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How to Use the Overlap Principle to Build Your Writing Business, Part 2: 10 Tips for Getting Started · The Daily Writer

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Rider.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Each weekday, we bring you a short lesson that helps you live out the four practices of a great writer creativity, consistency, courage, and connection.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Here on the weekend edition, we take a deeper dive into those topics through conversations with writers and teaching that helps us apply what we're learning.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: For more, you can visit us at dailyriderlife.com.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today's episode is the second part of a two-part series on how to use the overlap principle to build your writing business.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So if you haven't yet listened to that first episode from a week ago, I highly encourage you to go back and check that out because it lays the groundwork for this episode.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: But even if you haven't, you're still going to get a ton of value from what I'm going to talk about today.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: In short, what I'm doing with these two episodes is giving you an example, but also a plan for starting your writing business on the side, then growing it from there to hopefully a full-time business if that's what you want.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: And this is not a step-by-step plan that I'm laying out in today's episode.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's probably an episode for a different day.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: But rather, these tips that I want to give you are along the lines of just giving you words of experience for my own journey of building a freelance writing and ghostwriting business the last few years.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So again, this is not a step-by-step template.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: These are just kind of words of experience that I hope will be helpful to you.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into 10 tips for getting started with your writing business.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tip number one, go in the direction of your gifts, not your passion.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I understand this is going to be a little controversial because we hear so much about follow your passion, follow your passion.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's what the conventional wisdom says.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: You should follow what you're excited about.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: But that's actually really bad advice because you may not have any actual talent in the area of your passion.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: For example, I might be passionate about playing the violin, but I'm never going to be world-class at it.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: However, my friend Ashley Rescott is a professional violinist, and she has the ability to make money with her gift and make a living at it, but I will never do that.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: I would have to work extremely hard at this stage of my life to even be average and or just mediocre at playing the violin.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: So passion does not necessarily mean anything other than you're really excited about it.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's much, much better to focus on what your gift is, not necessarily your passion.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now I heard this insight about following your gift instead of your passion from a Steve Harvey video on YouTube that I watched a few months ago.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought that his statement on this was simple and brilliant.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a gift in an area, you're already ahead and you're probably already passionate about it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: What are you naturally good at?
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a wonderful question that can clue you in to your to the direction that you should be taking with your writing and potentially your life or your career.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening to this podcast, obviously you're at least interested in writing.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you haven't done a lot with it or have not yet taken action with writing, but you're at least interested in it.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: And your interest tells me that you at least probably have some giftedness in that area.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: But here's a little secret of having a writing business.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Success in this area of writing is not really about just being a great writer.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's also very, very much about networking.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to build a writing business, you can be passionate about writing, but you still have to do all the work that's required to do anything that that would be successful on any level.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to network, you've got to learn to think like a business person.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: You have to manage a budget, you've got to set goals, and you've got to, you know, set a schedule and get the work done on all those things.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I think passion is highly, highly over overrated.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: What I do think is underrated though is looking at what your gift is and just working really, really hard to bring your vision into reality.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: Tip number two is choose a niche that has good income potential.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a big reason why I chose ghostwriting and just simply because it pays a lot better than, say, writing podcast show notes.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the key to all this is choosing the type of writing that's perceived by people to be higher value.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: And some types of writing are more valuable to people than others.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of this question is it just has to do with doing work that has a high value attached to it.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're starting from scratch, you're going to be probably doing lower-paying types of work like podcast show notes, probably writing lower-paying articles and so forth.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: But that's okay.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: You just need to get moving and then build your business from there.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then you can move into niches that pay better.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Wherever you're at on this journey, it's okay to be where you are.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to do something that that pays better, you've got to set your sights on that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I would choose either copywriting or ghostwriting.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: I chose ghost.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a lot of reasons I chose ghostwriting, but one of them is that ghostwriting is very straightforward.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: I write books for typically for business clients.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's really, really straightforward.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's very sequential.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's very easy for people to get their head around what ghostwriting is and what that means.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: I you you compensate me and I write a book for you.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's going to help you grow your authority, your business, your credibility, get more speaking gigs, etc., etc.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I love copywriting, and copywriting and marketing is vastly important, but I didn't choose that type of writing for my business because uh to me it's a little harder for people to get their heads around that.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if I say I'm a copywriter, um, typically most of the time, people who are gonna grasp what that means are people who are already in business and marketing and so forth.