Latest / The Daily Writer / Ruthie Gray on Chasing Your Dreams in the Second Half of Life

Transcript

Ruthie Gray on Chasing Your Dreams in the Second Half of Life · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for riding success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have podcast listeners from all walks of life, all backgrounds and all ages and stages of life.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: However, if I had to pick one category of listener that probably represents the biggest chunk of my audience, it's riders in the 40 to 60 year old age range.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We all know that profound changes can happen during this phase of life, the biggest of which is that your kids leave home and that you become what's known as an empty nester.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when the kids are no longer at home, everything about your family life changes.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going through this actually right now to some degree since my son Ash is 19.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's been out of high school for well over a year at this point, and he still lives at home and he works a full-time job, but probably he's going to be moving out in the not too distant future.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: So if this phase of life describes you or if it describes somebody that you're close to, I think that you'll very much relate to our guest today.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Her name is Ruthie Gray, and she's been a guest here on the podcast before talking about Instagram marketing.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: However, today Ruthie is here to talk about her brand new book, which is an awesome book, by the way.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's called Empty Nest Awakening: Weaving the Threads of Your Passions into Purpose.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got to tell you, this book is really, really wonderful.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's super well written.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's a very quick read and very, very meaningful and heartfelt.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this book is a real gift to anybody in this stage of life, whether it's men or women.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ruthie Gray is a wife, grandmother, empty nester, and marketing coach for Christian female entrepreneurs, specializing in Instagram and newsletter strategy.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: Her hobbies include Florida beachwalks, RVing with her husband, and voraciously reading historical fiction.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: She's also the founder of the Authentic Online Marketing School, an insider mentorship, and she podcasts at Authentic Online Marketing.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: She's getting ready to launch her authentic online marketing school, which you can learn more about when you visit authenticonline marketing.com.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: And in today's conversation, Ruthie and I talk about the challenges of the emptiness phase of life, why you can still have a business, even if you have a ministry, her book writing and publishing process, and much more.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're considering writing a book, I think you're going to be very encouraged by Ruthie's writing experience.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So here's my conversation with the amazing and talented Ruthie Gray.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: Ruthie, it's great to have you on the podcast.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you've been on the show, of course, before, but it's always good to have you back because I enjoy talking with smart, intelligent, and successful people, and you absolutely fall into that category.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: So welcome back.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad to be here and always excited to talk with you, Kent.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you do some different things.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, you're an author, which is what we're primarily here to talk about.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: You also do marketing, and we'll dive into that a little bit later in the uh the interview.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to first dive into this hot little book I've got in my hands, Empty Nest Awakening, which I really love for so many reasons.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: And before I get into some questions, I want to tell you what I love about this book.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I feel like I'm already dominating the conversations, but uh before I hit record, we were talking about this a little bit.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that it's a short book.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: It has a really, really cool cover that weaves the themes in in some different ways.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love the fact that the chapters are short.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: You've got discussion questions.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a really, really good title.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So, like you just did an incredible job with this book.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I just want to congratulate you on something really, really well done.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_02: Well, thank you for saying that.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: I am very pleased with how the book turned out.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: And I have you the thank for some of that because you got me started um when you suggested that maybe I should write a book that complements my brand.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: And also uh just some of your suggestions about keeping it short and succinct.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I feel like people really like, I think they appreciate that.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think that they appreciated that in this book, that I made it just easy, easy to read, easily consumable.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it is, and I know I'm not the target audience for this book really.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh obviously, this is primarily directed toward women, but I got a lot out of this, and um surprisingly so, not that I didn't expect to get anything out of it, but uh, it's really funny because um I think sometimes we write books for a specific audience, but then people who are not really in that target audience find a lot of value in it as well.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, one of the things I love about books is you put them out there into the world kind of with an idea of what it is and who it's for, and then it ends up going into different hands sometimes.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it's one of the wonderful things about having a book out there.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it it really is true.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: You want to have a niche following and you want to be branded, but that doesn't mean that there aren't going to be outliers there.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and one thing I've heard about this book uh time and time again is it's not just for empty nesters.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: It's for anyone that's seeking clarity about their next step and uh purpose in their life and uh whether they want to start a hobby or start a business.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it helps you work through those.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to dive into this issue of the whole empty nest thing for a minute.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to see if you can help give us some clarity about why this is such an important phase in our lives.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So give a little bit of context.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, I'm a man.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: When we think of people going through empty nest syndrome or going through things that we would normally associate with that negatively, I think people normally think of women going through more of the emotional pain of that.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: I could be totally off base, and you can tell me if I'm wrong about that.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: But my my son's 19, and even though he still lives at home, we've very much still been going through a lot of transitions the past couple of years in our lives.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm curious, why is it that this phase of life is so difficult for so many people to get through?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying like, oh, my life is a tragedy, but it has been a challenge in different ways.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm I'm wondering if you can kind of shed some light on this in terms of why do why do families sometimes struggle so much during this phase of now you've become an empty nester?
