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Unleashing Your Voice with Denise Renee: From Fear to Finished with Denise Renee · Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Wanda Pearson, where collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: It's always been my thing collaboration is the key to success.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, wanda Pearson, and today I'm thrilled to welcome my special guest, Denise Renee.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Denise Renee is a journalist, author, media professional speaker.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I'm putting all those in there for you.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Denise Renee is a journalist, author, media professional speaker.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I'm putting all those in there for you, denise Renee, she's passionate about creating impact through media, which is what she does.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: You do YouTube, right.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Yes, we do yes yeah, through media.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: In this episode we're diving to her journey, the lessons she's learned along the way, and how collaboration has been a powerful force in her career and life.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Get ready for an inspiring and authentic conversation that will empower you to take bold steps forward.
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: So welcome Denise Renee.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And we say Denise, not just Denise, because I made a mistake and said Denise, it's Denise Renee.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Right, it is Denise Renee, it's a double first name.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: You got it right, thank you so much.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so why do you?
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: When people say Denise, what do you say?
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: Oh, no, no, do you correct them?
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: No, it's Denise Renee.
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: I give.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: It depends on who they are, it depends on how long they've known me, because I really haven't been insistent about Denise Renee until like maybe the last 10 years or so.
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: So like if, if you know me from New York, I leave you alone, but if you know me from Georgia over the last 10 years or so, I get in.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I do get a little insistent and I'll, you know, introduce myself as Denise Renee and I'll give people about three times, and then about that third time I'm like well, and then about the third time I'm like well, actually, yeah, you correct them.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Actually, my name is Denise Renee.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So well, I'm so glad you're here with me again, because I had Denise Renee on my podcast before.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: Yes, we were talking about this.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was when I first started doing my podcast.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: So welcome back.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: And it will be two years, denise Renee, in November.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I can't believe it.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: I'm like where did that time go?
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I know, I know.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: And what was funny was that one of our counterparts?
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: she asked, she said well, I want to introduce you to Denise Renee.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: I'm like her name sounds familiar.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: She said she's going to be on your podcast and I was like yeah, hey, wanda, how you doing today.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: I was like wait, I didn't look at the last name.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I'm like child, I know Wanda, ms Wanda.
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: Pearson, absolutely, that's right.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: We've already talked to each other.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: But thank you for coming on for the second time because you got a new book out too.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: I do.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to talk about that.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to talk about that.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: So let me read your bio here.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: So, oh, okay.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: So, known as the business book bestie, denise Renee is a book writing coach, manuscript editor and author.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Her extensive writing experiences date back to 1999.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Mom to a teenage boy, denise Renee's hobbies include doing her own salon quality nail extensions Ooh, look at that girl, I need to have you come do mine.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: I pay a lot of money for mine Adult coloring and making YouTube videos for both business and fun.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: So, and that's nice, short and sweet, but very powerful.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: But thank you so much for coming on the podcast against Denise Renee.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: I truly appreciate it.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: So let's dive into some of these questions that I have here.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: The first one is why is collaboration the key to success in 2025 and beyond for content creators, business owners and employees?
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Child.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Have you seen the news?
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Have you heard the headlines?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: If you were, I wrote an article on LinkedIn last week and I forgot the exact title, but it basically said something to the effect why you can't?
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Oh, lord, jesus, okay, no, I'm going to look it up because I don't want to screw it up.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: But it's literally about how, if you listen to the headlines, your head is going to spin and you know it might just spin all the way off.
