Category: New Business Development

This week, I’m taking time off.

I’m doing the bare minimum
on the writing business.

I’m reading books
and sitting in front
of the fireplace
and doing a whole lot
of nothing.

It is glorious
and it was needed.

I haven’t taken
a vacation since March 2020.
I like to travel
on vacations
and my country has been
locked down
due to the pandemic.

So I pushed off
vacations
hoping it would open
back up.

And I became worn down
and tired
and was losing my passion
for everything
including the writing business.

This week off
has already revived my spirits,
my love for the writing business,
my passion.

If you haven’t
taken time off for a while,
consider giving yourself
a vacation.

You need it.

When I reach
the second draft stage
of writing a story,
I withdraw from the world.

I drop posts
on social media
and run.
I don’t watch the news.
I don’t even watch
the few TV shows
I follow.

My focus is on
the story
and that’s it.

And it is glorious.
It is a break
for my brain.
It is a bit selfish,
me time
and it recharges me.

I’m a better person,
a nicer, happier person
for having done this.

And it hasn’t impacted me
in a ‘bad’ way.

We can’t do this
all the time
or for a long duration
but consider taking
a mini vacation from the world
and focusing on
one or two things.

Your soul
might benefit
from this.

I give myself
a challenge
with every story
I write.

The challenge
is usually doable
BUT
I usually don’t have
all the skills
to complete that challenge
when I commit to it.

That’s the entire point.
I push myself
to acquire the skills,
to meet the challenge,
and I improve
as a writer
with each story written.

I make the leap
and THEN I learn
the skill.

Seth Godin
shares

If you wait
until you have the skill,
if you wait
until you’re certain
it’s going to work,
it’s very unlikely
you’ll ever take that leap.

But once you commit,
once you confirm
that the book is due,
that the guests are coming
in an hour,
that Medium readers are waiting
— suddenly, you’ll find
the skill you need.
Not to do it perfectly,
but to do it better.

Because better
is all we can hope for.”

Consider
challenging yourself
to try something slightly different.
THEN obtain the skills
to meet that challenge.

I read an article today.
It used big words
and a lot of jargon.

It didn’t use examples.
There wasn’t one reference
to an actual business situation.

The advice was all theory,
had no specifics,
no true data.
I couldn’t envision
how it would be applied.

I concluded
that
the authors didn’t know
what the f*ck
they were talking about
and I discarded
their airy fairy advice.

Using specific examples
is not only a way
to establish expertise.
but it also helps
people apply your advice.

If you don’t have any specific examples,
have never applied your advice
or seen it applied,
admit to that.

And consider gathering
some real world applications
before giving the advice.

There is only one
hard and fast rule
for a Romance Novel
– the story has to have
a Romantic Happy Ever After
or
a Romantic Happy For Now.

That’s it.
Anything that doesn’t adhere
to this rule
might be Romantic Fiction
or a story with Romantic Elements
(or, in the case of Romeo And Juliet,
a tragedy)
but
it is not a Romance Novel.

Some writers and critics
try to argue
this one rule for the genre
need not apply.

These writers and critics
are usually ignorant
(period)
of the reason WHY
readers need that
Romantic Happy Ending
guarantee.

Readers only want to fall
so far
into the conflict/bad things happen
abyss.

They WANT that safety net.

A great writer makes them forget
that safety net is there
– that is one of the big challenges
of writing romance
– but when the reader gets too stressed,
they can look at the blurb
and assure themselves
the couple (or more)
will be happily in love
at the end of the story.

That Romantic Happy Ending
guarantee
is a big part of what
the reader is buying.
They are paying for
love, optimism, hope
and the guarantee gives them
that.

Seth Godin
shares

“Understand the thinking
behind these rules,
so you can dive deeper
and
either change the rules
or
expand on them.”

Know WHY the rules
exist
before trying to change them.

A certain bookseller
doesn’t like to offer
free books.

They make it
d*mn difficult
for publishers/Indie writers
to list their books
for free.

The publisher has
to first list the book for free
on another bookseller’s site
and then request a price match
for ALL regions.
Getting that price match
takes about a month.

