How Catherine Brown Grew Her Business with a Book: How Good Humans Sell

Publishing a book can open doors you never knew existed. For Catherine Brown, founder of the Good Humans Growth Network, writing her book How Good Humans Sell unlocked new, unexpected opportunities.

It all started with a story that resonated (sales doesn’t have to make you feel icky or sleezy!), and then inspired people to connect and act. For Catherine and other entrepreneurs like her, sharing a story through a published book offers not just a way to establish authority, but it becomes a powerful vehicle for business development.

This podcast was personal for me. I had the privilege of helping Catherine push her book over the finish line with editing and production support. And since then, we’ve been business BFFs. Throughout our podcast interview, which you can listen to in the link below, Catherine reflects on her writing and publishing experience. “One major piece of advice I’d give people is to practice writing,” says Catherine. “It might be that you decide to discipline yourself to first start writing blogs, or work on your table of contents, or take time to jot down ideas. Creativity begets more creativity.”

Listen the Cover-to-Cover Influence podcast episode featuring Catherine Brown HERE.

During our conversation, Catherine hit on key points that will help anyone take their book idea and see it through to the bookshelf. Here are a few.

Set clear goals

Determining the purpose of your book influences its content and structure. When Catherine reflected on her initial struggles, she said, “Even though I thought I knew why I wanted a book, I didn’t really know to what end I would use it. But people can’t help you -- and you can’t use the book as a tool in your growth -- if you don’t know those reasons for writing it.”  Without clear goals, you may find yourself lost in a sea of ideas and uncertainty. Writing a textbook is different from creating a book as a marketing lead generator. Clarifying these intentions sets the direction for your project.

Craft a solid outline

A thoughtfully created, detailed table of contents serves as a roadmap throughout your writing process. Catherine openly shared that her table of contents was an iterative process filled with adjustments and revisions. But the careful planning enabled her to see the big picture of her message. Once she established a clear structure, things began to fall into place.

Honor your deadlines

A deadline is a catalyst for progress. For Catherine, an upcoming sales conference pushed her to complete her book on time, ensuring it had a place within her larger promotional efforts. “For a busy person, having a real deadline like that is a win,” she says. I often tell writers to treat themselves and their book project like they would a meeting with a VIP client, honoring the scheduled times you’ve set aside to write, work on the design, or plan their marketing. A commitment to deadlines keeps the project moving forward.

Collaborate and communicate

When Catherine’s book project began, she worked a ghostwriter who, while capable, wasn’t the right fit for her needs. Her own lack of clarity resulted in multiple early changes, which made partnership challenging. She emphasizes the need for communication about expectations and goals. “It’s vital to find collaborators who understand your vision while respecting your voice,” she says. “On the early drafts, I ended up changing a lot of things.” That initial collaboration did provide a starting point; but finding her footing and her own voice allowed her authentic style to emerge.

Every writer eventually reaches a point where seeking external guidance can streamline the process. Having experienced bumps along the way, Catherine advocates for using outside help judiciously. Recognizing your limitations enables you to focus on what matters most – bringing your unique insights to life.

Promote your book

Once you’re holding a published book in your hands, you still have to do all the things that are required to get the outcome you want. That means creating an effective promotional strategy that can turn your book into a powerful marketing asset. In other words, publishing a book doesn’t automatically generate book sales.  “This thing is not just going to sell just because you put it on Amazon,” she says. “But I think a book can be a key tool in your business if you’re willing to do the work.” Developing a multi-faceted marketing plan includes outreach, social media campaigns, and promotions tailored to target audiences.

In Catherine’s case, it also included an emphasis on podcast guest appearances. “In the first year after I wrote the book, I was on 40 podcasts. Next time, I may be on 60 or 100. I was on more than one a week for many, many weeks, and it was a lot of work to promote the book. But people read it, found me, joined my training, came to conferences. I share that number just to put things in perspective.”

