The Hero Challenge 004 – Kaylin R. Boyd

---

Automated Transcription

---

 

Richard Matthews  

Hello and welcome back to the HERO Show. 

 

My name is Richard Matthews, your host and I am on the line

 

With Kaylin Boyd. Kaylin, are you there?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Hi, yes I am.

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. So glad to have you here, Kaylin. 

 

And what I want to do real quick is do a quick introduction for you 

 

And then we’ll get into your story and start talking about it. 

 

Kaylin is a fantasy author. She was born in the Midwest and raised 

 

On a strict diet of daydreams, myth and magic, which I totally love. 

 

She has a self-published and illustrated book 

 

Of prose called The Mountain and Tell City is your debut novel. 

 

You want to learn more about that you can visit her on Instagram,

 

Patreon and YouTube. We’ll talk more about 

 

How you can find that out later. 

 

So to get started, Kaylin, let’s talk about your business now. 

 

What is your primary product or service?

 

What is it that you’re known for? Why do people come to you? 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Well, right now my primary product is Tell City. 

 

It is my debut novel, it is adult fantasy. And so then we also have 

 

The Mountain which was an illustrated work of prose, 

 

But currently we’re working on getting that republished at the moment, 

 

Which is why Tell City is my main focus.

 

Richard Matthews  

And what is Tell City about?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

So Tell City is the story of a young man whose prophetic dreams 

 

Sweep them up into a battle against God’s 

 

For the last remaining Oracle on Earth.

 

Richard Matthews  

Interesting. So my question for you is how has being an entrepreneur 

 

As an author been like, I assume you mentioned, 

 

This is a fairly new thing in your life where you’re running, 

 

I guess the income generation for your life as an author 

 

Has that been an interesting, fun journey?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

It’s definitely been interesting. And it’s been fun, 

 

There are different avenues authors can take to get published.

 

There’s a traditional way which you go through an agent 

 

And then a traditional publishing house. 

 

But with the way that the internet has transformed publishing, 

 

So many more people are going to self publishing because 

 

You can actually make more per book by doing that. 

 

So a lot of people are going that way. 

 

Even though this way, there’s a little bit more work involved, 

 

You have to be your own publicist and marketer and your own …

 

Richard Matthews  

… One of the other ways that people do is they’ll do 

 

The self-publish as a route to drive leads for their business, as well. 

 

So there’s lots of different ways you can approach being an author. 

 

So my curiosity for you is what made you want to do this, 

 

What made you want to take the transition from 

 

Whatever you were doing before into being a self-published author 

 

And trying to drive revenue drive sales with stories, and we call it our, 

 

We mentioned already the hero’s Journey, right? 

 

The origin story, and where did you start? Where do you start to realize 

 

Maybe this is what you want to do?

 

You want to make this change in your life?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Well, I started with self publishing, I already had the finished manuscript, 

 

And I already had it edited by a professional editor. 

 

So then, I was trying to get traditionally published and 

 

Or the hero’s journey, you have your road of trials.

 

And so, part of that is you’re getting rejection after rejection 

 

From literary agents who just have a swarm of queries 

 

Coming in on a daily basis, 

 

I think most literary agents get like 100 queries a day, 

 

Something like that. And so there’s just so much competition. 

 

And if you go into self-publishing, you eliminate that competition. 

 

So that was kind of like, that was kind of my portal 

 

Into trying a different avenue. My friends were telling me that,

 

You already have the manuscript, and your best friend 

 

Is a book cover designer, and why not self-publish? 

 

And I got thinking about it, yeah, I can. So we just kind of 

 

This epiphany that I had an avenue to still get my work

 

Out there and still get it published. And I had the capacity to do it myself.

 

So why not? 

 

Richard Matthews  

So how was the journey been so far? 

 

Have you been successfully selling the books? 

 

Have you been building an audience of people?

 

How’s it been going since you got started?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Well, I actually recently stepped down from 

 

My 50-hour week management job. So I could spend more time 

 

Working on this because being self-published author 

 

Is definitely like a full time job in and of itself. 

