SNS 171: Saturday Night Special - Interview with Michael DeLon Founder of Paperback Expert

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Welcome to tonight's Saturday Night special episode 171.

[00:00:08] Micael DeLon: I'm Michael DeLon, and I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent, and your treasures to live out your calling. Having the ability to build your credibility is key and one way to be inspired to do. Is to listen to this, the Inspired Stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Maderer,

[00:00:42] and that was the beginning of my two year prison term when I was at a job that I hated at a ministry that. And after two years, I'd had enough and I asked. I talked to my wife and I prayed. I said, God, I gotta get outta this place. He said, What do you wanna do? I said, I wanna go help small [00:01:00] business owners with marketing because they struggle with it.

[00:01:02] They hate it. I love it, and God's said, Go.

[00:01:06] Scott Maderer: Welcome and thank you for joining us on the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent, and your treasures for your true calling In the Inspired Stewardship Podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others, and develop your influence so that you can.

[00:01:31] The word

[00:01:38] in tonight's Saturday Night special, I interview Michael Deon. I ask Michael about his career journey and his faith journey and how it has led him to helping others build their credibility. Michael also shares his book on marketing and why he feels it's so important to small business owners, and Michael also shares with you why getting clients is [00:02:00] and what you can do about it. One area that a lot of folks need some help with is around the area of productivity. Getting not just more things done, but actually getting the right things done can be really tough. I've got a course called Productivity for Your Passion that's designed to help you do this and then to hold you accountable and walk with you so that you can tailor productivity, not just to be getting more done, but actually getting the right things done.

[00:02:35] What's more, we take the approach of looking at your personality and how you actually look at things in the world and tailor the productivity system to your person. Because the truth is, a lot of the systems that are out there are written really well for somebody with a particular personality type. But if you have a different approach to things, they just don't work.

[00:02:57] But there's tools and techniques and [00:03:00] approaches that you can take that will work for anyone, and we help you do that. And productivity for your passion. Check it out. over@inspiredstewardship.com slash launch, Michael Deon creates cred. As the president of paperback expert, he helps business owners publish a book that positions them as the expert in their field.

[00:03:24] Business owners seek out Michael to clarify their brand strategy, make them best selling authors, and set up their profitable podcast. They use his credibility marketing strategies to gain more clients, get more referrals, and grow their. Michael is the husband of one and father of four. He's a committed follower of Jesus Christ who is deeply involved in his church.

[00:03:45] You can normally find Michael investing time with his family, reading a great book, or facilitating growth in the lives of those around them. Welcome to the show,

[00:03:53] Micael DeLon: Michael. Scott, thanks for having me. It's gonna be a great conversation. I'm super excited. Absolutely.

[00:03:59] Scott Maderer: It's [00:04:00] great to have you here and I'm excited to talk to you this evening.

[00:04:03] So let's talk a little bit about where you got started your career journey and what brought you to the point now where you're focusing on working with small

[00:04:13] Micael DeLon: businesses. Us? Yeah. Hey, great. Great question. I'm gonna tell you the long story and a condensed version. Okay. Okay. Long story short, right?

[00:04:21] long story. I'm a follower of Christ. Been married 32 years to my wife, got four kids. Congratulations. Two biological, two adopted, and we were foster parents for eight years. The first five years of our marriage, Scott we're just at each other because Jill and I are complete opposites. And although we both grew up in church, nobody ever taught us how to be.

[00:04:41] And so after five years of conflict, we went to a family life marriage conference as a ministry of campus Cru saying they revealed God's blueprint for marriage to us. I didn't know we had blueprints for marriage, so that changed our life. We started getting involved with that ministry and about, and I was working in Christian radio sales at that time [00:05:00] and realized my clients did not want to buy Christian radio.

[00:05:04] They wanted to sell their products and services. So I had a decision to make. I could either become really good at selling. Or I could become really good at marketing. So I chose marketing. I bought the books, went to the conferences, followed the gurus, and learned how to do marketing for small business owners.

[00:05:19] So my business grew. Fast forward till 2000. God led us out of that Christian radio to a startup.com back when Amazon was just starting and I was selling banner ads and websites to car dealerships that didn't have anything. That company was ahead of its. That means it went bankrupt, and So I found myself in my living room looking up at the ceiling going, God, what am I supposed to do now?

[00:05:40] And he kinda spoke to my heart. He says, Michael, I want you in a ministry to families and I want you at Family Life. That ministry that changed our marriage. And so we raised our financial support, cuz it's a missionary organization. We moved from Indiana down to Little Rock, Arkansas. Landed at Family life in the radio department.

[00:05:54] I thought I was in Nirvana, dude. This was the job for the rest of my life. I served there, I loved it. [00:06:00] Climbed the corporate ladder. I was on the leadership. It took about six years to do that. And they started going through those corporate reorganizations, right? After the third one, I found that my name was no longer on the leadership team, and so they started shuffling me around the ministry to do all kinds of other jobs, and that was the beginning of my two year.

