When I was working in the architecture industry, I remember feeling very secure with my job. I had the rest of my life planned out ahead of me until the crash of 2008 when I was told I was going to be let go.
It was devastating.
For Vinnie Tortorich, his life as a successful personal trainer also got flipped upside down when the crash came in 2008, but he was also dealing with the writer’s strike (since he trained celebrities) and a personal battle with leukemia.
For both of us, these tough times in our lives became the catalyst for creative thinking and starting an online business, and Vinnie is now a very successful, self-published author and podcast host. All of this, even though he claims he’s technologically challenged and types at a snail-like pace.
I’m happy to welcome Vinnie from VinnieTortorich.com and author of Fitness Confidential: Adventures in the Weight-Loss Game to the SPI podcast to share his story with us.
He gives us a lot of great tips for self-publishing, getting things done and standing out of the crowd. The fitness industry, as most of us know, is completely saturated, but even so he’s been able to create a top-rated iTunes podcast and self-publish a popular book with nearly 600 5-star reviews on Amazon.
You should hear what traditional publishers told him to do, and why Vinnie is completely happy with his decision to forget them.
Thank Vinnie on Twitter!
If you enjoyed this episode and would like to personally thank Vinnie on Twitter (our guests love that!), you can do so easily by clicking on the link below:
Click here to thank Vinnie personally on Twitter!
Thank You For Listening!
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Cheers, and thanks again!
Today’s Guest
Vinnie Tortorich
My guest today is Vinnie Tortorich, a former celebrity trainer turned content creator and podcaster.
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Website:
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Twitter:
You’ll Learn
- How Vinnie became a successful personal trainer, and then how 3 major simultaneous events made it all come crashing down.
- Why Vinnie chose to start a blog and how he differentiated himself amongst the competition (with no knowledge of SEO or social media)
- What happened when Vinnie’s website got hacked.
- What fish and scotch have to do with writing a book, and how Vinnie’s book came together, even though Vinnie claims he cannot type on a keyboard.
- The original plan for publishing his book and how publishers told him to “get popular first”.
- How podcasting played an important role in the launch of his book, and Vinnie’s self-publishing strategy.
- The importance of the audio version of your published book (and the potential benefit of going “off the page”)
Resources
- VinnieTortorich.com
- The Angriest Trainer Podcast on iTunes
- Fitness Confidential: Adventures in the Weight-Loss Game by Vinnie Tortorich [Amazon affiliate link]
- What Would Google Do? by Jeff Jarvis [Amazon affiliate link]
- Pat Flynn Article in New York Times
- Zoom H6 Portable Recorder [Amazon affiliate link]
- SPI Podcast Session #79: Book Publishing with Jeff Goins
- Getting Started with Smart Passive Income