 

So you do a lot of marketing online. 

 

So I’m using Instagram, YouTube, Patreon. 

 

And it’s all about outreach and connecting to the community. 

 

And also, I’ve been trying to do several more live events, 

 

I’m trying to do a live event each month. 

 

So again, you can get that person to person interaction, 

 

Because that’s what really seems to boost my book sales.

 

You’ll have a few leads online. But it’s when you actually connect 

 

With people one on one, that they really connect with you 

 

And connect with the idea of the story. So I’ve been doing live readings. 

 

And then, I also was at the State Fair this month. 

 

And that’s what’s really driving my sales right now. 

 

And being out there in the community and talking with people.

 

They’re good literary…

 

Richard Matthews  

… Getting sort of a ground swell of audience to actually –

 

To read your book and build it up. So how do you think those efforts 

 

Are going to play into say, the next story that you put together? 

 

Are you going to have to go back to ground zero 

 

Or you have buy-in from an existing audience?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

You totally have to buy in from the existing audience. 

 

I have so many people that just keep asking me, 

 

“Hey, when’s your next book?”  “When’s the next book?” 

 

Because they read the first one and loved it.

 

And so because of that, they have that connection 

 

With me personally, one on one. 

 

I get messages all the time asking, “When’s it coming out?”

 

How far along I am? Or if I have anything else that they 

 

Can they can go read or watch. 

 

So a lot of my YouTube followers and 

 

People I get on Twitter or people that I have met, 

 

Actually, being out there and in public space; 

 

Selling and talking to customers.

 

Richard Matthews  

Have you been doing any sort of teasers 

 

And whatnot for your next book? 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

No, not yet. I’m only on the first draft. So when I started to get it 

 

A little bit more polished, I’m almost done with the first draft, 

 

I have about 15 more pages left to write. So once I get that done, 

 

And polish it up, and I’m going to start 

 

Sending out some tweets, teasers. 

 

I might have one or two on Instagram, but I’m trying to keep it low key 

 

Until I get it mostly done. People are just still kind of on the hype 

 

Of the first book, and I don’t want to take that away from them too soon. 

 

Richard Matthews  

That makes sense.

 

So tell me a little bit about your superpowers.

 

What is it that you do or build that really helps 

 

Solve problems for people? 

 

If you had to say, this is my superpower 

 

When it comes to my publishing business,

 

What would you say that is?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

I think it has to do with the writing.

 

It’s going out there and connecting to people.

 

When you’re a writer it’s great, 

 

But you also have to connect with them through your story.

 

Because your story is your brand. 

 

And it’s your mission statement, too. 

 

And my story is fantasy, one of the things that I focus really hard on, 

 

Or maybe don’t focus on it, but it’s just a passion of mine, 

 

Is the symbolism in fantasy, fantasy, escapism, and as a story. 

 

There’s connection to real life. 

 

So I think it was Neil Gaiman who said that a fantasy is – tells true lies. 

 

And what it does is it allows you to work through stuff 

 

That actually happens in your daily life. 

 

That happens all the time in reality, 

 

But through the lens of fantasy is it softens the blow. 

 

And it allows you to see it from a new angle. 

 

So the symbolism of fantasy and in the hero’s story

 

Allows them to examine their life, again, just with a different lens. 

 

That’s why stories are so important to people. 

 

And so that’s what I try to show in my books and my stories.

 

Richard Matthews  

I used to tell people that reading fantasy and reading a fiction was-

 

It’s a great way to have experiences that 

 

You would never get to have in real life. 

 

And actually develop your own character because of those experiences. 

 

I didn’t realize it’s like looking back on your life, 

 

The fantasy and the fiction that I read as a child, 

 

How much the decisions that the characters that I was in love with, made –

 

Impacted the type of person that I became.  

 

And it’s a really powerful part of who we are, 

 

Is being able to build and exchange stories. 

 

I tell people on this show all the time that we’re a story born people, 

 

I think that extends into fiction, as well. 

