When we published Right for the Role, I figured John would sell a few books, make a couple of actors cry and call it a day. Instead, the four-time Emmy-winning casting legend turned it into a full-blown second act. His memoir didn’t just tell the story of his decades casting ER, The West Wing and Shameless—it completely rewired his creative life.

After decades shaping other people’s performances, John finally stepped into the spotlight. The book sparked a podcast, packed acting schools, earned a spot in the Studio City Barnes & Noble window and somehow made him Instagram-famous (his words, not mine). At 78, he’s directing plays in New York, reconnecting with old collaborators and discovering that telling his own story was the most powerful casting choice of all.

In our conversation, John opens up about how writing forced him to drop his trademark privacy, what it’s like to relive your life with a co-writer on Zoom and how Right for the Role became both a calling card and a creative revival. He says the book didn’t give him a new life—it gave him his old one back. Which, for someone who’s spent decades defining what it means to be “right for the role,” feels about as poetic as it gets.

Episode Highlights

• How Right for the Role became a podcast, a tour and a rebirth
• Why John swears he “discovered no one” (but, come on, he totally did)
• What it’s like to publish your first book in your seventies and go viral for it
• The Smoke House signing that turned into an LA industry reunion
• Why he believes creative people need to tell their own stories
• How a memoir turned a quiet retirement into a full creative renaissance
• Why he now feels right for every role—including grandfather

Dan Nicholson is just the founder and CEO of Nth Degree CPAs.

He’s also one of my favorite Legacy Launch Pad clients.

One of the reasons for this favoritism is that I had the privilege of watching him go from being just another CPA to becoming the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of Rigging the Game. As a result of the book, he now commands up to $20,000 a speaking gig and has generated over seven figures in revenue from the ripple effects of authorship.

How did he do it? Well, he had a system—and you could say he rigged it.

First, he pre-sold hundreds of copies to his network before the manuscript was even complete, ensuring the project would be profitable before it launched. Then he started circulating the book with a focus on speaking and watched his speaking fees skyrocket. Masterminds and conferences have even built entire events around his book!

Now prospects arrive at his CPA firm already pre-sold on hiring them, referrals flow in at record levels and his close rates have jumped significantly—even as he raised his prices by 30%. And that’s not all: thanks to his book, he's also doubled his media appearances, landed more podcast interviews and attracted new clients not only to Nth Degree CPAs but for his other ventures, including Certainty U and Certainty News.

Listen in to find out why Dan’s system rigging leaves me in awe.

Episode Highlights:

• How Dan pre-sold his book and turned it into a seven-figure revenue generator
• The challenges of writing authentically and why ghostwriters didn’t work for him
• Why Rigging the Game resonates with entrepreneurs tired of cookie-cutter advice
• How speaking gigs, referrals and media appearances multiplied after publication
• The real difference between relationship-based and transactional businesses and how books impact each
• The systems Dan created to get 80% of his early readers to leave Amazon reviews
• Why giving away free copies can sometimes be more valuable than selling them
• The philosophy of eliminating downside risk to guarantee upside

Key Takeaways:

• A book is not a lottery ticket—it’s a system and success requires planning
• Reviews not vanity bulk sales are the most powerful long-term marketing
• For service-based businesses credibility from a book allows you to raise rates and close more clients
• Media exposure and speaking opportunities don’t happen by accident—you must design the outcomes

I had a front-row seat to Bonnie Habyan’s transformation. A seasoned CMO with over 20 years in financial services, Bonnie wrote The World According to Bess—a book about her mother's wisdom that we released on her mom's 91st birthday, just months before she passed.

In our conversation, Bonnie walks me through all that the book opened up for her: she landed a TEDx talk that now has 350,000+ views, launched her podcast This Is How SHE Did It and became a keynote speaker on resilience and personal brand power.

We dive into the unexpected wins—Barnes & Noble book signings, knowing her book is available at Target and having strangers sharing intimate stories about their own mothers after hearing her speak. She also reveals how the writing process helped her understand her relationship with her mom better. In the end, she explains how the book scratched an itch that no CMO title ever could—giving her something authentically hers that will outlive her while also teaching her that her superpower is tenacity.

She opens up about being terrified at first—worried about her employer's reaction, about being vulnerable, about putting herself out there. But as she explains, pushing through that fear brought unquantifiable rewards: confidence, legacy and the fulfillment of bucket-list dreams she'd had since childhood.

Topics Discussed:

• Why book sales don't matter: How the real value comes from credibility, platform, and opportunities—not revenue from copies sold
• From book to TEDx stage: How The World According to Bess became the foundation for Bonnie's TEDx talk, which garnered 350,000+ views and created deep connections with audiences
• The power of pre-launch marketing: Building a reader group to generate reviews before publication day, ensuring the book launches with social proof that stays on Amazon forever
• Overcoming fear and self-doubt: Bonnie's journey from worrying about her employer's reaction and being vulnerable to embracing confidence and not caring about naysayers
• The book as connection machine: How strangers approached Bonnie after her TEDx talk, sharing intimate stories about their own mothers and revealing the impact of her work
• Understanding family through writing: How the process of writing the book gave Bonnie deeper insight into her mother's love language, upbringing and their relationship
• Discovering your superpower: How the book-writing process revealed that Bonnie's superpower is tenacity and persistence
• The gift that keeps giving: Unexpected moments like seeing the book at Target, doing book club talks and receiving messages from readers on the beach
• Finding your tribe: The importance of surrounding yourself with supporters rather than naysayers during the creative process
• Legacy over career advancement: Why the book's impact on Bonnie's personal fulfillment and legacy mattered more than advancing her CMO career
• Vulnerability and authenticity: Putting personal stories into the world and learning to care less about criticism
• The book cover moment: How seeing the final cover design was the "aha" moment that brought everything together
• Bucket list achievements: Checking off childhood dreams of writing a book, creating a podcast and delivering a TED talk—all stemming from the book