Awesome Ghostwriting and More: RGA Podcast: Richard Lowe Bestselling Author [Interview]
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Revenue Generating Hour (RGA) Transcription
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Announcer: Thank you for listening to Life Improvement radio. You are listening to a rebroadcast of a previously recorded show.
[Intro Music]
Mark: Welcome to another edition of radio’s version of perfection. You’re listening to the Revenue Generating Hour. I’m host Mark O’Donnell, president and founder of a little networking organization goal that is world domination here in the Tampa Bay, Florida market called RGAnetwork.net. RGA is a different kind of business networking. We believe there’s plenty of business to go around. We are not a one seat wonder organization. We don’t believe in mandatory attendance or forced referrals. We are growing like no tomorrow. We invite you to visit us at RGAnetwork.net. Thanks for tuning in. This afternoon, I’m with networking rock star, the guy who wrote many books on how to network, how to maximize your LinkedIn profile, how to pick up friends in strange places, a myriad of work, Mr. Richard Lowe. Good afternoon, Richard and welcome to the show.
Richard: Good Afternoon, Mark. Thank you. I’m happy to be here.
Mark: I mean, my goodness. How many books have you written, sir?
Richard: Just published my 63rd book….
Mark: 63rd. Holy guacamole. So, Richard if we were getting into an elevator, who are you and what do you do?
Richard: A bestselling author, a ghostwriter, a blogger and a LinkedIn branding expert. So, what I do mostly is I help small businesses create a brand that sells them better on the web and on the internet so that they make more money and get better leads.
Mark: I like it. So, tell us about a couple, I mean, the most famous person in the world is in one of your books. What’s the name of that book?
Richard: That one is called Network Your Business to Prosperity and good old Mark O’Donnell is featured in the book. He’s on the cover and he has an interview and it’s about how to network and about the things you need to do…
Mark: And soon to be on the best seller list, right? I just need to get my family to buy a copy.
Richard: Yes, that would be nice. But it is how to network and how to do it properly and what not to do.
Mark: I like it. I like it. So, Richard you also have, like, networking tips. I think that’s a really good one.
Focus on LinkedIn
Richard: Yes. well I have a LinkedIn book, Focus on LinkedIn, that tells you how to use, how to set up your LinkedIn so people find you, which is one of the primary things with not having a LinkedIn correctly is people don’t find you on the Internet and then the networking book goes hand in glove with that and it tells you how to network with the people that you connect with on LinkedIn and of course in the real world. So, both books work together really well. And I also provide a LinkedIn service where you can sign up and I’ll go through your profile and make its spiffy for you and help bring in those leads.
Mark: I like it. Can you tell people how they can find that link?
Richard: They can go to my website thewritingking.com and on there, there is a link that…there’s a big box that says optimize your LinkedIn profile and just click on that and it will tell them what to do from that point and if you’re an RGA member, then they’re…or you’re referred by a RGA member also, then my normal $500 price for that is cut in half as a thank you for coming to the… for being a member of RGA.
Mark: Aww, that’s really nice. I love it. So, Richard let’s kind of just jump right in and give some people some advice like free advice. What would you recommend, maybe at, let’s start with LinkedIn? What’s kind of like 4 mistakes most people do with their LinkedIn profile.
Richard: Well, that’s relatively easy. The first mistake is not to have one in the first place and then the second mistake is to have one that is not well done. A lot of people just throw up, and literally throw up is the right word, their resume onto their LinkedIn and that doesn’t work on LinkedIn because when I’m looking on LinkedIn or your average person is looking on LinkedIn, an executive or somebody who’s making a business decision, they want to find out about you and a resume’s somebody telling somebody else about you. It’s written in the third person. LinkedIn should be written in the first person, I am a Branding expert. It’s very similar to when you’re giving your 30 second speech at RGA or at one of the other networking groups. You’re telling people who you are. It’s not somebody else telling them who you are. So that’s a big mistake that a lot of people make and then not having it focused is another mistake. A LinkedIn that’s all over the place, that describes you as 15 different specialties or, on the other opposite extreme, I can’t figure out what you do from your LinkedIn. I see those a lot. And the number one biggest mistake of all, I would say, is having a lousy profile picture.
Mark: Now what on pictures are inappropriate?
