Follow these 3 steps to get it right at the start
Are you a Coach with the seed of a book burning inside you? But you haven’t found the time and you don’t know where to start? Read on to find out why starting with what matters most to you is key to success.
Part 1
This story begins with an on-screen intake form and a difficult question:
‘What is your ‘why?’
I couldn’t answer it.
I’d doodled around with it in a previous workshop and come up with something that sounded nice and looked good on paper.
‘I want to help writers fulfil their dreams.’
But that wasn’t it. Not really. So I tried again.
‘I want to help women writers fulfil a lifelong dream,’ as if adjectives would make a difference.
They didn’t.
Now I had committed to a business programme where I would start and scale my book coaching business online, and the question had appeared again.
Thankfully, below in brackets it said, ‘if you don’t know the answer, write ‘I don’t know.’
So I did.
Next came the coaching call with Lynn.
‘Anna, you need to know your why. This is your work now.’
She explained it was key to grounding my business before moving forward. My ‘why’ would orientate me like a compass and there was no point starting out otherwise: I’d be running a business in the wrong direction and it wouldn’t grow. It would likely fail.
She explained patiently, ‘It’s your purpose. It’s why you want to do this work…’
And then a big siren went off in my head.
Because it’s exactly the same as starting your book.
In my first conversation with a writer, I always ask, ‘why do you want to write this book and no other?’
Tough question, right?
I’d made a serious investment to get Lynn’s advice so I decided to wrestle with the question until I‘d found an answer. And I also had a deadline, so I couldn’t put it off.
I turned it over in my head, and found two more questions: what had brought me to this point? And why was I starting my business online?
Well that was obvious, I wanted to grow it! I liked the idea of reaching writers all over the world, and the overheads were attractively low. I’d also lost all my work due to Covid, so what did I have to lose?
But this was just the surface. My ‘why’ was deeper than that. What was the underlying reason I needed to get at?
I reflected on all the work I’d ever done, right up to book coaching. I’d always instinctively worked for myself, and I’d only ever wanted to work in the arts. I’d always loved writing, acting for theatre and organising things. I’d produced, performed, written, published and started a festival. I’d strayed into one or two office jobs but they’d never resonated with me: I’d never seen the point of working for someone else when I could have been working for myself, and it had never felt meaningful…
Was that it? Meaningful work? Could that be my ‘why’?
It felt too general though, too vague…
I noted that my projects usually began when I got this ‘great idea’ or someone approached me with their ‘great idea’ and I wanted to collaborate and make it happen….but collaboration couldn’t be the answer because I was very happy doing this gig on my own.
My goal had always been to do the thing I loved and get paid for it, and the trouble with working in the arts, I reflected, was I’d never been able to tap into a consistent stream of revenue. Pre-Covid, I’d starting feeling resentful about making huge efforts to make things happen, and I was exhausted from dividing myself across multiple projects…
I just wanted a business model that worked.
And I wanted someone to show me how to do it instead of trying to figure everything out on my own.
But the right business model couldn’t be my ‘why’, surely?
I turned to more recent history, to tease out the events of the last few months.
It was nearly Christmas 2020, and apart from Covid two significant things had happened that year. I’d started the afore-mentioned new business and I’d built a house, which I’d moved into during the Summer.
I recalled the chaos of moving day and how, in the middle of it all, a small parcel had arrived in the post. It was such a sweet feeling to get a present at my new address, and I was even more delighted because it was a book by a writer called John Killeen who’d taken writing courses with my company, Storytellers. His memoir One for Sorrow, Two for Joy was hot off the press.
I was surrounded by boxes and builders and I had a To-Do list about five hundred miles long, so I felt I couldn’t justify the luxury of reading for pleasure. I put the book to one side thinking I’d read it when I felt a bit more organised and relaxed.
And I realised as I was following this train of thought, that I still hadn’t read it.
So I just picked it up.
And a line popped out at me on page two.
‘My life began in a barber’s shop.’
It stopped me in my tracks. John had articulated his earliest memory using a clear, concrete image which placed me right at the heart of the scene. It was gorgeous.
And then I had a moment of insight.
I often bring writers back to their early memories to connect with their creativity and to look for clues to their why.
Which was followed by a ‘Duh!’ moment, because why hadn’t I thought to do that for myself already, to find my own why? How obvious and overlooked was THAT?
So where did my life begin?
