WEBVTT 00:00:10.310 --> 00:00:13.490 Welcome to her comeback. I'm so glad you're back 00:00:13.490 --> 00:00:16.710 with me. This is where 50 isn't your finish line. 00:00:16.769 --> 00:00:19.769 It is your starting point, the starting point 00:00:19.769 --> 00:00:22.489 of everything you want your life to be, the person 00:00:22.489 --> 00:00:25.769 that you are meant to be. I'm your host, Michelle 00:00:25.769 --> 00:00:29.489 Thompson, and we are proving that your best chapter 00:00:29.489 --> 00:00:32.710 may just be the one you haven't written yet. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:36.380 We'll continue each episode featuring honest 00:00:36.380 --> 00:00:39.140 conversation with women who have stopped going 00:00:39.140 --> 00:00:41.759 at it alone and have found their way to fulfillment, 00:00:42.179 --> 00:00:45.500 joy, and purpose in their second act. You'll 00:00:45.500 --> 00:00:48.079 hear about their struggles, their breakthroughs, 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:51.100 and the practical steps that they took to create 00:00:51.100 --> 00:00:54.880 lives that they actually love. This podcast will 00:00:54.880 --> 00:00:57.500 show you how other women have made their comeback 00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:02.030 and how you can too. Welcome back. Hey, good 00:01:02.030 --> 00:01:06.090 day everybody. Welcome. I am super excited today 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:12.189 to have Suzanne Doyle Ingram with me. I met Suzanne 00:01:12.189 --> 00:01:15.230 in my search for a publisher. This is maybe new 00:01:15.230 --> 00:01:17.909 information for my audience. I am working on 00:01:17.909 --> 00:01:21.870 a book. I was referred to her from a friend and 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:23.790 she's just wonderful. And I couldn't wait to 00:01:23.790 --> 00:01:26.790 have her on the podcast. So welcome please all 00:01:26.790 --> 00:01:30.469 the way from Vancouver, Canada. So this is the 00:01:30.469 --> 00:01:32.989 Her Come Back podcast goes international today. 00:01:33.409 --> 00:01:37.329 Here's Suzanne. Suzanne, welcome. Thank you so 00:01:37.329 --> 00:01:39.129 much for having me, Michelle. I'm excited to 00:01:39.129 --> 00:01:42.310 be here. Oh, great. I'm so happy to have you. 00:01:42.549 --> 00:01:44.810 Let's start off by just give the audience a little 00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:48.810 bit of information about you. Okay, so as you 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:52.069 mentioned, I'm in Vancouver, Canada. I'm a mom 00:01:52.069 --> 00:01:55.489 of three older kids, almost adults, actually 00:01:55.489 --> 00:01:59.409 pretty much, pretty much adults. I love to travel. 00:01:59.409 --> 00:02:02.370 I've been to 26 countries and many more to come. 00:02:02.370 --> 00:02:04.650 And I speak three languages, English, French 00:02:04.650 --> 00:02:08.210 and Japanese. And I'm a book publisher and I've 00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:10.229 been publishing books and helping people write 00:02:10.229 --> 00:02:13.629 books for this will be my 16th year this year. 00:02:13.629 --> 00:02:15.750 And I've worked with over a thousand people all 00:02:15.750 --> 00:02:17.650 over the world. everywhere from the U .S. and 00:02:17.650 --> 00:02:23.370 Canada to the Netherlands, Malaysia, Romania, 00:02:23.689 --> 00:02:27.110 like everywhere. And I just love, love, love 00:02:27.110 --> 00:02:30.509 what I do because I get to help people make their 00:02:30.509 --> 00:02:33.849 dream of writing a book come true. Oh, that is 00:02:33.849 --> 00:02:36.409 wonderful. And you are just a lovely, lovely 00:02:36.409 --> 00:02:39.169 person. I have so enjoyed our time together up 00:02:39.169 --> 00:02:40.849 to this point, and we still have a ways to go. 00:02:41.349 --> 00:02:44.770 So yeah, we have more time together. We do. We 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:47.400 do. I'm going to ask you a few more questions 00:02:47.400 --> 00:02:49.919 about your experience and more about you. So 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:52.960 just starting with kind of your own journey and 00:02:52.960 --> 00:02:55.219 transformation, I know one of the first things 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:58.180 you shared with me is that you published your 00:02:58.180 --> 00:03:01.599 first book under a different name because you 00:03:01.599 --> 00:03:03.860 were afraid it would fail and you didn't want 00:03:03.860 --> 00:03:08.139 anyone to know it was you. So what changed between 00:03:08.139 --> 00:03:11.719 that fear and then becoming someone who teaches 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.979 others how to write and to confidently publish? 00:03:16.109 --> 00:03:18.789 Well, I think confidence is the key word there. 00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:22.090 I wasn't confident. It took me many, many, many 00:03:22.090 --> 00:03:25.069 years to gain confidence. I don't know why. If 00:03:25.069 --> 00:03:26.490 it was, you know what they say, like something 00:03:26.490 --> 00:03:29.110 in your childhood or whatever it was, but I felt 00:03:29.110 --> 00:03:33.449 afraid all the time. And so I had, I never even 00:03:33.449 --> 00:03:35.550 really wanted to be an entrepreneur. I kind of 00:03:35.550 --> 00:03:38.689 happened, you know, after the birth of my first 00:03:38.689 --> 00:03:40.889 baby, I just couldn't bear to go back to that 00:03:40.889 --> 00:03:44.530 office. It just was like, please no. So I started 00:03:44.530 --> 00:03:47.430 working from home, doing some editing and some 00:03:47.430 --> 00:03:50.349 writing and, but not really under my name. So 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:53.689 then I was working and I got a job selling magazine 00:03:53.689 --> 00:03:56.270 advertising and long story short, when the economy 00:03:56.270 --> 00:03:59.370 crashed in 2008 in the U S it obviously affected 00:03:59.370 --> 00:04:01.669 Canada as well. And most of my clients, were 00:04:01.669 --> 00:04:03.270 American and they decided they didn't want to 00:04:03.270 --> 00:04:07.129 pay anymore so I was scrambling I was kind of 00:04:07.129 --> 00:04:09.530 freaking out financially I was married at the 00:04:09.530 --> 00:04:14.330 time but we weren't okay financially so I won't 00:04:14.330 --> 00:04:18.449 go more into that, but anyways, I felt very alone 00:04:18.449 --> 00:04:20.670 and I was so, I thought, okay, what am I gonna 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:23.389 do? What I could do is like, I know I can write, 00:04:23.569 --> 00:04:26.410 so I'll write a book because Amazon had just 00:04:26.410 --> 00:04:29.430 opened up their self -publishing portion of their 00:04:29.430 --> 00:04:31.509 business where you can upload your files and 00:04:31.509 --> 00:04:32.930 we'll self -publish it. I mean, it's changed 00:04:32.930 --> 00:04:35.910 a lot in 15 years, but so I decided to write 00:04:35.910 --> 00:04:38.209 a book, but I thought since I'm a big fat failure, 00:04:38.370 --> 00:04:40.889 I don't want anyone to know that it's me. Again, 00:04:40.889 --> 00:04:43.240 I didn't have the confidence. So I published 00:04:43.240 --> 00:04:45.019 that book under a fake name but because I knew 00:04:45.019 --> 00:04:47.160 a thing or two about marketing and the traditional 00:04:47.160 --> 00:04:49.579 publishers at that time and still quite a bit 00:04:49.579 --> 00:04:52.160 today don't know as much about search engine 00:04:52.160 --> 00:04:54.480 optimization and keywords and metadata and all 