Jessi Beyer is a speaker, mental health advocate and best-selling author of How to Heal on a mission to help those around her feel valid, heard, and appreciated in their mental health struggles. Named a 2020 “Young Entrepreneur to Watch” by IdeaMensch, she has been featured in over 160 media outlets.
Listen to this informative Publish. Promote. Profit. episode with Jessi Beyer about using a book to help others heal.
Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week’s show:
- How there are numerous types of therapy and ways for people to heal.
- Why people are often times afraid of writing their own book.
- How people are the experts of their own stories and should tell them.
- Why people need to find the path of healing that is right for them.
- How sharing what you’ve been through makes it easier for others to relate to you.
Connect with Jessi:
Links Mentioned:
jessibeyerinternational.com
Guest Contact Info:
Instagram
@jessibeyerinternational
Facebook
facebook.com/jessibeyerinternational
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/jessierinbeyer
Rob Kosberg:
All right, welcome everybody. Rob Kosberg here. Excited to bring another episode of The Publish Pro Profit Podcast. I have a great guest for you today that I think you’re really going to enjoy. Jessi Beyer is a speaker, mental health advocate and best-selling author of the book, How to Heal. Jessi’s on a mission to help those around her feel valid, heard, and appreciated in their mental health struggles. Named a 2020 young entrepreneur to watch. I love that. I probably haven’t been considered a young entrepreneur in a long time so I’m really excited to talk to you. You’ve been featured in 160 different media outlets and now finally The Publish Promote Profit Podcast. Jessi, great to have you with us today.
Jessi Beyer:
Hey Rob, thank you so much for having me.
Rob Kosberg:
Excited to have you on. I know that you do lots of things as was said in your bio, but also outside of that as well. Maybe catch us up just a little bit. What is your primary focus? Obviously, I know you wrote the book with your purpose. Maybe talk a little bit about your mission and how that is integrated into your business and all of that.
Jessi Beyer:
Absolutely. So, my journey in this space really started when I was in high school and I was struggling with my mental health and for a bit of context, my book is about trauma and mental health and things like that. So, when I was in high school, really struggled with my mental health. I was in a relationship with someone who was also struggling with his mental health and after that whole relationship ended and I started to heal from my mental health struggles, I went to one day of talk therapy and I was like, “Okay, I’m going to go get some support.” I was so uncomfortable with the whole thing that I literally, I kid you not, I ran out of the building and I never went back. When I was healing from my mental health struggles, I did it entirely on my own. I had no professional support and that was hard. You know what? I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that. So, when I was in college and I started learning about psychology and different things like that, I learned that there were other ways to heal. There were other types of therapy, there were other options. I was like, “Man, I wish I knew this when I was struggling. I wish I had this information.” I mean, I’ve always been a writer. I was one of those kids that was writing and filling up journals and things like that. I was like, “Okay, I want to take this information and put it out into the world.” That’s how my book came together. I took everything that I had learned about these different therapies, expert interviews, published studies, my own research and experience and things like that, and put it into a book that was really accessible for trauma survivors to find a path for healing that’s right for them. That’s how I got started in this space and how my book came about. Now I’m honored to say, I’m a speaker, I’m an author. I do a lot of work in the mental health space. I’ve also started working with other entrepreneurs, specifically healers and service providers and things like that that want to write their own books. So, it has just blossomed from there. I’m really excited about it.
Rob Kosberg:
Congratulations. I mean, I love several things that you said. One of the things is your boldness in taking on that idea and challenge. Here’s what I mean by that – I speak to so many people that may have 20 years in an industry and yet still feel like this sense inside, like I don’t know enough, or I shouldn’t write a book on this subject matter or whatever. Yet here you are. I mean, not a trained psychotherapist or psychologist, psychiatrist, but you’re writing a book because you have your own personal experience because your personal experience wasn’t great with traditional methodologies and you found your way through it. So, talk to me just a little bit about that. Where do you think that really came from?
