How One Pharmacist Published a Book—and Sold 700 Copies in 6 Weeks

by | Jun 14, 2017 | Non Traditional Pharmacy Careers, Salary, Side Hustle

Timothy Ulbrich is a pharmacist who had a big goal.

After working with his wife to pay off $200,000 in non-mortgage debt and creating a successful blog at yourfinancialpharmacist.com, Timothy knew that he wanted to share his message about personal finance with more pharmacists.

He started talking to lots of pharmacists and found out that, despite earning a six-figure income, many needed help managing their finances. He consistently heard pharmacists say, “I am living paycheck to paycheck.”

Timothy always says that he is a pharmacist by day and a financial nerd by night. Plus, he has a ton of personal experience with paying off debt and working toward financial freedom.

He could relate to what these pharmacists were feeling.

So, he decided to write a book.

His book, he decided, would be unlike any other personal finance book on the market. It would provide quality personal finance advice tailored specifically to pharmacists.

It would be exactly what pharmacy schools were NOT teaching.

And, it would focus on one of the things that resonated most with the readers of his blog: one of his most successful posts, entitled My Top 10 Financial Mistakes.

By his own admission, Timothy made some mistakes with money.

He wanted to prevent people from making the same mistakes that he did, and he figured that this book would be a great way to do it.

And that’s how the idea for Tim’s new book, Seven Figure Pharmacist, was born.

Setting a Goal

Timothy and his co-author, Tim Church, who is a pharmacist at the West Palm Beach VA, started outlining the book in summer 2016.

He and his co-author tag teamed the project and decided to emphasize the pharmacist perspective by including stories that are relevant to pharmacists.

They finished writing the book in six months (which Timothy said he would not recommend—a year or 18 months would have been much more comfortable considering that has a full-time job as an Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice and Associate Dean of Workforce Development and Practice Advancement at Northeast Ohio Medical University).

Because of his full-time job, the rigorous writing schedule was tough to stick to at times. But Tim got through it by creating a prioritized list of tasks and staying accountable.

Creating a Buzz

Timothy hired me as a coach to help him through the complex task of writing his book and figuring out the best way to promote it.

Because Timothy and his co-author decided to self-publish the book, they also needed to come up with a marketing and promotion plan.

Ultimately, Timothy and his co-author decided to take a grassroots approach to marketing because it seemed right for their audience and their brand. Eventually, Timothy began to see the power of that approach and began to maximize the tactics that were working well.

Timothy learned how to use social media platforms for optimal marketing, created a website, drove traffic to it, started a blog and booked speaking engagements.

His coaching experience helped him to prioritize more efficiently and to make the best possible decisions—which he believes led to a better end product.

Most importantly, Timothy grew more confident in his product and became more comfortable with selling it.

At first, he didn’t feel comfortable jumping on a Facebook live video and engaging with his audience with little preparation. Now, he is fine with it because he understands that video is more engaging for his target market than reading a blog post.

Also, Timothy understands the true worth of his book.

As part of their review process, Timothy and his co-author created a group of 50 pharmacists to give them feedback on the content, title and promotion plan.

One of Timothy’s former students was a part of that group. After reviewing one of the chapters, she told Timothy that she took a specific action based on what she read.

Timothy said hearing this news provided him with the assurance that the book was truly valuable and achieve its intended purpose, which motivated him to continue with the project when the going got tough.

The Final Product

Timothy and his co-author did a pre-launch in March 2017 and officially released the book on April 17, 2017. They sold more than 700 copies in the first six weeks.

They also went on the road to four Ohio colleges and the Ohio state pharmacy convention to promote the book—which they jokingly called their “Book Launch Tour.”

Timothy said he is hearing great stories about how the book has helped people relieve stress in their lives. He’s even had people tell him that they are taking the book on vacation with them.

As word starts to spread about the book, Timothy and his co-author plan to reach out to pharmacy schools about incorporating the book into their curriculum.

To find out how to order your copy of Timothy’s book, visit www.sevenfigurepharmacist.com. For more personal finance advice for pharmacists, you can also check out Timothy’s blog at yourfinancialpharmacist.com.

Tim and Tim are gracious enough to allow any reader from The Happy PharmD to get 15% off the price of any package. Just use the coupon code BARKER on their page.

Achieving financial freedom is a great goal for any pharmacist to have. If you want to learn more about how you and other pharmacists can create their best life and achieve career satisfaction and financial freedom, check out my website, thehappypharmd.com.




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