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.279 the things that a lot of us know. So I ended 00:04:57.279 --> 00:04:59.459 up making it a bestseller and then I was like 00:04:59.459 --> 00:05:01.379 scrambling going no it's really me and then I 00:05:01.379 --> 00:05:03.060 looked like a crazy person because it wasn't 00:05:03.060 --> 00:05:06.660 my name. So then people started how the confidence 00:05:06.660 --> 00:05:09.769 grew was people started asking me you know I 00:05:09.769 --> 00:05:11.889 remember sitting in a cafe. I would go every 00:05:11.889 --> 00:05:14.730 Wednesday because my daughter was taking drama 00:05:14.730 --> 00:05:17.050 classes down the way about a half an hour away 00:05:17.050 --> 00:05:18.930 from my house. So I would take my laptop and 00:05:18.930 --> 00:05:20.730 I would drop her off. It wasn't really enough 00:05:20.730 --> 00:05:22.610 time to like drop her off and go home and then 00:05:22.610 --> 00:05:25.769 go back. So I just work on my next book and a 00:05:25.769 --> 00:05:28.649 couple people would see me there week after week 00:05:28.649 --> 00:05:29.949 and say, you know, what are you doing here? Because 00:05:29.949 --> 00:05:31.790 it's a small town and that's how I'm writing 00:05:31.790 --> 00:05:34.310 a book. And everybody started saying, oh, well. 00:05:34.540 --> 00:05:37.360 Thought it was really hard to publish and how 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:38.699 are you gonna do that? I said, no, it's really 00:05:38.699 --> 00:05:40.980 not that hard because I realized I didn't know 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:43.120 it at the time But I realized when you have a 00:05:43.120 --> 00:05:45.899 gift or a skill that's easy for you It's because 00:05:45.899 --> 00:05:48.600 it's a gift and other people don't find it easy. 00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:51.860 So This is kind of a long rambling answer to 00:05:51.860 --> 00:05:54.560 your question Michelle But I think after helping 00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:57.339 a few people do it my confidence grew and I started 00:05:57.339 --> 00:06:00.639 thinking okay I can do this. I am good at this. 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:02.300 There may be a million other things I'm not good 00:06:02.300 --> 00:06:04.319 at, but this is something that I am good at. 00:06:04.339 --> 00:06:06.079 And I want to be able to help people do it. And 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.199 I just thought it was strange how easy it was 00:06:08.199 --> 00:06:11.600 for me. And I don't know why, but for other people, 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:17.439 it's not easy. So I'm happy to help people. Picket 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:20.560 something you said there and that you said something 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:22.879 you just felt like you were a failure and you 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:26.399 were anything but that. I mean, you are an amazing 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:29.680 woman, a publisher, a writer. You have so, so 00:06:29.680 --> 00:06:34.040 many things. So how did you move from knowing, 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:36.360 you know, I am not a failure. It's a little bit, 00:06:36.360 --> 00:06:38.500 I think of what you were just saying. Your confidence 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:40.540 grew as you helped people, but, but was there 00:06:40.540 --> 00:06:42.639 something else that really helped you with that 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.899 pivot? Like, no, I'm not a failure. I can do 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:49.569 stuff. You know, okay a few things and I think 00:06:49.569 --> 00:06:51.490 this would be helpful for the listeners if there's 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:53.670 anybody else who has ever felt that way or feels 00:06:53.670 --> 00:06:57.149 that way sometimes so One thing was I took a 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.209 picture of my first check from Amazon which was 00:07:00.209 --> 00:07:04.250 $1 ,200 to me that's like, you know a mortgage 00:07:04.250 --> 00:07:06.810 payment like I was so like so so excited so I 00:07:06.810 --> 00:07:08.769 took a picture of it and I put it on my wall 00:07:08.769 --> 00:07:12.750 in my office and then I also Every time I would 00:07:12.750 --> 00:07:15.089 help somebody with their book, if they sent me 00:07:15.089 --> 00:07:17.829 a thank you card, I collected those thank you 00:07:17.829 --> 00:07:21.110 cards and I had a big whiteboard in my office 00:07:21.110 --> 00:07:24.050 and I painted the frame of it gold with this 00:07:24.050 --> 00:07:26.410 beautiful gold paint and then I would attach 00:07:26.410 --> 00:07:29.730 all the thank you cards all around the bulletin 00:07:29.730 --> 00:07:31.930 board. And so it sat on the wall right across 00:07:31.930 --> 00:07:33.769 from my desk. And if I ever had a moment where 00:07:33.769 --> 00:07:35.370 I thought, oh, this didn't work. Cause I mean, 00:07:35.370 --> 00:07:37.850 I failed a lot. I tried a lot of marketing ideas 00:07:37.850 --> 00:07:40.430 that didn't work. I wasted a lot of money on 00:07:40.430 --> 00:07:42.920 stupid things where you know you get kind of 00:07:42.920 --> 00:07:44.699 sucked in by somebody who's like oh i'm a coach 00:07:44.699 --> 00:07:46.319 if you pay me five thousand dollars i'll help 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:49.240 you do this and the woman did not come through 00:07:49.240 --> 00:07:53.800 so i wasted time and money and also felt betrayed 00:07:53.800 --> 00:07:55.779 many times so when i would look at those thank 00:07:55.779 --> 00:07:58.639 you cards that would center me and get me back 00:07:58.680 --> 00:08:01.579 on track as I as I'd like to say stay on your 00:08:01.579 --> 00:08:04.899 path Suzanne and I would say yeah I helped Felicia 00:08:04.899 --> 00:08:07.920 I helped Jody I helped Roger I helped Clint I 00:08:07.920 --> 00:08:10.500 helped I've helped a lot of people and it just 00:08:10.500 --> 00:08:14.279 grounds me again because I don't have that natural 00:08:14.279 --> 00:08:17.060 confidence of every single day feeling like I 00:08:17.060 --> 00:08:19.899 got this like I mean I think if we're honest 00:08:19.899 --> 00:08:22.639 most people most especially women struggle with 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:25.769 that yeah Yeah, I love that idea. What a great 00:08:25.769 --> 00:08:29.790 idea. So you mentioned a little bit your you 00:08:29.790 --> 00:08:32.309 had you were married to 20 plus years that you 00:08:32.309 --> 00:08:34.330 were married and you've gone through a divorce. 00:08:34.330 --> 00:08:38.750 So how did that life transition influence your 00:08:38.750 --> 00:08:41.730 work and your mission as you continue to help 00:08:41.730 --> 00:08:46.610 others? Great question. Yeah, you know, I'm very 00:08:46.610 --> 00:08:50.169 fortunate that my ex husband and I are friends 00:08:50.169 --> 00:08:53.679 and it's. made for a wonderful transition because 00:08:53.679 --> 00:08:56.220 my kids are so happy about that. It took a little 00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:59.539 while. We had a situation with one of our kids 00:08:59.539 --> 00:09:02.720 that was really, really struggling and it made 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:06.179 my ex and I really come together. We had to band 00:09:06.179 --> 00:09:08.580 together. We had to work together. And so although 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:12.580 the situation was sad and awful, it was good 00:09:12.580 --> 00:09:15.559 that we had that. But I think for me, it was 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:18.139 this pivot where I thought that my mantra in 00:09:18.139 --> 00:09:20.860 my head was, if it's to be, it's up to me. Like, 00:09:21.279 --> 00:09:24.600 I literally have no one, which can be a very 00:09:24.600 --> 00:09:26.440 scary thing. And I still feel that to this day. 