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: What's going on there?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_02: What's going on is the dynamic is changing under your roof, and uh, so the focus is not the same as it was for the past 19 years.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_02: And you feel like well, in my case, I just felt a little bit lost because that was my biggest goal was to be an awesome parent and to raise awesome kids.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_02: And um, so a lot of times we, especially moms, end up wrapping our identity in motherhood.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh then once the kids leave, it's like, what do I do next?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: And at least that's what happened to me.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I didn't even realize I was doing that because I was so consumed with wanting to help these individuals become independent and functional and a contribution to society.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I did my job, I worked my way out of a job, but then I thought, well, what am I supposed to do now?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: I'm I literally thought my life was over, and I didn't see that coming.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_02: I really um was excited for my kids for this next juncture for college and marriage.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_02: But when uh like my first one left, and and that was okay because she was 20 minutes down the road, she was married, she was happy, and I had three still at home.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_02: But then when the two middles left for two different colleges in two different states, and it kind of hit me that that era was over.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: And it just caused a lostness and a shift.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: And how did you start to find your way back from that?
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously you've got a business, you're you're now an author, you've got different things going on.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: But what was it that happened during that period that helped you to start to find more clarity and purpose in what you were doing to help other people?
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_02: I journaled and I had already started like three different blogs on Blog Spot, and I was writing a lot, and I had always written.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: In fact, I used to have a parenting column in our local newspaper when my kids were small.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_02: That's cool, yeah.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_02: And uh so I had always liked to write, and so I just started doing that.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_02: That was just kind of like my natural way of working through my emotions and thoughts and feelings, and I was praying a lot, I was searching scripture a lot.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um, in fact, I started reading through the Bible as a whole, which was really a profound experience for me.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: And through it was a combination of those three things was prayer, scripture, and journaling.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: That that's how I began to dig my way out and realize that the Lord wanted me to write more, but he wanted me to write publicly.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, so that's that's how I got here.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's where I started first.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: And was that a was that a challenge to accept that you almost feel like sometimes um, you know, sometimes we talk about like finding our calling in life or discovering our purpose as if it's something that we go out there and actively dig up or or create or something.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think many times it's something that we feel like it is something that's given to us that we didn't even ask for.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's just kind of, oh, this is part of who I am, or this is a renewed sense of focus or purpose that comes from somewhere else.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, obviously, and in our case, we're talking about this this comes from God.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's something that He places on our hearts uh that we didn't necessarily we weren't seeking in it, just something that is kind of handed to us.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Did you feel that way with this?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Where I wasn't really looking to do some big thing, it just kind of you felt this pull towards something rather than you having to manufacture all this energy or direction or something.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly what it was.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_02: It was an awareness that oh, wait, God planted this ability inside me because it's just an example of um delight the Lord or delight yourself in the Lord and He'll give you the desires of your heart.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it was just an awakening to that, realizing that if I obeyed his calling, which was my passion, then he was going to he was gonna use that for his glory, and that was my purpose now.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: I think this term awakening, and I I'm not sure how many iterations you went through with your book title, but I think this term uh yeah, I can imagine as most people do, but I I can it's obvious that you chose that term awakening very purposefully.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Is there a sense sometimes when people become empty nesters, especially where you feel like this part of you, you know, like when you're a teenager or when you're in your your early 20s or something, like before kids come along, you feel like there's this part of you that's adventurous and you're seeking out these incredible experiences and you want to do big things in your life.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: But then once kids come along, many of us we I'm not saying we settle, but but we face the realities of we have to have steady income.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: We've got to take this job or that job.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then this awakening comes in the empty nest phase of your life where suddenly these impulses or these dreams that have been dormant for 20 or 25 years, like now they've risen to the surface again.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: And oh, now I have this thing that's sort of sprung to life again.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Is that the experience a lot of people have?