[00:06:18] Prison term. When I was at a job that I hated at a ministry that I loved, and after two years I'd had enough and I asked, I talked to my wife and I prayed. I said, God, I gotta get outta this place. He said, What do you wanna do? I said, I wanna go help small business owners with marketing, because they struggle with it.

[00:06:35] They hate it. I love it. And God said, Go. So on January 1st, 2013, I stepped out of ministry and I hit Easy Street. I started my own. And as a marketing consultant. So I'd call you Scott and say, Hey, Scott I think I can help you grow your business. You'd meet with me. We'd have a great conversation.

[00:06:53] You'd say, Now, Michael, what have you done in the last few years? I'd say we've helped build marriages and families and family life. And you'd say, Michael, that's super [00:07:00] audible. Way to go, Oh, look at the time I've got another meeting. Let's keep our conversation going. And you'd usher me out the door. And that kept happening.

[00:07:07] So I was living on savings. Savings were going down. I wasn't getting any clients. My stress level was going up. I said, I gotta fix. So I went back to my church one day, second floor. I was pacing the hallway saying, God, how do I help Scott? Cause I know I can't. And God gave me this idea to take all of my marketing strategies and put them in a book.

[00:07:25] And so I did. So I published my book on marketing back in 2013, and then I would call you Scott. I'd say, Hey Scott, I think I can help you grow your business. We set a meeting. I mail a copy of my. A week later, I'd walk into your office for our meeting. There it was, my book was on your desk, dog eared, highlighted and underlined.

[00:07:42] You'd read my book and in that meeting you'd say, Now, Michael, in your book, you said, How do you help me do that? And you'd hire me and the next person hire me and the next person hire me. And I thought this is really cool. Why don't more business owners do this? Now let me ask you a question, Scott.

[00:07:59] It's the only [00:08:00] trick question. Okay. Of the two meetings that you and I had right, What, what changed between those two meetings? Did my background of. Marketing and understanding marketing change at all? No. No. Did my background in ministry change? No. No. What changed was how you thought of me. When you got a copy of my book, I instantly became an expert in your mind, and when I walked in, you had pen in hand ready to take down the prescription I had for your challenge.

[00:08:27] That changed everything for me. That was the seed that got plant. That today is called Paperback Expert, where we work with business owners to help them create a book without writing a word, so that they can use that book to attract clients and get referrals and grow the revenue. That's my story.

[00:08:47] That's how I got to where I am today. A book changed my life and I believe it's one of the best marketing tools available. So we just help business owners create their book .

[00:08:57] Scott Maderer: And we'll talk some more [00:09:00] about the book and how that works and what you do with helping others write the book.

[00:09:04] But before we go there, I wanna circle back cuz throughout there you mentioned several times God put you here. God put you there. You were hearing this is the direction I loved what you said. You were in a job I hated in a ministry. I love . Been there. It's and by the way, I was in a corporate company, but I still consider that a ministry because Oh, absolutely.

[00:09:26] Of what we were doing. It doesn't have to necessarily be a quote ministry to be a ministry. Right. And I know you would agree, but how do you think how is your faith journey. Intersected with that kind of career journey, what, how do you think God has shown up in that journey throughout it?

[00:09:46] Oh

[00:09:46] Micael DeLon: man. So many ways. So we were missionaries with family life, right? And as missionaries, we had to raise our own support. We had to come out to use God and say, Hey Scott, would you support us for a hundred dollars a month or two? And we had, we lived really by faith, [00:10:00] trusting that God was going to provide supporters for us.

[00:10:03] Otherwise we didn't put food on the table. Then I went out in business. The same thing happens in. 10 years ago and today, Okay. My business is based on faith in that God is gonna put the right people around me. I need to go find those people, proclaim my message, but through the whole thing, I mean it really drove me to my knees over and over.

[00:10:25] Cause I'm honestly, dude, I came out of, I came, I escaped prison with some. Thinking I know everything about marketing. Small business owners not right. I can wanna go help you . I started hitting brick walls and I started going, Whoa, I'm the marketing guy and I can't get clients. What's going on?

[00:10:40] Drove me to my knees, drove me back to the scriptures, going, What? Lord, show me the way. Help me figure this out. God. And I think he used that to, to bring a lot of humility in my life to go, Dude, you're not as smart as you think you are. And to be reliant upon him and to use at the same time, the brains he gave me, right when I first [00:11:00] came up with this idea, lemme show you, I don't share this with many people.

[00:11:03] When I first came up with the idea, Paperback expert. I thought, Okay I think this has traction, but I need to go to where the people are. Where is that? So in my town it's BNI groups. Okay. Network groups. And I remember on sitting on Network International. Yeah. Sitting on my on a, in a spare bedroom on a bed with my computer looking at BNI groups.

[00:11:23] And I found two of them, one minute at seven 30 the next morning and one minute noon the next day. And I picked up the phone, I called the person, I said, Hey, can I. And I remember going to that 7:30 AM meeting with about 40 business owners in the room. They're all doing their dog and pony show.

