Mike Vardy

The #1 mistake new authors make (and how to avoid it) Most new authors hand over everything to the publisher. Then they wait for magic. Guess what? It never comes. Publishers are not magicians. They are business partners. The #1 mistake? Thinking a publisher will “make” your book successful. Truth: publishers handle editing, design, distribution. They don’t build your audience. They don’t create your credibility. That’s YOUR job. The fix? 👉 Build your platform before publishing. 👉 Start marketing 90 days before launch. 👉 Treat your book like a startup, not a hobby. You wouldn’t open a shop without customers. Why launch a book without readers? Are you ready to take control of your publishing journey?

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I saw a post recently that said: “Systems aren’t sexy until a $25k client signs and you only find out after the fact… because your automations handled everything.” And, honestly, I can’t think of anything I want less. Yes, you could set up so many automations that people could join your world, send you money, and get started in your community - without them ever speaking to you, the real human they wanted to get to know. And, for large brands, SaaS products, period pants, or a bottle of that curly shampoo everyone is talking about - it works fine. But, if you’re a coach, a service provider, someone who works closely with your clients, and someone who needs a connection with them to weave your magic… then why start your interactions with something so devoid of relationship? Of connection? Ok, so it’s easier - sure. I hate to break it to you - the stuff that works is the stuff that’s hard - that takes your time and effort. Because that’s what people want - your time. They don’t want to type a vaguely connected one-word phrase into your comment section so that a bot can DM you a link to a lead magnet. When it comes to welcoming your clients into your world. If you couldn’t be bothered to take the time (to personally answer a DM, to send a personalised email (yes, even if you start with a template), to spend time… Why would they be bothered to come any further into your world? Why should they trust that you’re going to take the time for the rest of your engagement? Let me be clear - Systems aren’t the villain. I’ve got two kids, a business, and a colour-coded summer plan that’s already in the bin - believe me, I love a good automation. But efficiency is not a substitute for empathy. The most powerful thing in your business isn’t your funnel or your checkout process. It’s you. That’s what makes someone say “yes” - to the call, the contract, to the work

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Most therapists tell me their About page is the hardest one to write. And honestly, I get it. It’s not easy to find that balance between sounding credible and sounding human, between sharing your “why” and maintaining healthy boundaries. But your About page isn’t just a formality. It’s often where potential clients decide whether they feel safe, understood, and ready to take the next step. In my latest blog, I break down how to write a therapy About page that connects, not just informs. ✅ What to include (and what to skip) ✅ How to show your humanity while staying professional ✅ Why it matters for both clients and Google 📖 Read the full post: https://lnkd.in/dt6VvM6n Because your future clients don’t want the “perfect” therapist, they want the real you. #TherapistMarketing #CopywritingForTherapists #TherapistWebsiteCopy #MentalHealthCopywriter #PrivatePracticeMarketing #TherapistSEO #TherapistBlog #TherapistBranding

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The Power of Aspirational Messaging What if every time you shared content, it deeply resonated with clients who truly align with your work? Imagine working with high-frequency clients who trust your process, value your expertise, and are excited to invest in themselves. Here’s the key: It starts with how you frame your messaging. Traditional marketing often revolves around pain points—highlighting clients’ struggles to create urgency. But here’s the twist: if you’re looking to attract empowered clients, this approach could actually push them away. Empowered clients already know their challenges. They don’t need constant reminders of what’s not working—they need to see the path forward. Instead of saying, “Are you tired of feeling stuck?” try this: “Ready to step into your full potential and create the life you desire?” This subtle shift positions you as the trusted guide who can help them move from where they are to where they want to be. Here’s an exercise to help you craft aspirational messaging: 1️⃣ Write down three struggles your ideal clients face. 2️⃣ Reframe each struggle into a transformation they want to achieve. For example: ❌ “Are you feeling drained by your current workload?” ✅ “Imagine thriving in a career where your energy is high, your talents are recognized, and your work feels fulfilling.” This isn’t just about avoiding pain—it’s about painting a picture of what’s possible. When your messaging highlights your clients’ aspirations, you attract clients who are already ready to invest, take action, and grow. This shift doesn’t just change your content—it changes the kind of clients you attract. You’ll call in clients who are aligned, inspired, and ready to move forward with your guidance. This is the exact transformation I help my clients achieve in my 4-Week Intensive. Together, we refine your messaging, align it with your energy, and create content that magnetizes empowered clients who are excited to work with you. If this sounds like what you need, message me. Let’s craft messaging that positions you as the guide your dream clients are looking for. Message me to find out more 💌. #MagneticMessaging #EmpoweredClients #SoulAlignedLeadership

