042: UJ Ramdas on The 5-Minute Journal, Productivity and a New Way to Look at Publishing Your Book

Summary: UJ Ramdas is the author and creator of The Five-Minute Journal (http://www.fiveminutejournal.com/) where positivity meets science. The Five-Minute Journal combines inspiring quotes, daily exercises for gratitude, affirmations, weekly challenges, and thoughtful questions that will help you get focused and be more productive. UJ isn't your typical author. From the very beginning, he created The Five-Minute Journal with a very different mindset. He set out to create not just a good book, but a great product that would change people's lives. From the writing to the editing, design, printing, warehousing, distribution, marketing and more, UJ has bucked tradition and gone his own way. The Five-Minute Journal isn't a self-published book - it's a uniquely produced product that happens to look like a book. Instead of giving away most of the profits to a publisher, The Five-Minute Journal is printed and produced from a specialty printing house / manufacturer in bulk quantities for high margins. Instead of using a distributor like Amazon, the company has its own warehouse and fulfillment center for distribution, again avoiding unnecessary fees to 3rd parties. Instead of selling on Amazon, the book is sold directly on their website www.fiveminutejournal.com (http://www.fiveminutejournal.com/), again generating extra high margins. Instead of some boring or expensive marketing campaign, The Five-Minute Journal has generated an incredible amount of free exposure in the media, on blogs, on popular podcasts, and even a video review by Tim Ferriss (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_dUSGfsQZg). (http://publishingprofitspodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/UJ-Ramdas-Author-300x300.jpg) In today's show, UJ shares his inspiring story, and some powerful insights on productivity, finding your purpose, and creating a great customer experience. You'll love UJ's advice on "never breaking the chain" and the power of daily doses of creative action. If you don't have a Five-Minute Journal with you, grab the nearest notebook and your pen and get ready to take notes, because you're about to learn how to earn some serious self-publishing profits. Show Notes Check out UJ's podcast The Mental Edge show on iTunes (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mental-edge-show/id744371888?mt=2). You can visit UJ's blog at www.ujramdas.com (http://www.ujramdas.com/) If you enjoyed this interview, please leave a quick review for The Publishing Profits Podcast Show on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/publishing-profits-podcast/id788984301 (https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/publishing-profits-podcast/id788984301) Even just a few words helps! To learn more about TCK Publishing, visit http://www.TCKPublishing.com (http://www.TCKPublishing.com) Check out Tom's newest training course and software product for author market research and more, Bestseller Ranking Pro at www.BestsellerRankingPro.com (http://www.BestsellerRankingPro.com)