Richard: Anything that’s not a professionally taken photo is inappropriate. You’re a professional and you want to present yourself as a professional so spend the money and go get a professional head shot, period. If you can’t afford a professional head shot, then go get a real job, a real profession and go spend the money to get a professional head shot or take out a car loan or something. Whatever, I mean, what does it cost? $50 to get a professional head shot? Go do it because if you don’t have a professional head shot, you look like an amateur and that’s what you’ll come across as. If you have a selfie, if you have somebody who has their arm around you, you’ve cropped it, if you have a photo of you sitting at your desk looking bored or any number of other things, you look like an amateur and that’s not what you want to do on your LinkedIn and then the second thing is you’ve got to watch your background. If the only thing you can afford is somebody taking a picture of you, then watch your background and make sure that it’s like a blank wall or some kind of pretty pattern or something like that.
I’ve done over 150 LinkedIn profiles and some of the things that I see in a picture just blow me away, like one woman was very proud she took a picture of her, she had a friend take a picture in a bar and behind her was some beer bottles and stuff, obviously half drunk and that wasn’t a very good picture because what does it communicate? That she drinks and that may not be somebody you want to hire and somebody else had a picture with a cemetery in the background, headstones and all and that sure doesn’t communicate anything positive. So, you want the focus to be on you and you don’t want the focus to be on background and that background will deliver subliminal messages. Same with what you wear. That should match your brand. So, if you’re a banker, you probably want to wear a suit and tie. If you’re a computer guy who goes around and help fix people’s computer, you probably want to business casual. If you’re a circus clown, then you want to dress in a circus clown suit, maybe. If you’re an actor, you might want to have a really serious acting face or a goofy face or something. I mean, it depends on your brand what kind of picture you’ll have but make it a professional photo. Just do it and then get several, so you can switch them out sometimes. You know, when you’re there get a whole set of twenty or whatever that are different poses, slightly different poses and then you can switch them out and use them on your brochures and things like that. Did that make sense?
Mark: It did. it did to me. I got it. I’ve signed up for Arlene’s head shot at the Summer Business Expo. Speaking of, to our audience we are located in the Tampa Bay, Florida market. Every year we put on a Summer Business Expo. You can meet the Writing King in person, July 27th at the Bay Harbor Hotel, 3 to 9 o’clock. He’s one of our vendors at the Bay Harbor Hotel. Richard, like, tell folks, you had a class. You also do a couple RGA universities. You had a class about why people should have awards and recognition and things like that on their profile.
Richard: Yes, well I will be at the RGA Expo that you just mentioned. I’ll have a table there with all my books, or a lot of my books that you can buy and I’ll sign them for you while I’m there. Why do you want awards and things on your LinkedIn is an excellent question. It’s because you want…once you…in your summary, you’re describing what you do and how you can help people and mostly, you pick a problem and describe how you solve that problem or two problems or three problems. In the rest of your LinkedIn profile, you’re building credibility. Why are you the person who can do this? Well, you have a lot of schooling, you’ve been trained, you’ve done the courses, you have won awards, so other people recognize your value, you’ve been honored in the community, you’re a public speaker, you’ve written a book, you’ve been published in newspapers, all these things need to be on your LinkedIn because all of them, on a conscious or unconscious level, grant you credibility and that makes people trust you. So, the summary helps get them to like you and to know you and then the rest of that helps people trust you. Why should I trust this person? Well, he’s been honored in the community with 15 awards or 2 awards or 1 award. He’s on the Chamber of Commerce, he’s in the Chamber of Commerce. He’s in RGA network. He serves in the community in the various charitable things. All of these things build credibility and that is a big deal on LinkedIn but it’s a big deal unconsciously. You won’t…somebody is not going to tell you, oh wow you did this and this and this, but they will look at it and they will see it and then they will want to hire you because you’re credible and that sets you apart from the competition.
Getting Into Ghostwriting
Mark: I like it. I like it. Why I mentioned that is that at our Summer Business Expo, we also have the Networking Award. So, we will be recognizing networkers in the Tampa Bay metropolitan area for best tagline, best presentation, best networking meeting in the area, best networker, most referrals given. There’s a whole list. You can visit all of that on our Facebook page which is Revenue Generating Activities Network. So, Richard, with the Writing King, how did this come about because didn’t you work for a Whole Foods? I mean didn’t Amazon just buy your old company?
Richard: No, I worked for Trader Joe’s.
Mark: Trader Joe’s. So, we had a discussion about you today about branding and I said Richard worked for Trader Joe’s. They’re like, no, it’s Whole Foods.