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You don’t want another workshop where the notes gather dust on your desk. Most business owners have been in that room before. You walk away with good ideas, several pages of notes, and every intention to do something with it. And then the day-to-day takes over, and those ideas quietly get parked. Not because they weren’t useful, but because they never quite translated into how your business actually runs. A couple of weeks ago, Natasha Wells and I caught up with a number of recent Visibility and Culture lab attendees to see what had actually shifted since the session, and how it was impacting their business. One of the comments was: “I didn’t learn anything completely new… but I did apply several things that I hadn’t applied before.” And that’s the point. The challenge is getting that thinking to actually show up in the business - in how things are communicated, how proposals are put together, and how the team delivers day to day. That same business owner made a few small changes. Just tightening how things were presented and being more deliberate. His team didn't chase more leads, but they did convert more of what was already in front of them - much more effective that new ideas to his existing plan. We often talk about brand realignment, and it can sound like fluffy work. But when it’s applied to your actual business, and followed through properly, it shows up in very real ways - better conversations, stronger proposals, and higher conversion. If you'd like to join us at the next Brand Realignment Lab, or pencil in another date, here's the details: https://lnkd.in/gYC_dcd8 Love to chat if you'd like to discuss if the Lab is for you.

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Let’s talk about the giant pink elephant in the room: SEO as we know it is changing. 🐘💖 If you’re still obsessed with stuffing keywords into your website, you’re playing a 2010 game in a 2026 world. Enter AEO: Answer Engine Optimization. While SEO helps Google find you, AEO helps ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini RECOMMEND you. AI doesn't just want a list of links; it wants a definitive answer. It wants an Expert Authority. It wants YOU. So how do you get these AI platforms to pick you? 👉 Be the primary source. Don't just curate; create original insights. 👉 Use 'natural language': write exactly how your ideal clients ask questions. 👉 Consistency is king. The clearer your 'Expert Footprint' is across the web, the easier it is for AI to verify you're the real deal. It’s not about being the loudest in the room anymore; it’s about being the most unmistakable. Christine Blosdale – The Expert Authority Coach™ - Helping you get seen, trusted and PAID for what you already know. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/gaufGpNN

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Today’s AHPRA advertising compliance tip is all about offering gifts, discounts and incentives to encourage people to use your regulated health service. The good news is that you can use them. But, there are some rules you’ll need to follow.

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Marketers are out here spending thousands to drive webinar registrations ... and then handing the audience off to platforms like Zoom, ON24 or Goldcast. Let that sink in. We're in an era where AI answer engines are eating our organic traffic and getting someone to actually visit your website is harder than ever. And yet, the default for most webinar strategies is to ship attendees straight to a third-party platform the moment they're most engaged 🤯 Your website is the one place on the internet where you control the narrative entirely. No algorithm. No competitor ads. No distractions. Just your brand, your story, and your next step. So why are we giving that moment away? Hosting webinars on your own site turns a one-time event into the start of a journey - one that probably never begins if your audience gets what they need from an AI summary and never clicks through at all. The companies that figure this out early are going to have a real edge as the battle for human attention on owned channels intensifies. This is the problem that Sequel.io was built to solve, and it just blows my mind that so many marketers still happily send their webinar attendee traffic off to someone else's website instead of their own. It's time to take your high intent traffic back 💪 and host webinars ON YOUR WEBSITE. I had a great conversation about this with Marcus Sherwin on his The Creator Economy for B2B show. Check out the comments to watch or listen. #webinars #kathleenhq

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Someone asked me to explain to him the difference between Brand, Marketing and Sales in a short simple way using my words and understanding, and I thought to share here as well. BRAND MARKETING SALES These 3 functions work interchangeably. You cannot omit one and utilize the other two, you need them all for your business to stand at its full potential for success. BRAND: Identity - You tell us who you are, what's your story, experiences, your ground values, your persona, what you all about... These help with accurate messaging, specific typography (fonts) that's needed to setup a brand tone / brand voice and the image. MARKETING: Race - Clarify to us which tribe (industry) you're from. Find community who shares the same culture and traditions (interests), and share new herbs with them (attend their pain points). SALES: Language - Speak the language your community understands, and they will respond! (Connect with their emotions, communicate effectively and they will buy)! @ Mpumalanga Young entrepreneurs National Youth Development Agency has opened opportunities for funding until 30 September 2025. Go to their ERP portal and apply for funding. #GrowthMindset #EntrepreneurialMindset #StartUp #Funding

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Most people think content creation is hard. I’d have to disagree with them. Because it’s only difficult if you don’t have an effective content system in place. There are five steps you need to have in place. To completely simplify and streamline your content creation process. If you want to learn how to use the exact same method I teach my clients, then I’ve filmed this YouTube video for you → https://lnkd.in/g7dM5BZ8 — 🚨 P.S. Check the video description, it comes with a free Google Doc worksheet you can use to build your content system!

