Dr. Angela Lauria

About Dr. Angela Lauria

Dr. Angela E. Lauria is the founder of The Author Incubator™ and creator of the Difference Process™ for writing a book that matters. In 2018, The Author Incubator was ranked #275 on the Inc. 500 fastest growing companies and #87 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Entrepreneur 360. Dr. Angela won the Stevie Award’s Coach/Mentor of the Year Award and her program, The Author’s Way was named Coaching Program of the Year and was named, by Entrepreneur Magazine, as one of the top 10 most inspiring entrepreneurs to watch – one of only 2 women on the list.

TRANSCRIPT:

Warren Phillips:
Welcome everyone. We’re live. As a health practitioner, have you ever thought, and I bet you have, “I need a book. If I had a book, my life would change. My practice would change. My influence, my rapport with people would change”? You’re probably right, but the problem is or the challenges, there’s a lot of mistakes that can be made there and there’s a lot of problems that can be happening in that process and there’s a lot of people out there promising that they can write a book or you start a book and you never finish the book. So if we could find the answer, I would bring that to you and here we are with Dr. Angela Lauria. She is one of the most … My entrepreneur says this, not her, not me, but entrepreneur says she’s one of the most influential women to watch. She’s also has a business that has exploded and done over a thousand books, many of them with health practitioners. She’s number 275 in 8,500.

Dr. Angela Lauria, talk to us. I’m Warren Phillips by the way, if you don’t know who I am. I’m one of the founders of Health Centers of the Future and HCF seminars. We do have an upcoming event and Dr. Angela is going to be there. So let’s blow this up. Let’s give them some great content and why they need a book and why they need to be careful and what are the mistakes you can make in that.

Angela Lauria:
Yeah, it’s so interesting because I think healthcare professionals know they need a book. The reason why in their heads they need it though is actually probably the wrong reason. So they see people out there with books, many of them that you’ve worked with, I know as well, but they see these celebrity doctors out there with their diet plan or their sleep plan or their cortisol response plan, and those books are getting attention. So they see the doctor on the cover and their picture and the name of the method named after the doctor and for a lot of up and coming people that are just building their following, building their platform, they think when they do the book, they’ll have similar results to the people who have a book.

Here’s the thing, that kind of thinking leads to so many mistakes that I really want to make sure people know. They end up disappointed because they do their book, it’s called the Lauria method and they put their cover on the picture, their picture on the cover and then they don’t get picked up. They don’t get traction. They’re not famous like all the other doctors out there that they see getting famous and they’re like, “Wait, what did I do wrong? Is it because I’m not cute? What happened?” Really, it’s because of what I call the order of operations. They have the order of operations wrong. It’s not the book. You guys are into science, so you’ll like this. It’s not the book that causes the success. The book is the result. It’s not the cause.

So there’s a correlation, but not a causal connection, right? Understanding what is the correlation between the book and the success you want is key to doing it the way that it’s going to get the results for you. You might be in a different place, so you need to do your books slightly different to get different results.

Warren Phillips:
So what is the correlation? What is that magic between the two?

Angela Lauria:
It depends on where you are. So one of the big mistakes people make, and I know I’m going to be speaking in Newport Beach in November and we’ll go much deeper on this when I’m there, but most people make a decision about their business by looking at their most successful competitor. So I’ll work with people. People will be like, “I want to be like Brene Brown,” but they don’t have 15 years of research experience. They don’t have 20 years in academia. They don’t have all of the things she has. So they want to write a book that’s way over there, but they’re not there yet. So in my book, The Incubated Author, I say you can’t go from zero to the Oprah couch. So the first thing is we want to assess where you are because the way that we write your book is going to be completely different depending on where you are.

If you’ve got a million followers in any medium. So if you have a million people on your email list, a million Instagram, a million on your YouTube, we can do that big fancy book you want to do. But if you’re where a lot of our authors are, which is maybe somewhere between zero and 10,000 followers, they’re really trying to launch something different, maybe leaving their practice, pivoting to concierge medicine, that’s what a lot of our doctors are doing, they are at a different stage in their growth but they’re doing their book as if they were already at a million. They already had a regular feature on their own network. So we want to assess where you are because there are different levels of books. So that’s step number one and one of the biggest mistakes that I see people make. I can give you a lot more.

