By Tiffany Colter
What is wrong with thinking big? We are in the midst of the political season [and my degree is in political science], so I always enjoy listening to those candidate commercials that everyone else groans at. One reason is I really am intrigued by the very different ways people think.
When people attend my branding classes they first get a lesson in shifting the way they think. That is because it is the way we currently think that has brought us to this point. The only way we’ll go any bigger is to change our thinking.
Look at the changes in publishing and business over the last 10-15 years. We’ve had the dotcom bust and the rise of eBooks. We’ve seen the economy explode and implode. So much has changed and it requires a shift in thinking.
That is the often overlooked benefit of these kinds of changes. During the Great Depression there was a huge shift. It wasn’t just Roosevelt and the New Deal. It was that the previous way of doing things was changing and the people willing to look at things in a new way were able to capitalize. The same thing happened during the Enclosure Acts of the Middle ages [which led to the rise of the middle class—you’ve heard me teach on this quite a bit] and it also is happening today.
This doesn’t mean that we have to change EVERYTHING about what we’re doing. There is still a place for traditional publishing. If it weren’t so, I wouldn’t have an agent. The fact is, however, that there are now multiple ways of earning money, if you think better.
I had this realization a while back, but I wasn’t sure how to apply it. As I coached with clients these last 2 years, I started to realize that there were so many ways to earn a living with writing that our vision was far too narrow. I created the seminar “Earning a Living as a Writer: How the Great Ideas you have can get you what you want.” That was cool, but too writer focused. Also, it didn’t completely reflect what I was doing in my company to achieve success. I was thinking bigger than I taught others to think.
So, I will start teaching people to think even bigger than before—not only at writing conferences, but with my webinars.
You know another thing I’ve learned? Thinking big isn’t about doing more or being busier!! That was a HUGE mistake I’ve made for 3 years. While coaching people on how to do more in less time, I personally worked myself to exhaustion and burnout. I have been forced over the last 6 months to cut back on the hours I work and I’ve realized how much has changed for the better. I want to teach that too. Here is something to get you started:
- Focus specifically on who you’re trying to reach.
- Focus specifically on how to reach them.
- Focus specifically on what problem you’re helping them solve.
- Focus specifically on why you are the person to solve it.
- Focus specifically on how much time you’ll commit to solving that problem.
This may not seem like rocket science—it really isn’t. The simplicity, however, doesn’t make it any less revolutionary! In fact, the success is really found in the simplicity. That is why I can coach someone for only an hour each month and they have huge results. It is why when I cut back on the hours I work to 24 hours per week I earned just as much or more than I did working 60-80 hours a week.
So, are you ready to think bigger? Are you willing to put LESS time in to doing it? Are you willing to accept MORE results?
Make sure you are signed up to get our newsletter. I will send out the invitation link to upcoming webinars on this. Some are Free, some will have a fee tied to them. Neither of them are those stupid “infomercials” that go on for an hour. The free webinars are intro level. The webinars have a fee because they’re more advanced and will include tools to help you implement what we have in the class.
And there will still be the blog and newsletter.
Think Bigger, Go Higher, Work Less.
Sounds like a good way to go!
Your Coach for the Journey, Tiffany Colter, The Writing Career Coach
Don’t miss a single posting! Subscribe here to receive these postings by e-mail. Tiffany Colter is a writer, speaker and writing career coach who works with beginner to published writers. She can be reached through her website at writingcareercoach.com.
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