Peaceful Profits Podcast Ep. 70 - How to Sell Your First 1,700 Copies of Your Book
Synopsis:
In this episode of the Peaceful Profits Podcast, Chanelle interviews Sue Choi, a somatic movement and bodywork expert with over two decades of experience helping mature women reconnect with their bodies. Sue shares how she transitioned her in-person practice online, wrote her book When Things Stick: Untangling Your Body from Old Patterns, and sold over 1,700 copies using a Facebook ad-powered book funnel.
Sue opens up about the challenges she faced entering the online space—from learning Facebook ads to refining her messaging for a niche audience—and how Peaceful Profits gave her the structure to build a business that feels aligned and impactful. She also shares the creative strategy she used to successfully market her book (hint: she let the content do the selling) and how her book now functions as a profitable front-end offer that attracts ideal clients.
Whether you're in the wellness space or simply want to see how a well-executed book funnel can transform your business, Sue’s journey is both inspiring and instructive.
Transcript:
Peaceful Profits Review: How to Sell Your First 1,700 Copies of Your Book
[00:00:00] Chanelle: Hello, Peaceful Profits nation. Chanelle here with an exciting client spotlight episode for you today. Today, we're talking to our client. Sue Choi. Sue has 22 years experience working with clients through somatic movement and body work online. She specializes in training, mature women to organize their posture and walking through their sensory systems so they can feel calm and powerful in their mind and bodies when they need it most.
[00:00:23] Chanelle: Sue welcome. Hello. Hi, we are glad to have you here today. Your work sounds [00:00:30] so interesting. And the first place that I'd love to start is to, if you could tell us a little bit more about what somatic movement and body work is for people who aren't familiar.
[00:00:41] Sue: Sure. Somatic movement is really moving to feel, not moving to do.
[00:00:45] Sue: So you're really paying attention to how you're feeling as you move. A lot of it tends to be slower, but there's this feedback loop of your perception of what's going on and you develop a greater discrimination in [00:01:00] what you're sensing in your body.
[00:01:02] Chanelle: Okay. That's interesting. And is that what body work is also, or is that portion of it different?
[00:01:06] Chanelle: Body work
[00:01:07] Sue: is, I have us to do hands on work on people. So myofascial stuff cranial sacral visceral manipulation. So those trainings have informed how I understand a body and movement and patterns that get stuck in the body. They the movement teaches the body work and the body work teaches the movement
[00:01:26] Chanelle: Okay, that's so interesting.
[00:01:28] Chanelle: Now, I really love this [00:01:30] idea of moving to feel because so often we just move through our day without even being really aware of our body. When people come to you, are most of them not In that state where they're not really familiar with their body, where they're tuning it out, or do people generally have some kind of idea of somatic movement of, they have a background in it.
[00:01:53] Sue: Yeah, typically people have some sort of background in it. They have looked into different modalities. Some of them are [00:02:00] actually certified and trained in some ways. Certain modalities they've researched trauma but they're looking for solutions. They know that the body has to be a piece of it.
[00:02:09] Sue: And so they find me typically after having looked at a bunch of different stuff, because some of the language can be unfamiliar. Some of the concepts can seem strange unless you've had the experience in your body. That's why it was tricky to write a book because you really need to Experience it.
[00:02:27] Sue: So the book includes six videos that you [00:02:30] actually have to go through and try out to get a sense of what I'm talking about. You can read through it and still get something out of it, but really it hits home when you feel this profound change in your body.
[00:02:40] Chanelle: Yeah. Okay. That's interesting that you included videos in your book.
[00:02:44] Chanelle: We'll be sure to talk about that when we get into the book a little bit later. Now, what leads people in general then to somatic movement? What kind of issues are they having and looking to resolve?
[00:02:57] Sue: Might be anxiety, [00:03:00] trauma maybe just body pain chronic issues that they've tried to address from many different levels.
