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Why You Can Write a Book and Quit Repeating Yourself Featuring Jaime Jay

Quit Repeating Yourself: Sustainable Growth and Positive Culture in Business Featuring Jaime Jay

Jaime Jay is the founder and managing director of Bottleneck Distant Assistants. Founded in 2016, Bottleneck is an outsourcing agency that helps businesses identify, hire, and cultivate their workforce through a carefully designed systematic approach to growth. A veteran US Army paratrooper who received the Army Achievement Medal for Meritorious Service, Jay’s additional business experience includes a twelve-year career in corporate America and advanced education in Business Administration and Management at Florida Institute of Technology.

We discuss:

  • Three reasons to write a book other than anything else [03:02]
  • What makes 184 pages much more than new authors think [06:24]
  • A very affordable way about finding a hybrid publisher [09:15]
  • What it feels like going through the different levels of editing [11:18]
  • Thinking about thinking about leadership [13:17]
  • The seven-year itch in business [15:35]
  • The little things that make writing a book worthwhile [17:03]
  • The best way for book authors to get feedback from readers [19:34]
  • How crazy other people’s lives are [21:30]

Jaime likes networking with big-picture thinkers and proudly proclaims he is unemployable. In his spare time, he enjoys playing hockey, camping, boating, playing guitar, shooting guns, traveling, and spending time with his wife, Sara.

In Quit Repeating Yourself, author Jaime Jay shares how he built a seven-figure business by focusing on the power of creating systems and processes so he could stop doing the wrong things and focus on doing his best work. After other business professionals kept asking him to explain what he was doing differently, Jay compiled his best strategies and systems, hoping readers could learn from his successes and his mistakes. Through personal stories and professional examples, he teaches leaders how to build a strong company foundation using small and actionable steps.

Learn more about Jaime at https://bottleneck.online, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Transcript
Jaime Jay:

There's people that I don't even know that are buying the

Jaime Jay:

I don't know anything about them.

Jaime Jay:

And maybe I'll get an email or a message on Facebook or LinkedIn,

David Shriner-Cahn:

welcome to smashing the plateau.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We help you get on stock so you can do what you love and get paid.

David Shriner-Cahn:

What you're worth.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Consistently.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm your host, David Schreiner.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Today on episode 610 of smashing the plateau.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I'm speaking with the author of quit.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Repeating yourself.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie J should you write a book?

David Shriner-Cahn:

How can your book help your business?

David Shriner-Cahn:

First time author Jamie shares, why he wrote quit repeating.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How he wrote it and how he uses his book to help his business, stay with us, to

David Shriner-Cahn:

We share methods to help you reach more of your ideal audience.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We also give you a range of tools and resources to support your business,

David Shriner-Cahn:

Check out the smashing the plateau community so that you

David Shriner-Cahn:

What you're worth.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com slash community.

David Shriner-Cahn:

That's smashing the plateau.com/community.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Now let's welcome, Jamie.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie is the founder and managing director of bottleneck distant

David Shriner-Cahn:

Bottleneck is an outsourcing agency that helps businesses identify,

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie is the author of quit repeating yourself, where he shares, how he built a

David Shriner-Cahn:

So he could stop doing the wrong things and focus on doing his best work.

David Shriner-Cahn:

After other business professionals kept asking him to explain

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie compiled his best strategies and systems hoping readers could

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie teaches leaders how to build a strong company foundation

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie, welcome back to the show.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Thanks for having me.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Oh, it's so great to have you on again.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I know you and I have been talking about your book for a long time.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And as I was thinking about, about, Session today.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And this episode, there are lots of ways that you could have shared

David Shriner-Cahn:

Why of all things did you decide to write a book?

David Shriner-Cahn:

And this is your first book, right?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yes.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yes.

Jaime Jay:

It's my

David Shriner-Cahn:

first book.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So why

Jaime Jay:

a book?

Jaime Jay:

three reasons actually, number one, I wanted to prove to myself

Jaime Jay:

I asked the same questions, quite a bit, very similar, over and over again.

Jaime Jay:

And I thought, what's a great way to quit repeating myself.

Jaime Jay:

And I figured, you know what, why don't I write the book?

Jaime Jay:

And that way I can put the answers out there that so many people have asked me

Jaime Jay:

Maybe that means something maybe that more people have this same question.

Jaime Jay:

So that was the other reason that I wrote the book.