Richard: No, Trader Joe’s.
Mark: Trader Joe’s. I love Trader Joe’s. So, tell us how you became the writing King.
Richard: Well, it started way back when I was just a kid and I read a book by a guy named Isaac Asimov. Isaac Asimov has written the most books of anyone that ever lived as far as we know. He wrote 501 books before he died. He wrote about everything and he wrote in such a way that you could understand. He wrote on nuclear physics and yet you… I mean, I’m a 7 year old kid reading the book and I understood it. So, I thought I want to be a writer like him. So, then life interfered and I had to work and get a job and got married and she passed away and, you know, I got the job at Trader Joe’s and the writing just kind of fell on the back burner because I actually had to do what we all do, earn a living and deal with life. Well, in 2013, near the end, things happened, and I decided it was time, I’d been a Trader Joe’s for 20 years as their I.T. director. I just decided it was time to move on. I had money in my retirement, time to start a writing career because that’s what I wanted to do all my life. So, I moved to Florida, mostly because Mark’s here. Kidding. And set up my shop, being a writer and started writing books, wrote Focus on LinkedIn, that was my 3rd book. It immediately became a bestseller. It still sells pretty well, and I wrote a book on e-bay, on computer security and some other books and it just kind of evolved from there to where it’s just something I want to do. It makes me really happy, and I provide very good service to people and give them good copywriting, good writing for their website. It’s just fun and that’s what I like to do.
Mark: I like it. We’re listening, we are interviewing Richard Lowe, the Writing King and we’ll be right back with the Revenue Generating Hour, after this.
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Networking
Mark: Welcome back. You’re listening to Life Improvement Radio’s version of perfection, the Revenue Generating Hour. Mark O’Donnell here, the host and founder of RGA Network. We’re a different kind of business networking. Come see what the buzz is all about and why we get members every day joining our groups to grow and build their business. Today we’re with networking superstar, Richard Lowe. He’s the Writing King. He wrote the book on networking. Richard, for those folks out there who don’t maybe know what is, kind of give us 4 of the right things to do but start with 4 of the wrong things to do because we all see it, the seasoned networkers who’ve been out there for a while and they’ve toned, you know, hone their craft in their 30 second commercial and we see those new networkers and I think it’s just lack of knowledge, which maybe we can help them right here, right now with better ways to introduce themselves.
Richard: Well the first and worst mistake that you can make in networking, obviously, is not doing it because if you’re not networking, you’re probably not working unless you hold a job but moving beyond that, the worst thing you can do, if you go to a networking meeting or if you’re walking around the trade show floor or if you’re at a convention or something, is to try and push yourself on people and in a salesy kind of way and people don’t like that when you’re networking. they get…we get that a lot where somebody will come in and they’ll try and sell us their newest vitamin or their newest ML, multi-level marketing scheme or… and they’re very excited about it and they start pounding on you to buy, buy, buy. Well, you know, that doesn’t work with networking because the networking is you need to know, like and trust somebody and you skipped all three of those steps when you’re trying to sell somebody. You just skipped them entirely and you’re trying to get me to trust you when I don’t even know your name yet, probably. I mean, we’ve barely shaken hands and you’re saying buy my vitamins and well, what’s your name again? Why should I buy your vitamins? Why should I trust you? Why should I give you the $85 a bottle you’re asking for? We’re not even going to get there because I’m not going to talk to you if you walk up to me and say buy my vitamins.