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:29.480 I'm like, I don't have wealthy parents that are 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:31.820 going to take care of me. I only have one parent 00:09:31.820 --> 00:09:35.360 left, my mom, and I don't have a husband or a 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:38.480 partner. And so it does scare me sometimes, but 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:41.240 then I think... Wait a second. Look at all the 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:43.360 clients I've had over the years. Look like over 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:46.779 a thousand people. There's more coming. There's 00:09:46.779 --> 00:09:50.080 always more coming. And I used to think one of 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:52.620 my mentors once I said to them, when I first 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:55.100 started, I had a goal to make $10 ,000 and I 00:09:55.100 --> 00:09:57.299 made it immediately. And I said to my mentor, 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:59.840 I think I'm just lucky. What if I'm just lucky? 00:09:59.980 --> 00:10:01.700 You know, that feeling of what if it all goes 00:10:01.700 --> 00:10:04.440 away and the mentor. I said, Suzanne, there's 00:10:04.440 --> 00:10:06.500 an expression, the harder I work, the luckier 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:09.500 I get. And I know that I have a strong work ethic 00:10:09.500 --> 00:10:12.559 and I can always support myself, my kids and 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:15.559 my family. I always can. Like there's nothing 00:10:15.559 --> 00:10:18.370 that could stop me. Like, even if, God forbid, 00:10:18.409 --> 00:10:20.809 I'm not able to walk or something, I still am 00:10:20.809 --> 00:10:23.129 able to talk and get on Zoom calls and still 00:10:23.129 --> 00:10:25.450 help people. I'm lucky that I have a job that 00:10:25.450 --> 00:10:28.590 I can do from anywhere in the world. I have spent 00:10:28.590 --> 00:10:31.409 a lot of time at hospitals with my mom and I 00:10:31.409 --> 00:10:34.269 just take my laptop. I'm just like, I'm working 00:10:34.269 --> 00:10:37.590 in the corner over here today. So I think after 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:39.629 the divorce, I had about a three month period 00:10:39.629 --> 00:10:41.230 where I was panicked, like, how am I going to 00:10:41.230 --> 00:10:42.769 do it? How am I going to do it? And my friend 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:46.059 said to me, you're already doing it. You can 00:10:46.059 --> 00:10:48.299 do this you've got this you've been doing it 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:51.960 for years so i just have to pull that out sometimes 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:56.419 and always remember i can do this. Awesome great 00:10:56.419 --> 00:10:59.480 great you say that you don't consider yourself 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:02.139 a writer you said that before but you've written 00:11:02.139 --> 00:11:05.399 all of these books and i know you just. Before 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:07.600 we started recording here, you were saying that 00:11:07.600 --> 00:11:09.539 there's two books that may be coming out this 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:12.539 year. So what do you mean by that when you say 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:15.000 you're not a writer? And what would you say to 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.559 other women who think I'm not a writer either? 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:21.840 And what's the reason why they would challenge 00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:24.820 themselves there? Yeah, thanks for asking that. 00:11:24.840 --> 00:11:26.379 It's funny because I have been saying that for 00:11:26.379 --> 00:11:29.179 years. Like, I'm not really a writer, but I've 00:11:29.179 --> 00:11:31.360 written more than 20 books or co -written, written 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.100 and co -written. Sometimes I just do like one 00:11:33.100 --> 00:11:36.919 chapter and an anthology. I feel like there are 00:11:36.919 --> 00:11:39.919 people who love writing and I call those quote 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:42.379 -unquote real writers I'm like those are the 00:11:42.379 --> 00:11:45.100 real writers the ones who love to write and they 00:11:45.100 --> 00:11:47.080 have special pens and special books and they 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:49.159 they can go to a cafe and they can write for 00:11:49.159 --> 00:11:53.360 hours and I'm not like that I need to know like 00:11:53.360 --> 00:11:56.460 I'm just really I'm like, okay, this is the purpose 00:11:56.460 --> 00:11:58.440 of this book. This is who I'm writing it for. 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:00.500 These are the questions that are going through 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:02.460 their mind that I'm going to answer in my book. 00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:04.620 This is how I'm going to help them. It's very, 00:12:04.620 --> 00:12:07.399 very strategic. And that's how I teach business 00:12:07.399 --> 00:12:09.000 people how to write books that are going to help 00:12:09.000 --> 00:12:11.980 them with their business. So when I have an outline, 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:14.480 I literally don't like writing at all. I have 00:12:14.480 --> 00:12:17.100 to make myself do it. The book that I'm working 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:19.120 on right now, I was telling you about, well, 00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:21.059 I have two books, but the one I'm just going 00:12:21.059 --> 00:12:24.309 to, just a little quickie. It's so funny, it's 00:12:24.309 --> 00:12:26.509 so like, it's really just a quickie little book. 00:12:27.190 --> 00:12:29.529 I'm doing that just to support a new program 00:12:29.529 --> 00:12:31.409 that I'm launching for, it's called Beyond the 00:12:31.409 --> 00:12:33.889 Book. It's for what happens after the book for 00:12:33.889 --> 00:12:35.549 business people who have a book. And so I thought, 00:12:35.570 --> 00:12:37.809 oh, I'll just throw together a little book. I'll 00:12:37.809 --> 00:12:40.470 put it on Amazon, sell it for 15 or $20, but 00:12:40.470 --> 00:12:42.889 I'll also just give it away as part of an advertising 00:12:42.889 --> 00:12:45.309 campaign. So for me, I'm like, oh yeah, boom, 00:12:45.509 --> 00:12:48.860 boom, boom. Yeah, no problem. It literally is 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:51.340 that simple, but because I don't feel like a 00:12:51.340 --> 00:12:56.100 writer, I think writers enjoy writing. And at 00:12:56.100 --> 00:12:57.759 the end of the day, they look back and go, oh, 00:12:57.779 --> 00:13:00.000 what a great day I had today I was able to write. 