Yeah, yeah. This is amplify you the podcast about you discovering your message and broadcasting it to the world. If you are a coach, author or speaker, you'll want to tune in. If you're looking for the best return on your time investment to get your message out to the world in a bigger way. We're giving you full access behind the scenes, look of how we're running our podcast, how our clients have found success and what you can do to launch your podcast today. The world needs your message. I Michelle Abraham the host, join my family as we unleash your unique genius and find the connections. You need to launch your adventure today, join us and let's get amplified. All right, Hey amplify you. Michelle Abraham here, your host and I am bringing you and ask the expert interview today with kelly for Lardo. I am super stoked to bring kelly to you guys. You guys, this woman is amazing. Let me tell you a little bit about kelly. But first of all, hey kelly, how are you doing? Good, How are you myself? I am fantastic awesome.

So Kelly Kelly is a burn survivor. You're burned at the age of 2, 75% of her body. So she found a way to success, to go from near death to success. That's incredible Kelly. So she went from the ugly, scar faced girl to the tech stage, not only once, but twice in her in her life, which is amazing. And kelly has a documentary made about her life story called Still Beautiful Kelly launched a tv show on gold cast as well that has almost 10 million views on her show and she is now a full time amazon best selling author strategists, coaching people to become best selling authors. So, on Christmas Day this year to Global TV announced that Kelly is one of the most influential, inspiring people of 2020, so welcome Kelly and thanks for bringing your amazing talent to us today. Thank you for having me. I'm so, I'm so excited, I'm so honored to be able to share with you and your guests. Thank you, awesome. I'm just super glad that you're here. So kelly, you've been through some craziness in your life.

So take us back to kind of how your story on this journey to where you are today, being a best selling author strategist. Um, tell us a little bit about your journey to get here today. Yeah, well, you know when I got burned with a tear all, I, I didn't know what my life was going to be about, right, Like I just thought that, you know, I was gonna be the ugly girl forever. I mean, I walked past my teachers staff in grade five and I saw a picture someone had drawn at me and it was a circle which scribbles all over and a scarf it and so I knew they were talking about me because there's no other scarface girl in the room and so all my life it was, you know, struggled with my birds and confidence in my abilities and it was like, what am I going to do with my life? Right? Like I thought I'd never ever get married or have kids or have a good life, but I did get married, I did have kids and then 11 years ago I decided you know what, I'm gonna take my life to a whole different level and that's why I'm not from in Hammond, who said, well you need to sell their business, you have and become a speaker.

And I like what, I don't know how to be a speaker when she's like no you need to be a speaker because people will be so inspired by your story and I didn't understand it because at that point in my life I was in a toxic marriage. I you know we were almost bankrupt. I you know I hated my job, I hated my business, I just hated everything about my life except for my kids and so I just didn't see myself as being an inspirational person. So yeah, go ahead. No, I was just gonna say so how did you get that inspiration? Like when you're feeling like it's hard to pull that inspiration and you know feeling it right? So what did you do to kind of like cultivate that inspiration and actually get on TX stages is a lot of work. So that must be quite the journey for you. It is yeah. And you know what was interesting is I did end up selling the business. I ended up ending my marriage and I became a speaker, wrote a book, Got Under my second book and I got mentors involved to help me to get to that place because when I would get up on stage I was so excited, I just couldn't wait to do it again.

And I thought, oh my God, what is this feeling that I had? Because I had never had that feeling before. I hated going to rick and my boss gave me an ultimatum and she said to me, kelly, are you going to be excited to come to work on monday or relieved if you don't have to? And I was like, oh and not get me right to my court right in my chest because I knew I wanted to be a speaker full time. But I had just left my marriage four months earlier and I was living in my novels basement In a bedroom at 44 years old. I'm thinking I shouldn't be there. I should be, you know, way better than where I am. But yeah, that that question that she asked me made me think of something and it made me realize that the only person who can change my life is me, I'm the one who has to take accent. And if that was inspiring me that much to be a speaker, it was like, how can I do more of that? And so that was really important to me.

