How to Revolutionize Your Small Business by Writing a Book Writing a business book offers opportunities to move you toward whatever your long-term goals are as well as growing market share.

Business owners, regardless of company size, are always considering new ways to boost the bottom line. And, quite frankly, there comes a time when it's not advantageous to continue launching new products or raising your prices. Writing a business book offers opportunities to move you toward whatever your long-term goals are as well as growing market share. And, if you're wondering what kind of a business book you can offer, I want you to look at your company from an outsider's perspective. Consider the various ins and outs of your business, everything you do and everything that makes your company unique.

This information is ultimately what you can develop into a book -- we'll talk more about that later in this article.

You don't have time to not write a book.

Your time is stretched thing. Believe me, I get that. But with all that a business book can do for you and your company, it's in your best interest to start now. Why? A book gives you a whole host of new ways to grab attention and rise above the noise -- above all of the choices that are overwhelming your client-base. And while it's absolutely critical to focus on how your potential clients find you (social media, advertising etc.), it's just as important to keep their focus once you've captured their attention.

A business book is a great way to introduce yourself to these people, and help them get to know you. Plus it sets you up as a resource -- if your clients or potential clients learn early on that they can come to you to learn more about your industry, you'll build loyalty and when they are ready to buy, guess who they think of first? Your business book will be a key component of this education strategy, and from there you can host workshops, offer consultations, build your speaking platform and even develop secondary products like YouTube tutorials. And, if you haven't looked into it yet, it is so easy to publish these days. There are tons of options available to budding authors, with Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing for eBooks and Createspace for print-on-demand among the most popular. You can have your own book ready for distribution faster -- and more easily -- now than ever before.

Still concerned that you don't have the time? Ghostwriting is always an option. And ghostwriters can mimic your "voice" so that the book sounds like something you would write. It's well worth the money if it makes the difference of writing and publishing your business book or not.

So, how do you get started?

First, determine your goals. Want to get more business? More media coverage? More speaking? All of these are great goals, but it's important to know up front what you want so you can start building a book that will help transform your vision into reality. And, if obtaining more speaking engagements is at the top of your list, then you'll find a book is almost mandatory. In addition to offering credibility to your clients, having a book is something many places look for as they select speakers.

Once you know your goals, start pulling content you've already created. Content would be anything you've ever written about your business, things like:

• blog posts
• white papers
• audio or video recordings
• presentations you've done in the past
• handouts
• articles written for publications or websites
• newsletters
• social media updates (because these might help spawn book content, too)
• training manuals
• client guidelines

Even if some of the content is old and needs updating, it gives you a solid place to start. From there, you'll see your chapters and organization start to build organically. And you'll be able to see any holes where you'll need to write content. After your book is complete, you'll want to enlist a few professional services: a professional editor (this step is critical), a cover designer and an interior book designer. Then you'll be all ready to publish!

In the end, while a business book won't single-handedly transform your business, it gives you an incredibly strong tool to build your market share and improve your overall success. When you write a business book, it helps you present yourself -- and your business -- as a key resource, which will allow you to continue realizing your long-term strategies and goals, whatever they are.