Jessi Beyer:
It was born out of frustration and I don’t generally encourage people to get pissed off about things and then go do something based on that anger. It worked for me because my eyes were open to these different types of therapies. Again, just stuff I was learning in school. I was furious that I didn’t have this information when I was healing because I know how much it hurt, and I know how hard it was. I was like, “I can’t just sit on this. I can’t just keep this information to myself. I can’t be selfish about this.” I was like, “I’m going to do it.” It’s funny, you brought up people that have all these years of experience and don’t feel good enough. When I was designing my book cover for my book, actually I sent it out to my email list, basically just, “Hey, what do you think about these covers? Let me know your feedback,” and things like that. My cousin who was studying for her PhD in psychology at the time, she actually called me up out of the blue and was like, “Hey, so heard about this book. Tell me about it.” I’m like, “Yeah. Oh my gosh,” sharing all this information with her. Then she’s like, “Yeah. So, I think you need to change the title because you’re not a therapist. You shouldn’t be writing this book.” I was like, “What?” So, it’s funny that you bring that up because that’s something that happened to me. I mean, I had a family member come at me like that and say that. And so, imposter syndrome was very real. All of that fear was very real, but I just felt so passionately about what I had to share and how it could help people that I didn’t want to keep it to myself, even if I was scared.
Rob Kosberg:
I love that. Thanks for telling that story by the way, because I could see that coming a mile away. As soon as you started, I go, “Oh, I know what happened there.” In Australia, they call it the tall poppy syndrome, right? In America, I don’t think we have that as much, but in other places there is that sense where everybody should be chopped down to the same size. Yet there is that in human beings, as evidenced by your own family member that was pulling you back from something that you were really driven to do on your own. So again, congratulations for doing it because even that, I mean, that was a stumbling block that you had to overcome. Was that a challenge initially? Did you go, “Oh, wait a minute. I mean, maybe she’s right.” Or was it just like, “Oh hell no.” I mean, how’d you address that?
Jessi Beyer:
Yeah, it was definitely a stumbling block. It was definitely a moment where I was like, “Oh man, is she right? Should I change this? Should I do this?” I was lucky in that I already had a lot of really good endorsements and reviews from experts in the field of psychology under my belt. So I was able to take her feedback and then be like, “Okay, well look at what this professor from Harvard Med School said, look what this author said, look what this person said,” and their words bolstered me and helped carry me forward, but it was definitely a moment of like, “Oh God,” for sure.
Rob Kosberg:
Good for you. Thanks for sharing that because it’s good for people to hear that. It’s like, yes, you’re on the other side of it. You see all the benefits and the positivity that came from it, but that doesn’t mean it was easy for you to get to the other side of it. There were even some people that were close to you that maybe weren’t so positive. I mean, I think that happens to authors, that happens to anybody that tries to do something, make a difference, standout, try to help whether from great motives or not. It doesn’t matter in one sense, who knows what our internal motives are. Sometimes we don’t know that ourselves and yet we’re so easily judged by those on the outside. So, I think everybody faces that. I’m sure somebody listening is helped by that because you work with authors as well as you just said, which is interesting. I didn’t know all the details of that. I’d like to learn a little bit more, but I speak to a lot of people, especially in the professional spaces, like attorneys, doctors, et cetera. They’re so worried about what their colleagues think about what they wrote. I’m like, “Who cares? You didn’t write it for your colleagues. They’re not your audience. They’re not the people that you’re trying to help here,” and yet it is so in their head. Is that something that you see a lot in your industry as well?
Jessi Beyer:
It is. It’s so hard because I work with a lot of coaches and mindset business life coaches, and things like that and so there’s this inherent, “I don’t have enough certifications. I don’t have enough clients. I don’t have enough testimonials.” That fear of, “Okay, am I going to put this out there and people are going to be like, ‘What are you doing writing a book?'” What I always tell people is that you are the expert of your own story. Your story told in the right way, has the power to change someone else’s life. That’s why you got into business. Whether that’s life coaching, mindset coaching, whatever, you have something, and you have one, two, three clients whose lives you’ve changed. That’s enough for you to start putting a story together and start putting your work out there. So, I second everything you said about thinking about your clients and your readers and helping them and writing to them and letting what other people in your industry that are other experts with you may think. That’s definitely a really good piece of advice to share.