[00:03:07] Sue: Yeah, a lot of people have done yoga, meditation, Tai Chi, Feldenkrais. Okay, wonderful. So you mentioned that you have done this as an in person practitioner and then you switched to online. So talk to us a little bit about the transition going from an in person business to an online business and some of the [00:03:30] challenges you faced in that transition.
[00:03:32] Sue: Sure. I'm still I still see people in person, and I started to do the online work during COVID. It was an opportunity because I had the time because we weren't allowed to see people to start exploring that I don't think I think it would have been really hard to have a regular schedule and also do it because there's so much.
[00:03:52] Sue: Of a learning curve. I'm talking basic learning curve, like I'm not really on Facebook. I had a business page and, I had [00:04:00] to, I was really starting from scratch. I very new to all of that. So that was that was a huge learning curve. I think the Facebook ads were the biggest thorn in My foot as definitely something I didn't want to learn, but having learned it and feel really comfortable with it.
[00:04:16] Sue: Now it's a great asset and, I don't want to be tied to that. So I really down the road and looking to make sure I understand different forms of ad rep ad as well, like Google ads, YouTube [00:04:30] ads. But, right now I'm still focused on the Facebook ad funnel.
[00:04:34] Chanelle: Yeah. Which has done well for you.
[00:04:37] Chanelle: We will dive into that in a little bit also.
[00:04:39] Sue: So I was, I built a high ticket course and that, of course, like most people, they're just like, okay, it's built. There you go. And I did, and then I had to dive into understanding, how you connect with people online and not. And that was a process.
[00:04:56] Sue: It wasn't how you sell to people online. It really is [00:05:00] how you connect with them online so that they. can trust you just in terms of what you're offering, but also that they, that you understand what they need. And that's a huge process. That's a very difficult process that I'm really happy to have found Mark Mike's work.
[00:05:17] Sue: I followed him for a long time and I really appreciate it, especially getting into the course, how much thought he put into it. It's very thoughtfully designed to Build the business [00:05:30] and to be intentional in how you, and not just to slap it together and get the sales and scale. And, it's a very different approach.
[00:05:37] Sue: And as I go through it. And as I see how it builds up, I really appreciate the depth of it.
[00:05:45] Chanelle: Yeah. Thank you. I think that all of us here on the other side who can see Peaceful Profits have seen that as well, that there is that depth to the program. Now tell us a little more about your method.
[00:05:58] Chanelle: You said you [00:06:00] connect with people online and you had to learn to do that. What has that looked like for you? That connection. Yeah.
[00:06:06] Sue: Oh, you know what was really what I started out with a, like a really small teaser offer, which I got a good email list from that, but I had a hard time converting because there was not enough context for it because it's an unusual approach.
[00:06:22] Sue: So I couldn't just call it yoga or something because that's not what it is. And then I tried a different way. I tried with the free lead magnet, [00:06:30] nurturing them there. Trying to get a lot of people and the nurturing and that just didn't work. Just not a great audience for me. And then when I saw Mike's ad for the book funnel, I've had people ask me, can I read something more about it?
[00:06:42] Sue: And I give them a list of 10 books, but it's cause that's where I draw from like a bunch of stuff, not just one thing. And, I tried a few times to write and I just got so lost in it. And so I really was resistant to actually doing a book. I liked the idea. I wasn't sure if it would work for me. So I came [00:07:00] into Peaceful Profits and I tried to run with a different, smaller course offering.
[00:07:05] Sue: But that wasn't working. And then at some point I realized I needed to surrender, just really put my nose to the grindstone and write the book. And then as I did that and started to get people in, I I realized that I could take this away and I could take this way and how much it simplified just in a concrete way.
[00:07:25] Sue: I could see it. I could. Oh, I don't have to put someone through this. I don't have to because they have that [00:07:30] context there. So it builds a great context for them to learn as much as they want. Without having to reach out to me so that they can really soak in the material, get a lot of benefit.
