About Mike Ulmer: Mike Ulmer is CEO of Catapult Bookwriting and the author of books about business, hockey, Canada, and leadership. Mike’s company, Catapult Bookwriting, has published Unapologetic Leadership by Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng, Drop the Mic Marketing by Jason Hunt, Show and Tell Writing: A Great Short Business Book About How to Write A Great Short Business Book by Mike Ulmer, The Myth-Guided Mind: Unleash Your God-Given Genius At Work And At Home by Michael Hynes, The 50 Year-Old Millenial by Marc Petitpas and The 40 Ways Of The Fox by Ron Foxcroft. He has written for three wire services: the Thomson News Service, Southam News, and The Canadian Press. His work has appeared in Chill: The Beer Magazine, Saturday Night Magazine, and in a compendium of sports Stories called The Way It Looks From Here (2004 Knopf), edited by Steven Brunt. Mike’s book M is for Maple is, the bestselling alphabet book in Canadian publishing history. He has appeared in front of 20,000 elementary school students across Ontario and Alberta to talk about writing and everything Canadian. Check out the latest episode of our Conversational Selling podcast to learn more about Mike.
In this episode, Nancy and Mike discuss the following:
- Mike’s three-step formula for writing a book: Proposition, Backstory, Recommendations
- Importance of a book for business growth and personal branding
- The power of a book as a marketing tool and credibility builder
- Advice on starting the book-writing process with personal storytelling
- Tips on daily writing goals and word counts
- Views on deadlines and their effectiveness in book writing
Key Takeaways:
- Podcasting, blogging, and books form the Holy Trinity of communication.
- A book provides a 24/7 representation of your expertise.
- The key is honesty and vulnerability.
- People invest their time when they read your book; honor that.
“Because when you write a book, people are just so impressed. And I’ve been living off that for about 30 years. So, I’m going to tell you it’s true. There’s a disproportionate amount of prestige when you write a book. So, it’s really a great thing for a business. And if you’re the only person telling your story, then you’re the only story that counts.” – MIKE
“If you want to write the book, we can coach you and all that stuff. We can help you do that for a very reasonable cost. But if you want to just do it by yourself, that’s okay too. We also do that if you want us to write the book for you. But to answer your question, I don’t know if everyone can write a book, but everyone can figure out who they are, what they are, and why they do it.” – MIKE
“If you feel that your story is not worth telling, someone has gotten in your ear and lied to you because everyone has a compelling story. I make a living finding them. And that’s probably not going to be Jermaine to the hundreds and thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of people listening to your podcast. But here’s what is Jermaine. That person who told you haven’t got a story worth listening lied to you. Right. And that person should be consigned to the seventh circle of hell because people carry around that lie and build their beliefs on top of that thing. It’s like a faulty foundation. All you’re trying to do is build a good house, but if someone leaves you with that terrible foundation, you’ll never have a great house. Whoever told you you couldn’t write a book lied to you. Everyone can do it.” – MIKE
Connect with Mike Ulmer:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-ulmer-554814a3/
- Personal: https://www.mikeulmer.com/
Try Our Proven, 3-Step System, Guaranteeing Accountability and Transparency that Drives RESULTS by clicking on this link: https://oneofakindsales.com/call-center-in-a-box/
Connect with Nancy Calabrese:
- Twitter:https://twitter.com/oneofakindsales
- Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/One-Of-A-Kind-Sales-304978633264832/
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Voiceover: You’re listening to The Conversational Selling Podcast with Nancy Calabrese.
Nancy Calabrese: Hi, it’s Nancy Calabrese, and it’s time again for Conversational selling – the podcast where sales leaders and business experts share what’s going on in sales and marketing today and it always starts with the human conversation. Today we’re speaking with Mike Ulmer, owner of Catapult Book Writing, a company that specializes in helping people write their business books. Mike’s-three-step formula for writing a great book starts with the proposition, an idea that is so compelling that it is impossible to resist. Next comes the backstory, the author’s journey toward that conclusion, and finally recommendations. Lots and lots of helpful tips for the reader. After a three-decade career in journalism, Mike began writing business and leadership books in 2021. He is the author of 19 books, including M is for Maple, the bestselling alphabet book in Canadian publishing history. Welcome to the show, Mike. I know we’re gonna have a great time.
