How Stephan Aarstol Used His Book To Generate Massive Media Attention

Fun surprises since the book

Stephan Aarstol had already built an amazing company as the founder and CEO of Tower Paddle Boards. He went on Shark Tank and landed an investment from Mark Cuban, with Tower poised to expand from a paddleboard company into an entire beach lifestyle brand. Then he made a discovery about how work really gets done, and a book turned that idea into a global media phenomenon.

The Question That Changed Everything

Things were good, but Stephan saw a problem: he was working more than he needed to. He had carried his corporate habits over to his start-up, working from 9 to 5 whether he had anything to do or not, because that is how he was trained to work. So he asked himself a simple question.

"Could I get the same results while working less?"

Stephan Aarstol

The answer was yes. He found that when there was no need to put in hours or impress a boss, he was driven only by results, and his efficiency went through the roof. That mindset let him grow the company quickly, but with one catch: he was working less while his team was still grinding out a 9 to 5. So he asked a harder question: how do I get the entire company to work the way I am, help them have better balance in their lives, but also get more done?

What it came down to, he realized, was pressure. As an entrepreneur, he was always under pressure to get things done faster. He measured himself by results, not effort. Stephan realized he and his team were working too much, with no good reason, and decided it would be an interesting experiment to create the same incentives for his team and teach them to work the way he works.

The Five-Hour Workday Is Born

"We all expected that this would be an interesting thing to try out for a summer, and then go back to the normal eight-hour workdays." But that is not what happened. That summer was the most productive in Tower's history. Employees had more fun, spent more time on the water, and most importantly, got MORE work done in less time. There was no turning back, and the five-hour workday was born at Tower Paddle Boards.

The Missing Credential: A Book

As the five-hour workday propelled Tower to more and more success, Stephan felt compelled to share what he was learning. The fact that millions of companies were operating on the old model, which was less effective and worse for employees, drove him crazy. As he put it: "We wanted to create a lighthouse for business owners showing them there's another way to do things. We wanted to impact the way that companies do business."

Since online advertising had been so great for Tower, Stephan started with online publications to share his message. He piqued everyone's curiosity. Tens of thousands of people shared his articles, asking how this could possibly work. Was he paying less? Would this work in other industries? "That showed me this idea mattered. It proved that it resonated with people."

Having an idea that matters, however, is not what mainstream media cares about. They care about expertise, and even though Stephan was living proof that his methods work, major outlets would not give him the time of day. Why? Because he did not have the one credential you have to have to break through to mainstream media: a book. Stephan wanted to take his idea to the next level and have a place to point people to learn more. He realized a book was the only way to do it.

Teaming Up With Scribe

Although Stephan knew a book was the way to spread the message, he did not know where to start. "I'm not a great writer, so I knew there was no way I was going to do this on my own. But I had to get these ideas out there. It was too important."

He heard about Scribe from a friend, and it immediately clicked. The ideas and knowledge were already in his head. He just needed someone to help him translate those ideas into book form. Within the first two phone calls, he realized this was actually going to be an incredible book. It was an amazing, collaborative, back-and-forth process, with the team taking ownership of moving the project forward and ensuring he had the best possible book.

"The book turned out so great, even I was honestly surprised. I'm so excited by the end result."

Stephan Aarstol

The Media Couldn't Get Enough

Originally, Stephan had modest ambitions for the book. Although he knew the ideas were important, he would have been happy to ship a free copy to the 15,000 customers that Tower serves every year and spread the ideas organically through their customer base. That is not what ended up happening. As soon as the media caught wind of the book and Stephan's ideas, they were all over it.

Within a few months of the book's launch, Stephan and The Five-Hour Workday were profiled in Forbes, Entrepreneur, and Fast Company. Stephan was booked on a TV media circuit that included CNBC, CNN, and Fox. The book even exploded internationally, being featured in the UK's Daily Mail and hundreds of newspapers in Germany, Austria, Canada, India, and all across the globe.

Some of the highlights:

• Huffington Post created a Facebook video on the concept that went viral, getting over 4 million views and 38,000 shares.
• Fortune Magazine did a profile of Tower, his company.
• In Germany's largest newspaper, Stephan was named "World's Best Boss."
• There were even talks with major networks to start a reality TV show based around the concept of having Stephan help businesses implement the five-hour workday.

"I knew the book would help us get press, but the degree to which this blew up totally surprised me. We were on Shark Tank four years ago and were able to grow the business rapidly on the press that gave us. It was great. I was all over every piece of press. Every time a link happened, I would go back to the editor and the writer and thank them, and ask for a link specifically in our article."

"What we've done with The Five Hour Workday, it's been 10x what happened on Shark Tank."

Stephan Aarstol

"We're all over the place to the point that I can't even keep track of all the media we're getting. This time around, I've completely given up on that. There's just so many. It's really snowballed into a life of its own."

A Book That Builds the Brand

From a business perspective, Stephan hoped the book's message would help customers realize that Tower Paddle Boards practices what it preaches. "I was reading a lot of books on branding and the core thing that kept coming up over and over was that you have to live your brand, and you had to do that very publicly. I hoped that the book would show people what our brand was about and that we were really living it."

As a physical goods company, Tower sends out over 15,000 paddleboards a year, and Stephan figured sending a free copy of the book to all their customers would build brand loyalty. He did not expect the reach that this brand-building would have beyond their customer base.

"I can't even count the number of emails I've got from people who have read the book, or just read an article about The Five Hour Workday and said, 'I love what you guys are doing. I love how you're treating your employees. When I decide to buy a paddleboard, I'm going to buy it from you guys.'" As Stephan put it: "The book is helping us build loyalty by showing potential customers what we're about."

The Cultural Impact He Hoped For

Already, Stephan has begun to hear from companies that plan to implement the five-hour workday for themselves. "I'm having emails pouring in saying 'I love what you guys are doing. It inspired me. We're going to have to go do a test ourselves.'"

Stephan knew there were companies out there that this would appeal to, but the response has been even faster than he expected. Thinking about the businesses that will grow and the employees whose lives will improve, he is blown away by the impact his ideas have made.

"The fact that this has opened people's eyes to another way of doing things, a way that's better for business and for employees, that's what makes this all worthwhile to me."

Stephan Aarstol