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think it is.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: And with the women that I work with uh in marketing, they're generally around my they're they're the empty nesters or near empty nesters, and uh they're experiencing that very same thing.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_02: It's like there's a tug, they're not really sure what it is, but they sort of have an idea of what they're supposed to do first, whether it's write or podcast or um, you know, try to create a product or or just get online and build a platform.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: They don't really know why, but they have a tug that they have a message that the world needs to hear.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_02: And it's exciting.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where do you think the best place for somebody to start is?
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say somebody's listening, and I do want to dig into some themes uh here from your book.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I think we could do like a 10-hour conversation and kind of just scratch the surface because there's so many things you touch on in the book.
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_00: But if somebody has this tug and they have something they want to share, there's all kinds of ways they can do it: blogs, podcasts, newsletters, being a guest on podcasts, writing books.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the where do you feel like is the simplest, most obvious place for somebody to start if they want to dive into this?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: I advise people to journal uh because you often don't know what your thoughts really are until you get them outside.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Gosh, that is so true.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_02: And and sometimes it's not actual writing, sometimes it's typing.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you just need to to type it out on a Google Doc.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but and then others of us, you know, like that, that feeling of pencil and paper, that really is what helped me the most.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I use the blog, but I also just would write and write.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_02: I've got scads of journals where I was trying to figure things out.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: And not just at the beginning, actually through the whole thing.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: I still do it to today, at least a line a day.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because it helps me know what's in my mind, helps me work it out, and it also helps me I'm able to look back, you know, a few pages and see where I was before and see that I've actually made progress.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_02: And that's exciting.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's really important, isn't it?
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: To be able to look back and to see, oh, I've actually grown or I've learned something.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not, I'm not quite the same person that I was.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: It is.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's you know, it's I do a thing called weekly wins every once in a while, where I just try to write down what are the things that I did this week that I actually accomplished because a lot of times we think we really didn't do that much.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_02: But once I start listing them, I'm I think, well, actually, you know, I did do a lot and I've come far and this, this, this, and it's not on my plate anymore.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_02: But a lot of times we despise the day of small things, like where we started.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: And we don't realize how much ground we've covered.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's important to celebrate.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: I do think it's funny how many things, how many benefits just the act of journaling has, even aside from blogging or publishing or books and making your your writing public.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure you've had this experience too, where you just have been journaling and all and the process of handwriting your thoughts out, not putting them on your phone or computer, of handwriting something out.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: You have this moment of insight where you think, oh my gosh, maybe I'm the problem here.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe maybe I need to adjust my attitude about something.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's happened to me so many times.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: But it's funny how that act of journaling really has a way of just bringing stuff to the surface that I don't think you can get at any other way.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_02: I agree.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: And, you know, along with journaling, um, I like to write scripture.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: And especially as I see it, as I'm reading, you know, in the mornings, and I'll see something that really stands out to me.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: If I write that down, I find more gems in there as I'm writing, doing that physical act of writing.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_02: And that solidifies it.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_02: It helps me remember and it helps me grasp that concept even more concretely.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's really good.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's really good.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: Let me dive into a couple of themes from your book.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I've got four or five things here that I'd I'd love to ask you about.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: And these are all based on chapters in your book, which by the way, if you're you've been listening to this conversation and um you're trying to figure out what is this book we're talking about, it's called Emptiness Awakening, Weaving the Threads of Your Passions into Purpose by Ruthie Gray, of course.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, just to remind you of the title, so you can go to Amazon and grab that book title.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh one of the things that you talk about in chapter three is whether or not it's selfish to dream.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is such an important question because especially if you've spent decades of your life raising a family or devoting yourself to caregiving or or basically putting all your emotional eggs into other people's baskets, a lot of people feel guilty for wanting to do something more.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say to those people?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: I would say that now is your time, and it's okay to do that because there is likely, it goes back to that desire thing.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: There is likely a reason that you feel that tug, that God has put that desire or that urge on your mind.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: And honestly, it's to bless others.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_02: There's a quote in the book by John Ortberg, and I'm gonna butcher it, but it's to the to the essence that God is not really, He rarely ever leads you through a door to without intending for you to bless someone else, like it's for someone else.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: We are here um to help others, that's the ultimate goal, and we can do that with the desires that God has planted in our hearts.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: So something uh that I say in the book is if God has led you to something, it's likely that He has led you to someone, He has someone that needs your message.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: That kind of takes the pressure off in some ways, doesn't it?