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Your content is doing exactly what you trained it to do. And that’s why your inbound is unstable. You trained it to: → explain → reassure → sound helpful So people read you. Agree with you. Scroll past you. Nothing breaks. Nothing escalates. Nothing forces a decision. Recognition feels like progress. It isn’t. Recognition without intent creates passive trust. Passive trust doesn’t book calls. This is why: → effort compounds → visibility grows → pipeline stays unpredictable Not because your content is bad. Because it resolves curiosity before creating urgency. Your posts answer questions buyers haven’t decided to care about yet. So they stay comfortable. And comfortable buyers don’t convert. That’s not a consistency issue. That’s a decision-engineering failure.

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Most online business owners I work with can get information pretty easily now. They can pull together tactics, sketch out a strategy, even map a full plan in an afternoon if they need to. AI has made that part faster. Where things start to feel heavier isn’t in imagining what’s possible. It’s in deciding what to do next without accidentally breaking what’s already working. That’s the point where people begin to hesitate. They revisit the same decisions. They second-guess changes they would’ve made quickly a few years ago. Because at this stage, choices carry more weight. There’s revenue involved. Reputation. Momentum that took time to build. What I see, over and over, is that progress returns not when someone learns more, but when they have space to slow the decision down, see the tradeoffs clearly, and choose a next step that actually fits their situation. That kind of judgment doesn’t come from information alone. It comes from context, pattern recognition, and having watched similar decisions play out across many different businesses.

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So, you’ve decided to work with a ghostwriter. Awesome!  Now what?  Do you buy a ouija board and try to summon one by candlelight? Yes. That is one surefire way to meet a ghostwriter that you can hire.  Or, you could try these slightly less effective methods … - Get recommendations from people you know who have worked with one before. - Good old-fashioned search ("ghostwriter" + your city or industry or whatever you are looking for specifically). - Directories like the Association of Ghostwriters (AOG), the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), or other writing organizations like the Writers' Union of Canada, for example. - Post a job ad on a job board with the aforementioned AOG, EFA, or other writing organization. It's good choose a few ghostwriters you like and meet with them. Meeting with your chosen ghostwriters will give you a chance to ascertain: - Is this ghostwriter capable? - Are they easy to work with? - Do they have a clear process to follow? - Do they have the time to make your project a priority? - Do they have the requisite experience you are looking for? And while you are considering all that stuff, the ghostwriter will be on the other end of the call wondering about things like:  - How difficult/easy is this person going to be to work with? - Does this person have a real budget to work with? - Are they going to ghost me at some point? - Does this project hold any interest for me? - Is this person insane? (Not even a joke. Every ghostwriter has spoken with at least one raving idiot before.) If you can't find a decent ghostwriter to hire, you may as well just give up and hire me. I ghostwrite books about business, thought leadership, entrepreneurialism, memoirs/autobiographies, and any genre of fiction. My email is contact@robswystun.com and now that you've seen this you have exactly one week to hire me or you'll die a horrible death. (Probably.)

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So, you’ve decided to work with a ghostwriter. Awesome!  Now what?  Do you buy a ouija board and try to summon one by candlelight? Yes. That is one surefire way to meet a ghostwriter that you can hire.  Or, you could try these slightly less effective methods … - Get recommendations from people you know who have worked with one before. - Good old-fashioned search ("ghostwriter" + your city or industry or whatever you are looking for specifically). - Directories like the Association of Ghostwriters (AOG), the Editorial Freelancers Association (EFA), or other writing organizations like the Writers' Union of Canada, for example. - Post a job ad on a job board with the aforementioned AOG, EFA, or other writing organization. It's good choose a few ghostwriters you like and meet with them. Meeting with your chosen ghostwriters will give you a chance to ascertain: - Is this ghostwriter capable? - Are they easy to work with? - Do they have a clear process to follow? - Do they have the time to make your project a priority? - Do they have the requisite experience you are looking for? And while you are considering all that stuff, the ghostwriter will be on the other end of the call wondering about things like:  - How difficult/easy is this person going to be to work with? - Does this person have a real budget to work with? - Are they going to ghost me at some point? - Does this project hold any interest for me? - Is this person insane? (Not even a joke. Every ghostwriter has spoken with at least one raving idiot before.) If you can't find a decent ghostwriter to hire, you may as well just give up and hire me. I ghostwrite books about business, thought leadership, entrepreneurialism, memoirs/autobiographies, and any genre of fiction. My email is contact@robswystun.com and now that you've seen this you have exactly one week to hire me or you'll die a horrible death. (Probably.)

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