Matt Shoup's Painted Baby Cracked the Five-Figure Speaking Threshold and Got Him Signed by a Speaking Agent
Matt Shoup is a serial entrepreneur, founder of M&E Painting, paid speaker, and the author of Painted Baby, his Scribe-published book about leading with the imperfect truth. After a self-published first book that never broke through, he came to Scribe a decade later to do it right. The book that came out of that collaboration cracked the five-figure speaking threshold on his first pitch after publishing, got him signed by a speaking agent who had been holding him back at smaller gigs, and became operational language inside his own painting company.
The First Book Was a Nice Business Card
Matt got fired from a corporate banking job out of college, started a painting company to keep from drowning financially, and accidentally became a paid speaker because a group of business owners asked him to talk about his aggressive marketing. The first speaking fee, $1,500, felt like real money. The book came out of one of those gigs: someone in the audience told him his talk on winning business awards should be a book.
He wrote that first book the DIY way in 2011: Starbucks sessions, an editor he picked himself, a cover he designed without knowing what good design looked like.
"It was the POD days, print on demand. I sat at Starbucks, wrote it out, hired who I thought was a great editor, laid it out like crap, cover looked like crap. I mean, looking back, with what I know now, didn't know how to write a book. And I thought magically, Eric, like you write a book and it will sell, like Field of Dreams style. And no, so it was just a nice business card, but it pinned me as an author."
— Matt Shoup, on his self-published 2011 first book
The book worked as a credential but Matt could feel the gap. Other authors at speaker conferences would pick up his book and ask who did the cover. His mentor Mike Michalowicz, lovingly, told him he had hit "some major sins of authorship." Matt spent the next decade learning what a great book actually looks like.
Coming to Scribe to Do It Right
He had started Painted Baby in 2015. He'd pick it up, write a little at the coffee shop, put it down. A ten-year half-finished manuscript. The story was strong. The premise — "painting a picture of perfection prevents true connection" — was already operating inside his businesses. He just couldn't get the book over the line on his own.
"I wanted to write a better book and I was really intrigued by the scribe process... [Mike] he's like, you gotta get this book out but it can't suck like the first one that then I did. So it was a 10 year, nine year journey of starting it, picking it up, putting it down. As soon as we signed, we jumped into it. Like we hit all the deadlines. It was amazing."
— Matt Shoup
The Five-Figure Speaking Moment
Matt had been a paid speaker for years, charging four figures. The five-figure threshold was the wall he couldn't get over. That changed the moment Painted Baby was in his hands.
"When I landed and did Painted Baby with you guys, I remember that was published, it was in hand, it was best content I've ever put out. That was when I pitched my first five-figure gig and landed it, and then landed another one, and then another one. The book really helped elevate the speaking."
— Matt Shoup
The Speaking Agent Who Was Holding Him Back
Matt had been working with a speaking agent who was booking him at smaller events. She had been waiting on something specific before she'd put him on the bigger stages.
"It was funny when I was, she was booking me kind of these small gigs, kind of testing me out before I had painted baby the book. I was speaking about it and she's like, Matt, you know, once you land this book and it looks good and it did, because I'm gonna put you out there more."
— Matt Shoup
A Scribe-quality book was the gatekeeper threshold his agent was waiting on. As soon as it landed, the bigger gigs opened up.
The Book Became Operational Language Inside His Painting Company
Most authors hope the book will boost their personal brand. Matt's book reshaped how his entire company talks to customers. He built a one-page section in his marketing brochure around the book cover: when something goes wrong on a paint job, his team and his customers now have a shared vocabulary for it.
"If something does not go according to plan, the customers don't come at you with as much anxiety. They're like, hey, you remember that? I had one like a couple months ago. Hey, you remember that painted baby situation? I think we've got a little painted baby situation because Matt, it's not that bad, but I know you'll take care of it. Whatever the issue was, I don't even remember, but it just makes life and business a lot easier."
— Matt Shoup
The Long Tail: Random Readers From Everywhere
Matt now gets emails from people around the world who have come across the book through channels he never set up.
"I'll just get a random email from somebody anywhere in the country or even like out of the country. Oh, I got my hands on this book from so-and-so in this channel. And I'm like, this is crazy. Somebody that I've never met in the world has this message... Hey, I came across this. I thought it was a great story. We shared it with our sales team or we shared it with a men's Bible study or a men's group or something like that."
— Matt Shoup
What He Tells Authors Who Are Still on the Fence
"Remember why you're doing this and who it's going to impact. If that message doesn't get out, how are you letting the world down? Think of some of the most impactful books that you've read that have changed your life. What if that guy was just having a bad day or was scared or whatever the excuses are... You can't do that. You can't do that."
— Matt Shoup
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