If you've ever given up on finding unique ideas for business or content, today's guest will inspire you to reawaken the spark. Thyme Lewis is a celebrated actor, humanitarian, and Hollywood stuntman whose career spans three decades with over 200 appearances in TV and Film. Recently, Thyme became a full-time writer, making it his job to think outside the box.
Thyme joins us on the podcast to reveal how he consistently comes up with creative ideas from random events. His tips are useful for product marketers eager to try something new but seem to be lacking in creativity and ideas. Join us now.
In today’s episode of the Harvest Growth Podcast, we’ll cover:
Why daily creativity sessions make it easier to think outside the box.
Why passion fuels business success.
How the right business environment enables success and happiness.
How to make money from your hobbies without losing the fun.
And so much more!
You can listen to the full interview on your desktop or wherever you choose to listen to your podcasts.
Or, click to watch the full video interview here!
Go to ThymeLewisBooks.com to learn more about Thyme's newest release, A Week's Worth which Booktrib calls "...a touching and suspenseful thriller that keeps readers begging for clues that eventually pay off." A Week's Worth is available as an audiobook, ebook, and hardcover.
Do you have a brand that you’d like to launch or grow? Do you want help from a partner that has successfully launched hundreds of brands that now total over $2 billion in revenues? Set up a free consultation with us today!
Jon LaClare: How do you become more creative in your business? It often feels like we just don't have enough time to sit down and think, let alone write or develop content that will help grow our business. Today's guest is a well-known Hollywood actor and now a full-time writer, and he shares the process he follows to be more creative and to develop more content.
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Speaker 1: Are you looking for new ways to make your sales grow? You've tried other podcasts but they don't seem to know. Harvest the growth potential of your product or service as we share stories and strategies that'll make your competitors nervous. Now, here's the host of The Harvest Growth Podcast, Jon LaClare.
Jon: I'm really excited to be talking on the show today with Thyme Lewis, our good friend and client that we're working with to help launch a new book for him that is doing well. I can't wait to share the story with you in this interview. Let me give you a little bit of the background of Thyme. He's got an amazing backstory himself that-- some of that fits into his book series.
We'll talk about that, but Thyme is a celebrated American actor. He is an author, a humanitarian, and a former Hollywood stuntman whose career spans three decades with over 200 appearances in TV and film. He first came to prominence for his work on the daytime soap series Days of Our Lives. I'm sure you've heard of it if you haven't seen it. He also produced several indie films starring Tom Sizemore, Stan Shaw, Christopher Rich, and others.
A lifelong altruist, he spent several deployments in the hurricane relief efforts working for FEMA during the 2017 Irma Disaster. Recently, Thyme's been a full-time writer, including a series of books based loosely on his own life experiences with the main character MacGuffin, or Mac, who you'll get to know through the book series, with a skillset rivaling special operatives in the world's most elite gangs.
Mac, this character navigates the country working for FEMA and helping those less fortunate to resurrect their lives after the country's, or the USA's, most horrific natural disasters. We'll dive into that story a little bit further in a minute, but first, Mac-- I was going to say Mac. That's funny. Thyme, welcome to the show. I'm so excited to talk with you, hear more about your background, and how you came up with this story for Mac as well for this book series.
Thyme Lewis: Well, thank you, Jon. It's great to be here, and what an introduction. Whoa.
[laughter]
Jon: I know you've done so many things in your life and you're too humble to say all of it to us, so I had to tell your bio to our audience so they got to know who you are. We'll get into your background and your experiences you've had that really drive some other interesting stories in your book series as well. Before we do that, I'd like to talk specifically about writing. You've done so much in the past and now you're essentially a full-time writer. How'd you first get into writing and make that transition from other aspects of your life?
Thyme: Well, let's see. It's probably influenced by my mother and my father. Reading was a big deal for us. We grew up in a little coast town known as Big Sur, Northern California, and we didn't have a television, so reading was a big thing. Imagination was a big thing, running outside and playing and creating games and creating stories. Through that, I think it definitely influenced me.
I remember the first book I read, The Cay, which was assigned reading at Captain Cooper School. It's the first book I cried because the young boy, the hero in it-- I don't want to give the book away, but it's just a wonderful, wonderful book and it really affected me. I know years later I found myself having an incredible journey post-college and I started writing poetry and doing spoken word. I always thought, [unintelligible 00:04:06] "I don't know where this is going to go," and then acting took off, but I've always written down little funny things that happen or things that I dream about.