Warren Phillips:
So we got to bring these docs into perspective because they’re big hearted. They want to make a difference. They want to change the world. They come to me like, “Warren, I want to do this. I’m going to be the number one in because I got sick from amalgam fillings and I want to be the number one in this. I had hormone issues and I’m going to be number one in this, Warren.” Then it usually, I see this in business, it stalls and stagnates because there’s some steps. I always tell everyone, it takes 10 years to be an overnight success. So there is work that needs to be done. But the important thing, and I know that you’re going to go over how to publish a book at the event and walk them through that process, whether they become part of our organization and work with you or they learn and do it on their own. This isn’t one of the … You have to do this. But what we want to do is really dig in and see who would need a book, which practitioner that is watching right now and is like, “Yes, I need to write a book.” Who is that avatar?

Angela Lauria:
Well listen, everybody needs a book. It’s just that the books are different. So depending on where you are to get you to the next level, you may need cash. So it may be that you need to open up a facility or multiple facilities. Maybe it’s time for you to hire a doctor and right now you need a cash infusion. So there’s a very specific type of book we can write that will quickly get you 100 to 250K in cash. So you don’t have to go for a loan, you don’t have to go … That’s a totally different book than if we’re doing a platform up level and maybe you’re going for a TV show on Facebook Watch. Maybe you’re doing … Maybe you’re already out of your practice. You have people doing the day to day and you’re going for more guest appearances in the media.

That’s a totally different book. So everybody wants a book and you should always be working on a book no matter where you are. I would say at least every two years you should be coming out with a book, but the book should match the goals that you have. Does that make sense?

Warren Phillips:
See, I love that. Because even me sometimes, I’m like, “I could write a book on marketing and business and all that stuff.” But I need a book too, right, for a different reason. So there’s a lot of practitioners watching and be like, “Yeah, I don’t need a book.” So I’m glad you addressed that and-

Angela Lauria:
You need a book if you have a goal. If you have no goals, then you don’t need a book. But then you wouldn’t be watching this video. You wouldn’t be thinking about coming to Newport Beach. You wouldn’t be thinking about taking your practice to the next level. Here’s the thing I want to tell you. This is another thing. One of the biggest mistakes that especially doctors make, and I have a lot of health practitioners in my family and they don’t tend to think of themselves as writers. They tell themselves, “Well, I don’t need a book or I don’t want a book,” because they’re dreading the writing. Now here I want to miss-

Warren Phillips:
Or I can’t write. I’m dyslexic. I [crosstalk 00:08:08] don’t mind, by the way.

Angela Lauria:
Are you? We have a lot of dyslexic authors. So if you can speak, you can write. Most of our books are written in 24 to 48 hours. If you’re speaking your book, it’s even faster. So if you’re someone who likes to type, if you think better through typing and writing, it takes about two hours to write a chapter. If you’re somebody who is better talking, it takes 15 to 20 minutes to write a chapter before it can go to an editor in a meaningful way. So the trick is you have to know what you’re going to say before you sit down to talk or to write. We have to organize your thoughts. That’s why you want to work with somebody, unless you’re really good at organizing your in a format for a book, which by the way, if you’re really good at whatever your medical specialty is, you’re probably not also really good at writing a book. That’s [inaudible 00:09:04] we are.

Warren Phillips:
Yeah, most practitioners are not taught that, the [crosstalk 00:09:07] method.

Angela Lauria:
Right. I’m not taught how to interpret medical tests. I’m not taught how to work with a patient and do a diagnosis or a treatment plan. We’re all good at different things. I’ve been doing books since I was 21 so actually I paid my way through college by writing.

Warren Phillips:
So for five years, you’ve been doing it for five years.

Angela Lauria:
Yeah, so about five years. I’m 46, man. I’ve been doing this for a long time, 25 years this year. I wrote my first book at 21. I wrote a lot of term papers though in college. I charged $10 a page back in the day and while you guys were like doing those coloring the anatomy charts and learning all the bones and the body parts and doing those chemistry equations that I could never figure out, I was busy writing books. So I think don’t feel bad about the fact that you’re not a writer and don’t be intimidated. If you got through med school, I promise, you can write a book. It’s a two day project. We do these events called three days to done where the first day we figure out what you’re going to write and then you actually get your whole book done written in two days.

So it’s a three day process to write a book, three days of doing nothing else. I tell people, “Pretend you have the stomach flu and just carve out three days. Get the hell out of your office. Tell people you’re dying of dysentery,” and then just go and get your book done. It is so much easier than you think. Don’t psych yourself out.

Warren Phillips:
So I can think of a movie. Did you watch a movie, Ratatouille?

Angela Lauria:
Yeah. Yes.

