Why we wrote books (and what it actually takes)

“Sometimes when things feel stuck, it’s not a problem of how do I get this going. It’s a problem of who is the right person that’s going to jump start this.”

Two books, two very different paths. With Sasha on vacation, Chris and Jonathan go behind the scenes on both of their books. The Business Playbook is Chris’s framework for documenting and delegating what you do. Processes is Jonathan’s children’s book about a hamster named Terry, who writes down how she runs her wheel so someone else can take over and she can climb out. Chris calls it a business book masquerading as a children’s book.

Processes started as a domain name. Years ago, Chris mashed “processes” and “systems” together into a new word and bought the URL. Jonathan told him it was dumb. Years later, as a new dad scrolling through the company’s domain list, Jonathan saw it again, and this time it read like Dr. Seuss. The first half of the story came out in one winter night on his phone. The second half took two more years and a ferry ride to Uruguay. Jonathan reads the whole book on the episode and points out the Easter eggs hidden in the illustrations.

The Business Playbook came off the shelf three times before it became a book. The episode covers the full arc for both: why to write one at all, how the writing actually works, and what a book keeps doing for a business years after launch.

Key Takeaways:

• Decide what the book is for before you write it. Early on, Chris was asked a question every would-be author should answer first: what is the intent of this book? Selling a lot of copies, building authority to land speaking and consulting work, and chasing a bestseller list are very different goals, and they need very different launches. Chris’s friend Dr. Mindy Pelz told him traditional publishers generally want around 100,000 engaged email subscribers or social followers. They’re looking for distribution on top of the marketing you already bring, not to become your marketing engine.
• Let the idea get proven before it becomes a book. The first time Chris shelved The Business Playbook, he had a newsletter of a couple thousand people and a framework that still felt hazy. The second time, three or four weeks of working sessions made it clear the idea wasn’t a book yet, so it became Trainual’s certified consultant training instead, put to real use with around 500 customers. By the third attempt, thousands of companies were using Trainual and the brand had a real audience. Even the name came from that experience: “business playbook” was the phrase customers were already using on demos.
• Writing a book has its own structure, and it helps to have someone who knows it. Chris was good at short, punchy articles from years of writing a weekly Inc. column. His first draft was a collection of those articles, and the publishing service he hired told him to start over. A book flows more like a song, with a setup, a story, phases, and a payoff at the end. The process that worked was twice-weekly interview calls, transcripts reorganized into chapter drafts, and Chris rewriting each one in his own voice. It took four to six months. If you don’t have a guide, Jonathan recommends the book Write Useful Books.
• When a project is stuck, look for a who, not a how. Processes sat for years with a finished story and sketches that weren’t right. Jonathan self-published to save the 18 to 24 months a publisher would have added, but that also meant he had no publisher’s guidance. Then one sleepless night, an Amazon ad led him to an illustrator, Susanna. He messaged her at 4:40 a.m., they were on Zoom by 6:30, and they had a contract within a day or two. Her experience with other children’s books filled the gap a publisher would have filled. Chris ties it back to Dan Sullivan’s Who Not How.
• A book keeps paying off long after launch. Trainual launched The Business Playbook to its own audience, sending copies to customers and offering it free plus shipping, and it sold roughly 20 times the publishing service’s benchmark for success. Five years later, it’s still the framework behind Chris’s keynotes and podcast appearances, a gift for new employees and office visitors, and an authority signal that shows up when someone Googles him. Processes is a trade show giveaway, especially with Trainual’s childcare customers, and a staple of school and library readings. Parents still send Jonathan photos of reading it with their kids. In a mostly digital world, both are things that will still be around in ten years.

Chapter Markers:

[0:00] Cold open: the Doug theme song

[1:11] A new Ronzio single, written on the way to Antarctica

[3:17] The book episode

[4:36] The domain name Jonathan called dumb

[6:01] A hamster wheel that unfolds into a ladder

[6:55] Why a process comes before a system

[8:39] A children’s book for kids and their parents

[9:47] Childcare customers and marketing outside the box

[10:24] Easter eggs: Terry, Montell Jordan, and a pink elephant

[12:58] A reading of Processes

[14:32] “This is too short”: the publisher’s feedback

[15:41] The second half, written on a ferry

[18:45] Self-publishing and a 3:30 a.m. illustrator search

[20:52] Who, not how

[21:41] The Business Playbook comes off the shelf

[23:14] What is the book for?

[24:26] Shelved again: from book to consultant training

[25:28] Third time: an audience big enough

[26:35] Where the name “business playbook” came from

[29:31] Why a stack of articles isn’t a book

[31:53] A book on how to write books

[32:16] How the publishing service worked

[34:32] Cover, blurbs, and a foreword from Michael E. Gerber

[36:44] Launching to your own audience

[38:28] What a book does years after launch

[41:08] What’s next: more Terry, and Chris’s next book

[44:06] This week in Trainual

Resources:

Have a topic you’d like covered? Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn — Chris, Jonathan, and Sasha — or email chris@trainual.com.

Want more resources from this episode? We’ve got an episode recap, replay, and every template, process, and resource we covered right here: Organize Chaos

Trainual

Organize Chaos is where founders and leaders learn how to build businesses that scale. Hosted by Chris Ronzio, Jonathan Ronzio, and Sasha Robinson, each episode explores the systems, leadership, operations, performance, and AI strategies behind high-performing organizations. Through candid conversations, practical frameworks, and real-world experience, they help you replace chaos with clarity — so your business can grow with confidence.

This is one of a few podcasts from Trainual, a software platform that helps businesses build playbooks to train and grow their team. You can check out the rest of our shows here: Podcasts