Mike Ulmer: Oh Nancy, I’m so thrilled to be here with you, thank you for having me on. [1:24]
Nancy Calabrese: Oh, my goodness. So, I guess, you know, the first thing that comes to my mind is how would a book help a business grow? What’s you’re feeling about that?
Mike Ulmer: I think it’s essential. You’re seeing a lot of people podcasting, which is brilliant. I heard someone call the blogs, podcasting and a book, sort of the Holy Trinity. I think the thing about writing a book is the discovery that goes into it. I think I like to tell people that I charge you X amount of dollars for the clarity and I throw the book in for free because when we talk and Nancy, I’m terrible. I’ll hound you to get the real root of your story. And when we get that, that’s the proposition that you mentioned so kindly. When we get that and then the backstory and then that all the conclusions, all the, all the advice, you have something that’s your North star. And so, you can use it for your social media. It’s the title of your book. It’s your, it’s your podcast. It’s the title of your podcast and the theme of your podcast. When you must do an elevator speech, it’s that 30 second speech. [2:31]
Nancy Calabrese: Okay.
Mike Ulmer: When you must do something, a presentation, it’s steamed around that. It’s so much more. It’s really the answer to all those questions about social media that vex people. It’s super, super powerful. The thing about a book is it works for you 24-7. Listen, Nancy, I have made, I’m going to tell you this right now. A book gives you an unrealistic sense of importance. You’re nowhere near as important as that book is because it carries so much weight. [3:01]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
Mike Ulmer: Because when you write a book, people are just so impressed. And I’ve been living off that for about 30 years. So, I’m going to tell you it’s true. There’s a disproportionate amount of prestige when you write a book. So, it’s really a great thing for a business. And if you’re the only person telling your story, then you’re the only story that counts. [3:20]
Nancy Calabrese: All right, so, you know, when I think about writing a book, and I shared with you earlier that I had a book written for me, if I had to do it for myself, I would be totally overwhelmed. And yet you say it’s easier than you think.
Mike Ulmer: It is because I think it’s easier just by those three things. Concentrate. So, where you start, Nancy, and I should also add that I do write books for people, but I encourage people to write their books because even if you don’t work with me, it’s so good for your business and so good for you developmentally personally is to find out what your story really, really is, that signature story. So that’s the first part. Where you start, Nancy, is your backstory. You write your life story. [4:06]
Nancy Calabrese: Right. Okay.
Mike Ulmer: without the intention of presenting your life story in your book. Your story is all it does is confirm your conclusion. So, can I give you an example? Oh, sure. So, there was a woman named Annie Duke. She’s written a great book called Quit. And the premise of it is sometimes it’s a better idea to quit than to bang your head against the wall and pursue these things because you want to be that guy who never quit. Sometimes it’s a great idea to quit, to pivot. [4:35]
Nancy Calabrese: I want an example, yeah.
Mike Ulmer: So let me ask you this question. If you’re a mountaineer and you’re standing at the base of the mountain, what’s your goal?
Nancy Calabrese: Not to climb it. But obviously you want to climb it, right? Hit the top.
