The DP Group, LLC – Part 2

Summary:

Overview:

In this episode, we dive into the world of writing books, becoming an influencer, and building trust in business. Our guest, Divya Parekh, an author and speaker, shares valuable insights on these subjects, highlighting the significance of personal connection, trust-building, and tailoring services to individual needs. We also explore the value of additional content in books, the refinement process, and the role of podcasting in promoting books.

Topics:

Writing Books:

– Divya Parekh, a passionate writer, has authored around 11-50 books.

– She recommends two of her favorite books, "The Entrepreneur’s Guide to an Expert to Influencer" and "Expert to Influencer," which provide entrepreneurs with a long-term approach to entrepreneurship and help them position themselves for meaningful impact.

Becoming an Influencer:

– Building trust and establishing oneself as an authority are crucial steps in becoming an influencer.

– Divya emphasizes the importance of engaging with people, listening to their needs, and tailoring approaches accordingly.

– In a time of skepticism and unease, trust-building becomes even more essential.

Building Trust in Business:

– Many businesses tend to focus on sales and presentations rather than building trust with customers.

– Divya suggests that sharing personal stories and achievements can be a powerful sales tool.

– To maintain trust with clients, it is vital to deliver on promises and avoid empty talk or misleading contracts.

Transcript:

00:00:00] Anthony Perl: I hope you’ve had a chance to listen to part one of this interview on Biz Bites. Stay tuned now for part two. Welcome to Biz Bites brought to you by CommTogether, helping businesses like yours, build their brand through telling amazing stories to engage and grow audiences on multiple platforms. I, I wanted to talk to you as well about, you know, For people who are listening into the podcast, you can’t see that Divya’s got a couple of books behind her that she’s, that she’s authored, and I know authoring books is something that’s dear to your heart.

[00:00:39] So talk to me firstly about your two books and then, because I also want to ask you about helping others with books as well.

[00:00:47] Divya Parekh: Absolutely. So I personally have written quite a few books, around 10 to 12 books, and writing has been very dear to my heart since I was a child. And it’s a funny story. I used to write short stories, poems, and whenever somebody came to our house, usually parents are pushing their kids.

[00:01:06] You know what? Why don’t you sing a song? Why don’t you recite a poem? Why don’t you show your artwork? And people bless their heart. They would barely step in the house. They wouldn’t even sit down when we had company and I’d bring, Hey, I’ve written this short story and my parents would say, let them take a breath.

[00:01:25] And of course this was a running joke till I got older. And so stories are very close to my heart. And even though I’ve been in the. World of science and my world has traversed through different landscapes. I’m I’m like river taking on the landscape where you’re at. And one of the, my favorite quotes is be like water there.

[00:01:50] You are just there and you can adopt and adapt to different things. That doesn’t mean that water loses its power or its authenticity. It’s part of it. So I’ve got like several books and. These two books are a couple of my favorites. The Entrepreneur’s Garden and Exposed to Influencers. So both of them are designed to help people, entrepreneurs, create their entrepreneurship as a long game rather than discounting your short term costs.

[00:02:27] And Expert to Influencer is more about the impact. It’s about positioning yourself for meaningful impact. For me, impact is the ultimate expression of oneself. So those, those are a couple of my books.

[00:02:41] Anthony Perl: I love that. And certainly the idea of, Expert to Influencer is a space again that we share in common because often, and it surprised me over the years, how many times I’ve spoken to people I would consider leaders in their business.

[00:02:57] And their skillset is not even fully understood by their own team. I recall a discussion with one particular person, maybe about a year ago now, where he was talking me through his set of expertise and how he was frustrated with the fact that people would go and ask all sorts of other questions of him and then ask questions that they should be asking of him, going and saying, does anybody know anybody who could do, who could, You know, give us a response to this and, and, and that kind of level of putting yourself out there as the, you know, not only making it known that you’re the expert, but becoming the influencer, even within your organisation, because of your expertise, not being afraid to put yourself out there and market your brand in lots of different ways. , it’s such an important facet of being successful.

[00:03:51] Divya Parekh: That is so true. You’re absolutely right on the mark, and the thing is that becoming an influencer is not just that people recognise you. It’s more about building that trust. And as you build the trust, people will turn to you for questions, and it’s not about the authority.

[00:04:08] It’s not about the title that demands. It’s more of a subtle influence that’s built on trust.

