Alexandra Watkins is the author of the branding bestseller, “Hello, My Name is Awesome… How to Create Brand Names That Stick” (an Inc. Magazine Top 10 Marketing Book). She is also the founder of “Eat My Words”; the wildly creative naming firm behind brand names including Burger King’s new Mac ‘n Cheetos. And she also named Wendy’s Baconator while contracting for another firm. Wow!

In this interview, Alexandra shared with us her source of income as a Thought Leader… Here’s what she said:

“So, book sales and art. A lot of people don’t know this, I knew this because my parents were authors. Among other things, um, do you don’t make any money from book sales, I make like a buck a book. I think if you have a traditional publisher, if you sell, you’ll make more. But you won’t be able to get your book entered into prestigious award shows, like my book is an Inc Top 10 marketing book, and never would have been on that list. If you want outstanding works of literature awards, self published books aren’t accepted to those types of things. My book was also in airport bookstores, you can’t do that if you’re self published. So there’s definitely a trade off. I’m not making money by having a traditional publisher, other than $1. How I make money is that the book brings me clients.”

Thanks for sharing that, Alexandra! She also shared her piece of advice for starting content creators out there…

“I would advise you to do what I did in order to find something that nobody else is doing. There were already naming firms… but nobody was doing my style of names. They were all firms that hired linguists, so they were hiring people out of academia. And I came out of advertising. I never had any linguistic training at all. So my names were different. They were based on concepts.”

Definitely! There’s nothing viewers love more than authenticity. Find your passion and start there. It’s one thing to be inspired by someone else’s content, but it’s always better to have your own.

Alexandra also shared her thoughts and advice for a more established content creators out there….

“Have a sense of humor. It’s so sorely lacking in business. People take themselves far too seriously. And I think it’s great with COVID where we’ve all let our guard down a little bit, we’re showing ourselves in our homes or dressing more casually. And that’s helping people to be more of themselves and their to us is really like a hackneyed word, authentic. So when you have a sense of humor, it goes so far. So, don’t take yourself so seriously.”

It’s true. People love what they can enjoy. So have a sense of humor, and people will love your content. Thanks for that Alexandra!

Before this interview ended, Alexandra shared her last words for content creators in general…

“I would say it again, don’t be afraid of humor. I think that’s what is really magnetic. And for me, it’s choosing your platform. Like where my people are. So that’s where I go. And it’s nice to be affiliated and associated with people there.”

Great advice! We agree, get started and choose your platform. That’s the start for your content’s success.

Alexandra also shared her experience on what it’s like being on the show! Here’s what she said:

“Thank you for asking me so many questions that nobody’s ever asked me. That’s what I love. Because I do podcasts all the time. And almost every question you asked me, no one’s ever asked me. So that was really refreshing. I mean, that totally energized me.”

Thank you for such positive feedback, Alexandra. It was our pleasure having the interview with you and we’re glad you had a great time!