[00:11:38] I stand up nervous as all get out to do my one minute thing, right? Nobody knows who I am. I'm like, I'm Michael DeLong with paperback expert. I can help you create your book. Without writing a word and use it to grow your business, and every head in the room just went, What? They just, it's like they had whiplash, They all locked eyes on me.

[00:11:58] They had never heard [00:12:00] anything like that. This was 10 years ago, and at that moment I thought, I've got something here, but it took God really pounding my pride in helping me understand. No, Michael, it's not, You remember who gave you the idea? Remember who's led you this far? Remember that this is not your business, it's my business.

[00:12:22] And and ever since that, for the last decade, we still look at our company as God's company. We are just stewards of it. Here's what I tell people all times God has promised in the Bible to provide for me. I never worry about that, but he has never promised to provide for me through this business.

[00:12:41] And I have to guard myself to make sure this business does not become an idol in my. And that has been an ongoing journey to continue to give up this business to God and say, Lord, I hope you don't close it, but if you do, that's okay. But don't do that. Please ,

[00:12:58] Scott Maderer: but I'm really enjoying it. Please don't[00:13:00]

[00:13:00] I

[00:13:00] Micael DeLon: really like it Lord. So it's been that, that ongoing faith journey of me just having that relationship with Christ to go, this is where I am. And reading the Psalms over and over cuz David really poured his heart out in the Psalms so the other ones, It's okay to complain to God. Is that okay?

[00:13:15] Okay. That's okay. Here

[00:13:16] Scott Maderer: we go. , go read Jeremiah if you don't believe that. .

[00:13:20] Micael DeLon: Oh yeah. So that prophet our faith has just really grown in the last decade, 20 years of just seeing God do amazing things as we follow Him, the best we know how. Good golly, I make mistakes every day, but it's like God has grace.

[00:13:38] It's And allowing me to extend God's grace to others, whether it's a, whether it's a client who might not treat us well, or teammates, how can we bless our teammates and give them bonuses or gifts or things that they don't deserve. They're not expecting that's okay. How do I extend God's grace and be that conduit of what he's [00:14:00] given me?

[00:14:00] Because I've got way more than I deserve. I know that. So it's that journey. God's just showing up in so many ways that we just, it, it is just grown our faith and we get to share it here. We get to share it with people in the community and say, This is how God's worked in our life, and he continues to do it, and it's really an exciting journey.

[00:14:20] Not always easy. Not in it.

[00:14:22] Scott Maderer: And yeah, the funny thing is a lot of what you're talking about right now and I'm gonna I was actually in BNI for a number of years. And I was actually a marketing director for bni, so I, or a managing director rather, for bni. So I did I helped other people that were running their chapters.

[00:14:39] And BNI is real big on what they call vcp, visibility, credibility, profit. And I, thinking back to your story with the book and walking into the room without even knowing it, you were hitting that language of cuz the book is both, it's a visibility and credibility tool, absolutely. At the end of the day, if I see your name on a book, . Oh, who's [00:15:00] that? And and if you're calling, but you've also sent me a book, it's Oh yeah, this is the guy who sent me the book, so I already know who you are. To some extent, yes. But then there's also a certain amount of credibility that comes with it, because rightly or wrongly, we believe that somebody who writes a book must know something.

[00:15:15] That's

[00:15:15] Micael DeLon: right. , . You know what we do? Yeah. My, my line is in our culture experts have books. And what's it mean to be an expert? It means just maybe a little bit more than the next guy . Or Or you, But you're right. And that's why that's what causes people to choose, to engage with us, to research us.

[00:15:34] Is that difference in we, Yeah, we'll talk about the marketing and putting how a book changes everything, but it really is it changes the game. It gives you that visibility and the credibility. To communicate with somebody and to share what you have to offer.

[00:15:51] Scott Maderer: It's a great again, you still gotta get in there and back it up and do what you said, and deliver.

[00:15:57] He does

[00:15:57] Micael DeLon: not. And I'm glad you said that because one of the [00:16:00] myths out there that I fight every day. Is Michael. I just wanna, I wanna publish a book because when I'm on Amazon, the floodgates open and the Red Sea parts and the world beats a path through my door. And I'm like, Yo no, Don, time out. No, that's not how it works.

[00:16:13] And so I have I fight that every week with prospects, right? It's like, like, no. You're not gonna get rich selling this thing on Amazon right here. Here's why you need to be doing a book. So I'm glad you brought that up. Yeah.

[00:16:24] Scott Maderer: So let's talk a little bit about about your book the on marketing book that you Yeah.

[00:16:29] You put out in 2013. Why do you think the concepts in those book and that book is important to small business owners?

[00:16:36] Micael DeLon: Yeah, so in, in on marketing I deal with really foundational. Marketing strategies and ideas. Okay. They're not new to me. They've been around forever. I've just packaged them in a way because what I found is the subtitle of the book is How to Stop Gambling With Your Advertising and Aim for the Marketing Bullseye.

