Michael Hyatt on Building a Media Platform and Becoming a 10-Year Overnight Success

Summary: Michael Hyatt is the former Chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S. In fact, Hyatt has been involved in the traditional publishing business his entire working life. Not the typical profile of a do-it-yourself blogger, right? And yet, in 2012 when Thomas Nelson was acquired by HarperCollins and Michael left his executive role, it was his 8-year-old blog that opened the door to an exciting and vibrant new chapter of his life. A blog that he toiled in frustrating obscurity for many of those foundational years. It was the blog that provided the launch pad for his New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling book Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World. And it was the book that opened the door to his membership program Platform University. Seems like we can learn a few things from this guy about building our own online marketing and sales platforms. In this 31-minute episode Michael Hyatt and I discuss: His path from traditional publishing to independent media The rough start as a blogger, and what skyrocketed his traffic The dirty little secret of productivity His realization about the power of online publishing What you need in addition to world-class content The critical importance of owning your digital platform The compelling nature of audio vs. text content The interesting way he produces his very popular podcast Almost every authors epic missed revenue opportunity Listen to Rainmaker.FM Episode No. 21 below ... [player] Download AudioSubscribe in iTunes The Show Notes Image by Jonas Nilsson Lee MichaelHyatt.com Michaels This is Your Life Podcast Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World Platform University *Rainmaker.FM is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform, the complete website solution for content marketers and Internet entrepreneurs. The Transcript Michael Hyatt on Building a Media Platform and Becoming a 10-Year Overnight Success Rainmaker.FM is brought to you by the Rainmaker Platform, a complete website solution for content marketers and online entrepreneurs. Find out more and take a free 14-day test drive at RainmakerPlatform.com. Brian Clark: Hey everyone, Brian Clark here with another episode of Rainmaker FM. Today I have another special guest, someone that Ive admired from afar. And as in this case, sometimes you just dont connect with people even though youre in the same city, at the same conference, or whatever the case may be and thats Michael Hyatt. Now many of you are probably familiar with Michael. He has done some really great work in the last three or four years. He is the former chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, which I think was the sixth largest publisher around. He was sprung from that position when it was acquired by Harper Collins in 2012. He did not slow down from that standpoint as you might have noticed. He is a proprietor of MichaelHyatt.com with the tagline intentional leadership. Were going to talk a little bit about that concept today. He has a podcast, This is Your Life and he is the author of many, many books, more than you probably think. Most notably is Platform from 2012. He was nice enough to mention me and Copyblogger in that and we do appreciate that. First of all, join me in welcoming Michael Hyatt to the show. Michael, how are you? Michael Hyatt: Im doing great, Brian. Thanks so much for having me on. As I said to you before the show, Im a total fan of Copyblogger. I recommend it everywhere I go. It has really helped me in my writing. Thank you for what you do. Brian Clark: I appreciate that very much and the feeling is mutual. Like I said, Ive been watching your work and this amazing audience that youve built in not the longest amount of time really. I just love it because effectively youre walk