[00:04:19] Anthony Perl: Yeah, it’s, and, and trust is such a big thing and it’s hard to earn trust, in this day and age and, and you have to use whatever opportunities you have. To build that trust with people, because unfortunately there’s so much scamming and bad things that are going on everywhere that there is an unease about people, whether they trust someone or not, and, and it is the way people engage and how they show up and, and taking the time to listen to who it is that you’re talking to as well, I think is, is interesting.

[00:04:57] The, the amount of times when I’ve had, and anyone who’s in business has had this a million times over. You decide to have a conversation with someone, whether, you know, it’s a sales conversation or not. And all of a sudden, the PowerPoint slide comes out and they’re giving you the same story that they’ve given 1000 times before.

[00:05:17] And they’ll give 1000 times over again. And you’re thinking. You’re not even paying any attention to who I am and what I’m about, I had one recently that did that and I even implored him during the conversation, don’t bring out the presentation because I know what that part is about. I want to talk to you about other things.

[00:05:37] He still brought the presentation out. Um, I think I got one follow up email. Um, that was a very gentle, Oh, you know, do you want to continue the conversation? But it was, he was just in that sales mindset and it was just, okay, click over to the next one. And I was just like, you don’t realise that you didn’t have to do much to completely change that dynamic.

[00:06:01] And I think that’s being lost in this sort of very salesy culture that we have, uh, that’s going on. And, and the real cut through is, is, is, as you’re talking about is becoming an influencer. You definitely

[00:06:15] Divya Parekh: hit the nail on the head that we do have a very salesy culture. And the way I see it is that when you’re sharing your story, and if you share it just from heart, it speaks about where you’ve been and what you’ve achieved.

[00:06:32] And that’s. One of the best sales tool that you can have, because all you’re doing is you’re sharing and serving others, keeping good intentions at heart where people are being great. So, like, just recently, I had an experience. So, for example, whenever we are helping people. Their books. We make sure that we are going to the nth degree to make sure that our clients are supported.

[00:07:01] And I was talking with, uh, one of the new vendors that we were talking and there was such big talk. And when we look at the contract aid was very like, you know, when my lawyer took a look at it, it said that yes, in one , one paragraph. It is like, oh, we deliver things on time and we are devoted and we are committed to it.

[00:07:25] And in the next paragraph, it was, we will need at least three attempts by you to contact us before we will deliver if we are delayed. And then even after that, you have to allow us 15 days of grace time. And I’m like, I’m so glad that I have my lawyer. Otherwise, it’s all this wonderful talk. And then when you go and look at it.

[00:07:52] Anthony Perl: Yeah, that’s um, a sad, uh, a sad reality. And I think we could all tell lots of stories of similar experiences, which makes it that much easier to stand out if you do the right thing. And I think that’s the, the important point is, is doing that. Right. I wanted to, to also ask you, you touched on a little bit there because.

[00:08:12] You’ve, you’ve not only authored your own books, you’ve helped other people write their books as well. So, so talk me through that process and the kinds of books that you’ve been working on. Yeah,

[00:08:25] Divya Parekh: absolutely. So the whole idea is that the first key thing is to know if you’re the right fit or not. If our team is going to be able to help the author because it’s a piece of that it’s it’s almost like think about like, you know, you have a newborn baby and you’re finding the right partners like where you can leave your child for the day and make sure that like, you know, when you come back, your child is not only safe.

[00:08:51] It’s your child is also growing. Your child is happy. Your child is learning. So, similarly, when authors come to us, you know, it’s their piece of heart and. recently like met two wonderful ladies. I’ve already spent eight to 10 hours and there’s no promise or not even like a contract drawn or anything, but it’s about getting to know them.

[00:09:16] Like, you know, what is their vision? How are they going to be impacting the reader? What is the story? Is it trauma? Is it, is it just writing a business book? Is it writing? their memoir? Is it writing a children’s book? So understanding, first of all, what the author wants, then understanding what the reader will get out of it, because that’s really important.

[00:09:37] When somebody’s reading a book, they’re giving you their time. And when somebody gives you the gift of their time, it’s important to recognize that and also to know that people are distracted. Human beings have attention span less than that of a goldfish. Yes, we are worse than that of a goldfish. So we have to make sure it’s engaging, it’s compelling and.

