Has life thrown you for a loop lately? If so, there might be a book in it. Let me tell you about Bruce Huck, owner of TriOasis, A Cellular Energy Center in Portland, Oregon. During a routine checkup, Bruce's regular naturopath heard an unusual heartbeat. He hadn't felt any warnings, but further tests showed that he needed quadruple heart bypass. Anyone can imagine what a shock that might be. One minute you're helping people with their health problems, building a business, staying active, … [Read more...]
Get passive income and more clients through an online course
I had coffee with a young woman who has a successful consulting practice. She wants to have more time to spend with her 3-year-old. She likes working from home, and she likes having the boy with her. But it would be nice to have less pressure for one-on-one consultations and more passive income. Maybe you’re in a similar situation. There's only one of you, and you can scale yourself only so far. If your whole business involves face-to-face meetings, there’s a limit to your earning and your … [Read more...]
Change the World for the People You Serve
You have something valuable to share. You solve a problem. You make peoples’ lives better. Maybe you act in your corner of the world, with good results for your clients. But what about those outside your circle? In order to help them, you have to reach them. One way to go bigger is with a book. Writing a book can build a change the world for you and your clients — and many outside your circle as well. Lori Matzke was a real estate stager, who started her business in 1999, back before real … [Read more...]
Are You Hiding Your Gift?
The daughter of a friend left them with no warning, leaving behind three children, some complicated relationships, and an empty hole. I know the young woman, some, and I’m sure she told herself that she was such a failure that no one would miss her. She didn’t want to work on the problems because it was hard, because she was afraid, because it seemed like it didn’t matter very much. It wasn’t true. Her family didn’t want her gone, they wanted her better. It’s a long, sad story that you’ve … [Read more...]
Book Review: Elegantly Simple Solutions to Complex People Problems
I'll take it as a given that everybody experiences some of those knotty problems in life, places where they can't seem to get out of their own way. I know it’s true of myself, and I sometimes find it’s the most charitable explanation I can think of for some others’ behavior. If you share that experience, you'll find Elegantly Simple Solutions to Complex People Problems, by Jaemin Frazer, to be a valuable resource in untangling some of those difficult issues. Simple Solutions is divided into … [Read more...]
How’s Your Website Working for You?
Just a few years ago, it was possible to debate whether a business needed a website. Those days are gone. Most business owners — professionals, entrepreneurs, coaches — know they need one. But I still see websites that, frankly, stink. Maybe they’re home-made. Maybe they were top of the line 5 years ago. Maybe they were just the best the business owner could afford at the time. But 5 years is a long time in internet years. Software Changes New standards arise, and old ones fall. Hackers … [Read more...]
The Why, What, and How of Organizing Your Book
When you set out to write your book, you face the dreaded blank page (or blank screen — doesn’t matter). Where to begin? I’d like to give you a handhold on that cliff. Three questions you’ll answer in the course of your book, and a suggestion for the best order to answer them. Why? As you survey the information you plan to give in your book, you need to understand that “why” forks in two directions: You Your reader At best, you will weave the two whys together in your origin … [Read more...]
Design for your tribe
No matter where you live, what continent, or how sophisticated your city, you see tribe members every day. In fact, other people see what tribe you belong to. In the small town where I live, there is a group of people who came here from Russia decades ago. You know the women by their long dresses and hair accessories, the men by their Russian-styles shirts and beards. But it’s not just ethnic clothing. As I write this in a Portland Starbucks, there’s a man sitting nearby with colorful … [Read more...]
Your Book Creates a Path . . .
Your book creates a path for the world to give back to you. By revealing the transformation you offer, it opens the way for you to receive the respect and authority you deserve. … [Read more...]
Quality Book Design Tells Your Book’s Story
https://youtu.be/cC0KxNeLp1E In this funny and inspiring TED Talk from a few years back, book designer Chip Kidd talks about his approach to creating a book cover that expresses what the story is about. It's hard to overstate the importance of a book cover. It's the single most important piece of advertising for your book. Some authors cheat themselves by going for free or cheap design. (Although sometimes it doesn't make sense to spend hundreds of dollars on a professional design that for a … [Read more...]
