In this thought-provoking episode of WealthTalk, we have the honour of interviewing author and TedX speaker, Dr Shelley James. Shelley is a visionary in the art of turning passion into profit, and she's here to share her wisdom with you. Join us as we embark on a journey with Shelley, who unravels the secrets behind identifying and transforming your deepest passions into a source of financial prosperity. Learn how to create a business that not only generates profit but also makes a positive impact on the world, fulfilling your personal and financial aspirations. As well as hearing the hurdles and setbacks you may encounter on your passion-driven business journey, with Shelley offering practical advice on how to navigate them successfully. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or looking to infuse new life into your existing business, this episode is a must-listen.
In this thought-provoking episode of WealthTalk, we have the honour of interviewing author and TedX speaker, Dr Shelley James. Shelley is a visionary in the art of turning passion into profit, and she's here to share her wisdom with you.
Join us as we embark on a journey with Shelley, who unravels the secrets behind identifying and transforming your deepest passions into a source of financial prosperity.
Learn how to create a business that not only generates profit but also makes a positive impact on the world, fulfilling your personal and financial aspirations.
As well as hearing the hurdles and setbacks you may encounter on your passion-driven business journey, with Shelley offering practical advice on how to navigate them successfully.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or looking to infuse new life into your existing business, this episode is a must-listen.
Resources In This Episode:
>> Dr Shelley James [LinkedIn]
>> Networking & Cashflow 101 London
>> Birmingham Networking Meetup
>> WT159 - Looking At Your Wealth In A New Light w/ Dr Shelley James
>> WT201 - Member Story: First Steps Into Business, Rachel Bunney
>> Validate Your Business Mini-Course
Next Steps On Your Wealth Building Journey:
>> Join the WealthBuilders Community
>> Join the WealthBuilders Academy
>> REGISTER HERE FOR ACCESS TO FREE RESOURCES
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Speaker 1 0:01
The purpose of wealth talk is to educate, inform, and hopefully entertain you on the subject of building your wealth. Wealth builders recommends you should always take independent financial tax or legal advice before making any decisions around your finances.
Christian Rodwell 0:19
Welcome to Episode 217 of wealth talk. My name is Christian Rodwell, the membership director for wealth builders joined today by our founder Mr. Kevin Whelan. I Kevin. Hello, Chris. Good to be with you again. And what a wonderful guests we have with us today Dr. Shelley James, and we are focusing on the eye P pillar today. So for anyone tuning in new, we have Seven Pillars of Wealth, seven different ways that you can generate recurring income to help you move from place of financial insecurity to financial independence. And pillar six is intellectual property, Kevin. So before we get stuck into today's conversation with Shelley, perhaps you can just give an overview of where IP fits amongst those seven pillars?
Speaker 3 1:00
Well, it's a great one because everybody's got it. And everybody sells it, but they usually like most of the pillars undervalue under utilised and underperform. So in simple terms, we've all got a brain, we create value in the world, therefore we're giving our IP or intellectual property, and we're normally giving it away. So the easiest way to value your IP is to say, if I turn up give my brain plus the rest of body for a service to a an employer, let's say or customer, if you're in business, then you can almost work out the hourly rate for your IP. Now a simplified calculation. No, it's not technically accurate. But that's for the purpose of illustration. If you've got a job and you earn 50,000 a year, you're selling your IP for 25 pound an hour, you basically have it, if you've got a job for 100,000, your IPS, just IP, but it's worth 50 quid and now it's no more valuable in the sense that it doesn't recurring, it's not creating an ongoing royalty value is not creating an alternative income stream. For you. It's simply a linear transaction of exchange between the delivery of the IP you and the receiver of the IP a customer, or an employer.
Christian Rodwell 2:24
Just pick up on that for anyone who's trying to figure out why you have it that's based on approximately 2000 hours, 1000 hours, yeah, that someone would work each year,
Speaker 3 2:33
you know, 40 hours a week for 50 weeks, a year, you know, in approximately So that's the reason for it. And it shocks people, when I say well, I can value your IP, and then tell them the number and date on them. Okay, fair enough. But the real skill and Shelley's on the journey, Dr. Shirley James, she's on the journey. She's not there yet. Which is great. I love that because actually, we had was a Rachel bunny recently.
