How To Build An Ideal Workday With Power Naps, Email Delegation & Deep Work Tactics, Featuring Chandler Bolt

Ben Greenfield (0:00)

My name is Ben Greenfield, and on this episode of the Boundless Life Podcast.

Ben Greenfield (0:05)

A lot of people think they can become a millionaire with book sales and the like.

Chandler Bolt (0:09)

But the book can't make you rich from customers. Most people decide to write a book for a specific reason, and it's probably connected to their business. So why not just get a bunch of customers instead of getting totally distracted, chasing some vanity list that doesn't move the needle? We do a lot of business development. So it's partnerships, it's speaking, it's all that stuff. So we have these podcasts that we're trying to get on, and that may be a $6 or $7 million arm of the company this year.

Ben Greenfield (0:35)

Welcome to The Boundless Life with me, your host, Ben Greenfield. I'm a personal trainer, exercise physiologist, and nutritionist, and I'm passionate about helping you discover unparalleled levels of health, fitness, longevity, and beyond.

I dropped in to see one of my buddies in Austin who is actually big in the publishing industry. He's the CEO of selfpublishing.com. He's a Forbes 30 under 30 honoree. He's the author of seven bestselling books, including one called Publish. That's really good. Me and my sons have read that as a guide for self publishing. Actually, a fun fact, his brother Seth plays in the Grammy nominated band Need to Breathe, big rock band. He's an interesting guy and we talk about Chandler's productivity tactics, his day-to-day routine. It was a very interesting discussion. He's a super inspirational guy. All the show notes for this interview with Chandler Bolt are going to be at bengreenfieldlife.com/bolt. That's bengreenfieldlife.com/b-o-l-t.

Let's go talk with Chandler.

Ben Greenfield (1:46)

So Chandler, I briefly introduced you, but it's kind of weird. We haven't spent a lot of time together. I played pickleball at your house.

Ben Greenfield (1:53)

Yeah.

Ben Greenfield (1:54)

I just randomly cracked it up last year and then jumped off your dock into the lake and we've never actually sat down and had a conversation, but I know you're very successful in what you do in the self-publishing industry and you also take care of yourself. I've heard a lot of good things about you. How would you describe to people what it is that you do in the publishing world?

Chandler Bolt (2:18)

I like to say self-publishing is entrepreneurial publishing. It's betting on yourself. You know that. You've obviously published a bunch of books successfully. We got a book around here we're going to give to you because I know you're working on some fiction.

Ben Greenfield (2:28)

No way.

Chandler Bolt (2:29)

So we'll make that happen here in a bit. But predominantly our bread and butter is helping people grow their business using a book or grow their practice or get leveraged to what they're trying to do.

Ben Greenfield (2:40)

A lot of people think they can become a millionaire with book sales and that sort of thing.

Chandler Bolt (2:44)

But the book can make you rich from customers. Exactly.

Ben Greenfield (2:48)

Unless you're like James Clear or Mark Manson. Yes, even those guys, I think they probably make more from speaking revenue than they do from books.

Chandler Bolt (2:56)

Likely.

Ben Greenfield (2:57)

Yeah. How important just randomly do you think it is to be a New York Times bestselling author anymore?

Chandler Bolt (3:03)

It's not important at all. I mean, you are, which is pretty impressive.

Ben Greenfield (3:08)

But I mean, I hear increasingly that like people aren't impressed by it. And you'd probably know if this is true. You can like buy your way in.

Chandler Bolt (3:18)

Yes, you can definitely buy your way on. I mean, it's a couple of hundred grand because you got to buy 10,000 books basically and you got to filter them through small bookstores, big bookstores, bulk, all the things. But I think it's really, it's a really dumb pursuit. Most people decide to write a book for a specific reason, and it's probably connected to their business.

Ben Greenfield (3:37)

Yeah.

Chandler Bolt (3:37)

So why not just get a bunch of customers instead of getting totally distracted, chasing some vanity list that doesn't move the needle?

Ben Greenfield (3:44)

I've always wondered. Then, with the speaking thing I did here before, the people are like, well, you could get paid more as a speaker if you're able to say New York Times bestselling author. But even now, I get invites to go speak at places, and I guarantee at least 50 percent of people who are invited me to speak have no clue. I'm a New York Times author. But I think they're more interested now.