Unlocking Wisdom: How To Read, Implement & Grow with Nick Hutchison of Book Thinkers

Join us on an inspiring journey with Nick Hutchison from Book Thinkers, as we explore the powerful intersection of reading and personal growth. 

From my own life-altering experience with Phil Knight's "Shoe Dog" to Nick's transition from sales expert to reading advocate, we uncover the timeless wisdom in fundamental books like "Selling to Win" by Richard Denny. Discover how Nick's passion for connecting authors with readers shapes our conversation.

Learn how to transform daily commutes into opportunities for knowledge with audiobooks and podcasts. We discuss the benefits of visual learning and critique traditional education, using "Blue Ocean Strategy" as an example of the value of physical books for comprehension.

We also share Nick's journey into authorship, discussing imposter syndrome and creating accessible content. Join us in celebrating Nick's achievements and explore the growth of an authentic social media presence.

This episode is an invitation to embark on your own reading and personal growth journey with us.

Enjoy!

Connect with Nick at https://bookthinkers.com
UK Listeners Buy Rise Of The Reader here: https://amzn.to/3HZiBI7
US Listeners Buy Rise Of The Reader here: https://a.co/d/6Liql9T
Follow Bookthinkers on Instagram and DM Nick with your problem for a custom book recommendation: https://www.instagram.com/bookthinkers/reels

Links:
Roberto on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/robertorevillalondon
Tailoring Talk on Instagram http://www.instagram.com/tailoringtalkpodcast

Credits
Tailoring Talk Intro and Outro Music by Wataboy on Pixabay
Edited & Produced by Roberto Revilla
Connect with Roberto head to https://allmylinks.com/robertorevilla
Email the show at tailoringtalkpodcast@gmail.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome to Tailoring. Talk with Roberto Rivilla, your beacon in bespoke tailoring and menswear design. Here, it's not just about crafting custom clothing and footwear. It's about unlocking your potential through style and enriching personal development. Support us by subscribing and, if you can leave a quick rating or review, it helps the show immensely. Joining us today is the founder of Book Thinkers, a powerhouse marketing agency linking authors and readers. In a remarkable seven-year journey, he's built a platform reaching over a million people monthly and hosts a top global podcast featuring luminaries like Brunt Cardone. His work spans from boosting authors' outreach to empowering readers to harness the power of books. His latest book, rise of the Reader, delves into mastering reading habits for real-life impact. Tailoring Talkers. Let's warmly welcome the transformative reading advocate, nick Hutchison, to the show. Nick, how are you?

Speaker 2: 1:10

Roberto, I'm doing very well. Can I ask you the first question today?

Speaker 1: 1:14

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 1:15

I love that Go for it, switch things up a bit. So what is the best book that you've read in the last year or so? And you already mentioned Shoe Dog to me, so maybe you have another recommendation.

Speaker 1: 1:28

No, it has to be Shoe Dog, because I wish I had it here. It's in the other room so I'm not going to leave you right now, but it is Shoe Dog. I will try to think of another one, but Shoe Dog is single-handedly the book that I have a very short attention span as well, so when I'm reading it's like I've got to get to the point. I find that with a lot of nonfiction books they tend to sort of promise you this is what you're going to get if you read this, and then you're kind of like two thirds of the way in and you still haven't got what you came for, and that really gets up my grill.

Speaker 1: 2:09

I'm not even sure that's the right expression. But Shoe Dog. I read and absorbed every single word in that book and it is definitely the book where I have got the most corners of the pages turned over in it and I just keep it on my desk by my MacBook and I'm constantly going back to referring to it. There are future plans I've got for my business where things that Phil talks about in that book are so yeah, sorry, that was a longer answer than you probably wanted.

Speaker 2: 2:41

No, I wanted you to talk as much as you wanted about it. I love hearing people's favorite reads of recent memory, because I love books. So thank you for indulging my curiosity.

Speaker 1: 2:53

No, no, you're welcome. I mean I can give you another one. It's Selling to Win by Richard Denney. So it's another kind of nonfiction book. But I've just gone back to that book, sort of 20 years, 20 plus years later, oh, there's fireworks going off in the background. What is going on on the 15th of December that people could possibly be letting fireworks off?

Speaker 1: 3:20

I live in, I don't know, I live in a suburb of London, nick, and all sorts of weird stuff goes on around here. Anyway, so he's a professional sales trainer and he wrote this book, selling to Win, which for me and it has been quoted as single-handedly like the best book on selling ever written and it's the book I first read to try and educate myself on sales and how to be a salesperson and all the rest of it. And I've just gone back to it more recently because my business is at a stage where now it needs to go to another level and I'm just going back and kind of reeducating myself. But he's now updated that book and it's in audio form, which wasn't available 20, 25 years ago. And so it's kind of nice to have this guy, who I sort of see as a sort of distant mentor's voice, in my head when I'm walking around or cycling or whatever, and sort of reteaching me the things that I learned all that time ago.

