Welcome to today’s podcast interview! I’m very excited to introduce you to Corporate Rescue Plan member, Jenna Janssen. Jenna recently had a very successful best selling book and business launch and I wanted to feature her story with you today.

As a young girl, Jenna loved to make others beautiful–from putting barrettes in her dad’s hair to doing fake perms on her life-size Barbie. However, instead of going to cosmetology school after high school, she went the traditional route of college at Central Michigan University. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Business and Theatre. After graduating college, she felt she wasn’t on her true “life path” and enrolled in cosmetology school at Douglas J Aveda Institute–where she realized she had truly found her passion for creating beautiful hair and making others feel like their best self.

Unexpectedly, she was no longer able to do hair because of a wrist injury, which devastated her. While trying to figure out what to do next, the idea for Salon Success System came about. Jenna was a highly profitable hairstylist and wanted to share her business skills with other stylists and salon owners. She helps other stylists live the financial life they have wanted, while succeeding in the career field they have always been passionate about.

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Behind the Scenes of a Wildly Successful Book Launch

Did you decide to go to a publishing house or did you self-publish? How did you make that decision?

I self-published my book, Salon Success System For Hairstylists, through KDP on amazon.com. I actually looked at the eBook template that you had at the Corporate Rescue Plan and I had a friend who writes books and helps me with my business marketing message. With his help and CRP, I followed the different steps and put it right to KDP. I typed up the book and I used Grammarly to make sure everything was edited appropriately. I also had someone edit it through Fiverr. I finished by doing the formatting through kindle and then uploaded the book!

What was the mindset of pricing it at $0.99 on launch day?

The $0.99 is what my business coach recommended and that’s what he did. It just helps people to easily get it and make the decision. I had people purchasing it that weren’t even in a salon industry because the information inside of the book about email marketing using different social media, personal branding, business branding your message, it’s an overall good book for business. But, obviously, my niche/target market is hairstylists.

How did you become a #1 bestseller?

Becoming a #1 best selling book is a lot easier than you think. So each book has a category and when you look at it there’s an algorithm to figuring out how many copies you need to sell in order to be a bestseller, historically on average. So I needed around 135 copies that day to hit #1 bestsellers and I did it!

What are the apps or websites you used?

• Fiverr – for editing

• CreateSpace – for printing

How did you use your link (your lead magnet) in the book to grow your business?

There’s a link inside the book and outside the book. On the back cover, I have a link that says, “Go here to learn more”. In each chapter, there’s an extra credit or bonus video information. So if there’s something I want to explain more in-depth, they can click on that link and it will drive them to the website where they can see more of what’s going on.

How long, from start to finish, did it take you?

It was 8 weeks but if I time it out, I spent 3 days to actually type up the book.

What was your writing process like?

I outlined it into the headings for the chapters. And as I thought about the different chapters, I added additional bullet points. The book was pretty much an outline first and then I restructured it into a book. I used Evernote to create it, so I clip things and I had a book folder.

How much was self-marketing and building suspense before the book launch?

I did something every day. My business coach would message me like go to a >Facebook live and make sure you’re promoting this. Having that constant reminder, making sure that you’re the forefront on this. On top of that, I had a book launch party so people came and hung out with me too.

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Thanks, Jenna for sharing your tips and a big congrats on your book launch!!