Bryan Bloom is a CPA with a mission--show financial planners that the advice their prospective clients are receiving is wrong. He used a slim manuscript with a compelling title and a focused marketing plan to build a nationwide financial planning practice.
This is a newsletter for independent authors, so it’s useful to consider how Bryan’s success includes many of the tenets of author entrepreneurship.
Great advisors - Bryan credits two colleagues for motivating him to publish. A financial planning colleague pointed out that his CPA certification gives his message credibility, while long time mentor and fellow Infinity author Len Renier endorsed the self-publishing business model.
Compelling title - What financial planner could resist a book named Confessions of a CPA: Why What I Was Taught To Be True Has Turned Out Not To Be? It establishes the author’s authority, and introduces the mystery that may impact the reader’s career.
Niche audience - While his message is relevant to the public at large, Bryan does not reach out to them directly with book tours or bookings on Oprah. He targets fellow financial planners as a channel to reach a wider audience.
Pay it forward - Bryan published the books to educate his peers--and ultimately, the public. He gives away copies at financial planner ‘watering holes’ including the widely attended MoneyTrax conference. The sampling generates multi-copy orders from planners who promote their own practices, resell them to clients and write glowing reviews like this: “I was blown away by the simplicity of the explanation of how Permanent Life Insurance really works. I just bought 10 for my business.”
Multiple titles - Bryan’s subsequent titles each present his original message in the context of an occupation--Dental Wealth, and Life$cience (for doctors), or a financial product--The Truth About Life Insurance. Each title enhances Bryan’s reputation in the financial planning community.
With his authority established, Bryan builds his audience by speaking in conferences, webinars and even on cruise ships. “I could have as many speaking gigs as I want,” he says. “It’s made life fun.”
