Book the Business copertina

Book the Business

Book the Business

Di: Joe Gregory
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A proposito di questo titolo
 Book the Business is the show for entrepreneurs who want to write a book that actually builds their business — not just sits on a shelf.

Writing a book is the fastest way to build authority, credibility, and influence in your industry, and this show is your playbook for doing it on purpose. Being introduced as a published author (not a salesperson) and handing someone a book (not a brochure) turns resistance into interest before you say a word. The role of "trusted expert" almost always goes to the person who wrote the book on it.

Hosted by Joe Gregory, founder of Rethink Press, this podcast is for entrepreneurs, business owners, coaches, and consultants who want to use authorship as a growth strategy — not just a vanity project. Since 2003, Joe has helped publish over 500 books that have grown businesses, opened doors, and elevated the authority of the people who wrote them. He's a former graphic designer, copywriter, and marketer, so he brings a business-builder's lens to publishing, not just a writer’s.

Each episode covers how to write a book that positions you as the go-to expert in your field, how to turn that book into a lead-generation engine, how to land media coverage and speaking opportunities off the back of it, and how to avoid the mistakes that keep most business books from ever paying for themselves.

If you've been thinking "I should write a book someday," this is the show that turns someday into a plan.
Advantage Media Arte Economia Gestione e leadership Leadership Marketing Marketing e vendite Storia e critica della letteratura
Episodi
  • Charlie Curson: How Writing a Book Made Me More Strategic

    Charlie Curson: How Writing a Book Made Me More Strategic
    Nov 5 2026
    Most strategy books teach you what to know and how to plan.

    Charlie Curson wrote one about who you need to become.

    On this episode of Book the Business, Joe Gregory talks with Charlie Curson, founder of the UK strategic leadership consultancy Mandarin and trusted advisor to leadership teams at Audi, Unilever, McDonald's, Visa, and L'Oréal. Charlie is the author of the international bestseller Be More Strategic, shortlisted for the Business Book Awards 2026.

    Charlie shares how he went from ignoring years of "you should write a book" comments to pitching his idea in 90 seconds to a panel of publishers. He explains why a business school professor's blunt Christmas Eve phone call ("not another book on strategy") pushed him to focus on the human side of strategy, and how his four-level framework shows that being strategic is a learnable skill, not a fixed trait.

    He also walks through his writing discipline (5:00 a.m. sessions in a converted Victorian pigsty, Post-it notes, Lego, and zero AI), the nerve-wracking beta reader stage, cutting 98,000 words down to 35,000, and how the book has grown his business through PR, live radio, speaking invitations, executive team sales, and a new coached program.

    If you're an expert, founder, or CEO thinking about writing a book, Charlie closes with a simple 20-minute exercise to help you start today.

    🔗 Find Charlie and free resources: www.teammandarin.com
    📘 Get the book: Be More Strategic by Charlie Curson

    What You'll Learn
    • Why the best business books promise a change in identity, not just knowledge or results
    • How Charlie's four-level framework (self-awareness, open-mindedness, strategic capabilities, and scale) makes strategic thinking learnable
    • Whether you should "give it all away" in your book, and why Charlie chose to put in his very best work
    • A practical daily writing routine for getting into flow and editing without fear
    • How to use beta readers and testimonials to validate your ideas and reconnect with your network
    • The real business results of publishing: PR, podcasts, speaking gigs, corporate clients, and a signature program
    • A 20-minute Post-it note exercise to start writing your own book
    Timestamps
    00:00 – Introduction: Charlie Curson, founder of Mandarin
    01:15 – Where it began: ignoring "you should write a book"
    02:20 – Pitching to a publishing panel in 90 seconds
    03:45 – What makes this strategy book different
    04:40 – The Christmas Eve call that changed the book's direction
    05:40 – The four levels of promise: know, do, get, be
    06:50 – From book to the Be More Strategic program
    08:10 – Reaching founders, charities, and head teachers beyond big corporates
    11:20 – Should you give everything away in your book?
    12:55 – The four-level framework and 12 practices
    14:30 – "I'm not strategic": why strategic thinking is learnable
    17:20 – A real story of pausing and choosing strategically
    18:10 – The writing journey: discipline in a Victorian pigsty
    20:30 – Surviving the beta reader stage
    22:30 – How writing brought clarity to his IP
    24:30 – How the book has grown his business
    25:40 – Live radio leads to a speaking invitation
    26:40 – Giving away 1,000 books and landing an executive team client
    27:30 – Gathering 12 testimonials and finding a foreword writer
    29:00 – Why it has to be a genuinely good book
    29:50 – Cutting 98,000 words down to 35,000
    30:50 – The former chief strategy officer and "Dad, you're a terrible listener"
    33:20 – Making the book practical with free resources and QR codes
    34:30 – "Muddy boots": earning the right to write
    35:20 – Where to find Charlie and the Strategic Capability Accelerator
    36:40 – Advice for aspiring authors: the 20-minute Post-it exercise
    38:30 – Closing
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    39 min
  • Donna O'Toole: How to Win Business Awards (Without Getting Scammed)