Speaker 2: 4:19

Yeah, I know we'll probably dive into my reading journey, but I started in the world of sales and marketing and I've read tons and tons of books on selling, on communication, persuasion, negotiation, all of those types of things. But I haven't read that book. So I will add it to my list and if I was interviewing you, there were some things that I'd want to unpack along that journey as well. The audiobook thing, consuming content on the move, all that type of stuff. It's also fascinating to me, but I'll kick it back over to you because I could probably interview you for the whole show.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Yeah, exactly, and our listeners will be scratching their heads thinking like who is this guy? So you are calling in from Boston, one of my favorite and my wife's favorite cities in the whole of the US of A. Are you Boston?

Speaker 2: 5:04

native. Yes, I grew up about a half an hour south of the city, so I did grow up in Massachusetts and then I went to school in another state over here in the US. I went to be around to some other states for a while, but I'm back. I'm back where I grew up, just about 20 minutes from where I grew up.

Speaker 1: 5:21

And as we were talking about Shoe Dog and the movie Air, with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, two of your most famous exports I would say yes, I love both of those guys. There's one film I think it was the first one that Ben Affleck directed the Town where they were. I think Jeremy Renner was in that as well. They were like bank robbers. It was such a great movie. It was one of the first movies I bought on, like ultra 4K Blu-ray or whatever. Anyway, sorry, that's enough about Boston. So Avid Reader, I'm guessing you've been an Avid Reader since an early age. But just take us through your kind of journey and how you kind of then got to be sort of immersed in the world of books, reading authors et cetera, and doing that as a full-time career.

Speaker 2: 6:17

So it'll surprise you to hear this, given my background, all of my books and everything in my business. But I was not much of a reader growing up. I was more of the athlete stereotype, not really much of the academic stereotype, and so when I was younger, you couldn't pay me to read a book. I focused most of my time on playing games, hanging out outside, playing sports. By the time I was in high school, I focused almost exclusively on sports at the expense of everything else around me. Now I was capable, right. So this isn't a sad story or anything like that. I just chose not to invest myself in books at the time and we could talk about why, if you want, in a couple of minutes, but I'll continue with the story. So that behavior you can't teach me anything. I don't want to read books. It followed me through most of my college experience as well. But everything changed when I was going into my senior year of college or university and I took an internship at a local software company and my boss, Kyle he sort of took me under his wing pretty fast, I think. He saw some unfulfilled potential and he said to me one day Nick, listen, you're commuting an hour each way five days a week. It's 10 hours a week in the car Going to the same music, the same playlist, the same radio station for the 1,000th time. Yeah, it's fun, but it's not going to get you closer to where you want to be in life. I see you're driven. I see you want more. You should check out podcasts. So that was my first introduction to the world of personal development.

Speaker 2: 7:47

I was 20 years old and I started consuming shows where successful people were being interviewed, and what I noticed very quickly was that so many of those successful people give at least some credit for their success to the books that they had read earlier in their journey. And I started to hear the same titles over and over and, over and over again and eventually I just realized if I want to be successful and I'm deliberately choosing to ignore the things that made these people successful, that's not great. So I went to my local, a local bookstore with my list in hand. I grabbed about 10 books. Some of them were on my list, some of the best sellers of all time, and some of them just caught my attention while I was in the store and I went home and I started reading, and the rest is history. For the last 10 years I've read 50, 60, 70 books a year and I don't think I'll ever stop. I have this insatiable curiosity to learn more, and they're all nonfiction personal development, philosophy, psychology, business type books.

Speaker 1: 8:48

But I can see where all of that time invested in reading and personal development has paid off and helped to shape you into the confident, articulate, intelligent, gracious, amazing human being that I have in front of me.

Speaker 2: 9:05

I've got to have you introduce me next time I give a speech or something.

Speaker 1: 9:10

No problem at all. Just hit me up Like you can get me on a satellite link or whatever. I don't even. It's not a satellite link anymore, is it? Wow, that made me sound so fricking old. There was something that you said there about what your your old boss, you know said to you when he took you under your wing.

Speaker 1: 9:25

But a lot of us don't realize the amount of time that we do waste. I mean, it's certainly something that I realized in recent years and, like you, that's how I got into podcasts and into audiobooks as well, and it's that I spend a good amount of my time running around. I use a Vespa to get around town, to see clients, or sometimes, you know, but well, I use everything right, literally trains, tubes, I drive, I have the Vespa, I cycle. That involves dead time where I could either be listening to music and again I'll have my album of the moment or my playlist at the moment and I'll just listen to the same damn thing nonstop or I could actually use that time to listen to a personal development type podcast or listen to the books the audio versions of the books that I have racked up on my shelves in almost every single damn room of the house that I've never actually had the chance to pick up and read before, Because when I add up the amount of compute time, sometimes it adds up to a third of each day. Now, if you take a third of each day working day, let's say, is 12 hours for me anyway. Four hours times by five, that's 20 hours a week. I mean that's almost a whole constant day where you could either just be putting junk food into your brain or you could actually be educating yourself and making yourself better. And so I came to that realization recently. So I will almost definitely.