Christian Rodwell 3:00
Yeah, Episode 201,
Speaker 3 3:02
who was literally crafting that transition. And I love this, because when you realise your IP has the potential for significantly more value than you're delivering it for, then you're marking a transition. And that transition will always have a number of steps to it. And you touch on that in your interview with Shelly. So maybe we'll let the interview flow, and then come back to what those steps are. Because if you can, like a GPS system, Chris, if you can know what the steps are, then you can actually formulate a plan to leverage, get more value from your IP, than the static nature of how most people create income. And then of course, when you stop delivering IP, you stop getting paid for the most part, sort of job, if you stop turning up and delivering your service, you're not gonna get paid. Now you might get sick pay and things like that. But in the end, you don't get paid. So you can't pass on a job. And if you've got a business that demands you being there, you're a coach, you're a tutor, you're using your hands, you're as craftsmen or whatever. An artisan usually, you're putting your time and energy and then getting the the value in exchange for that in some way. Even if it's a piece of work, you've still measured the time in order to get that to discover what, what price point you want to charge for whatever you do. And that's the other thing that becomes relevant here, Chris and Shelly touches on it. The price point is often underpriced for you, because you haven't yet distilled your IP into a point of uniqueness. So if you don't have uniqueness or you're what I call being outstanding in a niche doesn't have to be absolutely unique, but it can be You're just brilliant out there. And there aren't too many people doing it. And that means all you're doing in a certain way that's different, and you can differentiate it. And that differentiation can make an incredible difference in the value of one person's IP compared to another person's IP. And so all of those things will, will come out and there'll be useful lessons for people listening who would like to capitalise on that. But also for Shelley, of course, who's on the journey herself, and quite humble in her approach to sharing, you know, she's doing things, but not always getting it 100%, right, and is genuinely at the beginning of that transitional stage to leverage her IP. So a really good spot to thing from you to bring Shelly in and talk about that. But she's done a great job of that preparation, and she,
Christian Rodwell 5:53
the end date, and we know a lot of our members really liked the idea of creating IP, that the reality is often a little bit more complicated. And we hold marketing clinics, which I run for our members every month and answer some of these questions about how do you validate your product? How do you put this into practice, and we're actually offering a download for anyone listening, Kevin, I did a four week course for our members, probably a few months back, and it's available. And I'd love to share that if anyone listening who's at that early stage who wants to take their idea and see if they can actually turn that into profit. So if you'd like to get access to that it's a four part video series Absolutely. For free, head to wealth builders.co.uk forward slash IP videos, or one word IP videos, and you can download,
Speaker 3 6:38
I think that reinforces our point, which is, you know, we love to share value and content, free of charge, sometimes, sometimes a low cost, sometimes a higher cost, but always accessible. So yeah, we we love to share some some things that will be useful for you to start thinking about the thinking is really what IP is think about the thinking, and then you can turn them into much more value and good introduction to the subject, why don't we jump on and hear what she has to say?
Christian Rodwell 7:08
Let's do that. And just before we do that, I'll mention our next event that's coming up. Last month, we were in Manchester, Kevin and the wheels had well and truly back on the bus because we're on the road to Birmingham. Now. The next live networking wealth builders meetup would have taken place on the 29th of November. That's a Wednesday night starting at 6pm really central location in Birmingham. And you can find out all of the event details by heading to wealth builders.co.uk forward slash events. And yeah, we'd love to meet more members and non members so open to everybody
Speaker 3 7:39
jumped the gun a bit there didn't like Chris, sorry about that. That's see that's that's what happens when you put an amateur in the, in the role of the host.
Christian Rodwell 7:47
So much to share today. Anyway, you're right. Let's move on to our conversation today. With Dr. Shelley James. Dr. Shelley James, welcome back to wealth talk today. How are you?
Speaker 4 7:57
I'm really well, it's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you for inviting me.
Christian Rodwell 8:00
Yes, it was back in episode 159. Shelley, when we last invited you to come and share with our listeners all about the topic of looking at your business in a new light, because you are known as the light lady. And I would say globally, you're travelling, you're touring, you're speaking on stages. The word is really getting out there now, isn't it? Yeah, amazing. Today's conversation is around about turning your knowledge into something of value. And this is something that you're in the process of doing, in fact, you've been doing for a long time. But we're going to look at how you're now turning your knowledge and experience that you've been sharing with 1000s people over the last few years now in two products courses, which is really looking at the intellectual property pillar. And how can you start to generate additional income streams? Before we get into the nuts and bolts of what you've been doing there to turn that IP into income? Tell us a little bit about the background. Where did all of this began Shelley and tell us what your your core message is?
Speaker 4 8:58
So where it began, is probably through and through a head injury actually, I mean, I started off, I've spent my first career was in branding, I was trained textile designer, then I am working in branding. So working on organisations, big organisations, their logos and how they express themselves and I bang my head really badly. And all the wires got scrambled at the start again. And essentially I had to start talking with my life. So I had to kind of start again from scratch. And got was fascinated by light, having spent many years indoors retraining that system through lockdown realise that nobody understood what a difference very small changes in their lives could make to their ability to sleep to concentrate to smile, and actually how much more energy efficient that could be too. So I set up a campaign to lock down thanks to my amazing brother Jim, who's a member of this amazing community. And that just went beyond my wildest dreams and so for teens, and that led to a TEDx talk which again went I went amazingly well. And realising that I touched a nerve that there are people who were you're sitting right now there'll be, you probably see, I can see 10 light bulbs right now. And that includes, you know, your screen and all the lights coming at you from everywhere. And hopefully there's a window there too. But we kind of get quite used to now thinking about how we organise our diets, and maybe we join a gym. But light is as important. And yet we have no idea, we have no idea what we need, we have no idea what to buy for. So I work with global organisations and with individuals to help them to kind of make healthier choices, very often, three, or a very low cost that can really make a big difference to their, their well being and also their environmental impact. So that's the core message is that it's not rocket science, but they'd be doing on the rocket on the space station, because they don't get up, they get up even less than we do. But essentially, that's the core message is that it doesn't have to be hard, and they can actually give joy for so that's, that's what I do.