So I just got other mentors and speaking coaches involved to help me to take it to that whole new level. And it was just amazing that I did that because now, like you said, you know, I've got all these incredible credentials because I checked out, wow, that's incredible. So what, so we believe, like everyone's got a message to share with this world and I'm sure you coach your authors on this as well, that they have a message that's worthy of being out there in this world. What's the message that you lead with when you're out there speaking and doing your ted talks and and writing your books kelly. Well, one of my biggest messages is that you are more than enough. You know, I get a lot of people coming to me that want to write a book and they say, well who am I right that or who am I to do that podcaster? Who am I to be that speaker. And I always stated them because you lived through it. You live through your journey. So you are the first one to tell that story, right? And you never know when you're going to help somebody.

And that is the most beautiful thing about what I love, what I do is this brings me to a story about Maria and when Covid here like I was a keynote speaker and then I lost almost you can get and I said okay, what's next? I laid on the couch for a week. I did you know, I just, I don't know what I'm gonna do. And then I put on a course to teach people how to write books and I said pay me what you can, I don't care what you pay me with 20 bucks or 100 bucks, 200 bucks. It doesn't matter. Just pay me what you can and will put on this one day course. So I did. And of course we have to make a bread roll. So Maria takes my card and so she tells me later, she said, you know what tell I really want to thank you for making it virtual. She said I was going to cancer and I was going through my chemo at the time of your course and if you would have done it as a live course, I wouldn't have been able to participate. And she said, now I know how to write a book. She says I can't do housecleaning anymore.

So now I get to be an author and her book became a best selling book and now she's on her way to write in 10 romance novels. Oh, because of what I taught her. And so she thanks me all the time because she says I owe you my life because if I wouldn't have been able to take your questions well while I was going through chemo yeah, I wouldn't be a best selling author wow, that's so incredible. I love that now it takes some courage to go from like you know, like you said you were kind of like not feeling the inspiration or not feeling so inspirational then to go on to be an inspirational speaker for people that are at home, may be listening to this right now where they know they have this message inside them, they know it needs to get out, but they just don't feel like you said that there that they anyone listen or like we see a couple of years come up when when, when people are launching podcasts or a big platform, like a book, what are some things that you did to kind of get yourself into that inspirational mindset from, from the nut feeling, so inspirational?

Well you know, one of the things that I do is um, and this is something I teach in my classes is who is it that you want to help? Like for example, one time I had to do a speech to a conference full of burn survivors, there was 200 grand survivors and they're my people, right? And so they're expecting me to say something that's just going to change your life forever, right? So I I felt tremendous pressure. And so what I did is I imagine another burn survivor sitting in front of me and I said to myself, what are 10 things I'd want to tell that burn survivor, What are those 10 things I want to tell them? And and that's why I say about anybody that wants to write a podcast or drew podcast or write a book or be a speaker is what our 10 things you want to tell that person and those become your talking points, right? Or they always become your writing point, don't become your chapters, that has become whatever it is, but you really have to imagine who is that person you want to help.

And the reason I say that is because I also speak to a lot of teenagers, so schools and colleges hire me and then there's women groups that hire me to speak. So when I'm speaking to teenagers, of course I'm doing a whole different message to the teenage group than I am to women entrepreneurs, right? So that's why it's so important to know who your audience is and who you want to help. It's just like on a podcast you wouldn't want to have, you know, um a teenager on your, you know, entrepreneur show, it just wouldn't make sense, right? So you want to make sure that you're speaking to your avatar? Yeah, I love what you say, that they say that because, you know, some of the most successful shows that we've worked with, that, we've really seen that they really speak to that one person who was, who was, who was potentially them a few years ago or where they were when they started their journey. And that resonates so much better with their listeners than this overall, like, hey everyone, how you guys are trying to like appeal your story to everybody.