And another mistake is shoving your business card into people’s hands before they get to know you. I mean, if you shove your business card in my hand at a trade show, it’s going to get put into the… I have 2 pockets in the back. one pocket in my shirt, one pocket on the back and if it goes in the back pocket, that means it’s going to trash because that person isn’t somebody I want to network with. Where as if it goes in the front pocket, that means, yeah, I’d better get back to that person because he looks like he’s going to be valuable and he’s trying to get to know me. But that’s the key is people need, and talking about the good side, you want people to know who you are, first of all. So, who are you? Well, I am, you know, I’m Richard Lowe, the Writing King and blah, blah, blah and go into what I do and where I come from, you know, the story about how I got here and where… how Trader Joe’s and start to know me and then you start to like me because there’s a lot of things in there that are common between us and there’s a little tragedy in there with the wife passing away and things like that. You start to feel some commonality with me and then you start to trust me because while we’re talking, I’m talking about my credentials, I’m talking about where I came from, how many books I’ve written, how many customers I’ve helped and then at that point, is the time, if you’re going to do any kind of selling or you can kind of gently push on the seller a little bit and start maybe going into the selling phase, maybe not. maybe wait till the next time you talk. You can’t… you can do it too early but you can’t do it too late. You want to wait until you get that right moment where they’re like, OK, you know, we’re buds now and you’ve got to talk to them also and get their story and get them to like you because people aren’t going to. It’s less likely that somebody’s going to like you, if all you’re doing is talking. That’s the other big mistake that networking beginners make is they just talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, yeah, and then they interrupt and they keep talking and you can tell they’re not listening, they’re forming their next question. You don’t want to do that. What you want to do is listen, take some notes and take notes about what this person said and where he’s from and what he looks like and his background and things. So that the next time you meet, you can look at your notes and go, “Oh yeah, I remember you. You’re Joe Smith and you run the tackle shop and you… it’s an interesting story how you got the tie. I remember that story that you said, the funny story about how you knew your tackle box fell out of the lifeboat into the water and you had to go in and get it and there were alligators in there and stuff. That was fun and you’re”… that kind of stuff builds likability. But as you start to network and you start to meet hundreds and hundreds of people, you’re not going to remember that. So you have to write it down and in kind of a nutshell and in kind of a little bit disorganized manner, that’s some of what I think about networking.
Mark: So, what are some of the right things to do?
Richard: Well, probably one of the very right things to do is find a networking group or two that fits your style. RGA networks is a certain style and it’s very useful for small businesses to get into and start networking. There are other networking groups that, you know, if you’re more formal and you want to be dictated to and have a more formal strategy, there are other networking groups that might be for you but pick the one that fits your style and that you like. Go to a couple of meetings and see if you like it and then start networking and attend meetings. You have to attend them regularly. You can’t network if you just attend one meeting and then go on to the next meeting somewhere else and on to the next meeting somewhere else because nobody can know who you are. You have to keep going to the same meeting over and over and over again because it takes time and eventually, people will remember who you are and what you do and then they’ll be walking around in the town and they go, “Oh you need a writer. I know a writer, that great writer, Richard, the Writing King. He can talk to you.” and that’s how it works. Then a referral comes in and you’ve got a customer. But if you’re not attending the meeting regularly you won’t get those referrals because they’ll forget about you because you’re not there and regularly doesn’t necessarily mean every single week. You could go every other week but it means you have to be predictable, like Richard always going to be here on the first meeting of the month or the first and third meeting of the month or whatever it is. Make it predictable and good old Mark is the one who gave me the speech on that and I took it to heart, is make it predictable so that people know you’re going to be there. So, if they got a referral, they know Richard is going to be there on the third meeting of the month and I can give him a referral then or get your email address or whatever.
Richard: Another important thing about networking is, this is kind of a pet peeve of mine, is everybody has business cards. You should all take out your business card and look at them and hold them at arm’s length. If you can’t read the email address or phone number at arm’s length, get new business cards because if I can’t read your e-mail address and if I have squint for it or get a magnifying glass out to see it or it’s gray on gray or blue on blue, like some of them now, I’m going to throw it away and so is half the other people. So, hold it out at arm’s length. If you can read the email address, you’re doing great. If you can’t, you’ve got to remember with business cards, the only purpose of business cards is so that somebody can get your contact information and that’s it. That’s all a business card is, pass the contact information over to somebody else. So, everything else is fluff and isn’t needed, other than a little branding perhaps. So, that’s a big networking tip, is fix your business card because if nobody can read it, they’re not going to keep it.
Richard: And another tip that Mark gave me that’s really great is when you do get those business cards and you toss those that you’re not interested in, put them in your contact database and make a point, make points to call them back and keep in touch with them over time because if you don’t do that, they’re going to forget who you are and they’re not going to know, like and trust you because you’ve never talked to them after the first meeting. So, you make an effort, especially for the ones that you think are valuable, to continue to stay in contact with over and over and over again and that doesn’t mean every day because then you’ll just annoy them unless you’re giving them referrals. I mean, you know, once a month, maybe every quarter, maybe every week, depending on who they are and how the networking relationship between you is and just ask how they are, ask how their business is going, Ask if they need any help. Things like that.