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: You don't want to do that, but the headline here and I'm trying to get to it quickly Okay, you just don't want to cooperate.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Okay, I understand it doesn't want to cooperate.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: Newsletters here we go.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: So the title of the article is labeled, laid off and left behind why headlines don't determine what's next for your career.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: So I literally said in the article that, if I listen to the headlines, I mean as a human, ai is threatening my livelihood, right.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: As a Gen X person, I'm not included in the workforce conversation.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: They talk about millennials, gen Z, even Gen Alpha, my son.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I'm like OK, and they talk about boomers, but I'm like hello.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Jen Alpha, my son.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: I'm like okay, and they talk about boomers, but I'm like hello, next, we've been here for at least 50 something years, if I listen, of course.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: Now the newest headline is that 300,000 plus Black women were ejected from the workforce since January of 2025.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: So when you listen to things like that, it sounds like, well, the world is just going to hell in a handbasket in flames.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: Right, there are no jobs.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: There's no place for you here as a Black woman, there's no place for you here as an aging individual in the workforce or in business, and if you listen to that, you will curl up into a ball and just be depressed all day long.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: But collaboration becomes so key and important and in the video that I crafted around, that was one of the key strategies is to collaborate, is to dig into your network, is to share what's going on in your personal life, in your business life, in your career life, whatever it is, whatever you're doing, because at the end of the day even though there's algorithms and things like that, but at the end of the day, you're trying to reach out to the person on the other side of your phone.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Right, when you're putting out content and you're trying to present your business or you're trying to get your resume out to a recruiter on LinkedIn, you're trying to connect with another human, and the best place to start is with the humans that you're already in community with.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: So, sometimes it can be tough because we don't always have the closest relationships with this person, but not with that one.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: So start with the people that you do have a great relationship with in your family, on your job, past jobs, past clients.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: Dig into that.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Tell people what you're up to now and what you're looking for.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Will everybody be able to help or offer something?
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: No, but at least they know, and when something comes across their path they think of you and like, oh, you know what she's looking for a job, oh, you know what he's looking for.
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: These types of clients.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: That is how you get to grow.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: And then you let things like your social media presence amplify everything.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: But without community it's hard to get anything done.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: It really really is.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and that's what we're talking about collaboration, collaboration to actually somebody to bring in, and that is so true.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: It's who you know, not what you know, and it's really getting into that.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: So I totally get it.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about a little bit about your background and what inspired you on your career path.
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: Well, when I was a little girl, the only thing I thought of or saw myself doing was writing, which is really funny because my mom had the hardest time getting me to read when I was really, really young.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: But once I caught on, that was it, it was over.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: So I've always been, you know, just a big reader.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: And then I started writing my own, you know, short stories when I was like eight, nine years old, things like that, and throughout high school just writing.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: One of my degrees is in English.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: I did a master's in teaching and taught English at the high school level for a few years.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: So it's just been an evolution.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Writing has just been with me for so long and I'm always taking, you know, some other kind of writing class learning, copywriting, learning, you know, mastering storytelling.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: I'm still, you know, I'm still always learning.
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: So lately I've been digging into books about storytelling and business and like putting those two frameworks together.
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: So it's just like how could I not?
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: How could I not?
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: And that is so true.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: So, writing the book?
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: How can writing the book bring visibility to your career, business or side hustle in 2025 and beyond?
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: You know, sometimes people are like, oh well, you know it's all about video, it's all about AI content, it's all about this.
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: But you know what?
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: The basics, the principles, never change, and what's really special about a book is that you get to bring a very solid and cohesive idea into the marketplace, as opposed to you know where with content, we're just trying to put these like one minute videos out every day, or you're.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: You know, there may be long form podcast conversations like this, but there's something very special about having someone's full attention off of the social platforms.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: They're not, you know, doing this when they're listening to your book on as an audio book, it's an immersive experience.
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: Or if they're actually physically reading your book, it's an immersive experience.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: They get to hear your thoughts from beginning to end and you make a real impact.
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: You know people still talk about how this particular book has changed their lives.
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: Nothing else in history has changed people's lives like a book.
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: And even if you say, oh, you know well, this podcast episode with such and such a person really changed my life, it's probably because it was a podcast episode with somebody who what has a book and they were talking about the principles in what?
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: In their book.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: That is so true.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: So tell me this.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: So what holds people back most people back from writing a book of something that they dreamed of doing?
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: Number one reason is fear, and this is something that I know intimately.
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: So as long as I just I just sat here and told you I've been writing since I was a little girl.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: Right, I have an entire degree in it.
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: Right, I used to teach, right, guess who just now is publishing her first book.
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: Why?
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Because for me, a lot of times people are nervous about their writing skills.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: So for me, obviously, writing skill is not my issue, but writing is still very emotional.
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Even if you're writing nonfiction and you're just writing a self-help book, it's a lot to put yourself in the proverbial out there, right, people are going to love you, people are going to hate you, people are going to feel meh about you.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: And when we're putting ourselves out there, when we're putting our ideas out there, we want everybody, our ideas out there, we want everybody to love us, right, we want everybody to buy.