If you have a strong network, they will also be your allies when it comes to book promotions. Catherine highlights the importance of engaging with influencers, attending conferences, and using existing relationships to promote the book. After launching her book, she dedicated herself to being visible in multiple communities, ensuring word-of-mouth generated buzz.

Leveraging social media also delivers results. Catherine openly shared her publishing experiences online, creating visibility for her book and engaging readers. Her content strengthened her connection with her audience, giving them ample opportunities to learn about how to change their mindset around the word, “sales,” and develop an approach that highlighted how we can all be good humans in the sales process by working to help our clients solve problems (whether our services are ultimately the solution to that problem or not). Her book opened avenues for deeper engagement beyond individual sales.

Catherine posts frequently on LinkedIn and I encourage you to find her and follow her. I’ll put a link at the bottom of this article. “At first, I was a little worried that the book was saturating,” she says. “But then I would have someone a year after it came out who would say to me, ‘Why aren’t you talking about this amazing book anymore?’ It was new to them even though it wasn’t new to me. And that was a major realization that I needed to just keep going, because your presumably, your network’s always adding more people, and it’s new to them.”

Launching the Good Humans Growth Network

“I couldn’t have anticipated what came next,” says Catherine. “I’m addicted to this idea of growth.” Inspired by the response to her book, and especially her love for the phrase, “Good Humans,” Catherine founded the Good Humans Growth Network just 18 months later. This shift underscored her desire to create genuine connections among entrepreneurs while helping them succeed collaboratively. Her approach flips traditional networking on its head. Rather than pitching products and services, participants build relationships within a network that offers a sense of belonging and support. Those relationships, in turn, open doors for referral partnerships that accelerate business success.

“Four years ago, when I started writing the book, I couldn’t have dreamed this. But it’s incredibly gratifying; I’m so grateful about how my business has evolved, because it gives me more confidence as a seller to feel like everything that happens will be good for someone in some way. It just makes me enter my calls totally differently.”

Question: Is it possible to 10X your business with a book?

Catherine and I both tend to geek out on Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s book, 10X is Easier than 2X. So I had to ask this question: “Is it your opinion that somebody could 10X their business with a book?”

“I would say ‘yes’ and ‘maybe,” says Catherine. “And the ‘yes’ is absolutely 100 percent part of why I am having the ridiculous success that I’m having in having people want to build referral communities inside my ecosystem. In Dr. Hardy’s words, I’m waking up every day and making decisions about what my future self would do. I realize I’m not the person I was last week, last month, one year ago, or four years ago, because I’ve changed. And part of reason I changed was because I wrote a book. I’m different in part, because of the way my identity and the way I run my schedule has changed.

“The ‘maybe’ answer is yes. Writing a book can help you 10 x your future -- as long as you know what you want and are willing to do the work.

Go listen to the podcast, and then…

I enjoy every conversation with Catherine Brown, and we covered so much more than I could include in this blog post. Please take 30 minutes and listen to the podcast HERE.

Then be sure to Follow Catherine on LinkedIn. You’ll see invitations to free webinars, opportunities to be a guest inside the Good Humans Growth Network, and more!

You can grab Catherine’s book, How Good Humans Sell, on Amazon! It’s free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription! (That’s my Amazon affiliate link.)

Finally, if you like what you hear and read, sign up for Catherine’s GROW 2025 conference, where the focus will be on meeting like-minded professionals who want to grow their businesses through a referral network comprised of #goodhumans.

Key Takeaways

‣ Establish clarity around your goals before writing your book.
‣ Embrace collaboration while ensuring your authentic voice shines through.
‣ Develop an effective marketing strategy to amplify your book’s reach and 10X your business.
‣ Focus on building a supportive community for sustained growth.

💡 What small action will you take today to begin your own writing journey or deepen your current project?

Investing effort and intention yields immense returns, especially when setting out on your own book-writing journey. Is it time for you to write your book? Imagine where it could lead…