On this episode of Author Hour, Eric Jorgenson sits down with Deneen Allen, founder of FireCircle and creator of the 5x5 Method, to talk about her new book The FireCircle 5x5 Method.

Deneen spent 25 years building tourism and hospitality businesses across Canada before distilling that expertise into a digital program, and resisting her team's push to put it in book form for three years.

In this conversation, she shares why she finally said yes, how the book now functions as both a marketing tool and a companion guidebook to her digital program, the "secret code" funnel she built to convert readers into FireCircle members, and why she now wishes she'd written it sooner.

A candid, useful conversation for any operator weighing whether their expertise belongs in a book.

Gui Costin, founder and CEO of Dakota, joins Eric Jorgenson to talk about writing two books with Scribe—The Dakota Way and Be Kind—and why he now calls authoring “the single best thing I’ve ever done for the business and for people.”

Gui walks through the procrastination and self-doubt that nearly stalled his first Scribe book, the “world-class ghostwriter” who got him through it, and the Dakotaisms (“turn your brain off,” “throw your hat over the wall”) that finally pushed the book over the line. He explains how Dakota uses signed copies at every live event, why a book makes you a subject matter expert and an authority rather than a salesperson, and how showing up on LinkedIn pays off in unexpected ways, including a 20-years-no-contact college teammate who somehow knew his Starbucks order.

The episode closes with Gui’s blunt advice to any CEO on the fence: figure out what you’re passionate about, call Scribe, and turn your brain off.

On this episode of Author Hour, host Eric Jorgenson sits down with entrepreneur, banker, and first-time author Eddy Arriola to talk about his new book, It's All About Relationships.

Eddy shares the story of his sold-out launch event at Books and Books, the Miami independent bookstore he has loved since he was old enough to drive, and the unexpected ways readers have responded, including a Cornell donor who ordered 50 personalized copies for the lacrosse team.

He reflects on the discipline of writing alone, the choice to publish with Scribe, and the magic of putting his old high school history teacher up on stage with him at the launch.

For any leader who has ever thought about writing a book, this conversation is a master class in why the hard road is the right one.