Me riding in a wheelbarrow…
Me playing under the upturned kitchen chairs I’d made into a den while my mother rehearsed for an audition by the cooker…
Sunday walks in the woods with my Dad and the dogs…
In bed at story time, reading the next book or chapter with Dad…
The Goodnight Book, Teddy Bear Coleman, Anna’s Day, Beatrix Potter, the Noddy books, The Magic Faraway Tree, the Famous 5, all of which I’ve read to my own children.
And I still had those books, and wherever I’d moved, from England to the Netherlands to Ireland, they’d come with me.
Which triggered, god I love books, I just DO. And the smell of paper, it reminds me of being in the woods. And I LOVE the woods. And then I realised that when I open a book I always bury my nose into the middle of it and inhale before I start reading.
Which triggered the childhood memory of bedtime reading again…
I used to feel excited as I ran from the bathroom to my bedroom and hopped into bed and budged up so Dad could sit down beside me.
He felt warm and I loved his smell and I felt safe next to him. He mumbled a bit when he read but I didn’t mind. We were working our way through the Famous 5 and I think we were on Five go off in a Caravan.
Dad opened the book and looked at me.‘I bet you 10p they eat something before the end of the chapter.’
But my six year old self knew better.‘I bet you they won’t, and I bet you 10p back!’
They always ate a LOT so this was risky, and I hung onto every word in the hope that I was right as Julian and George started discussing and planning their next meal. But they didn’t actually eat anything…which meant I’d won!
I loved the way the story felt real and instead of making me sleepy, it enlivened me. I used to play on long after Dad had tucked me in, an extra character in a new chapter where I made the tea and joined the adventure…
I played through some other early memories. Getting the main part in a school play, being in a show with Mum, just following the thread of one story into another.
In my adult life I’d done a lot of different things, so what was the thread weaving it all together? I felt I was getting closer to my ‘why’, but I still didn’t have a clean grasp of it.
And then came the final trigger.
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I was reading an email by another book coach, who mentioned her love of the creative process…
And that was it.
Those magic words.
The CREATIVE PROCESS.
My resume flashed through my mind. Writing, devising and performing in plays and film, producing theatre and events, starting an annual writing festival and writing prizes, running writing courses, publishing a book and starting an online book coaching business, this process of bringing an idea into a tangible form, where I step out into the unknown to go from nothing to – always, hopefully – something new and amazing through a process of creative discovery is where my heart beats strongest.
I realised that in ALL my work, all my life, in everything that had felt meaningful and soulful and enriching and true, the golden thread weaving everything together was that: the creative process.
Even the not-work stuff I did and loved was about being part of a creative process. Building a house, interior design, upcycling and crafting, singing, gardening, dancing, aerial silks, and of course raising my children.
So I was talking about my whole life here.
WOW!
I couldn’t believe it.
And it had taken me 50 years to consciously connect with it.
But what a relief to finally know it!
Previously, I’d pulled my hair out and felt upset over projects where I felt I’d failed, and this happens a lot in the arts. When a play doesn’t pull in a big enough audience, or a TV pilot doesn’t get picked up or a course doesn’t make enough money.
None of that seemed negative anymore, now I knew my ‘why’.
What became clear was that these were all outcomes at a moment in time and they were not the stalwart meaning and reason for doing the work that I love.
So it turns out that ‘what is your why?’ is an excellent question…
And it’s the one I want to turn over to you now…
Because it’s as relevant to starting a book, as it is to starting a business. And once you’ve answered it, it will make the world of difference to your journey.
When you’re clear on knowing why you want to write this book and no other, you have intent. You have focus. You can stay motivated. It keeps you on point and acts as the through line – the golden thread – to bring you all the way to the finish.
When you know your ‘why’ you know you’re heading off in the right direction and you can confidently step out into your adventure. Your answer will orientate you and show you the way.
When you know your ‘why’ you have a barometer for understanding when something isn’t right or doesn’t fit in your book and isn’t worth including or pursuing.
This is particularly helpful if you can’t decide which book to write, or you think you have to include this, and add that, and throw in every single thing you can think of.
Actually, you don’t.
If that book or piece of content isn’t part of your ‘why’, you can put it down and not worry about how, where or if you should include it.
A lot gets clear very quickly and this is both a relief and a thrill, because now you know your purpose.
So have a think. Take your time and ponder the question, what is my ‘why’?
Discovering it can bring you through a series of thoughts and stories as it did for me. And none of it is right or wrong: you just have to follow the thread.
Trace back to the story where the idea first formed and took shape. It might not have been one single thing. It might have been a series of tiny situations; something someone said that someone else talked about later. Just look for a thread and pick it up. Don’t judge the stories that come up, just see where they lead you and keep going until it feels like you’ve reached the kernel of the idea.
