I often get asked by people, Nat what was your defining moment for you when things started to turn around in your business? What was that one thing if you can put your finger on it that was the difference that made the difference?
I now know that there were many things that I was doing that lead up to the moment of the snowball effect, but in order for those things to be truly monetised I did one thing and that was to write my first book. I was in a coffee chat with a printer after a networking event when after listening to my passion for my business, he suggested I write a book to share this is a way that is organised. He also said to me: ‘Just think about it – it will be Your Business Cards on Steroids.’
So without thinking too much, I set a 90 day goal and some 2 hour writing sessions twice a week to complete my first book. I stuck this out no matter what and poured everything I knew into what became my first book. I wrote The 7 Ultimate Secrets to Weight Loss which is a mindset based book to help people shed those unwanted kilos. I chose weight loss as I was a life coach with no niche and as much as I wanted to coach, my mentor said ‘Nat, first you have to solve a problem for people and then you get to coach.’
The book came out as my second baby was coming out and within the following 90 days I grew my coaching practice to from $7000 in 12 months to a fully booked practice that was well on the way to 6 figures within the following 12 months. I also re-branded from PRS Coaching to Ultimate Weight Loss – Lose the Last 10 Kilos….
These are some of the other things that started to happen as soon as the book was released:
- People signed up to my programs a lot easier
- I was seen as credible and an expert in this field.
- Other health and wellness practitioners started following me and asking for advice on how to do programs and books.
- I was asked to speak a lot more frequently.
- My clients were so proud to be coached by an author.
- I got approached a lot more at networking events as I would stand up and flash up my book – they were curious and wanted to chat.
- I could now package my services with something powerfully tangible.
- My social media following grew.
- I found and established my next niche!
The other thing that I come across is people questioning me when is the right time to write a book? There is a belief from some people in the industry that you need to be famous first before you write a book. I come from a different school of thought as my experience was different. I had 1 paying client when I started writing my book. I had the knowledge and personal experience on what I was writing for over decade. So my belief is to not wait, I say The Best Time To do something is when you are not ready!
Part of the journey of writing a book at the stage that I did was to help me grow in ways I never thought possible. When that first book hit my hands I was beside myself. All of a sudden my self worth sky rocketed, my confidence in what I stood for grew ten fold and I knew 100% that what I was asking as my fees was where it needed to be. I realised one thing and one thing only:
IT'S NOT ABOUT WRITING THE BOOK, IT IS ABOUT THE PERSON WHAT YOU BECOME AT THE OTHER END OF IT!
I see this happen time and time again now with you authors that are new to the business world. They start of pretty shy and insecure about their message and finish in a way as if they have grown 10 years in few short months.
The ones that are already pretty confident or successful (as there is the other group that is well off, has reached levels of success in their business but is time poor) their biggest challenge is the ability to stay focused and not try to share absolutely everything they know. After all its just 40 000 words that we have to write. I find a lot of them have huge perfectionism streak in their personality and never thing they know enough of what they have to share is good enough.
It's almost a curse being in this group as you hold yourself to such high standards thinking that others will recognise this and catch you out when in fact, no one cares about you. People care about themselves and how you can help them solve their problem. Don't be so selfish in holding all that information in your. People like you should be writing a book a year as I have since I started out 6 years ago. In fact we are about to have our latest book hit our hands in 3 weeks time - Bums on Seats - How to Promote Prepare and Profit from Webinars Seminars and Retreats.
There you have it, if you have desire to write a book JUST DO IT. If you believe that it will help you build your business, credibility and confidence JUST DO IT! If you have been sitting on wealth of information JUST DO IT!
Love Nat x