Christian Rodwell 10:57
You've built a brand, you've built a business now, Shelley, which you're continuing to build, and I know you're speaking in some amazing places to some amazing organisations, and as you said, helping them as well. And because you've got that experience now, and you've got that confidence to go out and speak, it seems like a natural path to now think okay, well, what's next? So tell us about why you decided to start turning some of this knowledge that was in your head, and you were, I presume, being paid to go and speak at some of these events. And you thought, Well, how could I leverage that because obviously, key part of building wealth is leverage. And we talk about different types of leverage, you know, it could be financial, could be intellectual leverage. It could be relationships, but the intellectual pieces is really where I want to focus, Shelley. So tell us about the process of thinking, Okay, well, I could do this. And now what do I actually need to do to take that first step?
Speaker 4 11:50
Yeah. So a couple of things. One of them is that, yes, through wealth builders, I've become very aware of the need to look beyond income from running around doing stuff. And I've recently had my back. So it's like, okay, I need to, I need to know that there is money coming in from other stuff, where I don't have to be on a plane, or on the stage. So that was one part of me going, I need to be thinking strategically here. And the other was realising that people have been using asking me to kind of help them to write material for their audiences and going Well, the problem is that they very often kind of add their own spin to it, it doesn't come out quite right. So how can I make sure that the message is coherent and accurate, and reaches more people. So there was a kind of a joint thing there. And part of that is that I'm on the big International Building Standards Advisory Committee and on their faculty, and realising that when I trained to learn how to do this stuff, there was nothing useful out there. And I know that people are prepared to pay for that information, because it helps them to support you know, growing their own businesses and professional practices. So what I decided to do was to leverage my network. And I suppose the work I've been doing so far, to focus very closely on continuing professional development are so many of my clients who are people that I speak to, they are building surveyors, or engineers, or electricians, or, and they all have to, in order to maintain their professional certification, they have to show that they continue to learn. And I'm sure that's the same, I think it's the same in the financial sector. And they can choose pretty much how they do that learning. But I decided that I could offer information that I know already and that I'm passionate about, and share that accurately and in a way that's accessible. By registering to have these modules certified as being of a standard where somebody who could pay to go on that module would then receive points for their professional development. So there are lots and lots of courses a lot, lots of free stuff, actually online, you know, you can be on webinar every single day of the week. But what I wanted to do was to make sure that I was in the space where people can see the value, and they're used to paying for that, because the price point for professional stuff in every sector is very different to the price point for kind of discretionary or domestic stuff. So that was my route was a car keep on running around forever. I've got information to share. And it needs to be in a space where people are used to paying proper money to get that information.
Christian Rodwell 14:17
So I think you mentioned now who your target market is property developers building professionals, and you identified a gap. So that's always the first step right. There's a problem which generally you realise yourself. It's like, well, hold on, I'm struggling to get the information. I'm struggling to learn how to do this. And you look around and you think, well, nobody else is doing it well about me. So I think that's fantastic that you identified that gaps, and then you know, CPD certification. There is something of course, that's very valuable to other people, and they have to do it right. So there's a need. So again, ticking that box. So how did you then go about actually creating the content?
Speaker 4 14:56
So the first thing to do is to make sure that the Hear that I created would be valid. So somebody paid for it would get something of value to their professional development points. So I looked around and there are different organisations who certify or regulate this stuff. And the industry bodies, they're quite expensive, you have access to their audiences, but it's expensive. It's time consuming, it's not terribly easy. But there are a couple of others who are much more agile, much more customer focused, and much cheaper. And I thought, well, I'd roll I need to just sort of try this out first. So what I did was to take a talk that I give that I'm giving in Germany in a couple of weeks time, and go, so I need to rethink that as a webinar that somebody could buy in three little module 320 minute modules, that will be an hour and a half plus evaluation. And I went for a very agile, very affordable platform, absolutely kind of rock solid, very thorough, very, you know, the the big industry bodies were just more like fortress. So I thought, well, I'm going to start small, and do that. So I did my first one. And i beta tested that. So I basically took something and I knew very well already I was I knew how to do it standing on my head. The next thing was to work out how to deliver that in a form with learning outcomes and quizzes and all the things that they need in order to learn how that particular system worked and create a workflow. So I used some online tools, and I basically reformatted that and i beta test that and I kind of got my first client through Eventbrite through them through my little network to say, would you come and they paid and what a great feeling that was. So that was, that was the way that I approached that was to say, what's my minimum viable product here, it's an in person webinar, Zoom meeting with somebody, I probably already know, using a certification system, which only takes two weeks, and is much more sort of accessible and transparent. And then the big industry bodies,
Christian Rodwell 16:52
again, so many lessons there, which is, don't get perfect, you know, just get something out there and test it, as you said, that minimum viable product, so you want to keep your costs low, you want to keep your time energy low, get it out there, get someone to go through it, even if at first they go for it for free, right, just to give you feedback. And then you mentioned some of the tools you used, specifically, because I know this is where a lot of people get caught up Shelley is there's so many tools out there, there's so many platforms, you know, where do you begin? So were there a couple that you liked, or that you didn't? Like? How did you approach that
Speaker 4 17:26
there are different so there are a couple of things to think about one of them is let's just think about content generation first. So the way that I was, I've got a bunch of sort of PowerPoint slides, essentially. And what I did was to take those into Canva, initially, and now I'm using the script, which is best and perhaps we'll just look at the script, because that's actually much better.