[00:07:41] Sue: And even if they never work for me, with me they still get a lot of benefit just from the book and the videos. So I feel really happy that so many people have gotten, and the feedback is really positive. And yeah, so that was, that's I'm just really happy that I have that asset.
[00:07:57] Sue: It's given me a lot of flexibility [00:08:00] and thinking, a lot of focused way of messaging and communicating and having that common ground to speak from, I can say, look in chapter four, in chapter six, it's really nice.
[00:08:12] Chanelle: Definitely. I love also that you put videos in your book because I think that so often we get limited.
[00:08:19] Chanelle: We think, okay, I'm writing a book, so it needs to be exactly this way. And yet you added this creative element of putting videos in because you knew it was what your clients [00:08:30] needed. Was that scary to take that leap?
[00:08:33] Sue: Oh no. I had, I had, I have programs and so they're all video and, you really.
[00:08:38] Sue: To teach movement, you need video. There's just, you can't read it and then get it right. You need to see it. So that was it's more of the book supported the videos rather than I put in the videos, to support the book. Yeah.
[00:08:52] Chanelle: Okay. I love how you, that you have that combination of both of them to really teach and give people an [00:09:00] experience as they go through your book.
[00:09:02] Chanelle: Now I want to circle back to one thing that you said. You said that when you were getting started on your business, you realized when you were getting started online, you realized it didn't make sense to sell low ticket. What was the process that allowed you to know that? What numbers did you run? I'm asking because I think a lot of listeners.
[00:09:21] Chanelle: A lot of people, when they're getting started in their business, overlook this step. I hear it all the time, Oh, I'm just going to go sell this really low [00:09:30] price thing without thinking about the cost to acquire. So I'd love to hear what Matthew did, what process you used.
[00:09:36] Sue: I don't know. I think I just did like a quick little spreadsheet and try to figure out like I think I looked at, looked it up average cost to acquire.
[00:09:44] Sue: I, I don't know the numbers. It was a while ago. So the numbers just didn't seem to make sense because going online. I had no interest in recreating my in person business online. It didn't make sense because then I would have just [00:10:00] two jobs and a lot of extra tech on top of it. So my goal was to have a different sort of business where I could have broader reach.
[00:10:09] Chanelle: Very cool. And then currently you mentioned that you help people through a membership program. How do you help people in your business? What does it look like?
[00:10:17] Sue: Yeah. So there's a program that they have to go through first to get the initial training. Cause there are a lot of terms I use. There's a lot of detail in the technique.
[00:10:26] Sue: So they go through that and then afterwards they continue with the [00:10:30] ongoing membership if they choose to. And so those are live classes, basically live group coaching classes. Some are. Practices in stillness and some are practices and movement and some are integration classes. And then I also have office hours for some of my products.
[00:10:45] Chanelle: And your niche is mature women. Did that niche find you or did you choose that niche? How did you choose that? How did you get to that?
[00:10:55] Sue: I I started to look for that niche in my in person [00:11:00] business because I found that the. It's like you have to have a certain level of experience in your life and in your body and, working with your body.
[00:11:11] Sue: And at least I know for me, like when I was in my thirties and just doing yoga, I had a very different perspective. So now I'm in my fifties and I just think, when you live life and you get to a certain age, it, when you're in your twenties, you're just, you're still running on hormones, you're gathering life information and you [00:11:30] want experiences.
[00:11:30] Sue: Then you start to get to your thirties. Then you start to feel a little bit of a shift, but then you start to get into middle life. You've lived an adult life, you have a job and you have a certain, let's say history. And now you can reflect differently and you may even have kids and the kids may be older.
[00:11:47] Sue: If you're in the midst of having little kids, it may be even hard to really reflect it in a certain way. I don't have kids. And I just, I don't know. I started realizing that the clients who got more of the whole scope of what I could offer them [00:12:00] had. that, profile. And so I started to, when I went online, I'm like, Oh, great.