Jaime Jay:

And then the third reason was I was challenged years ago by one

Jaime Jay:

And let me live with him and his wife and their two kids and supported me.

Jaime Jay:

And he said, Jamie, at some point, you're going to have to put this in the buck.

Jaime Jay:

And that was the third reason on why did that I've really wanted to get that done.

Jaime Jay:

And initially, when I first got with my publisher, I was actually going

Jaime Jay:

I don't have enough time.

Jaime Jay:

I got to live a little bit more life experience a little more life

Jaime Jay:

I said, why not do the business?

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah, you actually, to a certain extent answered the

David Shriner-Cahn:

So initially you were thinking about an autobiography now, was that

David Shriner-Cahn:

A

Jaime Jay:

lot of it was because, and what's ironic about this is Rob

Jaime Jay:

I've known him for over 20 years.

Jaime Jay:

He's one of those guys that he's an attorney it's really on the outside

Jaime Jay:

And I think maybe the irony of me writing about another friend of mine who helped

Jaime Jay:

And I said, if you don't have, I didn't really know.

Jaime Jay:

I still have another book in me.

Jaime Jay:

I just don't know when.

Jaime Jay:

And that's where I think I want to dive into more of that

Jaime Jay:

And I think I need more time in this life to experience more.

Jaime Jay:

I'm still so young in the, 15 years entrepreneur, but I still have a

Jaime Jay:

By that time, the full circle, starting a company, growing a company, maybe

Jaime Jay:

So I want to be able to live that full life cycle and see what

David Shriner-Cahn:

next book.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So I do definitely want to talk to you about the content

David Shriner-Cahn:

That I know how much of a process guy you are.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I have to talk first about the process, and I know many people who have written

David Shriner-Cahn:

It was just overwhelming.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Did you think that the process was going to be exhaustive and

Jaime Jay:

Yes.

Jaime Jay:

And I think it got even more exhausted than what I expected.

Jaime Jay:

it was challenging.

Jaime Jay:

It was hard, but a lot of it, you know what I think, David, and

Jaime Jay:

Actually.

Jaime Jay:

I thought it was going to be challenging, but I thought, wow,

Jaime Jay:

They're going to help me with this stuff.

Jaime Jay:

So I thought they'd make it a little bit easier, but I think I had a

Jaime Jay:

I think in my head I was, it was going to be tough.

Jaime Jay:

Why?

Jaime Jay:

Because I'm not around.

Jaime Jay:

I just not a good writer in my opinion.

Jaime Jay:

And so in my head, I thought, man, this is going to be hard.

Jaime Jay:

How in the heck?

Jaime Jay:

Write a book.

Jaime Jay:

If I don't consider myself a writer, maybe I should just hire a ghost

Jaime Jay:

But then I was like, no, I want to do this.

Jaime Jay:

I want it to be for me now, of course it's been edited, punctuation,

Jaime Jay:

But the ideas, the research that was, I did that and I'm really proud of that.

Jaime Jay:

And it made it the day.

Jaime Jay:

That I was able to get this book published and see it physical copy in my hand that

Jaime Jay:

It's not a big novel, but at the same time, the people that are going

Jaime Jay:

These are the people that are, don't have a lot of time, but I

Jaime Jay:

And I think it was really rewarding.

Jaime Jay:

So by having a hard time and struggling through this process, even more so than

David Shriner-Cahn:

first of all, 184 pages is still 184 more

David Shriner-Cahn:

It's more than most people.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I've written because most people have not published a book and

David Shriner-Cahn:

And it's shaped in a way that is easy to digest, easy to understand and

David Shriner-Cahn:

So that's my takeaway after reading it.

Jaime Jay:

And I have to say thank you for that.

Jaime Jay:

Cause that was one of my concerns is that.

Jaime Jay:

Or that was not one of my concerns, but one of my objectives was

Jaime Jay:

So that was easy for people to understand.

Jaime Jay:

I tried to, I really tried to simplify it.

Jaime Jay:

And then of course, I got to interview a lot of cool people like you and still

Jaime Jay:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And I'm touched by that.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So thank you.

David Shriner-Cahn:

How did you figure out what process to use and who.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Could best help

Jaime Jay:

you in the books.

Jaime Jay:

Yeah for writing.

Jaime Jay:

So that was, I can't say that is a lot of research that went into this.

Jaime Jay:

I tripped onto this relationship because I was introduced by a friend of mine.