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: Where we realize that, hey, this dream that we have is not just about us having more followers or making more income or doing this or that, and all those things can be a part of it, obviously.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think those things are are a good thing, but it's not ultimately for us, it's for other people.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And the act of taking a courageous step to put yourself out there, I think realizing that it's ultimately about other people really is helpful with that because it it's this isn't just for me, for me to be in the spotlight.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's hey, there's somebody else who needs to have what I have to share, who needs what I have to share, and that that somehow seems to be a really great motivation.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: It is, and I think that it really helps free the writer's mind a little bit.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: The writer that wants to publish books and has published books, but they're afraid to promote themselves and their books.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_02: It's not really you you're promoting, it's your creator.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_03: And he could toot his horn all day.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Do you find sometimes when you're working with people, because you help a lot of people with marketing, that that is something that a lot of writers struggle with is I just I don't want to get out there and be in the spotlight.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: But then you have to remind them it's not really about you, it's about the message and about who you're helping.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: I imagine that's a conversation you have with a lot of writers or some version of it.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, we have this weekly, I will have this conversation either on social or in my uh community trainings and or in my newsletter responses.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: We have a hang up with marketing ourselves and with telling people, hey, I've got this thing, I've got this book.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: We have a hang up with it.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_02: But it largely deserves a perspective shift.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And once you get that shift in your mind, then it changes everything because then your content that you create also becomes valuable.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's not just about the book, but it's about content surrounding the book that you can share with your followers, and then they want to buy your book.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it really helps take the pressure off.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think in some ways, which is good because a lot of a lot of writers would just prefer to stay in the shadows and do our thing.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_00: And um gosh, I've heard people talk about, you know, if I never had to be on a podcast or make a public appearance, that would be just fine with me.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: But unfortunately, that's not a very effective way to get your message out there, I don't think.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: It isn't.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_02: And uh just because we're doing our desire, our God plan a desire, doesn't mean he's not gonna call us to some uncomfortable things.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's really marketing can be uncomfortable, but it's necessary.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get back to the conversation in just a moment, but first, a big thanks to today's sponsor, Vellum.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: For years, my go-to choice for a book formatting software has been Vellum.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: It gives you the power to build, style, and preview your book and have a blast while doing it.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: Vellum is the go-to choice for Mac users who care about creating beautiful ebooks and print books and want to save tons of time in the process.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Best of all, you can download Vellum and play with your book's formatting to your heart's content.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: You only gotta purchase it when you're ready to publish.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do, Vellum can create ebooks for every platform.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: To download Vellum for free, visit trivellum.com slash daily.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's trivellum.com slash daily.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: And now back to the conversation.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: In chapter eight in the book, you talk about this uh idea, and we've had this a version of this conversation before or parts of it, where you're you're helping people to understand it doesn't just have to be a ministry, what you're doing.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I I know you because you work with a lot of faith-based people, I know you have probably a version of this conversation constantly with people.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um help us understand what the what is this issue that a lot of people wrestle with when it comes to business versus ministry and and what are some what are some ways maybe people can move past that and understand that it's okay to have a business and it doesn't have to be a ministry or just a ministry.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, when you first start out, a lot of times you have that passion that you want to bless people and you call it a ministry and it is a ministry.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, even ministries have expenses.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a blog, you have hosting expenses, if you have a newsletter, you have email provider expenses, and the list goes on.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: If you want to, if you want to train, if you want to write a book, you need training, you need feedback, you need communities.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes you need a coach.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_02: Then you've got to figure out how to market.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: Then you join my communities and you have to pay for that.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_02: So honestly, and I know you've said this before, Kent.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_02: When you are an author, you have a business whether you've realized it or not.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you're selling something.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's an exchange of funds, and so therefore, you have to be smart about your funds.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, if you just it just depends.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_02: It is totally your choice if you want to call it a ministry only, if you have a nonprofit or something like that.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but oftentimes God is calling you to something to call it a business.