Mike Ulmer: No, you want to get back. Getting back is far more important than climbing the mountain because if you went to Kilimanjaro, you would find all these frozen corpses of people who thought that the only thing that mattered was climbing the mountain. And so, Nancy’s thing, and this is a great and brilliant demonstration of why you should pivot, why you should quit. But Nancy was, Nancy, I’m sorry, and she was a professional poker player. Who would know more about when to throw in your hand than a professional poker player? So, when she talks about her career in poker and what led her to poker and what led her to these conclusions, that backstory is super important because it qualifies that proposition. Sometimes you ought to quit. And the proposition is so great because it’s just so counterintuitive. And all the great propositions are counterintuitive. Like the four-hour work week. What a great idea. Who wouldn’t want to read a book about having a four-hour work week? So, I think if you look at these three and anyone, everyone has these tips, I think it can be made a lot easier. And I really hope it is by people looking at those three things. So, tell your backstory and you’ll figure out how your backstory ends up into your present story. I knew a guy. He, not far from me and he, I’m in Canada now and he, his parents made good money, but he always felt this financial insecurity. And so, he became very entrepreneurial. He was the guy that, you know, bought a six pack of Coke, and went to the construction site and sold it to the guys for more money. He was that guy, three paper routes, great guy, right? And he took business because he’s interested in business. And then he decided to take financial planning. So, nobody else would have to live. No other kid would have to live with that uncertainty of where the family money is. No parents would have to, no kids would have to. And so, the root of that trail was in that feeling that insecurity as a kid. And if we look at our stories, there’s always things that happen along the way that sort of led us to what we’re doing now. And so, when you write your life story just for yourself, write it for yourself and be as vulnerable, Nancy, as you can write all the hard things. And I know people don’t want to do that because it’s hard to be vulnerable, but it’s just you. You don’t have to use it in the book if you really don’t want to. But let me give you another example if I can. I did a book with a guy named Ron Foxcroft, fantastic entrepreneur, great guy. He invented this whistle called the Fox 40. It’s super loud and so it doesn’t have what’s called a P, a little bit of cork in it. And he’s done great. He bought a company called Fluke Transport, a trucking company. [7:40]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
Mike Ulmer: He made their slogan, if it’s on time, it’s a fluke. Brilliant, funny, fantastic guy. Done well, really, well. Supports a lot of things. Very wealthy man, done great. But still working at 75, still putting out in 60-hour weeks at 75. And I noticed he didn’t drink. And I said, Ron, who was the alcoholic in your life? And he said, it was my dad. And he beat me once a week because he was a deeply unhappy man. My dad always said “Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda”. And he never reached his full potential. I never wanted to be like my dad. [8:19]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow.
Mike Ulmer: Okay, now we know. Now we know why you work 75-hour weeks. And so that thing that happened when he was a kid is key to understanding who he is now. [8:33]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. Talk about your background in book writing and journalism.
Mike Ulmer: Oh, well, I started when I was 20 years old. I took journalism at community college. And what happened there is I got a letter and said, congratulations, you’ve been accepted into the journalism program at Lambton College, which was my local community college in Sarnia. And even in the 80s, this was unusual since I had never applied. So, I went to my mom and said, what’s the deal here? I got this letter from Lambton College, and she looked very sheepish. And she said, well, I had to do something, could get you out of the house. Cause I was a bit of a deadbeat. And, and so she, well, in Canada, it’s called uttering a forged document. And I took Lampton, I went to Lampton college, and I’d love to tell you Nancy, that I was an immediate success, but I had no skin in the game. I flunked out my wife. I met my wife there. She graduated and still been a year ahead of me. She still is now. But I had to go out west and I got in a bit of an accident. I wasn’t injured, but I sort of got my head turned around and I decided I was working with Dynamite Nancy out in the bush. Even in the 12 minutes that we’ve been talking, any listener would tell you, this guy should not have dynamite. So, I went back, and I graduated and then I started, and I worked my way up. I always wanted to be a hockey writer. I always wanted to write about the Toronto Maple Leafs. I got my goal. I worked all the way through it. It took me many, many years then I reached where I wanted to be and then I blew it up. I did not know it at the time, but I had bipolar illness. The worst thing for someone with bipolar illness is to have a job like mine where I travel the world and rode on deadline and then had to get up for a plane the next day and travel between time zones and really pretty deadline-driven stress job. [10:32]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah.