Jaime Jay:

And I think, Ashley, Bergoff, but she's also a systems person.

Jaime Jay:

We were just talking one day and she goes, Hey, have you

Jaime Jay:

And I said, I'd absolutely love to write a book.

Jaime Jay:

I just don't have the time right now.

Jaime Jay:

And she goes, maybe you can talk to these pers.

Jaime Jay:

So she introduced me to new degree press and I think it's called crazy.

Jaime Jay:

Dot Institute is the website there.

Jaime Jay:

If people are interested because it's a very affordable way about,

Jaime Jay:

And it is a fully process systemized way of turning out a book.

Jaime Jay:

10 months later after beginning of the.

Jaime Jay:

You can have your own book.

Jaime Jay:

It's pretty neat.

Jaime Jay:

And the way that you go about it, they have different options for you to go in.

Jaime Jay:

They help raise the money.

Jaime Jay:

So not all of it comes out of your pocket.

Jaime Jay:

They help you do a go fund.

Jaime Jay:

Me account.

Jaime Jay:

I think it was.

Jaime Jay:

I think it was something like that.

Jaime Jay:

It was a fundraising, app.

Jaime Jay:

I forget which one it was, but they help you, come up with all of that.

Jaime Jay:

and that's how you pay to get the pay the publisher to get your book done.

Jaime Jay:

And it's just a, it was an incredible experience.

Jaime Jay:

the challenges are deadlines, at one point I met with a publisher and he said,

Jaime Jay:

Do you think you want to extend to December?

Jaime Jay:

And I'm like, I seriously considered it, but I said, you don't know.

Jaime Jay:

I want to get this thing launched on time, just like I promised.

Jaime Jay:

So they all kind of circle the wagons around me and really

Jaime Jay:

So that accountability was unbelievable having that debtor.

Jaime Jay:

yeah.

Jaime Jay:

fortunately it was an introduction from, one of my friends, one of my colleagues.

Jaime Jay:

Did a great press.

Jaime Jay:

It was great.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Wow.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So 10 months start to

Jaime Jay:

finish.

Jaime Jay:

10 months start to finish.

David Shriner-Cahn:

And how many hours per week would you say you spent on the

Jaime Jay:

process?

Jaime Jay:

I don't know that every single week I actually worked on the book.

Jaime Jay:

There was that there was some points to where I would cause.

Jaime Jay:

And then they would give you feedback and the first round and

Jaime Jay:

there's, different levels of editing, but at certain points you would turn

Jaime Jay:

And then.

Jaime Jay:

After the first, I forget what they called the first editor, but

Jaime Jay:

And this is how you lay it out.

Jaime Jay:

And this is, they would explain a little bit about the story arc of

Jaime Jay:

So they'd worked with me a little bit harder on the first four chapters

Jaime Jay:

Each has four chapters in it.

Jaime Jay:

And so they helped me with the first part.

Jaime Jay:

And then the second, third part, I was more left to be on my own, but

Jaime Jay:

And it took a while for the revisions editor.

Jaime Jay:

there was 70 some people going through this particular cohort, so it took some

Jaime Jay:

You might work, maybe 10 hours a week, something like that.

Jaime Jay:

And then when the deadlines would come up, you'd work a little bit more.

Jaime Jay:

And the revisions and the editing that was even more time consuming.

Jaime Jay:

I had one heck of a time with chapter five and thankfully my wife jumped in

Jaime Jay:

And.

Jaime Jay:

Yeah.

Jaime Jay:

I just really had a hard time.

Jaime Jay:

It wasn't making sense.

Jaime Jay:

And she just came in and whizzbang did all together and did a great job.

Jaime Jay:

And, yeah, that was probably the most time spent on one chapter, probably

David Shriner-Cahn:

Okay.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Now it sounds like it was a good process and a.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah, congratulations for getting it done, but let's talk about the content.

David Shriner-Cahn:

so you said, basically this was your way of putting your answers to

Jaime Jay:

Yeah, exactly.

Jaime Jay:

So I thought about what is our business entail?

Jaime Jay:

we're huge fans of company culture.

Jaime Jay:

I think leadership is something that needs to have a lot of time

Jaime Jay:

About leadership and then of course, systems and processes.

Jaime Jay:

I'm a massive fan of systems and processes.

Jaime Jay:

I'm a practitioner of creating systems and processes and workflows.