Christian Rodwell 17:47
So what I've done then is that one spelt D script,
Speaker 4 17:51
D S, C, R I P T. So your goal really is to have a series of visual aids, essentially, and a talk and a workbook or some kind of resources that people can access and download with the references and further material and stuff. And then you have quizzes, but that's a separate, we'll talk about quizzes separately. So what I did initially was to PowerPoint into another programme online record over the top downloaded or it was just getting into PDF, and then it was actually not that great. So now what I've done is to take my Keynote or PowerPoint slides, and I'm recording myself speaking to those on descript. Now what that does is I've got a video, I can record my screen. So I can see there's a little sort of window of me. And I can record myself talking to the slides. And I can stop, I can start again. And I can also share screen. So one of the things that I'm working on now is is accessing particular platform and how you do that as a lighting designer. So I can cut and paste all of that. And this descript thing not only gives me a video, and it allows me if I fluff it up or something, I can cut that bit out and then not only cuts out the text, it cuts out the video as well. So I ended up with a very properly edited, pretty high quality video. But I also ended up with the word transcript. So I ended up with an AI generating, you can edit it, but I ended up with my script as well. And I can take that in as a Word document into another programme, which is really exciting, really great, which is called designer. And that then allows me to take my script and run that into a Workbook format. And then I can add my slides in as images. And suddenly I've got a really beautifully produced and then I can publish that as an ebook or as a flipbook. So I've got a bunch of different ways of outputting that material that somebody can then make some really lovely professional package. So and then if you want to create a quiz, I've just come across another software, and I can't remember the name of it because I haven't yet used that thing. It's called critical AI I will essentially take if you take your script, and give that to quizzical and tell it how many questions you want, it will generate your quiz for you. So those are just tools. And then so now you've got your material. And then the next thing is to find the learning platform that you want to deliver that time to. But you don't actually need a learning platform. If you're beginning with your minimum viable product, which is basically a webinar, what you need to do is to share the material with the certification service, and they have a look and see whether it's accurate, you know, all of those things. And what you've done is to give them a really clear view of what your audience or your learner is going to get.
Christian Rodwell 20:39
That's great. And as you say, you don't need to spend a lot of money on those tools, some versions might even be free. And most people have got PowerPoint or Keynote on their Mac, and you can upload to Google Drive, the storage tools are free to be able to then share it with your audience. So again, very, very valuable lessons. And not to get too caught up in which tools to use just pick some. And I think the ones you've recommended, they're obviously working well for you. And I'll I'll link those in the show notes for anyone that wants to go and check those out as well. Shelley. So once you materials created, then in your case, needs to then be certified, which it was how was that process of getting the CPD accreditation.
Speaker 4 21:19
So I had registered with the CPD certification service. They're the oldest ones, actually. And they've got a very responsive, very thoughtful team. So you actually have somebody at the front end to kind of have a look at your material versus theirs. Are we missing that? Or would you consider adding that. So very, very supportive. An excellent way to start, I bought a bundle, which was three courses, which they certified for two years. So I've done my first one, I'm just getting ready to submit actually sick, it's a bit of my second one. And you need to they've got a couple of forms that you need to fill in one of them includes the learning outcomes, and a kind of a short blurb that they will put on their website. And then you also need a particularly the learning outcomes form, basically, what anything is to be quite clear about what somebody is going to learn, you know, you know, historical context, whatever it is. And that's a great discipline, actually, as a teacher is to say, Why am I telling somebody this? How does that fit into the story? So there's a great discipline in filling out that form. And then the next piece is a lesson plan. So how long is it going to take and again, it's great practice is like, I'm not going to get those 15 slides in five minutes. So I'm going to need to choose here, or actually, I really got three slides on that topic, I better balanced that one out. So you submit your form and your stuff, and I put it all onto Google Drive that they can access and download. And they will let me know if there's something missing. I wrote one for a client, a big lighting manufacturer, and they got a request back from the certification service actually Reba saying, Could you please add a kind of the academic reference for that piece of information? You should? And we like to include a piece about environmental impact? So could you include a couple of points about that. So I was able to kind of say that there's no shame in them coming back with information, usually it makes it better. So the team I've chosen is 10 to 14 days turnaround, the big riba sipsey, those big ones that six weeks or so and it's just like, so choose one that's agile and responsive. And I found these guys were really great.
