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The 4 Fundamentals of a REAL Writing Business · The Daily Writer

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome back to the Profitable Writer Podcast.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: If you're new here, my name is Kent Sanders.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm an author and ghostwriter, and this is the show that helps you grow your impact and income as a writer.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Well, today we're going to dig into some fundamentals of running a writing business.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: So last week on the podcast, we talked about the Profitable Writer Pathway, which is the nine-step roadmap to help you grow your writing business.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the very first step on the pathway is this it is commit to the four fundamentals of a writing business.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I outlined what those four fundamentals were last week, but on today's episode, I want to dig into these a bit more to help you get a proper footing for growing your writing business.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the ironies of becoming more skilled in a specific area is that you've got to constantly revisit the fundamentals.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: And this is true in any career or any industry or any area of specialty.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: For example, a baseball player needs to know how to throw a ball and swing a bat effectively.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: A runner needs to have proper shoes and they need to know how to warm up so they don't hurt themselves while they're running.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: A guitar player needs to understand scales and chord progressions.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: Likewise, a professional writer needs to have a firm grasp of the fundamentals so they can successfully run a business.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the deal, it's not enough to just understand the fundamentals.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: You have to practice them and commit to them.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's probably a lot of quote unquote fundamentals that we could list when it comes to building a writing business, but I've boiled these down to the four key ingredients that are critical for success.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now, these are also areas where writers frequently get tripped up.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the deal: if you have the fundamentals right, you will be well on your way to building a strong writing business.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: But without these four elements as the foundation of your business, you're going to really struggle before you even begin to reach your potential.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive into the four fundamentals of a real writing business.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And by the way, these four points are an acronym, R-E-A-L.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: We'll dive into what each of those are in just a second, but these obviously spell the word real.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe these are so important that if you don't have these things, you don't really have a real sustainable writing business.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Element number one is relationships with people.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Every business exists to serve people.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Without people, you don't have a business.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now that probably sounds kind of obvious, but you'd be surprised how often that business owners forget that the entire reason for their business's existence is to serve other people.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: Business is built on relationships.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't focus on giving, serving, and investing in those relationships, you're going to quickly burn bridges and nobody's going to trust you.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: Everything that we do as writers is for other people, insofar as the writing that we do is connected to our business.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you go off and and you write poetry for yourself that is just expressing your own feelings and emotions and thoughts about things, and you don't have any intention of publishing those things, obviously that doesn't exist for others.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just for you, at least in that moment, you might publish it later, in which case you have to think about the reader and what they want from your creative activity.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: But insofar as the writing is connected to your business, that exists for other people.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: We write, we publish, and we create in service of others, and we add value to them in the process.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, many writers, especially those who are introverted, don't focus on developing great relationships with people.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I know that sometimes I have sort of been known to pick on introverts a little bit.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I do so, well, first of all, I'm not really picking on anybody.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I would never ever want to do that, and I hope that I would never give that impression.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm sure that sometimes because I talk about introverts a lot, people think I'm maybe picking on introverts a little bit.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's because I am an introvert and I understand what introverts think like.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: I understand the emotional energy that sometimes we try so hard to conserve because we're out of it, and you know, too much social interaction and too much conversation really drains us.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: I totally get all that because I am absolutely an introvert.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: But here's what I see oftentimes in a lot of writers who are introverted is that they don't put a lot of focus on developing good relationships with people.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's really easy, especially if you're an introvert, to see other people as an interruption or as an inconvenience.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it's easy to think that good writing is all about the craft, it's all about the storytelling and you know the grammar and the punctuation and the craft that goes into excellent writing.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the truth: you can be the most talented writer in the world, but if you can't get along with people, you're simply not going to get very far.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's kind of a harsh truth.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: But as I've said many times here on various versions of my podcast over the years, one of the fundamental reasons I do a podcast is because I just want to tell the truth.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I am your friend Kent and I am here to tell you the truth about things insofar as I can sense that truth and be able to communicate it to you.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want you to hear the truth about things, and one of those truths is that you're not going to get very far if you can't get along with people and if you don't see your business as a way to serve other people.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's item number one here on our list is relationships with people.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's the R in real.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Number two is excellence in your craft.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me balance out what I just said about relationships with people.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: It is important to have great relationships.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's vital.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, you also have to deliver.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just be a person who's great with people and be a nice guy, but you can't actually deliver on what you've got to deliver.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of the critical elements of the business is that you have to deliver some type of product or service.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to deliver value to people.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to have a successful business, you have to be really good at what you do.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to have the skills and the understanding to produce high-quality products and services for your fans, your readers, your customers, and your clients.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, in the world of writing, which is the world we exist in, right, this involves elements like grammar, storytelling, voice, structure, persuasion, and so many other things that go into the craft of excellent writing.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: But remember, though, that craft is not just about writing well.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just about producing a good product, so to speak.