Gino Wickman, business leader and coach, wanted to publish a book that shared his successful system for helping companies get what they want from their businesses. The ultimate goal was to increase implementation of his proprietary Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) by getting his message out to as many people as possible.

Gino drafted a manuscript that captured his passion for EOS and his determination to share its tools, model, and process with entrepreneurial businesses. His first thought was to find a traditional publisher—but after many frustrating months of shopping the work around and finding no takers, Gino decided to explore self-publishing as a way to bring what he knew was a valuable idea to the market.

Making It Happen

• Highspot put together a realistic assessment of the time, process, and budget required to take Gino’s manuscript and turn it into a finished book.
• Highspot then managed the entire project, from an initial edit to sharpen the book’s message right through to final printing and e-book production.
• Along the way, Highspot was available as a trusted resource for testing ideas and asking questions about book production, marketing, and distribution.
• For Gino, one of Highspot’s most valuable contributions was the team’s role in keeping him free to serve his own clients while Highspot handled the many details involved in getting a book to market.

Seeing Results
Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business launched as a hard cover book in November 2007 and as an e-book in 2008. Available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other leading retailers, the book has sold over 10,000 copies.

As a result, Gino has seen an upswing in his business. In the last two years, he has added 20 new EOS implementers to his team and successfully helped more than 200 companies implement EOS.

“There’s no question about it,” says Gino. “We’ve leveraged our business model because of this book. Our long-term goal is to help 10,000 companies run on EOS. Every book we sell gets us closer to this goal.”

Gino is now working on a second book, excited to repeat his positive experience from Traction.

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