Christian Rodwell 23:21
And there's another benefit, I believe, to being registered there, which is another leverage point. And that's relationships, and community and network. Because one of the stumbling blocks that I find many, many people hit, when they're creators, they come up with all of the ideas, they come up with the course. But then the marketing piece is where it really lets them down. Because if nobody is aware of your course, if nobody knows how to find it, then you're not going to sell anything. So being on the accredited site there opens up a whole directory of people for you doesn't actually,
Speaker 4 23:56
there are two ways it does that. One of them is that depending on the platform that you choose the CPD certification service that I that I chose, as a provider, as somebody who's sort of paid to be on there, in a little system, you are a CPD provider. And so somebody who is looking for a course about health and well being there might be in human resources, I might, I might actually access people that I hadn't even thought of before because I'm on this particular day they serve the NHS they serve the police, they said the government so all kinds of people are trawling their websites find relevant material that they can scope, you know, get CPD points for. So that will give me access to another network. The other thing is that I've done is to be sort of make friends with them really kind of give them lots of information and ask them about their but just sort of be as personal as it were not personal in a negative way. But you know, just kind of be as constructive as I can generous as I can. And they have organisations who are organising big conferences, who very often have a CPD programme as a way to attract visitors. So if you go to a big lighting conference, there'll be a CPD programme and you can get points for just showing up and sitting down there. So they now know about me and what I do. And when somebody who is organising a conference about wellbeing for the NHS or for big Human Resources conference is going, Oh, how about something a little bit lifted, they email CPD certification. So one thing interesting. And they might say they haven't yet, but they might say, Oh, this is a bit left field, but you might enjoy that this is interesting. So that gives me again, access to a network that of people who are used to paying for training that I hadn't even thought of before.
Christian Rodwell 25:33
Yeah, that's an that's a great benefit. And what other methods will you be able to expose the course, through speaking, I imagine now, it's an opportunity to let people know if you want to learn more, go to my website, or wherever you choose to point them to what other areas might be able to promote the course through Celli. So
Speaker 4 25:53
yeah, I mean, there's the personal network, I've got a small but very engaged email newsletter, obviously got my website, it's not somewhere people gonna go to, it's not even people who have tripped over it. So there'll be that, but also, I'm pretty active on LinkedIn. So I might do a live one, and sort of share link, and people can get a discount for that. So that those sort of social media networks and the great thing about doing this through descriptors that I can share a snippet, I can share a couple of, you know, kind of some teasers and taste it so that people go oh, that looks interesting, I can see why I repeat for that. So use your existing social media networks is one, and then the platform itself. So for the next ones, I'm plucking up the courage system with it to sipsey. And I've got a bit more time now. So a bit more confidence. So there, I will access that huge network. And again, in the process, I've made friends with their planning provider team, there's actually sort of a cold calling, because the thing that I'm doing is with with well, for example, is that it's a big organisation. And there's a European that where there's lots of other stuff. There's big directories about people who are involved with this stuff. So I'm looking at their directory going, I'm going to scoop off some of the names of people who are in organisations who could afford to pay for a block booking a 50, for example, at this thing and give them a discount. But I'm first I'm going for the low hanging fruit, because I'm not sure in that, I mean, the great thing about this system is that you can get certified and then up to 10% of the material, if you need to update it or fine tune it, you can without needing to go through it again, as you guys say, and it's always an inspiration, they just turn the handle, it's tempting to go go next next. But actually, I'm just gonna see how I'm gonna have a quarrel for three courses or three modules and just get really well known for doing those really, really well. And then branch out
Christian Rodwell 27:48
from there. Yeah, and in terms of price point, as well, Shelly. So, you know, we say at the beginning, just do something, get some feedback, give it for free, Tinker, make it better, and then get your first paying customer you mentioned already, you've started to get people paying for the courses, but how are you deciding on the right price point at the beginning.
Speaker 4 28:07
So I'm not offering it for free, just because people don't show up when it's free. And it doesn't value their effort. And it doesn't validate if they're getting CPD points for manufacturers who do CPD, they don't expect people to pay but I want this is a funnel into a relationship with me and potentially having to do this work with them personally. So I don't want to set the precedent of being free. What I will do is that massive discount, so I put the course along Eventbrite for 50 quid with a discount for people who just sent me a message that they'd like to come on it of this, okay, we're down to 25 Quick, 50% discount. And actually, for most people, that's fine. And in fact, everybody showed, well, this one person was, you know, it's okay. It's really fun. Good, you know, I'm going to show up. So I think making showing that there's value there, I think it's really important, you can have a beta testing group, but it doesn't attract a CPD point. The goal is to say, if you're going to get value for your business from this, you need to pay at least a nominal amount to respect the transaction. So obviously, I started off with 50 quid, but I know that the average course in this field is between 75 and 150. That's where I'm heading and to get as many people paying full price as I can. My goal is to sell 10 at full price by the end of the year, just to kind of have something to aim for.
Christian Rodwell 29:26
Absolutely. So an extra 1000 pounds or there abouts income stream for something you've created once that sells itself over and over again. So that is true leverage and the beauty of the intellectual property pillar and everyone has got IP haven't a Shelly and this is something that is so easy to overlook, like literally everybody knows how to do something has a passion about something. But we just think well, doesn't everybody know how to do that? But we've all got that genius, haven't we? We absolutely
Speaker 4 29:54
have and anybody you speak to, you know, a busy mom and my mates you gotta get three kids. Have to school and come down swimming and have a social life. And you know, and work, that ability to organise and focus and connect is something that most people don't think I'll read that that's normal, you know, really, that is not, you know, there are people who, for whom that is really valuable. And I think there are two ways of thinking about what you know, one of them is, for me, what I wanted to do is to have something where the IP was helping somebody professionally to move into, you know, to kind of score the points, but also potentially, to relationship with me. So if you want to create a course, which is about juggling a busy life, you'd be amazed at what you know, and that you take for granted. But if it's something that is a funnel into working with you, as you know, offering a service, then it's really is a win win win, you might know how to make the most amazing coffee or who knows what it is that you know, but you'd be amazed at whether it be recovering from an illness or managing back pain or dealing with the kid who can't eat wheat, you know, just you will have a zone of expertise that is unexpected. And that actually adds value to somebody else.