    Donna O'Toole: How to Win Business Awards (Without Getting Scammed)
    Oct 29 2026
    Donna O'Toole is an award-winning entrepreneur, bestselling author of "Win," and founder of August Recognition, a global awards agency. In this episode, Donna joins Joe Gregory to break down how she turned her expertise into a book — and how that book became the foundation for a training program, an accelerator, and now an AI-powered platform called AwardsApp.

    Donna shares the real strategy behind winning business awards: how to plan a 12-month award roadmap, spot scam and "link farming" award schemes, avoid disqualification from AI-generated entries, and use award wins as a tool for brand authority, recruitment, and growth.

    She also opens up about writing her book "Win," why she gave away thousands of copies instead of selling them, and how consolidating her knowledge into a book unlocked opportunities she never expected — including speaking gigs, partnerships, and building her own SaaS product.

    If you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader curious about using awards, books, and personal brand as pillars of authority — this conversation is packed with practical insight.

    What You'll Learn
    • Why Donna wrote her book "Win" and how it became her "best business card"
    • The real strategic planning that goes into winning credible business awards
    • How to spot award scams, phishing schemes, and "link farming"
    • Why AI-written award entries get disqualified — and what judges actually look for
    • The "Plan, Win, Promote" framework for leveraging awards
    • How a book can turn into a training program, an accelerator, and eventually a tech product
    • The four pillars of authority: awards, books, publicity, and speaking
    • How AwardsApp aims to make finding and entering awards safer and smarter
    Timestamps

    00:00 – Introduction to Donna O'Toole & August Recognition
    00:57 – What drove Donna to write her book "Win"
    02:11 – The core problem her book and agency solve
    03:51 – Why proper awards take serious preparation
    04:37 – Building a strategic plan before entering awards
    06:09 – Imposter syndrome around entering awards
    07:00 – Where awards fit in a business's marketing mix
    08:44 – Designing the book "Win" and choosing the title
    10:00 – Why Donna gives the book away instead of selling it
    11:29 – How the book acts as an "undercover ambassador"
    13:12 – Pinch-me moments since publishing
    14:00 – How the book led to a training program and AwardsApp
    14:44 – How writing the book felt (cathartic, not guilty)
    17:00 – How writing consolidated her expertise and case studies
    18:21 – Recording the audiobook
    18:54 – How the book shaped internal team training
    21:07 – The four pillars of authority: awards, books, publicity, speaking
    24:42 – Warning signs of scam and fake awards
    26:21 – Explaining "link farming" and backlink scams
    27:34 – Cloned award websites and phishing entries
    29:00 – How far in advance to plan for awards (ideally 12 months)
    30:24 – The seasonal cycle of business awards
    31:39 – Gaps most businesses have in collecting evidence/case studies
    33:06 – Introducing AwardsApp and the "Find, Enter, Win" concept
    34:20 – Why AI-generated award entries get disqualified
    36:17 – How AwardsApp helps you enter the "right race"
    36:32 – August Recognition vs. AwardsApp — how the two connect
    38:17 – Where to get the book and join the AwardsApp waitlist
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    39 min
  • David B. Horne: Add Then Multiply, Funded Female Founders & the ROI of Writing a Book