[00:12:05] Sue: I can really be specific about the profile. And I've, actually the people who have come to my program that some are a lot older than I would ever have anticipated. So I'm experimenting right now with with a couple of my program members teaching longevity.
[00:12:20] Chanelle: Oh, wonderful.
[00:12:22] Sue: And so they're going to teach what they learned from me and, I'm going to be participating as well, but I'm looking to develop that and extend that [00:12:30] because there are a lot of.
[00:12:31] Sue: Okay. women out there who are of a certain age and still vital. But if they go to a, just a regular yoga class, that's flow. And just a little bit too, it's just not for them. And then the other extreme is chair yoga. And they're just like, moving their arms in space. It's, it's not, they're still vital.
[00:12:51] Sue: They're still active, but they they want something that's a little bit working from a different perspective.
[00:12:58] Chanelle: I love that. I definitely see [00:13:00] that in the need for that, in that space where there is, very something for the very elderly, like you said, a chair yoga or just movement.
[00:13:10] Chanelle: Very basic movement. And then you've got it for the young people. So I love that you are filling this need in this niche. Now let's talk about your book. We've talked a little bit about it. What is it called? First of all, what's the
[00:13:22] Sue: name of your book? The title is when things stick, untangling your body from old patterns.
[00:13:28] Chanelle: Oh, okay. I [00:13:30] love that title. So recently you had a win with your book. I'd love to hear about that.
[00:13:36] Sue: Yeah, I hit a thousand books. I'm now at 1700 books that I've sold online. I have a wait list for my Amazon version. And so I'm putting that together. I didn't realize how much the publishing costs were, though, on Amazon.
[00:13:50] Sue: Yeah, that's wow.
[00:13:51] Chanelle: Yeah, we keep learning as we go. So 1, 700 books sold. Congratulations on that. That's amazing. [00:14:00] What has been the secret to your success?
[00:14:03] Sue: One of the things that changed a lot for me, because I was again, frustrated with my ads. I just felt like they weren't turning over the way they should.
[00:14:10] Sue: If, An algorithm is working. So I said, I'm just not, I'm not going to do any sales copy. I'm going to put an excerpt of my book. And at that point I didn't even have the cover yet. So I mocked up a cover and it was a horrible cover, but whatever it was a cover.
[00:14:26] Chanelle: Yeah.
[00:14:27] Sue: And I posted and I said, pre pre [00:14:30] order and I had a buy button from PayPal and I just had that and people started buying, you Wow.
[00:14:35] Sue: So that was, that felt really good. I'm like, okay, I am on the right track. And then I found a book cover because I was trying to find an artist and it was hard to convey in words, what I wanted. And so I just started to look at pre made covers and I bought a premium one, not just a cheap one, but I bought a premium one and I actually changed my title to fit.
[00:14:57] Sue: The image and people [00:15:00] like, judge a book by its cover. It was a digital book. People do that. Yeah, it definitely resonated with the cover and the words together. So basically my ad was the creative was a cover and the copy was the cover. An excerpt from the book.
[00:15:15] Chanelle: Okay, that is really cool.
[00:15:18] Chanelle: Because people are just getting a very, a preview of what they're going to get. And know that they also, they resonate with the cover, they resonate with the words, and then read that little bit [00:15:30] and know they want more. So that's a really cool way to do it.
[00:15:32] Sue: Yeah. And I have to say that I really thank Tina for helping me because she, she worked hard with me on the intro, getting it down.
[00:15:39] Sue: And I think the way she asked me to do this piece that I put in as the excerpt was really I think that was,
[00:15:47] Chanelle: Yeah. Oh, Tina is the best. She does our books here and helps with books at Peaceful Profits. She is amazing. So I'm glad she was able to help me with that. She's
[00:15:55] Sue: very persistent with me. I really appreciate it.
[00:15:57] Sue: That's Oh my God, are you kidding? I got to write it over again. [00:16:00] Yeah.