Rob Kosberg:
Yeah. Beautiful. Love that. Okay. So, let’s go back to, How to Heal for just a second and then we’ll circle back around to the book. Everybody has their secret sauce or their steps to success. What do you lay out in How to Heal for somebody that is struggling with trauma and maybe the traditional route hasn’t worked exactly? Lay out what that path at least looks like for that individual.
Jessi Beyer:
The book is split up into three sections that go somewhat sequentially. So, the first section is about trauma and really helping people understand what it is because it is not just something that happens in your head. It’s not something you can just get over. There’s a very sematic component. There’s lots of relational components. There’s so much to it. I really break down what trauma is, what do the diagnoses surrounding trauma actually mean? Taking out the psychobabble and all the fancy words and just really putting it in plain terms so people can understand, “Okay, this is what I’ve been through. This is where I’m at. It now makes sense why I’m experiencing these types of things in my life.” The middle section is the bulk of the book, and that’s about the different natural and integrative therapies that I researched and that I share with my readers. So we’re looking at things like equine assisted therapy, dance movement therapy, craniosacral therapy, EMDR, lots of different options that include things like movement and being outdoors and working with animals and things that can really help address that somatic component of trauma instead of just sitting and talking about it, which really addresses the mental component of trauma. The final section is two parts, one of which is okay, you’ve healed now what? What do you do now? Because life looks completely different than it did five, 10 years ago. So how do you handle that? And then also, how do you help someone who’s struggling with their mental health? I have a lot of readers who pick up my book because their daughter or their partner or their cousin is struggling, and they want to know how to help them. And so, I wanted to include that information for people who are on the other side, as well as trying to help someone. So, in a nutshell, that’s what the book looks like. For me, it’s important for people to go through that process of, “Okay, I get what I’m going through. Here’s some different options for how I can heal. Let me see which one feels right to me. Then go explore that,” and then great. How do I move through this? And then how do I help people who are in the same boat that I was?
Rob Kosberg:
Love it. Great. What an awesome simple flow. It sounds like they can pick up where they feel the most need, or they could go through it in a very linear way, I imagine as well.
Jessi Beyer:
It’s not liked a novel or a memoir where you have to go chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, but I encourage people to choose what they’re interested in. If they’re really interested in animals, then read through the chapters about canine assisted therapy and equine assisted therapy. But it’s all about finding that path to healing that’s right for them. If they want to read the book in a complete out of order, that’s totally fine. That’s my goal with why I wrote it.
Rob Kosberg:
One more thing about the order or structure of the book. A lot of people oftentimes will want to write their story first and then fit in the lessons that they learned, et cetera, through their story. It doesn’t sound like you did that. It sounds like you wrote based on where people are at and based on need, which I really love. Talk me through like, how does your story fit in and integrate into the book itself?
Jessi Beyer:
That’s a really good point that you bring up. Chapter one is my story of trauma. I wanted to start the book that way and have it in a condensed form to build that relationship with my readers. Something that I talk about with a lot of my clients and students is the doctor in a white lab coat syndrome, where if you are the expert and you have your badge and your PhD, it can be hard for your readers to relate to you because they don’t see themselves in your story. So, I wanted to open the book and be like, “Hey, here is every single broken part of me. Here’s everything I’ve been through. I’ve been in your shoes. I’ve gotten out of it. Now, it’s time for you to do the same thing.” So, I dump my story right up front for people to relate to me and build a relationship with me and trust me a little bit that I know what I’m talking about for the rest of the book. And then as I’m talking about the different therapies and talking about the different parts of trauma, I’ll insert sections of my story. For example, I was talking about dance movement therapy, for example. I was like, “Hey, when I went to dance movement therapy, this is what it was like. It was really uncomfortable. This is why,” and really just being open and talking about my experience with those different things. But like you were saying, the focus of my book is not my story, because as much as my story can help people, readers don’t really care about my story. They care about what my story can do for them. And so, I really wanted to focus on the lessons and the knowledge and the impact that I could have on the readers. And then just pop in little bits of my own story, where they were relevant and could help elaborate on a point I was making.