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_02: I know he did for me, and I talked about that in the book, and my husband's gentle prodding that I'm working 50 hours a week on a blog that has a$9.99 ebook, and it's okay for me to be paid for my time.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and he said, Why don't you if you want to if you want a job, if you want to get paid, why don't you just go out and get a job?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, no, I want to do, I want to do what I love and get paid.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then he said, So figure out what that is and do it.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: And I did.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: And it feels good to have money in the bank, doesn't it?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: It feels good to have people in and have resources to be able to support other people and buy their things and hire other people when you need to like it feels good to do those things, and I think a lot of people now I can't really speak for anybody else, but in my case, I was always really intimidated by business stuff.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I thought, well, I'm an educator, I'm you know, a music church music guy, I don't know anything about business, and I just really resisted that for so long.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: But then once I started to have a full-time business and my income grew, I was like, oh, well, this is it's kind of cool to have like money to go to a conference or money where I can buy my friend's course, or exactly where I can have a really complex ghostwriting project and I can hire somebody to help me with that.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it just like it felt really, really good.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: And once you get into it, then it's like, oh, this this game isn't so complicated.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually fairly simple, and anybody can do it, and it's really fun because then it becomes kind of a game that you play.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there's, I don't know, that's I that would be my encouragement for anybody listening is you can do this, you can own a business, you can make this work.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and the and the cool thing is, once again, it's not just about us.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_02: When we hire people, that helps them.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: I've been able to hire my son to produce my podcast.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_02: I've been able to hire my website designer for that work and beyond, she does my VA work now.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, she has two small children, she needs the income.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I've been able to uh hire a coach who is a part-time missionary in the Ukraine.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_02: I'm helping her, and I love being able to bless others that way.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_02: For me, it's not about the income really.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad that I'm making the income, but it's really not about that for me.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: What it's about is I made a legit business.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_02: There is a legit, the government says I am exchanging legitimate funds, and that's a biggie.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then I'm blessing others in the process in different ways.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: I read a quote years ago by Walt Disney, and I'm not getting the quote exactly right, but the gist of it was that we don't make movies, and this was early in his career.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_00: We don't make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: I thought that that was really profound.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: It really, really was, and that really impacted me and helped me to see what is the role of money in all this.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's not just to like stockpile vast sums of money.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess, but what's really the purpose of this is so that we can do more good ultimately for our families and have more security and support other people.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: And we can give more.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my goodness, when your business becomes more profitable, you can donate more to churches or college or ministries or or nonprofits or whatever you choose to do.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's a great feeling to be able to do that on a higher level than maybe what you could do otherwise.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and that's exciting.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious if you can talk about um your process of actually writing this book.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I know a lot of people listening have thought about writing a book and it's something they feel motivated to do, but they don't really know where to start.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Where did you start with this book concept, Empty Nest Awakening?
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: And how long did it take you to do a first draft?
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And what was your general process for bringing this book to life?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: And obviously, I know you you worked with market refined media, so I want to give them a shout-out too.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you can can talk about their process in this, the whatever roles they played in this too, that would be fantastic.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_02: I would be happy to.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: So I knew that uh I knew that God wanted 2023 to be the year of the book that he wanted me to publish a book.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_02: Every year he gives me a big project.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: And so that was gonna be the project.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_02: But I didn't, it had been a long time and I had lost my templates for self-publishing.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: It had been a long time since I did that uh before.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_02: So every every at every juncture, every question I had about how am I gonna do this, Lord, he sent an email.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: An email dropped in my box.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's hilarious.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's true.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_02: In early January, I was praying.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, it was it was December, and I said, Lord, I need to self-publish.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: I decided that I self-publishing was gonna be the way to go because I knew that it would get published in 2023, and the traditional route would take longer.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, How am I gonna do this?