[00:10:01] If it’s the right fit, we move forward and then we create a charter that how the whole project will look. Make sure that we are all on the same page with same expectations so there are no surprises. And mistakes happen. Mistakes happen at our end. Mistakes happen at the author’s end, and it’s completely fine because without failing, without experimenting, we can go ahead.

[00:10:26] And then we adjust and adapt and then we go from ideation to completion. So, and also helping people if they need their courses to be done or if they need to be taken for creating from the books to, you know, speaking engagements and all that. So, we help them like set up everything and it’s all based on what is their needs.

[00:10:50] We never push ourselves. And as you mentioned, I didn’t talk about it at all because you brought it up, I’m sharing. It’s all about what are the needs and. We do not push our whole programs down anybody’s throat. It’s all about what did they need? Where are they and what’s the best way we can support them in

[00:11:11] Anthony Perl: their success.

[00:11:12] It’s the more modern twist of how things of where things are going. I should say it’s probably the best way of describing it. It’s really interesting to me that, and perhaps it was still the case when we first started talking some time back that this whole idea of pushing, um, various. Products and packages predetermined packages.

[00:11:35] You can buy X package and it includes ABCDE and this is what you get. I’ve certainly found in the last year in particular that, and it’s certainly what we do is we listen to what people want. Retailer something to suit their needs. Yes. Is there a consistency with some? I do have a bunch of clients that have opted for pretty much the same idea and you could have turned it as a package in the past, but honestly, it just happened to be that that’s what suited their particular needs.

[00:12:09] And if they’d have wanted some slight variations, it wouldn’t have been a problem without having to pre. Predetermined, putting things, people into little boxes. I always hated being put into a box, uh, in the, in the past. Um, and, uh, I don’t think many people really like that either. And particularly, you know, as going back to what we were talking about before, if you want to be an expert and an influencer, then you don’t want to be in a box.

[00:12:32] Um, you know, you want to be out of the box in that regard. To, um, change tact a little bit for a moment, because you touched on a little bit about writing stories from when we were really young. So tell me what inspired that. What, what made you get into that whole storytelling idea when you were, when you were young and how much of an influence was your parents on that?

[00:13:00] Divya Parekh: So I’ll share that, like, um, my grandma, my dad and my mom, you know, they used to tell a lot of stories. And the years gap between my older sibling and myself is quite a bit. So it was almost being like only child and So you cannot have a playmate all the time. So yes, you have playdates and all that, but the same token So who is your best companion?

[00:13:28] Books. So I would just take a book Go up and my three years to love My parents used to hate that and I would just take a book and it would be nice mystery books. I started reading gosh, like the famous five and Enid Blyden and I forget all of those, uh, storybooks like since I was very young was exposed to books and I would go to the library and just pick it was just a natural love.

[00:14:01] Not sure if there was a specific time or something that influenced, I guess it was because my imagination would run and I would see some gremlins and some gnomes in the clouds and just kind of think, Oh, this could be the magical, this could be this. So I would take the book and the world that the books.

[00:14:23] Opened up and then created my own as a world, so to speak.

[00:14:27] Anthony Perl: I lo I love that because I, you know, creative writing is something that is, um, I think is, uh, un underdone as we’re, as we are being educated. It was always one of the fun things that I, I love doing and taking inspiration from different things to, uh, to get you started.

[00:14:44] And, and I think that’s the hard part too is, is that taking inspiration as a starting point and then going somewhere different can sometimes be perceived as, uh, copying. And, but because they, people focus on the, on the, Oh yes, I’ve seen this little bit before somewhere else. You just copy that idea. And they get focused on that rather than the journey that you take them on.

[00:15:07] So, um, and, and I love that whole creative space, but I’m interested then how you go from the very creative to obviously when you’re helping people write books and, and it’s not creative in the same way because you’re trying to extract ideas as you’ve done in your own book that are about reality, not fantasy.

[00:15:30] Divya Parekh: So it’s more about co creation rather than pushing somebody into my thinking. It’s again meeting them where they’re at and understanding, listening to them. It goes back to the basics and essence of coaching is that what is it that they want? What is it that they want to share? And then gently first brainstorming and getting everything out from the head to the paper, so to speak, or from the heart to the paper.

[00:16:01] And then helping them gently go through the journey and bringing in that this is good. Let’s see what another unique angle can we take because this angle has already been talked about so much. Because the idea is not just to help them write a book, but it’s something that their business can stand on.