Speaker 1: 11:00

You talked about, you know, e-readers and audiobooks and stuff. I still prefer having the physical thing. Me too, right, because, like with Shoe Dog, and I read. So I read Shoe Dog this summer when I was on vacation, and I also read Horkature, which was a book written by a lady called Angela Taylor George, who I've had the good fortune to interview on this podcast, and she founded a number of fashion brands and labels through the 80s 90s, so I read her book.

Speaker 1: 11:38

I also read Lou Ocean Strategy, which is a book that had been recommended to me by a client when I first started to build my business 12 years ago and I'd never read it. And this was a super successful guy that you know told me. You know, give did that book to me and I just didn't read it. What an idiot. So I read that one as well. And the thing I love about having a physical book is I can do things like make notes on them and like thumb pages over and fold them over and put post-it notes in and all that kind of stuff. But the thing that I do nowadays is that I will get the physical copy and I will also get the audio copy as well, so that I've got a full back. So if I'm not reading the physical copy, I've got the audio copy to read while I'm racing around everywhere.

Speaker 2: 12:30

Yeah, one of the suggestions I actually give in the opening to my book Rise of the Reader is to try both at the same time. So a lot of people have a hard time staying in the book. They become easily distracted. You mentioned short attention span. So if you crank the audio book up to something like 1.5 speed and you read the physical book at the same time, you're getting that auditory input to your brain and the visual input to your brain at the same time and you're keeping pace because the audio book is making you stick with the pace. So it's a cool sort of multi-sensory experience when you do it that way.

Speaker 2: 13:08

And I listen, I read, let's just say, about 100 books a year these days, 30 of which are consumed, 30 of which are audio books. Only the other 70 are physical paper books. And here's the fact. Some people hate me when I say this, but 80% of the inputs to our brain are visual 80%. So if you're only listening to information, it's harder to form a relationship with each sentence, it's harder to develop an emotional connection to what you're hearing and then store it in a place that you can then go take action on.

Speaker 2: 13:44

So by default, right, the other senses only make up 20%, and when we're listening, we're on the VESPA or we're cycling or we're driving or doing chores, and so we're multitasking. But what a good physical paper book does is it gets you to do the opposite of multitasking. It gets you to mono task, to focus on one activity at a time, and that's a skill set that you can develop over time. When I first started reading, I couldn't stay in a book for more than a few minutes. Now I can read for hours because it's a skill that I've developed over time and it just happens through repetition and exposure.

Speaker 1: 14:23

So I obviously haven't read Rise of the Reader, idiot, but I am going to get my copy straight after this recording.

Speaker 2: 14:31

Okay, and the audiobook just dropped today as well, so you could try listening and reading, if you don't hate my voice.

Speaker 1: 14:41

No, your voice is awesome. I think it's a couple octaves deeper than mine, so you actually sound more competent than I did. I'm not sure my voice ever broke. The book, I'm guessing at least, starts off by giving people those kind of skills and techniques to sort of teach people how to read, which kind of sounds a bit sort of dumb when you say it out loud, but in actual fact it is a skill that you need to develop and you need repetition to make it a habit as well.

Speaker 2: 15:16

Right, we're never taught how to implement information. We're only taught how to memorize it for a short period of time so that we can be tested on it. You know two days later, and then we forget it the day after we take the test, right? So I think the traditional public education systems all over the world are broken because they don't teach you real world experience. I mean in the real world. You have access to your phone, which could store your notes and you could use them to solve a problem, right? So there are so many things in the real world that aren't represented, I think, in the public education system, especially over here in the US. But yes, right in the beginning of my book. So the title is Rise of the Reader and the subtitle is Strategies for Mastering your Reading Habits and Applying what you Learn.

Speaker 2: 16:00

Because when I started reading these books 10 years ago, they were exciting but they didn't do much for me because I didn't implement anything from them. Everything went in one ear and out the other. I didn't have any strategies for internalizing and organizing the information, let alone actually changing my behavior and putting it to use. So when you read a good sales book, you can implement things from it. Different scripts, different cadences, different catchphrases, different objection handling techniques, closing techniques, email templates, whatever is in that book.