Jaime Jay:

And then of course, for the company that we have, recruiting

Jaime Jay:

That's our.

Jaime Jay:

That's it.

Jaime Jay:

That's your bread and butter.

Jaime Jay:

That's our bread and butter.

Jaime Jay:

So I thought there's a lot of leadership books out there.

Jaime Jay:

There's a lot of culture books out there.

Jaime Jay:

There's a lot of sales books, a lot of marketing books, a lot of books on

Jaime Jay:

So what I did is I have three parts in the.

Jaime Jay:

And I want to send a special shout out and thanks to Christopher Lochhead.

Jaime Jay:

He wrote the forward to the book and talks about the entrepreneurial journey

Jaime Jay:

And I broke it down into three parts.

Jaime Jay:

Part.

Jaime Jay:

First part is culture and leadership.

Jaime Jay:

Second part is systems and processes.

Jaime Jay:

And the third part of the book is recruiting and hiring.

Jaime Jay:

And I opened up the book, pun intended, open up the book to our own business.

Jaime Jay:

And I wanted to share with other people what it was that we were

Jaime Jay:

And then what kind of culture do we have here and what am I doing?

Jaime Jay:

To become a better leader every single day.

Jaime Jay:

What do I keep challenging myself with?

Jaime Jay:

So I interviewed a lot of amazing people you're included and got some wonderful

Jaime Jay:

And it was a really neat way to bring that all together.

Jaime Jay:

I think, yeah, that's the content of the book.

Jaime Jay:

Who's the ideal reader.

Jaime Jay:

The ideal reader is either a new or a veteran.

Jaime Jay:

entrepreneur that as having problems, they've gotten to a

Jaime Jay:

They can't quite get to that next level or, the experience

Jaime Jay:

What it probably more designed for that maybe a team leader.

Jaime Jay:

high level executive people that have been around awhile and

Jaime Jay:

They're starting to identify different friction points in the business

Jaime Jay:

This book will really help them out and being able to not only identify,

Jaime Jay:

And you heard the seventh year itch in marriage.

Jaime Jay:

There's the same thing in business that seventh year itch in business.

Jaime Jay:

I actually, it could be third three through seventh year.

Jaime Jay:

They're just going to that next level.

Jaime Jay:

And now all of a sudden, certain things are pointing out.

Jaime Jay:

Your customers are maybe complaining about this or that, and it's starting to occur

Jaime Jay:

Those are great examples that your systems or processes haven't been

Jaime Jay:

You might even not even have them.

Jaime Jay:

And this is a real opportunity for this book to help you.

Jaime Jay:

Get a better direction going,

David Shriner-Cahn:

Jamie, what are some of the unexpected bits of

David Shriner-Cahn:

What has surprised you with some of the things you've heard?

Jaime Jay:

This was in the part.

Jaime Jay:

I had a massive imposter syndrome.

Jaime Jay:

I almost thought at one point I go, I wonder if I should market

Jaime Jay:

it's not that bad, like I was so afraid to put this out there.

Jaime Jay:

I really was because I'm like, who in the heck am I to write

Jaime Jay:

Who am like, are you kidding me?

Jaime Jay:

I started solely hearing, you know what?

Jaime Jay:

It's very actionable, very topical.

Jaime Jay:

And you know what?

Jaime Jay:

That's what I meant for it to be.

Jaime Jay:

Now I heard one person say I read it in two hours.

Jaime Jay:

I heard another person say, yeah, I read through it the first time into.

Jaime Jay:

But I went back and I really spent some time studying it and I'd learned a lot.

Jaime Jay:

And then I'd even get like little messages.

Jaime Jay:

And this has happened a couple of times.

Jaime Jay:

And if people have taken pictures of where they were at in the book and one

Jaime Jay:

Help them and resonated with them.

Jaime Jay:

And I was like, this is unbelievable.

Jaime Jay:

Or, Hey, I was so entertained by this book.

Jaime Jay:

I was on the airplane and I didn't even care that the

Jaime Jay:

I was just into your book so much.

Jaime Jay:

And I just was like, that's so cool.

Jaime Jay:

little things like that.

Jaime Jay:

The people are really getting something out of it.

Jaime Jay:

And now, as I can say, I'm an author and as an author to do something

Jaime Jay:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Have you heard anything that was, totally unexpected,

Jaime Jay:

Not yet.

Jaime Jay:

And that's a really good question cause now I really want to dive into that.