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I chose ghostwriting just because it's very simple and easy to explain to people what that is.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And and I'm also pretty good at it and I enjoy it.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So those are some reasons.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm getting a little bit off track here.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so tip number two here is choose a niche that has good income potential if you're trying to build a business.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Tip number three, don't confuse people by doing a bunch of different things.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to successfully overlap in your careers, you've got to have a clear niche that you can communicate to people.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: And this is a big theme that Sean McCabe talks about in his overlap book.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, people are going to put you in a box anyway.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: So define whatever that box is going to be.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a huge mistake that people make with side hustles is that they try to do a bunch of different things that are unrelated.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I did this for several years also.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: In just the span of I think three or four years, I was doing part-time ministry at a church.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing podcasting, which I've always done podcasting.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was selling stuff on Amazon.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to set up a consulting business.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, at one point I tried to do network marketing, which failed really horribly.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: And those are just a few of the things that I tried.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to develop writing as a side hustle, you need to tell people clearly what you do.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I would encourage you to put this on your social media profiles, to tell people about it, put it in your email signature, and so forth.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make people guess what you do.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's also really important to choose a title for what you do that speaks very clearly and very simply to people.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, like a trend that I see a lot of times is people call themselves, I'm a so-and-so coach, or I'm whatever this and whatever that.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: And they sometimes choose these kind of strange titles for what it is that they do.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's much, much better to be clear and simple and direct and then to be creative and cute with your titles.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if I'm gonna hire you for something, I want to know very plainly what it is that you do and how that benefits me.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're choosing what to call yourself, you know, for whatever type of writing business that you have, I think it's great to be very clear and direct and simple with it.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Simple is almost always good.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you want to do writing and you don't know what your niche is or you're not sure what to call yourself, I would suggest calling yourself a business writer.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this covers a lot of different areas, but it positions you as somebody who helps business leaders.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: And that's a very solid place to start if you want to get into client writing.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I say business writer is because, well, who are the people who have the money to spend on writing services?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're typically business people.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you're if if I want to set up a writing business, I'm typically not gonna go to uh a bunch of professors and and I'm probably not gonna make a great living writing for academic journals and professors.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing against that group.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I still am a professor, but I was doing that full-time for a long time.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, professors typically don't have a lot of money.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: So if I want to write and get paid well for it, I'm gonna have to do it for people who have the money to spend on those kinds of services.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that's typically gonna be business people and entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, that type of thing.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: So tip number tip number three, don't confuse people by doing a bunch of different things.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Be very clear and direct.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Tip number four, take ownership of your career trajectory.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's be honest, a lot of writers are simply passive.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: They don't really know what they want.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: They're too nice and they're just waiting around for somebody to give them an opportunity.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to encourage you to be assertive and to take initiative in building your writing business.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, even if you're only writing for yourself and you're not writing for clients, you're still in a writing business if there's money involved.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: The thing about all this is that nobody is going to just hand your career to you.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to build it, you've got to create it for yourself.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a bad example, and I know that full well before I say what this example is.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: But just bear with me for a second, and I hope this comes across and doesn't go off into some uh some weird pathway.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: One of my favorite TV series of all time is House of Cards on Netflix.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that there are issues with Kevin Spacey, who plays the main character of Frank Underwood.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, he was accused of some very unsavory things a few years a couple years ago.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, whether those are true or not, I have no idea.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: But but anyway, there was a lot of accusations there.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I know he he's kind of um, you know, he's damaged goods in terms of that stuff.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I also know that his character, Frank Underwood, is a lying, scheming, murderous sociopath.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm just gonna get that out of the way because I I understand all this.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're not dealing with like a really ethical person here.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I mentioned that to say this.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, all those things aside, the one thing that I do really admire about his character on the on the show House of Cards is that Frank Underwood knows what he wants and he doesn't stop until he gets it.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not suggesting that you do anything illegal or immoral.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So please hear me on this.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just saying that it's okay for you to be assertive and to know what you want out of life.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: There is something refreshing about being clear in what it is that you want and taking action to get whatever it is that you want.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: As long as what you want is helpful to people, it's good and it's ethical and moral and all those kinds of things.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to encourage you to think of yourself not as a writer who happens to have a business.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to think of yourself as a business leader who happens to be a writer.