Those little stories or pieces, if you will-- Bryan Cranston, for instance, My Life in Parts, he would be a great example to reach to because that's what he did. I recently listened to his audiobook, which was just phenomenal. I think mine is similar in my experiences that people go, "You can't make that up. How did that really happen? What really happened there?" It really does. I've always been very fortunate and lucky and driven. I put the time in with the writing. When something comes up I just write it down.
Jon: Some of the best writers, I think, have very interesting lives to draw from. You draw from personal experiences and expand on those. You've certainly done a lot in your life, which makes for amazing characters in your books and stories in your books as well. Your life currently as a full-time writer, what does that look like? What does that really mean to be a full-time writer?
I know a lot of our audience is curious about that. We've got many that have run businesses and maybe written books, but they're often business books, that sort of thing. Like I wrote a book years ago, very different. It's non-fiction, How to Launch a Product, et cetera, and many have done that, but to be a true full-time writer is a dream for many people. What's it like on a day-to-day basis?
Thyme: It's isolating. It's isolating. What a typical day looks like for me is I go to bed early, and I usually set some intention. I'll read something before I go to sleep because it'll influence me. Then I'll wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, and within five, six minutes, I'm sitting down and writing. That's the discipline, is to do that every day. That's the discipline. My environment is such that I like watching the sunrise.
I like watching the ocean. The ocean's really powerful for me. I get a lot of inspiration just in imagination from being on the water. Then [laughs] I'll have to remind myself, "Hey, time for a smoothie. Hey, have I had enough-- Did I do my hot water with lemon?" Did I this, did I that? Because sometimes you get so lost in it that hours will go by, but that's the discipline, is writing every day.
I think it's really, really important to know that yes, sometimes we have a regular job and then we have our creative, imaginative, fantastic dream job that might only be a speck, but once that speck starts to flow and it really happens, perhaps that gets to replace the other job, the 9:00 to 5:00, if you will. For me, it's been a really amazing journey, but I'm also very much a kid again, even though I'm going to be 57 shortly.
I'm very much a kid at play, and coming back to Carmel where I grew up to keep things interesting and not be totally isolated, to have interaction, I went to a restaurant that I worked at in high school and took a server job two nights a week for that interaction. That has been so much fun and such a pool for me of stories. Just listening to something, a story is shared and going, "Mm-hmm," and then writing some notes down. That interaction for me has been really, really helpful because writing full-time can be very isolating.
Jon: Yes. No, absolutely. I think whether you're a writer-- many of our audience members run businesses and that is somewhat similar. You feel like you're alone making decisions, working on something. These focus times and efforts, it's good advice, really just to stay disciplined, to stay at it, whether we're writing or whether we're working on something creative in our business, for example.
A lot of your fame-- a lot of people know you from your time on Days of Our Lives, but really as we talked about your background, you've done three lifetimes' worth of work in your life already in varied fields. As we talked about, a lot of that variety has led to really interesting stories. The most recent book we're talking about today is called A Week's Worth. For the audience, we'll put this in the show notes as well.
If you're driving, you don't need to write it down. Check out the podcast show notes later on, but Thyme, T-H-Y-M-E, lewisbooks.com. Go check it out. You can buy the book, the audiobook, or e-book right from the website, and also learn more about Thyme and about the backstory of the character as well, Mac. Let's talk about that. There's so many things you've done in your life. How has your background specifically influenced the main character of these books, Mac?
Thyme: Well, I think anyone that's interviewed, to be a good interviewee, you have to be really opinionated or maybe a little bit angry or a little bit-- whatever it is. I remember reading that somewhere, and I agree with it. Working with FEMA, I worked with a gentleman, Edward [unintelligible 00:09:44], who was the head of Response Force 1. First boots on the ground, set up telecommunications, a real go-getter. He was an ex-ranger and just a really great guy.
He and I were up-- 3:30 every morning, we were both the first ones up, except for the guys to the gate, the guards, the sentries. We started talking, and he said, "Hey, you should--" Our dialogue was just great. We just flowed together and there was a really nice mutual respect, and he said, "You should read my book." I said, "What are you talking about?" He goes, "I wrote a book."