We're focusing in on that person when you're actually speaking and just the way you say it, I think to comes across so much more powerful in their ears than um, than just a general message. Right, Right. Yeah, that's awesome. I love that kelly. So now I would love to hear from you as the best selling author strategists. Um what are some things that, you know, becoming a best selling author is, seems to be something on a lot of people's list saying with podcasting. So what would you say are some of the most beneficial things are reasons why some of our podcasters now should maybe think about starting a book as well? Well, one of the biggest reasons I said is the credibility. So when you become a best selling author, you just jump from here to here as far as credibility goes. And the reason the way you want to look at this is if somebody has to choose between your podcast or someone else's podcast or having you as a guest on their show, if you're a best selling author, they're gonna pick you versus someone who is a uh and so it's really a big, big credibility piece and I know some people will say, oh amazon best selling author, it's just so easy to get and it is if you follow the right gratitude and I know some people who have not made the list and they're selling lots of books, so um so to me it's all about, there's, there's that whole group of people that don't know what it's like to become a best on author and so it's still just as important as ever.

Yeah, I think you made a really good point just there and I want to just reiterate that for audience because because we're in this space and we're in the space around a lot of bestselling authorities were around a lot of podcasters were around people that do what we do too, we kind of think the whole world is like that, right? And I thought that you forget that like to, like my parents are too like my friends or my mom friends are not being a best selling author is like, wow, like crazy or being a podcast is like, you know, huge, like you know, thing where because we see it so much because I was around so many people and look at my bookshelf. Most of the books on the shelf are clients of mine are friends of mine or my whole books. It's super funny now. Like that's my reality and your reality and our listeners reality. But what we need to remember, that's not everybody's reality out there. I think that's exactly, get caught up in this world where we think everyone else is also in this world, but being a best selling author is seems very unachievable for the majority of the world out.

Well, yeah, because a lot of people think that to be a best selling author, you have to sell like 10,000 books and then you'll make the lift. And that's not true at all. You just need to get into the top 100 of your category on Amazon. And that's what I specialize in. That's my secret sauce. I know how to find the categories. I know how to research them. And I know how to pick the right ones for you and your book. And a lot of times what happened with my clients is because of my strategies and my algorithm. I'm able to help people get the best seller list before we even do the lot. Mm And so people are like how do you do that? How did you learn how to do that as well? And it's funny because there were just certain things that I tried and they work and I was like okay. It was so and then I tried again, then it worked again. So funny. I mean, I think we could have this conversation like should you have a podcast? Did you have a book? Um you know, it's as funny as you were talking about the best selling list, I mean there's the amazon or sorry, the itunes like top podcast list and we have this algorithm thing that we help people get up there to really high and it's quite funny because you know, we can have this conversation.

Which one do you do? Do you do the book to do the podcast? I think you know, I, I know what I'm going to think, but what do you think kelly? I think you do bro. Yeah, I do. I think you do hand in hand and you know, here's the beautiful thing about being a podcaster is you can take your podcast interviews and make books out of them and that's what I suggest to people. If you've already got 10 or 20 interviews, pick your favorite and take those interviews, get them transcribed and all of a sudden you've got a book and that's actually what I'm doing with one of my clients right now, if they did, I think 15 interviews with people, um he had an event and people were speaking on stage and so he recorded all of them and then we got them transcribed and now we're editing that and making that answer. But and so as a podcaster, that's super easy for you because you already got the content totally. I mean, I think, I think the best case situation would be if, you know, you're going to write a book to think about that before you actually launch the podcast, because then you can specifically speak in a certain way in your show, or interview a certain way or ask certain questions that then goes into the book really nicely.

That's like I think the ideal situation, but if you but if writing the book was a hindsight to your podcast and I think there's still some good ways that you can do, like you said, pick your best interviews, pick out the pieces from those interviews or for those people who, those podcasters who have like the same, like they asked the same couple of questions to every guest. Those work really good into the books too, I think right, absolutely, that's a great way of doing it. Um in fact, that actually happened to me, a friend of mine, this is probably seven or eight years ago and she interviewed me for her podcast. The next thing I know she was launching a book and my injury was in the book, this is so cool, but you know, the biggest reason that people don't start their book is because there they don't know if they can develop the contract, right? You already have the contact and at first people who love part or drawing to podcasting, I think that's so funny because that's exactly me, I think I could speak and do podcast interviews till the cows come home, but to actually sit down and write is like, and that's never going to happen.