Remember, good writing is clear writing. And to get clear, it’s important to think about the important questions first. Think about what matters to you. Chew the cud a bit. And don’t feel you have to sit at your laptop biting your nails over it: go for a walk in the woods or the park instead. Breathe deeply. Relax into it and enjoy it. The more you do that, the better the process will be.
Part 2
Are you a Coach with the seed of a book burning inside you? But you haven’t found the time and you don’t know where to start? Read Part 2 of this 3-part email series now to find out why starting with what matters most to you is key to success.
It was Autumn 2020, and I was on a bonus hot seat call with Sigrun because I’d just joined her business coaching programme to help me start my coaching business online. I’d made a big, scary decision to invest a lump sum – scary because during the Summer, I’d moved into a new house which I’d just built, and in the few months prior to that I’d lost all my offline work to Covid. So money was tight, and instead of finishing the fit out of my house, I decided to invest what I had left, into my future.
I’d never had a coach before and I knew nothing about building an online business. But I had determination and resolution…and a nifty lil office space especially designed for me in my new house.
It’s just off the end of the open plan kitchen-living area, and while you can see there’s a space, you have to go round the back of a curved fireplace to see what it is. It feels like you’re going round a bend in a garden path: there’s a lovely sense of curiosity about it.
It opens wider as you go in and there’s a special spot for my reading chair next to the window and a gap in the wall looking back into the living space so I know what my teenage kids are upto in the kitchen ;) So it’s fun, quirky and functional and I was delighted to get it ready for starting my new business.
I repurposed bits of furniture using my daughter’s desk from her old bedroom and some IKEA wardrobe shelves as book shelves…my old PC was still working and I already had a website, which I planned to re-purpose as well.
So here I was now, on a zoom call in my up-cycled office with my new coach and fellow members, feeling surprisingly thrilled for committing to the programme when I expected to feel anxious with an overwhelming sense of oh-my-god-what-have-I-done? And the realisation that I felt brilliant and not very, very upset heightened my excitement even more, and I was holding a celebratory G&T in a fishbowl glass with a grin on my face to prove it.
Then I heard my name and I was on the hot seat.
‘What is your business about?’
‘It’s about writing…creative writing,’ I said.
‘Is it books?’
‘Well it can be, if that’s what writers want.’
I took a sip of my drink. The gin was ice cold and delicious.
She fired another question.
‘What you’re selling has to be clear. What is the outcome?’
‘Um. Books?’ I offered.
‘What kind of books?’
‘Well, any book. I can meet any writer wherever they are in the process and help them move forward.’
I was still grinning, still feeling pleased with myself and enjoying my drink.
‘You can’t do both.’
‘What, sorry?’
‘You can’t do both.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You can’t do fiction and non fiction, it’s a different kind of marketing. You have to choose.’
‘Oh?’
My grin collapsed and I put down my drink.
‘Why?’
‘It’s too complicated and your messaging must be clear, and you need to know your ideal client. So you have to choose.’
‘Oh.’
The gin was slinking through me and I started to feel dizzy. My face flushed in the zoom reflection. I suddenly felt self conscious: I hadn’t expected to be put on the spot like this or have to make any more big decisions today. I’d just invested all the money I had left and I felt a bit defensive: did I really have to choose? I didn’t want to.
Sigrun read my mind. ‘You don’t have to choose right now, you can wait a couple of months but you will have to choose.’
I could feel the resistance setting into my gin-fizzed brain, and then I forced myself – as the Irish say – to cop on (translation: get a grip).
I’d leaped into this programme to start and scale an online business I didn’t know how to do on my own. I’d invested the last of my money to get advice from this amazing boss lady who’d built a multiple 7 figure business in less than six years, so I’d be stupid not to take it.
I didn’t need to wait. If she was telling me I’d have to make the decision in two months ‘ time, I might as well make it now.
‘Well, I love non fiction, I read it a lot and I write it, and I suppose there’s probably more money in non fiction?’
‘I think you’re right.’
That did it.
‘Ok. Well, non fiction then.’
‘Great! Well done, Anna!’
I felt like a six year old getting a gold star. I grinned again and went redder but it felt good to make a decision. I felt like I’d moved forward, and yet…
And yet there was a part of me that felt sad and left behind. Now I couldn’t coach fiction and I loved the creative process…
But I had just moved forwards…hadn’t I?
Later, I reflected on the experience.