Rob Kosberg:
Yeah, beautiful. For those that are listening, that’s a great structure. What you’ve laid out there is a great way for people to think about it. Obviously, if you have case studies or examples, and you can even use stories from history or sports or fill in the blank as well. But obviously you had both. You had your story that I love what you did in the beginning to build that relationship. And then you integrated it throughout where there was a good fit with it. So, love that. That’s great for people listening as to how they can think about their story. And most people, at least the people that I work with and perhaps the people that you work with as well, they’re not writing an autobiography, but they don’t know that. They just start thinking about their story and they want to tell their story, but at the same time, they don’t know how the story needs to integrate in such a way to really make a difference in people’s lives. And so that’s a great example of how that can be, so. Love that. So why don’t we shift gears for a second? I mentioned to you before, Publish Pro Profit is about obviously your expertise and what you’ve done and all of that, but it’s also about using a book to make a difference. And how has your book made a difference for your business? How has your book attracted clients into your business or gotten you speaking or that thing? Share if you could a couple of things. One, any stories that you have that might be inspiring for people, but also how do you use it on a regular basis? What your plan is with your book to grow your business and attract people?
Jessi Beyer:
Absolutely. So not just on dramatic, but my book changed everything for my business. It completely revolutionized how successful I was in business. So, for context, I started as a speaker. Before I wrote my book, I was speaking, and I was talking about mental health in as many places as I could. And so, the year before I wrote my book or I published my book, I was the first year I was speaking, and I speak on college campuses. They’re easy gigs to get in my opinion. And I relate pretty well to them because I’m somewhat closer to that age group. And so that first year, or that first two semesters, I spoke about two times this semester. And in terms of rate, that ranged anywhere from like $150 for a presentation up to a few thousand dollars for a presentation. So, it was all over the place. There was no consistency. I was barely making any money. And then my book came out and the semester after my book came out, I spoke 15 times that semester. So, it changed everything, and I honestly just attribute it to the fact that I could say that I was an author in my speaking pitches. That’s really the only thing I did differently between that first year and that second year of speaking was, I said, “Hey, my name is Jessi Beyer and I’m a mental health advocate and the author of How to Heal. I had so many people be like, “Oh my gosh, I checked out your book. It looks amazing. Would love to have you come speak.” And I really just feel like that credibility piece changed everything in terms of getting those speaking gigs. So that’s the first story and now, like I said, I’m speaking about a dozen times a semester. It’s a ton of fun. I’ve gotten to work with campuses all across the U.S. and Canada, great students, great presentations, great discussions with people. I love that part of my work, honestly, and I’m excited to start traveling again now that we’re getting out of COVID. But then the other thing that I’m really excited about, you mentioned how I’m using my book on a daily basis, and this is coming up at the time of the recording. Maybe once this goes live, it’ll be after, but with World Mental Health Day coming up in October, I’m actually hosting an awareness event in conjunction with some first responders and athletes in the Seattle area and doing a street team style event where we’re out and we’re talking to people and passing out notes related to mental health, and really just engaging with the community and the media members. And I’m hoping to turn that into not necessarily a long-term thing, but a repeated thing in different cities, with different groups of people. So, I’m super excited about that. That’s not as much about revenue per se, but it is definitely about impact and message spreading and getting things out there. So those are the two stories that come to mind right away, but it really did change everything for my business, got me way more opportunities, both paid speaking gigs, as well as publicity opportunities and I’m excited to keep working with it as I go forward.
Rob Kosberg:
Yeah. I love that. That’s cool. As far as what you’re doing, let’s talk for a second about how you’re using your book and what you’re doing on the streets of Seattle, et cetera. You mentioned that you’re working with athletes and perhaps influencers, et cetera. Have you used your book to connect with those various people, or have you thought about ways maybe that you can use the authority your book gives you to put you at, or even above some of those influencers and say, “Hey, you want to be with me in this endeavor thing.”