Richard: The biggest tip of all, of networking that I have, I interviewed a guy named Ron Sukenick, I think that’s how you pronounce his name, and he’s really big in the networking world and he told me the number one, and I found this to be true, thing that you need to do a network is give far more than you receive. The more you give, the more you’ll get. So if you’re somebody who’s always trying to get, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, buy my stuff, you’re not going to get all that much and you’re probably going to come to the conclusion networking is invaluable and why isn’t it valuable? Because you’re not giving and what it is giving mean? It means giving information, it means giving the time to listen to somebody, it means writing stuff down, it means occasionally doing a small favor for somebody, it means going into your community and helping somebody, it means all kinds of things, but the more you give, the more you create a, what I like to call, a vacuum where you give and it creates this pull where the universe has to give back and that’s what causes karma, is the universe, a little metaphysical here but, the universe starts to give back the more you give. Now I’m not talking about being taken advantage of. I’m talking about just giving because we all are on guard against people trying to take advantage of us and, you know, you don’t want to do that. But give, give, give, give. Give good information at your speeches at networking meetings, give good listening skills to people and listen to them, give good referrals, give positive feedback to people rather than negative criticism, these are all things that you want to do to give to people and you will be surprised over time how much you get back that comes out of the blue. I get calls out of the blue that I have no idea how they got to me because I’ve been giving and giving, giving, giving, giving and word just gets around and people just start climbing through the walls to get to me. That’s my tips for… a couple of my tips for networking for now.
Mark: I like it. I like it and you wrote a book. What’s the name of the book again?
Richard: Network Your Business for Prosperity is the one with Mark on the cover. You can find all of my books at coolauthor.com.
Mark: I like it, coolauthor.com. Alright, we’re here with Richard Lowe, the Writing King. You’re listening to the Revenue Generating Hour on lifeimprovementradio.com and we’ll be right back after this.
[Music]
Mark: Welcome back to the Revenue Generating Hour RGA’s version of radio perfection, right here in Tampa Bay, Florida. Mark O’Donnell here, the host and president and founder of RGA. We are a different kind of business networking group. How different, you ask? I’m glad you asked. We’ll tell you. We are different. We are not a one seat wonder. We don’t believe in forced referrals. We have no attendant policy but it’s good to know that in networking, the more you show up, the more you get referred. So show up, give up and start up and we can help you grow your business. We are with networking superstar writer who has set the bar high. I think he wants to write 511 books in his lifetime, Mr. Richard Lowe. Richard is your goal 511 books?
Richard: My goal is to write as many books as I possibly can but 511 would be a great number.
Mark: I mean, that would be one more. you’d be on the next level, right? Let’s set the intention for 520 books.
Richard: OK, sounds good.
Mark: I like it. So, Richard is an author, a blogger, a writer, a ghost-writer. Tell us about ghost-writing, Richard.
Ghostwriting – What It’s About
Richard: Well ghostwriting is the act of…you want to write a book. Let’s say Mark you want to write a book but, you know, you can’t write and you don’t have the time because you’re running RGA, and you don’t know how to write a book that will actually sell. So, you would call somebody up like me and you’d say I want to do this. I want to write this book about this and this and this, you know, about your life as an Alpine climber or something, how you climb Mount Everest or whatever and I would interview you and write that book for you. You would pay me, of course, and then you would publish the book or you’d find a publisher and it would have your name on it. My name wouldn’t be anywhere near it. It’s your book. As far as the world is concerned, you wrote it. And then you would collect royalties and things and that is classic ghost writing. There are variations in between where it can be more of a collaboration or more of a coaching process but in basic terms, it means you get somebody else to write a book for you and then your name’s on it.
Mark: I like it. You’re hired.
Richard: I’ll write about…
Mark: There you go. I like it. I’ll start with the climb of the networking domination powered by rganetwork.net. Richard, you have found much success with networking. you’ve taught some university classes. tell us your experience with networking.