What my business was about couldn’t be general. It couldn’t just be coaching all writers doing any kind of writing. It had to be more specific than that with clear messaging to be successful.
Why?
Because when you get specific, you become identifiable, and then people will see themselves in what you’re offering and they will connect with you.
And it’s exactly the same for your book: your reader has to know immediately that it speaks to them.
But, as with my experience of deciding whether to focus on fiction or non fiction coaching, it’s hard to make yourself become more specific. We resist it because we have this notion that we’re cutting ourselves off from possibility and leaving people out when we want to include them.
And yet the result is the opposite: the more specific we get, the clearer we become, the more people are attracted to us.
If this sounds strange, consider it from the consumer angle. Are there certain items or brands you buy for your store cupboard or fridge every week?
And how do you take your tea or your coffee?
Black? White? Oat, soya or cow’s milk? Single or double shot espresso? Nescafe Gold Blend?
Very specific, right?
Consider what you wear. I have a coral pink shirt on as I write this, and black leggings and blue socks with flowers on (which don’t match but I’m at my makeshift desk in my nifty lil office and no one else can see them) and there’s nothing general about any of that.
Sigrun gave a great example as well: if you want to get your teeth whitened, would you go to the dentist who does everything, or the dentist who specialises in teeth whitening?
Exactly.
We live our lives in specifics. And your book should be the same.
So you need to know the answer to this question:
What is your book about?
You need to be able to talk about it in a way that is clear and succinct, as if you were introducing it to someone.
For example, if you can say, ‘it’s a book for coaches showing them how to write a book following my 5 Step Nonfiction Framework,’ then you’re onto something. Here, someone can easily understand and identify with what you’re offering and know if it’s something they want to invest their time in.
What it can’t be, is something that takes ten minutes to explain and if it does, you probably don’t know the answer clearly enough yet and need to give it more thought.
But the question, what is your book about, doesn’t stop here. There’s another layer we have to get at because you also need to know what it is you really want to say.
What you want to say is what you stand for.
It’s what you want your readers to walk away with and keep with them long after they’ve closed your book.
The answer you’re looking for is short and aspirational and it encapsulates a higher purpose. It’s your message, your meaning, your stake in the ground. And now more than ever, what you stand for is important. And your readers will want to know what that is.
It doesn’t matter if you want to write a how-to business book or a memoir: every genre has its value. What matters is that you’re letting people know what you believe in.
So whether it’s aspiration or inspiration, you should know what it is and get comfortable putting it out there.
So what is your book really about? What do you want to say?
For example, is it about how determination overcomes adversity?
How gender equality will create a better world?
How love conquers fear, or the brave never quit?
In my coaching, I ask writers to think about it as if they’re at a party talking to a stranger, and they tell this person they’re writing a book. The likely response is, ‘What kind of book is it? What’s it about?’ And the writer says, ‘It’s about how….’
This is the key phrase: ‘it’s about how,’ and it’s followed by your message which should be no longer than 3-7 words and you should be thinking BIG.
It’s okay to be a bit cliche for now. So if your answer is, ‘it’s about how good triumphs over evil,’ you’re on the right track. And then you’ll be able to carry on the imaginary party conversation by using the sentences you came up with earlier to describe what your book is about.
Here’s an example.
You: I’m writing a book.
Stranger: Wow, that’s so cool. What’s it about?
You: It’s about how anyone can write a nonfiction book, even if they’ve never written one before.
Stranger: That sounds interesting!
You: Yes, I’m loving it! It’s a book for coaches showing them how to write a book using my 5 Step Nonfiction Framework.’
See how it works?
So don’t be afraid to get specific. Take the time now to know what your book is really about. Define your message and be proud to make a stand.
Part 3
Over the years, I’ve attended numerous writing workshops and classes and I never came across anyone teaching this one crucial element that I’m about to share with you here.
In fact, it was only when I started my online business and learned about my Ideal Client that I started to join the dots myself.
but it wasn’t until I started training as an online book coach that I started to learn about the importance of my reader. She hardly even got a mention.
Poor reader.
She just got referred to as ‘the reader’ which is nondescript and unhelpful when you want your book to have a meaningful impact because you’re back in the realm of what’s
general as opposed to what’s specific.
Just like you, your reader is a real life person, with a name and an address and relationships
and feelings and habits and a preference for a certain type of coffee and marmalade on their toast.
She – or he – is very specific.