    David B. Horne: Add Then Multiply, Funded Female Founders & the ROI of Writing a Book
    Oct 22 2026
    David B. Horne has raised over £120M, bought or sold 33 companies, and written two Amazon #1 bestsellers — "Add Then Multiply" and "Funded Female Founders".

    In this episode of Book the Business, David and host Joe Gregory unpack how writing a book turned tacit expertise into a repeatable methodology, opened doors to Warren Buffett and R.E.M., and became the credibility engine behind David's transition from hands-on operator to company chair. They also dig into the UK's gender funding gap data that inspired David's second book and TEDx talk, which has been viewed over 3 million times.

    What You'll Learn
    • How to turn scattered, tacit expertise into a teachable framework (David's "card system" behind the FACE methodology)
    • Why beta readers who critique instead of praise make a book dramatically better
    • How a single case study/story can make a dense finance chapter engaging
    • Why the real financial return on a business book comes from credibility, not royalties
    • How a book can open doors that cold outreach never could (including a reply from Warren Buffett's office)
    • The data behind the UK's gender funding gap — and why all-male teams get 89% of VC funding
    • How writing and publishing builds the authority needed to shift from founder/operator to chair
    • What it actually takes to hand off a business you've run solo for years (and hire the right CEO)
    Chapters

    0:00 Intro — who is David B. Horne
    1:12 What made David decide to write a book
    2:09 The "gift" of a failed client relationship and a fresh start in 2019
    2:25 Breaking down the title Add Then Multiply and the FACE methodology
    3:36 Was the methodology codified before writing, or "in his head"?
    4:05 The card system — turning tacit knowledge into a teachable framework
    4:43 Why beta readers were the most valuable part of the writing process
    5:26 Turning a dry finance chapter into a story (the ABC Ltd. case study)
    6:25 Long-tail outcomes: newsletters, repurposed content, 7 years later
    7:07 Building an AI-driven product based on the book (launching autumn)
    7:39 The biggest mindset shift: "this is what I do, therefore this is what I don't do"
    8:07 The Warren Buffett letter
    8:38 The R.E.M. story — getting the band's permission for a lyric dedication
    10:28 Using the book with clients, partners, and at speaking events
    12:09 Does the book make you more generous? "Author is the first part of authority"
    14:12 Where the real ROI comes from — it's not book royalties
    15:33 Books sold (500–600) vs. given away (1,000+)
    16:34 Introducing the second book: Funded Female Founders
    17:14 The origin story — a question at a conference launches 5 years of research
    18:24 The British Business Bank data: female founders get less than 1% of VC funding
    19:20 Partnering with the London Stock Exchange to launch the book/event series
    20:32 Why David — a man with no daughters in business — took on this cause
    21:12 His mother's influence growing up in the '60s/'70s
    22:38 Three root causes of the funding gap (bias, lack of women in VC, culture)
    23:41 The viral stat: more fund managers named "David" than women fund managers
    24:18 TEDx talk origin — filmed in 2020, went viral in 2022 (10K → 3M views)
    25:22 Who should read which book — ideal reader for each title
    26:49 Teaser: book #3, working title "F is for Fund"
    27:30 David's journey to hiring a female CEO and stepping into the chair role
    28:23 A rough year — father-in-law's passing, turning 64, new grandchildren
    29:40 Launching the CEO search publicly, the backlash, and 16 female applicants
    31:18 How the book made this leadership transition possible
    32:16 Building a sales engine under the new CEO
    33:26 Where to find David and his books
    34:21 Why he added the "B." — Googling "David Horne" gets some interesting results
    35:25 Wrap-up and 43rd wedding anniversary shoutout
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    36 min
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