 

And how it helps develop our character.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Definitely, I can’t remember who was who said this, 

 

But a young man who doesn’t read with one life 

 

And the man who reads lives, multiple thousands of lives.

 

Richard Matthews  

Absolutely. And where else you’re going to go 

 

To a fight dragons or fly in space?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Exactly. And because you’re living through other people’s lives 

 

In this, fiction or fantasy worlds. You’re building empathy, 

 

And you’re learning from it. So if you ever do stumble upon

 

Something like that, in reality, you’re like, I’ve been here before. 

 

Even though you haven’t, 

 

But it’s been introduced to you through this fictional world.

 

Richard Matthews  

And I think one of the things that’s really key-

 

Most of my audiences, is entrepreneurs.

 

And one of the key things that an entrepreneur needs to know 

 

How to do is how to sell the story of whatever it is that they do.

 

The service or the products have to have a story that goes along with it. 

 

And realize that, generally speaking, their customer is the one 

 

Who’s on the hero’s journey. There on their own hero’s journey. 

 

And they, as the product or service provider are the Gandalf.

 

The one who comes by and supports the character on their journey. 

 

And when you read stories, and you get into them, 

 

And you see how the common themes are. 

 

How the hero’s journey works itself out, and how your clients 

 

And when you sort of start to make those parallels 

 

You get the experience of learning how to master storytelling 

 

From reading stories. So anyways, I think it’s an important skill. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Absolutely. 

 

Richard Matthews  

So let’s talk a little bit about your fatal flaw. 

 

Superman has his kryptonite. Batman is not even a superhero.

 

He’s just super smart. If you had to say you had a fatal flaw 

 

That’s been holding you back in your business, 

 

Rather than making more sales or 

 

What would you say that is? 

 

Getting more of your books written and out there. 

 

And how have you been working to overcome that 

 

For people who might be in similar situations?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

So I would have to say, … well, one of my superpowers, 

 

Which anything I set my mind to, i can do. 

 

Like the moment I decided, I’m going to do something, 

 

I’m going to do it. So also in the same frame.

 

If I have, if I haven’t set my mind that I can’t do something, 

 

Then that definitely limits me. So I’m always going back 

 

And checking through my mindset and being like, “Is this correct?” 

 

“Am I am I thinking about this the right way?”

 

Because if I’m in a state of mind that says, 

 

“If I can’t do it, then I’m not going to be able to do.”

 

So I’m always double checking my thought process to make sure that 

 

You deserve to receive if it is something I can do. 

 

And this is within my grasp. 

 

So when I was in the mindset of getting traditionally published, 

 

That was 100%, the way I had to go.

 

Look, I wasn’t going to deviate from it. It was happening. 

 

And then, I have my friends who were 

 

Talking to me about self-publishing. And why don’t you do that? 

 

And I really had to step back from myself and say, 

 

“Why am I not doing this?”

 

Because this is a good avenue. It has more margin on my books. 

 

And I would have more control over the process. 

 

So I had to step back out of that mindset and 

 

Really rethink so that I could continue forward.

 

Richard Matthews  

So do you have any tips for someone who might be 

 

Getting held back by their mindset? 

 

How they can examine that and change that?

 

What was sort of the catalyst to help you make those changes?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

And it’s just being honest with yourself, and being –

 

Figuring out how you can step back from the situation and look at, 

 

The reality as it is versus the way that you think that it is.

 

So it’s just being open-minded, and being honest with yourself.

 

Richard Matthews  

That makes sense. So this is going to be potentially an awkward question. 

 

Normally, we talk about your common enemy 

 

As something that your client’s life.

 

Something you removed from your client’s life.

 

Your clients are your readers of your book. 

 

So if you were to think about 

 

What is it something that you would be trying to remove 

 

From their life with your book

 

That you’re trying to help them with?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Something I’m trying to remove from their lives.

 

You know, it’s probably in a weird way, the sense of self. 

 

Because like we said, when you read, when you get into a book, 

 

You can leave yourself behind. You become that main character.