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: But even though rationally we know that's not going to happen, it's still scary, right, and so, um, and there there are, you know, quite a number of steps to take to get a book done.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: Um, it doesn't have to be complicated, but you know it's, it's still, and it's like, at every step you have to keep reminding yourself and convincing yourself.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: This is why I'm doing it.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: And for me.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: I just had to get to the point where, okay, I can't worry about all the people who are not going to like it or whatever it is.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: I have to really be thinking about the people that I'm intended to help.
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: And that is the thing that got me personally over myself, because I was like, wow, all these people are always talking to me about I want to write a book.
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: I want to write a book, but I don't feel like I'm a writer.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: I want to write a book but I'm too busy.
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: I want to write a book, but I feel like I'm too old or too young or I'm not enough of an expert.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: And I had actually wrote this book back in 2019.
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: I wrote the first draft back in 2019.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: I did a round of revisions in 2020 and then I just never published it.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: And when I finally sat down and was like, oh my gosh, all of these people that you know, in this time, in these last couple of years, if I had my book, they could have been helped.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: Right, whether or not they became a client of mine or not doesn't even matter.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: There are people that I could have been helping with my book and I I wasn't where I should have been.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: My book wasn't where it should have been, and so now it's time to correct that.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: So that's what got me moving, and my book is actually titled write your Book and the subtitle is 10 Mindset Hacks to Move you from Fear to Finish.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: And, like I said, this is the number one thing that, as a I started my business as a ghostwriter, but I shifted it into writing coaching, but it's the number one thing that I hear from people.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: It's like I want to write a book, but and usually whatever they fill in the blanket with, there's fear behind that and you write about that because that was with me.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: I'm never writing a book.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I'm never writing a book, but I got this call from one of my friends that wanted God told me to call you.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm not going to disobey God.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: So what did he say?
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: And that was my first collaboration book.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: So, and and and the thing about it is the fear of what people are going to think about you, what you know, and and I, I had to deep, deep, deep inside of the book that I wrote, you know God's Grace, through the Fire, from Struggle to Triumph.
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, I was told by my editor.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Then you got to get this book out, just like what you're doing.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: You got to get this book out because you can help people.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: And ever since I wrote it, people said the same I want to write a book.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: How do I write a book?
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: What do I need to do?
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: So it's just taking that first step, and I love your shirt that says rise and write.
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: That is so true, so true.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: So how can people who don't feel like writers get started simply and finish writing their books?
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: I think that one of the things that holds people back is not being a writer Like that's.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: There's a very common concern and they're like well, I don't even know where to start, how to get started.
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: So I recommend borrow somebody else's writing process.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: So I have a four step process that I take people through all the time and like OK, if you think about these certain things, answer these certain questions for yourself and follow these particular steps, here's your first draft.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: Like you're on your way to completing your first draft.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: So I say borrow somebody else's writing process.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: If you don't know whose process to borrow, I invite you to borrow mine.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: Go to writingwithdenisevenetcom.
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: Forward slash four steps.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: I have a free version and then a low cost version where you can really dive in and start thinking about what to do to get yourself moving on writing your book.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: I really thought your book was out, denise Renee.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I did not know you was not out.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: We were talking last year and I thought you did.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: But I know you're a coach in helping people to you know to write their books so that, and you're a ghostwriter so you know all the ins and outs of what you need to do.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: So congratulations on getting your first book out and helping people, because people do need help.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: A lot of people need to tell a story.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: You just don't know who needs to hear that story, who needs to hear what you have to write.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: So that makes a big difference.
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: So what?
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: was the pivotal moment that helped shape you who you are today.
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm a Sally guy.
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: I think the modern, the modern evolution of where I am today has just been.
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: You know, having a child really shapes you.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: You know, it's definitely a definitely something that shapes you and you start thinking differently, you start making decisions differently and, yeah, I would say that I make a lot of decisions based on how I want to be an example for my son.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: And he's a teenage son, right?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I got six grandchildren, so I know from five to 20.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: So my grandson just called me today he's 20 to tell me what's going on.
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: But you know, the good thing about it is the communication that you have with them and that really makes a big difference.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, like I have two daughters, two married daughters and I always taught them be a leader, not a follower.
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: So I'm teaching the same thing with our grandchildren Don't be a follower, be a leader.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: So that makes a big difference.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: But I can imagine you with a boy.
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: It must be challenging.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: So I got two grandsons.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I know it's challenging.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I'll just say it's special.