Warren Phillips:
With the rat and everybody can cook. You’re kind of like the chef that’s on TV saying, “Hey, everyone can cook. Everyone can write a book.” Depending on where you’re at, some of your natural born writers, so you’re going to go in and cook really well right away. Some of you need to start the process and learn how to cook, learn how to write a book, get that first one out. Don’t overthink it, don’t over complicate it. Just get it out. Make your first meal and realize that you get over that hump and fear. It’s like wow. In that process you learn more about writing a book, you gain more confidence. You push through some of those fears, those pains and you get there.

One of the things I think that triggered while you were talking is maybe a good idea is to think about … I know in a book you need a really powerful big idea. What’s your big idea when you’re going to communicate? So maybe they should start thinking about, okay, I’m going to come and learn how to publish a book at Newport Beach and meet Angela and and their team. Really, you’re going to give them a roadmap onstage and really help the practitioners come into the event, learn how to do this, whether it’s with us or on their own or however that shakes out. But the most important thing is let’s get them moving forward now with a big idea. So what is … Give them some guidance on that.

Angela Lauria:
Yeah. So actually that’s one of the mistakes people make is they start with the idea, which is a terrible thing to do, don’t you think?

Warren Phillips:
So this is what I did. I’m horrible.

Angela Lauria:
I know.

Warren Phillips:
I don’t know how to cook.

Angela Lauria:
But that’s why you haven’t finished your book. If you start with the outcome, I think it’s a Stephen Covey quote, begin with the end in mind. He also says when climbing the ladder of success, make sure it’s leaned against the right building. So instead of working on your big idea, because your big idea will tell you what it is, we have a very specific process to get there. For most people, their big idea will be too big. It’ll be that going from zero to the Oprah couch thing. They’re going to have that big idea, the gifts of imperfection, but they won’t have the platform to launch it with. So don’t think about your big idea. Instead, think about your goal and you can think about your goal like where are we going, what’s your big five, 10, 20 year goal, and then just think about and bring to Newport Beach because we’ll work on this together.

If this book was the most successful thing that you have done for your practice, what are the results you would get from that book within a year of publishing? So in one year from your book coming out, what … We can pick which three days. You could do this in advance too. Find three days on your calendar that you can totally clear off to get your book done. Ideally, do that over, let’s see, sometime November, December, January. If you can find three days, that would be perfect. Then when the book comes out, which will need a different amount of editing. So, but it’ll come out, let’s say by June, in one year, so 18 months from now, about one year from when your book comes out, what do you want it to have done? Do you want TV appearances? How many? Local or national? Which TV shows?

Do you want more clients? If so, how many? Where are they coming from? Are they telemedicine clients or in person? Do you want to be able to hire a practitioner? How many? How much more lead flow would you need to hire another practitioner? Are you ready to bring someone on yet or do you need five more clients a month? How many clients would you need? Do you want to raise your prices? Do you want to get off insurance billing, if you’re still doing insurance billing? What are the results you want to be from your book? If you figure out those results, I can help you figure out which of your many ideas, even if you don’t feel like you have one, I promise you you do, will be the right one to get those goals and you should write a book that gets those goals in a one to two year period.

So it should take you no more than six months to get your book out and within a year you should have all those goals met and you should be writing your second book. That second book will come out about two years later and we keep that process so we’re continually upleveling, getting more clients, raising your rates, raising your profile, adding more doctors to your practice and so forth.

Warren Phillips:
I love that because they, me included, and I think many of the practitioners, I’m not going to speak for them, but I’ve been doing this for 15 years and that’s exactly what happens. We’d be focused on so much, because where do we go first? It’s like usually we come from a challenge in our health and then we become an expert on that. For me it’s detoxification. I cleaned up hazardous waste for living, right? Got super sick. So when I niche in in health, and again, I’m business marketing, but in that business marketing mindset, I really loved detoxification and helping people with solutions there. That fires me up. So my outcome is, “Hey, let’s write this book so that I can help more people.”

Well, that’s not specific enough because your brain is going to gather information. It’s a supercomputer, right? So if you have an outcome or a goal in mind, you’re not going to miss the mark. A lot of the times we have these big hearted ideas, these things we wanted to accomplish to help people. But if we don’t have the end in mind, you’re going to miss the mark of that goal and the book won’t have the outcome and it won’t hit the target, and I hate to say this, but knock the animal down so that you can harvest it and feed your family sort of thing.