It was about disaster relief and the people who work them. He was at 9/11, he was at Katrina, he was at Irma, where we were. He's been just above and beyond. An excellent guy, patriot, a good soul. I read his book, and I was-- I didn't get to read it while we were deployed. I read it after because you just don't have time. I read it after and it really resonated with me that underbelly of deception that happens oftentimes doing disaster work, or people taking advantage of the system, and it didn't sit right.
It fueled me, and I thought, "Let me do something, and do I do it non-fiction? No." Way too much research, way too much permissions asked, and so forth. That helped formulate one aspect of this character. Another is, as you'd mentioned, all these different chapters of our lives, and if we really embed ourselves, our [unintelligible 00:11:38] and we go after it, we get to live these full lives and not be afraid, and maybe love what we're doing.
I loved being deployed with FEMA. That, in tune with my mom's health was decaying, and-- If anybody has a complicated mother out there-- I'll say it again. Anybody with a complicated mother, raise your hand. Just raise your hand.
Jon: My mom's watching, so I'm only doing that to act.
[laughter]
Thyme: I came home and spent a week with her, and some amazing things happened during that week and I couldn't not but help write it. I couldn't not write about it, so I did, and I found some things that really resonated that I thought, "With some different storylines thread through these golden threads and a lot of imagination--" I keep telling my mom, "Mom, it's fiction, and it's called a character art."
[laughter]
That really helped spawn the book series. I thought a jumping off point that I can really relate to, that's a complicated matter, is son-mother, mother-son, relationship. It was a really good place to jump off the cliff, if you will, and spread my wings.
Jon: Love it. Let's dive into A Week's Worth. This book, specifically that we're talking, again, it is a series of books. There's others coming as well, but this specific story, could you give us a synopsis for the audience? Before you do, I want to mention, I was excited to read it, as I know you. We're friends, but I wanted to hear the story, but I loved it. It was a book that I digested in probably four days, an audiobook, which is the way I love to digest books and take books in. For the audience, Thyme is the narrator of this as well, and you get to know his personality through the reading of the book, and you do a great job in this.
It helps having your background of acting for so many years as well. You really know how to get the personality into the book. It was really fun to listen to, and just love the story, but for the benefit of our audience, could you describe, in basic terms at least, what is the story about?
Thyme: Story is about relationships with your parents, or parents and siblings, and how it can become a mosh, if you will, and how often it's hard sometimes to separate, and the love. It's about the love of our parents and our parents declining, and how oftentimes things can fall apart. Much like a road would in Big Sur. A parent's relationship or health declining mentally can fall apart and how we have to be empathetic and patient, and--
Yes. I don't want to give too much away, but it's those dialogues and the things that aren't said with body language that really come through, and I think-- it sounds like with you, resonated, and that's what's most important, that we can relate to it and that we come from a kind place.
Jon: Absolutely. As you mentioned, it's really the story of a grown man, his exciting life that he lives and leads, and his relationship with his mom, and this spending time together and their conversations. It's gripping, really, and there's a lot to it. It's great on relationship. It's also some really interesting action that happens in the story as well and keeps you engaged throughout the entire book. I do recommend, everyone, please check it out at thymelewisbooks.com. Again, you can get it as an audiobook read by Thyme. You can get a hard book or an e-book as well. Also check out the website.
Be sure to go there and look for announcements for book signings, upcoming book tours in your area as you-- I know when you try this book out you're going to love it. Connect with Thyme when he's in your town. If you run a bookstore, if you have some interest in bringing Thyme to your town as well, his contact information for his agent is also on the website. Feel free to set up-- reach out to his agent and set up a visit to your town as well. Thyme, I-- As I mentioned, I encourage everyone to check out the book to get to know their character, but also get to know you through your writing.
Really enjoyed this interview. Thanks so much for taking the time today, and wish you all the best.
Thyme: Thank you so much, Jon.
Jon: For the listeners, be sure to go to thymelewisbooks.com to learn more. That's T-H-Y-M-E lewisbooks.com. Be sure to check out harvestgrowth.com to see other episodes we've recorded. If you like this episode, you want to learn more about how you can profitably grow your consumer-product business, please subscribe to our show, or you can set up an appointment right from our website to speak directly with a member of the Harvest Growth team and a free consultation to learn the process that has worked for hundreds of businesses since 2007.
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