Jaime Jay:

Maybe explore it more and see if I can reach out to find that out.

Jaime Jay:

I don't know if people have had enough time to implement against

Jaime Jay:

That's a really good question.

Jaime Jay:

I should really, I have to be more intentional about finding.

David Shriner-Cahn:

So here's a question that may help.

David Shriner-Cahn:

I don't know if you have an answer to this or not, but could also help other

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah,

Jaime Jay:

that's huge.

Jaime Jay:

and this is as many people know, if you go buy a book on borders, I'm sorry.

Jaime Jay:

Borders, Barnes, and noble

David Shriner-Cahn:

stating you, Jamie.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

That

Jaime Jay:

is, that is really bad.

Jaime Jay:

Amazon, any place where you can go and buy a book, you don't get that data.

Jaime Jay:

Amazon's not going to give you the customer's data that bought the book.

Jaime Jay:

They won't do it.

Jaime Jay:

Hopefully they'll leave a review and you'll know, but that's why I think

Jaime Jay:

And then after they give you their name and email or whatever information

Jaime Jay:

I think that's really important.

Jaime Jay:

That's what we've done here.

Jaime Jay:

But I'm still finding there's people that I don't even know that are buying

Jaime Jay:

I don't know anything about them.

Jaime Jay:

And maybe I'll get an email or a message on Facebook or LinkedIn, or I'll see

Jaime Jay:

I have no idea who that is, So

David Shriner-Cahn:

you can't reach out to them?

Jaime Jay:

No, I can't say thank you.

Jaime Jay:

Or I can't say, what did you like most about it was there?

Jaime Jay:

What about this book helped you, overcome the challenges are, what

Jaime Jay:

What motivated you to get the book?

Jaime Jay:

I lose those interactions and it's a bummer.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Yeah.

David Shriner-Cahn:

you got the first one done.

David Shriner-Cahn:

You hinted that this is not going to be your only one what's in your head.

David Shriner-Cahn:

What's now.

Jaime Jay:

Yeah, my publisher said right as we were wrapping up, they said, okay,

Jaime Jay:

You want to start in the next cohort?

Jaime Jay:

I'm like, no, let me take a breather from that.

Jaime Jay:

Cause it's a lot, it's a very.

Jaime Jay:

It's very heavy on your brain.

Jaime Jay:

There's a lot of thinking that needs to go into it.

Jaime Jay:

So I needed to relax cause, me, my brain doesn't, I'm not the brightest

Jaime Jay:

So I said, I to know about that.

Jaime Jay:

I know my limits, so don't push it, Jamie.

Jaime Jay:

So yeah, I would love to write another book and maybe explore, the next.

Jaime Jay:

In, whatever it is that we're doing here at bottleneck, we have some

Jaime Jay:

So maybe this is something that I can cover in the next book,

Jaime Jay:

And then I think, yeah, when in about another five to 10 years, I seriously

Jaime Jay:

There's some pretty crazy stuff that happened in my life.

Jaime Jay:

and a lot of people like.

Jaime Jay:

Look at how crazy other people's lives are and hope,

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

hope that helps people.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

Sounds great.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

Jamie, congratulations again on this, milestone achievement, I've

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

You writing a book or not writing a book.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

So congratulations on getting it done.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

And, I want to thank you so much for taking the time to join us again

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

My guest today has been the author of quit repeating yourself.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Speaker:

Jamie, Jay, thank you again, Jamie for joining us.

Jaime Jay:

Thank you.

Jaime Jay:

Thank you.

David Shriner-Cahn:

When you visit the smashing the plateau website

David Shriner-Cahn:

You'll find a summary of each episode, along with the links we mentioned on

David Shriner-Cahn:

We share methods to help you reach more of your ideal audience.

David Shriner-Cahn:

We also give you a range of tools and resources to support your business.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Access to experts, answers to your burning questions and the comradery of

David Shriner-Cahn:

Check out the smashing the plateau community so that you

David Shriner-Cahn:

What you're worth.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Learn more@smashingtheplateau.com slash.

David Shriner-Cahn:

That's smashing the plateau.com/community.

David Shriner-Cahn:

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our show.

About the author, David Shriner-Cahn

David is the podcast host and community builder behind Smashing the Plateau, an online platform offering resources, accountability, and camaraderie to high-performing professionals who are making the leap from the corporate career track to entrepreneurial business ownership.

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