[TheChamp-Sharing]

SHOW NOTES

In this week’s episode, I talk about patience and how I’m in this for the long haul. I don’t just say it. I live it.

TRANSCRIPT

You just heard a clip from an interview I did with Dan Blank on the Dabblers vs Doers Podcast.

In this episode I’ll be talking about patience and why—and how—I’m in the writing business for the long haul.

***

Hello, and welcome to episode 22. This week I wanted to spend some time talking about patience, because it’s something I have in spades, but many authors don’t.

Patience for me means that even though I know I’m not as successful as I want to be today, it’s being okay with today because I know that I’ll be where I want to be down the road.

So many people jump into writing expecting to be crazy successful right out of the gate. I myself was no exception to this.

When I published my first book, Magic Souls, I thought I’d be a six figure author by the end of the year. Ha ha. Funny.

The truth is that while Magic Souls was a good book, there were a lot of things I did wrong. Not with the story, because it’s a solid story, but with the marketing.

My original book cover didn’t speak to readers.

I bought ads at all the wrong places.

I spent my time chasing the wrong readers.

And most important of all, I had zero clue where my book fit in the market.

Top that off with a poor author website, a lackluster social media presence, and no author brand, and my first book launch by most accounts was a failure.

***

But you know what I think?

The book was a success. Sure, it didn’t make any money, but I choose instead to focus on the positive lessons.

In writing Magic Souls, I learned so much about the writing process that I could write my next book faster. The readers who did review the book absolutely loved it.

The launch also taught me that my goals were too damn unrealistic. It taught me that I wasn’t as good of an author as I thought I was. It taught me that there was a big wide world out there that I needed to learn.

And instead of sulking over it, I wrote my next book, taking the lessons I learned and applying it to the next book.

40 books later, you’d think I’d be doing something right. I am. Right now I’m doing a lot of things right. The fact that you’re listening to this podcast every week means that I’ve done my job as both an author and as a storyteller. I’ve sharpened my storytelling skills to keep you listening. In 2014 no one would have wanted to hear me do a Podcast like this. Trust me on that. I didn’t have the skill set.

For my books, I know my target audiences now. My covers are infinitely better. I don’t just have books. I have a brand.

All that because I committed to getting better rather than beating myself up over sales numbers.

Patience for me isn’t doing the same thing over and over again. It’s about iteration and introspection.

I spend a lot of time by myself, just thinking. One of my strengths is that I’m fairly self aware.

I know that long term, I’m going to be in a much better position, all because I’m better today than I was in 2014 when I first started.

Everything I do in my career is simply practice.

I’m practicing my craft with every new story.

This podcast is one big practice session in how to create content that connects with people on a human level. So is my YouTube channel.

Everything for me is one big experiment, and I’m totally fine with failing. And just about everything I have done has failed on some level.

***

I opened the show with an excerpt about burnout.

There are only a few things that make me wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. Burnout is one of them.

Patience and burnout go hand in hand for me. After all, I’ve been doing this for five years. It’s really easy to think maybe I should quit, but I refuse.

But burnout is real, and I do everything I can to avoid it. And the easiest way to avoid burnout is to see the positive in everything.

For example, I don’t necessarily enjoy editing this podcast. But I do it because I have to, and I see it as learning valuable experience for when I’m successful to hire someone to edit my audio and video for me. Doing the work myself now will make it easier for me to give direction and clarity to a future employee who will do this for me.

So I learn to like editing, and I have fun with it.

That’s my secret.

I’m eternally optimistic and I am always twisting things in order to see the lesson and the benefit. Even setbacks.

Hell, I view patches of writer’s block as blessings sometimes. That takes a mindset shift and a level of patience that most people don’t have.

I know that in order to have a successful long term career, I’ve got to 1) keep creating and 2) avoid burnout at all costs.

So I create content patiently with no expectations and I have fun with my writing.

So, if it takes me fifteen or twenty more years to be successful and make a living from my work, I’m okay with that. I can’t wait to see how much more skillful and developed I will be as an author and human being when I get there.

But if it happens tomorrow—I’ll also be ready for it, because I’ve been preparing every day, every minute, every second for the day my life is going to change. And when it does, sure, my circumstances will change. My problems will get magnified. My schedule is going to get crazy. But I myself won’t change because ultimately, I’ve been preparing all this time not to write a bestselling book, but to be myself in public. 100% authentic and true to myself and my readers.

And that’s easier said than done.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Good, better, best. Never let it rest. ‘Til your good is better and your better is best.” St. Jerome.

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