[00:16:58] And I find small business [00:17:00] owners are inundated with marketing speak. Oh, you need to be on this. You've gotta be on TikTok, you've gotta be in Clubhouse. If you're not on Clubhouse, you're going outta business. If you do it, and it's okay, stop. You need strategy. You need a clear message that's gonna separate you from everybody else, and you need to tell your story of why you're doing what you're doing, because it's compelling if you do those simple things and get to get a message.

[00:17:26] And my book talks a lot about message. Once you get your message right, the channel that you use to proclaim that message is secondary. Your audience is everywhere. Okay? They're on Facebook, they're on LinkedIn they're on, they're everywhere. You don't have to be everywhere. And small business owners can't afford to be everywhere.

[00:17:48] They try to market like Apple and. You don't have the money to do that. So my book is filled with strategies that are low cost, no cost strategies and systems that a [00:18:00] small business owner can start with. Cuz remember I wrote this when I was a small business owner. I I didn't have two nickels to rub together, right?

[00:18:06] It's a mindset of marketing. So I try through the book to help people build a marketing matrix that they can view the world through, and it helps them to stop chasing all of those shiny objects. The next thing that's going to make them a seven figure business overnight. You shut up.

[00:18:28] Focus, have a solid strategy and be consistency. Consistency over time. Is one of my formulas.

[00:18:36] Scott Maderer: Yeah. The well and that I love. Do this and you'll become a seven figure business overnight. I think we've all gotten those pitches on LinkedIn or whatever. And they always seem to come in waves.

[00:18:49] And my thing is, oh look, a whole bunch of people just graduated from the LinkedIn marketing class this week. You know exactly what it is. I got about 50 of 'em this week. They must have all graduated this week. [00:19:00] Yeah,

[00:19:01] Micael DeLon: no, that's exactly, They all take the same course and then they just do it. It's no,

[00:19:05] Scott Maderer: No.

[00:19:05] And it's almost word for word the same message too it's very little change to the message. And I'm like, Yep, all graduated. They told you to send this mass thing, and

[00:19:15] Micael DeLon: And it and when you, when that happens, what it does, it, it diminishes their credibility.

[00:19:21] Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And so that's why we really, we are very big as we work with our clients on relationship market. And how do you build relationships online and offline? Today is a great time to do direct mail if you do it right, walk to your

[00:19:39] Scott Maderer: mailbox today. Open up. Cause I'm getting less mail.

[00:19:41] Micael DeLon: How much mail is in your mailbox every day? Usually three pieces or less. So doing direct mail properly is a great thing to do, but it's not the only thing to do anyway. And again, like you said, to some extent and I'm a firm believer of this I work with a program where we [00:20:00] help other coaches.

[00:20:01] Scott Maderer: Up their coaching business and everyone always everyone comes in with the same problem. I need to get clients. It's yeah, duh. know, That's true of every small business on the planet, every restaurant, every plumber, every whatever. You gotta get clients. That's the lifeblood of the business.

[00:20:17] And, but they always wanna start with, so what tool do I need? What where do I need to be? Yeah. As opposed to, like you said, what's your message? Who do you wanna serve? What do they look like? What do they smell like? What are they after? What are their needs and what are your needs? And then we can start talking about where or what Yeah. And that's really important because especially with the research people can do today on Google, everybody's researching and everything, but it's there, there are a dozen different people in your market doing exactly what you do.

[00:20:48] Micael DeLon: How are you sep? How are you differentiating yourself from all of. Okay. I was listening to somebody the other day and they were talking about a, I think it was a plumbing company they were working with, they were [00:21:00] consulting a plumbing company and, alright, so this is terrible. What are plumbers just known for in that industry, you, you bend over and their pants, plumbers, crack. On the plumbing company said, we wear belts, . And the guy's What is that about? He's We wear belts, We're gonna make sure that we represent ourselves well in your. That's your unique per, that's what's gonna separate you. So they took that and that's what separated them from every other plumber.

[00:21:26] And now people laugh at their ads cuz they're so funny and they say, Oh yeah, come, I wanna hire you cause you're. , it's a different message. They still fix pipes. They're plumbers, but they figured out a message that's different that resonated with their audience and they're making fun of themselves in a sense of their industry, which I think is great.

[00:21:46] Too many times we think no, I've gotta be so professional. I've gotta be the professional plumber. Okay, you can do that. But it's a lot more fun. We get the plumber who wears a belt. It's just I just love that analogy. That's taking a message of who you are, and [00:22:00] any business owner can do just that.

[00:22:02] Scott Maderer: And it may not be you wear a belt, but it, there's something that you can use to distinguish your business from the guy down the street.

[00:22:11] Micael DeLon: It goes back to my beginning when you asked me. My prison escape story. I always start with that because it's memorable and people relate to it because there have been a lot of people who've been in prison.

[00:22:24] In corporate or whatever. It's they get it. There's a way to escape. Here's how I escaped. Might not be your escape plan, but there is an escape plan. And so that's what, that's what I, Because it resonates with people. What so we've talked a lot about, it's come up, write a book.