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that shift in perspective can really, really help you.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's helped me a lot.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: So take ownership of your life and determine that you're going to keep pursuing what you want.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to keep running after these dreams that you want to chase and this life that you want to build.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good thing.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's a very, very good thing.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one more thing on this topic.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of people, uh, especially those who are more timid, who worry that taking initiative and building a business is somehow selfish.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I think nothing could be further from the truth.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: When you build your business and whenever you're happy, and whenever you're more financially successful, whenever you have a more stable financial life, you can help more people at a higher level.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I would argue this if you want something in life and you have a dream and you know it's going to help people, then you're selfish if you don't pursue that.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think that you're selfish if you choose to play it safe and you're not running toward your dreams and you're not doing the work that's required to bring about that dream if you know that dream can help people.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a family, I think your dream needs to be put into the context of your family.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: You need to build your business on the side so it doesn't detract from your family life.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Your dream needs to serve your family and it and it needs to make their lives better.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: But don't use your family as an excuse not to build a side business.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: You can start out very, very small on the side and then grow it from there.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I did, and that's how almost everybody else does it as well.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, enough on that point.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let me go to tip number five, which is take the next logical step.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what do I mean by take the next logical step?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean is this ask yourself what the next natural thing to do is, and then do that thing.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's really just that simple.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's use ghostwriting as an example.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: When I thought that ghostwriting might be the direction I wanted to go in my business, I had no clue where to start.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I did know somebody who did, and that someone is Nick Pavlitas.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I interviewed Nick on my podcast about three years ago and had a great conversation about ghostwriting.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: And the next natural step was buying his ghostwriting course, then going through the course and then putting the things that I learned in the course into action.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you may not have a podcast, but guess what?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: If there's somebody who's doing what you want to do, then get in touch with that person.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: Shoot them an email, comment on their blog posts or social media posts.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Somehow connect with that person however you need to do that.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one great example, last year, uh, the way that I got one of my ghostwriting clients is I sent them a message on LinkedIn just saying how much I appreciated the work that they were doing.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I was sincere and legit about it.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I wasn't, I wasn't trying to bluff anybody.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, I didn't even know that they were looking to have ghostwriting help.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: I just reached out to this person because I legitimately loved the stuff that they were doing and I just wanted to tell them, and that was the only reason why.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got a book out of a book deal out of it.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: So you just never know what's going to happen whenever you connect with people and reach out to them.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, one other idea is that if the person that you want to connect with has some kind of lead magnet or free guide on their website, download that and then take action.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then email that person and say, Hey, guess what?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: I read your free PDF or whatever it is.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: This is how I took action and this is how it changed my life, or this is how it helped me in some way.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: That is immensely powerful.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I can tell you firsthand, if somebody sends when somebody sends me those kinds of emails and says, Hey, I read your stuff and it really helped me, I will bend over backwards to help that person because they've given me a great compliment.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you can do the exact same thing as well.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: One other tip that I'm gonna throw out here related to all this is that if the person that you want to connect with has been interviewed on podcasts, listen to those podcasts, or listen to a couple of them at least, and then do what they teach you to do and then connect with that person.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's really the same idea as if you read a lead magnet or listen to them on a podcast or whatever it is.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Just tell them how their material helped you and how you took action on it.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: That is like the greatest compliment you can give somebody, I think.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, oftentimes we get frustrated and stuck because we get paralyzed with too much information.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: So the easiest way forward with all this is to decide what you want, then find somebody who is doing that thing, and then do what they tell you to do to get started.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it's all about taking the next logical step.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And the difficulty many times is not that we don't know what to do.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: The difficulty is that we simply don't follow through and take action.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: So just take the next logical step in your journey, and that will empower you to take the next one and the next one and the one after that as well.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go to tip number six, which is be consistent in your efforts.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, a lot of people give up because they're putting in a lot of time and effort, but not seeing immediate results.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay because building a writing business takes time.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Every everything good in your life takes time, um, especially when you're trying to build a business and you're overlapping a new thing with your current thing.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: But again, you've got to be consistent with your effort.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Something that really, really hurt me early on was that I got sidetracked with a bunch of things like, and I think I've already mentioned this, network marketing, selling on Amazon, applying for a bunch of jobs that I had no business applying for.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And at one point I tried to be a business consultant, which was funny because at that point, like I didn't have a successful business.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, what business did I have trying to be a consultant?