Then the publisher
has to monitor the prices
in ALL regions
because the bookseller
will randomly revert
prices to paid
in some equally random regions.

It is a pain in the a$$
and many publishers
have given up on this.

In my niche,
free first in series
is THE most effective tactic
to sell the books
in the rest
of the series.

It is worth the time and effort
for me to do this.

Adding friction to a process
prevents people/entities
from casually taking an action
you would prefer
they not take.

But it allows people/entities
that have a legitimate reason,
who are exceptions,
to take that action.

Consider adding friction
to guide
the majority of people/entities
toward the path
you prefer them to take.

Reading
The 5 Love Languages
changed
my relationships
with loved ones,
business partners,
team members,
customers
for the better.

Before I read that book,
I was only showing love
and appreciation
in one way
– the way I preferred
to receive it.

I was telling people
I appreciated them.

That was fine
for the words of affirmation
people
but that did very little
for the
acts of service
or
receiving gifts
or
quality time
or
physical touch
people.

Now, if I know a person’s love language,
I might tell her I appreciate her
as that is MY love language
but I will pair that
with something in HER love language.

If I don’t know her love language
or I’m showing appreciation
to multiple people
with multiple love languages,
I’ll try to use
as many love languages
as possible.

For example,
for my readers
(customers),
I will host a Facebook party
to ensure
the quality time people
feel loved.

I will send stickers
to everyone
to ensure
the receiving gifts people
feel appreciated.

I will send notes
on really nice, textured paper
with those stickers
so the physical touch people
feel appreciated.

I will respond
to requests from readers
for character updates,
sharing these updates
with everyone.
This makes
the acts of service people
very happy.

People show
and receive love
in different ways.

Consider
taking the love languages
into consideration
when you show appreciation.

I could hear my Mom’s words
in my ear
while I wrote this title.
“Don’t judge people.”

That wasn’t truly her advice.
We ALL judge people.
Judging people
is necessary
for success in life.
It is how
we separate
the helpful people
from the unhelpful people.

The advice is
“Don’t judge people
hastily.”
We should put some thought
into it.
And we should develop
our skills for it.

If the last 4 years
have showed us anything,
it is that most people
SUCK great big hairy donkey balls
at judging people.
Most of us
can’t detect
liars from
honest folks.

I’m skilled at judging people.
I had to be this way
to survive my harsh childhood.

Developing this skill
is similar to developing
any other skill.

We take action.
In this case,
we judge someone.

We look at results.
Did the person
act like we expected them
to act?

We note our mistakes,
correct ourselves,
and we try again.

I judge EVERYONE
and I evaluate
my judging.
That is how I became
great at it
and
how I know I AM
great at it.

Learn how to judge people.
It will likely
mean the difference
between successful
and failure
and often,
happiness
and disappointment.

One of my buddies
is a top executive
at a huge company.

She is considering
starting a small business,
citing her success
at running a large business.

I pointed out
that these are
very different
businesses.

As Seth Godin
shares

“A small business is not
a big business
that hasn’t grown up yet.
It’s different.
A small business has an owner,
someone who can
make decisions without meetings,
who can listen to customers
and
who can embrace
the work at hand.”

One isn’t better
than the other.
They are merely
different.

If you’re an executive
in a large business,
there are skill sets
you’ve obtained
that will be useful
when starting
and running
your small business.

But a small start up company
and a huge established company
aren’t
the same type
of business
…at all.

Expect a learning curve.

When I’m in my Romance writing persona,
I don’t give non-writing-related
business advice.

You and I know
I COULD do this.
But I SHOULDN’T do this.

Why?

Because people shouldn’t listen
to strangers with no credentials
in a field.

A Romance Writer
who keeps her business background
separate
has no proof
she knows what the f*ck
she’s talking about.

Without that proof,
I shouldn’t be speaking
on the topic.

Because being qualified in one field
doesn’t mean
I’m qualified in a different field.

It is okay
to stay quiet.
It is okay
to let people know
that isn’t our field.
It is okay
to allow
people who DO have
the credentials
to speak.

Doing this
will increase the odds
that
when we DO speak,
people listen.

And please don’t take
investing advice
from fiction writers.

One of the threads
I’m currently following
is hurting my brain.