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: I know that's right.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: So how did you first realize the power of storytelling, media and your craft in impacting others?
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: As a kid the thing that I wanted to do I I didn't know it at that age, but as I got a little older and I understood what it was, um, I was like I want to do this for and my mother cooperates this.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: But as a kid growing up in the 70s, like your only form of entertainment really was tv and for some reason, even as a baby before before I could talk I was always captivated with commercials.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: The TV show could be playing whatever, I'm playing whatever, but the commercials will come on and I'll add my attention.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: I mean I could still recite like a whole lot of commercials from back in the day.
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: I can't do it so much now because I don't watch.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: I have, man, I cut the cable like 10, 15 years ago, so you know I don't watch commercials and TV in that way anymore.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: But I was really attracted to just the power of just short little, because a commercial really is well, back in the day a commercial really was just like a short little story that got your attention.
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: It was either telling you something funny, something relatable, something sad.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: It really got to the core of your emotions very quickly.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: And then it made this powerful association with Charmin tissue or life cereal.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: He likes it.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Hey, mikey.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Give it to Mikey, he'll like it.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Let him try it.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: See, see.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: So these things are just like really, really memorable, and I just, you know, when I was younger and I finally understood what advertising was like, I want to be an advertiser.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: I want to.
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: You know, that's what I want.
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: I didn't wind up going that route, but I did later on, wind up learning copywriting, which is basically adjacent to the advertising world.
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, that's something that has shaped me from very early on.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: That's awesome.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: And you're right.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: When you look at commercial, you see what's going on around you.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I remember my first.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Well, I was a social worker and I started with the social worker.
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: Then and after here I was like maybe eight, nine years old I said I want to be a social worker, not knowing, I just wanted to help people.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: And actually that's what I ended up doing.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: That's what God helped me end up doing, even though being in corporate for 36 years.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: But it's something that we look at when we're younger to say I want to be just like them.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: You know, I want to be, you know, and the fantasizing of that.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: But you know, it's funny how you end up doing what you say you want to be.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: It's hilarious.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: God has a plan for all of us, so we're having those plans every day.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: So what type of books should people just get started with their you know author career to write first?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I think the best advice I ever got on writing actually came from my mom and she was just like just write what you know, right?
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: It's very simple, it's very straightforward and I think it is a great place for people to start.
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: So what do you know how to do that can help somebody else?
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: It could be something within your career, within your business, or it could be you know something completely unrelated.
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: It could be a hobby, like you know knowing how to do nails or something like that.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: So what do you know that somebody else wants to know?
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: How can you share that with them?
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: And it's, I think it's a great place to start because it kind of reduces the fear of I'm not an expert or I don't know what I'm talking about or you know whatever.
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: Sometimes people are like well, you know, I've been able to lose, you know 50 pounds, right.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: But then they could say, oh well, there's you know 100000 different diet books on the planet.
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah Well, you know what?
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: When you write the 100000 and one it's going to sell because still people are still wanting to know, and one it's going to sell because still people are still wanting to know.
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: You know how can they do this?
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: And maybe they tried all these other ways and all those other ways haven't worked.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: But when you put your book out, it's going to work for somebody and they've just been waiting for you to share what you know.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: So share what you know.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: With regards, like I said, to your career, to your hobbies, to your business, whatever have you.
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: Start there and then let your audience begin to tell you what else they want to hear from you, and you always want to keep your audience in mind and understand what is it that people want to know about at the intersection of what it is that you do know, so that you're writing something you know pretty, you're pretty confident that you know the subject matter and you don't have to do, like you know, heavy lifting research if you don't have to.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: But starting with what you know is a great place to start.
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: Even if you're a fiction writer, even if you are writing short stories or writing novels because I'm actually a fiction writer as well you can take a scenario that you're familiar with.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be your specific story, but you, you, there's people in your family there, you know, you've gone to school with people.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: There could be different stories in your life that you know about that.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: You can fictionalize, right, you can change the setting, change the characters and things like that, but you know the arc of the story, so write that story, and that's good.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: And that's the next question I want to ask you about what advice would you give someone who wants to step out of fear and into bold action?
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: There's nothing.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: Nike said it best back in the eighties just do it.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: There's nothing to do.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: There's no other way around fear except for taking action.
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: I found that fear doesn't go away, right.
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: In fact, sometimes, when you're taking steps towards what you're doing, fear likes to get a little louder, but you still have to keep moving forward, right?