 

You get to become somebody else. And so kind of what 

 

I was saying with the fatal flaw, you have to step out of yourself 

 

In order to see things in a new light and see things as they are. 

 

So I think that’s probably what I’m giving my readers 

 

Is it’s that chance to get out of themselves and into this different world 

 

To examine their world in a different way.

 

Richard Matthews  

I think that’s a, it’s really fascinating to think about. 

 

Because authors are our unique type of entrepreneur.

 

Where the product that you’re offering someone is not a consumable. 

 

It’s not a service that they’re going to use. It’s literally. 

 

It’s just all in their head. 

 

I remember, one of my favorite authors is Orson Scott Card, 

 

And he talks about in one of his books that –

 

Kaylin Boyd  

I love him.

 

Richard Matthews  

You love Orson Scott Card too. 

 

I think everybody who’s read his books loves him. 

 

But he talks about a story is only ever half written by the author. 

 

The other half of the story is written when the consumer reads it. 

 

And that becomes alive in their head. 

 

So I find that really fascinating, because that’s –

 

No matter how hard you try, you only ever can write half of the product.

 

That it’s only finished when someone else reads it.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Absolutely.

 

And the one you put in your book, and you send it out into the world, 

 

It’s also not really yours anymore. It belongs to the readers. 

 

And so that’s when you get some really awesome like fan art back 

 

Or recently I gotten soundtrack back

 

From one of my musician friends who just freakin love the book. 

 

So he made a soundtrack to the first chapter. 

 

And so then you start getting things back from the community 

 

And from the client base that you built. And it’s really cool. 

 

But it’s also weird to see a come back in ways that you didn’t imagine it. 

 

But that’s so awesome. 

 

Richard Matthews  

It takes on a life of its own outside of you, the Creator. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Right.

 

Richard Matthews  

So let’s talk a little bit about your driving force. 

 

So Spider Man fights to save New York. Batman fights to save Gotham.

 

Or Google fights to categorize all the world’s information. 

 

What is it that you, Kaylin, fight for? 

 

When you’re writing these stories, and you’re building your audience?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

I guess it would also be, empowering people,

 

And empowering people’s lives through stories. 

 

Because stories saved me so many times, 

 

When especially, when I was a preteen and a teenager.

 

My early 20s, there were stories that kind of literally saved my life. 

 

And if that’s my driving force, 

 

Is being able to put that out into the world.

 

To be able to empower people to follow their dreams. 

 

I’ve had so many people come to me over the last couple of years. 

 

And it’s really weird. I’m not sure how to handle it. 

 

But they told me, 

 

“Wow, you’ve actually really inspired me 

 

To go follow my dreams and just start writing again, 

 

and to do all these other things.”

 

And I don’t know necessarily how I did that. But I’m really happy that I did. 

 

Because like you said, stories are powerful.

 

Richard Matthews  

It goes right back to my constant belief that 

 

We are story-born people. And it’s really what drives us 

 

Is the sharing, consumption and creation of stories. 

 

And I think personally, that in the entrepreneur space, 

 

Specifically, fantasy, and fiction doesn’t get enough of a good rap. 

 

We want to always want to read self-help books, 

 

And the history books, biographies, and stuff like that from real people. 

 

And I know, I myself am guilty of this,

 

I’ve only got 20 minutes a night to read or something like that.

 

I’m not going to put it into a self-help book 

 

To help me grow my business, or am I going to take some time 

 

For myself and actually, dive into a fiction book, 

 

And realize that those can also help you grow 

 

Your mind and grow your experiences, just as well.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Absolutely. And, science fiction in particular 

 

Has with the genesis of so much of the technology we have today, 

 

The clocks that we can look at on our wrists, 

 

And we can chat with people, the automatic doors, 

 

All of that comes from science fiction. 

 

And when people were reading that back in the 50s, 

 

Everyone’s like, that’s never going to happen, but that’s super cool. 

 

And then some nerds are like, “No, we’re going to make this happen.”

 

And then they made businesses off of those things. 