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:02.740 I don't ever feel that way. I just get it done. 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:04.879 It's just sort of like cleaning your house, right? 00:13:04.879 --> 00:13:07.659 You got to do it to get what you want. You want 00:13:07.659 --> 00:13:09.879 a clean house, right? So it's just sort of a 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:12.600 means to an end for me. And for other people 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:15.500 who are listening, if they wish they had a book, 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:20.440 I just say, you are over -complicating it. It's 00:13:20.440 --> 00:13:23.620 literally not that big of a deal. If you know 00:13:23.620 --> 00:13:26.980 how to do the foundational work, write a proper 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:28.919 outline, like I just alluded to, who are you 00:13:28.919 --> 00:13:31.159 writing it for? Why are you writing this? How 00:13:31.159 --> 00:13:33.019 much do you wanna put in? How much do you not 00:13:33.019 --> 00:13:36.500 wanna put in? Like if you have a mentor to help 00:13:36.500 --> 00:13:40.259 you, it's really helpful. I think that people... 00:13:40.279 --> 00:13:42.860 Don't look at it as little building blocks. Okay, 00:13:43.000 --> 00:13:44.340 first I'm gonna think about who I'm writing it 00:13:44.340 --> 00:13:46.139 for that I'm gonna write an outline then every 00:13:46.139 --> 00:13:48.200 single day I'm gonna write a thousand words or 00:13:48.200 --> 00:13:49.919 every Saturday I'm gonna write from 9 until noon 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:52.440 or whatever. The goals are it's literally one 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:54.960 word at a time That's how you do it and don't 00:13:54.960 --> 00:13:58.080 take shortcuts like using chat GPT or anything 00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:01.179 like that it has to come from you because You 00:14:01.179 --> 00:14:04.000 are unique. You have a message. It's all the 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:05.360 things that you've been saying to your clients 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.639 for years and years and years. That's what goes 00:14:07.639 --> 00:14:10.299 in the book and it's already up here. So everything 00:14:10.299 --> 00:14:12.519 is already inside of you. You just need to be 00:14:12.519 --> 00:14:15.440 organized. So that's what I have to say about 00:14:15.440 --> 00:14:18.360 that, about being a writer. There's something 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:20.480 that I was thinking about as you were sharing 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:23.539 that and on our last coaching call, one of the 00:14:23.539 --> 00:14:27.240 things that was said was just Write the book 00:14:27.240 --> 00:14:29.600 keep it simple if you really want to get into 00:14:29.600 --> 00:14:32.340 complicated stuff make that your second book 00:14:32.340 --> 00:14:37.320 But the first book keep it simple so I like the 00:14:37.320 --> 00:14:39.919 way that conversation winner Yeah, and you know 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:41.639 one of our members in our group the other day 00:14:41.639 --> 00:14:43.440 was saying she had a cut a bunch of stuff Oh, 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:44.500 she's like, I don't know what I was thinking. 00:14:44.539 --> 00:14:46.340 I just kept thinking I meant she goes I over 00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:48.419 complicated I kept adding more and more and more 00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:50.559 and more and I said The stuff that you added, 00:14:50.700 --> 00:14:52.620 was that on your outline? No, the outline is 00:14:52.620 --> 00:14:54.639 like an agreement you make with yourself. So 00:14:54.639 --> 00:14:57.039 you don't start writing until you go, this is 00:14:57.039 --> 00:15:00.240 it. This is solid. This is my book. If you have 00:15:00.240 --> 00:15:03.000 other ideas that come, you can think, hmm, does 00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.639 this belong in this book or is this some other 00:15:05.639 --> 00:15:08.659 day? Put it in a folder called the other stuff, 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.139 but just focus on your book. Otherwise it will 00:15:11.139 --> 00:15:13.080 take you years and years and years. And it shouldn't 00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:16.649 take that long to write a book. The other topic 00:15:16.649 --> 00:15:19.049 that I wanted to just pick out a little bit too 00:15:19.049 --> 00:15:23.370 was the AI piece everybody it's AI Everything 00:15:23.370 --> 00:15:26.950 everywhere we go today and that's another been 00:15:26.950 --> 00:15:29.809 another topic in our coaching calls Don't do 00:15:29.809 --> 00:15:32.370 it. You just talk a little bit more about that. 00:15:32.429 --> 00:15:35.590 Like why you wouldn't want to use AI and the 00:15:35.590 --> 00:15:39.509 importance of that Don't use AI to write your 00:15:39.509 --> 00:15:42.460 book In September, I had counted there were seven 00:15:42.460 --> 00:15:44.919 books that came across my desk where the people 00:15:44.919 --> 00:15:46.960 said, hey, I'm looking for a publisher. I just 00:15:46.960 --> 00:15:49.779 finished writing my book. Seven in a row were 00:15:49.779 --> 00:15:52.740 ruined by AI. And a couple of the people looked 00:15:52.740 --> 00:15:54.460 me straight in the eye on a Zoom call and said, 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:58.629 I didn't use AI. And I said, I don't really work 00:15:58.629 --> 00:16:01.769 with liars. Sorry, you did. Your book is crap. 00:16:02.309 --> 00:16:04.730 I didn't say that. In my mind, I said that because 00:16:04.730 --> 00:16:07.309 the problem with AI is it strips out all personality. 00:16:07.710 --> 00:16:10.129 I was like, you need to go through it again and 00:16:10.129 --> 00:16:11.830 put in the stories about when you worked with 00:16:11.830 --> 00:16:13.750 this client that had this result and that sort 00:16:13.750 --> 00:16:15.809 of thing. So AI strips out your personality. 00:16:16.409 --> 00:16:22.809 Also, I can't. the way AI writes in short choppy 00:16:22.809 --> 00:16:24.690 sentences. And the rhythm of the book is like, 00:16:24.690 --> 00:16:26.789 boom, boom, boom, boom. You feel like you're 00:16:26.789 --> 00:16:29.649 being punched in the face by an AI book. It's 00:16:29.649 --> 00:16:33.230 awful. Normal writing will have a rhythm to it 00:16:33.230 --> 00:16:36.210 where it's a long sentence, long sentence, short, 00:16:36.629 --> 00:16:39.450 short, long, long. Like it's like music. It should 00:16:39.450 --> 00:16:42.049 be like music. If you read someone like Margaret 00:16:42.049 --> 00:16:46.250 Atwood and the way she writes is just like so 00:16:46.250 --> 00:16:49.620 beautiful. So I'm not saying that every one of 00:16:49.620 --> 00:16:51.740 my business authors is the best writer in the 00:16:51.740 --> 00:16:53.899 whole entire world, but what I'm saying is AI, 00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:56.980 first of all, will ruin your book. Some people 00:16:56.980 --> 00:16:59.559 say, oh no, no, I wrote the whole thing. I just... 00:16:59.179 --> 00:17:02.080 quote unquote, ran it through AI. My friend told 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:04.140 me to run it through AI just to check for grammar. 