Speaker 2: 16:35

You can use those things, and it's only when you use those things that the book actually helps you in life, right? So that's what I optimize for and that's what I try to help people optimize for. So, right in the beginning, the introduction is full of four different tips to get more from the books you're reading. Then I go into my story for just a little bit of time talking about some of the early books I've read, some of the things that I've learned over the last couple of years, and then I go right into strategies for effective note-taking, strategies for action and all sorts of things like that.

Speaker 1: 17:08

Did the book come before the business or after the book's more recent right?

Speaker 2: 17:15

Yeah, the book just launched on November 1st, but my business started all the way back in 2017 by accident, actually.

Speaker 1: 17:23

So let's talk about that accident. Then it doesn't look or sound like it was something that would have been started by accident, because when you look at it on paper a platform that connects authors and readers it sounds like a dream come true, especially for authors, right? Because that's what you want to do. You write a book, you put your heart, passion and soul into it, unless it's like some people I've met recently who their books were written by GPT4. Yeah, and then you want to connect with an audience. So it sounds like a dream come true, but to hear you say that it was kind of an accident, take me through that please.

Speaker 2: 17:58

Sure, so we'll go back to 2015. I'm at this summer internship and I just discover how great these books are. It's a sales internship, so I start reading about sales and communication about business. I start to understand how the world works through a financial literacy perspective and I get to know the subject of money as I continue to read throughout my senior year. I continue with that company, I graduate, I take a full-time position with them as I graduate and I work for another six months after graduation before I decide, hey, I'd like to start my own business here on the side, Because I was reading so many of these books.

Speaker 2: 18:39

They were becoming a subject of conversation that I just couldn't go without. I mean, I was handing out books to people for Christmas gifts. I was gifting books all over the place. I had books all over my room, my apartment. They were scattered everywhere. They were in my office space, at my cubicle. I mean I was posting about them on my personal social media, because these books condensed decades of somebody else's lived experience and greatest life lessons into days of reading.

Speaker 2: 19:08

And as a salesperson, I started to read a sales book, apply it, and then I would make more money. And then I would read another one, apply it and I would make more money. And I started to fly up the ladder in this company I was working for and I just couldn't understand how people weren't reading about how to improve their health, their fitness, their diet, their nutrition, their personal finances, their investing, their business, their mental headspace, philosophy, psychology, Like. I just didn't understand why more people weren't talking about it. My friends, most of them, wanted nothing to do with this type of stuff, so I defaulted to social media. I built an Instagram page, originally BookThinkers, which it still is today, where I just started posting about the books that I was reading. Now, around that same time, I had an idea with a couple of my friends to build a mobile application that could help readers retain and implement more from the books they were reading. Long story short, it didn't come to fruition. But in anticipation of that app, I wanted to build an audience so that, if it came out, I could sell my audience the app. So, of course, the app didn't really come out, didn't really create any success. It doesn't exist today.

Speaker 2: 20:25

But what did start to happen and this is the by accident part what did start to happen was authors started to reach out to me and they would say hey, Nick, I love your book reviews. I've written a book as well. Can I pay you to review it for your audience? And I was like, whoa, that's pretty interesting. I can get paid to do something I'm already doing for free. I had never thought about being a social media influencer reviewing books online. That was never part of the monetization plan. But I said yes, and so I started to do paid book reviews and I got exposed to all types of material that I wouldn't have chosen to read in the first place, and I got better at operating a business. I started with I don't know $50. And then it was let me try $100. And then it was like well, what if I did two posts for $200? What about $500? And so I started to build this side hustle of reviewing books into an actual business.

Speaker 2: 21:22

I'll wrap up the story here with the fact that I was curious. I was being taught by the business books that I was reading that if there was an inbound demand for something, there are probably other people out there. That if I tapped them on the shoulder or sent them a message, maybe they'd be willing to try this out as well, and then I would get involved in their businesses. I tried to understand why do people write books? Are those books a business card for some type of higher ticket, complimentary product or service like coaching, consulting, speaking courses another business? That's why people want to get these books out there so bad.

Speaker 2: 22:00

And of course, there are people that want to positively impact the world as well, and so I thought, oh, there's a full business here. And so for years I played around with different strategies at the intersection of social media and podcasting and books, Doing all sorts of things for free for these authors. Most of them didn't work a few things that did. And so, to kind of wrap up the story, today, like I mentioned, I've got 10 people on my team, I've got hundreds of authors a year and we have a very different set of services than I ever would have originally thought of. But yeah, it all happened just because a couple of good books changed my life and I wanted to connect with other people on social media and kind of exchange ideas.

Speaker 1: 22:39

That's amazing. I just thought of someone I probably should connect you with. Actually, I interviewed recently Annie Margarita Yang. She's the author of the five day job search, which was her second book, and her first book was, I think, a thousand and one ways to save money, which was written while she was a student.

Speaker 2: 22:59

I think she was a thousand.