[00:16:24] Or whether if it’s an executive. It helps them position themselves that this is my perspective, even though this has been talked about so gently nudging them and also sometimes telling them what they don’t want to hear.

[00:16:40] Anthony Perl: No, that’s that’s perfectly right. And I love that because really, that’s where that creative storytelling that you had comes into play here, isn’t it?

[00:16:48] It’s it is that idea of how do you make it. Different and own it yourself and carry something in a direction that hasn’t been explored, uh, or at least not based on the experiences that that individual has had. And, uh, I love how that comes into play in the way that you go about what you, what you do. And there’s

[00:17:09] Divya Parekh: always, they have the full creative control.

[00:17:11] It’s not my idea of how things should be. It’s about how they want to do it. It’s just helping them blossom. So I always look at, I’ve always sometimes just kind of seen my roses and, you know, there would be tight buds and I would go back. And again, especially in the morning, if sometimes there might be a little bit of dew on these beautiful buds and then how they’re unfolding.

[00:17:37] And every flower is beautiful in its sense. It’s just about providing them the right sunshine and a little bit of water and a little bit of fertiliser so that they already have the greatness within them. Just allowing that space and creating that space and gently nudging them and guiding them to achieve.

[00:17:59] Their greatness and stepping into

[00:18:01] Anthony Perl: their power and I think that brings to the important point is is why people write a book because. It is, I think it’s a, you know, almost summed up in, in your book, uh, in the title expert to influencer, because that’s, you need to put things down, you need to, um, you need to broadcast them, uh, in some way and we’ll publish them in some way in order for you to own that influencer space, right?

[00:18:30] So the, so the book as, as with a podcast as well as an important aspect of, of that transition, isn’t it? It is

[00:18:41] Divya Parekh: absolutely right and it’s an expensive business card, writing a book is not cheap. And I always say that it’s an expensive business card on steroids. And here’s the thing. There’s so many different mediums.

[00:18:55] You can have any medium that you like. Book is something that is almost like if you are, especially if you are writing a good quality book, you have to draw a line in the sand. You have to own your perspective and stand behind it. Because once it’s published, you don’t know who’s bought the book. Any other media, you can delete it, pull it back, you know, and take down the podcast.

[00:19:24] Book is something like, once it’s out there, it’s published, you don’t know on whose computer it is, who has downloaded it, or who has bought it. So you know that the longevity of the book is tremendous. That’s one thing. And then the second thing is because you’re taking so many ideas that you may have, or you may have years worth of experience, and now you’re distilling it down to those nuggets of wisdom.

[00:19:52] So it also speaks to your wisdom and to your expertise, that how you can extract it so that your reader can benefit, giving them just The right amount and just giving that knowledge, whether it’s a how to book or even if it’s story in the right order in the right sequence at the right time, having that flow so that the reader keeps on turning the page and they’re like, Oh, you know what, this chapter was so long.

[00:20:24] This chapter was about this and then somebody just started talking and like one paragraph is leading. There’s no flow. There is no structure. So that goes into a good book and that’s why like when you write a book and if it is good and if I may share I am very honored to say that like my book expert twin flintster has been a bestseller for four years and you will not go and find all five star reviews, no.

[00:20:52] And I don’t believe in that because it’s important, you know, you’ll hear from people what they don’t like about it. You can please all. And that’s one of the other things about writing a book. It tells that you’re writing, despite having that fear. It does take courage to write a book because people will leave review.

[00:21:11] You can control that. It’s okay.

[00:21:15] Anthony Perl: I love that. Yes, you, you’re a hundred percent right. That, that, um, it’s, it’s one of those things about, uh, uh, A book is that it’s putting things down and you can’t go back and change it. Yes, you can do a new edition of it and things, but if someone has that edition, that first edition, they’ve got that first edition and it doesn’t, isn’t going to change from there.

[00:21:35] And it is that refinement process. And that’s where I, you know, I love the art of. Of the podcasting, because it comes in and supports the authors, uh, because I think that’s one of the pain points. I wanted to ask you about is that a lot of people write the book, not all of them go on to be bestsellers, um, and they’ve put a lot of time and often money into, uh, into producing that book and then it kind of Sits there and I think the, the, the value is that you still have to go out and talk about it.

[00:22:11] Right. And whether, whether it is a podcast or other means, you need to keep talking about it so that people knowing that you are an influencer.

