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Entrepreneur to Author

Entrepreneur to Author

By: Scott A. MacMillan
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A clear, concise, and compelling mix of first-person narrative and expert guests that takes the listener on a journey of writing and publishing their expertise-based, nonfiction book. From content creation to story strategy. From building authority to growing a business. From Entrepreneur to Author.Copyright Scott A. MacMillan Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • E2A 109: Your Book's Main Character Isn't You — Marisa Solis and Elizabeth Dougherty on Writing for the Reader

    E2A 109: Your Book's Main Character Isn't You — Marisa Solis and Elizabeth Dougherty on Writing for the Reader
    Jun 23 2026
    In this episode of The Entrepreneur to Author Podcast, your host Scott MacMillan speaks with book coaches and developmental editors Marisa Solis and Elizabeth Dougherty, co-founders of Book Structure Pros and authors of The Complete Expert-to-Author Guide: Plan, Write, and Publish Your Non-Fiction Book. Drawing on 65+ years in publishing and work on over 600 nonfiction books, they explain why subject matter experts are an underused source of powerful prescriptive (advice-based) nonfiction, and why publishers care as much about an author’s platform as the quality of the manuscript. They emphasize that experts don’t need to be “writers” if they follow a clear process, and share how they themselves used the same 25-activity framework they teach to plan and write their own book.

    Central to their philosophy is the idea that in nonfiction the reader—not the author—is the main character. Everything from topic choice to structure and anecdotes should serve the reader’s needs and problems. Before writing a single word, they advise experts to: understand their target reader and market, define the specific problem their book solves, develop a solid outline, and start building an author platform—framed as “community” to make it less daunting, especially for introverts. They also reframe the book as a business tool and calling card that drives speaking, consulting, and impact, rather than the primary source of revenue, and leave listeners with one actionable mindset shift: stop writing “about something” and start writing for someone.

    SHOW LINKS

    Pre-order the book: The Complete Expert to Author Guide

    GUEST BIO

    Elizabeth Dougherty and Marisa Solis have been in publishing for a combined 65 years and have worked on more than 600 books. As coaches and editors, they're on a mission to help aspiring authors change the world one book at a time. They are the coauthors of The Complete Expert-to-Author Guide: Plan, Write, and Publish Your Nonfiction Book. Through their boutique editorial services company, Book Structure Pros, they guide subject-matter experts through authorship — offering book coaching, developmental editing, manuscript assessments, and book proposal development, along with customized workshops, webinars, and speaking events.

    CONNECT WITH MARISA & ELIZABETH

    Website: bookstructurepros.com
    LinkedIn (Marisa): linkedin.com/in/marisasolis
    LinkedIn (Elizabeth): linkedin.com/in/eldougherty
    Instagram: instagram.com/bookstructurepros

    CONNECT WITH SCOTT
    entrepreneurtoauthor.com
    grammarfactory.com

    LinkedIn (@scottmacmillan): linkedin.com/in/scottmacmillan
    Instagram (@scottamacmillan) instagram.com/scottamacmillan
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    28 mins
  • E2A 108 Owning Mid-Market BI in the AI Era: How Feliks Golenko Turned His Book into a Category Asset

    E2A 108 Owning Mid-Market BI in the AI Era: How Feliks Golenko Turned His Book into a Category Asset
    Jun 9 2026
    In this episode of The Entrepreneur to Author Podcast, host Scott MacMillan speaks with Feliks Golenko, founder and CEO of MultiBase and author of Decide: An AI-Enabled Framework for Mid-Market Leaders to Turn Data into Profit.

    Feliks shares how three and a half decades and 1,500+ BI projects led to his six-step DECIDE framework (Discover, Engage, Clarify, Illustrate, Develop, Embed), why he focuses on mid-sized companies, and how working directly with entrepreneurs drives faster, more meaningful impact. He explains why most organizations skip straight to “Develop,” creating “perfect chaos” instead of clarity and profit.