[00:22:42] Scott Maderer: Write a book. And yet I guarantee you, when you said you need a book and I say write a book or whatever, immediately there's somebody out there that probably just threw up in their mouth a little bit and got terrified. Oh no, I've gotta, Oh, that's gonna take so much time.

[00:22:58] That's gonna take so much energy. I [00:23:00] don't like to write all of the other excuses. And I know you talk to people about write a book, and yet you also tell people not to write a book.

[00:23:09] Micael DeLon: So I tell Yeah. Explain that. I tell prospects and people all the time, never write a book.

[00:23:15] And what I mean by that is don't type it out. Speak to write your book. So our entire process is we have writers who interview you because you're an expert at what you do, and you can talk about it all day long. Our job is to help you get that content out of your. To print, right? Whether you use our company or whether you're sitting there as a small business owner who's thinking about creating a book, Open up a Google Doc or a Word document, build a quick outline of what you, what chapters that you wanna talk about, right? What are the key things you wanna talk about in your book?

[00:23:52] Put some bullet points underneath that, and then hit the dictate function, and it will record you speaking and just start talking, just like you were [00:24:00] talking to a prospect. and explain, tell stories, and what happens is Word document or Google, it will transcribe your words and now you'll have about 70 or 80% of your book on paper.

[00:24:14] Now you can go back if you like to write and edit it, or I recommend just hiring an editor to, to help you. That's what I mean by never write a book because that blank screen, you don't know what to say. Or worse, you start typing and then you stop and you go, Oh, no, that's not how I wanna say it.

[00:24:30] And you hit the backspace button, right? And then you start again. The no, hit the backspace, but self-editing, it'll kill you. It will, you will never get your book. We call it the brain dump. Get all your thoughts out of your head onto paper. Speak to write your book. Then edit what you've spoken.

[00:24:48] I do this in emails as well. I don't type many emails. I speak them and then I edit what I said, do the same thing with text. It's just so much faster. I think better auditorily. [00:25:00] I do. That's what I mean. That's what I say. Never write a. Speak to write your book

[00:25:05] Scott Maderer: and I'll add to that a little bit cuz one of the ways that I've done a lot, cuz I hate to write, I one of the reasons I have a podcast people ask me all the time, they're like, Why'd you start a podcast?

[00:25:15] I'm like, Cuz I don't wanna write a blog or a newsletter. It's a lot easier to stick a microphone in my face and let me talk. I enjoy that. I'm good at it. I'm not good at writing. I actually am. I'm good at writing. I just don't enjoy doing it at all. It's a painful experience. It takes a lot of time and energy for me.

[00:25:34] But I'll even take take my phone, put on your Bluetooth headphones, turn on the voice app to record and go for a walk just talk while I'm on a walk. Because for me at least, that physical activity of being out and. Helps me come up with stories and ideas and whatever. And like you said, not editing as you go.

[00:25:56] It's, if you're just recording into a voice app, , [00:26:00] it's pretty much impossible to edit it as you go. It is. No, and that's exactly what people should do is just put it in I do a lot. When I'm driving I'll take a three or four hour drive to a different city and I'll just, I'll open up a Google Doc or a voice thing and I'll just ideas, Oh yeah, here's what I need to.

[00:26:16] Micael DeLon: And good golly, doctors have been doing this, lawyers been doing this dictating forever. It's not a new technology. We just don't, we haven't made that bridge. We haven't crossed that bridge that you can do that for a book. Absolutely you can. You can do it for a white paper, you can do it for, you can do it for anything.

[00:26:30] And with the technology, with phones and it's super simple. It's also when you create, when you think about creating a book or something, it's building the outline first. Sure. Doing that, but. Knock it out within the outline talk. Oh yeah. Yeah. So much easier. So much faster. Again, it

[00:26:47] Scott Maderer: comes down to you've gotta have the roadmap.

[00:26:49] To fill in the, to fill in the roads that's what the outline is first let's put the roadmap together and then let's talk to the roadmap. Absolutely. And again the other fun thing you can always [00:27:00] change it later too, . It's

[00:27:02] Micael DeLon: totally, yeah. I've updated my book three or four times.

[00:27:04] It's no big deal.

[00:27:05] Scott Maderer: And like we talked about before, we started on this show and I, when people mess up on a podcast, I'm like, that's one of the beauties of a podcast is we can stop, reset. Edit that out and you never know it happened. You know that's the point. So we talked earlier about how every business out there has the same problem in some way, , which is getting clients and getting customers and getting the people to purchase their service.

[00:27:33] Yep. What do you see as both the challenge in that? Why is that a problem that we all have and what are some of the solutions that you see?

[00:27:43] Micael DeLon: Yeah. So the biggest challenge honestly is com the commoditization of everything. There's so much competition, right? So every business owner I say, looks like a coffee bean.

[00:27:55] Okay. I'm a coffee lover, Scott. And but if you open a bag of coffee and you [00:28:00] pour out the coffee beans on the table in front of you, they all look the same and they smell the same. And in your business, if you look like and sound like everybody else in your. Why should I choose you? Yeah. And I always tell business owners, you've got to differentiate yourself.