Jessi Beyer:
Absolutely. Again, a similar thing when I was doing outreach to these different team managers, as well as to individual athlete managers, for example. I said right up front, “Hey, I’m a number one bestselling author. I’m a Seattle-based author. I’m a local author. However, I phrased it in this specific email and really playing on that fact that, “Hey, I have my own credibility in this area. I’m local, I’m involved, I’m an advocate. Let’s work together.” And I think when you have that book and you have that level of credibility, it’s a lot easier to get those types of legitimate partnerships and collaborations instead of, for example, an e-commerce brand coming to an influencer saying, “Hey, will you promote my product?” That’s totally great. I think influencer marketing is amazing. I’m not bashing that at all, but that author status is a little bit different. So, I lead with that in pretty much every conversation that I go into, because I think it does allow people to see you… I don’t want to use the word elevated, but in a more elevated way. You have more credibility; you have more expertise and people are more likely to work with you. So, I’ve definitely been putting that at the forefront of my conversations, sending out samples, giving people signed copies, like, “Hey, this is me. This is what I do. This is what I believe in,” and it has resulted in some amazing conversations and relationships for sure.
Rob Kosberg:
Yeah. Congratulations. I didn’t ask this, but and I don’t often, but I do sometimes, and I think this would be a really appropriate time. So, I asked you, how has your book impacted your business and helped you to grow your authority, your expertise in the community? I’m sure that you get feedback from people on how your book has helped them. And in one sense, there can be no greater reward than knowing that you helped somebody. Can you talk about that a little bit? I mean, what kind of emails do you get or what kind of people are reaching out and saying, “Man, if it wasn’t for your book,” fill in the blank.
Jessi Beyer:
Absolutely. I’m going to try not to cry during this because I often cry when I get these types of emails from people. But it’s really interesting. When I was approaching the publishing process of my book and I was setting goals, I really made it a point to say, “Okay, my definition of success with this book is I want to change one trauma survivor’s life. One. If I can change one person’s life, then all of this was worth it and I don’t really care about the numbers beyond that, to an extent. Of course you care about the numbers a little bit, but one of my launch team members before my book even came out, she got an advanced copy and she read through it and she left me this multiple paragraphs long Facebook comment in our launch team Facebook group saying how my book changed her life and her understanding of herself and her trauma. She had more grace for herself, more appreciation, more empathy, more understanding, all of these things. And I was absolutely sobbing when I read this because I knew this woman personally. She was a friend of mine and I was like, “Okay, I did it. I don’t care what happens at this launch now because I achieved my goal here. I helped one person.” I’m so blessed to say that’s not the only message I’ve gotten like that. I’ve gotten reviews and DMs and emails from people saying, “I feel like there’s hope now. I feel like there’re options. I feel like I’m actually heard and understood instead of just shoved a medication or a prescription for talk therapy or something like that.” I’d say for my speaking presentations, I’ve gotten DMs and emails afterwards from some of these students. The one that stands out the most of course, keeping everything anonymous, but I was at a presentation at a school in the middle of nowhere. They had no counselors on campus. And the semester before they actually had a student commit suicide in the middle of campus. And so, when I was speaking with this event coordinator, she was like, “Please come. We need someone here to talk about it.” And one of the students came up to me after my presentation. She was like, “I never have heard someone speak so openly about mental health before. I now feel like I can ask for the help that I need from the people that I need it most from.” And it’s moments like that where all the money and the numbers and everything just fades away. And you’re like, “This is why I do what I do.” And you’re absolutely right. Those types of messages are the best moments as an author, for sure.
Rob Kosberg:
Yeah. Well, congratulations. I love what you’re doing and you’re super passionate about it, which obviously it means it’s coming directly out of your heart. So why don’t we give some links so people can get a copy of your book. Of course, they can on Amazon, but Jessi, where do we want to send them and to get more information about the amazing stuff you’re doing?
Jessi Beyer:
Absolutely. So, my website is Jessibeyerinternational.com, but you can learn more about my book there. You can also learn more about some of the services I provide for other aspiring authors. And then if you want to connect on Instagram, I am at Jessibeyerinternational. I have recently started into Reels. And so, if you’re into really bad dancing, come hang out on Instagram. It’ll be amusing for everyone.
Rob Kosberg:
Love that. Love that. Jessi, thanks so much. Great having you on. Love your passion for what you’re doing. And obviously you’re making a huge difference in people’s lives. So JessiBeyerinternational.com. Best place for people to go and get some more information. So, thanks again.
Jessi Beyer:
Of course, thank you for having me.
Rob Kosberg:
Great. Love it. Great job. That was fun. It flowed so fast. I mean, just.