    Feliks discusses how he distilled decades of experience into a focused, practical book while running a busy consultancy, why the hardest part was deciding what to leave out, and how his 64-year-old mother getting her driver’s license inspired him to finally write.

    SHOW LINKS

    Get the book: Amazon


    GUEST BIO Feliks Golenko is the founder and CEO of MultiBase, a Business Intelligence and Decision Intelligence consultancy that has helped hundreds of mid-sized European companies turn their data into better, faster decisions. Over more than three decades and 1,500+ BI projects, Feliks has worked at the intersection of business strategy, technology, and human decision-making. Through MultiBase he developed the DECIDE framework — Discover, Engage, Clarify, Illustrate, Develop, Embed — that helps CEOs and CFOs of mid-market companies move beyond dashboards to embedded, AI-enabled decision-making. He is the author of Decide: An AI-Enabled Framework for Mid-Market Leaders to Turn Data into Profit and lives and works in Germany.

    CONNECT WITH FELIKS

    Websites: feliksgolenko.com & multibase.de
    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/feliks-golenko

    CONNECT WITH SCOTT

    entrepreneurtoauthor.com
    grammarfactory.com

    LinkedIn (@scottmacmillan): linkedin.com/in/scottmacmillan
    Instagram (@scottamacmillan) instagram.com/scottamacmillan
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • E2A107 From Everything to Essential: The Focus Behind The Connect Effect with Kylie Paatsch

    E2A107 From Everything to Essential: The Focus Behind The Connect Effect with Kylie Paatsch
    May 26 2026
    In this episode of The Entrepreneur to Author Podcast, your host Scott MacMillan speaks with leadership coach, speaker, and facilitator Kylie Paatsch about her new book, The Connect Effect: How to Build Loyalty, Ownership, and Engagement with Your Leaders. Drawing on three decades working with senior leaders across Australia and internationally, Kylie explains why she focuses on “leaders of leaders” and how often mid-to-senior level leaders are underdeveloped and left to “just know” what to do. She unpacks her core Know–Show–Grow framework, revealing that even experienced leaders frequently don’t know their people as deeply as they think they do—beyond surface-level details to what truly motivates them, worries them, and helps them thrive. Kylie also explores the risks of stepping in and micromanaging instead of intentionally growing each leader based on their confidence and capability.

    Kylie shares the vulnerable bathroom-floor moment that opens her book and why she chose to lead with such a personal story: to prove she understands the pressures of senior leadership and to model the kind of real, relational connection she advocates. She talks candidly about her writing journey—from trying to cram “20 leadership books into one” to narrowing in on the critical role of one-on-one relationships—and how the process sharpened and expanded her thinking, including evolving her “show you care” ideas to include presence alongside kind love and firm love. Kylie explains why she chose a book as a scalable, permanent resource and how she now uses it as both a companion to her coaching, workshops, and keynotes and a door-opener into new industries. For listeners sitting on a book idea or framework of their own, she offers a clear challenge: stop waiting for the perfect moment and just start, because writing will deepen your framework, strengthen your voice, and grow your impact.

    SHOW LINKS
    To receive a chapter sample head to https://kyliepaatsch.com.au/book/

    GUEST BIO
    Kylie Paatsch is a Leadership Coach, Speaker, and Author of The Connect Effect: How to Build Loyalty, Ownership and Engagement with Your Leaders.
    With three decades of leadership experience and twenty years of coaching and facilitating, Kylie has worked with thousands of senior leaders, their teams and their organisations across a wide range of industries throughout Australia and internationally. She has led at every level from frontline through to executive and knows firsthand what it takes for leaders to get the best out of themselves and the people they lead and work with.

    CONNECT WITH KYLIE
    Website: kyliepaatsch.com.au
    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kyliepaatsch
    Instagram: instagram.com/kyliepaatschleadership

    CONNECT WITH SCOTT
    entrepreneurtoauthor.com
    grammarfactory.com

    LinkedIn (@scottmacmillan): linkedin.com/in/scottmacmillan
    Instagram (@scottamacmillan) instagram.com/scottamacmillan
    Show More Show Less
    18 mins
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