 

I mean, our cell phones, our laptops that we’re having 

 

This video chat on now, a lot of that comes from fiction. 

 

And, that’s why it’s definitely important to help people 

 

Be creative and find new avenues and

 

New ways that they didn’t think of before.

 

Richard Matthews  

I don’t know if did you ever read Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game? 

 

Remember the desk that he talked about all the time?

 

It’s 20 years before someone even thought about it. 

 

Orson Scott Card was talking about the desk, 

 

And he was talking about the nets. 

 

And people having screen names. 

 

I don’t remember what he called them. They weren’t screen names. 

 

But the idea of having screen names and talking back and forth 

 

And email, before email was existed. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

And not to mentioned Ender was like a freakin’ drone. 

 

Like he was operating a drone, to do these wars.

 

Richard Matthews  

So I mean, that’s just one example. 

 

I mean, his Ender’s Game is probably one of the most successful 

 

Sci-fi novels in history. But the lot of the technology 

 

That we talked about, because that book was written in 1978. 

 

And so that predates email. It predates the internet, 

 

it predates tablets, and all those things are in there.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

It’s crazy. And it’s wonderful. And, a lot of the sci-fi, 

 

The cool technologies they have also comes from mythology and folklore, 

 

Which is even older than that, which they’ll have the magic mirrors, 

 

And they could try it and like to communicate to people through them. 

 

And so it goes all the way back to – in ancient Greece. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Could you but could you imagine if you showed this

 

To someone from ancient Greece, and like FaceTime to someone,

 

It’s like a magic mirror that you communicate someone through –

 

Kaylin Boyd  

… Witchcraft and depending on what time era you were in.

 

Richard Matthews  

That’s awesome. So there’s definitely there’s a lot of inspiration, 

 

A lot of mind space that can be gained by spending time 

 

As an entrepreneur in the fantasy worlds, and in the fiction worlds. 

 

And really just learning to be a part of the stories. 

 

So anyways, I think that’s really powerful. 

 

So let’s talk a little bit about your tool belt. 

 

Some of the things that you actually use to make you –

 

To use to your craft. So we’ve talked about 

 

Thor’s got his magical hammer, the police officer down the street 

 

Got his bulletproof vest, what are the some of the things that you use? 

 

As an offer to either A, do your offering or B, grow your audience?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Okay? Well, I’ve definitely my number one tool 

 

Is what I’m using right now, my Chromebook is my best friend. 

 

Because I can put everything on Google Cloud, 

 

I don’t have to worry about my computer crashing, 

 

And all of my work disappearing, or my flash drive getting –

 

Like, something spilled on it and getting wet 

 

And going to put even today, I’ll see authors on Twitter, 

 

Who are like, “Oh, yeah, my computer crashed, and I lost everything.”

 

And all of us are like, “Why didn’t you back that up?”

 

Or, “Why didn’t you have done the cloud?” 

 

It’s a lifesaver because I remember being in middle school or whatever,

 

And I had work on my computer at home, 

 

And then, it will get deleted on accident by my parents, 

 

Or the computer crash, whatever. And all my little stories were gone, 

 

And it was devastating. So I have my computer and my cloud, 

 

Which is very important. The main tool I use the most though, 

 

Is not a not a physical tool, but a story outline, which is the hero’s journey. 

 

That is the thing I use when I’m writing stories, 

 

I’m not a very big plotter, which in the writing community, 

 

You have plotters and pantsers. 

 

And so there are people that plot 

 

And then there are people that just go off to seat of their pants, 

 

Which is why they are called pantsers. 

 

So then, I have a nice little brown, because I don’t plot, 

 

But I’ll check the hero’s journey and kind of see where I’m at, 

 

In this very traditional, it’s the Moto myth. 

 

And see where I’m at. And so this kind of puts me here. 

 

And that is my biggest tool whenever I’m writing.

 

Richard Matthews  

And the hero’s journey, it’s a potent thing, 

 

Especially for entrepreneurs to understand. 