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I believe that the craft of running a writing business, so you have the craft of writing, then you have the craft of running a writing business, and those are two different things.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, they're related, but they are two different things.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Craft is not just about writing well, it's also about other important elements of a business, like showing up to meetings on time, paying your invoices, and otherwise presenting yourself as a real professional.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: So as professionals, we always want to be striving for excellence.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: We always want to be striving to become better at everything that we do.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So number one is relationships with people, that's the R.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Number two is excellence in your craft.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's the E, and the almost said the number real.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Real is not a number, it's a word.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know, don't even know my own podcast today, apparently.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go to number three, which is A, and this stands for attitude toward money and business.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most common themes that I hear from writers is that they don't enjoy the business side of writing.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: They would rather focus on the craft of writing instead of worrying about stuff like marketing, budgets, money, income, expenses, sales, uh, client conversations, and so forth.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this is actually pretty common with creative types.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And most of us, if we were being honest, we would say that, well, we would rather spend our time making things and than thinking about running a business, which many creative people perceive as kind of boring and and uncreative.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, sometimes in the business world, you you kind of get this sense of like the creatives are are at odds with the business people.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, you know, you have the bean counters, so to speak, who are always sort of stopping the creative types from doing what they want to do.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't really think that's a helpful way to look at business because you absolutely have to have both sides.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: You can't have the element of business without the creative aspect, uh, because then you don't have anything to sell or to present to people or add value to them.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, you can't have the creative aspect without having the business part, the part that is concerned about money and business and budgets and those kinds of things.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: As a writer, I think if you can learn to embrace the business side of what you do, you can really have a blast.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got to be honest with you.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: So coming from the world of church and ministry and higher education, that's where I came from as a writer.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was in that world for many, many years.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: And for a long, long time, I felt really intimidated by the business side of things.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, I remember in college, uh, when I was an intern, this would be way back almost 30 years ago, way back in 1994.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: If you can jog your memory back that far, some of you listening to this weren't even born yet.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Some of you were, but way back in 1994, I was in my what year was I in college?
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um the summer of 1994, I was getting ready to be a junior.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna be a junior that fall in college.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: So at the time of this recording, I'm 49 years old.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: So that summer was between my sophomore and junior years of college.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I did an internship, so I had actually went to college to become a preacher.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I know that probably would surprise some people because they're like, what, you went to school to be a preacher?
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I actually did.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I found out I wasn't particularly good at it and I didn't really enjoy it.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: However, that being said, though, I'm actually really, I've always been grateful for having gone through that program because it taught me communication, it taught me public speaking, and I learned a lot of valuable skills going through that program, even though that's ultimately what I didn't end up doing for my career.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, that's that's a little rabbit trail for another another day, another time.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that summer I was an intern at a local church, and this church was actually in a kind of like a wealthy part of St.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Louis.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: I remember that summer I felt I felt super weird being around families that I knew had really nice houses, they had nice cars, they had a lot of money, they were generous and giving and wonderful Christian people.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I I just felt kind of like I didn't really belong there.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Not because of anything anybody said or did, but I just I just felt kind of odd hanging around and spending time with families that I knew uh were wealthier than what I was used to.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the way a lot of us operate, right, as writers, is that we kind of many times have sort of this poverty mentality where we think, well, I can never be good at business, and I don't, I really shouldn't be hanging around those business and money types, and and I'm intimidated by the idea of running a business and so forth.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then once you like start to get into something like ghostwriting or perhaps editing or graphic design, that there's this element of running a business where a lot of people think, well, I'm kind of intimidated about this idea of like being really assertive and getting my own clients and making a lot more money and those kinds of things.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I would encourage you to start to look at business as something that is really fun.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, business is really just a giant game.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I look at business.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: Business is totally a really fun game if you can look at it that way.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can embrace your role as a business owner and continually work on your mindset, things become a lot more fun and a lot easier.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: This involves charging what you're worth, developing an abundance mindset rather than a poverty mindset, and getting comfortable with people who are at a higher financial level than you.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of what it means to grow, is hanging around people who can stretch you and challenge you.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: The truth is that we all have a lot of growing to do.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: So don't limit your potential for success by having a negative attitude toward business and money.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, here's the fourth element in the idea of a real writing business, so R-E-A-L.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is relationships with people, number two is excellence in your craft, number three is attitude toward money and business.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then finally, number four is leadership in your business and industry.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Creating a business as well as publishing books or any type of content is an act of leadership.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I would ask you, are you comfortable embracing the role of a leader and an influencer?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, as much as we like to resist the term influencer because we think of you know people dancing on TikTok and people doing crazy stuff on social media, you know, that that's what we associate with the term influencer.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: But here's the reality: it's that you are indeed influencing others.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: You are persuading them.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, why else do we write as writers?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_00: We write because we want to influence, we want to persuade, we want to move people, we want to entertain people, we want to have an effect on them.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's no other reason to write for people, is there?