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: I wasted a lot of time going from one thing to the next instead of just sticking with my writing and trying to build my writing business.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: So don't give up.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep putting in the reps and making progress every single day.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever I took Nick Pavlitas' Ghostwriter School course, that was October 2019.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I talked to my first prospective client at the end of December, but they didn't sign until May of the following year.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that was about eight months later that I got my very first book client after I started taking Nick's course.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I was getting really frustrated, especially in the spring of last year.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the pandemic kind of started in the US big time in March.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew that that was obviously that's gonna throw a lot of things off kilter.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew that was part of the mix, but still yet I was getting kind of frustrated.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, man, something's gonna happen.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Something has to happen at some point so I can get my first client.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: And actually, the way that I got my very first client was um this client had expressed some interest.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: I talked to them in December.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they wanted to do a book, but they weren't quite ready financially.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: So, and we'd had a few more conversations, and then they the the conversation kind of went cold for a while.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so, what got it rolling again was um, I think it was in May.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: I hadn't talked to this person for a couple of months, and I just shot them an email.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was literally like three sentences.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, hey, so and so, um, I just wanted to check and make sure you and your family were doing okay.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Let me know if there's any way I can help.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that was basically what I said.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: They emailed back, I think like the same night or something and said, Hey, by the way, we're doing great.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for checking in.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate it.
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, by the way, um, are you still available to work on that book?
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's like, bam.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And it happened very, very quickly after that.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So you never know when things are actually happening behind the scenes that you can't see, particularly with clients uh or prospective clients rather.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: So just keep putting in the reps and being consistent because when you put in the reps, good things will happen eventually.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: So hang in there, especially when you're doing something like ghostwriting where your clients are making a pretty big investment.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, people don't typically decide like immediately they're gonna spend sometimes tens of thousands of dollars on something like a book.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's a really, really big deal.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: So don't give up, don't lose heart.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: It it just takes time.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go on to tip number seven, which is remember it's gonna take a while.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is related to the last point, but I'm reiterating here just to emphasize the fact that this is usually not a quick process.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: We are so used to everything being instant in our modern world that we get frustrated when we don't have quick results.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: It took me five years to build my writing business from nothing.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it could have been faster.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: I could have done it in probably three years, or maybe even two if I had been really focused and consistent.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it would also have gone a lot faster if I had chosen a specific area and put myself under the leadership of a mentor who was succeeding in that area.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't really happen until I got to know Nick Pavlitis and took his ghostwriting course.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's when things really started to click for me.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: But all the things that I had been doing, like freelance writing and my podcasting and writing books for myself and other kinds of things and teaching in college, all those things have been a massive help in my ghostwriting business.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: But it didn't all really click until I got super focused on ghostwriting.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I would say at a minimum, if you're really focused, it'll take a year or two to get things moving and start to build up your income as long as you're focused and consistent.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I have always had my goal to be building a side business into a full-time business.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I knew years ago that that was the goal that I had in mind.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: So I just kept my eyes on the prize and I kept working at it.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: I got distracted a lot of times.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: I wasted a lot of time in the process, sometimes got very discouraged and frustrated, but I just kept at it.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: I knew it was going to have to happen eventually if I just kept doing it.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: So remember, it's going to take a while.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: So you need to know that going into it.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let's talk about the next tip.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a really important one.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want to hang out here for just a few minutes because this is an area where it's very easy to lose heart.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And this is tip number eight.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Accept the fact that most people won't understand what you're doing.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is going to sound harsh, okay, but I stand by this statement 100%.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Most people are content to remain in their misery because their misery is familiar.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: As they say, better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: Now, what do I mean by this?