Angela Lauria:
Yeah. I mean what happens is people have this huge unrealistic goal. It’s like a 20 year goal from a book that they’re trying to write and they don’t even get it done because they can’t see how to get the results. So they just talk about a book. So if you’re watching this and you have been talking about getting a book done for more than a year, you definitely need to come to Newport so I can kick your ass. Can I say kick your ass on here?

Warren Phillips:
Yeah, you can.

Angela Lauria:
Okay, good. Because that’s what I’m going to be doing. I am-

Warren Phillips:
Entrepreneur says you’re one of the most inspiring women to watch. So you can-

Angela Lauria:
Just to be clear, that was inspiring entrepreneurs and I was just one of three women on their list of 20. So I was an inspiring entrepreneur of any gender, of all genders.

Warren Phillips:
That’s awesome.

Angela Lauria:
But the way I inspire is sometimes a little militant because I know how important this work is. I know how many people are in pain, whether it’s with toxicity, and I will tell you, I could do a little mouth flash, but I had two root canals removed on Wednesday.

Warren Phillips:
Amen.

Angela Lauria:
So not even a week ago because of you and because of your work and conversations that I’ve had with you and doctors that are in this community, medical professionals in this community. I know how important this work is. So if you’re trying to figure it out, cut it the fuck out. Come to Newport Beach, let me kick your ass and let’s get this book done. Then you could write another one and another one. But there are people you can help right now and you’re being selfish by not writing this book. People need to hear your message and you need to get a little braver and get out there. When you’re in a community like you’ll be in, when we’re all in California together, you’re going to see what really is possible. You’re going to be inspired by other people that are putting themselves out there.

They’re already doctors from your community writing books with us right now. You’ll see, it wasn’t that they were less busy, it wasn’t that they were more clear on their idea, that people are ready in this community that are writing books, what they have in common is they’re committed to making the difference they were born to make and they’re not willing to keep waiting until they have it figured out to do that. They’re going to do it now and they’re going to get better as they go.

Warren Phillips:
Yeah. You guys need to listen to this beautiful lady speaking to you right now because-

Angela Lauria:
You need to let me kick your ass is what you’re about to say.

Warren Phillips:
Yes, because she will kick your butt. She does that. But what I’m hearing you say, and we’ll wrap up with this, and I thank you so much for your time. I know you’re busy. You have a huge team and a really fast growing company as Inc 500, and all of that. But I think that the doctors need to hear today or the practitioners, health coaches watching this, is that they deserve it. They deserve a book. They deserve to be a part of something bigger and be stretched and grow and step into their destiny and understand that they truly are brilliant and they have a message that the world needs. Let’s get out there and do it together. Click below, get involved. Join us in Newport. Let’s have a blast together. We’ll be sipping wine together, hanging out, networking.

Some of the best content. Shameless pitch here for the event is we are focused on the number one niche in natural health, which is the female audience, the woman. The woman is the change maker within a practice. Most doctors know that. It’s like, “Yeah, 80% of my practice is female depending on their niche.” But how do you reach the female? How do we reach the woman, the change maker in the home? One of the fastest growing change makers in the world, actually. They’re the up and coming movers and shakers at CEOs. They’re some of the biggest investors. How do we reach those clients? One of the things that Angela teach and how to publish a book online and all the training that she’s going to do is that the book can help reach that avatar because reaching a male is much different than reaching a female. So that’s one of the niches we’re going to be focused in on in Newport Beach, so. Dr. Angela, thank you so much for spending time with us.

Angela Lauria:
I am so excited. I can’t wait to meet everyone and hear book ideas. I’m going to be doing as many hot seats as I can and I’m actually bringing four editors from my team. I want every single person who comes to have a private one on one consultation with one of our editors to review their book idea and make sure their idea matches with their goals. So we are completely ready. We’ve been working with your team. We’ll have a booth, but we’re also getting suites as well so that we can do private consultations. If you have a book idea and you come, we’re going to just have all of our editors there. Not all. We actually have 21 editors on the staff. But I’m bringing four of them that are most interested in health books, that have worked on health books from all over the country. So we have somebody from California, Kentucky, Florida, and Toronto coming.

Warren Phillips:
I love it.

Angela Lauria:
So for editors, I hope you get to meet them. I will be their hot seating people as well. You really owe it to the world to get the message out. You’ve done so much research, you’ve done so much of your own work to learn this stuff. Who else is going to teach it if not you?

Warren Phillips:
Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Angela. Have a great day, guys. Be blessed. Go crush your days. We’ll see you in Newport.