[00:22:22] Divya Parekh: Oh, you’re absolutely right on the mark, Anthony, that podcast is a perfect duo to a book because. You have done the work, you have put in all this time. Now it’s important to get it out there.

[00:22:36] And what better way than podcast? Because it’s again, you’re speaking not just one to one, you’re speaking one to many. And podcast has a lot of longevity, especially let’s say, you know, you have joined a wonderful host, just like yourself, an amazing host who creates that space for you to share. And now you have that link that is sitting On the media for a long time versus if you’re comparing that to a blog post or even a video you have done, and you can take that link and share it out so many times.

[00:23:11] You can do so many things with the podcast. You can create snippets. You can use that on your social media. You can use it to send it out to your. Email list. And again, that’s a good credibility builder because somebody invited you. Somebody’s thinking somebody who has put a lot of time and effort in their audience is willing to have you as their guest.

[00:23:35] What more powerful can there be as an accompaniment? To writing a book.

[00:23:42] Anthony Perl: I 100 percent agree with you. It’s, um, the power in being able to speak things and to keep talking about stuff and to add value to your book. I think that’s the interesting thing that the book, as you rightly said, is a reference. find process to get there.

[00:24:00] You can’t fit everything in, but you can in the act of talking about the book and whether it’s your own podcast series or whether you’re, um, appearing on other people’s podcasts, it gives you an avenue to start telling those additional stories or expanding on some of the things in the ideas in the book to carry it forward.

[00:24:19] And more often than not, probably sparks the idea for what the next book will be as well. But through the course of those conversations, which, you know, continues that opportunity for you to be an influencer.

[00:24:32] Divya Parekh: Absolutely. You said it and also think about it. People are nowadays more interested in the author along with the book itself.

[00:24:41] So when you are showing up on podcast, you’re. Readers are getting to know about you, and when they get to know about you, they’re like, Hmm, I like that author. You know what? I would like to check out that book. So it goes both ways. It’s not only like you’re talking about the book, but you’re also letting your readers get to know about you as well.

[00:25:00] Anthony Perl: Absolutely and I’ve, I’ve seen books, uh, where there’s QR codes in the books to links to audio and video files to tell you more about a particular thing that they couldn’t fit into the actual book, which also can double up as a, hey, if you haven’t read the book. Go and read the book. Um, so it works both ways and you can get so much value out of it.

[00:25:22] Um, and, and that’s, I guess why you and I have been speaking for so long and why we’ve become, uh, connected over an extended period of time because there’s so much similarity in, in what we’re doing and how much it complements one another. Um, look, before we wrap things up, I just wanted to ask you one question that I like to ask my guests.

[00:25:43] What Is the aha moment that people have when they work with you that you wish more people kind of knew that they were going to have an advance.

[00:25:54] Divya Parekh: It is the transformation in their energy and I can share with you. I’m so blessed to share and honored to have been part of people’s journey. Most of the time people will say, I’m so energised, I’m ready, like, I’m ready to take on that next step.

[00:26:10] I mean, I’m not saying that happens every single time. It happens quite often enough. That just to see their smile, or that twinkle in their eyes, or that sparkle on their face when they’ve had that aha moment, it is so rewarding and fulfilling. It’s knowing that yes, you can have that aha moment too. Yes, you can have that transformation, and yes, you can be the more of you, and why not?

[00:26:43] Be, bring and be more of you because you are unique.

[00:26:50] Anthony Perl: I love that. It’s such a good way to, uh, to end the program. Uh, I just want to thank you so much for being so generous with your time. Um, and also for sharing all of those amazing stories and, and the work that you do in helping bring out other people’s stories.

[00:27:07] That’s what I love. And, uh. As we, we do with all of our podcasts, we’ll include lots of information in our show notes on how to get in contact with you and to follow Divya on LinkedIn as well, amongst other places. So thank you so much for being a great guest on Biz Bites. Thank you.

[00:27:26] Divya Parekh: Thank you, Anthony, for having me because Anthony, you know, you are such a good host and wonderful podcaster that.

[00:27:33] Really appreciate that. Thank

[00:27:35] Anthony Perl: you. Thank you. And, uh, everyone stay tuned, of course, to the next episode of Biz Bites. Biz Bites is brought to you by CommTogether for all your marketing needs, so you can build your brand, engage audiences on multiple platforms. Go to CommTogether.com.au. Follow the links to book an appointment for a free consultation.

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