Returning to the show this week for his second appearance is serial entrepreneur and author, Chris Ducker.
He’s just published his new book, The Rise of the Youpreneur. I’m delighted Chris included my business as a case study in his book. We chat about how he built the Youprenuer community, planned the book and the writing process.
Welcome to episode 160 of the Marketing and Finance Podcast.
What you’ll hear about in this episode
- What a Youpreneur is
- Steps to take to make your business future-proof
- Where the idea for the book came from
- The story of how Chris built the Youpreneur community and what it does
- How Chris structured the book
- The writing process explained
Who is Chris Ducker?
Born and raised in London, Chris’s career started in publishing and events planning. He moved to the Philippines, worked as a consultant for a few years, before setting up a recruitment hub and a co-working space.
This led to the Youpreneur community, which sits alongside Chris’s personal brand. He has 460 employees and says “scotch, Star Wars and playing with his kids” are what makes him tick.
He’s a serial entrepreneur, running several big businesses. He specialised in helping people find virtual assistants. This led to his first book, Virtual Freedom. He later pivoted into the supporting Youpreneurs.
Summary of our chat
A Youpreneur is a made-up word. It refers to someone building their business around their experiences. What they’re all about. Who they want to serve. And what they sell. It’s perfect for consultants, coaches, authors, speakers, bloggers, podcasters and anyone else focused on building a business around themselves and their expertise.
It’s about becoming a leader in your industry, but also making yourself future-proof through the ‘business of you’. You’re eliminating competition, regardless of your industry, because you’re the unique factor. Chris realised new clients wanted to work with him no matter which of his services they needed, because they trusted him.
The book is a direct result of the people Chris has met within the community, and the affect they’ve had on him. His intention was always to write a book about building a personal brand business. But his friends encouraged him to focus on the ‘Youpreneur’ aspect and make it a global concept.
When the Youpreneur community launched, Chris designed it to help entrepreneurs build a successful online business. It quickly became obvious the type of people who joined were personal brand entrepreneurs. That changed how they delivered the content, the technology, and the language used to talk about the community.
When they overhauled the website, they developed the Youpreneur Roadmap. A four step process (building, marketing, monetising, growth) for creating a business. The growth part constantly evolves, but the other three are evergreen. The book reflects those three stages, and it’s intended to be a manual or how-to guide.
Most of the content is original material – only one chapter is based on a blog post. However, the writing process differed from the first book, as Chris couldn’t sit and type until it was done. Instead, he worked with an editor who interviewed him over several hours. This was transcribed and then they worked together to turn that into the book.
The one thing he’d like listeners to take away
When you write a book, you go on a journey, and Chris had a revelation with his – he realised that these are people he wants to work with for the rest of his career. He’s happier than he’s ever been in his work, and he probably won’t write another business book.
A marketing campaign or product Chris loves
Chris took his son Charlie to the Lego Store in London in November. When they arrived at the shop, Charlie was given a little box of Lego, with instructions on how to make a different figure every day for the 24 days leading up to Christmas.
They went all around the shop, and while they chose some toys, Charlie clutched the free box the whole time, and that was what he wanted to make first. Chris noticed that the boxes were only given to children, which is a brilliant piece of targeted marketing to an enthusiastic and excitable audience.
Rise of the Youprenuer Book on Amazon
Or visit the book website – www.riseoftheyouprenuer.com
Links and contact details
- Follow Chris on Twitter
- Connect with Chris on LinkedIn
- Visit Chris’s website
- Visit the Youpreneur Summit Conference website
If you enjoyed – Chris Ducker on “Rise of The Youpreneur” and building your personal brand – please leave a comment or a review on iTunes.
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