 

If you’ve never looked into it, definitely take the time to check out 

 

The hero’s journey and really look at how your business fits 

 

Into the hero’s journey of your clients. 

 

And when you’re reading stories, take note of it. 

 

Because you’ll see it in every good story.

 

And you’ll notice, the stories you like the best 

 

Are the ones that have a really good hero’s journey 

 

And the stories that you don’t really connect with.

 

It’s only because they deviate in some unacceptable way 

 

From a hero’s journey. Like the hero doesn’t actually have trials, 

 

Which is where you get like the Mary Jane characters 

 

Where everything just always goes right for them and you don’t like it. 

 

Or they have unbelievable trials and stuff 

 

That they’re going through whatnot. And there’s just something 

 

About really understanding how to master the hero’s journey, 

 

When telling stories. It’s really, really helpful for understanding 

 

How to do your marketing and build your business 

 

And building what people are actually gonna want to buy 

 

When it comes to stories, getting stories that people actually want to read.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Absolutely, that’s one of the reasons why I love 

 

The hero’s journey so much and myth 

 

Because it’s a monument and it comes from our subconscious. 

 

It’s actually a really human thing. 

 

That’s why every story since the beginning of time, 

 

It’s pretty much been told in the exact same pattern 

 

Because it’s symbolic of our lives. So every entrepreneur 

 

Has this Hero’s Journey like innately their their struggles

 

To come up with their ideas for their business. 

 

Their doubts as to whether or not they showed. 

 

How they’re going to overcome all these little trials 

 

In order to get where they want to go. 

 

All of that is intrinsic to human life.

 

Richard Matthews  

So I have a random side question for you. 

 

You mentioned your Chromebook and flash drives and whatnot 

 

I’m curious, did you ever save any of your work on a floppy disk drive?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

No, I am. Unfortunately not old enough for that. 

 

But I have heard the horror stories of the floppy disk.

 

Richard Matthews  

So floppy disk drives for me, in high school. 

 

My work was on floppy disks. And in college, 

 

We transitioned to the USB drives. So, I remember that 

 

From high school, but it would be only have to be

 

A few years younger than me not remember.

 

My brother’s like three years older than me. And he’s like, 

 

“Yeah, I never used floppy disk.” 

 

I was just on the very tail end of floppy disks. 

 

But they’re like, I remember you can save one and a half megabytes, 

 

Which is like barely a Word document.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

I think I remember them talking about them in first grade, 

 

But I never had to use one I lucked out. 

 

Speaker  

The HERO Show will be right back.

 

Music is by purple planet music visit https://purpleplanet.com/

 

Richard Matthews  

Just random, where we can age myself there for you.

 

I am old enough to have used a floppy disk drive. 

 

So next question here is your own personal heroes. 

 

So Frodo had Gandalf. Luke had Obi Wan. 

 

Robert Kiyosaki had his Rich Dad. 

 

Who were some of your heroes? Were they real life mentors? 

 

Were they speakers or authors? 

 

People who are just few years ahead of you? 

 

And how important were they to the journey 

 

That you’ve taken so far in your business?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

My number one hero is Neil Gaiman. He is a fantasy author. 

 

If you haven’t heard of him, you might have heard his 

 

New show on Netflix called Good Omens. He also did Coraline

 

What’s some of the other ones he turned into a movie; Stardust 

 

Richard Matthews  

I remember Coraline.

 

And watched Stardust, too.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

There’s –

 

Richard Matthews  

Tha’t the one with the flying ship, right?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Yes, the flying ship with the captain that likes to get all dressed up.

 

Richard Matthews  

I remember that. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

So one of the reasons why I love him so much 

 

Is the way that he does interact with his fans. 

 

And the way that he noticed when the internet 

 

Was starting to become a thing, and people were finding 

 

Free content online, that wasn’t going to go away. 

 

And so he wanted to find another avenue to continue 

 

To sell books and to connect with his fans. 

 

So he ended up doing more book tours and more live events. 

