When did you first start writing, and when did you finish your first book?
Wrote my first (and second) books over 20 years ago. This time, however, I re-started writing about three and half years ago when I started my blog. Finished this book in October, which was a compilation, editing and stitching together for flow, many of the blog posts of the last three and half years.
Where do you get your ideas?
They come from many places. My own experiences as an entrepreneur and turnaround specialist as well as from my clients through my advisory relationships. They can also come from just my own interaction with the world around me.
Do you ever experience writer’s block and how do you overcome it?
Sometimes. I do a weekly blog post and while I often have multiples working at a time, if I’m not real excited about any of them, I have difficulty writing. And that has a lot to do with my audience. I want them to not only enjoy what I write, but get something out of it that they can immediately put to use.
Is there a particular author that influenced you while growing up or as an adult?
None influenced my writing because most of the authors I like are fiction writers like Ludlum, Grisham, Robert B. Parker, Harlen Coben – have everything each of these guys has written. But I read, often, to escape. But if I were pressed, I would have to say Parker because “his voice” was in everything he wrote. That’s what I strive for.
Can you tell us about your challenges in getting your first book published?
Originally, it was going to be a two-volume set because I thought I should focus on both start-ups and ongoing businesses. But then my marketing would be diluted having to carry messages to two different market niches. A good friend and advisor talked me out of it.
How do you market your work? Have you found some avenues to be more successful than others?
It is very difficult to market your book in the sea of self published books. So I’ve sought and received the professional advice from Publishing Unleashed who focuses on getting me seen. I have already seen a bump in sales since signing on with them and my book recently got onto Amazon's Entrepreneur best seller list.
About the Author:
Lonnie L. Sciambi, "The Entrepreneur's Yoda," gives on the money, no catchy buzz-word, practical advice for entrepreneurs. His business mentoring isn’t about rah-rah feel good theories but rather using techniques that have been tried-and-true, straight from the business trenches.
During Sciambi’s 30+ year career as an entrepreneur and CEO , he founded and sold two of his own companies, advised more than fifty companies at various stages of their growth and invested in more than a dozen. Sciambi’s experience also includes fixing "broken" companies, having completed a series of successful turnarounds for eight small companies. He has raised more than $350 million in capital as an investment banker and also been responsible for almost 50 mergers and acquisitions including a dozen or more successful entrepreneurial exits. Sciambi has also had some large company experience with Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Citicorp and IBM.
Whether you are seeking advice for an under-performing operation, strategic exit guidance or just valuable business advice, Sciambi can help you avoid the pitfalls that you will invariably face along the way. He learned the hard way, but you don’t have to!
Sciambi resides in Port Monmouth, NJ with his wife Helen and has three children, the "start-ups" of which he is most proud - Jon who lives in New York City, Sara, who lives in Miami Beach, FL and Ben, who lives in New Jersey.
FOR MORE INFO
Website: http://www.thesmallbusinessforce.com/blog/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/yodacanhelp
LinkedIn: Lonnie Sciambi
BUY THE BOOK
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009XDNNR2