Client INTERVIEWS

Every client arrives at a different moment and leaves with something that changes the
next decade. These six conversations show you what that actually looks like.

Becoming the Leader You're Meant to Be

Bree Rosenblum, Author of And

Nicole Gebhardt sits down with Bree Rosenblum, a UC Berkeley professor and Niche Leaders™ client, to talk through what it actually looks like to find the right book idea, trust the strategic process, and watch the results unfold long after publishing day. Bree shares how she moved from an unwieldy concept to an award-winning book, and what she would tell any established expert who thinks they already know what book they need to write.

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What makes a business book worth writing, and why the strategic foundation you build before writing matters more than the idea you start with.

Traditional publishing vs. Niche Leaders™. Hear Bri's real comparison of 11% royalties with no rights control against retaining 100% ownership of her work, files, and accounts.

How completing the Breakthru Accelerator™ changed more than Bri's book, and why the process of writing the right book has a way of reorganizing everything around it.

Why a slow burn in year one is not failure, and what established experts should actually be tracking in the months after their book publishes.

Bree Rosenblum, Author of And, with
Nicole Gebhardt, Founder of Niche Leaders™

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The Book That Repaid Itself Within Weeks

Johnny Klemme, Author of American Family Farmland

Nicole Gebhardt sits down with Johnny, a farmland advisor and co-owner of Guest Wine Farm and Land, just two months after his book American Family Farmland launched. Johnny shares how a strategic book helped a small, boots-on-the-ground firm compete against large national companies – and how he hit his goal of 1,000 books distributed in under six weeks. The conversation covers his advanced reader copy strategy, how the book became a sales tool for his entire
12-person field team, and why he's already thinking about the next one.

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How a business book becomes a competitive advantage when you're a small firm going up against national brands with deep advertising budgets.

Why distributing your book to referral partners (CPAs, attorneys, and wealth advisors) is one of the highest-ROI moves a service business can make.

What Johnny's advanced reader copy strategy looked like in practice, and why the unboxing experience mattered as much as the book itself.

How story became the through-line that unified three different audiences in one book — and why it translated directly into improved marketing across the entire company.

Johnny Klemme, Author of American Family Farmland
with Nicole Gebhardt, Founder of Niche Leaders™

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From "I Can't Write a Book" to Award
Winning Author

Jill McMahon, Author of BULLETPROOF: Healing from Gun Violence and Trauma

Nicole Gebhardt sits down with Jill McMahon, a grief and trauma specialist who spent 20 years convinced she was not a writer – and then wrote an award-winning book on gun violence and trauma. Jill shares how working with Hollywood story coach Michael Hauge unlocked a storytelling skill that changed every presentation she gives, why she refused to attach her book to trending news events despite the sales opportunity, and what the 14 months since launch looked like — podcasts, a nonprofit book club, an International Book Award, and a mission still very much in motion.

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Why established experts who don't think they're writers are often the ones with the most powerful books to write and what it takes to get past that block.

How working with a story coach before writing a single chapter improves not just the book, but every stage appearance, podcast interview, and client conversation that follows.

What happens when you choose mission over momentum – and why riding a trending news cycle would have destroyed the credibility this book was built to carry.

How a strategically planned book becomes a business pivot tool, not just a publishing project, and why the real work begins the day after launch.

Jill McMahon, Author of
BULLETPROOF: Healing from Gun Violence and Trauma
with Nicole Gebhardt, Founder of Niche Leaders™

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"This book saved my life."

Caroline Dowd-Higgins, Author of Your Career Advantage

Nicole Gebhardt sits down with Caroline Dowd-Higgins, executive coach, speaker, and author of Your Career Advantage, three years after she left a six-figure corporate career to build the business she actually wanted. Caroline shares how writing her book during the pandemic gave her both the clarity and the courage to quit before she planned to, how a strategically built book got her into a 10,000-person SHRM conference bookstore, and what the speaking circuit actually looks like for established experts who treat their book as a business asset rather than a credential.

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Why a published book is now a prerequisite for landing paid speaking engagements at major conferences – not just a nice credential to have.

How established experts can use a book to break into higher-fee markets, international clients, and stages that were previously
out of reach.

What it actually takes to transition a side hustle into a full-time business, and why building your audience and client base before you leave is the move that makes it work.

How writing a book forces the kind of strategic clarity that no amount of career coaching, planning, or journaling can fully replicate on its own.

Caroline Dowd-Higgins with Nicole Gebhardt

Caroline Dowd-Higgins, Author of Your Career Advantage
with Nicole Gebhardt, Founder of Niche Leaders™

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How Many Books Should You Give Away?

Eric Thayne, Author of Create Don't Capture

Nicole Gebhardt sits down with Eric Thayne, content creator and author of Create Don't Capture, to tell the behind-the-scenes story of what happened when 5,000 copies of his book were placed on every chair at Funnel Hacking Live – and every single one disappeared before the event ended. Eric shares how being a day-one speaker with a book in every attendee's hand created a ripple effect that built a waitlist of thousands over the next 18 months, why the wrong origin story nearly made it into the book, and what Hollywood story coach Michael Hauge uncovered that transformed a surface-level anecdote into the emotional core of the entire framework.

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Why a book on every chair outperforms any stage presentation alone, and what happens when 5,000 people leave an event holding your framework in their hands.

How writing your book toward your future brand instead of your current expertise is the strategic decision that separates a positioning asset from a credential.

What story coaches actually do that AI cannot – and why the most important detail in Eric's opening story almost never made it into the book.

Why letting demand build for a book can be more powerful than rushing to capitalize on early momentum.

Eric Thayne, Author of Create Don't Capture
with Nicole Gebhardt, Founder of Niche Leaders™

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SHORTS: The Business of Writing Books

Ed Rush, Author of God Talks

Former fighter pilot and author Ed Rush breaks down exactly how his book God Talks functions inside a business that will generate between $1.5 and $2.5 million this year – while the book itself accounts for only $50,000 of that. Ed walks through his full business funnel, from free lead sources and live events to a certification program and one-on-one coaching that starts at $25,000, showing why he treats his book as a lead generator and True Believer builder rather than a revenue source. He also shares the single comment Nicole made during their work together that he calls a $10 million insight – and why it completely changed how he built the infrastructure around his brand.

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Why the royalties a book generates are almost irrelevant compared to the clients, premium programs, and business infrastructure a strategically built book can produce.

How building True Believers, not just customers, creates a community that spreads your message and fills your funnel without additional marketing spend.

What it actually looks like to treat a live event as a break-even conversion tool rather than a revenue source, and why that math works at scale.

Why a one-degree strategic correction early in a book project can mean the difference between a credential and a 10-year brand.