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_02: And an email came from Mindy Kiker and Jennifer Cogert of the Flourish Writers, and it said, join our self-publishing masterclass.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's six weeks every Friday.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_02: I thought, perfect, this is it because I love Mindy and Jenny.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_02: I have a relationship with them.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_02: I have spoken for their summits before on marketing, and uh I knew that this was it because Fridays are blocked off for me.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_02: They're either beach days or their go visit the grandkids' days or their uh plan for the next weekdays.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, okay, I can do this two-hour commitment every Friday for the next six weeks.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I did that, and they gave so many resources inside their publications there that it was all there, everything I needed to do.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_02: So meanwhile, I was running a business and having a hard time finding time to write.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: But they had a resource in there, and I knew that I needed to start with an outline.
• 34:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so I used their resource and I did the outline, and I had a follow-up call with Mindy, and we talked about it, and that's when she urged me to go with a shorter book also, and um, that it would just be easier for people to consume.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_02: I didn't have to write 60,000 words, and I said, Oh, this is great, I don't want to.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: So um, she told me, she assured me that 25,000 words was more than enough, and uh, which you had also said that too, Kent.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I said, Okay, that's what we do.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: And then I put my head down and I wrote like a mad woman for the next three months.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_02: And during that time, I had a client come who wanted my marketing uh coaching for Instagram, and she struck up a deal with me.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_02: I found out she was an editor, and she said, Do you need an editor?
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I had the final editor lined up, which was Daylene Bickle, but I really at this time needed a developmental editor to let me know if I was going in the right direction.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_02: So I word vomited this super rough draft, that's what I called it, and I gave it to Lois, and it was Lois Flowers, and she has a fantastic background in editing, and we're talking newspapers too.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_02: And uh she turned it right around to me within two weeks, and then I went to work writing the rest of it and the conclusion and the introduction and all that, and got it over to Daileen within the next three weeks.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_02: After Daileen, I knew in all this in this whole process, I was like, I know that I don't want to format this book, I don't have time to do that, I don't have time for ISBNs, I don't have time to I I make a stinky cover, so I'm not doing the cover.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_02: I am not a graphic artist, and and I'm not doing Fiverr this time either.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: So uh I prayed about that, and here came the email, and it was from Market Refined Media, and they said, and Mandy Robertson said, We would like for you to speak at our refined conference.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: We've been watching you and we love your your whole premise of authentic online marketing.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_02: We love that, and I said, Who are you again?
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: I had no idea they had been watching me, and uh so I went on our website and I found out they did all of this stuff that I needed somebody else to do.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, You can pick and choose.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_02: This is it, this is it, Lord.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_02: This is my answer.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_02: So I met with Mandy and I said, Mandy, yes, I will speak at your conference.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_02: Will you do my book?
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_02: I said, and this was July.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_02: I said, My goal is to publish this book on October 17th.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_02: Can we do it?
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_02: She said, I will write a timeline.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_02: And if we can all keep on task, her and her uh team and me doing my stuff that they told me to do, which was a lot, uh we can do it.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: And that's exactly what we did.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing that you you had a goal, you stuck with it, and you just kept at it and and you met your publication date.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like that that seems like such a rare thing, honestly, a lot of times with uh because there's so many things that can creep into the the publishing process.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this gets stalled or that gets stalled or or people lose track or whatever.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_00: So nice.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and one other thing I want to um uh attribute to you was I know that you are a big fan of Ana Recorder.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_02: And you passed her name along to me, and I bought her book, You Must Write a Book during this time.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that was helpful, I I hope.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_02: It was so helpful.
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_02: I read it and I bought the companion that helps you figure out your timeline.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_02: And she has an aggressive timeline, and she has a not so aggressive one and the least aggressive one.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_02: And I went with the middle one, I think it was.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's how I got my date of October 17th.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_02: And that's how I got my you have to have this many words done by this time, and this many words done by this time.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_02: It really helped me with that.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_02: And that book also helped me to generate in my mind an idea for an illustration in the book, which turned out to be the whole theme of the cover.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_02: And so I gotta give credit where credit's due.
• 40:03
  SPEAKER_02: That book was very pivotal in this whole process as well.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's so cool.