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean is that most people would rather stay where they are and not take a risk or do the work of building a side business, even though they're unhappy and don't have a great future in their current job.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's where most people want to stay because change is scary, change is risky.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's inherently going into the unknown, which is terrifying.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it really, really is terrifying.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I I'll I'm gonna be totally honest with you.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, even though we saved up some money, we've got some money in the bank, you know, just in case things were slow in my writing business for a while, even though I've got consistent client work, um, even though I've been planning on this transition from my day job for for a while now, um, there are still days when I wake up and go, did I make the right decision?
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm pretty sure I made the right decision, but but I'm still a little, you know, a little unsure some days.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I know I did make the right decision, but that emotional factor is really, really important.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been involved in this this writing business stuff for several years now.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when you take somebody who has always worked kind of a very steady job, and you present the idea of building a business or taking a risk like that, that's a really super intimidating thing.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: So if that's how you feel, I relate to that.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I also say that because you need to understand when you build a business, other people in your life are gonna feel the same way.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're not gonna understand, they're gonna wonder what the heck you're doing, why you can't just be content, you know, working your regular nine to five job and so forth.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_00: So just kind of know that going into it and accept the fact that whenever you build your thing, some people are going to try and discourage you, and a lot of people just won't get it.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why you've got to hang around positive thinkers and other writers who are building a business, such as, for example, people in the Daily Writer community, um, which is really, really fantastic.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a place where you can come and know that people are just like you.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're building a business, they're doing writing, they are chasing their writing dreams and achieving their goals.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: So I, of course, I had to put a plug in there because I truly do believe that the Daily Writer community is a transformational experience for people.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: I had one person in my extended family, just to give you an example, uh, one person in my extended family the last few years who kept telling me as I was building my writing business, they kept telling me that I should try to get a job at my church.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Now, my church has a large staff, and I I love my church.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: It's a wonderful place.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: They have a couple thousand members, and I know that this person in my family was just looking out for my best interest.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I have been in, I've worked in the church world before, um, done a lot of part-time ministries over the years, um, taught at a Christian college, you know, that was very ministry focused.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: So that made sense for that person to think that that would be a good fit for me.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: But it just wasn't what I wanted to do.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, whenever this person would say things like this, I just would nod my head and smile and would say, Thanks.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate the advice, um, for sure, but that's not really the direction I want to go.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason is that I didn't want to go back into church ministry.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: I had kind of been there, done that.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not the life that I wanted for myself.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: No offense to anybody who who is a pastor, who is in ministry, or feels called to do that or loves that type of work.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, by the way, let me give a little side note here.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, if you've been listening to this podcast a while, you know that whenever I say, let me go off on a little side note, you know that I'm gonna share with you something that's really close to my heart.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: Let me take a second and talk to those of you who are involved in ministry as a pastor or as a church staff member.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes, uh, when you're in that role, you might feel um, you might feel pressured, or you might feel like you should continue in that role, but maybe you actually do want to make a change.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you want to do a different type of work, or maybe you just don't want that type of schedule anymore, or or whatever the reasons.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: What I want you to know is that God still loves you, and it doesn't make you any less of a Christian to want a different kind of job if you're a pastor or if you're a church staff person.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_00: It really doesn't.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're not any less of a person, uh, you're not any less of a Christian, you're not any less spiritual.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to want something different.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay to want to change because ministry can be really exhausting, especially, my goodness, after the last year of ministry, holy moly.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, a lot of pastors are making transitions because the last year has kind of like done them in to some degree.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you don't need some big spiritual reason to make a change.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you don't have to couch your feelings about your job or your ministry with vague spiritual language like, I feel God is calling me to a different type of ministry, and those kinds of things that we sometimes say in the church world that are designed to really it's a way to avoid the issues many times.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's a way to avoid saying what we really want to say.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we just say very spiritual sounding things like, I think God's calling me this other place or do this or that.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's perfectly okay to say, I just don't want to do this type of work anymore.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: I want a different job, I want, I want better income, or I want more freedom and flexibility in my life, and I don't want to deal with the expectations of church members.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think it is totally okay to say that.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want you to know, as a former pastor myself and as a person who has spent a lot of time around pastors and has spent tons and tons of time in that world, that it is okay to feel that way.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to validate you, I want to take a minute to validate you and let you know it's okay.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know this all this goes against everything that you've been taught as a pastor or a Christian leader, but you don't necessarily need to need to have a quote unquote ministry.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is okay just to have a job or a business.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, the best thing for your spiritual health and for your family's sanity, if you're struggling, the best thing might be for you to consider a change or for a different type of work.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if this discussion has made your ears perk up, I have one simple question for you.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be a pastor?