Mike Ulmer: I had been sad before but so, what happened was you go to the doctor when you’re sad and the doctor does your presenting sad. So, the doctor does what they should do. They give you an antidepressant. And for a small percentage of people, that’s like putting air into a balloon that’s already full. So, you fill the balloon with air and naturally what happens is sooner or later, the balloon is either going to pop or it’s going to blow away and then it’s going to fly in the air and drop down on the floor completely empty. It takes people who have bipolar illness about 10 years to get the correct diagnosis. And they can do a lot of damage in those 10 years. So, I was lucky. It stalled my career, put it in a different trajectory. But I went to work for the people that own the maple leaves and the raptors and that. So, I’d done some good work, and they hired me, and I lasted seven years there. And then there was a new regime that came in. So, I didn’t know what I was going to do. They, you know, I left, and they walked me out, I should say. I didn’t leave because there was no question that I was to leave. So, they walked me out with this new administration, which was fine. They were very gracious, and they were really good to me, and I didn’t want to do what I was doing anyway. So, I don’t have anything bad to say, nothing but good things about what they did for me because I needed them at that time in my life. I was vulnerable and they hired me, and they were so gracious and accommodating. But anyway, I didn’t know what I wanted to do and then I went to B&I, Business Networking International. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it. It’s a very powerful group. I went there and I met businesspeople, and I didn’t even know there was this cohort of people who were out there figuring it out on themselves. I’m not working for anybody else and having the courage to operate their own business and I think that is a very courageous thing to do and a very lonely thing to do and I said, these people don’t have a story because I would talk to them, and they had no idea. So that gentleman I talked about, he was in my B&I group, and we got that figured out in about 10 minutes. But I’ve been sort of trying to figure out how to help people find their stories. And so, I write books for people, which is sort of like ghost writing, except I hound the hell out of you, Nancy. Like I did with Ron, I’ll ask difficult questions and make you uncomfortable to get that great, great powerful story that builds something between you and the reader. Because Ron was a truck guy. No one has a trucking company, but a lot of people have had alcoholics in their life. And so, you build that trust by that really, vulnerable thing in their life. If they’re willing to share it, when someone reads that, you just bring a light into that person’s life because for the first time, maybe ever, they’re not alone. That’s super, super powerful. Anyway, I started doing that and I’ve been doing that since. I write people’s books for them, as I mentioned, which is great fun. As I also mentioned, I say, listen, I’m going to give you a clarity in your life that you’ve never had. [13:27]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
Mike Ulmer: And I’m going to do that for X amount of dollars, and I’ll throw the book in for free. Because to my mind, the great benefit is the knowledge of who you are, what you do, why you do it and why you’re really, good at it. And once you know that you can communicate in unlimited ways. [13:46]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow. Well, how do you know if you could even write a book?
Mike Ulmer: Well, a lot of people are intimidated by it. I think anyone can write a book. Just keep your sentences short. Don’t write any more than three. The idea that I don’t have a story that people don’t have a story is not true. Everyone has a story, a compelling reason. Everyone has expertise because they’re in business, you know? And so, everyone has those three elements. Now, what I do is I’ll interview you and this is one of my services and we’ll find those three things. [14:20]
Nancy Calabrese: Right.
Mike Ulmer: If you want to write the book, we can coach you up and all that stuff. We can help you do that for a very reasonable cost. But if you want to just do it by yourself, that’s okay too. If you want us to write the book for you, we do that as well. But to answer your question, I don’t know if everyone can write a book, but everyone can figure out who they are, what they are, and why they do it. [14:44]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, so what I’m hearing you say is when you consider writing a book, first start with your own personal story. Is that right?
Mike Ulmer: Yes, ma’am. Yes, absolutely. And be as honest and vulnerable as you can.
Nancy Calabrese: Well, what about pictures? Are they good to use?
Mike Ulmer: I don’t know. I don’t have a lot of pictures in the books that we’ve produced. You know, and here’s the important thing, Nancy, pictures tell your story and here’s the dirty little secret about stories. No one gives a damn. People don’t give a shit about your stories, but they’ll walk across the mountain to hear your conclusions. Your story might amuse them or entice them for 30 seconds. Your conclusions can change their lives. They might keep those conclusions and use them all the way through their lives. So don’t write with an eye towards telling your story. Although the only reason the story is important is because it validates the conclusions as we talked about, the conclusions being the proposition. [15:49]
Nancy Calabrese: Interesting. Wow.