• 40:09
  unknown: Yeah.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'll make sure and I'll let I'll let her know that.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: I know she listens to to this podcast sometimes as well.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I do want to ask you about the book cover.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, obviously, if people are listening to this, you'll you'll have to go look at the book on Amazon or on your website to see this, but it's a super interesting mix of birds.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: I assume are these doves?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are they any kind of specific bird on the cover?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know what they are.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: They look like doves.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_02: But it's not really about the type of bird, it's just that she is she's got a a thread with a needle.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just think it's great because uh I'm maybe I would have to talk to the designer, but I think it's really cool how they the designer took that thread and made birds out of those.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would be curious how they actually made that.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because I mean, obviously, or maybe maybe it is hand-drawn, I don't know.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: But it's really cool because it's a very simple yet a very kind of complex drawing in a way.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: I do know her name is Nellie from Pixby Designs, which another interesting thing is Pixby Designs was one of the resources in the Flourish Writers masterclass.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_02: And I had already determined that I wanted them, I liked what I liked their work.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I'd researched it and I wanted them to do it and come to find out that's who Mandy and the market refined media team contracted.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_02: She, so I said, This is what I want.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: I do not want an empty nest, it's been done too many times.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want that anymore.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't know what I want.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking because it's weaving the threads of your passions into purpose, we want something to do with weaving or sewing.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I don't know what I'm talking about, but I want something like this.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_02: And she uh gave me 10 choices and overwhelmingly, and I ran everything by my husband and my family and my website designer, who is a graphic design artist.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_02: And um, everybody was pretty much unanimous that the bird with the thread was the one to go with.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: And so then we just had to, you know, kind of finesse it and get things where we wanted them after that.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_00: So they created 10 mock-ups, like 10 cover mock-ups.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_02: 10 was a lot.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if that's gonna be, you know, if that's always their process.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but she started with 10 and then I selected the one.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Actually, I selected like three, and Mandy and I talked back and forth, but Mandy really liked the one that with the birds as well.
• 43:22
  SPEAKER_02: She was hoping I was gonna do that one, but the colors were a little bit wrong.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so we worked with the colors too, because what I did was I wanted this branded uh so that it was complementary to my website.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_02: And so I gave them my brand colours and my fonts, and that's what you see on that book they took from that.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: What I like about it, and I hope nobody listening will be offended by this.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I like the fact that it's you can tell it's geared toward women, but it's not highly feminine.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_00: That even makes any sense.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um Which is kind of, I mean, it's it probably sounds odd that I would say that because obviously this is geared more toward women empty nesters, but I I like it because I feel like I could carry this book around and it it wouldn't be incongruous because you know, like some books are obviously geared toward women, and I would feel kind of weird carrying it around.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: So no, I like it.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: I I I think it's just a really thoughtful, attractive cover that has um multiple meanings to it.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm kind of a covered a book covered nerd, as you can tell.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I am too.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes I'll just go into Barge and Noble down the street and just go in there.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: I was in here the other day just looking at book covers, just getting ideas.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: I like this, I like this, this is cool, this is this is weird, uh, or something.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_00: So that that's one thing that I feel like a lot of people in self-publishing that they missed.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love self-publishing, I truly do, but it's one thing that people who are into self-publishing, they've got to pay attention to having good book covers.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you cannot go cheap on those.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Because that was the first book.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I knew this, and I knew that it was going to make the difference.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that was um the first thing that Mandy and her crew told me to do was uh start gathering Pinterest pins.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_02: Look on Pinterest.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of books do you like?
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_02: What kind of books do you dislike?
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_02: Look on Amazon.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh start getting in your mind, what kind of a thing do you want?
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_02: And I knew I wanted something fairly simple.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_02: And so they were able to look at my Pinterest.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's what Nellie did.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_02: She looked at my Pinterest account and took what I um took the pens that I saved and took what I told her.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like I said, I want this illustration inside.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: Can you can you make sense of it?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_02: This is what I want.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_02: Make sense of it.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_02: And she came up with ultimately what we have and is just so pleased.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I should start paying more attention to Pinterest.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: I when I think of Pinterest, so please nobody jump through the podcast and strangle me.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: But when I think of Pinterest, I get on there and it just looks like a messy, disorganized collage of stuff.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I just it's really stresses me out.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I but I know also know that I'm completely wrong about that.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe a lot of people use it and find a lot of value in it.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I feel like I should change my attitude and really start to learn how to use it better.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe there's somebody out there who has a course on using Pinterest, you know, for authors or something.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have one.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have one, but I I have been through some and I have seen some out there that are that are pretty good.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I don't capitalize on Pinterest like I used to, but I do know that you can get on there and just create a simple account and search books and book covers, and you'll get all kinds of nice suggestions.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'm willing to change my attitude about it.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to do what works, and it sounds like it's a great resource for a lot of people.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's a giant search engine.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Ruthie, before we wrap up here, I want to ask you about your authentic online marketing school, which I know launches in January.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you've got a Black Friday special coming up for that.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: So anything you can share with us about that?