Christian Rodwell 31:01
You've built your brand Shelley known as the light lady, as I mentioned at the beginning TEDx speaker 1000s and 1000s. Probably at the 100,000. Mark now on that video, even 100. Yeah, yeah, incredible. And author as well, which is another funnel, another income stream. So there's a new book on its way, Shelley, tell us about that one and holding it up. For those that are watching the video.
Speaker 4 31:24
I wrote two really one of them is this one, which is a parent's guide fails. And and it's basically it's always, as a parent, you can help your kids to sleep to learn better at school to manage their moods through the winter. So that was targeted at parents. So yeah, that was out. I mean, it was again, it was my minimum viable product. I KDP. Did you know I did it on pages on my on my computer here, you know, early mornings and late nights, I didn't realise I didn't know how to do footnotes properly. You know, I had a friend do the illustrations. I learned so much with that. And I got my first royalty check of 25 quid a couple of weeks. And last week, it's like, Oh, my goodness, this works. So now I'm actually having uploaded it to Fiverr to have somebody get all the links to work correctly, put QR codes in there so that people can access information, I put a shopping guide in you know, this kind of it's and the great thing about, again, online publishing is that I haven't got boxes of these things in my garage, I can update the manuscripts, and I've got some nice reviews. So I cannot get manuscript without jeopardising that rule I've also done. And this is the next one is grown ups, which is much more focused on how you set up your home office, you know, as an older person, what you how that stuff works. And again, a more extensive shopping guide, because people kept on saying, so what should I buy? So do you have a shopping guide?
Christian Rodwell 32:44
That says, What's the title of that segment? Surely for anyone that likes
Speaker 4 32:47
your essential Survival Guide?
Christian Rodwell 32:50
Yeah, that looks absolutely fantastic. So if you're just listening, then you can check out the recording Shelley and I speaking right now, you can see the books. If you head to the wealth builders, socials and wealth builders website. And surely, you'll be coming and speaking to our members, our family members, hopefully, as meet the author session and talking about your book. They're aimed at parents and understanding what some of those tools are that you've included in that.
Speaker 4 33:15
Yeah, very, very much looking forward to that. And because people starting to buy stuff that I've seen and recommended, Amazon have now made me an affiliate. So I can I get I get, I will get money from people buy stuff that I recommend. It's another way that your IP, if you're generous with it, and kind of give it out if some funny old ways of it's coming back do and I'm very much looking forward to speaking to parents, because people spend spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds on piano lessons and sports lessons and stuff. And they overlook some of the things that could be just so close to home and so cheap and make such a difference. So yeah, very much looking forward to that.
Christian Rodwell 33:52
That's great. And you've really demonstrated, surely, I think, for our listeners today, how you can become a multiple income individual, and how you can take something that you really enjoy talking about that you have some knowledge about, and that can provide massive value for other people. And that value obviously can turn into an income stream, and help you create a business and a lifestyle that you wake up every day really looking forward to. I'm sure that's the case for you.
Speaker 4 34:17
It certainly is. Yeah. Well, Phil, this has been a big part of that journey. When I started with wealth builders. I was a long way away from this. So it's really thanks to some of the lessons that you guys share
Christian Rodwell 34:26
to us very kind of you. Thank you, Shelley. And for those listening now who would love to go and watch your TED talk or find out a bit more about your books, where's the best place for them to go?
Speaker 4 34:36
If you look for Dr. Shelley James, you'll find me I'll pop up on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the place I spend most time there's a website called agent light innovations. If you go on Amazon, and now on Waterstones, the parent's guide will will pop up so reach out I'm as you can see, I'm passionate about this and I spend lots and lots of time speaking to people who have questions and it's always a privilege to to share so Yeah, get in touch.