Speaker 1: 23:01

Yeah, a thousand and one, I think. And she said that the reason why she wrote that first book like first of all it was a calling. So she's very spiritual, so there was something that was telling her that she needed to write that book, and it was her own lived experience as well, and so she was kind of sick. She gives one example where she'd looked at other advice from other authors saying things like you know, to save money, don't buy candles. And you know, save your money by not spending six dollars on a coffee at Starbucks and all that kind of thing. And she's just like well, you know, I've never bought a candle in my life, so that doesn't apply to me. It's not really real world advice. You know, I mean, how many people do I know that actually buy candles? No one. This is one example.

Speaker 1: 23:46

So she wrote that book and what she realized? That when she went out into the world to find work she'd walk into interviews and people wouldn't actually be interested in her qualifications, her education and so on. It was like, oh no, no. So she gives the example of one interview she went into for an accountant role and she said I just want you to know up front, get this elephant out in the room, out of the room that I don't have any finance or accounting experience. And they said, oh no, that's okay, we're really interested in the book that you wrote. So Annie's like, okay, well, if you want to talk about the book, we can go with that.

Speaker 1: 24:25

And she got the job and what she discovered was that, you know, writing a book, being a published author gave her authority and then she wrote the second book and now she's, you know, running a successful business and so on, and she's doing extremely well in life. I should definitely link you two together because you would just your podcast episode with you two would be like dynamite. It's such a fascinating area and the fact that your platform reaches so many people and you've also had and been connected with some people of no, I mean Grant Cardone. I've got like four of his books sitting on the shelf right behind me over there, which is great. What was that like, connecting with people like Grant and getting to spend some sort of one on one time with them?

Speaker 2: 25:15

Yeah, it's been amazing. I mean number one you do learn that nothing is as fancy as it seems and that these are just people, which gives you the strength and the courage and the understanding that you can achieve great things as well. But Grant Cardone specifically. My first interview with him was on Zoom like this, and we had a blast and the energy was amazing. And I was a little worried going into the interview that he would take control of the conversation and have his own agenda and just sell the entire time. But he was very patient, he was kind, he was courteous. It was a great interview and as we wrapped up I said, hey, Grant, I'm going to be in Miami sometime soon. I know that's where his office is. And I said I'd love to do a follow up interview on another one of your books at your studio. And he said, yeah, of course, man, that sounds great. Now here's the secret. I wasn't planning on going to Miami, but I saw the opportunity and the energy was there so I went for it and then I had that on recording so I sent it to his team and I said, hey, Grant said he'd love to do another interview. Here are the dates that I'll be in Miami and I just gave them like a two month window. I said pick any date that works for you, and they did, and then I bought my tickets, I flew to Miami and I filmed another interview with Grant and in person he makes you feel like a million bucks.

Speaker 2: 26:33

He, I mean so charismatic, right? Vanessa Van Edwards defines charisma as a balance between competence but also warmth. So you have to give both cues at the same time, which is tough to do. Grant is a master. There's an energy. It's palpable. You feel it when he's looking at you and he's talking about how great you are. You just feel like you could run through a brick wall, and so getting to spend time with those people has that's also been an authority builder for me, just like having a book. You can borrow the credibility of amazing people who have taken decades to build their credibility in audience, and then you can be pictured with them and instantly assume some of their credibility, which is a really cool marketing tool. But also, just, you learn so much like big thinking. That's the thing from Grant, and when you're with him it's hard not to think that you can do whatever you want in life.

Speaker 1: 27:27

So where did the spark for the book come from more recently, and what was the process of writing that like for you? Because obviously it's a subject that you're so super passionate I mean, it oozes from every pore of your body. It's like just having been with you for the last half hour or so. I'm feeling slightly inadequate when it comes to my reading, but I'm so. What's the word? Your passion is so infectious that it makes me want to just drop everything that I've got going on in my life and just kind of sit in a corner on the floor and just literally just read, read, read, read, read, read.

Speaker 2: 28:05

Oh, I love it. I love it. Good question. So over the years of building my community book thinkers on social media, reviewing books, talking about books, interviewing authors, I've received hundreds, maybe thousands of very similar questions from readers asking me hey, nick, how do I choose the right book to solve this problem? Or hey, what's your favorite book in this genre? How do I take better notes? How do I actually implement the books that I'm reading? Why do I forget everything that I read? Why does it go in one ear and out the other? Can you help with that? And, of course, I'm of service to my community. I'm answering every single one of these messages over the years, but I always felt like I was under serving those people in a way, because a quick voice note or typing out a few paragraphs on email, that's not doing the subject justice, like I realized that my process is pretty lengthy and there's a lot of moving parts and components to it.

