Website: http://smallbizcoffee.com/default.htm - Blog: http://www.myhappyassets.info/

Next up: Building a Small Business That Abraham Lincoln Would Love is in its final stages and due out this Fall, 2012. I plan on revamping an earlier book this year, My Happy Assets, which details how to reach financial independence without getting buried in rental property and I have another concept in the works. Of course as I have said before, writing a book and getting it published is two-thirds of the battle and now, I will spend much of this year and next year promoting Building a Small Business That Warren Buffett Would Love. Again, the ultimate, big goal for this book is to have an impact on the economy and specifically, to decrease the unemployment rate. I truly believe that if people read this and start a small business, even by elevating a hobby into a business, the trickle effect will cut the unemployment rate and folks will be much more fulfilled.

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