• 47:36
  SPEAKER_02: Authentic Online Marketing School is the perfect blend of Instagram and email.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's eight weeks.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_02: We have a self-paced version you can purchase, but we have a cohort that you can take advantage of in January.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_02: And all this information will be available on Black Friday.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but basically, we do four weeks of Instagram based on the things that never change on Instagram, which is you always need followers.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, how to get followers, you need good content, you need um, I'm drawing a blank.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_02: You need to be able to drive traffic to your website, followers, content, website, and there's something else that is escaping me right now.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: But you need those four things, and then you need to be able to drive that traffic over to either website or really your newsletter, because your newsletter readers are your purchasers.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_02: So then we go into four weeks of newsletter marketing training, and you walk away with a welcome series of two or three emails and a newsletter template going forward.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_02: You have story swipe files, and I critique both your Instagram and your newsletters so that and and the cool thing is that you learn together with the cohort.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_02: So it all kind of works kind of beautifully.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's fantastic.
• 49:17
  unknown: Yeah.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_00: And where can people find out more about that?
• 49:20
  SPEAKER_00: And also just find your book in general and find out more about you.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, if they just go to authenticonlinmarketing.com, they can see everything right there.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_02: I the authentic online marketing school is just labeled school at the top in the menu, and then the book is there as well.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_00: I love what you're doing with the authenticity piece, especially because it's so easy to not be authentic with marketing stuff and to try to portray yourself as somebody that you're not or come off with a brand or a tone that doesn't really fit who you are.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you're doing a fantastic job with this.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: And congrats on the book and uh the upcoming launch uh in January.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is the 2024 is gonna be a big year for you.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 2023 was a big year, so I can't wait to see what happens in 2024.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_02: It's been exciting.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I hope at some point you dive into your next book project, although you just got this one done, so uh I know it's probably gonna be a while before you start thinking about that.
• 50:23
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's it's coming.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: My my notepad here.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I knew it.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: I just knew Kent was writing his notes again.
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me, Kent.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_02: This is always fun.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, it's been a pleasure.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, wasn't that a fun and inspiring conversation?
• 50:39
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoy talking with Ruthie.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: She's so wise, and I'm so thrilled that she has taken the time and the effort to write this book, Empty Nest Awakening.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this is not just a book for women.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you're a guy who's in this empty phase of life, or even if you're a man or a woman who's not in this particular phase of life, you're gonna get a lot out of this book because not only, as I mentioned in the intro, not only is it a really fun read and a very quick read, it's also really heartfelt and really, really meaningful.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and grab a copy of that.
• 51:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's a link to the book in the show notes.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: I also encourage you to check out her authentic online marketing school, which kicks off very soon.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_00: You can find out more about that when you go to authenticonlinmarketing.com.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ruthie really knows her stuff when it comes to Instagram and social media and marketing, so make sure and check that out.
• 51:25
  SPEAKER_00: I've actually already had one friend just a couple days ago.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: She said, Hey, I signed up for Ruthie's um authentic online marketing school, and she didn't even know that Ruthie and I had done this podcast interview, so uh so that's really, really cool.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure and check that out.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: Again, her site is authenticonlinmarketing.com.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure and pick up a copy of her book, Emptiness Awakening Weaving the Threads of Your Passions into Purpose.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: Again, there's a link in the show notes.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: Many thanks to Ruthie for making time to be a guest for the second time here on the podcast.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, my friend, thank you for listening.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: I never ever take your time for granted.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: Really, really appreciate you being here and hopefully you enjoyed this conversation just as much as I did.