00:17:04.319 --> 00:17:08.339 It's not an editor. Please hire a human being 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:11.240 editor. There are many, many very good human 00:17:11.240 --> 00:17:14.660 being editors who have, you know, master's degrees 00:17:14.660 --> 00:17:19.059 in English literature or linguistics, and they 00:17:19.059 --> 00:17:21.599 are the people who should be editing your book. 00:17:21.799 --> 00:17:23.759 Okay, so you can tell I get so upset about this. 00:17:24.059 --> 00:17:26.000 Now, having said all that, so don't use AI to 00:17:26.000 --> 00:17:28.839 write your book. Don't use AI to edit your book. 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.299 You can use AI to help you with things like, 00:17:32.500 --> 00:17:36.160 this is my target ideal reader who also is your 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:39.180 ideal client. What are they worried about? What 00:17:39.180 --> 00:17:41.720 kind of things do you think that I could put 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:43.880 in my book that might be helpful for them? You 00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:46.759 can use it for research with stuff like that. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:51.160 But in terms of, you know, using it for writing, 00:17:52.019 --> 00:17:54.380 absolutely a terrible idea. No, please, please 00:17:54.380 --> 00:17:57.519 don't. Please don't. I wanted to just mention 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:00.619 that because it is such a hot topic in today's 00:18:00.619 --> 00:18:02.779 world and just wanted to get your thoughts. So 00:18:02.779 --> 00:18:05.160 thank you for sharing that. And you know, sorry, 00:18:05.299 --> 00:18:06.640 one other thing that just came to mind, Michelle, 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.240 about AI is that I think that we as a society 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:14.880 are accustomed to things being easy. We just 00:18:14.880 --> 00:18:17.839 want everything to be easy. And I say to my clients 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.720 and I say to my kids, you have to do what you 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.500 don't want to do to have what you want to have. 00:18:22.859 --> 00:18:25.720 You know, I'm trying to lose 10 pounds right 00:18:25.720 --> 00:18:27.839 now. I'm not eating donuts every day. I want 00:18:27.839 --> 00:18:30.539 to. I took my son to the store yesterday to buy 00:18:30.539 --> 00:18:32.779 ice cream. I thought that was very generous of 00:18:32.779 --> 00:18:35.400 me since I can't have any of it, but there's 00:18:35.400 --> 00:18:38.400 no easy way. Like, I mean, I'm not saying, I 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:40.079 mean, you can't, there are ways to make it easier, 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.259 right? Like having a coach or something like 00:18:42.259 --> 00:18:47.779 that, but there's no easy button for writing 00:18:47.779 --> 00:18:50.450 a book. I do believe that when you have a really 00:18:50.450 --> 00:18:52.309 solid outline the book just flows out of you 00:18:52.309 --> 00:18:54.950 and there are easier ways to do it but you can't 00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:57.329 just unless you want to hire a ghostwriter which 00:18:57.329 --> 00:18:59.950 starts at $30 ,000 you're gonna have to do the 00:18:59.950 --> 00:19:02.130 work you have to and you might as well do it 00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:04.769 quickly rip the bandaid off why take years when 00:19:04.769 --> 00:19:06.769 you can get it done in three or four months just 00:19:06.769 --> 00:19:07.869 write and write and write and write and write 00:19:07.869 --> 00:19:09.809 and stop it's just like having a baby you know 00:19:09.809 --> 00:19:13.009 get it out Just talk about your entrepreneurial 00:19:13.009 --> 00:19:15.250 journey. One of the things that you shared as 00:19:15.250 --> 00:19:19.710 you went from a $25 church hall rental to a 10 00:19:19.710 --> 00:19:23.269 year running program. What? That's a big leap. 00:19:23.369 --> 00:19:26.970 So what was the scariest part of that leap and 00:19:26.970 --> 00:19:31.450 what almost made you quit? Oh, wow. So I rented 00:19:31.450 --> 00:19:35.150 the local church hall for $25 because I had people 00:19:35.150 --> 00:19:37.549 kept asking me like, oh, how did you write a 00:19:37.549 --> 00:19:39.069 book and how do you do it and how do you get 00:19:39.069 --> 00:19:43.250 it on Amazon? And so I sold tickets for $97 and 00:19:43.250 --> 00:19:45.769 20 people bought. So I made just under $2 ,000. 00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:48.880 for this, it was about a six hour or full day 00:19:48.880 --> 00:19:52.200 kind of seminar thing. And I loved every minute 00:19:52.200 --> 00:19:54.859 of it. I stood in front and I basically put it 00:19:54.859 --> 00:19:58.200 into like six 45 minute sessions where I would 00:19:58.200 --> 00:20:00.700 say like, here's how to choose your topic. And 00:20:00.700 --> 00:20:02.720 then here's how to write your outline. And here's 00:20:02.720 --> 00:20:05.480 some ideas for like, you know, saving time and 00:20:05.480 --> 00:20:07.460 everything, formatting, cover design, getting 00:20:07.460 --> 00:20:10.339 it on Amazon. So. I loved it so much that I realized, 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:12.299 okay, wait a second, there's obviously a demand 00:20:12.299 --> 00:20:16.039 for this more than my little town of 5 ,000 people. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:21.119 So I decided to put it online. So the exact same 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:24.339 workshop that I taught that day, I filmed myself 00:20:24.339 --> 00:20:26.819 talking. And what did I use then? I don't think 00:20:26.819 --> 00:20:29.339 we even had zoom back then. I can't remember. 00:20:29.720 --> 00:20:31.579 Oh, some of it was like, some of it was like 00:20:31.579 --> 00:20:33.559 audio recordings, and it was just scraped it 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:36.359 together. And at that time, I was using an online 00:20:36.359 --> 00:20:38.359 platform called click funnels. And so I just 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:40.539 made it I just uploaded all the videos and the 00:20:40.539 --> 00:20:44.240 worksheets and everything in there. It was very 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:47.779 rough. very rough and what's really funny about 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:51.160 it Michelle is that over the years I kept thinking 00:20:51.160 --> 00:20:53.359 oh my gosh I got to reshoot all these videos 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:56.680 I got to reshoot all these they're so old I'm 00:20:56.680 --> 00:21:00.019 now it's actually 16 years ago that I shot some 00:21:00.019 --> 00:21:03.500 of those videos so I look older a lot has changed 00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:06.630 And I remember about five years ago, I had a 00:21:06.630 --> 00:21:09.430 business coach and we did a little bit of a exchange 00:21:09.430 --> 00:21:12.089 where we still paid each other, but it was almost 00:21:12.089 --> 00:21:14.269 the exact same amount of money where in exchange 00:21:14.269 --> 00:21:16.029 for his business coaching, I was going to publish 00:21:16.029 --> 00:21:18.829 his book. So it was funny, like the same amount 00:21:18.829 --> 00:21:20.329 of money went back and forth every month for 00:21:20.329 --> 00:21:22.619 our payments. Uh, and he's, he was a great guy 00:21:22.619 --> 00:21:24.640 and I said to him, okay, I'm kind of embarrassed 