Feb 27, 2024
If there’s a formula for becoming an industry leader, Sara Connell has cracked it. From struggling to make $20,000/year to six figures and now a multi-million dollar company, she’s sharing a behind-the-scenes look at her strategy–and how you can replicate her success.
Sara is a bestselling author and founder of Thought Leader Academy, where she helps coaches, writers, and entrepreneurs become published authors and in-demand speakers. She’s been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The View, FOX Chicago, NPR, and Katie Couric.
Sara’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, and Good Housekeeping. She’s the author of five books and has been nominated for a national book award and ELLE magazine Book of the Year.
The 5-Part Strategy for Thought Leadership
Sara’s 5-part strategy for thought leadership begins with writing a book. Being a published author is an instant credibility boost, regardless of your industry. After the book is written, then it’s time to craft a signature talk. Sara helps many of her clients become TEDx speakers and monetize their speaking for additional income.
The next step is community building–growing an engaged audience around your book and speaking topic. That’s followed by the transformation phase, or as Sara calls it, “monetizing the mission.” In this stage, she helps her clients increase their prices and transition from one-on-one client work to a one-to-many model.
The last and most important part of the strategy is leadership.
Sara offers mindset support to help her clients embody their
identity as a leader.
The 3S Framework
To create compelling thought leadership content, Sara recommends using the 3S Framework:
Enjoy this episode with founder and bestselling author Sara Connell…
Quotes
“I prioritize mindset and faith above everything. To me, if I have to choose between strategy and the mindset work, that’s where it all happens. That’s where all the magic happens because that’s the identity–when we step into the greater version of ourselves.”
“Everyday I woke up and said, ‘What does the 7-figure CEO do?’”
“It’s about leading a movement. The book is a piece and a portal to your movement, to attract clients, to open doors for speaking engagements and the media…but ultimately you’re leading a movement.”
“So many people want to do a book to tell their story and they’ll write a great book, but it doesn’t give them the book outcomes they want. So we start with the outcomes…and reverse engineer the outcome.”
“Instead of informational content, we coach people on how to create transformational content.”
“The average American adult has an attention span of 2.9 seconds. So if our content doesn’t magnetize someone within 2.9 seconds, they’re moving on.”
Links mentioned in this episode:
Visit Sara’s website: https://www.saraconnell.com/
Connect with Sara Connell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraconnellauthor/
Send a DM on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saraconnell/
Bestselling Book Bootcamp: https://www.saraconnell.com/bestselling-book-intensive