Think about it: if you can help hundreds of people in your business, you can help thousands through your book. It’s also a way to ensure that your mission and your legacy survive long after you are gone. If you’re only helping people in your imme- diate sphere of influence, there’s nothing wrong with that, but that help stops when you die. A legacy left in a book can carry on after you are gone, for generations. For example, we’re all influenced by the legacy of Socrates or Thomas Aquinas or Malcolm X, all because they put their knowl- edge into a book. A lot of people do important work, but not a lot of people write books about it. Writing a book means that other people will look up to you and respect you and admire you. You will have made the world better, and you can be proud of that—and that is a legacy. Lorenzo Gomez’s book is a great example of this. Of course it’s created all kinds of business success for him, but he is most excited about how it led to him tutoring inner-city Hispanic kids, who came from the same poor neighborhoods that he did. He knows his legacy will spread far beyond himself. Myra Evans-Manyweather is also leaving a legacy of helping women to start their own businesses. WHEN THE INTANGIBLE BECOMES TANGIBLE As you can see, there are many intangible impacts of a book—on yourself, your reader, your family, and your community. But did you notice a pattern in the author case studies? Most of the intangible goals that the authors achieved ended up leading to some very real and very tangible impacts. WhAT’S ThE (iNTANgiBlE) iMPACT Of A BOOk? · 407