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.960 because listen, you're my business coach and 00:21:26.960 --> 00:21:28.680 I really respect you. So you're going to log 00:21:28.680 --> 00:21:30.799 into the members area. You're going to die. It's 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.900 so bad. It's so all the files are old. The videos 00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:38.339 are old. So I'm waiting for his feedback. He 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:40.920 goes perfectly fine. Don't waste your time reshooting 00:21:40.920 --> 00:21:43.420 those videos. The message is there. You're saying 00:21:43.420 --> 00:21:46.029 exactly what you need to say. Nobody cares. And 00:21:46.029 --> 00:21:48.069 so as you know, Michelle, because you're in my 00:21:48.069 --> 00:21:51.529 program, some of those videos are so old. It's 00:21:51.529 --> 00:21:53.769 ridiculous. I do really feel like I need to reshoot 00:21:53.769 --> 00:21:58.269 them. But again, I know someone that took about 00:21:58.269 --> 00:22:01.430 four years to put together an online course because 00:22:01.430 --> 00:22:05.309 it needed to be perfect. So my philosophy is 00:22:05.309 --> 00:22:08.990 build the plane as you're flying it. You know, 00:22:09.049 --> 00:22:11.190 like my program that is launching in, let me 00:22:11.190 --> 00:22:14.759 see, about 10 days. 10 days. Oh, yeah. 11 days. 00:22:14.900 --> 00:22:16.660 My program, my new program is launching. I'm 00:22:16.660 --> 00:22:20.460 like, I'm not ready, but I have people who have 00:22:20.460 --> 00:22:23.839 signed up. I'll be ready. It's no problem. But, 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:26.079 you know, sell the tickets before you even build 00:22:26.079 --> 00:22:28.579 the program, because then you have a fire lit 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:31.460 under you. And obviously you have to deliver. 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:33.079 I don't care if you have to stay up till three 00:22:33.079 --> 00:22:34.680 o 'clock in the morning. You have to deliver. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:38.000 Tell us about your new program. What is that 00:22:38.000 --> 00:22:42.509 about? Oh, well. I have a few. So the new one 00:22:42.509 --> 00:22:46.470 is called Beyond the Book and it's the website 00:22:46.470 --> 00:22:50.529 is beyondthebookprogram .com and basically it's 00:22:50.529 --> 00:22:53.130 for business people like you'll probably join 00:22:53.130 --> 00:22:55.329 this program Michelle. People who have written 00:22:55.329 --> 00:22:57.869 a book and then they launch the book and then 00:22:57.869 --> 00:23:01.190 they go okay now what? So it's a year -long mastermind 00:23:01.190 --> 00:23:05.170 where we meet twice a month. It's very reasonably 00:23:05.170 --> 00:23:07.390 priced because I really just want to help people 00:23:07.390 --> 00:23:10.069 and every every two weeks basically twice a month 00:23:10.069 --> 00:23:12.710 we get together and we look at getting you on 00:23:12.710 --> 00:23:15.150 podcasts, getting speaking engagements. Some 00:23:15.150 --> 00:23:16.869 people might want to do a workshop, some people 00:23:16.869 --> 00:23:19.630 might want to do an online course. So it's about 00:23:19.630 --> 00:23:22.730 accountability, also keeping track of key performance 00:23:22.730 --> 00:23:24.690 indicators depending on what the business is. 00:23:24.869 --> 00:23:26.529 So if you're a coach, okay well I want to know 00:23:26.529 --> 00:23:28.690 how many strategy calls did you have booked this 00:23:28.690 --> 00:23:31.089 week? How many of them were a good fit and you 00:23:31.089 --> 00:23:33.009 offered to join your program? How many sales 00:23:33.009 --> 00:23:35.890 did you have? actually kind of business coaching 00:23:35.890 --> 00:23:41.250 decide disguised as book coaching. I can definitely 00:23:41.250 --> 00:23:44.369 see a need for that. That's great. Now, is there 00:23:44.369 --> 00:23:46.009 another new one in the works? No, I don't have 00:23:46.009 --> 00:23:48.990 another. Yes. Oh, actually, I do. So I've got 00:23:48.990 --> 00:23:51.390 my expert author program, which is how to write 00:23:51.390 --> 00:23:55.390 a book. And then a new program called Self Publishing 00:23:55.390 --> 00:23:58.990 Hive, where of course, I've been doing like done 00:23:58.990 --> 00:24:02.369 for you publishing, which is many, many thousands 00:24:02.369 --> 00:24:04.670 of dollars because it's a lot of work and I have 00:24:04.670 --> 00:24:08.269 a team of designers and cover designers and editors 00:24:08.269 --> 00:24:10.450 and everything. But what my business partner 00:24:10.450 --> 00:24:12.690 and I are doing is a program called Self Publishing 00:24:12.690 --> 00:24:16.609 Hive, where it teaches people how to self -publish 00:24:16.609 --> 00:24:19.529 their book on their own. Again, very reasonably 00:24:19.529 --> 00:24:22.490 priced and includes coaching calls too. So people 00:24:22.490 --> 00:24:25.950 can go in, look at, oh, here's how I need to 00:24:25.950 --> 00:24:28.130 design the cover or here's how I figure out the 00:24:28.130 --> 00:24:31.859 margins or what size book I need. based on my 00:24:31.859 --> 00:24:34.059 15 years of experience and Heather's 15 years 00:24:34.059 --> 00:24:36.279 of experience saying, oh, no, no, no, no, don't 00:24:36.279 --> 00:24:38.079 do it five inches by eight and a half inches. 00:24:39.039 --> 00:24:41.190 Bad idea. It won't get accepted by Amazon. It 00:24:41.190 --> 00:24:43.769 has to be this, this or this. And it'll save 00:24:43.769 --> 00:24:47.710 people so much time and grief, honestly. So that's 00:24:47.710 --> 00:24:50.049 self -publishing, self -publishing hive. And 00:24:50.049 --> 00:24:51.750 then I have the Beyond the Book program. And 00:24:51.750 --> 00:24:54.930 I think that'll be it for 2026. You have so many 00:24:54.930 --> 00:24:58.309 wonderful things going on. You and I both are 00:24:58.309 --> 00:25:03.490 similar ages. And what motivates you at this 00:25:03.490 --> 00:25:06.450 stage of your life? You're making new programs. 00:25:06.829 --> 00:25:09.150 You're certainly a very successful publishing 00:25:09.150 --> 00:25:13.049 company and all. author, what is motivating you 00:25:13.049 --> 00:25:16.609 in this chapter of your life? Right now, what's 00:25:16.609 --> 00:25:18.529 motivating me is making sure that people don't 00:25:18.529 --> 00:25:22.250 get ripped off. There's a lot of bad people out 00:25:22.250 --> 00:25:24.809 there that'll take your money. And like I said, 00:25:25.569 --> 00:25:29.750 I was lied to at the tune of $5 ,000 by somebody 00:25:29.750 --> 00:25:32.349 years ago. And in the publishing industry, people 00:25:32.349 --> 00:25:35.319 come to me all the time and say, I paid somebody 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:37.319 ten thousand dollars and I don't know where my 00:25:37.319 --> 00:25:39.980 book is and it's so that happened to me on a 00:25:39.980 --> 00:25:42.119 plane and it was an older woman and I just my 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:46.359 heart was breaking and so I think that's the 00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:49.920 key for me even some someone recently I'm going 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:51.920 to be doing her book in the spring she came to 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:55.759 me and she said oh my last book cost me so much 00:25:55.759 --> 00:25:57.779 money so much money and I said what was it that 00:25:57.779 --> 00:26:00.410 cost you so much money what do you