So I think it's probably the best way for me to get a book out of me would be to speak it and how well does that translate into like someone reading it well, and you know, and that's exactly how I get my dating book because I wanted to see, okay, can I really do this because I've heard of people transcribing and then make a book out of it. So what happened is, um I went on facebook and I did a video about five different types of men on the dating sites and how to spot them. And so sure enough, I hired somebody on fiber, got them to transcribe it. I think it cost me 20 bucks. I got them somebody else to do me a cover for another 20 bucks. And then I just edited the book and it was excellent. And you know what, I think the other the other big thing is a lot of people think they have to do like a big 150 page, but I'm really encouraging people do a little four by seven, right? Like that's what I'm doing with a lot of my clients now. Just these little books and then it's not quite so overwhelming and you can get it done in like a weekend.

Yeah, it just gives you that head start, right? Like, it gives, you know, I would say like, you know, when you're going to start a book, it may not be the book, like, your legacy book, but it's a book to get you going right? Like, Yeah, absolutely. Flying before you get into the good stuff. Right? Yeah, that's right. And I think that that's one reason why a lot of people don't start their books is because they think that their book has to be their memoir, Right? And a lot of times they have something really painful in their past that they're too scared to share. So they don't even start at all right. Where it's like years of processing it to get it out. Yeah, absolutely. Right. Like to me, you got to figure out what is your book going to be about? Like where do you what do you want your book to do for you? All right. When you know what you don't want your buck to do for you, then you can determine what profit path you want to take. Right? Like I had my when clients come to me and they say, okay, well, I want to write a Children's book and I want to write this business. But and I said, okay, well, what do you want to make money with? You know like where do you want to go?

Well, I want to do code train and blah blah blah blah. Okay, well, then let's write your business. But first get your business book out so that you can start making money. Then we'll do your Children fucked after. But let's get your business book out there so that you're making money and I'm sure once you get people hooked on doing books they're like repeat customers. I'm sure. Yeah, exactly. Well, and then, and then once they know how to do it, they realize how easy it is and then they go on and they do it themselves and I've had that happen. Yeah. Yeah. I have like 1.2, 3 books and four months, wow, that's incredible. So, so kelly for our podcast is sitting at home thinking about what we should do a book. Any last bit of advice before we let negotiates has been super valuable. I think it's really helpful where people think about their podcast in relation to having a book and like can you do both and should you do both and how do you get them together? And how for me as especially for me as someone who likes to talk instead of right now, this is going to be really helpful to just, you know, get the podcast interviews turned into a book for you.

Well, you know, a lot of it is just getting started, like just start writing, just put pen to paper and figure out what your goals are, where what you want your book to do for you, who you want to write it for. And you know, like, like I said earlier, Being a podcaster, you have the content which are 90% of the books, right? That's everyone else's problem, right? They don't have the content yet. I Know Lois writers don't have the content. You guys do not have an excuse you have the content, so make your book so it fits what you're already doing because that's gonna make it 10 times. Use their right, so love it. Good advice. Yeah, exactly. Such good advice. Thank you so much kelly and kelly. Where can our listeners find out more about you and how to work with you? Well I have a free blueprint that they can have as a as a gift. So it's a seven step publishing your first book. And so you can go to seven steps author.com and that's where you can either sign up for a discovery call with mood and get the blueprint.

Um I'm also doing a live event April 9 to the 11th on called the best selling author. Mastery live where I'm going to teach you to write your book and get it done. So you can become a best selling author. And yeah, so people are more than welcome to come and participate in that also. And yeah, so yeah, just go to seventh softer dot com because you can sign up for a discovery call and you can get the blueprints and perfect. I would love to work with you guys. Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you so much kelly. I appreciate you And all the golden nuggets you've given us and the inspiration you've given us to get out there and get her books done. So podcasters reached out to kelly and make sure you connect with her. She is an amazing woman. And uh thanks kelly will bring you back again soon and until next time. Let's get our bike. Let's get our books written podcasters. You're very welcome. Thank you. Thanks, Take care. Okay. Mhm Thank you family for joining us on this adventure. If you're ready to be heard, head over to my podcast coach dot com, well, you'll find out all the tools and tips.

You'll need to launch your podcast today if you have a show already and you need some help managing it, please head over to manage my podcast dot com and the amplify your team would be happy to help you manage your podcast. Please also head over to itunes like subscribe to review our show so we can spread this message and until next time, be your own unique genius.