But in the process of learning to write a book, she is rarely considered because the focus
always falls on the writer and their craft. But – and it’s a big BUT – how do you know what to write and how to say it if you don’t know exactly who you’re talking to?
Look at it this way. Would you talk to your child, a parent or a group of colleagues about the same things in the same way? Of course not! We all talk differently depending on who we’re talking to and what we’re talking about.
So now it’s time to ask yourself:
Who am I talking to?
Who is my Ideal Reader?
When I was starting my online business, one of the first exercises I did was the ‘ideal client’. Maybe you know it? I had to consider in great detail the person who’ll want to buy my service or product and get to know them demographically and psycho-graphically.
And I thought, well I already know that!
Oh yeah. I was confident.
When I was running writing courses offline, the groups were 80% women who wanted to
write fiction. They ranged in age from 20 to 75 and lived in Dublin. And those who were able to give their writing more attention tended to have grown up children. So in my head, my ideal client was women who fitted this profile.
Job done.
But was it?
I was back on a call to Lynn.
‘You’re going to spend the next few weeks researching your ideal client.’
‘Really?’ I said.
‘Anna, I could be your ideal client.’
I looked at her. American Entrepreneur and Coach Extraordinaire with children in school
and not the ideal client I had in mind at all.
‘Oh.’
She went on to explain.
‘You need to figure out who you want to work with. You need to know your ideal client
so you can get clear on your messaging…’
I can’t remember the rest of the conversation because these two sentences took me weeks, if
not months, to digest…
Um. Why?
Because I never knew I could actively choose who I most wanted to work with. It
never occurred to me that I could. I always thought I had to research the market to see who
was in it, and then get as many of them to buy from me as possible.
So now I had to get really specific. Again.
My immediate feeling was resistance. It felt counter-intuitive not to include so
many people on purpose. I felt like I was cutting off a lot of opportunity and possibility.
I started thinking of all the names and faces of people I wouldn’t be able to work with
anymore and I worried they’d think I was shunning them. I also felt fearful because starting a new business was risky enough, so why would I cut off people who might want to work with me?
My next thought was, will there be any business in what I’m doing? Will there be enough people who fit my choices, because it feels VERY niche and how on earth am I going
to FIND them?
In 5 seconds flat I went from feeling smug to feeling oh-my-god-I’m-gonna-die-poor-and-lonely….aarrgh!
But one thing was clear to me. I knew I wanted to work with women. So once again, I turned inwards and picked up the threads of stories about business and women.
In my family, all the men – my Dad, my brother, both my grandfathers and even my ex –
all had their own businesses. But boring, humdrum stuff.
Like tyres.
And insurance.
Which didn’t resonate with me at all.
The women, on the other hand, did really cool stuff they loved, like my Irish Granny: she flew
a plane under the Boyne Bridge in the 1930s and was fined a pound. And my German opera-
singing, bi-sexual Great Aunt Jutta. She emigrated to join La Scala in Italy, then moved to New York to teach Broadway singers…
These stories lit me up like fire! And thinking about Jutta triggered thoughts
about visiting my godmother in Germany and I remembered going down the stairs to her basement where she had an Aladdin’s Cave full of wool and my voice was muffled by soft piles of mohair. There were half finished jumpers on bendy needles that I wanted to snuggle into…and later as an adult, I’d admired the paintings she’d hung along her hallway, filled with the sea-scapes she’d painted in the West of Ireland.
I thought of my own fashionista, operatic Mum who loved nothing better than putting
together a new look, or being in a show, singing and dancing her heart out. She always sang
show songs around the house in her pretty, operatic voice. When I Married Mr Snow , I Feel
Pretty and How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria…then she’d break off into, ‘Anna, get up
here now and tidy this room,’ and then she’d fall back into song again. Later she decided to
become a stylist and makeup artist and set up a lil biz from home called ‘Cheek 2 Chic.’
I remembered lovely Mrs Harrison in Primary 6 peering over half moon spectacles and
telling us stories about the women who’d fought to get us the vote. And with a lusty air punch she’d cried, ‘use the vote, girls, always use your vote!’ while we practised dance moves from the movie Grease at the back of the classroom.
And fiery Mrs Dickens in her 1980s boiler suit and her frizz of dark hair, who’d
nearly had a fight with my Dad at the PT meeting when he said I couldn’t do drama for
GCSE, and later told me on the QT that I could join her own out-of-school drama group instead.
Threading these stories together, I realised that the way I was in the world had been shaped
in the likeness of these entrepreneurial, energetic, rebellious, free-thinking, full-hearted
women with their love of adventure and independence, and that elusive, innate desire to
express and declare and share themselves more deeply through their creativity.