Richard: Well I’ve been a big networker since my first job. I was actually very shy and introverted for many years. my first boss, his name was Steve Davis. He was actually a VP at the Walt Disney entertainment division. He’s a consultant for them now and he taught me the basics of networking by example. He was one of those people who could work a crowd and you just sit back and marvel about it because it wasn’t obvious but it was obvious, if you know what I mean. He could just walk around and shake hands and thing. He was exuberant, he would…and he’d work his way through it and by the time he was done, he’d be best buddies with the keynote speaker, with the people putting on the thing, with all of the big names there and he’d also be buddies with all of the people who weren’t big names and it was just amazing how everybody there felt like he was talking just to them but he was actually talking to all 200 people at the convention and by the time it was done, it was just amazing to watch and I was still super shy and introverted but I took that to heart and then when that company that I worked for, long after he left, went belly up, I had to find a job very quickly and I called my network and within a couple of weeks, I had two jobs, which I found an interesting fact about having two jobs. Back then, before Reagan did the tax cuts, working two jobs actually wound up making me less money because of the way the taxes worked. A little trivia there. And then later on when I worked at Trader Joe’s, I had a computer failure and I needed to get people in to fix the computer and it was a holiday weekend and my team was out on vacation and things. I couldn’t find them. So I hit my network pretty hard and I had people in working on the computer fixing things within hours just because I had a network because I could call people and say I need help. Some would work as consultants, some I had to pay, some did it for free, some did it as a favor but they all worked there. I had almost 20 people there fixing computers and when my boss came in the next day, he was astounded. Like, he didn’t know any of these people. Actually, some of them, I never met in real life, met them over the Internet and they were in there fixing things for me and that’s really a remarkable experience when you have network that really works.
Richard: Recently, I’ve been networking at RGA pretty hard and I had a contact that my good friend Melissa gave me that went to another lady that went to another lady. It’s interesting how that works and I’m doing two paid speaking engagements in July because of that and that was pure referral. The person who gave me the engagement, met me on the phone, introduced by somebody else. It’s an amazing thing how that works where it just comes to you because it’s a referral. So, in July on the 11th, I think and, on the 18th, I’m giving two different speeches to these, the senior citizen homes and I’m actually getting paid for it, which is kind of cool and that’s the power of networking. It just comes but if you’re not networking, none of that happens. you just get walk in customers and you get just customers and that makes it much harder to make things happen.
Mark: Well, and I kind of find, at least with me, is if I say…you say, Mark I need a mechanic. Hey Richard, you know, I know where you live. Let’s recommend Jim Cooper because he’s close to you and he’s a friend of mine, he’s an honest mechanic. You already feel kind of semi-comfortable with him because if you like me and you respect me, you’re going to say, “Well Mark knows what he’s talking about.” Now if you go into Tim and Tim doesn’t treat you right or doesn’t, you know, you think whatever his price is too high, you’re going to say, “Mark I wouldn’t recommend Tim. I mean, he didn’t seem like he knew what he was doing and, you know, things were a muck in the shop and, I mean, he charged me $900 for a break job”, and I would say, “Oh that doesn’t sound like Tim. He was probably haven’t had bad day. Let me call him.” But if it goes well, then you’re going to say, “Man that was a really good, you know, recommendation. I appreciate it”, because most of us, it’s a challenge to find good people with products or services and, at least for me, if my friend called and says, “Hey, my air conditioning friend wants to join RGA. Will you take good care of him?” Of course, I am. I’m going to make sure they, you know, I have a smooth transition in joining, they receive their membership packet, not that it’s not an automated system and everybody else does but I’ll check in with them a time or two just to make sure they’re on the right track because it’s a recommendation from a friend.
Richard: Exactly, that’s the advantage of networking.
Mark: It really is. You know, I always say to people it’s not necessarily who to go to, it’s also who to avoid. You know, we’ve all had that one…
Richard: Oh boy.
Mark: Yea, who to avoid, you know, boy they never answer the phone, they sign me up, I can’t get a hold of them, you know, I call and I call, you know. I wouldn’t recommend them. If you find a good, you know, locksmith let me know because this guy ridiculous.
Richard: Yeah I’ve run into that a few times with RGA meetings where I mentioned I needed something and, you know, I heard about this guy and I get an immediate three people saying, no, no don’t go to him.
Mark: Yea, don’t go to him. Well, I mean and everybody makes a mistake or drops the ball or fumbles or however you want to put it. It’s how they handle the mistake, you know, because we’re all going to make mistakes. It’s how we handle it, you know. And it’s surprising to me how many people, you know, referrals are like gold. I mean, it’s like liquid gold and if somebody gives you a referral, then you say, “Hey, I called the guy. This is what happened. I left a voicemail. I hope to have a return phone call. You call him the next day and say, hey your contact called me back. I have a meeting scheduled with him after the holiday on Wednesday. I’ll call and let you know how it goes. Hey thanks for the referral. I met with him on Wednesday. I can’t help him out but I was able to recommend somebody who could but thank you for appreciating me”. Because then that person is going to feel comfortable recommending you because you went through the steps of keeping them informed through the process of their referral.
