Entrepreneurial You – Book Interview

Heidi Cohen Interviews Dorie Clark

Entrepreneurial You: Monetize Your Expertise, Create Multiple Income Streams, and Thrive

Q: What’s your best piece of advice for readers looking to improve their marketing?

We often get so caught up in new customer acquisition that we forget: the best and easiest sales are usually to our existing customers. So the question to ask ourselves is, how can we come to understand them even better, and offer new products and services that they (and others like them) will want?

Good marketing isn’t just promotion; it’s also smart research and new product development. That allows us to create new revenue streams in our business and really build a sustainable, thriving business.

Q: What was the inspiration for Entrepreneurial You?

For the past several years, I’ve consciously worked to develop multiple revenue streams in my business, with a focus on developing more passive income. Writing Entrepreneurial You gave me the opportunity to interview 50+ very successful six-, seven-, and eight-figure entrepreneurs about their business models, apply what I learned to my own business, and share that knowledge with others.

Q: What is the key concept behind your book?

The key concept behind Entrepreneurial You is that in order to fully capture the value of our work in the new economy, as well as mitigate risk, we need to develop multiple income streams in our business. That’s true whether you’re an entrepreneur or if you work inside a company, and in the book, I provide a very specific roadmap to help professionals identify & create new income streams for themselves.

Q: What do you want readers to take away from your book

I started my career as a print journalist, and very early on, got laid off unexpectedly. Depending on just one income stream is a precarious position to be in, so I’d like readers to feel empowered to identify and cultivate new ways of bringing in revenue, so their businesses and careers are more secure, and more lucrative.

Q: How do you describe yourself professionally?

Tying in with the focus of Entrepreneurial You, I’ll often say I have a “portfolio career” that includes writing business books, consulting, speaking, and business school teaching. Broadly speaking, my focus is helping talented people get their message heard in a noisy & crowded marketplace.

Q: What books inspired your work/career?

The best business books I’ve read are:

• Influence by Robert Cialdini. His insights into human nature, and the business application of them, are stunning.
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Such an important book for any small business owner or entrepreneur who needs to “get real” about what it takes to succeed at business, not just your particular craft.
• Power by Jeffrey Pfeffer. This book has a fantastic take on how power dynamics really work, especially regarding office politics.

Q: What is the biggest challenge that you’ve had to overcome in your life or career?

In 2013 – the year my first book, Reinventing You, came out – I had a terribly difficult year, with the breakup of a long relationship and the death of my best friend, my cat Gideon. I somehow muddled through launching a book and growing my career amidst crying every day and feeling extraordinary anomie.

Q: What’s something unusual or fun that most people don’t know about you?

I do standup comedy as a hobby, and have also been accepted into a leading musical theater fellowship program that I’ll be starting in 2018.

Q: Is there a piece of marketing content that you’re particularly proud of?

My books, I suppose! (Stand Out, Reinventing You, and Entrepreneurial You)

Contact information

Thanks Dorie.

Happy Marketing,
Heidi Cohen