mean I thought 00:26:00.410 --> 00:26:02.650 that's kind of a strange thing to say. And she 00:26:02.650 --> 00:26:05.950 said, well, the printing company. And I was like, 00:26:06.069 --> 00:26:08.569 do you know about print on demand? You don't 00:26:08.569 --> 00:26:12.089 need a thousand books in your garage. And she 00:26:12.089 --> 00:26:13.750 goes, oh, I still have hundreds of books under 00:26:13.750 --> 00:26:16.990 my bed. I'm like, what? No, that's not how it 00:26:16.990 --> 00:26:19.289 works. And so I feel like I have an obligation 00:26:19.289 --> 00:26:22.490 to educate people, to help them understand. And 00:26:22.490 --> 00:26:25.099 the thing is with self -publishing, you do have 00:26:25.099 --> 00:26:27.740 to spend a little bit of money. So there's backlash 00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:29.839 from people who go, oh, you charge people money, 00:26:29.880 --> 00:26:31.500 you're a bad person. And I go, well, it's because 00:26:31.500 --> 00:26:33.819 I have 15 years of experience and I'm saving 00:26:33.819 --> 00:26:38.079 them years and pain. So you can't get it edited 00:26:38.079 --> 00:26:41.259 for free. You shouldn't design your own book 00:26:41.259 --> 00:26:42.980 cover. You should pay somebody to do that for 00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:45.769 you. First of all. I'm telling you 100 % of the 00:26:45.769 --> 00:26:47.730 time, they never get accepted by Amazon because 00:26:47.730 --> 00:26:50.890 they're not the right size. That's one of my 00:26:50.890 --> 00:26:54.730 biggest pet peeves. So there's that. And then 00:26:54.730 --> 00:26:58.069 there are some fees associated with it. But like 00:26:58.069 --> 00:27:01.170 I said, either you do it yourself. for a low 00:27:01.170 --> 00:27:03.410 amount of money and a lot of time, or you pay 00:27:03.410 --> 00:27:05.309 somebody to do it all for you for more money 00:27:05.309 --> 00:27:07.730 and have it done quicker. So it's up to you. 00:27:07.890 --> 00:27:11.349 But I think for me right now, my main focus is 00:27:11.349 --> 00:27:13.690 getting the word out about the reality of the 00:27:13.690 --> 00:27:16.710 publishing industry and helping people make smart 00:27:16.710 --> 00:27:19.150 choices for their business in terms of their 00:27:19.150 --> 00:27:22.549 budget, their timeline and their goals. And I 00:27:22.549 --> 00:27:24.190 turn people away all the time where I'm like, 00:27:24.210 --> 00:27:25.769 no, I'm not the right publisher for you, but 00:27:25.769 --> 00:27:29.349 maybe this person over here is, you know. Also, 00:27:29.369 --> 00:27:32.710 if I just don't really like the topic. But I 00:27:32.710 --> 00:27:35.450 think protecting people. I'm a mama bear. I'm 00:27:35.450 --> 00:27:38.269 a mom of three. And I just don't I get very, 00:27:38.269 --> 00:27:41.089 very upset when I find out somebody has paid 00:27:41.089 --> 00:27:44.029 somebody a huge amount of money for nothing. 00:27:44.170 --> 00:27:46.549 Like someone else told me they put a deposit. 00:27:46.859 --> 00:27:51.279 of $14 ,000 and never got anything. And then 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:53.579 came to me saying, hey, can you help me? But 00:27:53.579 --> 00:27:55.799 they said, well, I can't pay you anything because 00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:58.440 I've already paid somebody else $14 ,000. And 00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:00.140 I was like, I'm sorry, I'm running a business. 00:28:00.200 --> 00:28:02.940 So I can't work for free because I'm sad for 00:28:02.940 --> 00:28:06.920 you. But there's a lot of it out there. I can 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:09.839 hear yourself. passionate about your work and 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:13.279 what you do. And I love that. It's just the energy 00:28:13.279 --> 00:28:16.440 and your passion. It's exciting. And I really 00:28:16.440 --> 00:28:19.259 love that about you. Just one more question here. 00:28:19.980 --> 00:28:23.019 What would you say is the biggest myth about 00:28:23.019 --> 00:28:26.160 writing a book, something that maybe keeps people 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:29.539 stuck? Or what is it that you see in people's 00:28:29.539 --> 00:28:33.380 journey there? Well, what I said before was that 00:28:33.380 --> 00:28:35.740 they overcomplicate it because they think of 00:28:35.740 --> 00:28:39.779 it as, you know, a huge, huge, huge thing. So 00:28:39.779 --> 00:28:45.619 that another myth about it is that that a traditional 00:28:45.619 --> 00:28:48.440 publisher is gonna get you, you know, Oprah Winfrey. 00:28:48.759 --> 00:28:52.720 It's not. A traditional publisher typically takes 00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:55.740 a long, long, long time. They're gonna want somebody 00:28:55.740 --> 00:28:58.900 who has a huge social media presence. And I don't 00:28:58.900 --> 00:29:01.460 mean 400 followers. I mean a million followers. 00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:03.940 I've had people that say to me, oh, I've got 00:29:03.940 --> 00:29:06.279 tons of followers on LinkedIn. I have literally 00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:09.980 400 people. And I'm like, oh, sorry, that's not 00:29:09.980 --> 00:29:15.700 a lot. I guess also, it comes down to that fear 00:29:15.700 --> 00:29:18.299 and that insecurity, like, who's going to read 00:29:18.299 --> 00:29:20.799 my book anyway? Like, who am I to write a book? 00:29:20.900 --> 00:29:23.400 I don't think I have what it takes to write a 00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:26.000 book. But if you're a human being on this planet 00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.400 and you've lived your life, you are you have 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:32.500 an incredible story. And I always say there are 00:29:32.500 --> 00:29:35.339 no ordinary people. I think it's so fascinating 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:38.859 how every time I talk to somebody and we all 00:29:38.859 --> 00:29:42.240 make, you know, presuppositions about people 00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:46.059 and then we talk to them and find out they've 00:29:46.059 --> 00:29:48.039 you know they run a non -profit like just one 00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:53.029 of my one of my um clients I never knew she runs 00:29:53.029 --> 00:29:56.670 a non -profit in Nepal helping women. I was like, 00:29:57.069 --> 00:29:58.490 what? Sign me up. What are you talking about? 00:29:58.690 --> 00:30:01.150 I told her I was invited to speak at a conference 00:30:01.150 --> 00:30:03.230 in Nepal. She goes, oh, I have a non -profit 00:30:03.230 --> 00:30:06.049 in Nepal. So this is an example of people who 00:30:06.049 --> 00:30:10.089 are so extraordinary. Your story is extraordinary, 00:30:10.289 --> 00:30:16.519 Michelle. And so I love. to help people believe 00:30:16.519 --> 00:30:19.759 in themselves. And I say, I will believe in you 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:23.000 and you can borrow my belief until you have it 00:30:23.000 --> 00:30:28.220 for yourself. Because it's so important to share 00:30:28.220 --> 00:30:31.680 who you are with the world because another expression 00:30:31.680 --> 00:30:34.380 that I always say is to the world, you might 00:30:34.380 --> 00:30:36.819 be one person, but to one person, you might be 00:30:36.819 --> 00:30:40.700 the world. I love that. What a great saying. 