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: And so if you have to, then rely on and you don't have to do anything alone certainly not writing.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: Definitely, writing has to be a collaborative effort, especially if you're writing a book for the first time.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: You've never done this before.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: You want to lean on the expertise of others who have done it before.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: So, whether you sit down and you research, you scour the internet, you scour YouTube or whatever, what have you?
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: There's so much advice out there.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Follow someone's advice, right?
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: If you want to shorten up that timeframe, then hire people to help you do certain things, or get with a self-publishing company that will, you know, help you through the process.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: So you do not have to do the writing alone, but you do have to take the first step and then take the next step and the next step after that until it's done.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: That is so true because that's how I started.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I started in a collaboration book.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't know how to do that, and then I got into another collaboration book, so that third time I said nope, I'm doing this on my own, I'm going to write my own book.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: And I did.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I wrote my own and now I'm ready to write my fourth book Forgiveness, walking in Freedom Through God's Grace.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: I had to keep remembering the title of my book.
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: That's coming out, that's okay, but no, that is so true.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: So how can collaboration help authors throughout their authorship journey?
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: So, like I said, you can get just coaching all along the way.
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: So, whether you're reading books about the writing process or about the self-publishing process, whether you're watching videos, whether you are taking a course, whether you're hiring an individual or you're working with a company, a self-publishing company that you know assigns you someone to walk you through the process.
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: You know, we, we come into this world we all come in this world the same way naked and dribbling right, with no teeth.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: So everything we've learned we've learned language, we've learned how to communicate, we've learned how to do everything right.
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: We learned how to walk.
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: We learned how to eat.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: We learned how to cook.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: We learned how to get dressed.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: We learned how to write.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: We we learned how to communicate and learn how to get dressed.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: We learn how to write.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: We learn how to communicate, and so it's going to take a learning process and through everything that we've learned, we've learned from other people.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: So, collaborate with other people, look for those mentors, look for those people who are going to help you, or look for that company that's going to help you, and pick someone, pick a group and rock with it.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll wind it down, but I wanted to ask you, give us two to three tips you can give our listeners to build, to building confidence and using their voice.
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: Building confidence and using your voice.
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: I think a good way to just build your confidence is especially just to and putting yourself out there.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Don't start with that Right.
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: Start with, maybe, your voice.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Start with an audio podcast.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: I literally just launched an audio only podcast, not because I'm afraid of video, but just because I got so much other going on.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: But I'm like this is the fastest way I can get something out.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Um, because I want to put this content out.
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: But if I have to sit down and, like you know, put on makeup every single time and come on camera, it's going to slow me down.
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: So I'm like okay, let's do audio.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Some people are like I don't even want to talk.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: Okay, then write.
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: Right, so write little articles on LinkedIn or on Medium or on your blog or whatever.
• 27:04
  Speaker 2: What have you?
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: But start somewhere?
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Start something that's small.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: What have you?
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: But start somewhere?
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: Start something that's small, something that you can do consistently, and you make a promise to yourself that you're going to show up every single day, every single week, whatever the cadence is.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: But it's really about just getting started putting your voice and your ideas out there and, like I said, it doesn't necessarily have to be your literal voice, but even just writing articles.
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: It's so important to get in the habit of just putting yourself out there and letting people respond or not respond.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: I put up a video.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: Oh, it was my 300,000 black women.
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: I put up a video last week, just reacting, responding to that and just giving suggestions.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Because one of the things I can't stand I hate when people are just like doom and gloom, doom and gloom, doom and gloom and it's like, okay, so what do we do?
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: So I had some ideas of what I think black women can do next, ideas of what I think black women can do next and, um, I in like, my suggestions were like, you know, get into your prayer, get into your peace.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Um, get, tap into your community and begin to, just, you know, prepare yourself and position yourself and repackage.
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: You know what you have, what you have to offer.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Someone came in my comments and said get a husband.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Someone came in my comments and said get a husband.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Wow, I'm like, first of all, can we get with the program?
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: Like that had nothing to do with this, this conversation whatsoever.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Right, and it was just a troll, right, it was just a hater and I was just like now, this says so much more about you than about me.
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: I went and I looked and I'm like they don't even have a real picture of they have two subscribers on their channel.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: I was just like please Just talking, just talking.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: I tell you exactly, as I just deleted the comment and kept it pushing on with my day.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: But that's the thing.