[00:28:15] Don't be a coffee beam. Okay, great. How do you do that? Let me tell you a story of a client of ours. He came to us, a commodity business. He was a home inspector. Okay? That's pretty commodity. And he says I I wanna write a book. I wanna make a difference. I wanna be an Amazon bestseller. I said, Great.

[00:28:35] Tell me your story. So we asked him our questions. Found out that on the side nights and weekends, he's a football high school football referee. Oh, okay. He loves it. That's what, that's his passion. He's There are so many similarities because between what I do on the football field and what I do in home inspection, they both have rules.

[00:28:52] They both have games, they both have flags and things. And we got that. We said, Chris, that's it. And he looks at me and says, [00:29:00] That's what I said. That's your position. That's your differentiating point. So we created him when we published his book. His book is called The Official Guide to Home Inspections Official.

[00:29:09] Get It? We made him America's Home Inspection referee. Now you can see this cuz we're on video. He's got, he's wearing his uniform, his referee uniform with his white hat. He's got his whistle around when he does home inspections. That's what he looks. When he goes out to the realtor's offices, where he gets his business his centers of, he's wearing his uniform and he's handing out now his book, but he could hand out anything, right?

[00:29:34] So he has a very unique approach and message that differentiates him from all the other home inspectors. I'm a home inspector, I'm a home. No I'm a home inspection referee. And guess what? When he does his home inspection, then he finds something wrong with the plumbing or whatever. He puts a little yellow flag on it.

[00:29:51] Okay. I

[00:29:52] Scott Maderer: figured he blew a whistle . That'd be great.

[00:29:56] Micael DeLon: But that, whether he did a book or not, [00:30:00] he does billboard advertising in, in, in the city. Guess what does Billboard advertising look? A referee, right? So we took something he was passionate about and connected it with his business and created this brand for him that is very unique.

[00:30:18] Now he has an easier time talking with prospects, A more fun experience. When he is inspecting the home and price elasticity, he can charge more than the other home inspector cuz he's not a commodity, right? He went from the bottom shelf commodity, like peas, right to the top shelf, recognized expert in his market, not because he did a book that helped, but because we connected his passion for refereeing with what he does every day.

[00:30:47] Every business owner can do that. They have that story that connects at some level. I just find business owners don't do that. But that's how you, that's one way to solve that issue of I need more [00:31:00] clients. Don't be a coffee bean. Don't be a coffee bean. The other part of that I wanna point out and I think you'd agree is in some ways that's actually advan an advantage that small businesses have.

[00:31:12] Scott Maderer: The Google and the Geico and the whatever is Because we're small, we can be that recognizable. He's the face there. He is, he's a recognizable person, not just this big entity.

[00:31:26] Micael DeLon: Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I know some guys who are insurance agents like for farmers or shelters or something.

[00:31:33] They are in, they're in prison. They can only do certain types of marketing, they always have to get everything approved. If you are an in. Insurance agent going against them, and you could do something like Chris did. You're gonna get so much more business because it's more fun. You're not constrained.

[00:31:49] So absolutely small business owners have much more flexibility and freedom to do marketing that is more fun to insert your [00:32:00] personality into your marketing because that's really what's lacking in most market. Go to a dozen websites and read them. They're boring. They'll put you to sleep most of the time, , because they're always talking about me.

[00:32:13] That's not what you need to be talking about. You need to be sharing your story, letting people relate to you. Because that's where credibility and trust is really built is through conversations. Whether they're fir one to one like this, whether they're through a book, a podcast, a video, spending time with somebody, that's how we really get to know trust them and then really have confidence that they're the person for me.

[00:32:37] Scott Maderer: And as, as and it isn't just cuz and I, again I wanna put this out here, just. We've been talking a lot about recognizable or clever. One of the plumbers in our town has the slogan they're Blue Frog plumbing, and their slogan is, We'll hop right to it know, there you go.

[00:32:57] That kinda thing. But it's not just the [00:33:00] slogan or the recognizable logo or the he has the picture of the guy in the referee costume outfit it. It's not just that those are catchy or clever or memorable. It's that they connect with the passion behind it. Again, like for the hop toit, their big thing is they're actually, they show up on time.

[00:33:23] Yes. And it's not, we'll be there between eight and three it's, we'll be there between eight and nine, and they're there between eight and nine that kind of thing. So it's that, it's the idea of having more than. A clever logo, , you know there's gonna be more behind it.

[00:33:42] Micael DeLon: Absolutely. Because what they did is they connected with the pain point of their audience. They knew what their audience is, what the pain point really is. I don't have time to wait four hours for you to show up. Okay. Oh, you're gonna be here within a 30 minute or 45 minute. Great. I've got an H V A C company around the block [00:34:00] from me.

[00:34:00] Their line is we're there when we say, or you don't pay. Very similar. And it's Okay, thank you. I will pay more money to have you here on time,

[00:34:11] because

[00:34:12] Micael DeLon: I don't, I make more money when I'm working. I, You're right. It's not just a plus. I'm less

[00:34:18] Scott Maderer: frustrated. I'm happier for All of that and how you present yourself.