Speaker 2: 29:04

So a few years ago I decided to write the book, and at first it was a humbling experience, because I had never actually taken the time to define my own strategies. I just did them, and so I had to almost observe myself from a third party perspective and say what the heck does Nick Hutchison do to read books, solve problems, implement them effectively and change his behavior? And so I would start to journal and I would start to write and the questions kept pouring in. Every time there was another question where I thought, oh, I've got to include this in the book as well. And so it actually took me a couple of years. There were periods of massive excitement and motivation and I would write chapters in a month and then I'd fall off and things in my agency or my relationship would take priority and I'd go a few months without writing and then somebody would ask another question and go I've got to get this book out there.

Speaker 2: 29:59

I was also motivated by there's this really interesting book called the Millionaire Fast Lane by MJ DeMarco, and it's about how to create wealth in a shorter period of time a really good book. And MJ talks about His car, loves to drive around a Lamborghini, and he would say every time somebody would come up to him at a gas station or outside of a restaurant they would say, hey, really cool car, what do you do for a living? How do I get a Lamborghini? He would pop open the trunk in the front of his car which is weird to think about and then he would hand them a copy of the book and he would say this is how I did it, and I always wanted one of those moments where somebody says, hey, how do I do this? And I just go here's the book. This book is written for it.

Speaker 2: 30:43

So, just like you, I would have rather just pushed people to another book on the subject rather than having written one. It wasn't part of my original agenda, but there was no book on this subject. It didn't exist, and so I decided to write it, and I'm so happy that I did, because it's only been out for six weeks, but I've already sold thousands and thousands of copies and there are over a hundred reviews already for the book, so many of which are just total strangers, leaving thoughts on how it's already positively impacted them. It's just the best feeling, and so, anyway, that's the long story short version of what the writing process was like Awesome.

Speaker 1: 31:22

Yeah, I mean you'll have another review from yours truly very, very soon, I promise you know. That's the thing it's like for me. I started it with my Instagram reels. I've given up trying to figure out their algorithm, but the reason why I do my little reels is to teach people about fashion history, answer questions that people ask me Like why is this like this, what's the history of that, what's the meaning of that, how do I do this, how do I wear that and how do you style that and so on. And what it means is I'm building up this library of these little shorts.

Speaker 1: 31:55

When I'm with my customers and they say, you know, how do you fold a suit for travel? And I'm like do you know what? I actually answer that question on my YouTube channel. Let me send you a link, and so for me, it's kind of similar. With you and people asking new questions, I'm kind of like, actually all of those things. Now I think it's almost getting to the time where they need to come into a format that is actually nicer to give to people. Rather than just going, I'm gonna text you or WhatsApp your link. Go watch it. There's something more kind of wholesome and you know something to touch on something that Annie said as well. There's also it's like you know, you as an author. She sent me a copy of her book signed I'm not, that wasn't a hint, by the way which I received in a post and it was such a surprise, but to actually see her scroll there in ink to me was also fricking awesome.

Speaker 2: 32:49

Like authors, I'll send you one too.

Speaker 1: 32:51

Oh, thank you. Authors are absolute rock stars and I think a lot of authors don't even realize it, like they don't realize the kudos that they carried. You Find that in your interaction with authors that a lot of them kind of underestimate the power that they have.

Speaker 2: 33:07

Yes, a lot of authors struggle with imposter syndrome. I did, too, for a little while, until I realized that, as long as you can provide value to somebody that has a genuine question and you know how to solve it, you're one step ahead of where they are in the process of learning how to fold a suit or learning how to take effective notes from a book. Then you can provide value, and you should provide value that positively impacts the world, and so it took me a little while to get over that, but I am two steps ahead of where I was 10 years ago when I first discovered these books, and I know I can provide value to that guy because I figured out tons of things that he didn't know about reading and implementing personal development books. So, yeah, you know what.

Speaker 2: 33:57

I am credible enough to write a book. So that's some of the conversations that I've had with myself and that I have with other people. It's like you said you started your business 12 years ago. I bet you know a heck of a lot of things today that you didn't know 12 years ago, and you know a heck of a lot of things that men don't know about their suits or whatever. I could probably use your book. I dressed like a bum, like we've talked about.

Speaker 1: 34:28

Hey, okay, I'm gonna stop you right there. Do not ever. I don't never wanna hear that out your mouth ever again.

Speaker 2: 34:35

All right, I won't say it again.

Speaker 1: 34:36

You look sorry. Now I feel like I've told you. I have told you off actually. No, I'm telling you off, nick. Okay, cause you need to hear this. You look fantastic, okay, if you'd come on here and you're tats, by the way, fucking awesome. If you'd come on here dressed in a three-piece suit shirt and tie, tie, clip right, all the rest of it, cuff lengths and so on there would have been an inconsistency right With the person that you are, okay. So now that I've gotten to know a little bit more about you and I've got to spend time with you and I've got to feel your energy and so on, if I was working with you, a suit is the last thing that I'd be putting you in. Right, it's not you at all. You come on here and what you speak and the way that you present yourself is completely in line with now, my perception, half an hour or later, of who I think you are, and that's the most important thing.