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a simple yes or no.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want to be a pastor?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're answering that question, you shouldn't have to hesitate.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: You should already know the answer.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: If the answer is yes, then you should continue doing it.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: If God has called you to do it and you love your work and you're in the right fit, you should absolutely continue doing that because my goodness, the world needs more great pastors, for sure.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: But if the answer is no, then I think you should start figuring out what you need to do next.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I I highly recommend uh something like ghostwriting because if you're a pastor, that means you you're already probably really good at communication.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: You're good at writing, you're good at curriculum, you're good at developing lessons and organizing things and leading people and so forth.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: The skill set that you have as a pastor is really, really a great fit for something like ghostwriting.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I just wanted to say all that.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um there's a lot more I can say on that topic, but I'll uh move on to the next point here in just a second.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: After I say this one more thing, and then I'll stop this rant and move on to the last couple of points.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: I think in the Christian community, we have a bad habit of making everything so complicated with all of these spiritual assessments, personality assessments, and the vague language that we have surrounding calling.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not saying those things don't have their place, but when it comes to your career or your vocation, I honestly think the only two people who can give you the ultimate red light or green light are God and your spouse.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think you should make a major change in your life as far as your vocation or career without feeling like you have clarity from God and clarity from your spouse if you're married.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think you just you just probably shouldn't do it.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you make a major change and your spouse is not on board, that's that's bad news.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Now, once you have peace and clarity from those two sources, God and your spouse, I don't think it matters if other people don't understand.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, especially in the church world, there are a lot of expectations around pastors and around ministry.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Some of it's good and some of it is unhealthy at best.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I would encourage you, if you want to build a side business and then make it into your full-time thing, to start small, to get the blessing of your spouse and guidance from God if you're a person of faith, and then simply to take action, knowing that a lot of people just aren't going to get it, and that's okay.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Especially if you're a pastor or if you're if you work in a Christian context where, you know, there's the spiritual sense of what you do is kind of part of the language of the calling and the and how it's framed and so forth.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just know some people aren't going to have any, they're gonna be totally confused by you going into something like ghostwriting or a different type of work or whatever it is.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: But that is okay.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you don't need the world's approval to do that.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that you need God's and your spouse's approval.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: I really do.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was so fortunate in that my wife has been so supportive this whole time as I have made this transition into my full-time business.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I hope the same is true for you as well.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, side rant over.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Let me go on to tip number nine for getting started with overlapping, and that is don't let any one person control your future.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: And this really gets to the main reason why we started business in the first place, and that is so we can have freedom.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: The dangerous thing about having one employer is that they can get rid of you anytime that they want.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can say what whatever you want about having a great employer or having a great job, but the balance of power is absolutely always in the employer's favor because they're the ones who are paying your salary.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: So the beauty of building a side business is that now you have empowered yourself with another income stream.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: And as that income stream grows, you have less and less reliance on your employer, which is a beautiful thing.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now, don't get me wrong, this is not a rant against employers at all.
