147: It’s Never Too Late to Write a Book with Rob Brown

How To Create “Truest” Fans

“I think the energy spreads. And I think that this book gives me an opportunity to really create a movement around the idea of, ‘Let’s all be truest fans.’” – Rob Brown

Rob Brown is an author, a top-producing advisor in the financial services industry, a business coach and, last but certainly not least, a lifelong Cleveland Indians fan.

Over the years, he witnessed all walks of life come together to cheer on and support the team — showing up again and again as their truest fans — and realized how this mentality could apply to our personal and professional lives.

The lessons he saw in the baseball stadium soon became the seven pillars of his book, “Truest Fan,” and on this week’s episode of “Authors Who Lead,” Rob shares how he turned a passion for baseball into a unique book for personal and professional transformation.

Making an Impact Can Be Short and Sweet

As a business coach, it was borderline predestined that Rob would eventually write a lengthy, financial how-to book — except he doesn’t like those himself. Instead, he prefers leadership books that are short, yet tell a powerful story, like “The One Minute Manager” by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson.

And that is what he decided to embrace, by breaking down “Truest Fan” into the seven most important lessons needed to develop success in all areas of life — each represented by a character. This unique storytelling helps the reader focus attention on what matters most in life, whether it be a spouse, family, health, or career.

Through the process, the leader transforms, too — which, Rob noticed, is what his audience wants to see as they learn, grow and evolve themselves. He describes this transformation as “that simple little impact that you can have on many generations out into the future.” That is the reason he encourages everyone to write a book and get their message out, even if it impacts just one person.

On Finding the ‘Right Path’ 

As the “Truest Fan” unfolded, Rob wasn’t even sure he was on the right path until he wrote the last chapter. This is when the seven lessons from his coaching life came into the story and transformed it. 

Rob told me that writing fiction was the most difficult part of the process. As a business coach, Rob had penned blogs, articles and a previous non-fiction book, so this was a new creative muscle to flex. Rob allowed the story to just happen and it became a creative expression of all of his favorite things — baseball, family and God — as they relate to leadership and having an impact on others.

“I decided that this needed to be different,” he said. “And then [there was] that whole idea that, one day, I was going to write the fable. And that was probably the hardest thing to commit to doing.”

So if you are thinking about writing a book, but have questions or hesitations, keep in mind my three takeaways from talking with Rob:

  1. Stop overthinking and just go for it.
  1. Break your creative endeavor into bite-size pieces. We are all creative and there are no qualifications needed to write the book that’s in your heart. Figure out how many words you’re comfortable with writing and write that many every day. Soon you will have written a whole book, whether it’s in months or a year.
  2. Tell your book in a different style or genre than expected. Just as Rob wrote a leadership book in the style of a fable, you can find unique ways to tell your story.

What was your biggest takeaway from the episode? Do you have a unique story you want to share? In the comments below, tell me what is holding you back from writing it!

That’s all for this week. If you have a message inside of you that needs to be written, today is the day to start. Don’t delay — just do it.

Episode Resources:

Website: https://truestfan.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rob.brown.5895

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/encore

The One Minute Managerby Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson

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147: It’s Never Too Late to Write a Book with Rob Brown147: It’s Never Too Late to Write a Book with Rob Brown

147: It’s Never Too Late to Write a Book with Rob Brown

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