Christian Rodwell 35:01
Thanks so much for sharing with us today, Shelly, thank you. Thank you to Shelly there for sharing her journey on the AIP. Hello, and congratulations to Shelly for generating some income. And we can see that growing really quickly over the coming months now and she's leveraging her network and some great lessons which are looking forward to diving into with you in a second Kevin. Before that, let's read out a review from Trustpilot. And thanks to Sam, this week, who said financial freedom here we come for those that wish to gain insight on how to escape the rat race by playing cashflow 101, it's an absolute must to attend the wealth builders event. And you always learn something new each time you play. And it's also a great opportunity to meet like minded people, Chris ensures that he is always at hand to give advice and answer any questions, an awesome evening well spent. See you at the next one. I mentioned our Birmingham event just before our interview there. But we've also got another event in November. And that's taking place on the 14th. In Central London, it's at the All bar one just a minutes walk from Tottenham Court Road station. And it's going to be a combo. So for anyone who wants to come and play Cash Flow 101, then we're going to have some boards set up, I'll be there to guide you and really fun, learn the lessons of money. But also, if you just want to come and network, rub shoulders and have a drink, then you're more than welcome to do that as well. So again, we'll be kicking off at 6pm. And I believe you'll be joining us, Kevin,
Speaker 3 36:30
I will I'm looking forward to that. So I'll I'll leave you to run the the games and help people with that. And and I'll be there kind of in a networking capacity and see what I can do to help anyone who's got some questions or even connecting with somebody else in the community. If they're looking for something for someone who's got the IP that I don't an example. Yeah, so yeah, really useful to do that one. By the way, you know, it's really next to the Elizabeth line, which goes all the way out to reading with your inbox. So you just jump on the Elizabeth line in your next to Tottenham Court Road station, it's really that close. But other parts of the country, were well on the way. So you've got Birmingham Northeast is coming, Scotland is coming, Wales is coming, we're going to get all of that laid laid out ready in the early part of 2024. So people know what town we're coming to somewhere near them sometime soon,
Christian Rodwell 37:25
the place to go to check out any upcoming events is wealth builders.co.uk forward slash events. And you can register tickets for those two events that are taking place this month. Okay, so let's look at some of the things that we were chatting to Shelly about there. And I guess the most important thing, when you're creating IP, is not to spend a year building it out, because you think is the best thing and everyone's gonna love it. And then when it comes to launching it, it's crickets, no one actually buys. So the key is to get the proof of concepts to validate that actually what you think is right, is what other people want. Charlie talked about that. And I think she's done a good job of getting that minimum viable product out to the marketplace. Well, I
Speaker 3 38:08
suppose it all starts one stage before that, in some respects, because if you're designing a product, or you're designing a course, or you're designing a membership, you know, some kind of output, got to imagine what's the problem you're solving. In a way when you hear what Charlie has to say, as elegantly as she says it. But as simply as she says it. You know, we all know we need things in life, we need food, we need our health, we need money, we need all of those things. But light is such an incredibly important part of that. But we don't know what we need. We just don't have a clue. So she's got to highlight the problem, because we take life for granted in so many different ways. So I think highlighting the problem, particularly, you know, for children, and she'll come along and talk to us about that, I'm sure soon, but also how to set your office up for best concentration, for maximisation of your performance, all sorts of different things that I didn't realise because I took like for granted. And it's her unique sort of experience with that accident that caused her to really be pained by light. And now she's teaching it in so many different ways, including using natural light much more and getting out more because of the benefits of that. And she articulates the problems really, really well in the book, which of course, is one of the steps, isn't it? So going as far as creating a publication, and that publication demonstrates authority, hence the word author, but also, I suppose really focuses your expertise, who you're trying to solve the problem for. And then that builds that credibility. So when you want to, I suppose repurpose that educational content into other things, be it courses, be it speaking engagements, but yet creating a membership or a subscription, or even a gateway, and we'll touch on all of those, then they stem from having that all authority in that credibility that a book gives. And so much easier now to create a book than ever before, Chris with help from AI and help from people who can keep you on track and get that done in just a few months. Really?
Christian Rodwell 40:22
Absolutely. And I think also, one of the early steps is deciding the reason why you're doing this. Is it to generate an income stream? Or is it part of your sales funnel? If you're a business, then there'll be different stages where you need to move a customer through to create awareness. And Shelley is a speaker, she speaks across the world, or certainly across Europe, she has got over 100,000 views on YouTube for her TEDx. So all of these are ways to capture awareness. But then, of course, the next stage is for those that are more interested, you know, what can they then buy? How can I engage and have a closer relationship with Shelly, and that's where the online course sits. But of course, then the next stage may be working one to one with Shelly, or a bigger organisation, employing Shelly to come in and talk to them.
Speaker 3 41:08
Yeah, and that's down to her as need to determine how she wants to monetize that speaking, I can see being very positive, and the more she secures that degree of outstanding ability in a niche, the greater the fees will be. So that's not necessarily a recurring income, but it's certainly a healthy one, if you can get on and I'll make it up because we didn't talk about those sort of A's but, but if you can get four or 5000 pounds or dollars, to speak for an hour or two hours, or compare that to 50 pounds an hour, for a job worth 100 grand. So lots of lots of good reasons to want to do that. And I'm sure Chile's sort of experimenting her thoughts with that, and there's no reason at all why you can't have multiple streams, or both time for money income, but at a higher level, as well as creating recurring income, through the repurposing through through other methods.
Christian Rodwell 42:05
Yeah, and that ties in with with leverage, and we see overwhelm as a reason for people to not take action, regardless of what the asset is that they're focusing on. And we obviously do our best with our members to help them move beyond that inertia through the group environment through one to one coaching through conversations with ourselves. But overwhelm can definitely kick in when you're looking at creating a course, because there's so many different tools, we've talked about some of those out there. And leverage is really looking at either people, or systems leverage. And if you can bring both of those together to help you when it comes to creating a course and certainly outsourcing some tasks that perhaps are those $10 tasks. When you understand what your IP is and what your time is worth, then you shouldn't be spending your time doing those $10 tasks. And there's hundreds of people out there on freelance sites up work Fiverr, who can do the job much better and much quicker? And that's a good use of your time leverage.