• 31:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm an employer.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: I have an assistant who works with me and she's wonderful.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: So this is not against employers at all.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in fact, I would argue that when you have more than one income stream, you make a better employee because you have less money stress.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think you make better decisions because now you're not doing everything with the view of just keeping your job or making somebody else happy.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like you're not doing anything out of, you're not doing everything out of fear that you're gonna get fired.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing it because you're wanting to make the right decisions and you want to do great work.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully you're there because you do enjoy the work and and you want to be there on some level.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, even though you're kind of planning to make your exit at some point.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're you're a healthier, more balanced, and less stressed person whenever you have more than one income stream.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: I really, really, truly do.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: So so there's a lot of value in having a side business that generates income so that if your employer lets you go, you're not totally high and dry.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: It really, really is a good feeling to have those multiple income streams.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in fact, my goal at my college was that I would be able to have a successful side business and could release the college from the burden of paying me.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that they're always looking at finances and budgets, as every business does in every college, especially small ones.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: And my goal was to be able to bless the college by stepping away so they could save money by not having to pay my salary.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that was honestly part of part of my thinking behind all this is, you know, a lot of times we look at it in terms of I want to build a side business so I can get the heck out of this horrible place.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I understand some people are truly in horrible jobs, but I think if you can if you can approach your workplace um with a spirit of love and a spirit of wanting to help and a spirit of wanting to make the place better, I think that's that's that's a much healthier emotional place to begin from than hating your job and and hating every second that you spend there.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, back to the point here, which is not letting any one person control your future.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever you have a writing business, the the beautiful thing about this is that you have multiple clients so that not any single person can sync your business.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really, really a wonderful thing.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if one client um decides to quit or uh they don't pay or whatever the issue is, um, it's not going to totally sync you because you have multiple multiple clients, multiple sources where that income is coming from.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, finally, here is tip number 10 for overlapping, and that is use your current job to help you develop writing and business skills.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's tempting to look at your day job and your side business as two completely different things.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe for you they're completely separate industries or completely separate types of work.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: However, I would encourage you to look for ways in your day job to develop writing and business skills that will benefit your side business.
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: For example, you can get involved in leading training, in copywriting, marketing, doing presentations, proofreading, making sales calls, creating blog posts or podcasts, and lots of other things in your day job potentially.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: And all of those are things that translate into any other business, including your writing business.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: And the cool thing is that it will help your current employer if you volunteer to help with some of those things, and it also helps you as well.
• 35:00
  SPEAKER_00: So everybody wins.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, in the in the entrepreneur culture, there's a big tendency to be anti-job, like we talked about a minute ago.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of gurus who tell people to dips their nine to five and so forth.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't think you should quit until you're financially ready to quit.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I also think you you've got to have a clear plan in place for your new business.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, there's a lot of things you can do in your current job to learn skills that will apply to your current business and also add more value to your employer in the process.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the goal is to make yourself so incredibly valuable to your employer that they will have a hard time replacing you.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I figure you're gonna be there eight hours a day anyway.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_00: So why not have as much fun as you can, add as much value as you can to them, and also learn some great skills in the process.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, those are 10 tips for overlapping.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this has been a bit of a longer episode, but as you can tell, I had a lot to say about this.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hope that this has been helpful to you talking about the overlap principle.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think building a writing business on the side does not have to be super complicated or stressful.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: The main thing is to figure out your next steps, take action, and then keep going and building it up over time.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I approached it, and that plan worked out well for me.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: I know that if I can do it, you can do it as well.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for listening to today's episode.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been listening to this show for any length of time, you know that one of the four practices of a great writer is creativity.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: And in order to stay creative, you've got to have great input.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where writing prompts come in.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: A writing prompt is a sentence or two that helps you break through creative blocks, brainstorm new ideas, and get back into a state of flow.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: Writing prompts are an awesome creative tool for journaling, storytelling, creative writing, stress relief, social media posts, and so much more.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the great news is that you don't have to create these yourself.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: We've put together an amazing package of 365 daily writing prompts.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_00: So every day for the next year, you can have a shot of inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: You can check it out at dailywriterlife.comslash writing prompts.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, and I'll see you tomorrow.