00:30:41.059 --> 00:30:44.089 I love that. I know the group that I've been 00:30:44.089 --> 00:30:46.829 a part of. Some of the people are a bit younger 00:30:46.829 --> 00:30:49.990 and myself being at midlife. How many would you 00:30:49.990 --> 00:30:53.170 say midlife women come in and for their first 00:30:53.170 --> 00:30:56.970 book, you're just now coming into this experience. 00:30:57.250 --> 00:31:00.390 Do you see that often or? Yes. Say about that. 00:31:01.369 --> 00:31:05.549 Yes. Almost all of my clients, like I would say 00:31:05.549 --> 00:31:09.670 90 % of my clients are. over 45. And when I run 00:31:09.670 --> 00:31:12.710 advertising campaigns on Facebook, I choose 45 00:31:12.710 --> 00:31:16.730 to 60 years old. Though I rarely have young people 00:31:16.730 --> 00:31:19.269 join my program. I think there's one right now, 00:31:19.670 --> 00:31:22.890 but is there one or two? I don't know what it 00:31:22.890 --> 00:31:25.789 is, Michelle, but I really love working with 00:31:25.789 --> 00:31:27.589 coaches and consultants. And I think sometimes 00:31:27.589 --> 00:31:29.589 you have to have enough life experience to become 00:31:29.589 --> 00:31:33.849 a coach or a consultant. I think that Most of 00:31:33.849 --> 00:31:36.250 my clients are women. I say I work with women 00:31:36.250 --> 00:31:41.049 entrepreneurs and some really cool men. And for 00:31:41.049 --> 00:31:43.529 the women, I can just really relate to them. 00:31:43.650 --> 00:31:45.809 I think they can relate to me. We've all had 00:31:45.809 --> 00:31:49.069 our struggles and our challenges and the world 00:31:49.069 --> 00:31:51.250 is very, very different than it is for women 00:31:51.250 --> 00:31:54.779 and men. It's completely different when I hear 00:31:54.779 --> 00:31:57.160 a man on a podcast saying the first 90 minutes 00:31:57.160 --> 00:31:59.720 of my day, I do this and this and that. And I 00:31:59.720 --> 00:32:02.019 was on a podcast once and this guy was saying 00:32:02.019 --> 00:32:03.700 this to me. And then he said, what about you? 00:32:03.759 --> 00:32:05.519 And I was like, I have three children. I don't 00:32:05.519 --> 00:32:07.380 sit around meditating. What are you talking about? 00:32:07.460 --> 00:32:09.279 And I had young kids at the time. I was like, 00:32:09.599 --> 00:32:12.289 so you have a wife. Oh, that's awesome for you. 00:32:12.369 --> 00:32:14.349 Like I was, I didn't even think the podcast was 00:32:14.349 --> 00:32:17.390 going to air because I really pissed him off. 00:32:17.970 --> 00:32:22.329 But yeah. So to answer your question, yes, I 00:32:22.329 --> 00:32:27.109 work with a lot of women between 45 and 60 who 00:32:27.109 --> 00:32:32.130 I think are finally at an age where their kids 00:32:32.130 --> 00:32:34.309 are older, they may be divorced, they may still 00:32:34.309 --> 00:32:36.190 be married, but they're like, I have time now 00:32:36.190 --> 00:32:38.670 to write a book. The books I wrote when my kids 00:32:38.670 --> 00:32:40.329 were little, I wrote from 10 o 'clock at night 00:32:40.329 --> 00:32:43.509 until midnight, and I was exhausted. For three 00:32:43.509 --> 00:32:46.349 years, I was exhausted. You know what? My oldest 00:32:46.349 --> 00:32:48.930 is 24 years old, and sometimes I say to my kids, 00:32:49.309 --> 00:32:53.609 I've been tired for 24 years. Don't tell me you're 00:32:53.609 --> 00:32:56.210 tired. So I don't know if that answers your question. 00:32:56.390 --> 00:32:59.569 I kind of want to know. I did. Very good. I so 00:32:59.569 --> 00:33:02.829 appreciate our time, Suzanne. You are just a 00:33:02.829 --> 00:33:05.390 wonderful, wonderful person. And it's just a 00:33:05.390 --> 00:33:08.549 pleasure to have met you and to be part of this 00:33:08.549 --> 00:33:11.730 journey with you as I write my book and work 00:33:11.730 --> 00:33:14.289 with you in the publishing process. It's just 00:33:14.289 --> 00:33:16.569 a very exciting time for me. And I couldn't be 00:33:16.569 --> 00:33:19.200 I couldn't have picked a better person. to be 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:24.099 working with. So thank you so much. So if our 00:33:24.099 --> 00:33:26.339 viewers, anyone listening would like to reach 00:33:26.339 --> 00:33:28.460 out to you or contact you, what's the best way 00:33:28.460 --> 00:33:32.349 for them to contact you? They can go to my website 00:33:32.349 --> 00:33:35.390 prominencepublishing .com and you can book a 00:33:35.390 --> 00:33:36.910 call with me if you want to talk about a book 00:33:36.910 --> 00:33:39.650 or connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm the only 00:33:39.650 --> 00:33:43.210 Suzanne Doyle Ingram that I know of. So I'm on 00:33:43.210 --> 00:33:46.309 LinkedIn also Facebook. I'm on Facebook as well. 00:33:46.309 --> 00:33:48.369 You can follow me there. Like I said, the only 00:33:48.369 --> 00:33:51.049 Suzanne Doyle Ingram though, even if you feel 00:33:51.049 --> 00:33:53.230 like you're not ready, this is a problem. Sometimes 00:33:53.230 --> 00:33:54.650 people say I'm going to write the whole entire 00:33:54.650 --> 00:33:56.690 book and then I'll talk to her. No, don't do 00:33:56.690 --> 00:33:58.970 that. Please let me guide you from the beginning 00:33:58.970 --> 00:34:01.819 because then And then we have an opportunity 00:34:01.819 --> 00:34:03.940 to make sure it's set up right. Because I've 00:34:03.940 --> 00:34:06.319 had quite a few people come. They are nervous. 00:34:06.500 --> 00:34:10.340 And I'm not a big deal. I'm just me, right? Usually 00:34:10.340 --> 00:34:12.860 sitting in my pajamas working on my computer, 00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:16.559 you know? So don't be intimidated. So book a 00:34:16.559 --> 00:34:18.480 call just to kind of get set up. It's a free 00:34:18.480 --> 00:34:20.420 call. We can get you set up. Maybe you come back 00:34:20.420 --> 00:34:22.739 a few months later. Maybe you join the program. 00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:25.440 We'll figure it out. But definitely no pressure. 00:34:26.059 --> 00:34:28.300 So LinkedIn, Facebook, and prominencepublishing 00:34:28.300 --> 00:34:31.730 .com. Wonderful. Thank you so much, Suzanne. 00:34:32.070 --> 00:34:34.869 I wish you continued success in everything that 00:34:34.869 --> 00:34:37.429 you're doing. And thank you for coming in and 00:34:37.429 --> 00:34:40.590 being a part of the show today. Thank you, Michelle. 00:34:40.789 --> 00:34:44.519 Thanks for having me. Thank you so much for spending 00:34:44.519 --> 00:34:47.360 time with me today. I am truly grateful that 00:34:47.360 --> 00:34:50.400 you chose to listen in and I hope that this conversation 00:34:50.400 --> 00:34:53.059 sparked something meaningful for you. Please 00:34:53.059 --> 00:34:55.940 take a moment to subscribe, leave a review. It 00:34:55.940 --> 00:34:58.179 helps other women to find us who need to hear 00:34:58.179 --> 00:35:01.300 these stories too. And if you know someone who 00:35:01.300 --> 00:35:04.000 is ready for their own comeback, share this episode 00:35:04.000 --> 00:35:06.739 with them. I'd love to connect with you beyond 00:35:06.739 --> 00:35:11.000 the podcast. Visit me at hercomebackpodcast .com. 00:35:11.099 --> 00:35:15.139 That's HerComebackPodcast .com to learn more 00:35:15.139 --> 00:35:17.760 about how we can work together. I have a gift 00:35:17.760 --> 00:35:21.840 for you. Get your free copy today of five powerful 00:35:21.840 --> 00:35:25.659 shifts to reclaim your life. Remember, your comeback 00:35:25.659 --> 00:35:28.480 story is waiting to be written. The question 00:35:28.480 --> 00:35:31.880 isn't, can I transform my life? The question 00:35:31.880 --> 00:35:45.159 is, are you ready? Let's go. Legs up in my