Speaker 3 43:03
Yeah, and not just that, you have to discover them as well, because because other people have discovered them before you and may have connections that you can use that are already in a community. So I think it's always valuable to have a community of people who are creating value from their IP, because then you can learn the lessons that they've learned. How did you put the book together? How did you do the illustrations? If there are any? How did you do? And how did you do? And how did you do that? And I think what what's interesting for me, as someone who's working with people, like you are Chris, in the wealth building scenario is there are those people at the very beginning of the journey, who don't make a start because they feel the overwhelm at the beginning, or they don't yet feel the problem that they will need at some point, to create a recurring income. You know, Warren Buffett saying, If you don't find a way to make money while you sleep, you work till you die. And increasingly, people are working much longer. They don't see that problem. But what's a challenge for us and always somewhat sad is when people get over that inertia, they make the decision to do something and then they get too many choices and too many things and then they stop. And a confused mind always says no a confused mind always rest. So part of that value, then, of having people around you being there is to help you overcome that. So you don't get stuck on your own creating your own IP, your own book your own, you know, you got somebody else, or other people around you who can help. We've been there and done that ahead of you.
Christian Rodwell 44:35
We've done several sessions about different types of recurring income Kevin, and perhaps you'd like to share some thoughts around that. I know you have some models which you share with our members very frequently.
Speaker 3 44:48
Well, recurring income is a natural theme. It's the fundamental difference of a paradigm between those people who are trading time for money and those who are building recurring income and the thing I like about The tip one is you've got multiple ways to do that. So you can create a business around your IP, you can create royalties, you heard Shelly, say she had her first few pounds in royalties. And just the very sound of that is sexy, isn't it? You know, what did you do today? Well, today, I own a royalty. I mean, that just sounds great. Rather than I got a paycheck today, you know, you've done the work once, and you're going to be paid, ongoing, and the more people who promote that the more books that she'll sell. But the other thing that's really useful to think about, once you position understand where your IP sits, is to work out well, who needs somebody else's IP, before they come to you, during their experience with you and after you. And you can almost see what's the journey of the customer to get to where they want to get to. And then as you see that, you can see how you can partner, how you can collaborate, how you could create joint ventures, which is pillar number seven, of course, so this whole IP thing just opens up the door to so many other things that you can do to create an ongoing recurring income, including, you know, she mentioned being an Amazon affiliate. So affiliate incomes with other people, is a perfectly viable way, if you create a website that connects the before the during and the after, and you've got the right then, by curating that content, making it easier for people to find it, to use it to access it. It just means that if people buy that you've got a legitimate right to have a revenue share from the people who are wanting to pay that because they want to promote their own product and the built in a margin for that. I mean, the whole world revolves around the concept of margin, profit is a margin, retail and wholesale is a margin. So everything is done on some form of margin that's built in. So why not take advantage of that, however you choose to do that. And your IP is a perfect way to do that, you know, Rachel, with her skills, as a craft person, surely hear very specifically around the concept of light, which is got such wonderful and universal existential applications. You know, I'm excited for where Shelly could take this, but so many others who are very tight in their niche, whether it's to do with animals whether to do with farming, whether it's to do with the unique part of health, whether it's to do with utilities, and the cost of that there's so many different ways you can create affiliates, even if you're not using your own IP, you're using somebody else's, but you're promoting it in a way that can be value for everybody concerned. So the key thing, IP must deliver value wealth comes from value creation. And the more you can see how what you know, or who you know, can create value, the better it is.
Christian Rodwell 48:02
Absolutely. And just a reminder, again, that we're offering access to the four part video series that I delivered for our members, which is how to validate your business idea. So if you've got an idea now and you're just really not sure what the next steps are to take, then everything we've talked about today, I've laid out in our 15 step checklist and a four part video series, you can go through that in your own time, it's going to help you identify the problem, identify your customer, how to actually create that, test it and then generate your first revenue from that. So download that by heading to wealth builders.co.uk forward slash IP videos.
Unknown Speaker 48:38
And did I hear you say you're giving that for free?
Christian Rodwell 48:41
I sure am feeling like Kevin
Speaker 3 48:44
must be getting near Christmas. The lights will be on soon and those Christmas songs will be coming out 600,000 pounds is the number I want to share with you sir 600,000 You know that is the number every year
Christian Rodwell 48:59
go on. I was gonna say the electricity bill for your your local Christmas lights
Speaker 3 49:03
600,000 per year is the attributed value that Noddy holder receives for writing that absolutely terrible, but equally fantastic CRISPR song that I turn off every time I hear it 600,000 Every single year for writing that song. Little bit of IP. Wow, what a result.
Christian Rodwell 49:26
Yeah, well, there's, there's a great example there to leave us on. So hopefully we've inspired you today and Shelley in particular has inspired you to take action upon those ideas that you have. You never know. In a few months time if you put that into practice you might be following in Shelley's footsteps and generating an additional stream of recurring income from your IP. All right, Kevin, enjoyed today's episode. And we'll be back Same time, same place next week.
Unknown Speaker 49:52
I look forward to it until then my friend See ya.
Speaker 1 49:58
We hope you enjoy today's app. is owed. Don't forget that we are constantly updating our resources inside the wealth builders membership site to help you create, build and protect your wealth. Head over to wealth builders.co.uk/membership right now for free access. That's wealth builders.co.uk/membership