 

Because as we go further and further online, 

 

And we kind of become disconnected, that means 

 

We value personal connection more. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Even more. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

For me, that’s kind of – I’ve worked them into my marketing scheme, 

 

Which is why I’m doing, at least one live event a month. 

 

I feel like that’s really important. And it also helps –

 

It helps build community and the writing and reading community, 

 

We’re all just so freaking passionate. 

 

And when you get with somebody who likes the same book you do, 

 

It’s just like magic. It just erupts. 

 

So that’s why I’m doing that. 

 

My other hero is a fictional hero. And it’s the kind of 

 

The main character from Arabian Nights.

 

It’s actually the vehicle that they used to tell the story the Arabian Night. 

 

So you have this girl named Scheherazade,

 

Who volunteered herself to marry the prince or the king, 

 

Because he was just marrying girls and killing them 

 

Because his first wife cheated on him with his brother.

 

But she knew him when they were growing up. 

 

And they got along back when they were kids. 

 

So she volunteered to marry this man, 

 

Because she knew that she could keep – 

 

She could end the cycle by telling him stories. 

 

So each night, she would tell him half a story. 

 

And then before, he’s deciding who’s going to kill her in the morning,

 

And so every night, he kept her alive, and he never killed her. 

 

He realized, “Well, no, I want to hear the other half of the story.”

 

And by doing this the love story, of course, they fall in love. 

 

But she also saved every other girl that would have followed after her. 

 

So again, it’s this driving force of mine that stories save lives.

 

Stories empower people. Stories, set our moral compass and our code, 

 

And they’re just important to being human beings.

 

Richard Matthews  

I like that. I like the idea that stories set our moral compass.

 

We’ll have to quote that for our promotional things for this episode. 

 

Because that’s really true. Stories set our moral compass, 

 

They really set up who we are, and how we interact with people. 

 

And I tell people all the time, that the way 

 

That you build relationships is through story. 

 

So an acquaintance is someone whose name you might know, 

 

But whose story you don’t. And a friend is someone who’s you know, 

 

Their name, and you know, their story. 

 

And a best friend is someone who, you know all of their stories, 

 

And the only way to deepen your relationship is to go out 

 

So you can actually measure relationships based on stories,

 

And create new stories together. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Stories are how we communicate. 

 

And so they’re really important to building those customer relationships. 

 

If our situation where you can be one on one with your customer, 

 

Find out a little bit of their stories and 

 

What people love to talk about themselves. 

 

And that you can find out a little bit of their story. 

 

And then you can share your story. And then bam! 

 

You have an instant connection and maybe 5-10 minutes,

 

And it becomes personal. One-on-one that builds that brand loyalty 

 

And the customer loyalty and stories are

 

Just how we communicate with one another.

 

Richard Matthews  

Relationship Hacking 101 is learn to listen to 

 

And tell good stories about yourself. And from listening to other people. 

 

And really diving into their story and asking questions 

 

About where they’re at and what they’re doing and that kind of stuff. 

 

And it’s the quickest way to build a really solid relationship is to 

 

One, learn how to tell a good story and learn how to listen to a story. 

 

So that’s really powerful stuff. 

 

Okay, last thing here on our questionnaire is the guiding principles. 

 

So let’s bring it home for our listeners, 

 

What are the top one or two principles or actions 

 

That you use regularly, like every day, to help contribute

 

To the success you’ve seen in your author business, 

 

Something that maybe you wish you had known 

 

When you first started out on this journey?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

That is definitely all about the the building community or 

 

Least joining a community. I was a really anti social college kid, 

 

When Istarted writing Tell City, but I quickly learned 

 

That it takes a village to write a novel. 

 

And you have so many people who help you, 

 

Help you edit and come up with the design, 

 

Who just go over the story plot with you. 

 

And then there’s the huge writing community on Twitter, 

 

And just hashtag writing community. 

 

And we’re all supportive of one another. We cheer each other on. 

 

And community is just incredibly important. 

 

And you can’t feel you can’t write a book in a vacuum. 

 

It’s like you can’t start a business in a vacuum.