Mark: I mean, it just…it kind of hurts my heart sometimes when I see like the new networker or maybe the guy who just doesn’t know, who walks around to every single person in the room and hands in the business card. So, I know and it’s great, you know, I appreciate you want to share your contact information. Why do I need it? You know, as you know Richard, I’m not a big advocate of skin care. I think it’s very important for some people. I choose to use the Irish Spring for everything. So, you know, when those people always ask me, it’s funny because when I get my haircut, they usually ask how old I am and they say oh you have really nice hair for your age. I mean, at that point where the beautician just shamelessly tries to make me feel better and then when I say, oh I use Irish Spring for everything. they say, “oh my god. that’s going to ruin your hair” and I’m like I’ve been doing it for fifty something years. I mean, you just told me when I sat down what great head of hair I had. I would have think it would have ruined it by now.
Richard: Exactly
Mark: So, Richard we always do one of our segments with what we call Two Truths and a lie. So, we’re going to take a little break right now and we’re going to come back. So, join us in our last segment of the Revenue Generating Hour with Richard Lowe and find out his two truths and a lie. We’ll be right back after these quick breaks.
[Music]
Mark: Welcome back to the radio’s version of perfection the Revenue Generating Hour. Mark O’Donnell here, president and founder of RGA network. We’re a different kind of networking. Please check us out at rganetwork.net. Come experience the remarkable operation we run through connections and referral of local business owners. We’re with the Writing King, Richard Lowe. He is a writer, a blogger and all-around great guy. Richard welcome back.
Richard: Hi. How you doing? I’m back.
Mark: Good, Good. Richard, give us contact information if somebody would perhaps like to reach out to you on the telephone.
Richard: You can call me at 727-475-1283 or you can email me, rich@thewritingking.com.
Mark: OK.
Richard: Or you can go to my website, thewritingking.com.
Mermaids and Belly Dancers
Mark: All right, so the Writing King can help you ghostwrite, you know, pull the novel out of you. He can write a novel for you but right now we’re going to learn a little bit more about Richard. He’s going to tell two truths and a lie and we have to guess which one is the lie. So Richard, tell us three things about you. One, of course, should be a lie.
Richard: Well, of course one is that I just love lobster and I would go out of my way for a lobster dinner and stuff myself until I explode, more or less. The second one is that I was one of the photographers at the First World Mermaid Convention in Las Vegas in 2011 and got to photograph fifty mermaids and had two supermodels basically hugging me and I got a photo of that and the third one is I have photographed 1400 belly dance shows and 400 Renaissance Fairs in a period of 8 years.
Mark: OK so, I find it hard to believe that somebody would get that many mermaids in one room.
Richard: OK.
Mark: And the belly dance, I mean, I know you also wrote a book on coloring, and I saw a coloring book of belly dancers. So, I’m going to say that’s the truth because why would you have done a coloring book of belly dancers if you didn’t hobnob with all the belly dancers. So that’s the truth and then, I just have to struggle, you know, everybody likes lobster and, you know, we’re both not small people. So, I would go with them mermaid. I mean tell us. Tell us. If it is the mermaid is the truth, then you have to tell us how you got involved with fricking mermaids.
Richard: The mermaids is the truth. That would be the world mermaid convention in 2011. it was the first one. I think it’s only one so far. There were two supermodels there . I forget their names. one of them has done a… she does a lot of work with whales and things, and she did a video of her swimming next to a whale in real life. I mean, she was dressed as a mermaid swimming next to a whale. It’s a pretty cool video and then the other one was German, another supermodel and they were both there. Plus, of course, all the other mermaids and I got photos and things on my website, one of my websites. I got a lot and that was a lot of fun, a lot of fun and the second truth is the belly dance shows and renaissance fairs. I fell into that because when the wife passed away, I was full of grief, as you can imagine. She’d been sick for 8 years and I decided I needed to do something to get rid of the grief so I started photographing and then ran into the renaissance fair, fell in love with it, became the Fair photographer. They actually paid me to photograph that fair, was a big fair and then met belly dancers and the…Her name was Marjhani, her stage name that is, and she is the first belly dancer that I met and she came up to me after about, I photographed 6 or 7 shows and said, you know, you’re real shy and stuff and who are you and we introduced ourselves and she gave me a big hug and started introducing me into the belly dance community and after that it was all over and I became literally the belly dance photographer for Southern California and I hate lobster.