Speaker 1: 35:31

I appreciate that. Yeah, and trust me, I will take pictures of homeless people and so on next week, which actually is a really weird thing to do. That's actually really bad. But stay with me here and I will send them to you and then you compare them and then come back and tell me that you dress like a bum okay, but you don't. You look absolutely fantastic.

Speaker 2: 35:52

So I'm wearing a t-shirt too. Well, I appreciate it. And you're right. Now, when I speak on stage, I wear a black t-shirt because that's what I'm most comfortable in. I don't want to dress up. That's not my brand. So you're totally right.

Speaker 1: 36:10

Absolutely A friend of mine, simon Alexander Ong, whose book is Energize, which you might want to check out. I have the good fortune of knowing Simon and he's the same. He came from a finance banking background and then his life basically car crashed in a big way. So he had to do a reset and really change a lot about himself and all of that kind of went into this book, energize, which is doing really, really well. It's opened up a whole world of opportunity for him. His brand is black t-shirt, jeans and Adidas sorry, samba sneakers and that's him Right, totally in line with who he is. He shows up consistently in that way on whatever platform you see him on, and that also, I think, helps to reinforce the work that he's doing in promoting his brand, building his business and his authority as an author. So, yeah, so you stick at it and do the same.

Speaker 2: 37:14

I love that story.

Speaker 1: 37:16

Yeah, you're an absolute rock star. Never forget it, okay.

Speaker 2: 37:19

I won't forget it and, by the way, because I was telling you before I guess we press record that I grew up with a dad that worked for Adidas. I did know that over there, because the brand is originally German, that it's Adidas and that it was actually started by Adidasler, and that's where the name came from. And his brother actually founded Puma, which is an interesting fact, so they're related.

Speaker 1: 37:43

Yeah, I know because, like one of my friends is Austrian and when I mentioned Adidas to him or in general conversation in our big friends WhatsApp chat, yeah, he always kind of takes offense at it for some reason, and so I needed to delve more into the sort of German history of those brands. I really kind of was fascinated by the rivalry between Nike and Adidas back, you know, when Phil Knight was trying to build the business and so on, because really at the time Nike were proper underdogs. I mean, they weren't anybody behind Adidas and oh God, what's the other brand with the star?

Speaker 1: 38:24

At the time it was probably I don't remember Converse, converse, it was Converse, right? Mm? Hmm, because they were. When it came to sort of the basketball niche, they were the shoes of choice for all of the NBA stars. And then Nike was this kind of pretender. But that whole, and then as they got bigger, the whole rivalry between the two brands, was just quite incredible. Anyway, I could talk about shoe dog all day long. What's on the horizon for you now? So the book's out six weeks doing well, obviously you're going to be kind of busy, preoccupied, kind of promoting that and so on. How are you now splitting your focus between podcast business and the book, because you've got this new baby to deal with?

Speaker 2: 39:08

Yeah, they all sort of overlap in one way shape or form, but most of my time is still dedicated to the agency book thinkers. That's where I spend most of my time and efforts growing that business. We've grown out our team quite a bit, but we do all sorts of things with authors. We fly out with the cameras and the lighting and we help them create short form content for social media, sort of turning the concepts from their book into video content. We actually do podcast bookings so we'll place authors on podcasts to talk about their books. We do book reviews, social media management a whole bunch of stuff. So that takes up most of my time working with my team growing the business, selling I still love to sell and then the book. Yeah, I still do a few podcasts a week talking about the book because it energizes me right, it brings me energy.

Speaker 2: 40:00

But this year was a busy year. I actually got married this year to my wife. We had a big wedding and a honeymoon, and I'm sure next year is going to be super busy as well. So we'll see what's on the horizon. Nothing too big or different than what I'm currently focused on today, when I was a few years ago, if you had asked me hey, what's on the horizon? I would have said all these big, amazing things, but I've finally reached a place in my business where I enjoy the present moment and I really love everything that I do, and so it'll be a little bit bigger next year. For sure We'll grow, maybe we'll find a new service to offer, but I don't envision everything. I don't envision anything too different than what we do today.

Speaker 1: 40:40

The other thing I love is when you go to anything that you're doing all of your touch points. So your business website, instagram I mean just looking at your Instagram reel is like I mean, if ever I was stuck for something to read or a reading recommendation, I would just go to your Instagram account because it's all there. It's all in the name of service. The other great thing I love about your Instagram account is the fact that I know that you've built it organically. You haven't done any of these quick fixes that when you see social media accounts where someone's got 300,000 followers but then you go to their engagement and it's like they get three views on a reel or whatever.

