Compared to the other books I reviewed over the years, “Think Bigger, Grow & Succeed” is quite different as it is basically a compilation of selected podcast guests from Sydney-based small business advocate and presentation coach, Adrienne McLean.

At the beginning of this project there was an idea. After leaving the corporate world in 2009, Adrienne McLean wanted to help small business professionals with their presentation skills. Supporting that sector across various chambers and chapters, she created an event called “Professional Services Marketing Conference” in 2018. Participants learned how to improve various aspects of a business owner’s activities and mindset from marketing to closed sales.

The second event series in 2019 covered tips on how to think bigger beyond the business, how to grow thanks to that broader view and succeed accordingly. Then she turned the topic into a podcast series asking the presenters and further specialists about their tips – which finally became a book.

This book includes a fine selection of the podcast episodes featuring 19 professionals. Honest disclaimer: in this review I describe this book excluding the chapter “Transformations” as Adrienne included my own answers from our earlier interview. Every author had to answer the same four questions:

1. What are the pros and cons of staying in your comfort zone?
2. What are your recommendations for thinking bigger about your goals and aspirations?
3. What happens when one goes out of their comfort zone and tests new approaches?
4. What is the best way to approach achieving a goal?

While the questions were the same across the book, the readers will see that everyone has their own angle. Knowing some of the chosen contributors for many years in person so I can vouch for their expertise. Examples include Financial Advisor Frank Choy (“Goal Setting & Ways to Achieve This”), Nicole Davidson (“Being Honest About What You Want”), Jane Turner (“The Power of Sharing Your Story”), Scotty Schindler (“Always Be Improving”) and John Groarke (“Focus Gives You Clarity”).

Here are some useful quotes out of the book from the various authors which sometimes look so simple and obvious but missing action. Sales expert Peter Strohkorb started his answers by “if you want to change, you’ve got to accept change and do change.” Writing coach Jane Turner added: “I love the Hero’s Journey framework because if there’s one thing we all have, it’s a story. And as human beings, it’s our stories that connect us.” In her closing chapter Adrienne McLean welcomed a positive view to failures: “We just have to use them as fuel to pick ourselves back up and keep going.”

This comparing concept of asking the same questions to a range of experts brings a natural adaptability for the own practice of the reader. This can even change as the audience might need to have a planning focus at one particular point and maybe a sales approach at a later stage. Especially the printed version allows easy scrolling to see the similarities in the structure.

This book is quite special as Adrienne transformed those four questions from an event into a podcast series and further into a book. A spoken conversation is not necessarily easily printable so she spent a lot of time editing the book towards an interesting story flow and useful adaptability. Compared to most self-help business books – and even chapter books or anthologies – it is refreshingly different given the common thread running through the book.

Podcast episodes are often based on current views on concrete topics. It is not easy to transform them into something more static with usability for a long time afterwards. This is the key inspiration which future business book writers could take form this book. Rarely will they find another book converting formats from idea to realisation, from live moments to longevity, from different styles into a holistic concept.

Q&A with Adrienne McLean

1. What was the deciding moment to write this book?

For marketing purposes, I've done a lot of interviews on video, webinar style and on radio. There's been a huge amount of valuable information shared in these interviews with experts in their field. I wanted to capture the information in a book format so the information could have more impact. So after doing the interviews, I started to have the interviews transcribed.

2. How long did it take from concept to launch?

The first "Think Bigger, Grow and Succeed" series started in 2019 and it took around three years to put into the book format. There were 19 interviews done on community radio, the recordings were edited and uploaded into podcast platforms and then I started to have the interviews transcribed in the hope of putting them into a book format.

3. How did you perform the research to create the practical content?

Each interview has the same four questions asked. I was trying to find out what the secret is to achieving a goal but it was more than that. It was about thinking bigger about your aspirations and how to achieve huge goals that would change your world.

4. What was the biggest challenge along the process (and how did you overcome it)?

With having 19 thirty-minute interviews there was a lot of content. The content needed the recording uploaded to two podcast platforms that shared to other platforms, the transcriptions needed completing. There was a huge amount of work to convert the spoken word into the written format. The interviews read as if someone is speaking to you. I wanted to keep this quality to the reader.

The biggest challenge was keeping on track. I just kept plugging away, had spurts of activity and then didn't work on it for a while. To get momentum, I did share with the contributors what was happening. In this way, I was accountable as I had told the contributors what was happening.

5. What was your own reflection along the journey?

It was interesting, there were times when I had to push myself at times to get tasks done. I actually had to follow the essence of the book to get the goal, of writing a book, completed.

My reflections were the importance of keeping an eye on the end goal of creating a book, going out of my comfort zone as it is my first book, the importance of being accountable and sharing the information that I view as valuable, practical real life experience from professionals.

6. What is the outcome in having this book available?

It is so wonderful to see a goal completed and to have the book in my hands! From 19 hours of interviewing, a long list of tasks to capture the professionals' advice in the written format, finally after three years, it is completed. To have "Author" as a title is also an achievement.

7. What would you advise others about writing their book?

Break the tasks up into bit size parts and set aside some time every day to complete a small part. Enjoy the process. If you have something you want to share with the world, do it!

Adrienne McLean: “Think Bigger, Grow & Succeed: Interviews on how to achieve your business goals and aspirations”, Independently published 2023, ISBN 979-8-3737-8853-3 (Paperback) or Kindle

More about the author: www.thespeakerspractice.com.au