 

Is you have to have people to test and vet your ideas, 

 

And to, again, support you and urge you on and tell you 

 

That what you have to offer is worth it and is important. 

 

So community and finding a community is definitely the thing

 

That I wish I knew when I first started out.

 

Richard Matthews  

So when it comes to finding a community for whatever it is 

 

You’re doing, do you have any advice for the type of things to look for? 

 

Or like what has really been helpful for you in the community? 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Well, it took me a while to figure Twitter out.

 

So I guess what’s helpful is just nowadays, 

 

Because even when I started, 

 

Twitter was a completely different animal than it is today. 

 

So just get online and look for support groups, 

 

Or chats about the things that you are already interested in. 

 

And that’s also how you find your target market. 

 

Which I thought I knew who my target market was 

 

Until I got a little bit further in and I found out,

 

“Oh no, I was completely wrong.” 

 

It’s a completely other demographic that I didn’t even think of. 

 

And so just looking around, and you have to put effort 

 

Into looking around, you have to put effort into trying 

 

To find your target market.

 

Richard Matthews  

You have to actually participate in the community.

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Yes, because that’s how you again, build those relationships.

 

You have to participate. 

 

Richard Matthews  

So I think community is it’s a big thing. 

 

And something we talked about regularly on this show, 

 

Is the idea of like having a mastermind or 

 

Having a group of people that has your back.

 

Having a running partner in your business,

 

Someone who you can bounce ideas off of, 

 

And who’s going to encourage you even mean and tell you 

 

“You need to cut the crap” when you’re giving excuses 

 

For not getting your shit done. So having the the people in your life 

 

That help push you to get your stuff accomplished 

 

Is really, really useful. And I know, when it comes to writing 

 

The same kind of thing, your writing is your product and 

 

Your audience is expecting it to be good.

 

So you have to get it done. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

And no man is an island.

 

Richard Matthews  

So that’s basically it for –

 

That’s true. That’s basically it for the questions in the show. 

 

What I want to do is last thing I do on the show every time 

 

Is something I call the Heroes Challenge. 

 

Heroes Challenge is really simple. 

 

Do you have someone in your life or in your network?

 

That is an entrepreneur that you think has a cool story? 

 

Who are they? … Show? 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

I was saying one of my friends. His name’s Adam Long. 

 

He owns a production studio in Indianapolis 

 

Called playground productions. 

 

I know that he spends a lot of time connecting with in community 

 

And hosting events and helping musicians 

 

Who are just getting started to record and get everything that they need. 

 

He’s also helped me a lot with getting my LLC started 

 

When I did that in January, so I would definitely recommend him 

 

Adam Long. 

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. Thank you very much for that will go ahead and reach out

 

After the show and get connection details on that. 

 

Thank you so much for coming on the show, Kaylin. 

 

I really appreciated the conversation we got to have

 

Especially about talking about the hero’s journey and how important that is. 

 

Where can people find you if they want to pick up your books or 

 

If they want to see any of the stuff that you’re going to be 

 

Other country live events? Maybe escape a little into your stories? 

 

Where can they find you?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Well, you can get Tell City probably anywhere online.

 

Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Books-A-Million

 

You should just be able to Google it and it should come right up. 

 

And then I’m going to be having a live event actually 

 

At the Playground Production Studio. September 7 

 

Is my next live events and then hopefully I’ll be doing another one in October.

 

Richard Matthews  

Okay, cool. And do you have a website people check out 

 

Your books and your event details?

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Yes, I do. And don’t jest me but I don’t remember this … right now.

 

It’s https://kaylinrboyd.wixsite.com/stories

 

Richard Matthews  

Awesome. Okay, so people can check you out there.

 

We’ll make sure we get that link into the show notes for you. 

 

Thank you so much for for coming on the show Kaylin 

 

And really appreciated the conversation we got to have.

 

Thank you so much for being here today. 

 

Really, really enjoyed it. 

 

Kaylin Boyd  

Thank you. I enjoyed being here.

 

Richard Matthews  

Have a great day.