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: Some people are just going to be mean and nasty just because they want to be mean and nasty.
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: And you just got to get used to it and just keep it going, but then I get great comments are like wow, this was really helpful, this is exactly what I needed right now.
• 29:21
  Speaker 2: So you're going to just understand you're going to get both.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: You can't stop people from doing what they're going to do, but you get to choose.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: So you're going to just understand you're going to get both.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: You can't stop people from doing what they're going to do, but you get to choose how you're going to react to it.
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: So you know, to getting bringing it back to your original question, like what can you do to just like get started, just get started, put yourself out there and just know someone's going to be stupid at some point in time and you get to choose how you're going to respond to that and the more that you get used to, just okay this person is going to, you know, just it's going to get blocked, or you know, do I really need to respond to that?
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: The more you get practice with that, the more comfortable you get with putting yourself out there, and so then you can work your way up to that audio podcast or that video.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: You know, putting out videos or putting out that book and waiting for the Amazon reviews.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know that's right.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, that is so true.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: So what role has faith purpose community played in your success?
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: Everything, it's everything, you know, it's everything, um, you know, while there's definitely fear, but not only action combats uh, fear, but faith combats fear, right, and faith is that thing in that power that makes me at least say, okay, I can take action, right, even though I may be afraid or nervous about this or that, I can still take action, because I believe there's a higher purpose that if I move through this fear because sometimes the only way through is through when I move through this fear, on the other side, there's someone that I'm helping, there's myself that I'm helping, there's my family that I'm helping.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: There's a greater purpose in me moving through and beyond whatever fear I'm helping.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: There's my family that I'm helping.
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: There's a greater purpose in me moving through and beyond whatever fear you know I may have.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: And if I need to get support, get help, reach out.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: Let me get support, Let me reach out, let me get what I need so that we can, you know, accomplish the goal.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Move on.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly I say faith overcomes fear is what I say here.
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: So how can listeners connect with you and support your work and then also tell us about your book?
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: So you can definitely find me at writingwithdenisevenetcom.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: Learn about how I do support authors in their journey.
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: You can also grab a copy of my book through there as well.
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: You can also grab a copy of my book through there as well.
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: I am online.
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: The two places I'm at most of the time is YouTube, so youtubecom forward slash at writing with Denise Renee and on LinkedIn linkedincom forward slash in forward slash writing with Denise Renee, and I just started a sub stack.
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: I just started a new podcast and newsletter, uh, through sub stack.
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: So you can find me at writing with Denise Renee dot sub stackcom.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: So, um, so, yeah, so, uh.
• 32:18
  Speaker 2: So about the book like I said, my book is entitled write your book 10 mindset hacks to move you from fear to finished.
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: Write your Book 10 Mindset Hacks to Move you from Fear to Finished.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: And it is all about if you are that person who, like me, was just chomping down at your nails like, oh my gosh, can I really do this?
• 32:36
  Speaker 2: Or telling yourself all these things that are just keeping you back from writing a book.
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: So, like I said, and I wrote this book based on what people were telling me all the time these are the top 10 reasons and fears that people were always telling me I want to write a book, but you know, I'm too old, I'm too young, somebody else already wrote my book.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: Um, you know, uh, uh, I'm not an expert and a couple of other things uh in there.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: So you can definitely head over to writingwithdenisevernetcom and, um, the link for the book is right there so you can learn a little bit more about it.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: But basically, in the book I share with you how you, I just we break down each of those fears and I give practical mindset hacks and practical steps, action steps that you can take to overcome those particular fears so that you can get started writing your book, because it's needed.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely, and I'm gonna actually have all of your contact information in the show notes as well.
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: So, but wow, what an empowering conversation.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: That was very, very good here, denise, thank you so much for sharing your story and whizzing with us today, not a problem.
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for having me realized that we wait a minute.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: I had her on my show before, but she's given the update of what she's doing Now she has a book to talk about.
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: So so I know our listeners are walking away inspired to help step into their own boldness and embrace collaboration on their journey.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: For those of you tuning in, make sure to connect with Denise Renee and always remember collaboration is the key to success.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: I'm Wanda Pearson and this has been Ready Set Collaborate podcast, and make sure you follow and subscribe.
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: It's going to be on YouTube as well, with Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: Thank you and thanks, denise again, for being on the show.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me, thank you.