[00:34:27] Micael DeLon: It's really what they're saying is this is our corporate identity. This is our DNA of our company. We understand that. You're busy and we wanna serve you. That's why we hop to it. And if you got a plumbing problem, oh, we're gonna get it fixed. Cuz nobody likes the plumbing problem. That is a message.

[00:34:44] They could tell a thousand different stories around that, right? So I love that. But you're right. It's not just coming up with something. Catchy. It's connecting it with the pain point of your audience to say, Oh, you're different. Yes we

[00:34:58] Scott Maderer: are. Yeah. And the reason why I [00:35:00] wanted to point that out is cuz again, I work with people a lot of times that are trying to start coaching businesses.

[00:35:05] And again, one of the first questions, I need a website, I need a logo, I need, And it's yes, you may need those things, but don't start there let's back up a step and start with. What are you actually doing and why are you doing it? And then we'll figure out the other

[00:35:19] Micael DeLon: stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And I, dude and work with Scott and his team to make sure that you get your messaging right before you build the website.

[00:35:27] Yeah. Because otherwise you'll have some web developer to get you some wonderful looking website that does that $5,000

[00:35:33] Scott Maderer: website. Yeah.

[00:35:35] Micael DeLon: Oh my goodness. No, the. The message comes first, the design should follow. And again, that gets back to the messaging you're putting out in the book on marketing too, the same that's what we just talked about.

[00:35:50] Scott Maderer: It's message first. Yeah. Like you said, the book is a tool. It's a tool and you work with people to do it, and it's a really powerful tool. [00:36:00] Doesn't necessarily mean everybody on the planet needs to write a book. Doesn't. In fact, I mean we've got a couple coaching programs, right? One our low end coaching program is an eight week program and anybody can go through that because we focus on message.

[00:36:16] Micael DeLon: Cuz I have a lot of people calling me and meeting with me and we realize through a conversation, they're not ready for a book. They're too, and it's Okay, time out. Let's do this first. Let's get you a message. Crystal Clear will give you a couple marketing systems to start generating some money.

[00:36:31] Let's have a conversation about six months. Let's see where you are then. But your message, you don't even know. I talked to a financial advisor a couple, three weeks ago. I'm like, What are you trying to do? He's I really don't know if I wanna go this way or that way. I'm like, Dude, you are not doing a book yet.

[00:36:46] So he's in my coaching program to clarify. What's he, Who's he going after? What's his message? We finally got his message. Great. Now, what's the next best step for you? Probably not a book yet. It's coming, but not yet. Let's [00:37:00] get some revenue. Let's do some other things. Build some revenue then. Maybe so you're right.

[00:37:05] Yeah.

[00:37:06] Scott Maderer: And build. And build some experience and some stories too, because What? The book's gonna be filled with the stories, right? Cause people resonate with stories they'll remember. You will remember. And your audience will remember my prison escape story more probably than anything else we say.

[00:37:22] Micael DeLon: unfortunately, but it's the stories that capture our attention and cause us to remember.

[00:37:27] Scott Maderer: So I've got a few questions that I like to ask everybody. But before I ask those, is there anything else you'd like to share about your coaching, your book? The message that you put out?

[00:37:38] Micael DeLon: Just to reiterate it comes back to your message, your story.

[00:37:44] Be yourself, but tell your story in a fun, unique way. That's really the core of everything. So stop chasing all of the shiny objects, all of the promises, the purple pills isolate your message that separate you from everybody else and camp [00:38:00] there that's gonna do more for your business than anything.

[00:38:04] Scott Maderer: So the first question that I want to ask, and you mentioned it earlier, you said this business of yours is yours to steward, and stewardship is one of those words.

[00:38:13] That's my brand. That's how I run my thinking. I talk, I say I'm a stewardship coach. I help people with time, talent, and treasures, all of that. And yet I've discovered over the years that word means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. . Yes. So what does the word stewardship actually mean to you, and what do you think the impact of that understanding has been on your.

[00:38:33] Micael DeLon: Yeah. My understanding of stewardship really came from Randy Alcorn when he wrote his book, Money, Possessions and Eternity. And I've read that book, probably not less than 20 times, but he talks about there and he unpacks Matthew 25 the the guy who gets five talents, two talents to one talent.

[00:38:49] Terrible. In a little line in the scriptures there, it says the owner gave those talents to those people each according to their. [00:39:00] And so some of us got our two talent people, some of us are five talent people. I need to use whatever talents I have been given and use them to grow, to multiply, right?

[00:39:13] I don't need to look at you in envy because you have five and I only have two. And I don't need to look down on the guy who has one and be prideful that I have two And you have one. No. It's kinda like when Jesus was walking with Peter there at the very end, right of the gospels and Peter says, Hey, what about that guy back there?