[00:16:01] Chanelle: But at this point on the other side, you're glad you did. On
[00:16:03] Sue: the other side, for sure.
[00:16:04] Chanelle: Yeah. Yes. Okay. So having all these book sales in your business, what has that done for your business?
[00:16:12] Sue: So at this point i'm making a profit from selling my books which is great because before when I was doing facebook ads, I was spending money and I think Trish was coaching me and she's yeah, you might want to stop that Because I was like I gotta get some information, I gotta get [00:16:30] information to help me to guide me So I was using it to get information, but she said why don't you just calm down at that just finish your book I did that.
[00:16:37] Sue: And when I got my Facebook ads working well and did the server API piece, because that was a piece that was missing then it started to work the way I would think an algorithm that is doing its job would work. Things are clicking over the bumps are working and so the ads are, [00:17:00] initially they paid for themselves, but now I'm in a profit and it's, wow, what a relief.
[00:17:05] Sue: Yeah. It's worth, watching that money go to Facebook every, whatever was really, it's, it was really, it's, Frustrating, and so now I feel I'm collecting, I'm growing my email lists and I don't have to pay for it. That's I'm reaching more people. I can talk to more people.
[00:17:20] Sue: I can find out what they need and get a better idea of what I can offer, how I can improve my offer by having A bigger audience, basically. [00:17:30]
[00:17:30] Chanelle: Yeah, that's, you're living the dream right there. That is the goal, right? To have this front end offer that pays for itself, that you're bringing in clients into your business at a profit.
[00:17:42] Chanelle: So congratulations on all of that. That's so exciting. Thank you. So I would love to hear from you because I'm sure as listeners hear your story, they would love this too, to be able to have this book funnel working in their business. [00:18:00] What is the number one piece of advice that you would share with others who would like to be where you are?
[00:18:06] Sue: I think there's a point where you're, Always going to be you don't know, you just have to keep putting things out there. And it feels I don't know, it just, it feels unsystematic. So I would say just build up as much of a system as possible, even if it's not right.
[00:18:26] Sue: If you build up something that feels like you can [00:18:30] plant some markers and then you adjust it. But if you don't have any, Expectations. And you just, put things out and say, I want to sail. It's the path isn't narrow enough. You don't get enough learning from what you do. So if you can look for everything that you're trying put a hypothesis forth and then try it.
[00:18:51] Sue: And if it didn't work, then maybe that proves it wrong. But maybe you could try another time. But you have to keep learning from the things that you try. [00:19:00] Rather than just try a bunch of stuff just to try it,
[00:19:03] Chanelle: yeah, oh, that's so good because it's easy to get caught up in that trap of just throwing something to the wall and seeing what sticks right as opposed to this.
[00:19:12] Chanelle: What I hear you saying is testing different things and building up. Okay, which component works, how is this going to work in this system that I've already built and testing. Which leads to just testing one thing at a time, not having intention
[00:19:27] Sue: for what you're testing. I'm going to test [00:19:30] this personal photo of me, full body versus personal vote photo of me more like face, know what you're testing basically, I guess I'm saying,
[00:19:39] Chanelle: yeah, that's so good.
[00:19:40] Chanelle: Thank you for that. Sue. Now I would love for listeners to find out where they can find more about you and what you're up to. Yeah. Oh, sure. Coherentbody.com.
[00:19:51] Sue: Okay. Coherentbody.com. Yeah. You can access, you'll find my book, a link to purchase the book. You'll find an excerpt of the [00:20:00] book on that page and then you'll learn more about me.
[00:20:03] Chanelle: Perfect. Okay. Go and check that out. And then for all of you listeners, if you are interested in adding a book funnel in your business, like Sue has talked about today. You can book a call with our team by going to PeacefulProfits.com/call. Thank you, Sue. First of all, for being here, everyone, thank you for listening and we will see you next time.
[00:20:24] Chanelle: Bye. Bye.