And then my brilliant business group buddy, Anna from Spain said, ‘look around you, Anna!
THERE is your ideal client!’
And I looked and saw all these amazing women in my programme, sharing their love of singing and sewing, crochet, music and design, building businesses doing what they loved and impacting individual lives in homes all around the world.
If my Mum and Dorian were working now, they’d LOVE doing what I have the chance to do: being an entrepreneur and bringing love and abundance to everything I do and, in ways that weren’t possible for their generation, effecting change through creativity…
And there I was, back at Creativity again.
Finally, I was in the right place: I’d found my ideal client.
And it’s exactly the same for you and your book. You need to find and know your ideal reader in this way. You need to know exactly who you’re writing for, whose hands you want to get your book into.
Just referring to him or her as ‘the reader’ and only starting to think about them as an add-on at the end of writing your book when you’re thinking about marketing it, is nondescript and unhelpful. Especially when you want your book to have a meaningful impact.
Why?
Because it keeps you in the realm of the general as opposed to the specific.
Just like you, your reader is a real life person, with a name and an address and relationships
and feelings and habits and a preference for a certain type of coffee and marmalade on their toast.
She – or he – is very specific.
But in the process of learning to write a book, she is rarely considered because the focus
always falls on the writer and their craft. But – and it’s a big BUT – how do you know what to write and how to say it if you don’t know exactly who you’re talking to?
Look at it this way. Would you talk to your child, a parent or a group of colleagues about the same things in the same way? Of course not! We all talk differently depending on who we’re talking to and what we’re talking about.
So now it’s time to ask yourself:
Who am I talking to?
Who is my Ideal Reader?
Like me in my business you should consciously choose your ideal reader now at the outset, because the more you talk to one person, the clearer your writing is.
Because now you can’t fail to resonate with your reader. You’re dying to share your message
and you’re excited for them to read your book. You bring an energy to your writing that is your ‘A’ game and you’re not even trying that hard because you’re in flow and swimming
downstream.
Now you’re not wasting energy thinking about what you should be saying and trying to say.
Instead you feel focused and your intentions are clear. You feel relaxed, like you’re writing to a friend and the words start to flow naturally. Now you’re not preoccupied with good grammar or writing well, or being a brilliant writer. You’re just writing like YOU. And this is exactly where you want to be. This is what your readers want. They want to feel your authenticity. They want to feel you’re speaking to them, and now you are.
AND – counter-intuitively – the more you talk to this one person, the wider your appeal will be. Because wen you write for everyone, you appeal to no-one. But if you write for one person, you’ll appeal to a great number of people.
And now you know this information, it will not only steer your writing, but it will make you
look like a pro to a publisher and it will inform the marketing campaign for your book. See what I mean when I talked about asking the right questions now to set your book up for success later?
And this is all FUN to do, folks! This feels brilliant!
Author and New Yorker writer John McPhee started every piece of writing with ‘Dear
Mother’, and then took those words out at the end. But he got the words down in the way he
wanted by writing for his mum.
And this is the power of knowing your ideal reader.
They are your partner in the dance of writing your book, the other half of your embrace, and
you need to bring them with you all the way on this extraordinary and fulfilling journey…
And there you have it. These are the first three steps you can take now before you start
writing your book. Even if you’re familiar with them in relation to your business, do them in
relation to your book because there is an abundance of clarity, focus, connection and
direction to gain by it.
There are more steps to come of course – and I cover these in my Foundation Course – but your answers to these questions are the anchors you need at the start, so that you can move forwards with grace, confidence and ease to successfully write your book for impact.
I can’t emphasise enough how important they are.
But actually, I’ll emphasise them now.
THEY ARE INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!
The questions again, are:
What is your ‘why’?
What is your message?
And who is your ideal reader?
Oh, and there’s one more thing before you go. After all the work I did, I wanted to share
with you exactly who my ideal client is.
Her name is Suzie and she’s an online coach. She’s independent and adventurous with a strong spirit and a passion for creativity, and she desires impact. The seed of a book is burning inside her, ready to grow. She’s very competent and she knows she can DO this but she’s busy and she’s not sure where to start. She just needs to get her butt in the chair and do the work…
Susie is amazing.
And Susie is just like you.
So go sit your butt in the chair, because your reader is waiting for your book.
Prefer to read all 3 parts in an easy-to-read e-book? Download your FREE copy now! And come say hi on Instagram @thebizbookcoach
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