[00:39:27] And Jesus says, Don't worry about him, you follow me. And it's okay, stewardship is about, I don't own any of this. This is all given everything that I have and I am to use it to multiply it. It's funny, in that parable and Matthew 25, the owner left, he said, Scott, here you go. I'm. He didn't come back and micromanage he, he came back.

[00:39:50] But what did you do with them? You went out and started trading. You started doing things using your ability, your mind, your thought, your right. That's what stewardship is. It's [00:40:00] taking what we've been given, realizing it's not ours at the end, but we're going to multiply it. We're going to bless people.

[00:40:07] We're gonna grow it. And then at the end, after we've accumulated more, who got all the excess money? Did the servant or did the owner? The owner, it all went back to the owner. It's all gods. I'll get commendation well done. Good and faithful servant. That's what I should be living for. And in the process, I'm gonna bless a lot of people.

[00:40:26] And so that stewardship to me is taking whatever God gives me. And it could be money, it could be relationships, it could be whatever, and stewarding them to be a blessing to others to grow in my. And to honor Christ in the process. That's how I look at stewardship.

[00:40:45] Scott Maderer: So this is my favorite question, though.

[00:40:48] I've been told by some of my guests, it's their least favorite question, . Fair warning, if I invented this magic machine and I was able to pluck you out of the place where you stand today and [00:41:00] transport you into the future, 150, 200. And through the power of this machine, you were able to look back on your entire life and see all of the impacts, all of the connections, all of the relationships, what you've left behind as an impact.

[00:41:18] What impact do you hope you've had on the world?

[00:41:20] Micael DeLon: That is a great question. I think for it's looking back and seeing that people understand life is really more about charact. Than cash. And in, in America, we I think money is an idol in our land. And I think we chased it thinking that's happiness.

[00:41:41] That's going to buy me the habit. And it doesn't it's understanding if you I took it, my first relationship was like 30 some odd years ago to Jamaica, Inland Jamaica. These people had nothing and we were there serving them and things, but they were the most joyful people I'd ever been around. And I realized at that moment, money doesn't really run the.[00:42:00]

[00:42:00] We need it. But these people had very little, but they were super joyful. I knew people in America who had lots of money who were miserable retches. I was like, Wait a minute. So it's the character that we develop in others that's going to be generational legacy. You can add money to that and things, but it's the character that counts.

[00:42:23] Scott Maderer: So what's on your roadmap? What's coming next for you as you continue on this?

[00:42:27] Micael DeLon: Yeah. And we continue to build our business to run without me. Okay. That's one of my dreams and visions and goals. My youngest son or my eldest son, Caleb, works in the business with me. He's my chief operating officer.

[00:42:39] So we are actually building this business, so he'll be able to take it over and it'll be a generational wealth building company for us, for our family. We're setting up foundations have you read the book? Profit First? Okay. So we operate on profit first, and I love that. But we took it to the next level is we have our profit item that comes out right at the top, and [00:43:00] then right underneath that we created another envelope called Giving First.

[00:43:03] And so through our business we have an objective to give a half a million dollars a year to the Kingdom of God. And we're working toward that because we want our business to be a conduit of. To the world. And again, this is not my business, it's God. So we've chosen we, we've connected with another ministry out there called Generous Giving.

[00:43:26] And they facilitate conversations around generosity. And through that, I've learned about other business owners who have put a cap on their income. So that they can give more money away. And so Jill and I, my wife, were looking at those things and putting caps on our income and saying, How are we structuring this thing that as God blesses our business, it's not so I can go buy my Ferrari in my second or third or fourth or fifth or sixth home.

[00:43:51] It's about giving more away. God's blessed us abundantly. I wanna give, I wanna be purposeful in our giving, not just for us, [00:44:00] Scott. I wanna teach our children. and their children. I want their children to be raised with this mind mindset that we are stewards, and that's the direction I'm heading, is building into the next generation.

[00:44:15] I don't have grandkids yet, but I've got two married sons, so how am I gonna be impacting their children in the next 20 years through this business that God's allowed us to steward? That's what's on my radar, Absolut.

[00:44:36] Scott Maderer: You can follow Michael on Facebook or YouTube as paperback expert. You can also find him on LinkedIn under Michael Delan, and that's spelled D E L O N. . You can find out more about Michael and his coaching and the programs he was talking about over on his website@paperbackexpert.com. Of course, I'll have links to all of that over in [00:45:00] the show notes as well.

[00:45:01] Michael, is there anything else you'd like to share with the

[00:45:03] Micael DeLon: listener? Scott, I would say be yourself. God has made you uniquely, You have gifts, talents, and abilities that he has given you that he wants you to use. Don't hide them under a lampshade, right? Take them out to the world. Be yourself and use that to serve more people.

[00:45:29] Scott Maderer: Thanks so much for listening to the Inspired Stewardship Podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this, Please. Please do us a favor. Go over to inspired stewardship.com/itunes.

[00:45:56] Rate all one word iTunes [00:46:00] rate. It'll take you through how to leave a rating and review, and how to make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so that you can get every episode as it comes out in your feed. Until next time, invest your. Your talent and your treasures. Develop your influence and impact the world.