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: Except that you want to have some kind of effect on them.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: In other words, you want to, what's the term?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: You want to influence them.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: So when we talk about leading and influencing, leading involves being courageous.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: It involves taking a risk, it involves making decisions.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now remember that the word author, okay, this is a writing podcast, remember.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Keep in mind that the word author is the root of authority.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And as an author, you are literally standing before others and you're proclaiming yourself to be an authority on your topic.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_00: Again, why else do we write?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why else do we communicate or make speeches or produce podcasts or books or blogs or whatever?
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: We do it because we want to share something about that topic.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: We are standing up as an authority or as an author on that topic.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of writers resist this role of leadership.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: But again, keep in mind that people are looking for a guide, they're looking for a coach, they're looking for a mentor who can help them solve their problems, who can help them move ahead in life.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: And a big part of leadership is finding ways to teach and pass on what you have learned.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so I want to really encourage you to embrace this idea of leading, of influencing, of giving to other people what you have learned.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of writers feel a little bit more comfortable being behind the scenes, of kind of sitting off to the side or standing in the shadows.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there are times for doing that.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, as a ghostwriter, I know that extremely well.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's the whole idea of ghostwriting, right?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: But that doesn't mean that we show up that way in life.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you might be a ghostwriter or doing work for someone that's not acknowledged publicly, it doesn't mean that you're not showing up as a leader.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Being a leader means you show up and you're trying to have a positive impact on your colleagues and your clients and people that you work with and for your family and your friends and anybody that you interact with in life.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a mindset of showing up in life and saying, I can have a positive impact on these people and in this situation.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's really a state of mind and it's a way that we show up in the world.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: And if you are a person who tends to shrink back, or if you tend to be really passive in your business and in your interactions with people, I just want to challenge you to be a little bit more assertive, to stand up and be confident and to show up in life believing that you have something of value to give, because I guarantee that you do.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: I promise that you do.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely promise you.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: I believe you are wired and you are created to give value to others.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: But you have to believe that you're worth it and you have to believe that you have that capability, and I promise you that you do.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, one of my favorite audio programs that I've ever heard is it's an old one.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: This is decades old.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you remember a guy named Earl Nightingale, he had a program way back, I think it was the 1950s, called The Strangest Secret.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was very famous for that.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: He had the coolest radio voice ever.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: He was like a radio and TV sort of personality.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he hit it on the nose with the title of his audio program that was called Lead the Field.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was all about standing up in your field and leading the way, of being an he wouldn't have used this term, but uh back in his day, but today we would say it's being an influencer, it's being a leader.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I want you to do the same thing.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_00: My dream for you is to become a confident, influential leader and also a writer and business owner.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when you take all these elements together that we've talked about here, relationships with people, excellence in your craft, attitude toward money and business, and leadership in your business and industry, when you take these four points together, they act like sort of a compass to help you stay the course and to build your business the right way.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And if you commit to living these things out during each phase of your writing journey, I promise you will build your business on a really, really solid foundation.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before I close up shop on today's episode, I want to give a huge thanks to our sponsors today.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: The first sponsor is Plotter.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: And you've heard me talk about Plotter before.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: They are the number one visual book planning software for writers that helps you plan books in the same way that you think.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: Plotter's intuitive visual interface allows plotting to be the creative process that it's supposed to be.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not just for fiction writers.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Plotter is a great tool for nonfiction authors, podcasters, speakers, and anybody creating content to organize their material and story points.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're ready to outline faster, get organized, and save loads of time in your writing, go to plotter.com, that's P L O T T R dot com to start your free 14-day trial.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: I also want to give a huge thanks to our other sponsor today, which is The Word Wizard.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you might have written a great book, but it's not ready for publication until it's been in the hands of a master editor.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why my friend Karen Hunsinger, also known as The Word Wizard, is the perfect partner to help you craft the highest quality book possible.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: A great editor doesn't just correct grammar and spelling, they also correct wordiness, shifts in tone and voice, overuse of particular words, and they also enhance transitions, clarity, and accuracy.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've worked with Karen on a lot of books, and I promise you she is your secret weapon for crafting an amazing book.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: So visit Karenhunsinger.com for a free sample edit.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link in the show notes, and I really hope that you'll check it out.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: As always, my friend, thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.