Mark: I can’t believe that. Like, I’m taking you to Lucky Lobster so we can eat your lobster and you get to eat veggies. Do you dislike seafood completely or just lobster?
Richard: Some seafood I like. Shrimp I like and stuff if you take me there, you have to buy. You can take me anywhere you want.
Mark: I’ll buy because everybody gets a lobster, and you can have the stinking shrimp. I mean, totally, yeah. I mean, more lobster for me. that was the best place ever. Holy guacamole. All right, well I learned something new about you. I didn’t think anybody… I’m going to put that on a getting to know you evening event thing, who doesn’t like lobster.
Richard: I know I can imagine that.
Mark: Richard, that’s like chocolate. like who doesn’t like chocolate?
Richard: I like dark chocolate.
Mark: See, I’m just like perplexed. OK So, we are having a great conversation with the Writing King. If you haven’t had a chance to take LinkedIn university, I think we’re going to do a reboot of that in the fall. Richard is an expert on LinkedIn. He actually wrote the book. it’s on the New York Times bestseller list. Get him to sign the book. When he dies, it will at least double in value. I always tell people that and they always think I’m joking. I’m not joking. you put them in a box, seal them up. I mean, I know when Rowdy Roddy Piper died, his book doubled in price and I was like see, it’s a good investment. What doubles in price in a short amount of time? Richard, if somebody would say gosh my LinkedIn profile is like sinking and I really need to talk to you, where could they get you tomorrow?
Richard: Tomorrow, I’ll be at the Chili’s RSA at 11:30, I’ll be there and they can come there.
Mark: 11:30 to 12:30 is the formal meeting but join us at 11, we’re always there early and you’ll get to meet Richard, the Writing King. More information about Richard is not only on the writingking.com but a little website called rganetwork.net and it will link you directly to Richard’s information. We have a great business builder for tomorrow, Richard?
Richard: We do. We’re going to have a great business builder because I’m doing it.
Connecting With Richard Lowe
Mark: I kind of figured that would…And then you also have a website renfaireguy.smugmug.com.
Richard: Yea, that’s my photography website.
Mark: Oh my gosh. Is that all the photographs… can I post that on the revenue generating hour tomorrow when I get home?
Richard: Sure, It’s on the web.
Mark: So people can see all your photographs with mermaids.
Richard: This is the photograph that I took at the Mermaid show, yeah.
Mark: I like it. All right sir. So last minute thoughts. Like give us a summary of Richard L Lowe.
Richard: Well I’m a ghost writer and a blogger and a branding expert and my goal is to help small businesses and people look their best on the web and elsewhere so that they can get more qualified leads and better sales based on their sales copy. That’s what I do and I will do my best to do that in any format you need.
Mark: All right. I love it. I love it and Richard it’s been a pleasure getting to know you. I certainly am glad you joined RGA. My LinkedIn profile, take a look. I’m over 5000 direct contacts and Richard taught me to create an auto document that when somebody wants to connect with me, I accept and then I like kind of send them out, you know, I champion small business. I’m founder of RGA network. If there’s somebody personal on my LinkedIn pages, I can connect you to I’d be happy to reach out and I would hope you would do the same for me. So, I usually send them that when I first connect and then I do a couple the next couple days and then I let it rest because I don’t want them to think I’m stalking them but I always figure they came knocking at my door, want me to be their friend. So, they’re going to have to listen a little bit. So Richard Lowe, the Writing King, we love you congratulations on your success and here’s to many, many more. Meet him in person tomorrow at the Founders Meeting U.S. Highway 19 in East and good old Clearwater Florida at the Chili’s on the corner there. Doors open at 11, meeting starts at 11:30, Richard’s in charge of the business builder. Richard, thank you so much for coming on the Revenue Generating Hour. I hope you tell your fellow networkers it’s easy. They somehow think that this is a really hard thing to do and I say it’s easy, easy, peasy.
Richard: It’s easy. You just have to get out there and talk to people.
Mark: That’s right. I like it. All right. On behalf of Richard Lowe, myself, RGA Network and networkers around the world, I wish for you this week and this holiday weekend to celebrate safe, celebrate early, celebrate often but celebrate. Don’t drink and drive. We can’t thank you enough for listening here at the Revenue Generating Hour. Thank you to Erik Remmel, our producer and thank you to Richard Lowe, the Writing King, for joining us this afternoon and in until we meet again next Wednesday, network abundantly I dare you.
[Music]
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