Mike Ulmer: So, anything that doesn’t speak to that proposition that didn’t bring you to that point, leave it out. But that doesn’t mean some of the bad things that have happened are difficult or challenging things you’ve had in your life. You shouldn’t include. But it’s the proposition. That’s what people need and that’s what they want. And that’s what when you write a book and someone devotes hours to reading your book, and our books are short, they’re only 20,000 words. So, you can finish them in two hours. But if someone’s doing that courtesy for you, then you must reward them because they’re putting everything, they know in their life down. Their kids, their bills, their hobbies, whatever. They’re stopping just to listen to you. So, you must honor that. You must give them something really, powerful because they’re investing the most powerful, precious thing they have and that’s their time. [16:41]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Right. their time. What is a reasonable number of words to write daily? I mean, we all have other jobs, right? Other things to do. So, what’s your recommendation?
Mike Ulmer: I think if you can write 200 words a day. Now that’s not much. That’s a little bit more than a laundry list. If you write 200 words a day times five days, that’s a thousand words. Have I got that right? Because your sales, so you have a basic grounding of math. So, if you’re writing a thousand words a day, 20 weeks makes 20,000. If you can’t say what you want to say in 20,000, you’re not staying the right thing. [17:21]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Yeah, wow. And generally, though, so how long does it typically take to write a book? Your thoughts?
Mike Ulmer: That one is hard, Nancy, because I always say, how long is the piece of rope? It really depends on the commitment of the person writing the book. We can coach you, we can set a goal limit, a word limit, but I can’t speak to what that other person will do because that has to come from them. [17:48]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. I mean, do you believe in deadlines?
Mike Ulmer: Well, someone who had to work to one, deadlines worked for me, but they don’t necessarily work for other people. But you know, there’s a reason why in labor negotiations, everything is done at the 11th hour, right? We feel an urgency. So I guess the answer, the better answer is yes, I believe in deadlines. Because I got to tell you, Nancy, if I took your third kid, if you didn’t have 20,000 words, if I took that kid and brought them to Moldavia, you’d make your 20,000 words, so it’s a question of how important it is to you. [18:21]
Nancy Calabrese: He got it.
Mike Ulmer: Maybe, I don’t know, maybe you want to get rid of your third kid and have me taking them all to you.
Nancy Calabrese: You have… No! No, no. Oh my God. Listen, you know, we’re almost up with time. Tell…what is the one takeaway you want to leave the audience with?
Mike Ulmer: I want to lead the audience with this. If you feel that your story is not worth telling, someone has gotten in your ear and lied to you because everyone has a compelling story. I make a living finding them. And that’s probably not going to be Jermaine to the hundreds and thousands, not hundreds, but thousands of people listening to your podcast. But here’s what is Jermaine. That person that told you haven’t got a story that’s worth listening, lied to you. Lied to you. Right. And that person should be consigned to the seventh circle of hell because people carry around that lie and build their beliefs on top of that thing. It’s like a faulty foundation. All you’re trying to do is build a good house, but if someone leaves you with that terrible foundation, you’re never going to have a great house. Whoever told you can’t write a book lied to you. Everyone can do it. [19:36]
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah. Well, they shouldn’t be in your life. Yeah.
Mike Ulmer: As long as you’re vulnerable and you’re truthful. And, and we talked about a formula tonight. Everyone can give it a go. I don’t know if you can, here’s, I don’t know if you can finish your book. I hope you can, but you can find out those three things with inquiry or having somebody ask you those questions. What’s your proposition? What’s your backstory? And of course, what kind of advice you can give. [20:00]
Nancy Calabrese: Wow, great conversation. We’re going to have to continue this some other time. How can my people find you?
Mike Ulmer: Oh, thank you! Well, you can find me at MikeUlmer.com. That’s Mike Ulmer, U-L-M-E-R.com. And, and I love speaking with people and, and we can, if they’re interested, we can have a five-minute convo and I can well figure out what they, what their next step is. And if they’re interested in more than me arrange more and down the line, but I just for me, this is the best part. [20:30]
Nancy Calabrese: I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for spending time with us and sharing your wisdom about books. You know, before meeting with you, I never thought about the importance of having a book published. So, everyone out there, get online, get in front of Mike. He’s an expert in this. And you can also tell he’s a lot of fun to work with. So, until we meet again, make it an awesome Book Day, everyone, and we’ll see you next time. Thanks again, Mike, for coming on the show.
Mike Ulmer: Well, Nancy, thank you for having me. I had a great time.
Nancy Calabrese: Yeah, me too. [21:09]