Speaker 1: 41:28

I know we shouldn't look at likes because they're vanity metrics, but still Reels for me is the best indicator of engagement and so on, and yours is just so genuine in everything that you do and I think for anyone that's listening, that is building a business or is rebranding or is heading into the new year, is kind of figuring out what they're doing and what things that they need to change and so on. Sorry, nick, I'm now going to talk about you rather than to you. Take a look at this guy, take a look at his business, at the podcast, at his social media, and you'll see what authenticity looks like. I'm so inspired because I'm in that space at the moment where I'm having to make some adjustments and figure a few things out. But really I take I'm not wearing my hat, but I take my hat off to you and what you've built so far and I'm so, so excited to see where you go in the weeks, months, years to come.

Speaker 2: 42:28

Really, Thank you so much. Yeah, I really appreciate it. One of the big themes in my book is gratitude, so thank you. I'm expressing gratitude to you for the kind words and also for the opportunity to be on this show. Man, I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 42:42

I know you're welcome. I kind of feel like not worthy now, Having got to know you like.

Speaker 2: 42:49

For me you're like bonafide celebrity, so Well, I appreciate the compliment and I love what you're doing for everybody as well. I think this is a really fun show format. You ask great questions and, yeah, I'm happy that we've gotten to know each other.

Speaker 1: 43:03

Yeah, no, me too, so I will warn you when I'm heading out, you're worthy.

Speaker 2: 43:09

Yes, please do, I'm always around.

Speaker 1: 43:12

Yeah, if you don't jump state when I land, then we will definitely get together and anytime you're back over this way you're always more than welcome, you and your wife, to come stay with us too. Nick, thank you so so much. I'm going to make sure that I have your link in. Oh yeah, right. So you lot want to know how to connect with him.

Speaker 1: 43:31

So, first of all, look up Rise of the Reader. I presume it's available from, I mean, over state side for our American listeners, the usual places, the A-word Barnes and Noble, all the other major kind of bookstores and so on. Right, right, cool, in e-reader format as well, yes, Cool. And then we know the audio book has dropped, because you let that slip earlier. So that's awesome, congratulations. By the way, thank you. Over here, I will do my little digging around Waterstones and you know all of the other book shops and I'll make sure I put all of those links in the show notes as well. I'll definitely go support this young man and get his book and check out his business as well and his Instagram account. So, bookthinkers, just Google it and it'll just come up, but I'll have those links there too. Any other ways people can connect with you. I think you hit the nail on the head.

Speaker 2: 44:28

You know I'll throw this out there. If anybody has listened to this and they're like Roberto and they're like you know what, I'm dying to go read something now, but you don't know where to start, outside of Rise of the Reader, which is my blanket recommendation because it will help you get more from the next book you read. If you're struggling and you don't know what to read, send me a DM on Instagram at BookThinkers and tell me about a problem you're facing or a skill that you want to develop or an area of curiosity, and I will provide a custom book recommendation as well.

Speaker 1: 44:58

Wow, I might even just test you out on that.

Speaker 1: 45:00

Anyway, you're going to get like 200 DMs from me in the next six months. Nick, thank you so much. Have you had fun? Yes, I have had fun. I've had a blast.

Speaker 1: 45:09

I need to get you and Annie connected together because I genuinely mean it. I almost want to orchestrate that podcast episode, like you know, when you interview someone and you just listen back to that episode so many times. I don't know if you've had that on your podcast. Yes, yeah, like hers. I only released it on Tuesday and I've listened to that episode like six times already, and I know that I'm going to be doing the same with you as well. So I told Annie she was the most favorite person I ever interviewed on this show. So now I'm going to change that to Annie when you hear this you're the most favorite female that I've interviewed on this show and Nick is the most favorite guy that I've ever interviewed on this show. I'm so glad that the universe brought us together. You are freaking awesome. You do not dress like a bum. You look amazing. You are just one amazing, incredible human being Thank you.

Speaker 2: 46:01

So, yeah, thank you so much. And hey, if she's up for it, if you want to moderate a conversation where the three of us talk on your show at some point, that could be a lot of fun. Oh my God.

Speaker 1: 46:10

What a great idea. You see, book thinkers, people he is exactly what he says on the tin, nick. Thank you so so much. Thank you all for tuning in to this enlightening episode with Nick and me. Remember you can always join the Taylor and talk community on Instagram and I am always all years for your feedback. So feel free to drop me an email at torientalkcom, at gmailcom, and if you've enjoyed our conversation, do not forget to subscribe, leave a rating but, most importantly, share this episode with anyone who might find it inspiring or gets the help that they need from Nick at this point in time in their lives. And if you want to support Taylor and talk further, you can check out the link in the show notes. Every bit of support means so much. Wishing you a fantastic week ahead, remember to be kind to one another, keep stitching together the fabric of your best self, and I'm looking forward to sharing some more stories and insights with you in the next episode.